A Clash of Magics Read online

  “They should be dead!” said a voice from the crowd.

  “Is that what you would want if you were one of them?” Trevor said. “I will need new constables and a new chief constable for Parkintown. If you are interested, talk to Keith Garman, who has agreed to pitch in during the transition. If you don’t mind, I have a breakfast to finish as do some of you. Go back to your homes or go to work while we are sorting all this out.”

  Trevor started back to the ducal residence when Jacob Stoolage caught up to him.

  “Are you sure you should be heading to Ginster?” the man asked. “I can’t be your regent. I just don’t have the energy anymore.”

  “I only want you to assist as you are able, but if you can help Keith Garman for the next few months, I would appreciate it. He was the son of a duke in Upperville on the other side of Bassington.”

  “I know of it, but I thought Worto and the current duke killed Upperville’s ruler and his family.”

  Trevor shook his head. “Keith was impressed into service at the institute in the mountains north of here. He stayed for ten years and then was released from service. He is a good man in need of a good challenge, but he needs a mentor.”

  Jacob grinned. “In that case, I agree. I could tell you wanted to use him in all this.”

  “Help him select good people. I forgot, does Parkintown have a mayor? Does Listenwell have a guard of any kind?” Trevor asked.

  “No to both. Summer wanted control and used the constables to throw their weight around the entire domain. You’ll find the people are happier the farther they are from the city.”

  Trevor laughed. “I’ll want the people to elect a mayor for the city, and I want a guard established. The constables will not qualify. I’ll put Keith and you in charge of that, too. I have to get to Ginster and back.”

  Chapter Two

  ~

  “I

  heard about you cleaning out the constabulary,” the steward at the ducal manor house said. “It was awe-inspiring. I imagine you will be spending more time here?”

  Trevor told him that he was on the way to Ginster and that Keith Garman would monitor his duties, but Trevor would appreciate him staying on as long as everything he did was acceptable to Keith.

  “I can do that. I won’t deny I took advantage of Lord Summer, but that will end,” the steward said.

  Trevor didn’t believe that all foolishness would end, but he was sure with Keith spending a little time with the man, they had a good chance of coming to an understanding.

  “Keep everything intact for my return,” Trevor said. “Parkintown will have a new mayor by the time I get back, so I will be spending more time out here.” He smiled at the steward. “Now that that is out of the way, my friends and I will be spending the night. They would like a tour while I poke around the place on my own.”

  While Brother Yvan, Reena, and Lissa were given a tour, Trevor wandered around the house, looking at places that the steward had left off his initial tour. He expected the house to be in the same excellent condition that it was on his initial tour. Trevor wasn’t disappointed. He sat in the servant’s dining room close to the big kitchen, watching the servants walk by in the corridor.

  Whoever built the residence and the manor house had done an excellent job. Trevor didn’t feel as though he deserved it, but he would work on that after whatever the head seer wanted him to do was finished. Lissa would fit into his plans. At this point, he could see her in the manor house with him.

  After a pleasant night’s stay, they left the manor. They all took one last look before the estate was lost to view.

  “The only thing missing in the manor is a family chapel,” Brother Yvan said. “There is one in the ducal residence in Parkintown, but the bishop at Dryden’s church in Parkintown told me that Summer never used it to his knowledge.”

  “Maybe the one you build in the manor can have a niche to Selara,” Reena said with a laugh.

  Trevor didn’t know if she was serious or not, but Lissa still gazed at the manor.

  “I’d like to revisit it,” she said.

  Trevor knew what she was thinking. “I’ll make sure that happens,” Trevor said, not knowing if he’d be able to deliver on that promise. “The steward needs a little oversight,” he said, “but he is doing an excellent job keeping the place in order.”

  “Better than the condition of any of your father’s properties in Presidon, but then, both the duke’s residence and the manor aren’t even a hundred years old,” Brother Yvan said.

  Each of them talked about improvements they would make to both residences. Trevor let them talk, but he didn’t have any desire to change anything at that moment. He was more concerned about how he could learn to perform better as a duke than his father did as king. Looming in the background, King Worto and Gareeze Plissaki could bring his Listenwell dream to total ruin. Because of that, he didn’t get as excited about making improvements to Listenwell as his friends. For now, Trevor would travel to Ginster and learn what his immediate future might hold.

  ~

  Trevor observed the countryside more closely than he had during any of his other trips on the southern side of Brachia. He decided he could get used to managing Listenwell. They ate at the last inn before crossing into the country of Okora.

  “I had never been to Brachia before,” Reena said, “but it is a beautiful country—other than the copper mines we visited. I wish we could have stayed longer.” She took Brother Yvan’s hand. “But then again, I’m glad to travel to Ginster.”

  Brother Yvan laughed. “Ginster doesn’t compare to Brachia, at least to Listenwell. It doesn’t have mile after mile of fertile land, but it carries a different kind of beauty, and the people are different because of it.”

  “Are they harder?” Lissa asked. “Viksar is more like Brachia in a lot of places, so I suppose we aren’t as hardscrabble as the Ginsterians are.”

