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

he has been abducted. He was able to give us the message, but he expected to be moved. Your activities are stirring up the Maskumites.”

She looked up at Trevor. “We need to go to Jiksara!”

“We will, but can we have a quick meeting with Lister Vale first?”

“Go to his office. I’ll make sure he is there along with Reena.”

When all were assembled in the head seer’s office, Trevor told them of his adventures in Khartoo, Wistfall, and on the border. He went so fast, he didn’t know if he had left anything important out, but Lissa didn’t correct him. Trevor could see the worry etched on her face. He didn’t even know if she was listening.

“We know enough. King Worto has sent a large army south to Jarkan, Mino reports.”

Trevor nodded. “I’ll visit Okora once we have finished in Viksar,” he said. “Any troops will be welcome. It appears that we will have to dismantle Khartoo’s enclave.”

“That is your job, not mine,” the head seer said. “I will communicate with Coosin Escarik. His patience has finally paid off.”

“I know,” Trevor nodded and grabbed Lissa’s hand. “We have to get going.”

They left directly from the head seer’s office and appeared in Seer Caspur’s office in Viksar.

Lissa shook her head. “Sometimes teleporting is too quick. Do you know where my father is?”

“Let’s get my ring,” Trevor said.

They quickly teleported to the border where Trevor had left the ring and returned to the Viksaran seer’s study. Trevor closed his eyes, holding Lissa’s hand. “I’ve got my ring. Now, where is Lissa’s father?”

Trevor had to wait almost an hour, but it was worth it. Brother Yvan had retrieved a map of Jiksara, and Lister Vale, who was the best at locating seers, found the precise spot where Seer Caspur was taken. Trevor hadn’t been anywhere near the place, so they couldn’t teleport any closer than where they presently were. Trevor rolled up the map, and they exited the church and hailed a hired carriage.

It took them past the building where the captors held Caspur. They descended from the carriage at the end of the block and walked past a three-story tenement. The head seer couldn’t give them a better bearing. From here on, the pair had to rely on their abilities.

Trevor took Lissa down an alley to the back of the structure. From the rear, it was plain that three of the tenements were connected. That made the task of locating Lissa’s father worse, but they had to do something. The sun was setting, and Trevor took Lissa back to the Jarkanese border.

He found Volst and Akku in the common room of the inn.

“Trouble in Viksar,” Trevor said and quickly described the situation.

“What about Jilgrath?”

Trevor shook his head. “No one told me anything. I can’t take you with me since Lissa powers my teleportation ability. Let General Henkari know that I am still working on getting more troops. We need to get the Maskumites out of the disruption business.”

“I agree!” Akku said, lifting a mug of Jarkanese spiced beer. He was further gone than Volst, that was for sure.

Trevor left them and got into his diving outfit. Lissa had dressed in mostly black. They left the border from the corridor between their rooms and ended up at the back of the tenements as darkness fell. Looking up at the wall, five windows were lit. Trevor and Lissa memorized their location and entered through an unlocked window in one of the tenements.

They walked through a kitchen in the light of Lissa’s magical light and found the back stairs leading up. Only one of the rooms on the floor had a light. Trevor inched his way through the dark hallway and stopped where a feeble light came through the bottom of the door.

He tried the latch. It was unlocked! Trevor quietly opened the door to an empty flat with a single magic light attached to a candlestick illuminating the room. Lissa patted her chest.

“I’m so nervous. What if we open the door to find Father hasn’t survived?”

“We won’t let that happen,” Trevor said, squeezing her shoulder and then giving her a quick hug. They had another light to investigate. As they approached the flat, Trevor heard voices. “You can hear better than I can.”

Lissa put her ear to the door, nodded, and made a few other faces while she listened. “Not them.”

They made their way through the building until they reached one of the back flats on the top floor. There were voices, but Trevor couldn’t hear what they said. Lissa gave it a try, and a look of alarm came over her face. She pointed at the door frantically and made a motion like Trevor breaking through the door, so he did.

Three men stood over a bound and gagged Seer Caspur. One had a knife, tipped with the seer’s blood from a cut on his cheek. The other two didn’t carry weapons. Trevor didn’t wait for a word of warning to stride through the door, and Lissa and Trevor fought with the three magicians.

A sliver of flame shot toward the defenseless Caspur, but Trevor put his hand out and let the fire splash harmlessly on his hand while he slashed away at the men in the small confines of the room.

Lissa struggled with one of the magicians, and they both fell through the window to the ground below. Caspur moaned, but Trevor couldn’t even go to the window with two more magicians attacking. He had to suppress the anguish he felt, not knowing, but expecting Lissa’s fall resulted in critical injury or death.

Trevor was frantically fighting the magicians, but his efforts were hampered by their attacks on Seer Caspur. He finally sliced open the leg of one of the magicians, and brought him down on the floor. Trevor was going to finish him off