“This is his lair,” he said softly.
Gaspar stood in the doorway, sweeping his gaze around. He didn’t step inside. Rather, he remained at the threshold, a strange expression in his eyes.
“What is it?” Gavin asked.
“When I was in my other role—”
“You mean when you were a constable?”
“I never came across a sorcerer’s lair. We knew they created them, but we never found one. We spent countless hours searching. We found many of their homes, but never anything like this. We should have found this though.”
“I hadn’t looked closely enough,” Gavin said. Gaspar arched a brow at him. “Besides, Cyran hadn’t been here that long.”
“This was once the home of a sorcerer named Mesmer. He was removed about twenty years ago, and the home was empty since then.”
“Why didn’t you say that before?”
“Because it didn’t make a difference. There were plenty of people who moved into old sorcerers’ homes. Back in the day, there probably were several dozen sorcerers throughout Yoran. Hell, they even had a school here for a time.”
Gavin’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“All of that ended when Tagus took power.”
“Why?”
“He abused it. It didn’t take long for there to be a rebellion. I think Tagus thought he’d be able to survive the rebellion better than he did. Unfortunately for him, there were others who had their own sort of power.”
“Other sorcerers?”
“No. The other sorcerers were concerned about Tagus. They had different factions, and none of them were particularly willing to take him on. It was the enchanters. They weren’t nearly as powerful as sorcerers, which allied them with others in the city without power.” Gaspar smiled tightly. “I think that most of the enchanters believed they would be permitted to stay in power, such as it were, but they didn’t realize that the magic they possessed would eventually draw the attention of those who had their own magical power. Ultimately, the enchanters were the reason for their own downfall.”
Gavin smiled. “I imagine that didn’t go over well.”
“Not particularly, but seeing as how the enchanters had been building up the constables with devices to allow them to withstand magical attacks, there wasn’t much they could do. In the end, the enchanters who remained within the city decided to move underground. That is, until the constables began to hunt them.” Gaspar looked around the room. “There was a time when I would’ve given anything to find a place like this.”
“Why? So that you could advance your career?”
“I was already advanced enough,” Gaspar said. “There was a time when I believed we had to remove the threat of those with power. I believed it was my responsibility to ensure that others who possessed magic were no longer a danger to the city.”
“You don’t feel that way anymore?” Gavin asked.
“I don’t feel a commitment to the city, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I don’t know what I’m asking.”
Gaspar finally followed Gavin into the room.
The only thing Gavin could make out was that a sense of power remained here. He paused at one of the shelves with various strange artifacts on it. Gavin beckoned for Gaspar to join him. “What do you think of this?”
“It looks like he was collecting other items of power.”
Gavin looked around. Erica hadn’t cared that Gavin had brought her here. In fact…
“It makes me wonder if the Mistress of Vines knew about Cyran and hoped I would bring her here.” That would have indicated a greater level of forethought than he would expect out of her.
Unless she’d been aware of him for longer than he’d known.
“Maybe, but if she wanted that, why would she have attacked you when she did?”
“I don’t know,” Gavin said.
As he looked all around him, he didn’t see anything that made much sense. The items in here were all strange, though even “strange” didn’t quite suit them. There were bowls and paintings. Some of the artifacts were sculptures; little figurines that looked intricately designed. Others were nothing more than loops of rope, stacks of books, or even empty jars.
What had been inside of them?
Nothing here gave him any answers. In fact, he only had more questions.
“None of this is going to help us find the Mistress of Vines,” Gavin said.
“Do we want to do that, or do we want to find these other enchanters?”
“This isn’t going to help with that either,” Gavin said.
Gaspar looked around. “No, I doubt it will. If we had someone with magical knowledge, we might be able to use this better, but without that…”
“What do you suggest?”
“I suppose we could regroup at the Dragon and see what the others might’ve come up with. Your friend has been proving himself,” Gaspar said.
Gavin smiled at how difficult it was for Gaspar to admit that Wrenlow had been finding out information. “I’ll be sure to let him know.”
“Oh, I’m certain you will.”
“We need to keep Alex safe,” Gavin said as he looked around. “But she might know something about the items here.”
“Do you trust her enough to bring her here?”
Gavin shook his head. “I don’t think we should.”
“Good. When I first met you, you struck me as appropriately suspicious, so if that had changed, I was going to start worrying.”
“I don’t know enough about her.” He thought about the beating he’d taken. “She seemed too willing to stay in the fortress. At least, her attack on me suggested that she was.”
“Which makes me question her motivations,” Gaspar said.
“It’s all so damn unusual,” Gavin muttered.
He headed toward the door and took one more look around. There were dozens upon dozens of different magical devices here, but none of them were things with an obvious use like the sword, which Cyran must have kept it contained to keep it from getting stolen.
Gavin took a deep breath and shook his head. “We need to find others with magic. We need to be able to search for those…”
“What is it?”
“That’s it.” Gavin should have considered it before, but he’d been caught up in everything he’d been doing.
“What is it?”
“I think I know how we can look.”
“Oh, do
