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

or both of the other magicians interrogating Potur were the better magicians since Lissa had been just as merciless with them as she was with the others.

The fighting ended, and the villagers won. Potur, Trevor, and Lissa accounted for more than half of the dead enemy. The villagers made sure that none of the attackers would be alive to face a magistrate.

“What happened?” Trevor asked Potur.

“My interrogators told me more than I told them. They were under the pay of the Maskumites, and with the anticipated arrival of General Henkari at the border, they were going to use this atrocity as a lure. The Maskumites were to set up an ambush not far from here.”

“It might still happen,” Trevor said. He looked at the innkeeper. “Can you send someone to the garrison with a message?” Trevor said.

“Why do you need a message, messenger?” Lissa said.

“I didn’t think,” Trevor said, biting his lip. “Where do you think the ambush will be?”

The innkeeper told him that the fake cleric’s information about the border moving was correct, so there were two possibilities, an ambush along the track that they had taken or one between the new guard post and the village.

“Send someone the fastest way. There are probably scouts around, but I’ll let Henkari know what is happening before your man arrives so he can prepare.”

Trevor took Lissa and Potur into an empty stable. “I’m going to teleport to the garrison and back. You can stay here and help the villagers get ready for whatever happens. We’ll be back in less than an hour.”

“Teleport?” Potur said as Trevor grabbed Lissa’s wrist.

~

“I need to see General Henkari,” Trevor said, walking through the gate.

“He is speaking to our colonel and the crown prince.”

“Show us the way,” Trevor said.

The colonel’s office was full of officers, Volst, Akku, and the general.

“You came back!” Henkari said. “Something is wrong. That is blood on you?”

Trevor told them about the attack on the village and the setup of the ambush. “The villagers didn’t let any of the robbers live, so we couldn’t talk to any of them. We are heading back. Do you have any questions?”

“How many robbers?”

“Over twenty,” Lissa said. “We needed to help the villagers, or they would have been overcome.”

“Then go. I have enough to come up with a strategy. The Maskumites will not be happy when we show up,” General Henkari said as he pounded his hand on the desk.

~

The cleanup had barely begun when Lissa and Trevor returned to the village. The villagers had found a few more of the attackers, and Potur had taken it upon himself to become the interrogator.

“It’s only fair,” Potur said, rubbing his knuckles.

Trevor looked at the man tied up in a chair in a storage room at the inn.

“Lissa can help,” Trevor said. “Have him repeat the answers he’s given you.”

They eventually found out that the marauders were volunteers from the Maskumite regular army. The Maskumite force camped in the next valley to the west, waiting for Henkari to arrive at the village.

“And the border shift?” Trevor asked.

“As cover for our army,” the captive said.

“Our trip was well-timed,” Potur said once he handed the Maskumite over to the villagers.

“Dryden works where he will,” Lissa said.

“I guess Dryden is following you,” Potur said.

Trevor sighed. “I’m the one who is supposed to follow Dryden.”

The information meant another quick trip to General Henkari. Trevor left the general with the officer’s urging to continue on his way before the border closed.

Trevor would have rather stayed to fight the ambushing Maskumites, but he was explicitly told that Henkari was quite capable of dealing with the situation. Trevor knew that to be accurate, having worked with Henkari in Argara.

The three of them left the village heading south. Not far from the village, Potur took them off the main road and on a path east of the road.

“Not only will we bypass another border outpost, but we will be staying away from the Maskumite troops to the west of us,” Potur said.

“Has this strategy been employed by the Maskumites before?”

Potur shook his head. “Everyone sets up ambushes when hostilities get hot, but laying waste to a peaceful village? No. You’ll remember the Maskumite said the army asked for volunteers. There are good Maskumites as well as the swine who attacked the village. I’m sure our general is getting worried.”

Trevor looked at the ambush as a significant provocation. His hope that he could get in and out of Khartoo before a formal war was declared might not be realistic, and he wondered if he was too late in getting Brachian troops to the border in time to do any good. Still, Trevor remained convinced he had to take the time to learn more about the Maskumites.

The track stopped at a clearing. On the other side, Trevor could see a wider road. “We have circumvented the main road through the mountains?”

Potur gave Trevor a knowing smile. “We didn’t have to come out so soon, but we can make much better time on the road.” They rode through the clearing and onto the gravel road. “This gets rolled every few weeks, or it would be a rutted mess up here,” Potur said.

A few hours later, they emerged from the forest into a small town. The roofs were flat with holes in the plaster for draining. The nicer homes had decorative holes. The walls extended up so you couldn’t see the roofing material. The look was different from anything Trevor had seen in his travels. As they rode onto flat cobbles, Trevor noticed that many men were as tall as him and the women were much taller than Lissa.

“See? You can fit in here,” Potur said. “There is a little inbreeding in this town, but they are