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

Volst and then chuckled. “You keep showing up at interesting times,” the focus said to Trevor.

“I’ll be disappearing again after we talk to King Turgul.”

Mino nodded. “He can see you now. Is there anyone else you want to talk to?”

“General Henkari, but after we talk to Akku’s father,” Trevor said.

“I was assigned to escort you to the palace. Turgul is ready for you now,” Mino said, urging them to stand. “You are good as you are.”

“I am not! A few minutes, please,” Lissa said, running upstairs. In a bit more than a few minutes, she returned, looking a bit fresher with more vivid makeup.

“You look pretty,” Trevor said.

She brightened and took his arm. “Now we can go.”

They took rickshaws to the palace and entered the small courtroom that Trevor had been in before. In his mind, he was still fighting Maskumite wizards and Lord Banjee’s assassins. The king was sipping some wine and reviewing a document from a stack of them by his side.

“Ah, Des,” King Turgul said, standing up from his chair.

“I go by Trevor again.”

“Back to being a prince?” Turgul asked.

“No, a duke,” Trevor said.

“That is right. You have a Brachian domain. If you hadn’t gotten that, I might have given you Banjee’s lands. Sit, all of you. Mino said you might have a gift for me?”

Volst placed a small bag of tokens in front of the king and sat down looking at Trevor.

“Can Mino make more of these?” the king asked.

“Perhaps. Lissa can give him instructions. Not everyone has the power to create them,” Trevor said.

“I think you might,” Lissa said to Mino.

“Ah, you’ll be the one to give me instructions before you leave?” Mino asked.

“Leave? You just arrived in Argara,” the king said.

“We are heading to the Maskumite border,” Trevor said.

“Bringing help with you?” Mino asked. “The Maskumites are increasingly restless.”

“I’m here to find out what I can about the threat from the Maskumite magicians. The magicians are behind more than King Worto’s expansionary activities.” Trevor explained what happened in Okora and Ginster when King Worto stopped to talk to Trevor.

“Maskum is very similar to Viksar,” King Turgul said. “A country run by magicians, but they aren’t disciplined like the Viksarans.” Turgul nodded to Lissa and Volst. “There are secret factions that rise and fall.” Turgul shook his head. “I’ve never known anything about their inner workings. The Maskumites have a potentate, but he does little as the head of state. The real power rests with the magicians. Perhaps Henkari can shed more light on what they are like now. He spends most of his time managing our southern defenses.”

“My other stop before we go south,” Trevor said.

The king looked at his son. “I suppose you are going to go with them?”

“With your permission, O great king.”

“You can dispense with the ‘great king’ business. If I don’t permit you, you’ll find a way to join them, anyway. Go and observe.” Turgul waved his hand at his oldest son. “At least I know you are in good company.” Turgul glared at Trevor. “You are still good, aren’t you?”

“He is,” Volst said.

Turgul gave Trevor a report on the healing that Jarkan was experiencing. There were still factions that were upset Turgul was the king, but even resistance to his rule was settling down. Mino’s current job was to monitor that situation. The meeting came to an end. “Make sure Akku returns to me mostly intact.”

“Mostly? I’ll make that one of my priorities,” Trevor said with a smile.

Mino stood. It was apparent the audience was through. “I’ll take you to General Henkari.”

They walked to the rear of the palace and into the offices that Trevor had used to plan the palace defense.

“Is the general in?”

Henkari walked out of one of the offices. “I’d better be, with the warning you gave me, Mino.” He extended his hand to Trevor and looked delighted to meet Volst. He bowed to Lissa. “You look even more pretty than the last time we met.”

Lissa blushed. Henkari was a force, Trevor thought.

“I am planning on inspecting the border with Maskum,” Trevor began. He spent the next hour retelling his experiences and explaining what his new calling was.

“Dryden or Selara or whoever isn’t putting you to waste in Brachia, I see,” Henkari said.

Akku had left them early on to talk to some of Henkari’s officers and rejoined them. Trevor guessed listening to two versions of the situation was enough for the crown prince.

“I will go with you. It’s past time I did a little inspecting of my own. I haven’t been south since the insurrection, and I should be showing the troops my face.” He paused and met Trevor’s gaze. “They might be your armies before this is all over.”

“They will be working with allies, under your command,” Trevor said.

Henkari nodded. “That sounds like a strategy. You are leaving tomorrow?”

“We are. You can join us or come later.”

“I will join you. I’ll need the rest of the day to make arrangements. You’ll be leaving from the crown prince’s house?”

“How did you know we were staying there?”

Henkari smiled. “I’m paid to know.”

~

Akku, Lissa, Volst, and Trevor set out for Derwizul early in the morning. When they approached the south gate to leave Argara, Mino Kawis, General Henkari, and a squad of four soldiers waited for them.

“You are coming with us?” Trevor asked Mino.

“To Derwizul. I’m moving most of my workshop back to Argara, so I have to decide what to take. There are things to discuss along the way,” Mino said.

“Will you be speaking for King Turgul?” Trevor asked.

Mino only smiled at him and urged his horse toward General Henkari. It was clear that the focus did have information from the king, and Trevor looked forward