A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) by D'Artagnan Rey (mystery books to read TXT) 📕

“Zier and the other scholars specialize in many different subjects,” Jazai pointed out. “Including areas that aren’t typically studied by most modern academics and Magi. So if it is a case where they couldn’t learn what it was, they probably had little choice other than to hand it to us.” The diviner’s face contorted in confusion. “Well, no. That brings me back to the fact that Zier would have been more eager to get his hands on it.”

“Was he not?” Devol asked.

The boy shook his head. “No, he was more…tepid, I guess.”

“That sounds about normal for him,” Asla replied.

Jazai chuckled. “Finally, someone else gets it. Most of the other scholars have been away for the last couple of weeks. I miss Wadia. She could at least take a joke.”

Devol leapt upward and saw the mountains in the distance. He landed and caught up with the other two. “The mountains are coming up. We should be there in no time.”

“Very well then.” The other boy held a hand up, his thumb pressed to his middle finger. “Meet you there.” He snapped his fingers and blinked away in a blue glow as his two teammates charged their Mana and quickened their pace.

When they arrived at the edge of the forest only about half a mile from the foot of the mountain, they paused to discuss their options as they stared at the massive red-and-gray bulwark in their path. “So are we headed through or around?” Jazai asked. Devol noticed that he was breathing a little more heavily than before although he was impressed that for all his teleporting, his Mana only seemed to be reduced by a small amount.

“I’m curious,” Asla began and caught the attention of her companions as she pointed to the mountain. “It is called King’s Fall Mountain, correct? Why is that? Did a king fall off it?”

The boys chuckled and the diviner shook his head. “That would make a better story than the real one.”

“It used to be called something else,” Devol said and tapped his chin as he tried to recall the details. “Red Ravine or something like that? Because of the red stones along the path. But a few hundred years ago, the Monleans king was ambushed in the mountains during a Britana invasion. It is said that he was able to hold off most of the attackers while he ordered his followers to retreat as they had a more important mission to undertake. Legend has it he was such a powerful Magi that he managed to rout the attacking army himself but died in the process.”

“Yeah, King Piero.” The other boy nodded. “I think they wanted to name the mountains after him but over the centuries, a couple of other kings met their ends in these mountains and not as heroically. The range earned the morbid name as a result. I hear both Monlean’s kings and visiting royalty don’t cross it to this day.”

“That’s true,” he agreed. “But King Jeauxn doesn’t leave the castle much anyway. I think the only time I’ve seen him in person was during the thousand-year celebration of Monleans when I was six years old.”

Asla looked at the mountains again. “I get an ill feeling looking at them,” she said and dragged her gaze away. “We are not kings but perhaps it is best that we take a path around?”

“It’ll be a little longer but most likely safer,” Devol agreed. “I’m not sure if the mountains are cursed or anything, but there are reports of bandit activity in the area. My father would often have to send teams out to search or scare them away, but they always seem to be replaced or return after a time.”

“Is it worth merchants traveling through, then?” Jazai asked.

“Well, most can’t move as fast as we can,” he pointed out. “I have heard that they are building a teleport network between merchant and supply channels, but it’s still in the beginning stages.”

“It’s something to look forward to and it would make these missions way easier.” The other boy adjusted his pack and looked around. “All right, Devol. Which way?”

“Let’s go left,” he said. “The forest stretches to the side of the mountain for a fair distance so we’ll still have some cover.”

“Sounds good to me.” Jazai lifted a hand to snap his fingers but Asla reached out and stopped him.

“Run with us,” she said. “Conserve Mana. It is a long trek.”

Devol studied her curiously. The seriousness in her tone seemed more like a warning than a simple suggestion. The other boy gave her a brief questioning look before he lowered his hand and nodded. “All right, I’ll keep up. Let’s move.”

The three set off again. Vaust had watched them from within the cover of the forest and was pleased to see that Asla’s instincts were as sharp as ever. There was something there, although it did not appear to be anything he should be too concerned about, even for them. They should be safe henceforth. He stepped into a clearing, continued to shadow the trainees on their journey, and made sure to hide his Mana along the way.

“We’re almost out of the forest,” Devol announced. “There should be nothing but fields. I think the next town beyond the mountains is Granvy, but we’ll be able to go farther than that, so we should think about camping for the—”

Asla held an arm to stop him out and her ear twitched. Jazai stopped of his own accord, took his book out quickly, and opened it. “I have eleven names,” he stated quietly and peered into the trees around them.

“We’re being followed,” the wildkin noted and her gaze darted in all directions. “Or trapped, rather. They are wearing thieves’ oil. I could hardly discern their scent.”

“Bandits?” Devol asked and slid his hand to his majestic. Before he could draw it, however, dozens of arrows whistled through the trees toward them.

Jazai moved quickly between Devol and Asla, held his