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

as she spoke to Lia; she recounted the exploits of her rise to greatness with the same tone as someone reading from a grocery list. Nothing felt exaggerated or embellished, and I believed the story implicitly. When the tale was over, I had a lingering feeling of guilt on my mind. She came from nothing, worked hard, and earned her post. I just wrote her off as another entitled noble.

By the time Lia ran out of questions, the sun had begun to sink behind the treetops on the horizon. Valandra directed the horse into a flat clearing on the roadside, and we all helped to set up camp. As the wagon was covered and large enough to sleep two people, setting up a tent was unnecessary, which left gathering wood and building a firepit as our only tasks. We completed them quickly, and a supper of fresh bread, spiced apples and jerky followed soon after.

“I’m surprised by the variety of food you brought for us,” I remarked to Valandra when we finished eating. “Thankful, certainly, but surprised.”

“My wagon is always prepared with a wide variety of food, at my request,” she replied. “I have found that flavorful meals are the simplest way to boost morale among my troops on long journeys. Spices are lightweight and compact, but make a significant impact.”

“When Lux and I went to Atsal, all we had was old jerky, bruised fruit and hardtack,” Lia said offhandedly, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye with a smirk. “I’m glad someone understands the importance of a good meal.”

“We didn’t have the King’s kitchen to pack our lunch for us, and we were on foot,” I countered. “Besides, eating trail rations makes your next true meal even more delicious, don’t you think?”

She stared at me with a deadpan expression. “Sure. You go ahead and eat your hardtack. I’ll be eating whatever she brought.”

“I am glad you enjoyed it,” Valandra said. “I do not claim to be a skilled chef, but we have been well supplied.”

Lia turned to me and wiggled her eyebrows. “Alright, enough about food,” I groaned. “You and I have some training to do, and we’re losing light fast. Time to get to work.” I stood from my seat by the fire and retrieved our weapons from the back of the wagon. “You think you still remember how to use this?” I asked, tossing her sword to her.

She caught it midair and pulled the weapon from its sheath. “Why don’t you come and find out?”

I shook my head. “No, not here. Come with me.” I waved my hand forward and began to walk further into the clearing.

“Are you going to come too, Valandra?” I heard Lia ask excitedly.

“I will stay here and watch the wagon,” she answered. I let out a small sigh of relief at the reply. While I intended to train with Valandra in the future, I had specific plans for our first night that required us to be alone.

“Awwww,” Lia pouted as she followed me away from camp. “You have to come next time, okay?” she called out over her shoulder.

I led her to a spacious clearing well out of earshot of Valandra, then sat down and patted the space across from me. “There’s something important we have to talk about before we begin,” I said. Lia seemed to sense the serious nature of the impending conversation and sat down quietly, giving me a small nod to continue. “When we start to train with Valandra, you cannot, under any circumstances, tell her anything about how our magic works.”

Her brow furrowed as she processed the information, and I raced to clarify my statement. “I’m not trying to be spiteful with this; it has nothing to do with what I think about her as a person. I’ve put a lot of thought into this decision. If you’ll let me, I’d like to explain my reasoning so you understand where I’m coming from.”

She considered for a moment with a frown, then nodded. “Okay.”

“Since my time in Hedaat, I swore to myself that I would never teach anybody what I knew about magic. Even with the basic understanding I had back then, it was far too dangerous to put out into the world. Things changed when I met you.” My face softened to a smile as I watched her blush. “I decided to break my rule, just once. I knew that I could trust you with it, because you’re a good person.”

I tried to hide it, but my voice was tinged with regret as I continued. “Have you ever thought about how dangerous your abilities make you? Do you know just how terrible the gift I’ve given you is?”

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Lia said slowly, shaking her head.

I counted off my points on my outstretched hand as I continued. “You can use the energy in your body to perform magic. You can cast that magic through any object you’ve infused with energy. You can send that energy out to incredible distances, even to places you can’t see.” I waited to see realization in her eyes, but they were only filled with confusion. “With just those abilities, you could burn a man to death from the inside out while standing three blocks away. No way to trace it. No way to stop it. You probably wouldn’t even break a sweat.”

Her expression turned to one of pure horror. “No! That...that’s not—”

“Yes,” I interrupted. “You know that I’m right.” I leaned forward and placed a hand on her knee. “I know you would never do that, Lia. I can tell you’ve never even thought about our magic that way before. You’re a good person.” My voice grew sad as I continued. “But that’s the reality of how magic works. And we’ve only scratched the surface of what it can truly do.”

“But Valandra would never do that, either!” she yelled, her voice cracking. I had known the conversation would upset her, but it didn’t make it any