Chapter Sixteen
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.
I know I’m not the only Taurian who feels that way. Raptor, myself, and a big older bull named Osprey went down to retrieve the team, because a sacred five isn’t needed for a rescue party, it seems. We were all three in a foul mood when we left, and are in an even worse one now as we head through the cobbled streets on the way home, our guild pay for the retrieval mission jingling in our pockets.
The three of us pause at an intersection, the general guild housing the next street over. Across from us is a popular pub frequented by the guild members, and it’s packed to the gills with human men laughing and drinking and having a great time.
“Idiots,” Raptor mutters, shifting on his feet, his hand on the strap of his pack. “Ten crowns says that our ‘team’ is going to head straight for the bar once the healers are done with them. They won’t learn a thing.”
“Do they ever?” Osprey harrumphs. “Whoever’s in charge of the guild criteria for testing is clearly on the take. In my day, these fools wouldn’t ever leave the training grounds, much less head into danger. Mushrooms, of all things.” He shakes his shaggy head. “Insanity.”
“At least we get paid,” I say, like I always do. Normally it appeases me, knowing that the extra funding is going to a good cause, another step toward repaying my debt to the guild. Today, though, it just makes me bitter, because I know in another few weeks, I’m going to be back in the same tunnels, retrieving the same idiots…and the guild thinks a few coins tossed our way makes everything better and excuses poor behavior.
But no one ever asks Taurians what they think of things.
Before I let that path of thinking sour me, I adjust my pack against my shoulder. “I should get home. New wife and all that.”
Strangely, just thinking about Aspeth waiting for me is pleasing to think about. She’ll be in bed, no doubt snoring that little feminine snore of hers, her mouth slightly open. She’ll fuss at me over training, because she likes to fuss and protest. I’ll bathe…and maybe she’ll give my cock that intense stare again, squinting at it as if she’s never seen anything like it before and flattering my ego.
“So you decided to stay after all?” Raptor asks me, pausing. When I nod, he claps me on the shoulder. “Can’t decide if you’re an idiot or brilliant for taking a wife to handle the Conquest Moon, but I’m leaning toward idiot.”
“Definite idiot,” Osprey agrees.
“Thanks.”
Raptor glances up at the sky. “Moon’s gonna be ripe in another three weeks. Gonna be some kind of hell on the lead-up. Maybe a wife is smart after all.”
“I’m heading back to my village,” Osprey says. “Lots of eager widows looking for a few nights of fun and not much else. If you change your mind, you can come with,” he tells me. “I leave in three days.”
I nod, though I know I won’t take him up on the offer. “Appreciate it.”
“I leave tomorrow,” Raptor says. “Take some time off. My Five fell apart, so it’s a good break for me before returning to work once Lord Dipshit finds more for the team. I’ll be back in time for the fledgling tests later this year, since we all know what a fuck-storm that will be.”
I’m trying not to think about it, but he’s not wrong. To pass the guild test, every person must take part in both a team exercise and an individual one. For the team exercise, every Five has to make a quick trip to the tunnels to retrieve an artifact placed there by guild masters, or to find a brand-new one. Those who pass both their tests return and celebrate their inclusion in the guild. Those who fail are fished out quickly (if they’re alive) or slowly (if they’re not), and it falls to the guild’s Taurians to clean things up. Individual tests are usually tailored to the student’s particular weaknesses, which is why I have to push Aspeth so hard. She can’t stay soft and naive, not if she expects to become a guild artificer.
We’re months away from anything like that, however.
“I’ll see you when you return,” I tell my friends.
We part and I make the brief trek back to Magpie’s dorm, my thoughts full of Aspeth. Is it weird that I just want to sniff her? To breathe in her scent and let it wash over me? I’m sure it’s the Conquest Moon making me obsess over a woman’s scent, but I imagine what she smells like when she’s aroused, and the thought of it makes my cock stiffen.
Definitely the Conquest Moon. I surreptitiously adjust my cock so walking home isn’t quite so difficult.
The moment I step inside the dorm, though, all is chaos. There’s shouting in the kitchen, and equipment is strewn all over the entryway to the house. I step over it, heading toward the source of the noise. The kitchen is even messier than outside. Magpie is by the stove, trying to pull a too-tight guild blouse over her chemise. Lark is stabbing a wheel of cheese into small chunks with her sword, Mereden is crying and packing the cheese chunks into small pouches, and the slitherskin is trying to pull a too-large jar off a shelf, three other broken ones near his feet. Gwenna is shouting at Magpie, who looks as if her head is about to split open.
I’m also pretty sure every weapon from the practice room is on the table. “What happened? Where’s Aspeth?”
Mereden bursts into fresh tears.
Gwenna storms across the room toward me, her expression one of pure fire. “You! High time you showed up. You think you can just gallivant off and leave us behind?”
I arch a brow at her. “I was on a rescue mission. I left a message with Aspeth.”
“Yes, well, we need you more than anyone else does.” She puts her hands on her hips and glares at me. “Now that you’re here, you need to go and save Aspeth before they torture her for information!”
