Page 28 of The Lost Art of Revealing Hidden Truths (The Lost Arts #3)

Chapter Twelve

R enny seemed gleeful about the proposed visit, and during one of their picnics, Perian finally pressed her a little bit about it.

“Why does this mean so much to you?”

She shrugged, but she was still practically vibrating with excitement.

“I don’t know how to explain it exactly, but it’s like getting a little bit of Kee back, you know?

Like this is his secret place that has been empty all these years, but now you’re all going to go fill it up again and bring it back to life.

It just seems… important. That might be a bit silly. ”

But Perian shook his head and pulled her into a hug. “No, that doesn’t sound silly at all.”

“Can I see you off?” she asked.

“As long as you promise not to try to climb into any of the baggage,” he told her with a grin.

She laughed. “I promise.”

So in less time than Perian had expected but with way more people than he’d originally hoped for, with a madly waving Renny seeing them off, they set out early one morning for the secret area by the lake. Mid-September was approaching, and the leaves had begun to change in earnest.

Perian basically gave Prince Horsey his head once he pointed him in the right direction.

“You know where you’re going,” Perian told him. “We’re going to visit the Prince’s secret spot. Just don’t leave all the others behind. They’re allowed to come to. We’re sharing it with all of them.”

Prince Horsey snorted and flicked his mane, like he wasn’t so sure that was a good idea, but he headed off anyway.

The others trailed behind him, and Perian periodically reined Prince Horsey back a bit so they could all stay together.

They had enough baggage to allow them to eat and camp.

It had been years since Perian had camped, and he’d always done it practically within sight of his home, so this would be new for him.

The Mage Warriors, of course, camped in the course of their patrols whenever they needed to.

His father had been good at making things feel like a grand adventure even if they’d never been that far from home.

He wondered now if his father really had wanted to stay home all the time.

Had he tired of travel after his years as a merchant?

He always insisted to Perian that he was where he wanted to be, that he’d bought this estate and retired to be with his family, and that was exactly what he was doing.

Perian really hoped that he had been as happy as he’d said, that he hadn’t been too disappointed by the fact that home had soon been filled with only him and Perian when Perian’s mother died when he was a baby.

“Perian!”

Perian snapped out of his memories and looked over at Brannal, who was riding at his side.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Perian offered him a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. The last time I went camping, it was with my father. We never went far away, but we would camp outside, bringing all the food and supplies with us, like the house wasn’t right there, just out of sight.”

Brannal smiled. “That sounds fun.”

“It was,” Perian agreed.

“You didn’t travel much, right? ”

Perian shook his head. “Not ever. I mean, just into the city on occasion, like I said. Father decided to retire with his family, which soon ended up being just me, and he was really committed to that.”

“I’m glad he took such good care of you,” Brannal said.

Perian nodded. “Me, too.”

He sometimes wondered what life would have been like if his mother had lived, but of course, there was no way to answer that question. He valued all the time with his father, and he’d never doubted that the man loved him.

Besides, if everything hadn’t unfolded exactly like this, he might not be here right now, and here was exactly where he wanted to be.

It was a good thing Prince Horsey was paying attention to where they were going, because Perian had been so trapped in internal musings that he’d mostly not been paying attention at all. Prince Horsey pushed his way through the final bushes, and the lake appeared.

Perian watched with enjoyment as all of their faces lit up as they pushed past the screening bushes and saw the beautiful area that was revealed.

“Oh, this is nice. No wonder you kept it a secret,” Molun said to Brannal.

Brannal rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t my secret to tell.”

Perian knew exactly how Brannal’s sense of honor worked.

He would never have told anyone about this space, not when the Prince was alive once they’d made it safe for him, and certainly not after his supposed death.

Perian hadn’t really thought about what it could mean to him to be here again.

He wished he’d brought it up privately, but Brannal didn’t seem upset.

He was looking at the place with a small smile on his lips, and Perian could only hope the place was conjuring pleasant memories.

They dismounted and found a good spot for the horses. Prince Horsey was clearly a professional when it came to this area, and he practically led the others to where he wanted to go. There wasn’t a ton of area to graze, so they’d probably supplement with feed bags later.

