Magician In Battle (Power of Poses Book 4)

by Guy Antibes

  He thought of the scene in King Marom’s court and cringed. Lia could seem as cruel as Marom. That’s how she appeared in Bennin. Who was the real princess? He guessed that her angry temperament was merely taking a holiday. That was it. He would take the pleasant Lia as long as she acted that way. A happy memory, he thought, to be eventually offset by an unhappy one later when she reverted to her public persona.

  “Want to join me?” Lia said. Trak heard more water swishing. She poked her head over the tub.

  “No. Familiarity will only cause problems later on,” Trak said.

  “Wait until I tell the court that we have already slept together.”

  “Not like that, we haven’t.” Trak began to sweat underneath his clothes.

  “Like what?” Lia looked beautiful while she taunted him.

  Trak blushed. She laughed. “Like a real husband and wife. Like Asem and Kulara,” Trak said.

  She laughed again. He noticed that it was a nice bubbly laugh. “Valanna’s friends?”

  Trak nodded.

  Her face turned into a pout. “Valanna is married and I’m not.”

  “Neither am I,” Trak said, becoming totally lost in their conversation.

  She pointed to him. Trak could see her bare arm and shoulder. “Cloak on.”

  Trak sighed with relief and followed her instructions.

  “Ugh. My clothes are not clean,” she said.

  “Be happy you can take a bath and wear clothes instead of filling the bellies of angry wolves.”

  “There is that,” Lia said, giggling.

  Silence ensued until she pulled the cloak from Trak. She had towel-dried her hair and looked as pretty as she ever had to Trak.

  “My turn. Cloak on.”

  “This smelly thing?”

  Trak just nodded and began to undress once she covered her head with one of the clean towels. He quickly disrobed and jumped in the tub.

  “Hey!” Lia said, pulling the cloak off. She laughed. “Doesn’t it feel great?”

  “The water is very dirty, almost like mud,” Trak said. “I should have gone first.”

  “I wasn’t that filthy.”

  Trak laughed. “Not quite.” He found a bar of soap floating in the water and began to wash. The water had lost some of its heat, so he spelled it warmer.

  “It’s steaming again,” Lia said. “I’m glad you didn’t have to stand for a pose. I would have been embarrassed.”

  “That would make two of us,” Trak said. He finished with washing his hair. “All done. Cloak on.”

  Lia did as Trak asked. He jumped out of the tub and slipped on the floor. “Cloak on!” Trak said. He toweled himself dry as expeditiously as possible and put his cleanest clothes on. “Done.”

  He turned around, and Lia had the cloak on her lap. “I cheated,” she said, smiling impishly.

  Trak ground his teeth, but then he brightened and decided to lie, just a bit. “I did too.”

  She threw a wet towel at him and stalked out of the room. Trak could hear clomping up the stairs.

  He jammed the knit hat on his head and lugged their bags to Room Seven and tried the door. Locked. He smiled and used his magic to unlock the door and walked in. Lia was giggling looking out the window, but turned quickly around.

  “You!”

  “Me!” Trak said, dropping their bags on the floor.

  “You’ve given me another happy memory,” Lia said quietly.

  “I’m sure there are plenty of unhappy memories to offset the happy ones.”

  “There are,” she said. Her eyes welled with tears. “Thank you.” She walked to him and put her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

  “You can at least close the door,” the innkeeper said.

  Trak twisted his head around and noticed the exaggerated wink. The woman closed the door for him. Lia only hugged him tighter.

  “I’m afraid this will end, most likely horribly. Promise me that it won’t.”

  Trak put his hand on her damp hair and ran it down her head. “I’ll do what I can to keep that from happening.” How could he possibly promise Lia a rosy future? Trak’s past had been anything but.

  ~

  The sun crept into Trak’s face. He looked up at the window. Sleeping on the floor had at least been warm and dry, he thought. He lifted his head and saw Lia snoring softly alone in the big bed.

  Trak didn’t know what he would do if she had invited him to sleep with her in the bed. They had held onto each other for too long a time for his comfort.

