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

across the road to see Lissa standing over the last archer’s smoking body.

Lissa leaned up against Trevor. “I had hoped all the killing was behind us, and I never had to do it again.”

Brother Yvan joined them. “I hope you don’t have to either. Let’s join Reena. I quickly bound her wound, but it needs proper healing.”

Trevor looked down the road toward Tiralina. Bartell had escaped, but at least Trevor would have the opportunity to see what kind of goods the scoundrels were carrying. Lissa provided a magician’s light as they opened the boxes to reveal stolen goods of all kinds. Some even had traces of the unfortunate victims’ blood. Some people were truly terrible, Trevor thought, and he supposed he had met his share of them.

He wondered if anyone would consider him terrible. Trevor asked Brother Yvan for an objective opinion, but the cleric just laughed and went back to sewing up Reena’s wound. Trevor had never seen the cleric ever use such thin thread before.

The foursome rolled into the next town and asked for a good inn as soon as they could stop someone walking the streets after dark. When they secured the wagon and the horses, Trevor checked the stable for Bartell’s horse, but couldn’t find any animal close to the same markings of the highwayman’s mount.

The hour was far past to bother the local authorities, but Brother Yvan did tell the innkeeper they had survived an attack by robbers on the Northern Road almost an hour to the west. The innkeeper looked more tired than any of them and merely nodded as he took their money and took a seat behind the counter, propping up his feet, folding his arms, and closing his eyes.

“No food until morning,” Brother Yvan said to Lissa and Reena who were sitting in the inn’s tiny lobby.

“I’m not very hungry, anyway,” Reena said.

~

A female constable of some kind walked up to them as soon as they had been served breakfast.

“Are you folks the travelers who brought the wagon into the stable yard?” the woman said.

“We are,” Trevor said, munching on a crispy slice of fried bread.

“I have a man at the jail who says you stole the wagon.”

“His name is Bartell?” Brother Yvan asked.

The woman nodded.

Lissa volunteered to tell the woman the story of the attempted robbery. “We don’t want the wagon or its contents,” she said after telling the tale.

“But I will show you the clothing. Some of it is spattered with blood,” Trevor said. He had finished eating while Lissa told the story.

“Lead the way,” the woman said.

Trevor showed her the wagon and the boxes of loot. He pulled out some of the clothes. One of the items was a small girl’s dress. There were a few drops of blood decorating the bodice.

“Did Bartell mention having a little girl?” Trevor asked. “There aren’t any household goods that I could see, although it was already getting dark when they attacked us last night. We didn’t spend much time looking through this stuff.”

“He says you attacked his two drivers and his wife, killing them.”

Trevor smiled. “They introduced themselves as Oliva Tanner and Bartell Ogman. They were partners, but not married. They were with two drivers but were joined by four guards. Two archers were ahead of us who shot from the trees, wounding Reena, just like Lissa said. If we were the thieves, we wouldn’t be so open about all this.”

“You intend on leaving the wagon?” the constable asked.

“We will drive it to your office on the way out of town. There is nothing we want. There might be something that others might have reported missing in the boxes,” Trevor said.

The constable gave Trevor directions to the office and they parted company at the stable.

Everyone was ready to go not long after breakfast. Reena looked a bit bothered by her wound, needed a little help with her bags, but they were on their way to the constable’s office. Brother Yvan and Trevor walked inside. There were three constables, including the woman who had interrogated them sitting at desks.

“We brought the wagon. Is Bartell around?”

“In the back,” one of the constables said. “Why don’t you identify him?”

The pair of them stepped through a door, and the two male constables shoved Trevor and Brother Yvan into a cell from behind.

“What is this?” Trevor said, as a constable put a ward on the door. He had to restrain a smile.

“You’ll be transported to the county magistrate’s manor within the hour.”

“What about our—”

There was a scuffle in the office area. Lissa and Reena walked in, pushing the woman ahead of them. “They are in on the thievery?” Lissa asked.

Trevor pushed open the door and slammed it into the two men while Brother Yvan took the woman and tossed her into the cell. The scuffle didn’t last long before the three constables were sitting behind bars with Reena’s ward securing the cell door.

They were about to leave when Bartell casually walked into the office. His eyes grew when he realized the constables weren’t in the office. He turned to run, but Reena threw a spell at him that made the robber collapse. He was left in another cell.

“We can’t trust anyone in this town,” Trevor said.

“But we might be able to at least advertise the honesty of the constables.”

They wrote on placards from a stack of thick paper and left the wagon with its contraband sitting in front of the constable’s office. The posters were handed out to the townspeople. At this point they could deal with the issue, or if they didn’t, Reena claimed the town would probably have to dismantle the cell doors to remove the constables and Bartell.

“Is there no justice?” Lissa asked Brother Yvan as they left the town.

“There is, but there