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

Trevor didn’t need Lissa to discern Potur’s description of life in the caravan other than the beheading aspect. There was more bribery and betrayal in the world than Potur might imagine.

Chapter Fifteen

~

A lthough Trevor feared arrest by the Maskumite authorities at any time, the caravan was only hours from Khartoo. The road had begun its descent the previous day, and Trevor looked up at the overcast sky. The air seemed heavier, and the plants and trees were different from what they had ridden through for the past days.

“We part company with the caravan here,” Potur said, tossing purses to Trevor and Lissa. “Our agreed-on payment. I’ve already counted it. Now we have Maskumite money to spend. Follow me.”

They trotted past the caravan and other travelers on the much busier road until they were alone on the road before Potur took them through a dense thicket of trees. The caravan wouldn’t know they had turned off.

“Keep at it. We have to be on the other side of Khartoo before nightfall.”

Trevor nodded. How could a city be so large that one side was half a day away and the other was almost the same distance farther? Later in the morning, he received his answer when they crested a low hill to see a long city protected by an undulating wall. Not too far away, Trevor saw something he had missed in his life. A thick line of blue separated the sky from the land. Trevor smiled as he looked at the sea.

“I’ve never been to the sea before,” Trevor said.

Lissa smiled. “I have once, but not in Maskum. We went through Kyria down through Sirland to the ocean. My father used a meeting with the Sirland seer as an excuse to get away from Viksar when Hamel Rorsik kicked him out of the old church. Father had set up a group to design a new church, and we left. He didn’t want to walk around feeling angry all the time. The ocean looks the same to me.”

“No one has moved it, to my knowledge,” Potur said, smiling. “Khartoo is long and narrow, hugging the bay from east to west. If the wind is favorable, it is easier to get from one side of the city on a boat.”

Trevor guessed the city must be all of twenty miles wide. “It is faster to travel around than through?”

Potur nodded. “It is, plus I don’t like entering the city with a smuggler’s caravan. You might find the amount in your purses cut in half from the guards’ greedy little hands. Besides, the magicians congregate on the west side, and my contacts live in the eastern part of the city.” He urged his horse on as they rode down onto flat lands.

The walls grew even taller as they approached an eastern gate. The traffic was light going in and out of the city, and the guards flirted a bit with Lissa, asking for a modest amount of money to let them through.

Once in the city, Potur told them that they would have had to pay more than twice as much if they were known to be smugglers.

“You are worth your weight in iron,” Trevor said to Lissa. “Thank you for staying calm and enduring their comments.”

“Iron, eh? What is a girl going to do when complimented by such handsome men?” Lissa said with a smile.

“Take it, pay your bribe, and move on,” Potur said.

“Now that that is over, where do we go from here?” Lissa asked.

“We take the outside ring road that runs along the inside of the wall for a mile or so. Our destination is close by,” Potur said.

“No ocean view?” Trevor asked, almost sincere.

“None, but I have contacts on the wharf. We will see and smell the sea tomorrow.”

Trevor settled in the rear as they rode to the ring road that Potur talked about with the wall on their right and a weedy patch with bushes and trees before reaching the buildings of Khartoo. There was plenty of traffic once they reached the road to the sea intersecting with the ring road. Trevor could look down the broad avenue as it headed in a straight line to the sea.

They didn’t spend a lot of time on the ring road, but just after they turned off, it stopped.

“The road stops at a gate where there is a garrison and then begins again on the other side. Long ago, it ran along the walls unimpeded. I wish it did again,” Potur said.

They turned off on a road that headed toward the sea. This one didn’t go all the way. The buildings were made of plaster over bricks. Trevor could tell because the plaster was falling off in chunks revealing the bricks on many buildings.

“Is it like this all over Khartoo?” Trevor asked Potur, noting the sides of the buildings.

Potur nodded. “The damp air from the sea breaks down the plaster. In better areas, you’ll see lots of patches. In the best areas, All the buildings look new since they are repaired every year if not more often.” He turned into a gate. “We have arrived. I can’t see us moving anywhere else while we are in Khartoo.”

The exterior might have looked different, but Trevor had never seen a truly unique setup for an inn. This one even had a dining room and a common room. The insides looked better than the outside with its peeling plaster.

The innkeeper, a woman, seemed to know Potur. They each had rooms in a row on the second floor with the windows facing the street. Trevor looked outside his window, seeing rickshaws on the roads. He wondered who came up with the idea first, Jarkan or Maskum? He opened the window and blinked his eyes. The wind had shifted, and a thick salty odor from the