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

when they had forced magic into the jade egg. There were two others in the room with her. Gavin knew the stocky man, Irison, who had a shorn head and an earring in one ear. He sat at the table with Zella, working a knife along a length of wood, carving out what Gavin could only imagine was another enchantment. It was so different from the way the constables used the jade egg to create enchantments.

The last person in the room was a small child, curled up near the fire with a book opened up in front of her. She could only have been eight or nine.

He headed over to the table and sat in the chair across from Zella. “Who’s she?”

Zella looked up at him before turning her attention to the girl. “She’s a young enchanter we discovered. Now that we can navigate more openly in the city, we’ve finally been able to identify others who have potential.”

“Could you not do that before?”

“Anything we tried before ran the risk of the constables claiming them.” She shook her head. “And when they did, they were banished from the city.”

“It might’ve been best for them,” Gavin said.

“Perhaps.” Zella nodded to Irison. “We continue to look, though. We believe that we can find others.”

“And what happens if you can’t?”

“Then we can’t.”

Gavin leaned back, fatigue still washing through him. He hadn’t given much thought to the fact that there would have to be others who had magical potential within the city, but it made sense. Even though magic had been outlawed before, there would still be those who developed potential, including enchanters, as well as some with the ability to practice sorcery.

There had once been a sorcery school in Yoran. That alone would be enough reason to bring those with potential into the city.

“Did the Sorcerers’ Society claim those who had potential before?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Some of them, but not all. Some were taken by more dangerous factions.”

“What dangerous factions?”

“You’ve traveled the world, Gavin. You know the sort that exist out in the world.”

Gavin supposed he did. He had certainly encountered enough of them before, and he certainly knew there were plenty of people who would take advantage of anyone who had magical potential and force them to serve.

Wasn’t that exactly what Tristan had done?

“Mekel tells me there was another sorcerer attack,” she said, turning her attention back to the book in front of her.

Gavin glanced over at the book, trying to see what was on the pages, but he couldn’t tell much of anything. “I think the sorceress attacked me. Not the city.”

“So you don’t believe this to be the Fates?”

“Not this time,” Gavin said. He would need to tell her that the sorceress seemed to have skill and power enough to rival the Fates, but maybe not yet. “She’s after something she called a t’ranth.”

Zella shook her head. “I have not heard it.”

“Great. Then I have a question for you.”

“You need enchantments.”

Gavin shrugged. “That too. But I need information.”

She closed the book and settled her hands on the table. “Gaspar sent word.”

“That sneaky thief,” he muttered.

“You didn’t think he would?”

“I think he’s cleverer than I give him credit for.”

“He’s a thief, Gavin.”

“Yes, and he had been a constable, but…”

As far as Gavin knew, Gaspar had never used many enchantments before. He had never needed them before, but then again, the city had not allowed him to possess any. He hadn’t been able to use them, even if he had a way of accessing them. Maybe that was the fact of the matter, more than anything else.

“I need enchantments. We’re going to have to leave the city to save Wrenlow from my old mentor.”

“I’m sorry,” Zella said.

“You’re sorry about the situation? Or that you can’t provide any enchantments?”

Zella frowned and tilted her head. “You have our collection at your disposal.”

That was considerable, given that it included everything the Captain had stolen from the enchanters over the years.

“Tell me what you need, and you can take anything.” She shook her head as Gavin started to smile. “Within reason, of course. Some of the items that we create are particular to the enchanter, as you’ve seen.” She glanced toward the door.

The wolf remained seated in front of the door as if keeping watch.

“Any enchantment can be triggered by anyone with the right potential,” Gavin said. “And even someone without the right potential can trigger the right enchantment.”

That was one of the advantages of enchantments. They allowed anybody with the right connection to magic—whether or not they understood what it was—to trigger it. There were even some that didn’t take a touch of magic to be activated. Typically, only sorcerers could create them, and they were incredibly valuable.

“We aren’t nearly as skilled as some of the enchanters you might find in other places.”

“Dular,” Gavin said.

He’d finally remembered where he’d heard the term dular—in Nelar, just like where he’d have to go for Tristan. Though the city was not too far from here, he had not been there in quite some time. It was a place that valued enchantments, unlike other cities. Stranger still, it did not banish those who had the right kind of magic. They welcomed it, much like they welcomed the magic of the dular.

“Where have you heard that term?” Zella asked.

“Not here. Well, not until recently,” he added. “The sorceress who attacked me used that term.” That gave Gavin an idea about where she came from—at least, enough of an idea that he could recognize it, and maybe even use that to help him figure out where she was from.

“It’s an unusual term,” Zella said. “We prefer the term ‘enchanters’ here, especially because it doesn’t carry any connotation with it.”

“I didn’t realize ‘dular’ did.”

“Perhaps not, though there are more than a few people with our particular set of abilities who believe that it weakens us when someone uses a term we did not choose for ourselves.” She glanced over to Irison, who nodded once. “They think to diminish us because we