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

If this was a test, there was a real danger in how Tristan might be forcing Gavin to expend all of his enchanted power just to get through here. Gavin might not be able to do anything other than what he’d already done.

And then he’d be forced to summon his core reserves.

They finally reached the house. Gavin had no idea where Imogen had snuck off to. She was somewhere circling around the forest, looking for whatever power was limiting them, but she still had not returned.

“Do you have any way of reaching Imogen?” he asked.

Gaspar nodded. He flicked his fingers, and Gavin glanced down, realizing he was tapping on something. An enchantment? She must have had one as well, some way for them to communicate.

“You could have shared that little secret with me,” Gavin said.

He reached the door, which looked different compared to what it had before. Maybe that was time or age or experience. When Gavin was younger, this had been one of the last tests he’d needed before working on his own. Retrieving the ring had been a test, one of many that Tristan had forced him through, but a test nonetheless. And Gavin had passed. Injured, barely able to walk, and yet he had still succeeded.

Until he had lost the ring.

Maybe that was what bothered Tristan. Gavin had failed. He hadn’t failed Tristan too many times, or as fully as this, but Tristan had become angry each time. And occasionally violent.

Gavin pushed on the door, and it opened softly. Invisible power exploded outward in a blast. He was tossed back, and he tried to roll, landing on his shoulder. He knew immediately that it had been dislocated. He looked up, seeing Gaspar already crawling to his feet.

The old thief was quicker than Gavin had expected, but then again, he also hadn’t absorbed nearly as much of the force as Gavin had. Or had he?

He smiled tightly. It was not just that he had absorbed some of the force. Gavin also had not used his enchantments the way he should’ve.

Dark swirls of pungent magic streamed out from the inside of the house and solidified into tall, slender figures who surrounded them.

Gavin recognized them, and they moved with a strange fluidity that was drawn from the magic they summoned. He’d faced the summoners of Vuthyl before. They had magic, though it was different than that of sorcerers. Tristan had wanted him to know how deadly they were. At the time, even Tristan had warned him against confronting them too openly. He had advised Gavin to approach with caution and to avoid endangering himself unnecessarily.

And they should not have been anywhere near here. The power it would have taken to get them here had to be considerable.

He already knew the type of fighting style they were going to use. Gavin dipped his hand in the pouch, ignoring the pain and the fact that he was going have to jam his shoulder back into place before he finished this fight. But for now, he pulled on the power of three speed enchantments, along with two for strength and the one that made his skin impervious.

Gavin bounced up, pushing against the magic that worked around him and tried to confine him by squeezing down upon him. It was powerful, considerable magic, but he could feel his enchantments working.

He darted forward and reached what appeared to be a dark cloud, a low-level type of magic. Similar to an enchantment, this was a pungent radiated power that reminded Gavin of rotten fruit coming off of the Vuthyl that allowed them to create darkness around them. It was effective, but only against people who couldn’t fight in the dark.

Gavin could.

He slammed his injured shoulder into the first of the figures he saw in the darkness, forcing it back into place. A muted cry escaped his lips as he tried to ignore the surge of pain that flowed through him. He gritted his teeth and spun toward the next person, dropping and waiting for the small movement, the faint hint of wind.

It was little more than that, little more than a whisper. But there was something.

Gavin could hear breathing.

He crouched low and then brought his fist up, careening into the next attacker’s chin. He spun around, using the power within himself to focus on the next person. He couldn’t feel any other movement, nothing but the energy that was here, and yet there was something that he thought he needed.

That power was there.

Gavin darted forward. He swept his leg around and knocked one of the others down.

He slipped.

Fighting like this was exhilarating. It was difficult, especially with this power that tried to slow everything around him, but using the enchantments made Gavin feel free.

“I need your help, boy,” Gaspar muttered through the enchantment.

Gavin twisted and kicked outward, striking one of the Vuthyl attackers in the back, and then jumped forward. He could feel something and began to spin when he smelled Gaspar’s distinct cologne. It was better than the stench of the Vuthyl magic.

“You shouldn’t have been wearing your perfume today,” Gavin whispered through the enchantment.

“Figured you might need to be able to find me, and it’s better to cover up your stench,” Gaspar replied.

“That’s not mine. Besides, you just needed to cover up the old man smell.”

“You’ve fought these people before?” Gaspar asked.

“I have,” Gavin said. “They tend to be challenging.”

He ducked, and something whistled over his head. Gavin jumped, lunging forward and bringing his elbow out, which cracked into a forehead. The figure went down.

“I really need for Imogen to take down the enchantments around us.”

“She’s trying,” Gaspar said. “Give her time. You’ve got to trust her.”

Gavin dropped again and then spun. He twisted his heels and collided with another attacker, catching him in the midsection. He brought his knee up, forcing it into the man’s face.

He landed and waited in the dark, but he didn’t see any others. The darkness started to dissipate,