Cyran stepped forward, spreading his hands on either side of him. With a flourish, his appearance transformed. Dark purple robes flowed down, his sharp nose stretched outward and became bulbous, and his brow widened.
Hamish.
Then he flickered again, and he was Cyran.
“Which of these do you prefer, Gavin? Or should I say, Chain Breaker?”
“I prefer none of them. Why are you so determined to come out here?”
“You decided to steal power from me once before, and it’s taken me a while to come up with what I would do to get my revenge. Do you know what it’s like staying inside an El’aras prison?”
“It’s my understanding that it was a temple,” Gavin said.
He tried to move his hand closer to the El’aras marker in his pocket, to summon Anna. She had come for him once before, but maybe she wouldn’t come this time. Maybe the fact that Cyran had escaped made her unwilling to do anything more.
“A temple? Perhaps to them it was a temple, but to those of us who care about such things, it was torment. And you forced me there.”
“After you used me, and then tried to kill me. I suppose we’re even,” Gavin said. “Maybe you leave Jayna alone, and we can call this a day.”
“No. Now that I have her and the ring, we’re going to summon her Sul’toral, and then—”
“And then what?” Gavin asked.
Something still didn’t fit.
Jayna had come to the city for a t’ranth.
She’d followed a trail of it.
She’d felt that power.
It wasn’t the one she had.
Cyran might have put her on Gavin’s trail, but there was something else here.
Cyran smiled. “You can’t even begin to understand what’s going on. All of this is but a precursor to something greater.”
“All of what?”
He chuckled, looking over to Gavin. “Haven’t you started to question why you were trained the way you were? Why you had to be the Chain Breaker?”
“I have,” Gavin said. They were the same fears he had, wondering what Tristan had in mind for him, knowing that Tristan would not have trained him to become the Chain Breaker had he not wanted to use him in some manner. “I also realize it didn’t make much of a difference. I’ve done what I needed to do, and Tristan did with me what he thought he needed to do.”
Another shout almost pulled his attention away, but refused to get distracted. The cold of magic washing over his skin ensured he kept his focus on Cyran.
“He trained you for a specific purpose. But you’re still his failure. I’m going to be his success.”
Gavin frowned. “What do you think you’re going to do?”
“I am going to succeed where you failed. And then—”
Gavin laughed. “All of this is your way of trying to impress Tristan?” He shook his head, though the barriers around him made it difficult for him to even do that much. “I don’t think Tristan cares whether or not you impress him. He doesn’t care about any of us. You know he never did. We were tools.”
“Tools. And yet, you never knew what you were built for. You never knew what he asked of us, how he intended to use us.”
“And I never cared,” Gavin said. “Not until I grew out of it, and not until he was gone did I start to care what purpose I had with any of it. And even now, he doesn’t even matter.”
As he said it, Gavin realized that what he was saying was true. He’d been wondering why he’d been trained to be the fighter, the Chain Breaker, but none of it really mattered. All that mattered was that he got to choose.
And he had.
By staying in Yoran, by helping his people, he had made his own choice. That was what was important.
“We were tools,” Cyran said, “but he was building us, designing us, honing us, all while focusing on a specific purpose.”
“And what purpose was that?”
Cyran looked down to where Jayna lay motionless, and he smiled. Gavin tried to move and fight forward, but he could not.
Eva could, though. She strode toward Cyran, smoke swirling around her.
Cyran looked up, and he chuckled. “Don’t think that I don’t know about you, little one.” He pressed his fingers together and twisted, then flicked.
It was a use of power Gavin had never seen before. Eva flew out of the clearing and slammed into one of the trees, where she crumpled. All of that power that he had seen of her, and there was nothing left.
Gavin struggled against the magic that was holding him, but he couldn’t move.
“When she awakens, she is going to serve me,” Cyran said, nodding to Jayna.
“She won’t,” Gavin said. “And if you think that you’re going to strip the Toral ring off of her—”
“If I think I’m going to strip it off? What do you think I’ve already done?” Cyran held up his hand. The stone ring glittered on his middle finger, glowing softly with a pale light.
Cyran and a Toral ring were a terrible combination. Gavin had seen what a sorceress with a Toral ring could do. But Cyran…
Gavin couldn’t stand and do nothing. But as he continued to try to move, he could not. Frozen in place, he was forced to face Cyran while hearing the sounds of his friends fighting around him. Without him.
He strained.
Gavin needed to get free from the power Cyran used on him.
Destroy him. Help my friends.
Those thoughts stayed with him.
“When I summon her Sul’toral, then I will take real power,” Cyran said.
“Do you think Tristan is going to be impressed by any of this?” Gavin said, trying to delay him. It was the only thing he could think of doing.
Cyran shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “You failed him. And then you failed him again. And now… even the great Chain Breaker is not going to be able to stop this now. Everything is too far gone, Gavin. You can do nothing.”
Things didn’t quite
