Read Clash (The Arinthian Line Book 4) for Free Online

herself, sweeping aside long locks of blonde hair. “The stuff I have to put up with. And this stupid leg … ugh.” Her round face was chronically pale these days from trying to avoid the sun. Apparently she did not want it ruining her skin.
    “Where’s Chaska?” Augum asked.
    “Probably getting yelled at by ‘Achishi Zafu’.” The last words—which meant “honored elder” in the Henawa tongue—were said with dripping sarcasm.
    “For what this time?”
    “Probably the usual. Not that it isn’t all undeserved. He needs to get off his lazy butt and find work. I can’t live with her much longer. I don’t care if he builds us a hut with his bare hands.”
    “Sure you do,” Leera chimed in.
    “You’re right, I do. Better be a grand hut.”
    “Do you think it’s wise to move out so quickly?” Bridget asked delicately.
    Haylee stared ahead as she hobbled with determination. “No choice. I’ll kill her otherwise.” She caught Bridget’s mortified look and rolled her eyes. “I was obviously jesting.”
    The group strolled to a shallow valley in the woods where Mr. Okeke and Mr. Goss had built them a small plank cabin so the trio could have their own space. They often slept there, exhausted after a long evening’s training session. It was protected by Mrs. Stone’s enchantments, but best of all, was well away from Milham, serving as a nice getaway where they could focus on their training. It sat near a trickling stream surrounded by towering spruces, pines and firs. Patches of snow still sat in spots untouched by the sun’s rays. Birds chirped during the day; at night, owls hooted and wolves howled. Since it was dusk, crickets chirped in symphony.
    Mr. Harvus of course disapproved of them staying there alone, but did not dare contravene Mrs. Stone’s wishes. He did however routinely express how he thought she was far too liberal with them. Luckily, Mr. Harvus retired early tonight citing an upset stomach, though Augum thought the real reason was resentment for not being able to convince Mrs. Stone of abandoning the library quest she had in mind for the trio.
    Mr. Goss and Leland also retired to the Miner’s Mule Inn, having taken up residence there to give the Okekes space. Augum longed to live alone, or with Leera, but the latter just wasn’t done until marriage.
    Mrs. Stone had left a sum of coin with Mr. Harvus for lodging and expenses a while ago, though how much remained and when she paid him last was a mystery. When she teleported in, she could never stay long because the Legion warlocks were always teleporting after her, using Magua’s divining rod to point them in the right direction. But the warlocks could only teleport to a location they had been to, and since apparently none of them had stepped foot in Milham before, Mrs. Stone guessed they initially appeared at the Legion constabulary in Eastspear, many leagues to the south. By the time they started on their journey to Milham, she would teleport away. The warlocks would then teleport to the next closest location they visited and the chase would start anew. But each time she came to Milham, they got a little closer, and so she stopped coming altogether of late. It was a dangerous game, one Augum knew had to come to an end one day, especially now that those warlocks had no other scion to track down.
    As he watched Bridget and Leera practice dueling, he wondered if his father was part of that search party, or if he was in the bowels of Bahbell exploring its library or trying to figure out how to work the gate portal. Garryk surely would have told the Legion everything under duress, which meant they probably knew the trio had destroyed the recipe. That didn’t stop Augum from entertaining the idea that his father frantically searched Bahbell’s ancient library for a copy. Amusingly, he imagined the man throwing childish fits and tantrums as he repeatedly failed.
    After ducking a stick Leera threw at her using Telekinesis, Bridget placed