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

she was the focus. Reena didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. I thought as long as we are here, I can swap her out for you for a few hours.”

“I wouldn’t mind a Ginsterian meal rather than Jarkanese,” she said quietly. “I’ll grab my bags and change out a few of my things.”

“Then that is what we will do.” Trevor told Volst what he was going to do since Akku had left just after the general had.

Trevor clasped Lissa’s hand and smiled at her as he thought of the seer headquarters lobby.

In less than half an hour, Trevor reappeared with Reena in the work yard. The ex-focus wobbled a little but had a grin on her face as soon as she recognized the first worker. In a few moments, old friends surrounded her, and Mino stood just outside the ring of well-wishers alongside Trevor.

“That was nice of you,” Mino said.

“It was the right thing to do,” Trevor said.

Akku and Volst rode into the work yard. The crown prince had a frown on his face.

“It is one thing to be a prospective crown prince and another to actually be one. They won’t let me tell any stories at our inn.”

“Like you did before?”

Akku nodded. “They know my father well enough.” The plainsman sighed.

“We will only be staying tonight, so I’m sure you can take the disappointment,” Trevor said.

“That was what I told him,” Volst said. “I offered to replace him but was rebuffed. I suppose my Viksaran sensibilities aren’t appreciated in Derwizul.”

“Among other things,” Akku said.

Trevor couldn’t help but laugh. “Reena will be here for a few hours only,” he said. “Lissa didn’t mind visiting Brother Yvan.”

“A few weeks to get here, and she can come and go as she pleases,” Volst said. He rubbed an eye with his fist mimicking wiping away tears. “And I am stuck with having to ride in and ride out.”

“It’s not my fault you volunteered to be at my side.”

“And it’s not your fault that you asked me to join you,” Volst said, “Dryden’s messenger.”

“Cursed by Dryden,” Trevor said.

“If you weren’t, you’d be dead. You do understand that don’t you?”

Trevor gave his friend half a smile. “Right you are, and I remember that every day.”

He turned to Mino. “We are going to the inn to get settled in.”

Mino nodded, arms folding, still smiling at the reunion. “Go ahead.”

Trevor gave Mino a small bow and mounted Snowflake. Volst and Trevor left Reena in the work yard. At the inn, Trevor groomed his white charger and Lissa’s horse before heading inside. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. Not for the first time did Trevor contemplate the state he was in, being cursed by Dryden at the same time as being blessed by him. When it was all over, Trevor wondered if everything would even out.

It was finally time to retrieve Reena. He walked over to the workshop where Reena and Mino were talking by themselves in the yard. Reena stood as Trevor approached them.

“Mino tried to get me to come back to Argara, but he didn’t convince me,” Reena said.

Mino shrugged behind her. “Turgul asked me to try if I was able to communicate with her. She isn’t ready yet.”

“And I may never be,” Reena said with a smile.

She didn’t look very reluctant to return with Trevor, and Mino didn’t look disappointed.

“Shall we go, then?”

Reena nodded and placed her hand on Trevor’s offered wrist. They reappeared in the ancient room beneath the seer headquarters. They found Brother Yvan and Lissa sipping ale in the refectory.

“Back so soon?” Brother Yvan said. “I never got the chance to miss you.”

“Was your visit refreshing?” Trevor asked Lissa.

“It was. I even took a bath,” Lissa said.

She looked bright and clean, wearing fresh clothes. A few long days from now, they’d be riding along the Jarkanese border with Maskum. Trevor didn’t have anything he needed other than a few words with Brother Yvan and the head seer about his experience with King Worto. He told Brother Yvan about the Listenwell manor steward stripping the house and grounds.

“That didn’t take long. Well, it’s always better to start fresh,” Brother Yvan said.

Trevor didn’t believe that. “Take another sip before we go, Lissa. It’s back to spiced beer.”

They teleported to the inn’s stable yard. Trevor had ended up with one foot sitting on a pile of horse manure.

“Well, we start with entertainment,” Volst said, clapping from a bench by the back entrance to the inn. He lifted a mug of something to his lips. “I hope you made friends with proper ale when you were in Ginster.”

“Lissa might have, but I didn’t.”

“I did,” Lissa admitted, putting her hand to her mouth to hide a smile.

“Akku is waiting for you inside. He’s in the common room telling stories despite what he promised the innkeeper.”

The three of them walked into the common room. A ring of men and a few women sat around him, listening to one of the crown prince’s romantic fictions. Trevor knew it was a fiction because he had heard the story before, and Akku admitted some of his recollections were made up.

“Ah, the plains cat killer,” Akku said. He didn’t give Trevor a chance to respond before he related the story of the plains cat and the cubs.

“Have you just told the truth?” one of the men said. “I think I’ve seen those cubs in a village partway into the plains.”

Trevor laughed. “How are they doing?”

“They are losing their cuteness if they were as young as Prince Akku said. Not quite ready to be taken out into the plains and left, the woman said.” The man shook his head. “You really killed the mother cat with one arrow?”

“It was a special