Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I point to an X at the bottom. “This is where we are. It opens into the cellar and cold storage. Only the cooks would be here in the morning and then before supper. They don’t linger here, though; they get the food and then they head back up to the kitchen.”
“But we don’t know what time it is,” Andor points out. “It might be just before suppertime.”
“If it’s quiet, then I think we’re fine.” I turn my attention back to the map. “After we leave the cold storage, we head up the servants’ stairs back here. These are Daughters of Silence, working for the convent. Even if we come upon them, they won’t scream. The punishment for making a sound is worse than what we’ll do to them, and they know it. It goes without saying, please refrain from killing anyone unless you absolutely have to.”
“That’s where I come in,” Kirney says as he pushes his thumb into his chest, reminding me of his gift, which isn’t just strength and fantastic aim but the ability to disarm people temporarily by pressing his thumb into their exposed skin. Apparently it doesn’t work on dredgers, though.
“Right,” I say. “Let’s always let Kirney disarm people when he can. These Daughters are just like me, stuck in something with no escape. I don’t want any harm to come to them.”
“But the Harbringer…” Andor says with a wicked gleam in his eye.
“The Harbringer is all mine, if I even get the chance,” I tell him. “The priority is the egg.” I point at the map again. “The servants’ stairs will get us to this level, where one of the chapels is and where the Sisters of the Highest Order, the fully veiled ones, pray most of the day. With any luck I’ll get one and will be able to disguise myself in the veil and get myself to the Harbringer’s chambers, where I know she keeps rare artifacts for herself. I know the egg is there, it has to be.” I point at them. “By the chapel is where I’ll say goodbye to you. There are many statues of dragons in those halls to sneak behind, and it’s barely lit, always dark and shadowy. You’ll have no problem hiding out there, but I’m afraid if you try to venture any further, you will be found. Kirney’s thumb can’t sedate them all.”
“I can try,” Kirney says good-naturedly.
“It will turn into a bloodbath and you know it,” Andor tells him before leaning his ear against the door again. “Still nothing. I think we should move.”
I nod and put my hand on the metal handle, slowly turning it.
I poke my head out into a dark room with an oil lamp in the corner, illuminating the stores of vegetables, fruits, and other food. The smell of the convent, those damned fermented herbs that permeated my life for years, immediately hits my nostrils and I almost choke on it. The scent probably isn’t that strong, but my body wants nothing to do with it.
“Easy now,” Andor whispers, briefly touching my hand. Then he reaches down and slides a sword from my sheath and places it in my palm. “You can’t expect not to use this.”
I grip the hilt. He’s right. I have to be prepared.
We walk across the cellar, following the map, which Kirney keeps in his other hand, stopping every now and then to peer into a dark corner and to listen for footsteps or voices of the superiors. So far it’s as quiet as a mouse, though once we reach the staircase, that changes. Because the staircase is carved in stone and goes up several levels, every noise echoes. Doors bang as servants come and go, and the occasional hush of the Sisters gossiping flows down the stairwell toward us.
We stop every time, waiting for the right moment to continue, and we’re only a floor away from where we’ll exit when suddenly the door bangs shut right beneath us and the sound of footsteps gets closer, closing the gap.
I stare down at Andor and Kirney on the steps beneath me, wide-eyed, swords clenched, then start running up the steps to the next floor as quickly as I can.
I reach it, Andor and Kirney behind me, quick and light on their feet, and just as I’m reaching for the handle the door swings inward, almost hitting me.
One the servants steps out, her robe black to signify her servitude, her hood back showcasing close-cropped hair, which means she hasn’t been a servant very long.
She opens her mouth to scream but I quickly put my finger to my mouth to warn her and yank her inside the stairwell, shutting the door behind her. I push her up against the wall, my sword automatically pressed against her throat like a reflex.
“Don’t say a word, Daughter,” I whisper. “You know what they’ll do to you.”