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)
…only to see a glaring Gwenna waiting on the other side.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“Stopping you.” The look on her face could peel paint. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Aspeth, you are a terrible liar! You’re going out to meet Barnabus, aren’t you?”
I scoff. “No.”
She reaches out and plucks a tuft of orange fur from my cloak. “Pulling out our old clothes, sneaking away at midnight…sure sounds to me like you’re meeting him.”
“How do you know he’s even asked to meet me?”
“I snuck in and read your note.”
“Gwenna!”
“What? It’s obvious you weren’t going to tell me.” She marches into my room and sits on the edge of the bed, her arms crossed as she glares at me. “So again, I’ll ask, what do you think you’re doing? Because going to meet him is incredibly stupid.”
“What other choice do I have?” She continues to give me a look of disbelief, so I explain. “He knows where I am and what I’m doing. If you think he’s not going to use that information for his own purposes, you’re being naive. I have to see what he wants and what it’ll take to keep him quiet.”
Gwenna purses her lips, hesitating. “You know he doesn’t want anything good.”
“I know he doesn’t. But again, what am I supposed to do?”
She sighs. “I just don’t like it, Aspeth.”
“Me, either.”
Gwenna stands up, and I think she’s going to push me back into my room. Instead, she envelops me in a hug. Surprised and touched, I hug her back, feeling awkward and yet somehow happy. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d come here alone. Probably have given up a half dozen times already.
She pats my back. “Let me come with you, hmm?”
“You can’t. We both know you can’t.” I give her a squeeze of affection and then pull away. “If I don’t return, you have to tell the others what happened. If you come with me, we both could get in trouble. At least this way you’re safe.”
“Yes, but you’re going to go into the city alone after dark? That’s dangerous, Aspeth.”
She’s not wrong, but again, I don’t have a choice. It’s not as if I can ask Barnabus to meet somewhere more convenient. “I’ll wear my cloak and keep out of sight as much as possible. And don’t forget, I’ve been practicing with a short sword.”
Gwenna stares at me and then we both burst into laughter.
We giggle until tears stream down our faces, because I’m absolutely rotten with a sword. Comically bad. I’m in far more danger of wounding those around me with my sword, to the point that Magpie has instructed me to use a club and only a club. No sharp objects, especially not in confined spaces.
Gwenna doesn’t give up, though. Wiping tears from her face, she shakes her head again. “Ask Kipp to go with you. He’s good with a sword and no one will pay much attention to a slitherskin.”
“What if he says something to someone?” I ask, worried.
“Kipp? Please. He’s the soul of discretion.” She tugs me by the arm, pulling me into the hall as if it’s already decided. “Come on.”
Maybe she’s right. We head down to the kitchen (Kipp’s favorite spot to tuck into his shell house and relax) and talk to him. A short time later, I’m out in the streets of Vastwarren, heading for the tavern with Kipp keeping a careful distance ahead of me. He seems to know where he’s going, which is good, because it’s dark and I can’t see anything without my spectacles. I weighed the idea of wearing them, but it would ruin my disguise with Lark and the others, so I have to stagger around blindly in the darkness. It’s all a blur of shadows, but I can keep my eye on Kipp’s pale shell that he shoulders as if it weighs nothing, and it makes it easy to track him.
The night in the city seems dangerous. Even though I know I can take care of myself—probably—I’m still a little alarmed at the crowded streets. Vastwarren’s winding, crooked streets are packed with men of all ages after dark, most of them drunk and rowdy. Things are peaceful behind the guild’s high wall at the center of the city, but here in the common streets it’s a mess.
Once you get away from the center of the city where the guild holds sway, the inns and shops all cluster together like people crowding and jockeying for space. If there’s a fingerbreadth of ground to be found, someone has built a booth on it and is selling wares. We pass an alley that’s crowded with blankets and stolen goods laid out for buyers. Kipp hurries past but part of me wants to pause and look to see if there are artifacts being sold.