Until recently.
Coming to this city had created a new difficulty for him. It was one he didn’t care for and one that put him in danger, though he was trained for that. There was no point in fighting it. He needed to be ready for those dangers, which was the reason he trained.
Sweat glistened on his skin. He worked through the small space of his room, using the confines of the room to limit his movements, mimicking a fight. He didn’t need to have an actual fight to practice like this. He could make it more difficult for himself, and as he fought through the various movements, he flowed from place to place. His mind went blank the way that it often did as he trained, though flickers of memories came to him—images of what he had learned from Tristan over the years and knowledge that he embraced.
A knock came at the door. Taking a deep breath, Gavin slipped the dagger into the sheath on his belt. He wiped the bead of sweat along his forehead and grabbed a towel from the chair. He dabbed it across his chest and pulled the door open.
Wrenlow blinked. “Am I interrupting?”
Gavin shook his head. “I was just training.”
“You still do that?”
“Skills fade if they aren’t practiced.”
“But you’ve trained for so much of your life.”
Gavin shrugged. That was part of the reason he continued to do it now. It made it easier for him to maintain the habit. If he lost the practice of training, he didn’t know if he’d be able to regain that. Already there were some skills that had faded somewhat because he didn’t use them the way he once had. When he’d been training with Tristan, tested on a daily basis, his skills had been sharpened to an edge that had made him incredibly powerful.
“It’s habit, more than anything else. Besides, it helps me clear my head.”
“What are you trying to think through now?”
“I’m trying to get a handle on what we’re going to have to do here.”
“That’s what I came for.”
“Did you find something?”
Frustration washed across Wrenlow’s face. “Not quite yet. Gaspar keeps looking, and my sources are digging into the details around the Captain, but so far we haven’t been able to come up with anything.”
“I have faith you will.”
“I’m glad you do because I’m starting to question whether we’re going to come up with what we need to know to get into his home. She didn’t give us much of a timeline, but…”
“She didn’t, which means we need to act quickly,” Gavin said.
A child abduction could be dangerous. In some of the places that he’d visited over the years, children were taken into slavery.
“This still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The Captain has lived in Yoran for decades. In that time, he’s built up his fortress and created a position of power. Why would someone like that turn toward abducting children and sending them into slavery?” Wrenlow said.
“There has to be something more to it. That, more than anything else, is what we need to better understand,” Gavin said.
“We’ve been looking,” Wrenlow said. “I’m going to keep looking, and I remain optimistic that we’re going to find the answer, but that’s not why I’m here.”
“Why are you here?”
He handed a folded slip of paper over to Gavin. “This.”
Gavin frowned as he unfolded it. As he scanned it, his surprise deepened. “This is a request for a job.”
“That’s the way it looked to me. I’m sorry I opened it, but I wasn’t sure whether or not it was something to interrupt you for. You’ve been up here for the better part of two hours.”
Gavin shook his head. Two hours wasn’t all that long to spend training, not compared to what he used to spend, but they went by quickly when he was focused. He wasn’t as tired as he would’ve expected, though in the small room, there were limits to how much he could move around.
He skimmed the page, trying to figure out just what it was that he was asked to do.
First Erica had come looking for me, and now a letter?
This wasn’t how he did jobs. At all. It was about concealment. Staying in the shadows. Avoiding detection. Now it seemed all of Yoran knew about him.
“Somebody wants to meet.”
“I didn’t know if you wanted to take another job or not.”
“Well, it’s been a few weeks since we’ve taken any.”
“You took Erica’s.”
“I didn’t really take that one by choice. That was more Jessica and Gaspar’s urging. Anyway, I can go and look into this at least.”
Wrenlow nodded. “I can go with you if you’d like.”
“I think we can get back into the usual pattern we have for jobs, don’t you?”
The relief that swept across Wrenlow’s face almost made Gavin laugh. “I can keep looking into the details of the Captain’s fortress while you’re off on this job.”
“I’m not going to do the job right now, Wrenlow. The letter is a request to meet.”
He had been incredibly selective of late. Possibly he’d been too selective, but ever since the issue with Cyran, Gavin hadn’t wanted to take too many jobs. If he were going to stay in Yoran, maybe it was time for that to change. He pulled on a shirt, and on a whim, he grabbed his cloak as well.
He felt to make sure that he had his dagger and knives. They were the only weapons he kept on him at any given time, though he was tempted to carry a sword. Travelers generally didn’t have them in other places he’d been to, but many people carried swords in Yoran, so it wouldn’t be out of place.
“You’re going now?” Wrenlow asked.
“The request suggests they’ll be waiting.”
“I’ll keep listening.” Wrenlow tapped on the enchantment, and he flashed a smile at Gavin, who could only shake his head and chuckle. At least Wrenlow was getting back to his old self.
Gavin headed down the stairs and into the tavern. There was more activity
