Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

I entered. “Oh good, you’re back.” She looked out behind me into the darkness. “Where’s my sister?”

“She’s out on a patrol around the camp,” I answered. “I think she has a hard time sitting still, just like you.”

“That sounds about right.” She suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down. “What were you two talking about, anyway? Why so secretive?”

“Val was just explaining how our debriefing would go tomorrow: how to respond to certain questions, where we would go at what time, the order of—”

Marin brushed past me with a heavy sigh. “Boring!” she shouted over her shoulder, drawing the word out for emphasis. “I’m going to bed. You and Lia should come grab your bedrolls; I have a very important business meeting in the morning, so I’d like to sleep undisturbed.”

“Of course,” I smiled graciously. Hearing her name, Lia stood from her seat by the fire and joined me at the edge of camp, and the three of us walked back to Marin’s wagon. We retrieved our things and wished Marin goodnight, then returned to the fireside and spread out our bedrolls side by side.

“Just like old times,” Lia sighed wistfully as she removed her sword belt, “although I’m not nearly as exhausted and sore from training as I was back then.”

“You’d better enjoy it while it lasts. We’re going to have to train twice as hard to make up for all of these missed days,” I teased.

She flopped backwards onto her bedroll with a laughing groan. I joined her on the ground and began to prepare for sleep, removing my belt, boots, and cloak. There was a rush of freezing air across my body as the cloak left my shoulders, and I quickly slid beneath my thin blanket as I tossed the cloak to Lia. She let out a soft gasp of excitement and immediately wrapped herself up, disappearing inside the thick black fabric momentarily before her face poked out from beneath the deep hood with a satisfied smile. I laughed as I shivered against the night air, scooting closer to her for warmth.

“So, what was it you really talked about with Val?” she asked, extending a hand out from the cloak to grab mine.

“I tried to convince her to leave out as many details about us as possible in her report to the King tomorrow,” I answered. “If Virram finds out how powerful we really are, I have no doubt that he’ll try to convince us to serve him permanently, either through bribes or through force.” Frustrated, I rubbed my eyes and sighed. “It’s not that I think Val would purposely say something to get us in trouble, she’s just so stupidly loyal to him. I don’t get it.”

“I’m sure she has her reasons...but I know what you mean.” Her amber eyes gleamed brightly in the flickering firelight as she regarded me with a smile. “Whatever happens tomorrow, we’ll face it together. Whether King Virram says we’re free to go or not doesn’t matter; nothing is getting in the way of our adventures anymore.”

Her confidence made me grin. “You’re right. He saw what happened when he tried to ‘teach me a lesson’ last time. I doubt he’ll do something that stupid again.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the smell of the fire against the cold air as I tried to purge the worry from my mind. “Now that you’ve had some time to think about it, where would you like to go for our first trip?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said, rolling onto her back and staring up into the night sky. “I figured we could spend some time with my parents before we left, seeing as we don’t know how long we’ll be gone after that.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea. What I wouldn’t give for one of your mother’s home-cooked meals right about now,” I said, rubbing my stomach longingly. “Plus, we’ll be able to see how Marin and your father get along. We definitely can’t miss that.”

“That’s for sure,” she giggled. We fell into a comfortable silence, interrupted only by the occasional crackle of the small campfire beside us. After having slept for nearly three straight days I was nowhere near tired, and the lingering stress of our upcoming encounter with the King would have kept me awake regardless, but I was happy to spend any time I could with Lia. Eventually she yawned, arching her back in a dramatic, satisfying stretch. “I guess it’s time for bed.”

I nodded. “You’ll want to be nice and rested for tomorrow. Whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll be interesting.”

Lia curled up tighter beneath my cloak and balled up the hood under her head for a pillow. “You probably won’t get much sleep tonight, huh?”

“Yeah, I’d say I’ve had my fill of sleeping for now, but it’s a good chance for me to catch up on my meditation.” I propped myself up on my elbow and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. “I love you, Lia.”

She gave my fingers a tight squeeze before withdrawing her arm into the warmth of my cloak. “I love you, too.”

I rolled onto my back and began my standard breathing routine as the mana gently started to flow around my body. After my careful days of recovery, it felt as though the energy was practically overflowing from my core, ready and eager to be channeled and expended again. Happy to oblige, I pushed the mana out along the ground around me, and the world inside my head buzzed to life with neon lights. The scene expanded quickly from my place with Lia by the fire out to the wagons where Marin and the Strategist both slept, then further out to the surrounding countryside.

Although the light wasn’t nearly as vibrant as when we had first met, Val’s shield still stood out like a beacon in the night. She stood at the top of a small hill overlooking the road we were to follow at first light, scanning