A Clash of Magics by Guy Antibes (e ink manga reader txt) 📗

“No,” Trevor said casually. “I’ve been here a few times before but not under the present circumstances. Aren’t you worried about running out of food and drink?”

“With a few soldiers approaching? I hardly think so,” the man said. “We have the enclave to protect us if our soldiers aren’t good enough.”

Trevor nodded. “I tried out once,” he said, “for the enclave, I mean. I was rejected.”

“Most are, you know. Our magicians have defended Khartoo well in the past,” the man said.

“But that was long ago. Maybe they aren’t as strong or as experienced as they were then,” Trevor said. “I mean, we are here for them, don’t get me wrong. My girlfriend and I left our village before the Jarkanese army passed by.”

“You could have joined the Maskumite army, lad,” the server said with a frown. The man had to own the place to have been so bold with a customer.

“Bad shoulder,” Trevor said. “The sword is one my father brought back from a Jarkanese incursion. Showing it is my only defense.”

“Why should I believe you?” the server asked.

“I’m not asking you to believe me. All we want is some fine Khartooian wine and a suitable snack,” Trevor said.

The server relaxed a bit and nodded. “Something light for the lady?”

“And light for me,” Trevor said.

They watched the server walk away. The man looked back once.

“We should leave immediately,” Trevor said. He put a few coins on the table, and they left the pub, moving closer to the palace. “Let’s walk to the other side of the palace. I’d teleport us if I could. The server asked too many questions. He might be secret police.”

Lissa nodded. “Down this alley, so we can be out of sight from the pub.”

Trevor took her hand, and they were soon on the other side of the alley onto another street. This one intersected with the wall that ran around the palace. He looked the other way and saw the facade of the Dryden church in Khartoo. They were at the edge of the administrative quarter of the city. Lissa tugged on Trevor’s hand to turn him around.

“On the other side of the palace?” she said.

They walked past a few houses until a man walked out of one. “Stop!”

Trevor squeezed Lissa’s hand as he did as the man requested. The man who looked a little younger than Brother Yvan rushed down the steps to the pavement and looked at Trevor. “There are three seers in Khartoo at present. I am one of them, and you are another.”

“I’m not a seer,” Trevor said.

The man looked up at Trevor’s face and the hilt of the Jarkanese sword poking over his shoulder. “You are Dryden’s messenger, that qualifies. Come into my house. You will be safer here.”

There were a few people on the street, so Trevor could hardly deny the seer’s request, and if the man proved to be friendly at all, he might give them enough information. Trevor knew how to work the situation. The fewer Khartooians killed, the better.

They walked into a house decorated like a northern home.

“You are from Ginster?”

The seer nodded. “I am. I was chosen to come down here because I looked more Maskumite than most of my colleagues.”

“Who is the present head seer?” Trevor asked.

“Lister Vale. Did I pass?” the seer said with a smile.

“I didn’t mean it as a difficult test,” Trevor said. “This is—”

“Lissa Caspur. I know of your father, but I’ve never met him.”

Trevor looked around the room. He didn’t feel threatened in any way. “Do you know Yvan Grindeworm?”

“And he knows me. I assume he is the other seer on the western edge of the city?” the seer asked. “I am Merik Bandeford. I go by Seer Merik in Khartoo since my first name sounds more Maskumite. It isn’t a secret that I come from Ginster, though.”

“I am Trevor Arcwin.”

Merik laughed. “I know your name well. What brings you inside Khartoo? We haven’t been invaded yet.”

“That will happen within a few days,” Trevor said. The armies’ position couldn’t have been a secret, not with them so close to the city. “We wanted to know more about the potentate. Does the palace need to be captured or not?”

“The potentate keeps me pretty much in the dark regarding the conflict. They might not trust me,” Merik said. “I would worry about such a thing, too, if I were in their boots.”

“Are you trustworthy?” Trevor asked.

“Not entirely,” Merik said. “My wife is a Khartooian and of the royal family.”

“Our fight is with the enclave,” Trevor said, “not the potentate.”

Merik laughed softly. “And there you are wrong. Your fight is with the potentate as well as the enclave cabals.”

“You are aligned with the potentate?”

Another soft laugh. “Would you believe me no matter what I said?”

“Perhaps,” Trevor said.

“I am neutral. My wife has no love for her second cousin. The previous potentate, her uncle, was more her style. The potentate despises Dryden worship, for example. Still, she wouldn’t want to see the potentate assassinated,” Merik said.

“I’m not in favor of killing rulers,” Trevor said. “Should we capture the potentate? Is there enough support in the city to have him deposed in favor of another royal family member? I’m not at war with the Maskumite people, just those who seek to gain power over the world.”

“That is my cousin-in-law.”

“He has kept it a secret,” Lissa said. “No one I’ve talked to has mentioned him as the initiator of all the unrest.”

“Furtive, he is. My wife’s relative has quintupled the size of the secret police during his reign. Many shopkeepers are paid informers. There is some unrest in the city, but all in all, Khartoo is not that eager to be liberated.”

That confirmed Trevor’s suspicion about