A Champion Falls, page 7
“I’m sure you did,” Gaspar muttered.
Tristan turned to Gaspar, and he frowned more deeply. “You cannot understand what I was doing. You cannot understand the depths of my knowledge, and the depths of my experience.”
“And you can’t understand—”
Gavin ignored them. Something else had caught his attention. A faint, subtle whisper.
He turned away from everyone else and headed deeper into the forest, into the darkness of the shade. At first the whisper was soft, but the farther that he moved away from Arashil, the louder the sound came, until it was a clear, steady call in his ear. And he understood where it was coming from.
“Anna?”
Her voice had come through the enchantment before, and he kept waiting for her to try to get through to him again. Gavin listened for the sounds of the forest, for birds or insects or animals, but everything around him was still and quiet. It was almost as if the seeker tree attack had completely disrupted everything and changed the energy of the forest.
“Anna. If you’re there, answer me.”
He couldn’t hear her, but he had a sinking suspicion that she needed him. Anna had never called to him like this. That she would do so now, repeating his name, suggested that she needed his help.
Maybe she needed the Champion.
Could the trees have attacked the El’aras?
He would have imagined they had an easier time with the trees than he did, especially given their connection to their own power. But then again, the only reason Gavin had been successful was his connection to nihilar, and not because of the El’aras side of him. The trees wouldn’t have listened to the El’aras. Especially if they were commanded by someone.
“Gavin Lorren,” Anna said, her voice distant and quiet in his ear.
Gavin focused on the enchantment, and he pushed a bit of his core reserves into it, trying to use enough so that he could speak to her.
“I’m here,” he said. “Can you hear me?”
No answer.
He continued to send a trickle of power out through him and into the enchantment. It was only a little bit, but the more he focused that power out of him and into the enchantment, the more he started to hear something shift. The connection between him and the enchantment seemed to solidify.
“Gavin Lorren,” she said again. It was louder now.
“I’m here,” he said. “Can you hear me?”
“I can.”
There was a note of relief in her voice, and that surprised Gavin more than anything else. Anna was the Risen Shard. She was powerful. He wouldn’t think an El’aras would struggle with anything, especially not her. He would not expect her to be relieved at hearing his voice.
“I don’t know how much time we have,” she said. “The enchantment isn’t working that well.” A brief pause. “There has been an attack.”
“I’ve had some too. The nihilar attacked in Yoran, and I’m not exactly sure what happened in Arashil, but we were targeted by seeker trees.”
There was a moment of silence from her end, and he worried that maybe he had not given enough power to the enchantment, or perhaps some part of it had faded. He had no idea how far away she was. She had returned to the main part of the El’aras lands, and Gavin didn’t know how far apart they were. It was possible that she could not fully communicate with him.
He tried to pour more power into the enchantment, but he knew if he pushed too much, he ran the risk of overwhelming or possibly even destroying it. He only wanted to give it more energy so that he could communicate better.
“Gavin Lorren,” Anna said again.
“I’m still here.”
“Seeker trees?”
“They attacked us,” Gavin said.
“Then it is moving.”
“What is?”
“The danger,” Anna said. “You need to be careful.”
Gavin’s brow furrowed. “Of what?”
“Need to be careful,” she said again.
Her voice was faint and crackling, and Gavin had a difficult time hearing what she was saying. He wished he had some way of repairing or strengthening the enchantment, but he didn’t know how to do that. Something seemed to prevent her from reaching him.
Maybe someone.
“What’s going on?” Gavin asked.
“We have been attacked,” Anna said.
“Attacked by what?”
“We don’t know.”
There was a pause, and in that silence, Gavin recognized the worry he had heard in Anna’s voice. Something had targeted her people, and she had no idea what it was. How was that even possible? She was incredibly powerful, and so were the El’aras. Gavin wouldn’t expect anything to target the El’aras that they couldn’t handle.
“Anna?”
“We have moved,” she said.
“To where?” Gavin asked.
“Beyond. The attacks have been moving, but we have not been able to defeat them.”
“The nihilar?”
Gavin didn’t know if the nihilar had moved from attacking him to the El’aras, or if this was something else. The nihilar—and Chauvan in particular—certainly had the ability to defeat the El’aras, so Gavin could see how their attack was possible, though he wondered if it was something else.
“Not the nihilar,” she said, sounding strained. “I do not know what it is.”
“Can you fight back?”
“We are not strong enough. There are…”
Her voice faded again. Gavin pushed a bit more power into the enchantment as he tried to reconnect to Anna, but he wasn’t sure if he was going to have enough or if there was going to be any way for him to maintain that connection. Nothing seemed to work.
She needed his help. He needed hers as well. Anna would know more about the seeker trees.
“Fires,” she said. “Ancient. Nothing like we have seen in some time. The elders speak of the same, but…”
The connection was lost again.
