Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
My senses prick. I say nothing, just watch the others.
Gwenna licks the jam off her roll (gods damn me for watching that so closely). “He’s got a lady friend with a farm on the outskirts. That’s all it is.”
“So you say. Just seems wrong that he’s abandoning students when he’s supposed to be training us.” Arrod takes a half-hearted bite out of his roll and continues talking around his mouthful, spraying crumbs as he does. “I just thought a teacher would be more…hover-y. My last one was. Never gave us a moment’s peace.”
I make a mental note to watch Jay more closely and to tell Hawk about it. It’s probably nothing but the grousing of a fussy drunk student, but I have to check into everything. I’ll have to search his rooms when he’s gone, too. Not that I expect to find anything, but it can’t hurt to look for secret compartments or magic residue. I don’t want the others to be suspicious, so I put on my best knowing smile. “You’re all fussing about Jay, but I promise he’s one of the better teachers. A good artificer is independent anyhow. Do you really want your teacher making every decision for you? Or do you want your teacher to give you the tools so you can make the decisions for yourself?”
Gwenna squints at me. “Second one. I think.”
“Exactly. We can do the basics on our own. Like deciding who’s going to take what position when we rope together.”
“Position?” Gwenna licks her roll again, and I swear she’s doing it just to muck with me. “What kind of position?”
Hemmen chortles and takes another swig of his beer. “In the tunnels. You know: sword, shield, navigator, healer, and gearmaster.”
“Right. Those positions. I knew that.” Her cheeks are flushed pink, and tendrils of dark hair are escaping her neat bun, making her look disheveled and ripe for fucking and…and I might need another dose of potion from Naiah’s stash after all if this continues. I can’t think straight.
“Kipp should be our sword,” Arrod says. “He’s bloody talented. Never seen anything like it.”
Kipp preens at that, straightening and patting Arrod on his clothing as a thank-you.
“What about the big horking Taurian?” Hemmen asks.
Arrod shakes his head. “Got it all thought through. He can be our shield.”
They both eye me, and I shrug. “I’ve been both positions in the past. Just happy to serve in whatever way is needed.”
“Shield,” Arrod declares. Then he eyes Gwenna and looks over at Hemmen again. “What about the woman?”
By Old Garesh’s nutsack, this is not going to end well. I can already see Gwenna stiffening.
“She can watch our supplies and make our meals,” Hemmen declares. “You know, woman stuff.”
Gwenna jumps to her feet and throws her beer in Hemmen’s face. “The fuck I can!”
Arrod roars with laughter, wheezing so hard he falls out of his chair and takes Kipp down to the floor with him.
“All right,” I say, getting to my feet. “That’s enough beer for now. Let’s head back.”
Twenty-Eight
Gwenna
Dere Ma,
Sorry it’s been a few days. I don’t have coin to send home this time, but I think of you constently. I miss you. Classes have been taking up all my spayre time. Master Jay is very different than Master Hawk. He likes to talk a lot and he is a big beleever in something he calls repetetif lerning. He makes us do the same drills over and over again so they feel like second nature.
He’s fair tho and hasn’t treeted me any different than the men. He is a great teechur and I’m not saying that just because the guild reads our letters. We are doing well in our lessons. The Taurian—his name is Raptor—is extremely skilled and is helping me practiss so I can keep up with the others.
I hope you’re taking care of yourself. Don’t let Cook bully you into making all the bread. She just doesn’t want to get up early because she’s fooling around with the stable boys at all hours. You can tell her I said that!
Sending love, Gwenna
All is quiet for several days. An intense storm has hit Vastwarren, turning the streets into rivers and the cobblestones into slippery dangers. Master Jay decides that we’re going to learn best indoors, and so we take to the guild library with the other fledgling teams. Every master has the same idea, and the library is overcrowded with people. It’s a struggle to find a table, so we have to show up early to claim seats. The air is humid and unpleasant due to the rain and the crush of bodies in the library, and I’m covered in a fine sheen of sweat all week and miserable.
I’m not the only one who’s suffering. Arrod groans like a petulant toddler every time a book is put in front of him, as if we’re torturing him instead of asking him to learn some Prellian glyph basics. Raptor’s in a cranky mood, too. I don’t know if it’s the humidity in the library or the proximity of so many people, but his mood becomes increasingly irritable as the days go on. He’s snappish to all of us, scowls at Master Jay constantly, and isn’t fun to be around in the slightest.