“He has so many opinions,” Molun said.

“Right?” Perian agreed with a smile. “I mean, he led me right here one of the days that I was injured, like he knew that I couldn’t go as fast as I usually did, but he still wanted me to be entertained. He’s so sassy; I love it. ”

Prince Horsey still didn’t like that many other people; he made that quite obvious when any of the others tried to approach him.

“I thought he was mellowing!” Molun protested.

“That is him mellow,” Perian corrected with a laugh. “He didn’t bite you, kick you, or lead all the rest of the horses in a revolt.”

The rest of the horses were much better-mannered, of course, and were tended to just fine as long as the others steered clear of Prince Horsey.

Then it was time to set up camp, because of course Brannal insisted they get that all done in plenty of time so that it was ready for them tonight. He just shot Molun an unimpressed look when Molun suggested that first they could swim and enjoy themselves for a little while.

“It’s been a while since I did this,” Perian confessed, “and my father did most of it. Uh, tree branches?”

Delana and Arvus proved to be the best at assembling tents, although all the Mage Warriors could do it.

Molun got easily distracted—and did a good job of trying to distract the others.

Perian was pretty sure he wasn’t even doing it on purpose, and it was entirely obvious that Arvus would take care of the two of them.

Eventually, though, they all persevered, and then Molun yelled, “Swim!” and started stripping. The rest of them exchanged glances and then followed suit.

Perian had never been naked in front of Delana and Nisal before, but everyone simply shed their clothes and splashed into the water like it wasn’t a big deal, so Perian did the same. He yelped at the water, and Molun laughed.

“Bit cold,” Molun said innocently.

“Bit cold?” Perian demanded, teeth already chattering. “Cold! Definitely cold!”

“You’ll warm up if you swim around for a bit. Or ask Brannal to warm you up!”

And then he splashed Perian in the face. Perian spluttered and tried to remember how to swim when the cold was leaching into his bones.

After a couple of minutes, it was actually better. He wasn’t sure if that was just his whole body going numb, but moving around did seem to help. He ducked his face in a couple of times, then scrubbed at his arms, legs, and body. If he was in here, then he might as well at least get clean.

Something grabbed his leg and pulled. He shrieked, which turned into a gargle when he went under. He kicked out and spluttered back to the surface to find that Molun was cackling wildly.

Brannal caught his eye, winked, and a moment later an ocean’s worth of water dumped down on Molun’s head. After that, well.

It was a free for all, with Delana, Brannal, and Molun having the advantage of actually being able to manipulate water. Nisal could use air to push the water into waves, so they were doing all right, too. There was laughing, yelling, and a fair bit of cursing.

It was actually kind of hilarious, and he loved it.

After Perian had been pulled under in the third sudden undertow that shouldn’t have existed, he crawled out of the water, bundled up in a towel, and sat with Arvus as they watched the others screeching and splashing.

Because Arvus was awesome like that, he’d got out towels for all of them.

“A little too wet?” Perian asked.

Arvus’s lips tipped up in amusement. He was still watching the others play, just like Perian was.

“I do prefer to have my feet touching dry land,” he agreed.

“You could make a lot of mud?” Perian suggested.

Arvus laughed. “I think the actual inhabitants of the lake might prefer I not do that.”

Well, that was true enough. He wouldn’t actually want to make this area uninhabitable for anyone just because he liked to play a little bit dirty. Ha.

“Yeah, all right, that’s fair,” Perian agreed.

“But it’s nice to watch,” Arvus said, still gazing out at the rowdy, screeching group. “His ability to play and find amusement in all things is one of my favorite things about Molun.”

Perian smiled and nodded. He thought he had some of the same impulses.

He felt like a happier person for being able to amuse himself with simple things.

He knew Arvus and Brannal didn’t see the world in quite the same way, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t also join in on the fun sometimes, or participate in their own way—like making sure there were towels ready for them when they did get out of the water.

“Shall we build up the fire?” Perian suggested, and Arvus nodded .

He pulled on clothes, because it seemed like a terrible idea to try to light a fire while wrapped only in a towel that was not very securely fastened. He was trying to get warm, not wind up with sticks in awkward places.