Gavin focused on his core reserves, on the power of the El’aras ring, and he tried to reconnect to her.
“What’s causing the fires?” he asked.
“Ancient evil,” she said.
Gavin had no idea if she was answering his question, or if she was speaking about something else. At this point, he couldn’t tell anything other than the fact that she was responding to him, but responding in what way?
“What ancient evil?”
“Fires,” she said again. “Be prepared.”
“Where are you moving to?” Gavin asked, deciding to try another approach.
There was silence.
He attempted to try to send enough energy through the enchantment to connect to her, but each time they talked, he could feel something fading.
“Anna? Where are you moving to?” he tried again.
If the El’aras were under attack, shouldn’t he get involved?
That was the very reason he had gone after the nihilar in the first place. Gavin had wanted to understand why that would attack the El’aras, to understand the reason behind that violence. The dark threat, as Anna had called it, was an ongoing danger to their people.
“Fires,” she said again.
“I understand that there are fires,” Gavin replied. “How can I help you?”
“Stay away.”
Her command was clear, as clear as anything had been, and he frowned. “I can’t stay away. If the El’aras need help…”
Maybe there was another way. The El’aras had to run from whatever was coming for them, but what if they had a place they could go for more help?
“Bring your people here,” Gavin said.
“Not safe,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Ancient evil.”
Gavin had no idea how much of it was her repeating herself and how much of it was this unstable connection between them. At this point, they weren’t able to speak to each other easily or clearly. He felt as if all he had to do was find a way to figure out the connection, some way to join the two of them, but he couldn’t. And he had a sense from her that she couldn’t reach him either.
“Bring your people to Arashil,” Gavin said again.
“Dangerous,” she said. “Nihilar.”
That part was clear.
“I have control of nihilar,” he said.
“Control?”
He felt as if he was missing aspects of the conversation, with the stuttering nature of how she was speaking to him and the delay between her responses, but it seemed as though some parts of their communication, and maybe the key aspects, were getting through.
“I have control of nihilar,” Gavin said. “And we stopped the attack. We have control of Arashil.”
He waited.
When she didn’t speak again, he decided to try something else. “If this is an ancient evil and you need help to defeat it, bring your people out. Come to—”
Gavin almost said Arashil again, but maybe that wouldn’t be enough protection. There were the bralinath trees here, and that was it. If her people had already left their ancestral home to run from this ancient evil, then any place they went would have to offer something more than what their home did. He would have to promise them a layer of protection that they couldn’t get any other way.
“Bring them to Yoran,” Gavin said.
“Yoran?”
Her voice came through clear, enough that he could almost believe that she was standing next to him. But then her voice grew quiet again, and Gavin lost track of her words.
“Bring them to Yoran,” Gavin repeated. “We can help. We can offer you protection. We can—”
The enchantment faded completely. She was gone.
He tried to put more power into it, but each time he did, he couldn’t feel anything different. He kept repeating her name, but nothing changed. Finally, he released his core reserves, and he looked around the forest.
He turned back and saw that the others were there. Gaspar watched him, Tristan frowned, and Brandon and Rayena had troubled looks on their faces.
“The El’aras were attacked,” Gavin told them. “They had to leave their home.”
“We gathered that,” Gaspar said.
“I couldn’t hear much of anything, but she mentioned an ancient evil.”
“And you told her to come back to Yoran?”
“I did.”
“You know what that would mean if they were to do so?” Gaspar said.
Gavin understood. It wasn’t that he wanted to cause trouble for the constables, enchanters, or anyone else within the city, but Yoran had been the ancestral home of the El’aras at one point.
“Gavin?”
Anna’s voice filled his ears through the enchantment again, though distant and faint.
“Yoran. Coming.”
CHAPTER SIX
Gavin started back in Yoran’s direction, and the others marched alongside him. It was late in the evening, and it might’ve been easier for them to stay in Arashil for the night, but none of them had wanted to linger near the settlement. Not with the potential for the seeker trees to attack again, regardless of what the bralinath protections might be. There was not the same safety there had been before.
Their enchantments helped all of them move quickly. The forest blurred past so that the tall trees, including the bralinath, gradually spaced out as the five of them made their way toward Yoran, though the trees remained a constant presence the entire time they journeyed. The air smelled of the fragrance of the trees and the dampness of the earth, and there was a constant buzz of insects, though that increased the farther they traveled away from Arashil, as if the insects had avoided the settlement too.
He found Gaspar looking at him every so often, an unreadable expression in his eyes.
“You know what this means,” Gaspar finally said, breaking the silence.
Gavin glanced over to Tristan, who was walking next to Rayena. They had been quiet, though Gavin continued to suspect he knew something.
“I know,” he said.
“I don’t think you do,” Gaspar growled. “You just invited the El’aras to Yoran.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time the El’aras were there,” Gavin said. “It wouldn’t be the first time recently, either.”
“That’s not the nature of your invitation.”
