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)
The archivist nods eagerly. “You know of them?”
Aspeth pulls the thing carefully out of the box. “Just that they were musical instruments. So few of them have been found intact and I’m told the only two enchanted ones are in Lord Besral’s care.” She holds it reverently, squinting in the flickering light, and then makes a frustrated sound. “Come inside.”
The little man hurries inside, carefully giving me as much space as he can. If I wasn’t in the process of going to bed with my wife, I’d be amused. As it is, I’m cranky and feeling protective. “Aspeth has had a long day,” I warn him. “This had better be quick.”
“This is an instrument scheduled to ship out to Lord Besral tomorrow, actually,” Archivist Kestrel says, trotting after Aspeth as she strides toward the nest’s communications desk. “That’s why I’m here tonight. I need a second opinion on the inscription, and my colleagues and I cannot agree. I know Lady Aspeth is supposed to be an expert with reading glyphs, and so here I am.”
I grunt, still annoyed. Aspeth’s no longer part of the guild—they made that quite clear. If he harasses her even a little, he’s going to find my hoof in his arse.
But my wife digs around in a drawer, looking for a magnifying glass and carefully holding what looks like a hand-sized harp on a stick—the sistral—in her other hand. After she finds the glass, she makes another frustrated noise at the shadows. “It’s too dark in here.”
Sighing, I pull an unlit candle from its wall sconce and bring it to the desk, then light it and set it in a holder. “Better?”
“Yes, thank you, love.” She peers down at the sistral with the magnifying glass, and I try not to preen at being called “love” in front of another. Ridiculous. I’m not some green lad in love for the first time, and yet my ears twitch and I catch myself beaming at my wife as she works.
Because she’s mine.
“Oh dear,” she says after a moment.
“What? What is it?” the archivist asks.
Aspeth straightens and turns to him, biting her lip. “I’m sorry, did you say that you’re shipping this out to Lord Besral in the morning?” When he nods, she winces. “I’m sorry to tell you, but I believe this is a fake.”
“A fake?” He sputters, though the sound isn’t all that convincing, and my hackles go up. “What do you mean?”
“Do you see this glyph?” She pulls the magnifying glass out and holds it over the sistral’s handle, pointing at a tiny triangular shape with her pinky finger. “It’s the correct glyph, but the proper usage would have it after the descriptor, not before….”
She trails off as Archivist Kestrel begins to chuckle, clasping his hands in delight. Her gaze flicks to me.
“It’s a fake,” Kestrel hoots with delight. “You are quite correct!”
“You seem rather excited about that,” Aspeth says, expression careful. “Lord Besral—”
Kestrel waves a hand in the air. “It’s not being shipped out. I was lying. I just wanted to test you one last time before I was certain.” He looks absolutely thrilled. “It is indeed a fake and I should know; I created it for training purposes.”
Aspeth’s gaze slides to me again. “I don’t understand. Why bring it here now? It’s almost midnight.”
I shrug, because I’m puzzled as well.
“Because I have to offer first!” The archivist reaches for Aspeth, and when I growl low, recoils again. He clasps his hands in front of him once more. “I want you to join us. We are not part of the guild officially, but we are employed by them. We take each uncovered artifact and record it and its purpose, and we study the ones that are mysteries. We look for ways to fix the broken ones, and work with the lord holders when they wish to acquire a magical artifact. We write treatises upon the artifacts in our care and train the guild’s fledglings on how to properly spot a fake. I cannot think of anyone who would be better for archiving than you, Lady Aspeth.”
Aspeth’s eyes grow wide as he speaks. She looks at me again, excitement on her face, and then back at the archivist. “But…I’ve been forbidden…the guild…”
“You have been forbidden to join the guild, yes. No one said anything about the archivists. We are the ones who find ourselves not quite right for guild work, the ones who would rather study all day long instead of climbing through tunnels. We work in the guild hall and in the libraries, doing recordkeeping instead of excavating. As for the guild…Rooster himself recommended I come here this evening to speak my piece before others arrive.”
Rooster did? I shouldn’t be surprised. Even though he’s overfond of politics, he always looks out for the guild, and the archivist is right—Aspeth would be an amazing archivist.