A Clash of Magics by Guy Antibes (read this if txt) 📕

“Unless they can’t make it on their own,” Volst said drily.

“Right,” Brother Yvan said.

The pub was mostly quiet, something that was unique in Trevor’s experience. “This place isn’t very boisterous.”

“Against the law,” the cleric said. “Lots of laws in Ginster. I was glad to leave. When I returned with Eila, I thought I could make a go of it, but it was too much for me and too much for Eila.”

They stepped out after their meal and were immediately surrounded by guards of some kind. There were too many to fight.

“This is a great start,” Trevor said after folding his identity papers that didn’t work.

They were gently pushed down the street and were incarcerated in a small jail.

“We won’t end up here,” Trevor said. “I suppose we will have to wait until higher-ups are told I’ve been captured.” He walked to the door and grunted. A guard locked the door with a key, and Trevor could not walk out of the cell.

“Are they going to execute us?” Volst asked. “I’m thinking coming to Ginster wasn’t the best of ideas.”

Trevor sat on one of the cots. “We’ll wait. I’d like to know why I’m being detained and why I wasn’t allowed in the city. Why didn’t they arrest me at the gate? The border guard let me through, the gatekeeper sent me back to Viksar, and now I’m arrested. If I’m to be Dryden’s messenger, I can’t be running for my life in every city.”

“Do you have your appointment from Head Seer Vale?” Brother Yvan asked.

Trevor patted his pockets. “I left it at your headquarters.”

“Our headquarters,” Brother Yvan said with a smile. He didn’t seem bothered at all.

Volst shook his head. His arms were folded, and he was sitting up in the corner of his cot. “This happens too often when I’m around you,” Volst said.

“Would you like to leave the cell?” Trevor asked.

“Of course.”

Trevor walked over to him and grabbed his wrist. In an instant, they were in the room assigned to them at the headquarters. Volst bounced on the floor.

“Sorry about that,” Trevor said, rubbing his suddenly aching forehead. “You end up in the same relation to the floor of the place you left. Don’t ask me how it works.” Trevor picked up his messenger document and grabbed Volst’s hand to help him up. As soon as Volst stood, Trevor transported both of them back to the cell.

“That wasn’t very decent of you,” Volst said, brushing off his clothes. “I would have expected a friend would leave me behind.”

Trevor laughed through his pounding headache. “This friend doesn’t want to antagonize his captors any more than necessary. You two should be let go as soon as we get some kind of hearing or interrogation.”

Brother Yvan looked up from the cot he sat on. “Trevor is right on a couple of counts. Right to bring you back and right to bring himself back.”

They waited for less than an hour when a guard unlocked the cell door. “Out,” the guard said and not a word more.

Trevor patted the paper in his pocket, hoping it might be helpful, but even Brother Yvan didn’t know if the appointment would do any good. The seer headquarters wasn’t a powerful political force in Collet. Ginster’s prime had never asked for a seer the entire time she had ruled the country. Power created jealousy. Trevor had seen similar things during his travels. The very concept of Jarkanese focuses was a result of jealousy.

They followed the guard to an interrogation room. As far as Trevor was concerned, they all looked alike, no matter what the culture. An older uniformed man and a well-dressed middle-aged woman didn’t rise when they walked in. They pointed Trevor and his group to three chairs set up on the other side of a table.

“We can start with the three of you, but our primary focus is on Trevor Arcwin,” The woman said.

The questioning began with who they visited in Collet and why. After a few questions, the man stood up and looked at Brother Yvan and Volst. “You two can leave us now. I suggest you return to the seer headquarters.”

Trevor almost winced when the uniformed man said it. There was no respect in those words for the seers. He waited for Volst and Brother Yvan to leave. When the door shut, he sighed.

“You don’t like the seers?” Trevor asked.

“I’ll do the talking, Arcwin,” the woman said. “Did you know you are not allowed in Ginster?”

“I didn’t. I know I’m not to return to Presidon, but we entered the country from Jilgrath. There are no restrictions to my movements in Viksar. Lilith told me I wouldn’t have anything to worry about once I left the country. She either lied or was overruled by my mother.”

“Your mother is the queen and can overrule Princess Lilith,” the woman said. “I didn’t introduce myself. I am the Presidonian ambassador to Ginster. The Ginster prime granted my request to have you arrested. You made the mistake of telling a gate officer that you were in Collet to see Lister Vale. From that point on, the city guard merely waited for you to leave the seer headquarters.”

“That makes sense. Is it your intent to kill me?” Trevor said. He thought he might as well get the bad news out of the way.”

“It may be the Presidonian queen’s intent, but not necessarily Ginster’s,” the man said. “Presidon hasn’t granted the lands promised for our assistance in the overthrow of your father.”

“And you are a Ginsterian officer, not an officer in the city guard?” Trevor asked.

The man nodded. Trevor looked at the woman. “Does Presidon dictate Ginsterian policies?”

The woman blushed. “It is none of your business.”

Trevor barked out a laugh. “I insist that this