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)
“Absolutely,” I force myself to reply. I want to talk about other weights that were mentioned in prior tomes and the units of measurement that Prellians used depending upon the situation, but now isn’t the time. I eye Master Tiercel. “So this means we have four points?”
The master’s jaw clenches and his nostrils flare. It’s clear he doesn’t want to announce us as the winners. He looks over at Master Crow, who seems equally irate, and then turns back to me. “The game is canceled. No winners, no losers.”
“That’s not fair!” Lark protests. “We fucking won!”
“You,” Master Tiercel snarls and points at my face. “You stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed. The rest of the games are canceled. Spread the word with the remaining teams.”
The room empties out with the sound of scraping chairs and grumbling voices. There’s more disappointment as others file into the hall and announce the cancellation, and my face burns as I remain in place. The others on my team stay at my side, and Gwenna moves to link her fingers with mine.
Master Tiercel gives Lark, Gwenna, Kipp, and Mereden a dismissive look even as Archivist Kestrel continues to study the egg in his hands. “The rest of you can go,” he says. “You’re not in trouble.”
“But I am?” I ask.
“The guild frowns upon cheating—”
Gwenna’s hand tightens on mine and she steps in front of me. “She did not cheat. How could she possibly?”
“This is horseshit,” Lark declares. “You just don’t like us because of Magpie!”
Mereden and Kipp make angry noises of assent.
I’m flattered they’re all so quick to defend me, but I can tell from the guild master’s expression that it’s useless. He doesn’t know how I managed to identify the objects and I can’t exactly tell him that I’ve been studying rare tomes ever since I was a tot. No one would have access to those kinds of books save for a guild member or a holder who’d paid a great deal to buy or borrow them. I can’t point that out, or that I had a tutor—a retired artificer who was too old to go tunnel crawling—who taught me how to read glyphs.
I can’t say any of that. I’m supposed to be just another person here, learning with the rest of them. So I give Gwenna’s hand a squeeze and then detangle myself. “It’s all right. I’ll stay behind and answer their questions. I’ve done nothing wrong. You should go on back to the nest.”
Mereden and Lark reluctantly head out, with Kipp at their heels. Only Gwenna remains behind, scowling at everyone. I have to give her another reassuring hand squeeze and a gentle shove toward the door. She stumbles forward and then glares at Master Tiercel and Archivist Kestrel. “If she’s not back by dusk, I will have every Taurian in the city at your doorstep.”
Then she turns and leaves and I’m left alone with the two men.
“Sit down, fledgling,” Master Tiercel says in a furious voice. “I want to know all your tricks.”
“My tricks?”
“How you did this. How you managed to cheat the system.” He gestures at the artifacts. “How you guessed right all three times.” He indicates the egg cradled in the archivist’s hands. “How you knew this was legitimate when even we did not.”
“Luck?” I answer weakly.
He leans forward over the table, the look on his face hard and unyielding. “Sit. Down. You’re not leaving until we get some answers.”
The archivist looks up as if seeing me for the first time. “Are…are you the one who married the Taurian? Your guild master’s assistant?”
I didn’t think it was possible but Master Tiercel’s expression gets even harder.
I sit.
I imagine I’m going to be here for quite a while.
SIXTEEN
HAWK
Funny how things change the older you get. When I was a young bull, I wanted nothing more than to be in the tunnels at all times, exploring the ancient grottoes and ruins of Old Prell. It angered me when we had to return early due to an injury in the party, or when Magpie started her descent into the bottle, because it meant we couldn’t go out hunting. Not without five, and not without our leader. Now, though? As we finish another retrieval mission?
I’m glad to be home. Glad to be done with the soft idiots who pass for guild members these days. After two straight days in the tunnels, I’m sweaty and dirty from the hiking and digging. I’m tired, and more than that, I’m irritated and disgusted because the team we rescued made poor choice after poor choice and ended up with empty hands to show for it. If they’d run into a nest of ratlings in an unexpected location, I could have some sympathy for them.
Instead, they’d eaten mushrooms they’d found in the tunnels and ended up injuring themselves. They’d used a rescue signal stone for no reason and wasted our time.