  Brother Yvan nodded. “Don’t generalize too much. The economy is different, but it is an active economy. The Ginsterians are more like Viksarans or Presidonians than the Jarkanese,” he said. “We trade more.”

  “Derwizul does trade more with other countries than Argara,” Reena said. She sighed. “I suppose every country has better places to live. Keith said that north of their village, the living is harder because of the range of mountains on the northern edge of Brachia.”

  Trevor wouldn’t have to worry about big mountains, just the little eruptions of the conical shaped mountains that popped up from place to place in Listenwell. “I can make myself happy anywhere,” he declared. “I was content enough working with Brother Yvan and Boxster at the mountain monastery in Presidon.”

  “And you lived through the worst part of the year,” Brother Yvan said. “When you are among friends, most places are tolerable, I imagine.”

  “Am I tolerable?” Reena asked, grasping Brother Yvan’s hand.

  “And a friend too. Dryden blesses who he will, and I am glad he blessed me.”

  Lissa smiled and looked at Trevor, who was suddenly tongue-tied. He managed to say that he agreed and returned Lissa’s smile. He felt on edge for some reason, unsettled. Trevor always had someplace he was heading to or running from. That was the positive part of being a soldier of fortune who had the luck to find projects. Now he had to travel for a few weeks to find out what happened next. The unsettled part of his emotions made him quiet. He recognized the state and tried to cheer himself up, but didn’t make much headway when Lissa yawned.

  “Time for bed. Want to join me?” she said.

  Trevor was jolted out of his reverie, but then he realized that Reena was the object of her question.

  “I think we should all turn in,” Brother Yvan said. “An early morning will get us across the border and on the Northern Road in Okora that will take us to Grilla and then on to Jiksara in Viksar.”

  Not much to think about there, Trevor thought, as he gathered his things and headed to his room behind the others. The two women sh
ared a room and Brother Yvan and he slept separately. He washed his face and his lower arms and hands before jumping under the covers. The room was serviceable, but he wasn’t traveling as a prince or a duke, but as an experienced traveler with means.

  He laid down and looked at the ceiling. Torches that lit up the stable yard made the shadows of the window frames dance on the walls. He let the movement make his eyes drowsy, and he set aside the unsettled feelings for the embrace of a night’s slumber.

  ~

  Okora going east looked much the same as Okora heading south toward Jarkan. There were plenty of villages, some with inns and some without, dotting the vast farmlands. There were cattle and sheep feedlots that could be smelled a mile away. The first inn they had thought to use was too close to one, and they opted to travel in the twilight toward the next small town.

  “Are the feedlots for meat export?” Trevor asked the innkeeper who registered them.

  “Brachia, Jarkan, and Grilla. Any further east and the meat will spoil unless it is cured. We do some of that, but the fresh stuff is always grown locally.”

  Trevor thought about the situation. “Why don’t you transport it on the hoof?”

  “Grilla won’t permit it. They are happy to take Okoran goods, but they keep the countries to the east of them as their customers. It’s been tried before, going north through Fuleria and south through the southern edge of Viksar, but,” the innkeeper shook his head, “the price to keep animals fed and fattened on the road is too difficult, not to mention the proliferation of bandits who like their meat free. Fulerians are the bandits to the north. They charge duties that are ruinous.”

  “It was just a thought,” Trevor said.

  “And a good one, if it wasn’t for the reality of nations looking out for their own interests over what we might consider fair,” the innkeeper said.

  Trevor nodded his head. Everyone had their own conception of what fairness was, and it was as often different as it was the same. Solutions required some motivation on the part of both parties. That was what he had read in a book on trading that Brother Yvan had given him to read when he had been banished to his personal tower in Tarviston castle. He decided he would have to read more such books when he returned to Listenwell.

  “What is happening in Tiralina?” Brother Yvan asked the innkeeper.

  “I’m sure the smart ones at the capital are keeping a sharp eye on Brachia and Fuleria,” the innkeeper said. “Everyone is worried about Worto’s ambitions, even our king.”

  Trevor pursed his lips. “Have there been any odd declarations from the capital?”

  The innkeeper shrugged his shoulders. “Taxes haven’t changed and my custom hasn’t either. You’d have to go the capital to find out.”

  Brother Yvan nodded to Trevor. “I suppose it shouldn’t matter to us. We are passing through. The lady’s father lives in Jiksara,” the cleric said looking at Lissa.

  “Other than the odd bandits on the road, you should have a clear trip this time of year. There is a caravan a day farther than you headed for Viksar. I think they are diverting to Tiralina, so that might not work for you. I suggest traveling with a few more groups. Travelers often form groups along the Northern Road.”

  “We might do that,” Trevor said. “Thank you for the information.”

  An hour later, when the four of them sat down to dinner, Trevor cleared his throat. “I think we should take a detour to Tiralina.”

  “To visit the king?” Brother Yvan said.

  Trevor could tell his mentor was baiting him.

  “If we have to,” Trevor said. “I’m sure the latest information from Tiralina will be helpful if I’m to be some kind of messenger. We can determine if Tiralina needs whatever message I’m supposed to bring to the world.”

