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

wood had been stripped free, shattered, and there were a few darkened footprints that he could just make out. Not so much that he could tell how many people had come through here, though.

He took a deep breath and looked up at Wrenlow, thinking of his journal entry. Wrenlow wanted to make Gavin proud. And he did. He’d changed so much from the inquisitive but frightened young man Gavin had found. “I’m proud of you.”

“Why? Because I let myself get captured and barely survived it?”

“But you did survive it,” Gavin said. “Others might have panicked. You, on the other hand, realized when you had the opportunity to break out.”

“We were captured for several days.”

“I know. I’ve been looking for that entire time.”

“What made you think we were outside the city?”

“It was the letter I got. It was the kind of thing Tristan would send. I was certain it was him. There was his sigil on the letter, after all, and the man he’d sent to give me the paper was this little rat-faced guy. He told me he’d been hired, but I knew better.”

“What was that?” Wrenlow asked.

“The rat-faced guy or the paper?”

“Rat-faced. What makes you call him that?”

“Because that’s what he looked like,” Gavin said.

He still wanted to find him and wished he’d sent Imogen to capture him—then they could figure out who he’d been working with. As far as Gavin had learned, the rat-faced man had escaped, which should have told him all he needed about how skilled this person was.

“There was somebody like that among those who took us,” Wrenlow said. “I only caught sight of one face. It was strange looking and lean, with distinctive features, and there was something about it that seemed familiar.”

“I would’ve remembered that face,” Gavin said.

“I’m sure you would have.”

Gavin sighed. “So, you were out here, and you managed to escape.”

“We did. And I still don’t know what allowed us to get free. All I know is that if we didn’t escape, they… they’d made it clear we weren’t going to live through this, Gavin.”

Gavin moved the wooden boards around. They were solid—solid enough that Wrenlow wouldn’t have been able to break out of them easily. He must have had some residual enchantment, unless his fear for Olivia had taken hold and made him stronger.

“That’s funny to you?” Wrenlow said.

“Not at all.” He turned to Wrenlow, trying to fix him with a serious expression, but failing.

“What are you grinning at?” Wrenlow asked.

“Just thinking,” Gavin said.

“That gets you in trouble.”

“You’re starting to sound too much like Gaspar.”

“I don’t think that’s all bad,” Wrenlow said. “Someone has to keep you honest.”

Gavin grunted, and he continued poking through the lumber. He started to feel a cold tingling along his skin. He straightened, peering around him in the darkness, and reached for the El’aras dagger.

It wasn’t glowing.

“What’s wrong?” Wrenlow asked.

“There’s magic here. I can feel it.”

Gavin didn’t voice his worry to Wrenlow, but would he be strong enough to fight, given everything they had dealt with so far? He looked around once more, then handed the El’aras dagger to Wrenlow.

“Be ready,” he said.

Gavin unsheathed the sword.

Chapter Twenty

The sword didn’t glow either. Gavin turned in place, looking for any signs of shadowy movement, but he didn’t see anything.

Wrenlow clutched the dagger awkwardly, despite Gavin’s previous lessons readying Wrenlow for the possibility that he might need to use it at some point.

“Just hold it out,” Gavin instructed. “Don’t be worried about the blade.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Wrenlow said.

Gavin looked all around him, worried about what was out there, but he couldn’t see much in the darkness. He decided to move back toward the city.

What he needed was his enchantment.

He grabbed the ring from his pocket and slipped it on. For a moment, everything lightened around him, but then it faded.

“Shit,” Gavin muttered.

“What is it?” Wrenlow asked.

“The enchantment failed.”

He swept his gaze around him. Was something here that suppressed the enchantment, or had its magic simply faded? Gavin didn’t know which one it was, and given how much he’d been drawing upon it to help with his eyesight, it was entirely possible that it had run out. Gavin knew better than to continue to draw upon that power, to risk depending on the enchantment, but he had needed it.

Now he would have to rely on his own ability to navigate in the darkness.

He crept forward carefully, searching, but he didn’t see anything. Wrenlow watched him and mimicked Gavin’s movements, staying close to him and holding out the dagger.

“You said you heard an attack out here,” Gavin said.

“It was muted, but I was certain there was something.”

Gavin glanced over to the debris. In the darkness, it looked like a looming shadow, but there seemed to be something moving near it.

“If this goes south, I want you to run back to the Dragon. Let Gaspar and Imogen know, then go to Davel Chan.”

“I’m not going to the constable,” Wrenlow said.

Gavin shook his head. “You need to let him know.”

And Gavin needed to investigate. He didn’t like the idea of moving toward whatever this was, especially if his enchantments had faded, but there might be one other way that he hadn’t tried before.

What he needed was power.

Now was the time to use all the advantages he had—regardless of how much they might strain him.

He dipped into the sh’rasn powder and took a quick mouthful. As it flooded into him, a bit of power surged, enough that he could feel it washing over him. What he wouldn’t give for the control Anna had claimed he needed in order to understand his power. Maybe then he wouldn’t rely on the enchantments to help him see. It was possible that Gavin could simply use his own magic to enchant his eyesight.

But that wasn’t the way his magic worked. He was the Chain Breaker, and that was it. That was all he’d ever needed to be.

Gavin had to come up with something else. He stepped forward and moved toward the darkness, toward