And he would. He wasn’t opposed to more violence if necessary. Gavin didn’t know whether he’d been tasked to do anything more than give him a beating or if he would’ve left him bleeding out on the street. Neither of them had carried weapons, which was reason enough for Gavin to at least hesitate.
“I told you, I don’t know,” the man said.
“Where did you take the job?”
The man stared at him defiantly.
Gavin lingered, watching the man for a moment. “You aren’t going to like the way this ends.”
There was something about his movements during the fight that disturbed Gavin. Maybe they were enchanted. Gavin pressed the knife deeper into his side.
The man’s eyes widened in fear. “I can show you.”
“Good. Why don’t we start with that.” Gavin shoved him. The man staggered forward. “Where did your friend go?”
“I don’t know. She probably took off when you beat us.”
“Who is she?”
Gavin couldn’t shake how similar her fighting style had been to Imogen’s. With her build, he could almost believe that they were related. He wanted answers, but with everything else that had been going on, he didn’t have the time to get them. He wasn’t even sure if Gaspar would provide answers to his questions.
“I don’t know. We’re paired up for the job,” the man said.
“Don't think I'm going to believe that answer."
“It's true.”
“You had to have had some conversation with her while working.”
“Less than you’d think. She doesn’t like to talk much.”
Another similarity to Imogen. Gavin shook his head. “Tell me where we’re going so there won’t be any surprises.”
“It’s not far from here.”
“How long have you been following me?”
“Since you left the tavern.”
Great. Another person aware of the Roasted Dragon. In the time he’d been in Yoran, Gavin had placed the Dragon in danger far more times than he preferred. At least this seemed to be a typical sort of attacker and not one of the El’aras.
Gavin could handle normal fighters; even several of them all at once. In fact, there was a part of him that wished he had the opportunity to go against more at a time.
“How long have you been waiting there?” he asked.
“Not long. They said you might be coming out.”
“They said?”
“Right. They said it. We were supposed to follow you. If you came this way, we were supposed to slow you.”
“Just slow me?”
The man nodded.
They reached the end of the street, and he pointed to a house that looked like any of the others around it. Most of the houses along the street were simple. They were all pressed together, one after another, an entire row of them. All were made of wood and with simple windows that looked out over the street. A few of them had obviously been painted at some point in the past, an attempt to give them more color that ultimately mattered very little.
The street itself was narrow and the buildings squeezed in, nothing like what was found in some of the more central parts of the city. Not much was different about this particular house. The windows were dirty, with no light shining through. No smoke drifted up from the chimney. People moved along the street, unmindful of the building.
Strange.
“Why just slow me?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask details.”
Gavin grabbed the man’s collar and threw him forward. “Well, let me tell you about the kind of jobs I take.” They started toward the door. “You see this dagger?”
The man glanced back and nodded.
“I’m sure you’re curious whether I’d be willing to use it,” Gavin said.
The man looked up, holding Gavin’s gaze for a moment. He nodded again.
“Don’t tempt me, and you won’t have to find out.”
Gavin shoved him toward the door, and he stopped there for a moment. This wasn’t all that far from where he’d been heading, but it wasn’t the same house. He nodded at the door, and the man knocked. Gavin took a step back, holding onto the dagger.
He wasn’t altogether surprised when it started to glow.
Chapter Seven
Gavin hadn’t expected to see an older man answer the door. He had thick glasses, and he was dressed in a maroon gown. He flicked his gaze between the two of them, then waved his hand at Gavin’s attacker, who shot Gavin a quick look before he walked away. There was something about this man that said he took care of himself. Sometimes older men let themselves go, but this man gave off the impression that he still was relatively fit. He was shorter, stocky almost, and had short black hair. His nose looked flattened to his face, and Gavin could almost imagine that it had been broken a time or two.
Gavin smiled. “I suppose I have you to thank for my greeting?”
“They were supposed to hinder you, nothing more than that.”
“And you are?”
“Chan. Davel Chan.”
“I suspect you know who I am?”
Davel stared at him for a moment and nodded. “You may come in, I suppose.”
“Just like that? You aren’t concerned about what I’m going to do?”
He eyed the El’aras dagger. “You might as well put that away. You aren’t going to need it.”
“I think I might keep it ready. Just in case,” Gavin said, shrugging.
“It’s your choice.”
Davel headed into the home and Gavin paused, looking along the street. He didn’t see the man he’d fought, but he did catch a glimpse of the woman. She was standing at the end of the street, watching him. The woman had a dangerous edge to her, and again he was struck by her resemblance to Imogen.
Was this woman enchanted?
Gavin didn’t know if that was the case with Imogen or not. In Imogens’ case, it might simply be a matter of almost impossible skill.
All of this was strange, though these days, Gavin wasn’t sure if he was even able to take normal jobs. He had to believe that this was somehow tied to the reason that he’d been summoned.
But why?
When he stepped inside, the El’aras dagger started to glow more brightly. There was magic used here, and
