The Shielded Past (The Dragon Rogues Book 3), page 14
“Then I can help.”
“I will get you a list,” Jonathan said.
“A list?” He frowned. “I don’t know if I can—”
“You want to find her, right? Then we will get you a list, and you will help us with whatever you can.”
Char nodded slowly. “I suppose. I will help as much as I can.”
Jonathan got to his feet. He had started toward the door when an idea came to him. He reached into his pocket, grabbed the strange enchantment that he’d been given by the woman, and held it out.
“Do you recognize this?”
Char took it and held it up to twist it in the light. He scanned it for a moment, and then he cupped his hand around the enchantment. He whispered a few words, and Jonathan felt the surge of power from him, along with a swirling that suggested that he was using some sort of facade. Not that he could see magic. Jonathan didn’t think that would even be possible. But as he watched, he noticed it swirling primarily around Char’s hand, and then it faded.
When Char opened his hand, he looked over, then held out the enchantment for Jonathan. “I feel three distinct enchantments in this.”
“That’s what I was told.”
“Well, three different enchantments, which suggests that there are different ways in which the power can be worked. Without trying to trigger it, I’m not sure that I can tell you what it is, but you need to activate all three of them at the same time.”
“How do I do that?”
“The better question is, should you do that?”
“I was told this would be helpful.”
“Told by who?”
Jonathan smiled. “That doesn’t really matter. But I figured that a sorcerer of your level should be able to help me find out what it does, and what more I can do with it.”
“Well, a sorcerer of my level can tell you that it is a combination of three different enchantments, but I can’t tell you exactly what the enchantments do, nor can I tell you how to control them.”
“Thank you,” Jonathan said.
“If you are determined to use it, you have to find a way to activate all three and prioritize one of them, which is what will give you the control. If you understand that control, then you can begin to change, and you can start to switch the focus to one of the other enchantments.” He shrugged. “At least, that would be how I would use this. But I don’t know if this was made by sorcery or dular.”
Jonathan frowned at the use of the word dular. It was a derogatory term for enchanters, and one that he preferred not to use. “I will get you my list.”
Char left them, and Jonathan turned to see Matthew sitting, staring at the fire crackling in the hearth.
“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked.
“Well, Matthew just had a fear of his confirmed.”
“That that sorcerer knows that he’s El’aras?”
“It’s more than that,” Jonathan said. “It has to do with how the sorcerer knows that he is El’aras.”
Elizabeth frowned. “How is it?”
“Because I’ve met him before,” Matthew said. “And I’ve had that memory taken from me.”
She frowned. “They can do that?”
“They can do anything,” he said.
“How about this? We go and figure out what happened to my sister, and then we can ask why she took your memories.”
Matthew nodded. “I think that we should.”
“How do you propose that we do that?” Elizabeth asked. She turned and looked at the door, toward where Char had departed, and her facade swirled around her for a moment before taking hold again. As it did, Jonathan saw a swirl of power around her, much like he had been seeing each time somebody used magic around him lately.
Maybe Char was right. Maybe Jonathan could see magic.
He would have to think about that later, much like he would have to think about what that meant later. For now, he had to propose something that he couldn’t believe he was thinking of.
“Well, we need to know what Jayna was doing with that scepter, right?”
“We do,” Matthew said, finally looking up.
“So we have to go to the one person who might actually be able to understand what’s going on with the scepter, and—”
“No,” Matthew said.
“I think we have to,” Jonathan said.
“We have to do what?” Elizabeth asked.
Matthew got to his feet and gripped the hilt of his sword for just a moment, looking over at Jonathan. “He wants us to go see Heziah.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I’m not going to say much about this, but I think the plan is stupid,” Matthew said as they made their way through the streets. Fog had settled over the city, though it was thin, and it made the city glisten.
Thankfully, Jonathan didn’t have the same sense of power that he had detected lately. If there was any magic that continued to sputter about in the city, he didn’t feel it now.
“I don’t like the idea of you breaking into the prison.” Matthew glanced over at Jonathan. “Ever since you got out, you’ve been different.”
“You think a man who ends up in prison shouldn’t come back different?”
Matthew grunted. “That’s not what I’m saying. You’ve been a bit more daring. But a bit more spiteful as well.”
“I think it has been Heziah,” Jonathan said. “I… well, I don’t know what it is. Maybe the idea of him getting in our way, threatening us, my sister, and trying to steal from us has been too much for me.”
“I get that.”
They stopped near one end of an intersection, with a row of houses across from them, and the sound of a tavern minstrel rolling down the street. The music was loud, boisterous, and every so often, the door to the tavern would open, and more music would come drifting out. Normally, it was the kind of place that Jonathan would be drawn to.
“He’s imprisoned, Jonathan. And when he was caught, I actually thought that maybe we could move on from all of this, that you could move on from all of this. I figured it would be better.”
Jonathan forced a smile. “I will move on. Once we figure this out. Figure out what happened to my sister, and then…” He shrugged. “Besides, if we do this the right way and help Char figure out what happened to my sister, we might even have the Society as an ally.”
