“What sort of enchantment is it?” he asked.
“One designed to ward off those with magical energy.”
“I would say you were scammed.”
“Why is that?”
“Considering what we recently went through and the way the El’aras marched in, I don’t think it really works. That’s not even getting into what Cyran did.”
“The enchantment needs to be activated.”
“Why wouldn’t you have activated it?”
An embarrassed flush washed through her face. “I didn’t say I was smart about enchantments, only that I knew I should have something placed. It was to protect me. Protect my people. I was young. It was early on in my time owning the tavern, and I was barely twelve when I took it over. Not long after the last sorcerer had been expelled from Yoran.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Twenty years,” she said.
“Considering everything I’ve experienced here, I would’ve expected that the city hated magic for much longer than that.”
Twenty years wasn’t long enough for people to forget about the power. It wasn’t long enough for people to have abandoned magic. Of course there would still be people who embraced that power. It would explain many things.
“Anyway, I had paid for an enchantment to be placed on the tavern. It was a time of great difficulty in the city. We were all trying to do what we could to remove any magical influence.”
“So you reacted by having magic placed on your tavern.”
“I reacted by trying to protect the tavern and preparing for the possibility that the people who had magic wouldn’t leave.” She smiled slightly. “I didn’t say it was the best plan.”
“Considering how you didn’t enable the enchantments, I don’t know if it was.”
“I didn’t leave them completely inactive either,” she said.
“What happened to them?”
“It’s a complicated story,” she said.
Gavin glanced back toward the staircase. It was quiet. He hadn’t heard the child move, though he didn’t know if he even would. Hopefully, the child would sleep for a long time. Gaspar, Wrenlow and Imogen remained in the kitchen.
“I think we have time,” Gavin said.
“There was a time when magic in the city was dangerous. The last sorcerer in Yoran was a violent man, Gavin. You can’t imagine what that was like.”
“I’ve been in plenty of places where sorcerers have operated openly.”
“Dark sorcerers?”
“It’s been my experience that all sorcerers have the potential for darkness,” he said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. We saw what Cyran was willing to do. I think the power corrupts them.”
Gavin had never met a sorcerer he could trust. Even the one who’d come for Cyran had been untrustworthy. Gavin still waited for him to return for revenge, though he suspected that he and his companions were too insignificant to him. The man had no reason to do so.
“We were scared,” Jessica said. “It was the reason I was willing to hire an enchantress, and I paid considerable money to have those wards placed on the Dragon.”
Enchantress. That reminded him of what Davel Chan was looking for.
“If you were willing to do that then, why not activate them when the Dragon was under attack by the El’aras?”
“I didn’t know anything about the El’aras at the time,” she said. “If I had, then maybe I would have, though…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe I wouldn’t have. It wasn’t the first thing that came to mind.”
“I think you should activate them.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“I’m don’t detect anything,” she said.
“What makes you think that you would?”
“That’s part of what the enchantment is. It’s bound to me in a way that’s supposed to give me the ability to detect the magic user.” She glanced toward the stairs. “And it’s supposed to separate magical users from their power. All I wanted was…”
“Safety,” Gavin said.
“I suppose,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t detect anything, which makes me wonder whether this boy is what you claim.”
Gavin looked toward the stairs. “He is, Jessica. I felt it.”
“I know you felt a sorcerer attack,” she said. At least she didn’t deny it the same way that Gaspar did. “But what if it isn’t exactly the way you thought it was?”
“What other way would it be?”
“I don’t know. All I’m saying is that maybe there was somebody else there. Sorcerers have a way of concealing themselves. It’s possible that a sorcerer might’ve been able to hide from you.”
Gavin shook his head. He didn’t think so. But then, at the time, he had been so fixed on trying to get out of that room and away from the blows raining down on him that he hadn’t been as focused on whether there was anybody else in the room.
Could there have been another sorcerer in there?
“There might be a way for me to tell,” he said.
“How?”
“We ask him.”
“He’s a child,” she said.
“Even a child would understand what he was doing.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“What do you think I’m going to do?” he asked.
Jessica frowned at him, setting down the last of the folded towels. She’d managed to fold about twice as many as him. “I can see that look in your eye, Gavin Lorren. I know you well enough to recognize that expression. You intend to torture him.”
“He’s a child. I don’t have to torture him. Before we give him back to Erica, we should know. We need to know.”
“I hope you don’t do anything to him,” she whispered.
She followed Gavin up the stairs to a room on the second landing. He paused at the door, resting his hand on it. There was nothing from the other side, but he waited for a moment. When he was convinced that there was truly nothing, he pushed open the door.
The boy was resting. Then again, Gavin had thought that the boy had been resting when he found him in the fortress. He unsheathed the El’aras dagger and glanced down at the darkened blade. There was no magic here.
Jessica looked over at him, a troubled expression on her face.
“I’m not going to use it on him,” he whispered. “It’s my way of