  Once they went down and shared dinner, the moment had thoroughly passed. When they returned to the room, she threw a pillow at him and commanded him to use their travel blankets for a mattress. He felt rather relieved.

  The bed moved and Lia stood up, stretching in the morning light. Trak turned his head. She had slept in her underclothes. From his view, her body matched her face. He felt his own face blush.

  “Are you hungry?” he said with his back to her, folding up their blankets and stuffing them in their bags.

  “Famished. Look at me.”

  Trak turned to see a beaming smile. The sun lit her face making her skin seem translucent. He closed an eye and looked at her magic. He had never seen such a strong Toryan before. “You look radiant in the sunlight, and I peeked at your magic.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she pursed her lips. “That’s not polite. As Princess Pullia, I would punish you.” She considered him for a moment. “As Lia, I’m curious about what you saw.”

  “You are very powerful. Your energy pathways are very impressive.”

  “Are they beautiful?”

  Trak closed his eyes and concentrated on the brilliant green energy pulses. “Like sunshine through emeralds,” he said carelessly. He shouldn’t be saying such intimate things, but somehow he couldn’t resist.

  She laughed when he opened his eyes. “Pestlans say the nicest things,” she said and giggled some more. “Tell me more over breakfast.”

  Trak took a deep breath, uncertain about what was happening between them. “Gladly.”

  ~~~

  Chapter Thirteen

  ~

  “The amulet is in there,” Valanna said. Kulara nodded in agreement.

  The three of them looked up at the ramshackle house in an old part of Pestledown. Asem walked up to the door and knocked. Valanna held her breath while Kulara created a shield around all three of them.

  Henrig, the Blue Swan Vashtan, opened the door. “Ah, you’ve finally come. We’ve been waiting.” He looked around at the nearly deserted street and ushered them in. “We are with friends. Only two Blue Swans remained in Pestledown, so there are only seven of us here, I’m afraid.”

  They sat in a remarkably clean front room that contrasted with the house’s exterior. “That makes ten of us with magical power. Snively thinks there are at least fourteen Vashtans.”

  “I wish Trak Bluntwithe joined us,” Henrig said. “He is worth twenty Yellow Foxes.”

  “Thirty or more,” Bestik, another Blue Swan, said. “Please, sit.”

  Henrig’s eyes moved from Asem to Kulara to Valanna. “What is the plan?”

  “We are looking at a coup. That hasn’t changed. I’m hesitant to commit to anything yet. We’ve already discovered a traitor in the underground. It could be anyone, even Snively or Coffun Cricket,” Asem said.

  Although they hadn’t talked about it, Valanna had to admit that any of the Pestlans could have dropped that coin on the floor beneath one of Esmera’s conspirators for them to find.

  “How would they know that you know about the amulets?”

  “Have you told anyone about your adventures in the Arid Lands?” Asem said.

  “Yes, but—”

  Asem nodded. “But?”

  “No buts,” Henrig’s face colored as much as a Vashtan’s could. He lowered his head. “We told the tales of working with Derit and the ladies a few times in Balbaam, I’m afraid. It is a racial disgrace that alcohol lubric
ates our tongues a little too well.”

  “Something Snively has already discovered,” Valanna said. “More evidence that you can’t trust anyone any longer.”

  “I trust you,” Henrig said, looking at Valanna.

  Asem gave Henrig a disgusted look. “And look where her trust in you ended. Even Coffun Cricket was compromised.”

  Valanna laid her hand on Asem’s arm. “It hasn’t ended yet. Vigilance can overcome a lack of trust.”

  Asem nodded. “You’ve already shown that enough times.”

  “More stories?” Henrig raised his eyebrows with anticipation.

  “Not tonight,” Valanna said. “Who knows you are staying in this house?”

  “No one. This house was purchased a few years ago by an intermediary, so no one should know we use it. We teleport to another part of the city before we venture out,” Henrig said. “The location should be secure.” He grimaced. “We will be vigilant.” He raised a clutched fist. “The stakes are too high.”

  Valanna sniffed at an unfamiliar smell in the house. “Do you use a unique ingredient in your cooking?”