“And that really isn’t like you, Jonathan.”
“Maybe I’ve changed. Five years is a long time, Matthew.”
A bloom of magic came from somewhere behind Jonathan. He turned and stared down the street. He didn’t see anything and wished that he had brought some of his enchantments with him. The only ones that he had on him now were enchantments that were designed to help in a fight.
“Anyway, if we figure this out,” Jonathan continued, “we can get the shield back from the Society. Don’t you want that?”
“Of course I do.”
“What about you? Since I got out, you’ve been different, too. All of this has been hard on you trying to understand your place with the El’aras, but you don’t have to hide from it.”
“Who said I was hiding?”
Jonathan held his hands up. “I’m not trying to start an argument. I’m just making a statement of fact.”
Matthew breathed out heavily. “Maybe he’s having that effect on both of us. I was perfectly content being Matthew Veran and not even thinking about where I came from. All of this, dealing with El’aras enchantments, and now El’aras artifacts that may or may not be powerful, has me torn in ways that I don’t even know how to respond to.”
“Well, we can deal with that together—that is, if you want to. We get rid of Heziah, if we can, or at least neutralize him. Then we figure out what we want.”
“When you say that, it tells me that you have already decided.”
Jonathan said nothing.
Matthew laughed quietly. “Who’s going to be the Dragon?”
“Why does there need to be one?”
Matthew snorted. “Do you know what the city was like after you were pinched?”
“Not particularly. You’ve told me a few things, but not much.”
“Anybody who had worked with you stayed quiet—for the most part, at least. There was a push to uncover any of the Dragon’s associates. Grayson was gone,” he said, watching Jonathan for a reaction but getting none, as Jonathan didn’t know how to react to comments about Grayson anymore, “and others sort of drifted into the background. Anybody who had worked with you tried to insert themselves into other teams. For a while, there were five or six teams running the streets of the city, each of them with somebody who wanted to become the next Dragon. A few were killed off. One was captured—”
“Who was that?”
“Lortian.”
Jonathan waved his hand. “He was no good. He even ended up in prison near me. Didn’t hear much from him.”
When men came to prison, they did one of three things, generally—at least in Jonathan’s experience. Some kept to themselves. That was one way to make it through a prison term. That was what Jonathan had wanted to do but hadn’t really been able to, given his reputation. Some joined a prison gang, followed whoever was leading it, and ended up losing part of their identity. Jonathan had avoided that. And some tried to exert their own influence, drawing people to them. That was what Jonathan had done.
Lortian had retreated, grown sickly, and then had been moved to a different part of the prison, and Jonathan had never heard from him again.
“Regardless,” Matthew said, “too many teams were vying for what you once held. That was why I got out of the city—or why I stayed out of the city, I should say. I didn’t want to get caught up in it. I wasn’t going to take up with some other team. And I didn’t really want to get caught up in the next wave of arrests.”
“But you were here when I returned.”
“Because things had calmed down. Nobody could become the next Dragon, and over time, everybody just sort of stopped trying. The jobs got smaller, and when somebody tried something a bit riskier, there would be a little bit of commotion after it, but then things would quiet again. Until you returned.” He looked at Jonathan. “Now that you’ve come back, there has been more of a stirring in the city. Maybe that’s not what you want, but there are others who see you, think that they can dethrone you and take up more of a position of authority.”
“Why haven’t I seen—oh. You’ve been taking care of things.”
Matthew shrugged. “I’ve been making sure that nobody really challenges you. It’s only served to enhance your reputation, though. Unfortunately.”
“Which is why you’re concerned about who will be the Dragon.”
“It’s why I’m concerned about who you will leave in your place. And if you leave them, and if they can hold that position, then…” Matthew shrugged. “Maybe the city can remain calmer this time.”
Jonathan breathed out slowly. “You know, I’ve never even thought about any of that.”
“I know you haven’t. So if you are going to leave, make sure that you decide what influence you want to leave behind. Whatever else, I know you care about your influence on the city.”
Jonathan wanted to object, but there wasn’t much to object to. Matthew wasn’t wrong.
Another bloom of power came from behind him. Jonathan turned, but he didn’t see anything. This was a regular burst of power, though. And with that regularity, he couldn’t help but feel there was a purpose to it.
“I guess we’re done,” Matthew said.
“No, that’s not it,” Jonathan said. “I just felt something.”
“That’s another thing that’s a little different since you’ve been back—what you feel.”
“Is it a problem?”
Matthew shook his head. “Not for me. At least, not particularly. But what you can feel of magic is impressive. As much as you might want to deny it, I suspect your ability is its own form of magic.”
That fit with Jonathan’s feelings about it as well.
“Anyway,” Matthew continued, “if we’re going to break into this, then I’m going to find plans to the prison. I know your sorcerer contact intends to get you a copy as well, but I figure it can’t hurt to use several different resources to make sure we have an accurate layout. Besides, I might be able to uncover whatever defenses they have there as well. I doubt we’re going to be able to walk in and ask to see him.”
