Using the El’aras dagger, he darted forward…
And slammed into what seemed to be a wall.
She watched him from the other side of whatever magical enchantment she was building. Gavin pressed on it, but the invisible barrier was too much for him. He tried to jab through it with the El’aras dagger, but that didn’t accomplish anything. He stabbed again and again, but with each attempt, he met the ongoing resistance.
He took a step back.
The ground continued to tremble. The stone overhead started to shake, debris raining down around him. If he remained here for too much longer, he was going to be caught by whatever this attack was.
Gavin had no idea what was taking place, only that it had considerable power to it. He threw up his hands and protected his head.
He ducked down and backed away. If he knew what was on the other side of the door, he might head there, but there wasn’t any way for him to open it. He turned, moving toward the other end of the hall and toward the ladder.
A section of the ceiling dropped, crashing in front of him. The sound was terrible inside of the confines of the tunnel. Gavin darted back, trying to stay free of the raining debris. The enchantress—or sorceress, given the strength she demonstrated—was gone.
Everything still trembled around him. He could feel the effort of it as everything started to shake. The lair was going to collapse on him.
“If you’re still up there, you need to keep moving,” Gavin said. “She’s gotten away from me.”
“She’s what?”
“She collapsed the tunnel. I can’t get out the way I came in. Get back to the Dragon. Make sure Alex is safe.”
“First you abduct her, and now you want to ensure she’s safe?” Gaspar asked incredulously.
“I think the sorceress wanted her dead.”
“She’s a sorceress now and not an enchantress?”
“Which is why we have to try to understand what’s going on,” Gavin said.
The shaking persisted. He looked all around him to see if there was anywhere he could go, but the ceiling started to crack. Already it was falling, and he could feel the energy in here starting to build, the pressure of it was almost more than he could endure. He backed up, looking toward the wall, and the only place he could go would be toward the locked door.
Gavin reached the door. The stone continued to tremble and collapse all around him. He didn’t have much time. He reached for the handle and pulled.
Nothing happened.
“Dammit, Cyran, let me in,” he whispered.
He called upon the energy within him, the remaining reserves he had, and he jerked on the handle. This time, there was more shaking, and Gavin didn’t know if it was coming from all around him or if it was something he was doing. It seemed as if it was the ceiling, the floor, even the walls.
Gavin focused on his hand, thinking about what he did when pushing out through his core reserves. If he could do something similar now, he hoped he could break the door open. All he had to do was force that out of him…
He pulled.
The energy within him exploded.
He’d never felt anything quite like that before, but as it burst free of him, he could feel something shifting. The change was dramatic, almost overwhelming, and within that change, he could feel some part of him shifting as well.
He pulled on the door again, and it came open. Gavin darted into the room beyond and pulled the door closed, listening as it clicked and sealing himself inside. He breathed heavily, trying to slow the panic that had set in. The tunnel collapsed on the other side of the door. Thunderous explosion rumbled as the entirety of the tunnel was destroyed.
He didn’t even need to open the door to know what had happened. Gavin held his hand on the door, feeling the trembling on the other side. He remained there for a long moment and took another deep breath, then turned and saw the room on the other side of him. A pale glowing light radiated from the stones. Sorcery. It was subtle—and impressive.
It was enormous—far larger than he would’ve ever expected—and filled with strange artifacts. Out of everything in the room, what drew his attention was a table with a brightly glowing blade resting on it.
He tapped on the enchantment. “Gaspar?”
There wasn’t any response.
He still needed to reach the old thief, but the contents of the room intrigued him.
Gavin headed to the table and paused in front of it, studying the blade. It was similar to the El’aras dagger in the way it was constructed. The deep gray appearance reminded him of the El’aras, but the styling was something altogether different. The blade itself had a slight curve to it, and symbols along its length obviously had meaning, but he had no idea what they were. He studied them and felt like he should recognize them, but he didn’t. Not El’aras, at least not that he thought. The kinds of weapons they forged were more decorative, with intricate carvings along the hilt and the blade guard. This one had a simple leather-wrapped hilt and a forked blade guard on either side.
Gavin reached for it, and an invisible barrier surrounded the blade, preventing him from touching it. He pressed his hand forward again, and again he felt resistance from a barrier that kept him from being able to reach it.
Poking it with the El’aras dagger didn’t help. It was glowing just as brightly as the other blade.
Strange.
It must have been some sort of protection that Cyran had placed to ensure that only he was the one to reach the sword.
But why? What about this sword was so important to Cyran that he would want to protect it so?
Gavin grabbed the El’aras dagger with both hands and jabbed it down with a firm grip,
