The Stone Wolf (The Chain Breaker Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg (digital book reader TXT) 📕

“You’re the one who attacked me near my chamber,” Gavin said through clenched teeth.

Though his voice didn’t carry, he hoped Gaspar would at least hear. If nothing else, Gaspar had proved that the enchantment still worked, so Gavin had to use that. Maybe Imogen would come. Together they could handle a sorcerer.

With the power he felt around him, Gavin didn’t think he was going to have that much time to hold out. Either he was going to have to overwhelm the sorceress, or he was going to find himself on the wrong end of whatever she might do to him.

She strode down the street quickly and stopped in front of him. When he had seen her in the cavern, he hadn’t been able to get a good look at her. There had been a darkness about her; something that seemed to shroud her. She was dressed in a dark leather jacket and pants, with a shimmering cloak hanging around her. Flaming red hair poked out from beneath the hood.

“Where is the t’ranth?” she asked.

The dark egg. That was what it had to be.

“You’re not getting it.” He flicked his gaze down to the stone ring on her finger. He knew he hadn’t imagined it before. “I don’t have a t’ranth.” All of this was wasting precious time. Why send her after him if he already had Wrenlow?

Gaspar missed one. Distract. Divide. Defeat.

He left out delay.

It would buy Tristan the time he wanted to do whatever he planned with Wrenlow. That was why.

“I know it’s here,” she said. “You’re making this harder than it needs to be. Just hand it over and—”

“Listen,” Gavin said, anger filling him. “If he wants the damn egg, he’s going to have to come for it himself. I’ll use it against him. You let him know that!”

She looked behind her for a moment before turning to Gavin. “The what?”

Irritation filled him again. She worked with Tristan. She had to. Now he was ready to be done with this so he could find Wrenlow.

Gavin focused on his core reserves, ready to explode outward with it. He needed to draw her in close enough that he could question her and so that she could feel the effects of his power as the Chain Breaker.

As she approached, though, power started to constrict around him again.

Would I even be able to do it?

This power felt somewhat different than what the Mistress of Vines used around him. Whereas she’d used thick, almost physical manifestations of vines around him, the power wrapping around him now was invisible—and considerable. He started to have a difficult time breathing.

“We don’t have to do it this way. All I need is the t’ranth. I know you have it,” she said.

Gavin glowered at her. “I know what he’s after. You can tell him that it’s fully protected. He’s not going to get it from me—and not while he has my friends.”

She stood in front of him, and almost too late, Gavin started to worry about the other who had been with her before. She hadn’t been alone when she had targeted him last time.

And if there was another, equally powerful and able to use this sort of power, Gavin didn’t know if becoming the Chain Breaker would be enough. He focused and then began to press outward with his power. It was more difficult than he expected. Thankfully, he had the sword unsheathed and could use that as a focus.

“A dular?” She stepped toward him. “You’re not escaping from me with that kind of power. It’s impressive, but not that helpful against me.”

Gavin cocked his head to the side, frowning. “Dular” wasn’t a term that he’d heard much recently, though it was one he was familiar with. Not so much in Yoran, though.

It meant an enchanter.

That’s all she thought him to be?

But she thought the dular to be impressive.

Who is she?

“Not a dular,” Gavin said, trying to focus even more of his core reserves into the sword. He needed more time.

Still, he had made this mistake of trying to draw her in. He’d not anticipated that she would be as powerful as she was. She held him easily.

“Who are you?” Gavin asked, needing to distract her. He’d found that sometimes sorcerers could be easily distracted, especially if they wanted to prove how skilled they were. This woman obviously was powerful, and he had a sense that if he could get her talking, he might be able to coax her into a lull so that he could get out of whatever she was trying to do. “What sort of catchy name do you have for yourself? We’ve had quite a few of your kind come through here. We’ve had the Apostle. The Mistress of Vines. The Fates.” Gavin watched her face as he said each of the names, wondering if she would recognize any of them. If she did, she didn’t give any indication of that. “You’ll find that Yoran isn’t very fond of sorcery.”

“And I think your understanding of magic is substandard.”

Gavin forced even more of his core magic out from him through the sword, and then the blade began to glow. It had been restricted before, as if there was something that had held him back. But as he forced that power out from him into the blade, the light started to glow brightly all around him.

The sorceress looked down at it, and Gavin jerked. He didn’t have much he could do, especially not with the power she had wrapped around him, but he twitched just enough that he managed to break free of some of the bindings she held. The suddenness of it seemed to startle her, and she took a step away from him.

That was the break Gavin needed. He twisted the sword, drawing it through the magical bands she held on him, and suddenly he could move.

The blade continued to glow. Gavin was summoning quite a bit of power through his core reserves, and he worried about how much energy he