Chapter Eighteen
EIGHTEEN
ASPETH
20 Days Before the Conquest Moon
Iblush all through breakfast the next morning.
For his part, Hawk is quiet, but when I glance over at him across the table, he’s got a smug look on his face, as if he’s quite pleased with himself. He seems more relaxed today than he has been in the past, which just makes me blush harder.
Luckily no one else has noticed my silence. Gwenna is arguing with Lark and Mereden about the best type of toasted cheese sandwich, and Kipp is watching them with an amused expression as Mereden goes into great detail about the perfect amount of butter that should be spread upon the bread before applying cheese. And while I have definite opinions about toasted cheese sandwiches, I can’t focus on anything.
There are parts of my brain that still haven’t recovered from last night.
I can’t stop thinking about where he touched me. His tongue. The hungry noises he made as he pleasured me. The way I curled my legs around his shoulders and rocked shamelessly against him while he licked me to climax. I’ve read a few naughty books and touched myself a few times, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anything quite like that. I poke at my porridge, wondering how I’m possibly going to be able to hold a conversation with him today, because I distinctly remember the ring through his nose resting upon my mound as he licked me….
“Good,” declares a loud, brusque voice that makes me jump. “You’re all here. Saves me the effort of locating your asses.” I glance up in surprise as Magpie bustles into the kitchen. She’s wearing her guild uniform, and while it’s wrinkled and faded, it’s the first time I’ve seen her look something like a guild master. Her normally disheveled, gray-streaked hair is pulled back into a tail and she wears her sash over her shoulder, so encrusted with pins that it pulls the side of her blouse down.
A spark of excitement races through me as she sets her pack on the table in the midst of breakfast, making the dishes rattle. What’s going on?
Hawk leans back in his chair, his arms crossing over his broad chest. It makes the muscles in his biceps bulge, and I can’t stop staring. Gwenna catches my eye, a curious expression on her face, and I immediately turn bright red, shoving another mouthful of porridge into my face and trying to look anywhere but at her.
Or Hawk.
“Well, now,” Hawk drawls, tilting his head and eyeing Magpie. “Look who’s decided to be upright before noon. Going somewhere?”
“Shut up, you,” Magpie tells him, but there’s a grin on her face. “You all kept bitching about teaching, well, now you get your teacher. I’m taking charge.”
“You are?” Lark grins at her aunt.
“Are you, now.” His tone is even. Unruffled.
“I am.” She puts her hands on her hips. “You going to fight me over it?”
“Not at all.” Hawk seems guarded, but he nods after a moment’s thought. “Glad you’re feeling like joining the team. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, well, yesterday’s scare with this one”—she gestures at me—“made me realize that if I didn’t get off my ass and teach these idiots, they’d go back to their villages, and then where would I be?”
“Did you just call us the village idiots?” Gwenna stiffens in her seat, scowling at Magpie.
“I did. But you can prove me wrong.” She points at the pack she’s placed in the center of the table, almost atop poor Kipp. “I assume you all know how to pack your bag for tunneling?”
Everyone pauses. I exchange a worried look with Gwenna and then glance over at Hawk, but he’s not looking at me, thank Asteria.
“We haven’t gotten that far yet. We’ve been working on drills,” Hawk says. “Physical fitness.”
“Spoken like a true Taurian,” Magpie continues, and gives her head a little shake. “Look, I won’t say that you don’t need to be in good shape to hold your own in the tunnels, but as long as you’re smart and know what you’re doing, it’s not that important.”
There’s a smack against wood, and I realize when Hawk stands up that the smack was his agitated tail hitting the nearest chair. He leans forward, his hands braced on the table. “Not important? Do you know how many idiots Taurians have to retrieve out of the tunnels every year because humans deem it ‘not important’ to be competent at their mucking jobs?”
“I’m the teacher here,” Magpie says in a hard voice. “You want me to teach or not?”
