“Wish me luck,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Gaspar asked.
“They have a strange enchantment out here. Do you remember that creature she called upon in her home?”
“I remember,” Gaspar said.
“Well, there’s at least one. I don’t know if there are any others, but I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if there were. I’d caution you to be careful.”
Gavin darted toward the creature. The shadowed form of it started toward him, and he jumped. The speed enchantment seemed to augment that as well. The jump carried him high into the air, and he twisted and turned as he came down. He didn’t have control over it the way he needed to.
He landed too far behind the creature, which reacted, but thankfully not as quickly as Gavin was able to. He surged forward, sweeping out with the sword. He didn’t have to pause the way he did with the enchanters. Knowing that a creature like this wasn’t real, he swept his blade and carved through it.
The blade met heavy resistance. Magical resistance.
Gavin danced back, the enchantment the only thing that saved him. The creature swiped at him with one of its claws. Had he not been enhanced, he might’ve been caught by it.
He jumped again, this time controlling it better than he had the last time. When he landed, he slammed the sword down, driving it into the creature’s back.
A howl split the night. For a moment, Gavin thought that the creature had been alive and that he’d killed it, but he realized that the howl came from somewhere near the wall. He raced toward it.
The enchantment carried him quickly, and he saw another shadowed figure that had a series of small figurines scattered around them.
Gavin leaned forward, holding onto the sword and bringing its light up.
“Kegan?”
Kegan reached for one of the figurines and tapped on it, and it started to elongate. Gavin drove forward with the sword and swept it down, crashing it into the figurine. It shattered. Before Kegan had the opportunity to do anything else, Gavin did the same with the others. He swept the blade through them, and all of the figurines shattered in front of him. With each one that broke, Kegan cried out. By the time Gavin was done, the boy was whimpering.
“I’m sorry,” Gavin said, turning away. He raced back toward the building. “It’s a distraction,” he said into the enchantment.
“I gathered that,” Gaspar said. His voice was terse and sounded strained.
“Where are you?”
“Look for the five enchanters.”
“Five?” Gavin had a hard time keeping the incredulity from his voice.
“Do you think this is the first time I’ve gone against magic before?” Gaspar asked.
Gavin raced toward the magic. He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the resistance. As he brought the sword around in a sharp arc, the resistance guided him, and he raced into the darkness until he came across the five figures standing in front of Gaspar.
He fought well, but Gavin recognized why Gaspar was struggling. He was trying not to harm them, the same way Gavin had not wanted to harm them.
Gavin jumped into the air and landed behind the others. He sheathed his sword quickly and used his fighting techniques. It was far easier to do that than to risk accidentally killing someone. The only problem was that he wouldn’t be able to carve through any magic.
In the case of fighting hand to hand, he had to navigate around the possibility of a magical attack. The only thing that he had going for him was the enchantment. The speed was far more beneficial than he ever would’ve expected. He’d always been quick when fighting, but this was something else. This was otherworldly and reminded him of the speed Davel had attacked him with.
Gavin darted forward and drove one foot down, catching one of the enchanters in the knee and forcing them to stumble forward. He twisted and swung his other foot around, catching another enchanter in the chest. Gavin worked through the line of enchanters, fists and feet swinging and spinning, and before he had a chance to even comprehend whether or not they were throwing magic at him, they were all down.
Gaspar worked quickly, binding each of them with a length of rope that he pulled out from his satchel.
“Is that going to hold them?” Gavin asked.
“I had Olivia enchant the rope.”
“What will it do?”
“If it works, then it’ll keep them from being able to break through it with magic.”
Gavin looked at the five enchanted individuals lying on the ground, and then he guided Gaspar over to where he’d attacked the other three. Gaspar made short work of tying them up, and they headed to the back wall where he had knocked Kegan out. When Gaspar was done tying him, they looked up toward the fortress.
“There can’t be that many enchanters remaining,” Gaspar said.
“There were several dozen in Zella’s home. That might have only been a part of it,” Gavin said.
Gavin unsheathed the sword, and they stalked toward the building. When they neared the door, he hesitated. They didn’t know what they were going to find on the other side of the door. Possibly even more powerful enchanters.
He looked over at Gaspar, who nodded at him.
“Keep an eye out,” he whispered to Wrenlow.
“I don’t see anything. You know, I could help—”
“Just keep watch. We can talk about training you more later.”
He wasn’t sure that was what he wanted, but it was what Wrenlow wanted. With enchantments, it might even make sense to work with Wrenlow a bit more.
“Do you mean it?”
“Will the two of you stop?” Gaspar snapped. “We’ve got more important issues at hand here. Unless you’d rather wait and do this later.”
“We’ll do it now,” Gavin said, then pulled the door open. Something lunged at him.
He dropped to the side. Darkness blurred past him, and he swung upward with the sword, preparing for whatever was coming toward him. He had no idea what it was. Gaspar cried out, and Gavin rolled to his feet. He brought