  Henrig smiled. “Our friends in Pestledown have grown delegrib, an herb that generally grows only on our continent. It has a fresh smell all its own, doesn’t it? We mostly use delegrib in cooking poultry or fish stew.”

  Valanna wouldn’t characterize it as fresh, but definitely pungent. “Would the Vashtans in the palace use it?”

  “They would if they had seeds and grew it in a large enough pot. It’s not that difficult in Pestledown.”

  “Can I have a little of it?” Valanna said. “Perhaps it might help us find the Vashtans if we have to ferret them out of the palace or surrounding houses. I’d hesitate to complete our mission if we don’t eradicate the Yellow Fox clan members.”

  Henrig sent Bestik out of the room. “Do you have a plan yet?”

  Asem shook his head. “Not yet. We still have to determine who we can rely on, first.”

  “You can rely on us,” the Vashtan said.

  “We already have. Just continue to be careful. We will contact you. Scout around, but don’t get captured. We are already outnumbered by magicians, although if we energized the common Pestlan to fight with us, we might prevail.”

  “Destroy or deactivate your amulet, now that we have found you. The Yellow Fox clan can find you as easily as we did,” Valanna said.

  “Consider it done.” Henrig pulled a large metal button from his pocket and held it out to Valanna.

  “Worry,” she said directing her concentration on the amulet. “I’ll check it before we leave.”

  Asem clapped his hands on his knees. “So what are your capabilities, about what we saw in Balbaam? It seemed that Trak did all the fighting. How does a Vashtan fight another Vashtan? We won’t have Trak with us this time.”

  They talked about fighting strategies for a bit, but soon their conversation turned to war stories. After an hour and a half Kulara yawned.

  Asem looked over at Kulara, blinking her tired eyes slowly. “That is enough for now. We are in a house in a better district than this, but please don’t contact us.” Asem gave Henrig a small scrap of paper with the address.

  “Give that to me,” Valanna said. “I’ll teleport Henrig and Bestik to our back garden and return. If they need us they are safer teleporting than leaving evidence of where we are.”

  Henrig’s eyes brightened. “A good idea. If I’ve been somewhere, I can get to it again.” He handed over the address after looking at it. “I’ve got it memorized, but teleporting is better.” He stood up along with Bestik and clapped his hand on his shoulder.

  Valanna took Bestik’s hand and leaned into the teleport pose.

  The Vashtans looked up at the back of Coffun’s house.

  “Oh, a place for your flyer. Good thinking. You have two forms of quick escape,” Bestik said.

  Valanna nodded. “We do. Have you got this place firmly enough in your mind?”

  Henrig smiled. “We can return.”

  When they returned to Henrig’s living room, Valanna said. “We can teleport here whenever we want, but we don’t want your privacy invaded.” She smiled and they all laughed. “Shall we go?” she said to Asem and Kulara.

  ~

  Kulara had gone up to bed, but Valanna worried with her hands, pacing in the parlor of the house.

  “They aren’t as strong as I thought,” Asem said, while he sipped wine from a goblet. “Other than their ability to teleport, a good shield negates their ability to fight.”

  Valanna nodded her head. “I agree. Now I can see why Trak didn’t have too much of a problem with them.” She couldn’t help feel disappointed after their discussion with Henrig. No wonder the six Yellow Fox Vashtans had overcome them in the Arid Lands. They weren’t any stronger than Red magicians in Santasia’s Magicians Guild other than two spells, teleportation and the ability to bring down a flyer with their attraction spell. Even then, the attraction spell would bring the flyer down just a bit faster than a ‘worry’ spell.

  “The Toryans have the ability to gauge the magic of another magician, but Trak never wrote down the spell. Perhaps they didn’t reveal the pose to him. That would be useful,” Asem said.

  “It would, but the five Blue Swans from Balbaam have all fought before, so they have some experience. They didn’t shrink from helping Trak in the palace.”

  Asem shook his head. “No, they didn’t. That plays in our favor. We know they won’t run, but Henrig’s strategy relies on them fighting in teams.”

