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

don’t have any ability to evaluate them, but maybe it will be enough to find out what is useful and what isn’t.” Trevor said. “Volst, Win, and I will go through the Eagle cabal ledgers. We don’t have much time, but if we can find anything to give us an edge once we are in the enclave, I’ll consider using it.”

Trevor might not have been able to make much sense of a book of spells, but he certainly knew how to read reports. What he thought was boring and a waste of time suddenly became the most fascinating thing in his world. Volst had just spent months helping his father run Jilgrath, and Win could verify the sums that the other two pointed out.

“Look here,” Volst said. “No wonder these were stored away from the enclave. That must have been an Eagle cabal manor. According to these, the Eagles have been bilking the enclave for hundreds of thousands. It even shows where they have been hiding the money.”

“Make a list of the subtotals, Win,” Trevor said. He looked in more records and found the same methods used to divert money from the enclave into the Eagle cabal’s coffers. “I only found out one cabal name, and it wasn’t an animal but someone’s first or last name.”

“We will have an abundance of cabal members to interrogate, perhaps as early as tomorrow,” Volst said.

“I’ll need to sneak into the enclave and leave one of the ledgers in another cabal. If we hand one to a magician, who knows what they will do with something given to them by an enemy,” Trevor said.

“Didn’t you already try that once?” Volst asked.

“I tend to learn from my mistakes.”

“Tending to learn isn’t very promising. I’m sure you are more diligent than that.” Volst yawned. “I think we’ve learned enough. Win needs to do a bit more summarization, but I’m ready to retreat into my tent.”

There wasn’t much point in going any farther for the night. Trevor found Brother Yvan. “I was thinking of retrieving Lissa.”

The cleric frowned. “I suggest you let me take her place until the enclave is destroyed,” he said. “If you need your sword or cuirass charged with magic, Gorian can do the job better than she.”

“And what about you?” Trevor asked. “Isn’t Lissa a stronger magician than you?”

Brother Yvan didn’t look offended. “I have other talents,” the cleric said.

Trevor shrugged, knowing that Brother Yvan had a lot more experience than Lissa, and in a battle, experience could turn the fortunes of a side at least as much as a single act of courage. “If we need Lissa, we can get her here quickly enough, I suppose.”

Brother Yvan smiled knowingly. “I suppose you can. Make sure you have enough power in your armor and sword, so you don’t need me if we are separated.” He went to his tiny shelter.

The camp was almost silent as Trevor called out to Custik in the tent he shared with Glynna.

“Come in, come in,” Glynna said. “I wouldn’t mind talking to Dryden’s messenger.”

“And I’d be happy to listen in,” Custik said.

Custik and Glynna sat together on one of the two cots and pointed to the other. Trevor took the offered seat. “I need to have my sword and cuirass checked for magic,” Trevor said. He took off his tunic and then the armor and handed it over to Custik, who laid on the cot next to Glynna.

“Why don’t you add a bit of your power,” Custik said to Glynna.

“I’ve never touched this directly before,” Glynna said. She closed her eyes and put her hand on the stiff leather. She almost swooned, but Custik was right there to prop her up.

The magician let her be for a few moments. Trevor could tell she was getting a vision from the armor. She had the unique talent of glimpsing into the past of objects that she held. It was unusual enough to be a gold-level talent, but Glynna always claimed she was a silver magician.

Her eyes opened, accompanied by a shiver. “You took the sword and armor into the enclave so I can see what happened while you were there. Gareeze Plissaki is alive. You stabbed him, but the wound wasn’t fatal. He isn’t a member of the Eagle cabal. Will that disappoint you?”

Trevor shook his head. “No. What cabal is he?”

“Kibble’s White Sharks. It is a spying cabal, but I’m not sure I can get anything else. I had a flood of information, and much of it doesn’t make much sense without context that I couldn’t figure out. That is all. You know how my talent works. A glimpse here, a feeling there. I’m pretty sure I’m not misreading anything.”

“Did you learn anything about the cuirass?”

Glynna frowned. “My magic seems to be a surface thing,” she said, “like sunlight on your skin. If you go much deeper, it is old magic, and I’m as immune to that as you are to mine.”

“Then let’s paint some on so Trevor can get to safety if he’s smart enough.”

Glynna flashed a smile at Trevor. “You’ll get a pleasant mix of magic between Gorian and I,” she said.

Lines in the carving glowed as the pair infused the surface with power.

“That’s enough,” Custik said. “Now the sword.”

In a few moments, the magician declared Trevor had enough power for a trip anywhere in the world where he had been before.

“I won’t know you put in enough power until I try, but if I fail, it might be my last attempt,” Trevor said.

Glynna laughed. “No need to be so dramatic, Duke Trevor,” she said playfully. “What is in store tomorrow?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

~

T revor looked across the chasm at the ramparts of the enclave. The sun bathed the walls in the orange light of the day’s end. He had imagined