Page 59 of By the Horns
Arrod roars with laughter, wheezing so hard he falls out of his chair and takes Kipp down to the floor with him.
“All right,” I say, getting to my feet. “That’s enough beer for now. Let’s head back.”
Twenty-Eight
Gwenna
Dere Ma,
Sorry it’s been a few days. I don’t have coin to send home this time, but I think of you constently. I miss you. Classes have been taking up all my spayre time. Master Jay is very different than Master Hawk. He likes to talk a lot and he is a big beleever in something he calls repetetif lerning. He makes us do the same drills over and over again so they feel like second nature.
He’s fair tho and hasn’t treeted me any different than the men. He is a great teechur and I’m not saying that just because the guild reads our letters. We are doing well in our lessons. The Taurian—his name is Raptor—is extremely skilled and is helping me practiss so I can keep up with the others.
I hope you’re taking care of yourself. Don’t let Cook bully you into making all the bread. She just doesn’t want to get up early because she’s fooling around with the stable boys at all hours. You can tell her I said that!
Sending love, Gwenna
All is quietfor several days. An intense storm has hit Vastwarren, turning the streets into rivers and the cobblestones into slipperydangers. Master Jay decides that we’re going to learn best indoors, and so we take to the guild library with the other fledgling teams. Every master has the same idea, and the library is overcrowded with people. It’s a struggle to find a table, so we have to show up early to claim seats. The air is humid and unpleasant due to the rain and the crush of bodies in the library, and I’m covered in a fine sheen of sweat all week and miserable.
I’m not the only one who’s suffering. Arrod groans like a petulant toddler every time a book is put in front of him, as if we’re torturing him instead of asking him to learn some Prellian glyph basics. Raptor’s in a cranky mood, too. I don’t know if it’s the humidity in the library or the proximity of so many people, but his mood becomes increasingly irritable as the days go on. He’s snappish to all of us, scowls at Master Jay constantly, and isn’t fun to be around in the slightest.
It doesn’t make me want to flirt with him, either. He’s never quite unpleasant to me, but there are times that I want to snarl at him for being a prick.
On Fifthday morning, the three humans and Taurian in our group head over to the library to meet Kipp, shaking out wet cloaks and hanging them on hooks near the doors. Despite the early hour, the library is full of fledglings, and I can hear Master Tiercel droning on about Prellian architecture. A librarian rushes past with a cart full of books and what looks like a crystal globe set atop the cart. The crystal globe flashes and the librarian parks the cart and begins to shelve books in their places.
“I wish someone wanted to get wet,” I comment as we swipe our muddy boots on the rug at the front of the library.
Raptor jerks, startled. He shoots me a dirty look.
“What? If they wanted to get wet, they wouldn’t be in here, hogging all the tables.”
With a scowl on his face, he plants his big hands on his hips and scans the room. “I don’t see Kipp.”
“He said he was going to wait at the table,” I say as both Hemmen and Arrod look to the Taurian. “Why else do you think he came ahead, Cranky?”
Raptor mutters something under his breath that sounds a bit like “least he’s coming,” but I don’t know what he’s referring to. I shoot him an irked glance and then make my way across the crowded library, dodgingpushed-out chairs and carts full of books waiting to be reshelved. There are no candles in the library to brighten it. The large windows are full of gray skies, but someone has pulled out a series of small globes that are full of a greenish magic illumination. The fist-sized lamps are lifted onto the wall sconces by hooks, and the room fills with a murky, sickly shade of light.
One of the men pushes his chair back just as I walk past, shoving it into me.
I ignore him. Just like I ignore the one who slaps my arse as I move past.
Raptor doesn’t, though. He’s two paces behind me, and the moment after my arse is squeezed, he lets out a roar. I turn just in time to see the student lifted bodily out of his seat, hanging by his collar. He hauls the terrified fledgling into the air. “Slap my ass,” he snarls, the broad blaze down his muzzle pressed to the tinier human nose. “Go on, I mucking dare you.”
Should I tell him to stop? I don’t want to, because I love that he’s standing up for me. I love that he’s doing something about the harassment I’ve dealt with every day since arriving in Vastwarren City. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so gleeful about it, but it’s nice to see someone realize that their thoughtless actions have consequences.
“S-sorry,” the student mumbles, utterly pale.
Raptor shakes him again. “Are you apologizing tome?”
The fledging turns wide, frantic eyes toward me. “Sorry! Sorry!”
“Just don’t let it happen again,” I say magnanimously. I move to Raptor’s side, and when he gives the man another shake, I tap his arm. “You can set him down now.”
He looks over at me, and I could swear there’s a tinge of red in Raptor’s gaze. He looks…unhinged. All this because some fool spanked me? Or is there something else going on?
I move away from the table full of fledglings and their scowling master (who did not step in, I cannot help but notice). Arrod and Hemmen go ahead, but I turn and wait for Raptor. After a moment, he drops the quivering fledgling back into his seat and stalks away, moving to my side. Once he gets to me, he reaches out. For a moment, it seems as if he’s going to put an arm around my shoulders, but he changes his mind and brushes a piece of lint off my fledgling sash instead. “You all right?”
“Are you?” I ask. “It’s not like you to lose control like that.”