  “I think they are trained that way,” Valanna said. “Only Derit went out on her own, and that was to make contact with two women.”

  “Derit’s in Torya by now.”

  “If only Trak had gone to Pestle, I wouldn’t be so worried for us all.” She plopped down on one of the chairs. “If things were different…”

  “But they aren’t, and wishing life to be something it isn’t is a weakness,” Asem said. “We need to work with what we’ve got, so we can improve our chances. It’s even more apparent that someone should orchestrate an uprising if we are doubtful about a coup, and that, I think, is where Esmera comes in. I think we need to talk to her privately, since we might have to administer a truth spell to get all of the information that we need. If anyone knows about the organized resistance, she does.”

  “I agree. There were always people going in and out of The Looking Inn, waking me up at any hour of the night.”

  “Can you teleport there?”

  Valanna nodded. “The three of us, tomorrow after breakfast. That’s the slowest part of her day.”

  ~

  Esmera screamed.

  “It’s all right. We know how to teleport like the Vashtans. Remember? I learned how to do it after I left Pestledown in the fall,” Valanna said when the three of them suddenly appeared in Esmera’s office.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Asem shrugged. “We—”

  “Is everything all right?” one of Esmera’s employees said poking his head in her office.

  “Yes it is. I thought I saw a mouse, but it ended up being my friends here.”

  The man nodded and shut the door quietly behind him.

  “Good thinking,” Kulara said. “Squeak, squeak.”

  Esmera gave Kulara a dirty look.

  “We need to do some planning, but someone left a location amulet in Honor’s studio. We had to move.”

  Esmera furrowed her brows. “Location what?”

  “An object that has been spelled so it can be located.”

  “Why do that?” Esmera said.

  Valanna hadn’t quite answered that to her own satisfaction. “I suppose to find the studio or track whoever picked it up.”

  Esmera grunted. “What did you do with the tracking device?”

  “Snively took it and, hopefully, disposed of it in an appropriate place to stupefy the trackers,” Asem said. “It could have been anyone at the meeting, even you, Miss Walkalot.
We have moved to a house that only one other who attended the meeting knows about and intend to keep it that way. If you need to contact us,” Asem shrugged, “we will get in touch with you on a regular basis.”

  “By scaring me out of my wits?”

  Valanna snapped her fingers. “Is the stable flat being used?”

  “I’m using it for overnight visitors at present.” Esmera gave Asem a dirty look. “You can pay me if you want to use it for your own purposes.”

  “We do,” Valanna said. “Whatever you want to charge. Leave a note on the table if you want us to come down and visit. I’ll promise to visit the flat once a day at lunchtime. Will that work?”

  “In advance,” Esmera said.

  Asem pulled out a pouch and laid three gold Pestlan Eagles on her desk. “This should take care of the first month.”

  “The first three months, if I don’t have to clean the flat every day. I’ll do it once a week. If one or two of you wishes to spend the night, feel free. No board, though. You provide your own food, since I don’t think it is a good idea to be seen walking in my inn.” Esmera looked at Asem and Kulara with a none-too-friendly expression.

  Asem grinned. “You strike a hard bargain.”

  Kulara glared at her husband. “Don’t get too familiar, husband of mine.”

  Esmera curled one side of her mouth into a wry smile. “I won’t, don’t worry. So who do you think dropped the locator?”

  “It was underneath where one of your men sat, the angry one,” Valanna said. They had never introduced themselves, so that was the only way Valanna knew to describe him.

  Esmera nodded her head. “It might have been him, but it could have been anyone, right?”

  “Right. Everyone knew where we met, so that makes it bothersome,” Asem said. “We left not long after the meeting, as soon as we gathered our belongings.”

  “What do you want from me now, other than the stable flat?”

  “Our allies in the city are a bit weaker than we had anticipated, so we wanted to know if you could engineer an uprising. We would be able to protect each other.”