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)
Strange. So one tunnel in the same area is a good one, and ours is a dud. Great. I eye the differences in the tunnels. Thirty-Two seems to be larger, the walls of the tunnel itself a little more smoothly hewn. Thirteen is rough, the entrance low. I hope that’s a good sign, but something tells me it’s not.
Kipp pulls the rope from his pack and holds one end out to me. Right. I loop it through my guild belt the way I’ve been shown, and pass the end on to Lark, who’s going to be our navigator. She belts herself in and as she does, I shrug my pack off and pull out the shield that’s part of my assignment. I’ve got my short staff for a weapon, but I can’t use it while holding a shield. As the bulwark, my job is to protect, not strike, so I strap it back to my pack again.
When we’re all roped together, Kipp pulls out his tiny sword. He grins up at me, and then licks his eyeball. I think that’s a sign that he’s ready to go. We all look ready, with our packs on our shoulders and Gwenna at the rear. I glance back at Magpie to see where she’s going to be as we head in…
Only to see that she’s dropped her pack. As I watch, she sets down her lantern and unrolls her bedding. She reclines on it with a yawn, her pack working as her pillow.
“What are you doing?” I ask. “I thought this wasn’t the place!”
Everyone turns to stare at her.
Magpie flicks a hand down toward our tunnel. “You’re going to want to head that way for about another hour or two and see what you can find. I’ll wait here.”
I stare at her in shock. The others do, too. I’m pretty sure that’s not what our leader is supposed to be doing.
“You’re not coming with us?” Mereden asks, voice timid.
“Nope. I’ll stay here and guard camp. Keep a light burning for you and all that.” She gestures at the cavern. “When you’re ready to retire for the evening, come back in this direction. You can drop your packs here, too. Lighten your bags.”
I’m not sure I like that suggestion, but when Lark shrugs and tosses her pack down, I do the same. I pull out my sleeping pallet and a change of clothes and set them down. My bag feels deflated and half-empty like this, and I’m pretty sure Hawk would have disapproved.
But Hawk isn’t here.
Once our bags are settled and I’ve got nothing in my hands but my shield, Magpie holds out the flag. “Tie this across your tunnel. It means that if another team comes by, they can’t dig where you are. You’ve claimed it already.”
Gwenna takes the flag and gives me an uneasy look. “What’s the point of doing this if we don’t expect to find anything?” she asks, her voice carefully neutral. “Wouldn’t it be wiser to continue our lessons up top?”
“Oh, we get paid simply for the attempt,” Magpie says, folding her hands over her belly and getting comfortable in her makeshift bunk. “That’s the beauty of it. In a situation like this, these lords are paying for the number of teams sent out, not what we retrieve. We can waste our time and his money as much as we like, and you guys get to practice. It’s a great system.” She reaches into her belt without opening her eyes and holds out her stick. “Don’t forget your dowsing rod.”
Lark takes it from her. “Do we say anything to activate it?”
“Hell if I know.”
I frown. “Let’s just go, see what we can do. If nothing else, we’ll gain experience.”
Kipp tugs on the rope as if in agreement, gesturing at the tunnel awaiting us. I nod and head after him, and the others follow.
* * *
We’ve practiced walking while roped together so we’re not as bad at it as we could be. No one stumbles into one another, and we keep enough slack between us that we can walk comfortably. Our new tunnel—in Drop Thirteen—doesn’t have a guide rope to hold on to and the floor is wet and slick and slopes downward. We move carefully, and I’m glad that Kipp is in the lead—even with the wet floor, his steps are sure-footed.
We lose all light and then we have to pause as Lark readies a lantern for us. She holds it aloft on a stick, but the ceiling is so low that it bangs against the rock, sending a rain of pebbles down onto our heads and making Gwenna yelp in surprise.
“Sorry,” Lark says, but she sounds on edge. We all are. This is our first experience in the tunnels and I can’t shake the feeling that we’re not quite ready.