Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
“Drunk,” Lark says.
Mereden gasps. “But you told Hawk—”
Lark shushes her, glancing at the door. “I know what I told him. But we really don’t need them fighting when he’s this close to the Conquest Moon. He’s not going to be reasonable. Just ask Aspeth.”
“He’s not reasonable,” I agree, and leave it at that. We need Magpie, drunk or not, and right now I’m going to take her side. If she’s breaking rules already, what’s a few more? I need the other half of the ring that’s down below to save my neck.
Oh, and to save my father and the hold. But I’m vastly more interested in keeping myself alive, if I’m being honest. I’m not interested in being the heir or running things. Staying alive, though, that has my full interest.
“Look, it’s fine,” Lark says, getting up from the table and tossing her bowl onto the counter. The nestmaid currently cleaning the kitchen frowns at her, and Gwenna gives the woman a look of sympathy. “Until we get permission to go into the drop again, it’s not like we can do anything. No one’s going to be training because any teacher worth their coin is going to have their students combing through the ruins right now instead of learning lessons, because the guild is driven by money first, learning second.”
She’s right. In my hunger to join the guild to get to live my artifact-strewn fantasies, I always forget that the guild isn’t nearly as interested in the history of Prell as they are in selling it. They’re a guild of vultures, picking over the carcass of something long dead. “I suppose we could train ourselves.”
Gwenna makes a face. “I am not going to run the obstacle course on my own for fun.”
Kipp shakes his head, too.
“I could teach you some of the more common Prellian glyphs,” I offer. “I read a delightful book about forgeries once that had sketches showing the great lengths that forgers will go to in order to pass off their items.”
Lark makes a face. “Wow, that sounds really exciting…said no one ever.” She shakes her head and pulls out a series of parchment envelopes, each one sealed with wax. “Or we could deliver these around the city.”
“What are they?” I ask, taking one. The seal is that of a bird, but it’s been stamped messily and a little difficult to determine what bird.
“Missives from my aunt demanding that we be allowed back into the drop. We’re going to appeal to local authorities and the king’s vizier to override the guild’s decision.” She hands them out to the rest of us.
My jaw drops. “The guild already made a decision?”
“No, but the answer is always the same. It’s never in the favor of the Five. The guild steps in and lets their flunkies take over if there’s even a sniff of treasure.”
Gwenna glances over at me, uneasy. She takes an envelope and turns it over, running her finger over the seal. “So Magpie decided to write appeals already?”
“Oh, no, that was all me,” Lark says. “I went into her room and borrowed her seal.”
Kipp flicks the envelope away and slaps his tail on the table.
“Don’t you sass me, lizard,” Lark retorts.
“Lark!” Mereden scolds. “He’s right to be upset at you. We can’t go forging documents!”
“It’s not a forgery if Aunt Magpie doesn’t remember doing them or not.” Her smile is bright. “And do you guys have a better solution? Because how things look right now, my aunt isn’t going to be training much, Hawk’s got blue balls until the god’s Conquest Moon is out of his system, and guild rules won’t let us go do anything fun without a chaperone. Unless you can materialize one, we’re going to be practicing with our swords and running drills with rock-laden backpacks for the next season. With these two chuckleheads leading our team, we’re not going to pass. We’re going to end up as repeaters unless we’re absolutely perfect, because we’re women. And lizards.” She nods at Kipp. “No offense.”
He nods back.
Mereden picks up one of the envelopes. “I heard that the last time one of the nobles filed a special waiver for guild teams, someone found a really important horn. And that the team of students that found it got to bypass their test. They were allowed into the guild on the strength of that one find alone.”
Now Gwenna’s looking at me. “You know more about Old Prell than anyone else. Is that true?”
I rack my brain, thinking hard. A horn. A horn. A horn…? “I can’t think of any horns.”
“A horn of water?” she asks, shrugging. “That’s all I remember. My father was very impressed with it and talked about it for weeks. He bid on it but a sea lord to the south of us paid an astonishing fee for it.”