“No. I’m quite sure that we aren’t going to be able to walk in and ask to see him.” That meant a break-in. That didn’t bother Jonathan. Much. “Do you need help with what you’re doing?”
“Do you need help with what you intend to do?”
Jonathan had started to turn toward the sense of magic off behind him, and he flashed a rueful smile. “I suppose that’s fair.”
“Just get back to the house, and keep Elizabeth from doing anything ridiculous. For all I know, she’s the one that you’ve detected.”
Jonathan doubted that was the case. When Elizabeth was using her power, he rarely detected anything from her. She was too skilled, and too often she drew upon her power through the El’aras charm so that she didn’t reveal anything of it. “I doubt we have to worry about her.”
“And I was thinking the opposite, that we need to be concerned about what she is doing. She’s going to need to be protected from herself.”
“You have to give her more credit,” Jonathan said.
“I have been trying. She can be a bit bullheaded, and I don’t want her to end up getting pinched, like you. Or worse.”
“And here she thought you didn’t care about her.”
“Don’t care? She’s a part of the team. A damn important one, too. And…” He shook his head. “She’s got a strength to her, Jonathan. I appreciate it, and I know that will serve her well. It’s just that she has to be reined in every so often for her own safety.”
“Well, I’m not going to be the one to reveal to her that you want her to be safe. But you should let her know. She thinks you don’t like her.”
Matthew snorted. “Fine.” He nodded to Jonathan and then drifted down the street, moving in a dangerous fashion until he reached the shadows, where he blended in and essentially disappeared, almost as if he were using some sort of enchantment to conceal himself.
Jonathan lingered for a moment until he decided that he needed to get moving. There had been that sense of power behind him, and yet he wasn’t sure what it was or who was responsible for it. Not Elizabeth, he thought. But he did wait until after Matthew had gone, to give her a chance to reveal herself. If there was one thing he knew about Elizabeth, it was that she could be a bit too quick to follow, which gave him an opportunity to see her shimmering facade.
He saw no evidence of it, and so he started toward what he felt.
There was a pattern to that enchanted power. At least, Jonathan suspected that it was enchanted power, and not sorcery. Though Char might be willing to work with them and had proven that he was interested in having Jonathan help figure out what had happened to Jayna, Jonathan was not convinced that he was a full ally just yet. He couldn’t trust a sorcerer. Even his sister didn’t warrant the level of trust he had for those on his team.
He hadn’t gone very far when he saw a caravan of wagons moving under the cover of darkness. They were sliding down an alley, though the wagons were narrow enough that they fit. There had to be at least five, and from the slow pace, they must be heavy.
What is going on?
Stranger still was the fact that Jonathan could feel something coming off these wagons. It had to be magic of some sort, but he didn’t know if the wagons themselves were enchanted or if the person pushing them had the power he’d started to feel.
Jonathan knew where he was in the city and where this alley would lead. He hurried around to the opposite street, at the far end of the alley, to get a better glimpse of who was a part of this. If there was ever a time when his being the Dragon would make a difference, it would be now. He didn’t like that he felt that way, but he also didn’t like the fact that somebody was obviously moving items through the city here without him being aware of what was happening.
Maybe Bartholomew would know.
Thankfully, his wealth had permitted him the opportunity to acquire a diverse selection of enchantments. Though he had not brought one for enhanced eyesight with him, he had brought several that would create something like a facade. The effect was limited, not nearly as powerful as what Elizabeth could create, but it didn’t need to be. All Jonathan really needed was to blend into the side of the building and remain motionless.
He slipped the small enchantment out of his pocket, and he squeezed it. It was shaped something like a cross, with small, sharp edges to it that almost drew blood, but not quite. He didn’t squeeze it tightly enough for that. But the enchantment did hurt. It needed contact for it to be effective.
As the power of the enchantment washed over him, Jonathan could feel the energy sweeping through him, and then it faded. He stood at the edge of the building, waiting for the wagons to reappear.
It shouldn’t take long. He felt the bloom of power from the enchanted wagons, or the ones pushing them, but still didn’t see any sign of them. Jonathan waited, and then waited some more, but when they still didn’t reappear, he found himself frowning.
Could they have some other way of moving the items?
Jonathan pulled the enchantment out of his palm, slipped it into his pocket, and then reached for an explosive enchantment. Better to be safe than sorry.
He slipped toward the alley, and once he reached it, he hesitated there for a moment. There was no sound, though now that he had a chance to think about it, there had not been any sound from the wagons before. He didn’t have to go far before he saw a body lying on the ground. He wasn’t dead, as he could see the man breathing, but he was unconscious.
Three others were like that.
The wagons were upended. And when Jonathan poked his head into one, he found it empty. He hurriedly looked at the others and found them each empty.
He didn’t see anyone here.
Strange, though, that somebody would attack the wagons in this alley. And this wasn’t even the first time that there had been a job like this. And he believed that it was all tied together somehow.