  “To the world?” Brother Yvan asked. “Do you think you are that important?”

  Trevor sighed. The cleric’s question plainly put Trevor on the defensive since he had no idea how vital his message would be.

  “I don’t know what I am, but if it involves what is going on between King Worto and the rest of the world, I’m sure that includes Okora, don’t you think?”

  “I think you are right. I have no objection.” Brother Yvan turned to Reena. “Do you have any reservations about a visit to another capital city?” Reena shook her head. The cleric turned to Lissa. “Can you put off seeing your father for a few more days?”

  Lissa took Trevor’s hand. “I follow Trevor.”

  “Then we head for Tiralina. It is a day’s travel from the Northern Road, so that gives us a day there, a day to connect to whomever. I can at least visit the Okoran seer and that might be all we need to do,” Brother Yvan said.

  “Let’s see,” Trevor said with a smile. “Reena and I follow you, and Lissa follows me. Sounds good.”

  Lissa dug her nails into Trevor’s palm. “You know I didn’t mean it like that!”

  “But you will be joining us on our side trip to Tiralina?” Trevor said.

  “Of course,” Lissa said, looking playfully exasperated.

  Brother Yvan and Trevor visited the common room with Lissa and Reena wanting baths in the evening before setting out to Okora’s capital. They needed to travel two days east before taking the road south to Tiralina, and Trevor wanted to hear fellow travelers’ view of the journey.

  They sat next to three men and a woman. One of the men and the lady were dressed as merchants and the other two looked like drivers. Trevor overheard them mention Tiralina. He stood and turned to the other group.

  “You are headed to Tiralina?” he asked.

  “We are,” the woman said.

  “Our group has had a change in plans and have decided to visit Okora’s capital. Will we need to travel in a larger group? Is the road safe to Tiralina?”

  The better-dressed man laughed. “Safer than the Northern Road. We are currently traveling on a route made for banditry. Once you head south to Tiralina, it is all farmland and you can see in all directions while you travel.”

  “But we still have a few days on the Northern Road,” the woman said. “I have no objection to two more men to keep my cargo safe.”

  Brother Yvan came to Trevor’s side. “Then we will tag along at a distance. No need to mingle as long as we are close to each other,” he said.

  Trevor agreed. If they naturally wanted to travel as a single party, that would be fine, but two parties close together would work just as well, the way he saw it. “When will you leave tomorrow? We have two others in our party.”

  “Just after dawn. We can make it to a good inn, if we get up early,” one of the drivers said.

  Trevor nodded. “We will be ready.”

  Both of them bowed to the merchants’ party and went back to their table.

  “Our trip to Tiralina will be interesting,” Brother Yvan said. “They seem to be well-traveled.”

  Trevor nodded. “Is the Northern Road that bad?”

  “From here to Grilla, it is. Lots of woods along the road since it runs along the foot of a low mountain range that makes up the border with Fuleria. I’ve never been on this road, but it has a reputation, and Grilla is almost as bad,” Brother Yvan said.

  “You never taught me that,” Trevor said.

  “There are a lot of things I never taught you, and there are a lot of things you have learned without me. I hope you don’t feel cheated.” Brother Yvan said with a smile.

  “Not at all, but do you think it is certain we will run into bandits?” Trevor said. The prospect of bandits didn’t scare him, but he was concerned about Reena and Lissa.

  Brother Yvan looked at their new friends talking in lowered voices now that Brother Yvan and Trevor had talked to them. “It’s always best to be prepared for anything.”

  Chapter Three

  ~

  T raveling had never been the safest of pursuits for Trevor Arcwin, formerly known as Des Boxster, formerly known as Prince Trevor Arcwin. They joined a traveling party of eight people. There
were the two drivers and the two merchants at the common room, and then four more men of less savory appearance appeared as they were about to leave the inn. Trevor could tell the other travelers would be more comfortable at a less polished inn, and that was probably where they stayed.

  “Guards,” the woman said to Trevor’s group. “I am Oliva Tanner. My partner, not my husband, is Bartell Ogman. The others are called ‘Driver’ and ‘Guard,’ and I’m sure you can tell the difference.”

  “I’m sure we can, but I’ll introduce myself to everyone along the way,” Reena said. “I like to know the real names of who I’m traveling with.”

  Trevor felt the same, but thought it was too early in their journey to say such a thing. It was clear that Reena was used to doing things her way, but then the usefulness of a Jarkanese focus wasn’t based on tact.

  Bartell walked over to Brother Yvan and Trevor, looking at Lissa and Reena adjusting the bags on their horses. “Do they know how to take care of themselves?” he said with a bit of bravado.

  “I think so,” Brother Yvan said. “Have you ever heard of the Viksaran magician classification? I would rate both of those ladies as gold-level magicians.”

  “Both?” Bartell’s eyes grew.

  Trevor nodded. “And both have been through enough fights to know how to handle themselves.”

  Brother Yvan skipped a breath. Trevor didn’t think Bartell would catch it, but Trevor did. “I am battle-tested and have run off brigands plenty of times. Brother Yvan is a Dryden cleric and is an expert healer, ready to help anyone with their wounds.”