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)
“My contact suggested this instead. Do you want to go down or not?” Magpie’s impatience is evident. “The sooner we head into the Everbelow, the sooner we get back before Hawk suspects anything. He doesn’t have to know about stolen rings or anything we find. In fact, it’s best you don’t tell him at all. The moment he knows you’re a thief, he’s going to turn you in to the guild and then we’ll all be stripped of any rank and kicked out the door.” She gestures at me. “And then your father still won’t have anything to protect his hold.”
“Right. Of course.” The old anxiety returns, a tight ball of dread in my stomach. I’m out of choices. “It’s just that the timing is rotten. I can’t go. Tomorrow is the Conquest Moon.”
Magpie shakes her head. “It’s not a problem. We’ll be back before dawn.”
“How is that possible?” I think of the hours we walked last time just to get to our level. We know the area the ring will be in, but that doesn’t mean we’ll find it right away. There are no absolutes. “The timing—”
“I have a way to get us in and out quickly,” Magpie says, her gaze sharp. “We can be down in the tunnels within the hour. If we don’t have the ring before dawn, we’ll come back and try again.”
“It’s cutting it too close,” I protest, even as I’m filled with desperate yearning. Goddess, if this could work, it would fix all my problems….
“We’ll be back before dawn,” Magpie repeats. “I swear it on Lark’s life.”
“Hey!” Lark cries.
“Now, are we doing this?” The guild master straightens, her shoulders going back. “Or is it all for nothing?”
Her words make my innards clench with anxiety. All for nothing echoes in my head. What if she’s right? What if we can get there and back before dawn? Hawk will never know, and I’ll be here for the Conquest Moon. It can all line up perfectly.
“Tell me how we’re going to get down there,” I insist. “Because the path takes hours to walk.”
“An artifact. I can’t tell you more without getting someone else in trouble.”
Strangely enough, hearing that fills me with confidence. An artifact. Of course it’s an artifact. That’s how she’s going to get us in and out quickly. Even though it’s risky, I have to do this. I have to. Even if I hate it. Even if it makes me anxious about the timing. We know where the ring was found. We can locate the other, bring it back prior to morning, and return before Hawk suspects anything. “I promised Hawk I’d be here for the Conquest Moon,” I say to Magpie. “No later than dawn.”
“Dawn,” she agrees. “I’m fine with that.”
It’s decided, then. Even so, I shift my weight on my heels and am aware once more that Hawk’s seed is dripping down the inside of my thighs. “I have time to change, I hope?”
Magpie nods. “Quick, though. You’re gearmaster for this particular excursion. I’ll pack everything that you need but we have to be gone as soon as possible. Someone’s meeting us at the tunnels to drop us in and we have to be there before he gets skittish.”
Right. There’s no time to waste.
* * *
Our packs strapped to our backs, weapons in hand, we file through the streets of Vastwarren in the darkness, heading for the fiercely guarded heart of the city—the entrance to the tunnels of the Everbelow. I’ve changed into my now-comfortably-familiar uniform and washed up after my interlude with Hawk, and my hair is bound into a tight bun at my nape, my spectacles cleaned of all fingerprints and smudges. My body aches with fatigue, but I’m not tired—my mind is racing.
I can do this. I can save my father’s keep. Save the people there. Save my bloodline.
Save my own neck.
This time, instead of cutting through the impressive guild hall, we move along the wall that surrounds the drop zone. We meet a stranger there, lurking in the shadows behind a shop that touches the brick of the tall wall. He emerges from the darkness with a rope ladder, gesturing that we should hurry. “If you get caught, it’s on you,” he says, handing it over and then racing away once Magpie presses a coin into his hand. “Luck to you.”
“Encouraging,” Gwenna murmurs to me, but she always gets sassy when she’s worried. Me, I just get an anxious knot in my gut that grows larger by the minute. “Hope you feel like climbing a rope in the middle of the night.”
“Well, it was part of the obstacle course,” I have to admit, watching as Magpie hooks it against the crenellation with skill. A moment later, Kipp scales the darn thing without pause. “They did try to train us.”
“So they did, damn it.” Gwenna makes a face and steps forward. “Fine, I’ll go next. Let’s get this over with.”