Page 44 of Bull Moon Rising

I believe his exact words wereHe owes me a favor and no one else will have you, but I keep that part to myself.

“A retrieval mission?” Mereden echoes, her dark eyes wide. “What’s that?”

“Taurian,” Lark answers between bites. When she doesn’t elaborate, Mereden indicates for her to continue. Lark clears her throat. “Taurians are really good in the tunnels. They’re strong and sure-footed and have excellent direction sense. They’ve got an excellent sense of smell, too, and they can keep going when humans get tired. Whenever someone gets lost in the tunnels, they send in a few Taurians to fish ’em out. Happens all the time.”

“It does?” Gwenna wrinkles her nose, glancing over at me. “So why don’t they just send in teams of Taurians instead of humans?”

“Control,” Lark announces. “Arrogance and control. Humans want to be in charge of everything. Humans want the artifacts. And there’s not enough Taurians in the city anyhow. I think they get tired of our shit and retire after a few years to go live in the countryside and raise little baby Taurians with the lady bulls.” She shrugs. “It’s the guild’s dirty little secret. No one has to be as good at surviving in the tunnels as they used to be because the Taurians will bail them out. Aunt Magpie would joke that passing the test is the hardest part of the job.” She opens her sandwich and stuffs another slab of cheese between the bread.

I eat a few more nuts before posing a delicate question to her. “You knew she was a drunk?”

Lark makes a face. “Everyone knows. Everyone keeps hoping she’ll turn it around, but she never does.”

“Why is she like this?” I ask, puzzled. “She has everything she could want. She’s legendary in the guild. She’s found some of the most fabled artifacts—the Sword of Starflame, the Claw of Guidance. Legends are going to be sung about her. How can she be miserable enough to try to drown herself in a bottle constantly?”

Lark takes another large bite of her cheese sandwich and glances over at Mereden. “Holders.”

My hackles prickle with alarm.

Gwenna kicks me under the table.

“You…you don’t say?” I manage delicately.

Mereden makes a sympathetic noise, then reaches for the cheese to make her own sandwich. “She had trouble with a holder? Contract troubles? I know my family can be difficult with negotiations. I’ve heard the stories.”

I wait for her to look over at me. To say something about my family, the esteemed and ancient Honori holders that have been in the northern mountains for centuries. But Mereden only nibbles on her sandwich and watches Lark.

Lark shakes her head, turning her sandwich and ripping a piece of the crust off with her teeth. “Love troubles. She fell in love with a holder’s heir. He was using her for her connections and the artifacts she’d find. Magpie always had an amazing sense for locating things even in the biggest piles of rubble, you know? Incredible things. Some people say she was like Sparkanos the Swan reborn, but with a vagina.”

Gwenna clears her throat.

“What? I didn’t say it. I saidsomepeople say it.” Lark shrugs. “Anyhow. Aunt Magpie had everything except the man she wanted. She waited for him to marry her, and waited. Five years or more, I think.Then she found out he was marrying some other holder’s daughter. Magpie confronted him and asked him to marry her instead, and he laughed. Said she didn’t have the right bloodline. I think it broke something in her. She hasn’t found anything good since.” Her expression becomes melancholy. “Growing up, my aunt was just the most exciting person I’d ever met. But for the last ten years she’s been a mess. I’m surprised Hawk hasn’t abandoned her. I think he’s the only reason she hasn’t been booted from the guild. He picks up the slack. He’s a good guy.”

I nod thoughtfully, eating a few more nuts. He might be a good guy, but he sure is grumpy to me. If there’s one thing I can say about Hawk so far, it’s that he’s protective of Magpie all right, and determined to help her out. And that means we have to try harder as a team. “Tomorrow is a new day,” I tell my fellow fledglings. “Let’s eat and get some rest, and if Hawk isn’t back in the morning, we’ll have to do that horrid obstacle course again. But at least we’ll have a better idea of what to expect.”

Gwenna groans. Lark does, too. Mereden purses her lips and looks ready to cry again.

“I don’t like it, either,” I tell them, grabbing some of the cheese and slapping it onto some bread. “But if this is what it takes to pass, then we just have to conquer it. We’ll figure it out, one way or another.”

We talk for a while longer, eating all the food set out for us and putting away the dishes. Kipp joins for a bit, not talking, just listening and nibbling delicately on bits of cheese and bread. Before long, we head to bed, and it makes me feel a little strange to return to Hawk’s quarters without him. Squeaker is there, curled up on the bed, and lets out a happymrrpat the sight of me. I wash up and undress, climbing into bed and hugging the cat.

Here I’d thought joining the guild would solve all my problems. That I’d coast to graduation and shower my family in artifacts and save the day. Everything is far more complicated than I expected, and twice as difficult.

I’m not going to give up, though. Even if Master Crow humiliates us daily. It’s just going to make my eventual success all the sweeter.

FIFTEEN

ASPETH

21 Days Before the Conquest Moon

The next morning,Hawk still hasn’t returned. I fight back my disappointment and dress in a fresh uniform, braiding my hair and pinning it up. I desperately want to pull out my spectacles for today but Master Crow will probably blab all about that to Hawk and so I don’t dare.

I’m heading to meet the others when a thunderstorm crackles overhead, the sound loud and terrifying. Gwenna and Mereden are in the hall, cloaks in hand. Mereden peers out a window, watching the rain slash down onto the cobbled streets. “We’re not going out in this, are we?”

“There’s still no sign of Hawk,” I tell them. “I don’t know how long he’ll be gone, and we need to make every day count.”

There’s a knock at the door, and Gwenna opens it. A soaked slitherskin stands there, his house dripping and his skin bright orange compared to Kipp’s leaf green. He holds out a folded note and races away the moment she takes it.

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