“No one’s torturing anyone,” Magpie declares. “I’ve said that twice now. Can someone help me with my sleeve?”
Gwenna scowls at her and doesn’t move to help. No one does. Instead, Gwenna turns back to me. “This is all your fault,” she hisses. “If you hadn’t left, Aspeth wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Her anger—as well as my own fatigue—make me unpleasant. I lean in, looming over her. “You want to tell me exactly what mess it is I’m supposed to be responsible for?”
She leans back, but only a little, her expression remaining fierce. “We were playing some sort of artifact game against the other teams of fledglings and they decided that Aspeth was cheating. They’re holding her hostage at the guild hall and won’t let us in to see her. That’s why Magpie’s getting dressed.” She casts a dismissive look over at the guild master. “For all the good that will do.”
“I’m helping!” Magpie protests.
“You’re a soggy mess is what you are,” Gwenna declares. “If you weren’t such a waste of skin, we wouldn’t be in this mess, now would we?”
“Hey,” Lark protests. “That’s my aunt.”
“Your aunt is a drunken waste of skin,” Gwenna repeats. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Lark glances at me and then drops her gaze, sullen. “I mean…she’s trying.”
“She’s not trying very hard .” Gwenna glares over at the two of them again. “And now Aspeth is suffering because there was no one to speak up for her. So someone in charge needs to fix this. Now.”
I look over at Magpie. Her head is stuck in her clothes, one hand flailing above her head.
Sigh.
I set my pack down. “Someone help Magpie with her sleeve. I’ll go get my wife.”
By the time I make it to the main guild hall, I’m a tired, angry, cranky mess. My hooves are still crusted with mud from the caverns and I smell like old sweat. I want nothing more than to change out of my old clothes and take a bath, but it seems I’m having to retrieve my wife instead, and my mood grows more dire with every moment that passes.
When I storm inside, wild-eyed and tail swishing, an apprentice spots me and immediately runs down a hall. No doubt he’s been told to notify someone of my arrival. Sure enough, Master Tiercel appears in the hall from one of the doors, his mouth tight and his expression troubled.
That makes me pause. Master Rooster is a fool, as are many of the other masters, but I’ve always respected Tiercel. He’s hard but fair, and as a teacher, his students never end up needing a rescue.
“I’m here to retrieve my wife,” I say, but some of the fire has left my voice. “What’s the problem?”
“Hawk.” His greeting is accompanied by a friendly handshake, and my mood smooths out a bit. “I’m glad you’re here. I wish it were under different circumstances. We need to talk about your wife. When did you marry?”
“Recently” is all I say. “Where is she?”
“She’s being questioned,” Tiercel says. “This is the first I’ve heard of your marriage. And to a student? You have to know this is rather unorthodox.”
“But not against the rules. Just like having a female student,” I remind him. “As for my wife, she likes to argue, but I’m not entirely certain that’s a crime,” I point out, and mentally I’m imagining how Aspeth has managed to piss off Master Tiercel. “What’s going on with the artifacts?”
“First, I would like to know how you came to know her.” He tilts his head, regarding me. “Did she approach you or did you approach her?”
I narrow my eyes at him. What is he getting at? “I’m not sure why that matters. She wanted to be a student at the guild. Remember that she approached Master Rooster and wanted to enroll?”
He blinks. “Was that her?”
“It was. Called herself ‘Sparrow’?” Recognition dawns on his face, along with an amused smile that for some reason makes me want to punch him. “You remember now.”
“I do.” He chuckles, and the sound grates on my nerves. “She certainly doesn’t lack for boldness. What made you decide to marry her?”
I decide to lay it all out. “There’s a rut coming up.”
His expression remains blank.
Just as well. He wouldn’t get it. He’s not Taurian. “Mating ritual. Once every five years. Unavoidable.”
“Ah. To appease the family, then?” His brows go up.
“Something like that.”
“And you trust her?” At my puzzled frown, he goes on. “We have reason to believe your new wife is either a very skilled antiquities thief or possibly a holder spy.”
When I sputter, he tells me of the game that afternoon. How Aspeth took a great deal of time to choose certain items, and how she’d chosen perfectly each time and corrected them on the third one. “She knew it was discharged. Either she was already in the know of that particular item or she reads glyphs.”
That makes me pause. “Only archivists and a few of the masters read glyphs.”
“Exactly.”
I know Magpie recognizes some of the more common glyphs, and I’ve learned to pick a few out, but the Old Prellian written language is complex and requires a great deal of study, which is why it’s only truly mastered by archivists, who aren’t active members of the guild for one reason or another.
“My question is, did she position herself with you in order to get an in with the guild?” He gives me a worried look. “Everyone knows that Magpie’s students tend to be a bit unorthodox. Perhaps she deliberately sought you out?”
I give my nose ring a tug before shaking my head. “I was the one who suggested we marry,” I lie, trying to calm the situation. But I think about that night, and how Aspeth and Gwenna showed up with an obviously drunken Lark and asked—no, demanded—to be students. Surely not. Surely they’re just two women who have decided to take on a particular challenge, and not spies. “If you want my opinion…”
“Please.”