Hawk’s nostrils flare so widely that the ring in his nose jumps. He looks furious, his tail lashing back and forth hard. It smacks Mereden in the arm, but her eyes are just as big and worried as mine.
“Fine,” he says after a moment. His voice is flat with distaste. “You teach. Prove me wrong.”
“Good,” Magpie declares. She stands a little straighter, looking more authoritative by the moment. “You’re all going to get a lesson on what to pack, and then we’re going camping.”
“Camping?” Gwenna sputters. “What the muck does that have to do with tunneling?”
The guild master’s eyes gleam. “That’s what I’m about to show you.”
A few hours later, we’ve all got bags packed, Squeaker has enough dried food for several days (plus I’ve left instructions for the nestmaid to look after her), and we head off. Hawk wants us to march from Magpie’s dorm all the way to a camp somewhere in the distant trees far outside the city, but Magpie insists that we catch a ride instead.
“Won’t do us any good if they’re all too tired to learn,” she tells Hawk. “And like you said, they’re not in great shape.”
She wins this battle, too, and I worry that Hawk’s going to be in a terrible mood by the time the day is over.
We ride out on the back of an empty vegetable wagon leaving the market now that its goods have been dropped off. It’s not the fastest ride, but it’s the right price, apparently. We all climb on and sway along as the mules pull down the cobbled, twisting streets. The pack on my back feels cumbersome, but not as heavy as the ones Hawk has been making us carry. I sit next to Gwenna on one side, Mereden and Lark on the other side of the wagon. Kipp races back and forth, his house a large shield on his back, and doesn’t seem to want to conserve his energy at all. Maybe he doesn’t need to. He seems to have enough enthusiasm for all of us. Master Magpie rides with the driver, talking his ear off, and Hawk sits on the back of the wagon, his heavy legs hanging over the edge, almost as if he doesn’t want to be with us. It makes me a little worried. I glance over at him on the far end of the wagon but he’s not been very talkative today. Is it Magpie? Or is he regretting what we did last night?
As we leave the city behind, the rutted road curves past the “Dig for Artifacts” field, which makes Magpie point and laugh as people shovel away at holes in the midst of the loose dirt. “Look at those fools.”
“Are they fools for wanting to find something?” Mereden’s voice is wistful. We all watch the people in the field digging and sweating, using shovels and buckets to move mountains of dirt aside. “Most people can only dream of finding an artifact. I understand why they’d spend a few pennies for the chance.”
“No one ever finds anything,” Lark admits, shrugging. “It’s just people fleecing the tourists.”
I’m not as jaded as Magpie and Lark. Part of me still wants to go out there and try my own luck. I’d be one of the people out there with a spade and pail, happily digging away. I squint-watch the blobs of people with wistful admiration. They have a dream, and they’re going after it in the best way they can. Nothing wrong with that.
Gwenna nudges me. She’s seated next to me after making both Mereden and Kipp switch places with her. “Everything okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” My face immediately colors bright red, making a mockery of my casual tone.
If she notices my blush, she doesn’t say anything. “You’re normally not quiet about all this,” she whispers, gesturing at the wagon. “You’re usually nattering on about how they did things in Old Prell or how traditional guild members do things.”
I fuss with the hem of my sleeve, agitated. Keeping my voice low, I say, “Do you think Hawk is upset over Magpie being here today?”
“Why would he be? Isn’t she the one in charge?” She nudges me. “Or are you afraid your lover is going to be upset?”
I clap a hand over her mouth. “Shhh!”
Her eyes widen. She licks my palm, forcing me to release her, and I wipe my hand on my clothes, glaring. “What the fuck,” she whisper-mouths. “Are you—are you blushing?” Her gaze moves to Hawk and then back to me and she leans in closer. “Are you two fucking already? I thought you were waiting for this moon shit?”
My face feels as if it’s on fire. “We are. It’s just…he…I…” I shake my head, unable to continue.
“He…” she prompts, giving me an encouraging look. “Rearranged your organs? Gave you the dicking of your life? What?”
