“You were?” Gavin asked.
“Right. So Olivia and I came back to the Dragon.”
Gavin looked over to Gaspar. “Something’s not fitting right here.”
“No,” the old thief said.
“Why would Tristan have released you?” Gavin asked.
“I didn’t see Tristan. At least, I don’t think I did. You’ve described him enough times that I think I’d recognize him. I didn’t even hear what I think he’d sound like. They gave us food and water, but we never saw anybody’s faces.”
“What else can you tell me?”
“Magic,” Olivia said.
Gavin looked over to her, frowning.
She stared at her hands. “There was magic there. I don’t know if it was enchantments or sorcery, but there was a considerable amount of it. I tried to create enchantments, but I couldn’t do anything when I attempted to. It was as if they had some way of preventing me.”
That was odd. But then, maybe it wasn’t. They had been dealing with a sorcerer who also had Toral powers.
That had to be what it was. She had Wrenlow and Olivia all along.
Why would she have released them, though? And why would she deny having them?
Gavin leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. “I don’t like this.”
“No,” Gaspar said. He pushed off the wall and hobbled over to the table, sinking down and taking a seat. He clenched his jaw with each movement, as if he were in complete agony.
Gavin worried that Gaspar might’ve recovered well enough to return to the city, but he wasn’t well by any means. Imogen watched Gaspar too. Gavin could see the concern etched in her eyes. She never took her hand off the hilt of her sword, appearing ready to attack anyone who might be responsible for harming Gaspar again.
“We need to figure out what’s here. And I think that means the Toral,” Gavin said. “I’m less and less convinced that she really wants to hurt me. She could have done so many times.” He hated admitting it, but she was more powerful than him. Maybe as powerful as one of the Fates. He’d used his core reserves and still failed. “I don’t know what she’s after, and have no idea what this t’ranth is, but we need to learn so that we can decide how to approach her.”
With what he’d learned in Nelar, it was about approaching her. Not attacking.
“That’s a dangerous gambit,” Gaspar said.
“What do you mean ‘Toral’?” Wrenlow asked.
Gavin filled him in on what they had been dealing with, then looked over to Gaspar. “I went to find Zella when I left you both, and the fortress was empty. I think the egg is still there. At least, the storeroom is protected.”
Gaspar glanced over at Imogen, who nodded. She slipped out of the tavern, saying nothing more. “We need to know what’s happening to the enchanters,” Gaspar said by way of explaining himself.
“Zella would have sent word if there was real trouble.”
Gavin stared at Wrenlow, then Olivia. He felt his mind trying to work through everything to process what was going on, but he was struggling with it. Pieces didn’t fit together the way he needed them to.
“I started off going on the belief that the Toral is working with Tristan,” Gavin said to Gaspar. “I’m less convinced. Now I’m starting to figure out what she’s really after. If it’s not the dark egg, then what brought her to the city?”
“Could she have been after you?” Gaspar asked.
It had been him each time they’d encountered her. That might be what it was about. She might have been tracking him, but they didn’t know why.
She’d believed there was something.
T’ranth.
“And there’s also the sorcerer who helped us,” Gaspar said.
“You had a sorcerer help you?” Wrenlow asked.
Gavin glanced at Gaspar, realizing that he hadn’t told Wrenlow about that. “A sorcerer helped heal Gaspar, and he knows the Toral. I have a feeling he knows her well enough that he wanted to protect her. That’s not the kind of person who wants to hurt others.”
He didn’t know what kind of person that made her. And that was the problem.
Gaspar frowned at Gavin. “Let’s play this out. If the Toral isn’t involved with Tristan, we still need to figure out what this t’ranth is. And whether you have it.”
“Not just that, but she mentioned dark magic. I don’t have anything other than the egg that has dark magic. And she wasn’t after the egg in Nelar.”
But she’d detected Gavin.
What did he have?
Enchantments. El’aras weapons. His own magic.
None of that was dark.
Could there be something else in the city that I’d grabbed?
Yoran had become a nexus of magic ever since he’d come, and it had drawn Cyran here for a reason. The only other thing he had was the sword, but that was El’aras made too.
Gavin looked down at the blade sheathed at his side. “The only thing I can think of is the sword, which was in Cyran’s home. And yet, when I faced her, she would have seen the sword, and she didn’t try to take it from me.”
“I’ve never heard of the Toral before now,” Wrenlow said.
“Neither have I,” Gaspar said.
“Zella had heard of them. And Anna.”
“Sounds like you have some planning to do,” Jessica said, then got to her feet. “Let me know if you need anything I can offer.” She headed into the kitchen and disappeared.
Gavin was going to have to deal with their situation at some point.