“She’s not a spy. She’s a spoiled rich woman. She’s hinted before that her family comes from wealth, and she arrived with tailored guild clothes in expensive fabrics. She’s incredibly sheltered and her physicality is terrible. If she truly was a spy, they would have sent someone who would easily pass the physical tests. As it is, I’m going to have to work her hard to ensure that she doesn’t fail the basics.” At Tiercel’s slow nod, I continue. “It’s far more likely that her father spoiled her and purchased artifacts on the sly. You and I both know that some merchants love to acquire contraband. That could be why she recognized them.”
Tiercel nods again. “Most of the items she recognized seemed to be trinkets. You could be right. Who is her father, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t know.”
His expression darkens again.
I raise a hand in the air before he can go down the “spy” route again. “I will keep an eye on her, and the moment I find out anything, I’ll pass it along. But if you’re asking me if she’s dangerous, my answer is no. Not hardly. She’ll be lucky if she passes the guild tests at all. She might have scholarly knowledge, but you and I both know that it only gets you so far in a dark tunnel.”
He grunts, stepping aside. “You’re right. Perhaps I’m just panicking. You’ll alert the guild if you find out anything in particular?”
“You know I will.”
We shake hands again and then he leads me into a waiting room. Aspeth sits next to an enchanted reading lantern, her hands clasped in her lap, her lips pressed into a firm, unhappy line. I can feel Tiercel’s gaze on us so I move to Aspeth’s side and rub my muzzle against her forehead, pretending affection. “Come along, wife. You’ve caused enough trouble today.”
“Trouble?” she echoes, indignant. “I’ve caused no trouble!”
I take her by the arm and give Tiercel another knowing look, one that indicates I’m a man put-upon by a needy wife. Aspeth catches the look and makes another angry noise, jerking at my grip. She has every right to be annoyed at my expression, but I have to sell it to Tiercel so he doesn’t suspect anything.
Leading her out of the building, I don’t speak until we’re in the streets and I know for certain that there’s no artifact hidden in an alcove and capturing our conversation for the guild to spy upon. I sling my arm over her shoulder, and the lecher in me can’t help but notice that she fits under my arm perfectly, as if she were made to be a Taurian’s woman. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
She scoffs. “I don’t know. Do I? Or are you suspicious of me, too, simply because I can look past a shoddy paint job? Whoever made those artifact duplicates should be ashamed. Even a child could pick them out.”
“And yet no one else did except you,” I muse. “Every single time, if Master Tiercel is to be believed. Are you just amazingly lucky or is there something else I need to be aware of?”
She pauses, glancing up at me, and for a moment, I worry that everything Tiercel said was right. That she truly is a spy of some kind looking to steal information about artifacts to take back to holders or to underground merchant rings. Her expression is guilty. “I haven’t been totally forthcoming about my past.”
“You don’t say.”
Aspeth stares straight ahead, but she doesn’t fight off my arm. If anything, she leans into me. It’s like she’s seeking support. It’s both gratifying and slightly terrifying. “When I was a child,” she begins slowly, “I read a lot. My father was busy and my mother was dead, so my father’s manservant had a standing order to find me any books I should like to read and he would buy them. Early on, I was fascinated with Old Prell and decided I would teach myself glyphs.”
“That’s impossible,” I point out. “It takes years to master glyphs, even with a teacher.”
“It takes twice as long when you don’t have one,” she says, voice wry.
“And you’re telling me you taught yourself?”
“Some. Then I had my father hire a tutor who was a retired artificer, and he taught me the finer points. But I learned much on my own. I had nothing else going on and no friends.” She shrugs. “No siblings. What else was I going to do with my time?”
Instead of suspicious, I feel a surge of sympathy for her instead. I imagine a small Aspeth, young and bossy and desperate for knowledge to make up for the lack of companions. I picture her with her annoying, shedding cat in her lap, a book in hand as she sits by the fire.
It would explain why she’s so terrible at the physical aspects of guild life. It would explain a lot of things, actually. It would explain why she married a Taurian. She has no people knowledge, just books. I grunt. Things are falling into place. I squeeze Aspeth’s shoulder. “Let’s just get home, all right?”
“Am I in trouble? Is the team in danger?”
“No and no.”
We walk through the curving streets in companionable silence, and I keep my hand on her shoulder. It feels good to have her at my side. Feels strangely good to realize that Aspeth might need a friend and that I can be that person for her. Not that I lack friends, but there’s something different about Aspeth. She’s infuriating and a know-it-all…and incredibly vulnerable, too. Returning to the dorm, everyone hugs Aspeth, Mereden cries, and Gwenna fusses over her like a mother hen. Magpie is still with the others, but silent. At least she has her clothes on properly now. I’m a little surprised she’s still awake, but am too tired to deal with it. “Aspeth and I are going to bed,” I tell them. “You should all do the same. We have drills in the morning.”
They all groan. Kipp disappears into his shell house and the others scatter.