I twist my blouse in my hands. I don’t have anyone to share such things with. Never have. Even when I had my heartbreak over Barnabus, I couldn’t confess to anyone how hurt I was, how foolish I’d felt. Gwenna had been my servant and it would have been inappropriate of me. But now we’re both just guild fledglings. And I desperately want to talk to someone about it.
I lick my lips, and then lean in to whisper. “He licked me. Inappropriately.”
She blinks, and then a sly smile curves her mouth. “You do know it’s not inappropriate if you’re married, right?”
“Hush. I just…I was taken by surprise.”
“I am, too. He seems kinda like a stern type, but that’s a good sign. A man who isn’t afraid to make his lady come first is a good man in my book. He did make you come, right?”
That does it. My face is going to be permanently red. When they paint my portrait, I’ll look like a ball of fire from neck to hairline. I do hold up two fingers, though.
Gwenna nods slowly. “My esteem of him grows by the day.”
Mine does, too, so help me.
We arrive at our campsite near dusk. It’s a pretty area, with a lot of trees growing near a winding stream. On one side of the water are fields and pastures with cattle grazing. On the other side, things are a little more wild and unkempt. The trees cluster together tightly, not a single path to be seen, and the underbrush is so thick that I can’t imagine crossing it. Scrubby bushes mingle with weeds and lead to taller trees in the distance.
It’s in this rather unimpressive place that Magpie smiles and waves a hand in the air. “Here we are!”
“Where is ‘here’ exactly?” I ask, glancing around. I don’t see any sort of buildings nearby, or a tunnel into a cave. If we’re camping, surely there’s going to be a cave involved, right? Since we’re training to be familiar with caverns and ruins and such things?
“This is the perfect spot of land for terrain practice,” Magpie declares, rubbing her hands together.
“You always did love terrain practice,” Hawk says from nearby. I want to turn to look at him, but my face feels rather hot again, and instead I tug on my collar, trying to get air in my blouse. Sure is warm here.
“Terrain practice?” Mereden asks, glancing over at Lark, who shrugs.
“Terrain practice,” Magpie repeats.
Gwenna slings her pack off her back, ever the hard worker. “Great. Shall we set up tents and get started, then?”
“No tents just yet. It’s too bright out.” Magpie squints at the sky.
“It’s sunset,” I point out. At my side, Kipp snorts, and I don’t know if he’s amused or irritated.
Magpie just grins at me. She’s got deep hollows under her eyes and her skin has a greenish cast to it, but if she feels poorly, she’s hiding it well. “Sunset, aye. We want it to be fully dark.”
“Why?” Gwenna blurts.
“Because it ain’t well lit in a tunnel,” Magpie says, enunciating each word slowly. “Just like it ain’t all even and level, either. Or dry. Some tunnels are wet. Some are nothing but rocks. There’s nothing about it that’s easy. So we’re going to keep those packs on your backs.” She points at Gwenna’s pack, indicating she should put it back on. “And then we’re going to go marching up the stream. The water here is only ankle-deep. It makes the rocks slippery and treacherous, which means it’s perfect terrain practice. I haven’t been in a tunnel yet that’s as smooth and easy to navigate as the streets of Vastwarren.”
Considering that the streets of Vastwarren are cobbled (terribly cobbled, I might add) and slant heavily, this is a rather alarming piece of news.
“And we do this in the dark?” Mereden asks, her voice timid.
“It’s all good, Mer,” Lark says in a confident voice. “We’ll be tied together, just like in the caves, right?”
“Exactly,” Master Magpie says. “You’re getting it now.”
“But it’s going to be too dark to see anything,” I point out. I can barely see as it is. In the dark? I’ll just be stumbling.
Magpie turns to me. “Then light a fucking torch and quit complaining. You think it’s bright in the caves?”
“I think I preferred it when Hawk was teaching us,” Gwenna mutters.
I do, too.