Gavin breathed out. “If they’re facing some ancient evil”—which Gavin had no idea what to make of, other than that Anna had mentioned fires—“don’t you think that’s eventually going to come our way?”
“Unless it’s simply after the El’aras.”
“I doubt that’s the case,” Gavin said. “When has anything only been about the El’aras?”
“What makes you think you can do anything here, anyway?”
Gavin turned to him, and he frowned. “I don’t have any idea. All I know is that I need to try something.”
Gaspar scoffed. “Because of this El’aras woman.”
“It’s because they’re my people.”
Gaspar clenched his jaw. “I suppose the enchanters can begin placing protections, and maybe we can get the city ready.” He snorted. “I can only imagine what Chan is going to say when he learns you invited the El’aras to come.”
“They can offer protection.”
“We both know those aren’t the protections he wants.”
“No, not the type he wants,” Gavin agreed.
Darkness had fallen in full, the moon fat as it hung in the sky. It was nearly midnight by the time they reached Yoran. They had made quick time, far faster than Gavin had ever thought possible traveling to and from Arashil on foot. He could have taken the paper dragon or used one of the other stone golems, and he wasn’t sure why he had not.
Gavin felt a measure of relief when he found the city intact, with no signs of fighting.
“You can’t get rid of this place, can you?” Brandon said. “Everything seems to bring you back here.”
“Why do you say that?” Gavin asked.
“Well, it was once a stronghold for our people. A long time ago.”
Gavin looked over at Gaspar, who was frowning at him, and he shrugged. “I’m not saying anything else.”
“You don’t need to,” Gaspar said.
He turned to the others. “Get some rest and—”
“Where do you want us to rest?” Tristan asked. “Seeing as how you’ve decided that you’re in control of all of us.”
Gavin crossed his arms and stood in front of him. “Where were you staying when you were in the city before? Because I can guess where you were.”
Tristan held his gaze. “I was studying.”
Gavin snorted. “Studying inside the temple.”
“I was. You didn’t tell me that you didn’t want me to.”
That was true. Gavin hadn’t really cared. Increasingly, he wasn’t sure how much to care about Tristan or how much to worry about what he was doing and what he was involved in. But now, especially with what he had encountered, he no longer knew what to make of it.
“Just get some rest.”
“What about you?” Brandon asked.
“I think I could use a mug of ale,” Gavin said.
“Oh. I could do the same. Are we going back to that tavern you like? That place is quite interesting. Although the last time we were there, it was quiet.”
“I doubt it will be now,” Gaspar muttered.
Gavin tapped on the enchantment to try reaching Wrenlow. He had been attempting to get his attention during the walk back, but there had been silence from his end. Gavin hadn’t worried. Not entirely. But given what they had fought through and that Wrenlow was supposed to be waiting in Yoran to warn them if needed, Gavin would expect him to be waiting, ready to tell him anything. That Wrenlow was silent suggested that either he was off with Olivia, or something had happened.
“I’m going to the Dragon,” Gavin told the rest.
“Then we all will go,” Tristan said.
Gavin frowned at him. “You aren’t going to cause trouble there.”
“When have I ever caused trouble for you?”
Gavin bit back a laugh. He had to be careful not to let Tristan bait him. All of this was some sort of a game to him.
Instead, they wound through the streets and passed some patrolling constables, who Gavin tried to stay clear of. The size of their group was large enough that it would draw the constables’ attention, and he didn’t necessarily want that until he had a better sense of what he was going to do.
At one point, Gavin passed a tall, twisted bells tree and avoided it. A wall had been built around it, allowing the tree to grow ever taller. There were dozens of them throughout the city, and the people of Yoran had built structures around the trees, which left him thinking of Arashil and the bralinath trees. He doubted that bells trees were similar, but this was also a place of the El’aras.
Some buildings had been toppled during the fighting the city had faced recently, and despite attempts from the enchanters and the constables at rebuilding quickly, it was slow work. There were sections of the city that were more damaged than others, though Gavin found himself drawn to them for some reason. He continued to move quickly, avoiding the crowded areas, which might account for why he was drawn to the destruction—there were fewer people.
Now that they were within the city, he could feel the presence of the enchantments around it, designed to try to limit the use of magic. These days, Gavin had no real restrictions to his power, not the way he once did. He could still feel his core reserves, the power of the El’aras ring, and the nihilar flowing. All of it filled him with a sense of energy and a certain connection from deep within him.
Gaspar leaned close to him. “I haven’t been hearing anything from the kid.”
“Me neither,” Gavin said.
“Wonder why that is.”
“I’m hoping it’s just about Olivia, but…”
“But what?”
Gavin sighed. “Well, I’ve been trying to reach Wrenlow on the walk back and haven’t been able to, which would be worrisome enough on its own, especially given what we faced. But there’s another possibility, and it’s one that worries me more than any other.”
