Page 149 of The Queens and the Kings
“They’re . . . weapons, I guess. There are only certain types of weapons that are immune to the arcane. He says I have to have them if we’re going to have a chance to approach the Arcanist of Souls in exchange for Agnes.”
“Shite,” Henrik muttered.
After a pause, Einar asked, “Will you try to stop me?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to call me a fool?”
“No.”
Flabbergasted shock bled through Einar’s voice. “Why not?”
“If the Arcanist of Souls exists and all of this is real,” Henrik said carefully, “then you’ll find Agnes. But that doesn’t mean I think it’s wise or that it will happen the way you think.”
Einar’s grip on the railing tightened. He fell into such deep thoughts that Henrik nearly left him to it. There was the Captain to urge to greater speed, questions of whether a drake arrived from the mainland with any news, and a fleet of ships behind them to coordinate.
“I just . . .” Einar stumbled over the words. “I didn’t expect you to believe me. I thought you’d try to dissuade me. Tell me that I’m a fool. That Agnes is gone and I’d be better to leave her dead and . . .”
He choked off.
Henrik straightened, clapped a hand on Einar’s shoulder. “I’d go to the depths of the sea, to Norr’s very toes, before I’d try to dissuade you of anything, Einar. I ask only that you wait for us to deal with His Glory before you act so that I can go with you.”
Einar nodded once, swallowing hard. “I don’t know if you can,” he admitted. “I don’t even know ifIcan. Pedr said the Arcanist of Souls is the most powerful. He’s ruthless. He must be, if we’re correct and he’s helping His Glory.”
“If I can, Einar, then I will.”
Chapter Forty Two
BRITT
The four wyvernKeepers didn’tdomuch.
At least, they didn’t move quickly when focused on a task. Based on what little work they wrought, she assumed they showed up mostly around mealtime. For almost an hour, they stood within sight of her target and hovered against the arena wall, chatting for a frustrating length of time.
“Fine,” she muttered. “I’ll do what I can while you take your tea. Blessed mermaids, you’re lazy.”
Britt took advantage of their inattention and stole forward, toward another cluster of rocks. It closed some distance, but not much. She couldn’t go the whole way in one shot, or even ten shots, but she could gradually work her way toward them.
Not to mentionawayfrom the wyverns and their oppressive stares.
With Denerfen on her shoulder, she slipped around boulders, wyverns, and closer to the keys. The wyverns didn’t move. Most kept their eyes on the Keepers, or the western sky, which didn’t draw attention from the Keepers, either. Wyverns must act like this more often than not, or the Keepers really didn’t care about the beasts.
Britt studied every lock she passed. Each wyvern had a variant keyhole. None of them were the same, which made it straightforward and complicated at the same time.
As she worked her way around the arena’s south edge, she closed in on the Keepers area near an eastern doorway. A giant boulder prevented them from seeing her or the slight puffs of dust her steps generated, no matter how carefully placed. This barren arena was a parched desert compared to the lush farmlands around it.
She tripped over a rock with anoomphand pitched onto a cairn that toppled. Dust poofed into the air. One of the Keepers turned, hand shading his eyes as he gazed her way. She dropped to the ground behind a wyvern with markings around its neck. These were far lighter, the skin wrinkled. An aura of age and fatigue radiated from him, unlike the wyvern that brought her here.
Heart slamming, Britt held her breath and prayed the Keepers wouldn’t explore. The wyvern’s tail flicked back and forth, stirring up more dirt. Granules pressed against her teeth, filling her nose. She bit back a sneeze at the last second. When the wyvern yawned, the Keeper turned away.
She expelled her breath as Denerfen hopped onto the wyvern’s tail.
“Close call. Thanks.”
A full minute later, Britt straightened up to peer around the wyvern, risking another glance. The Keeper pointed to the west, hands moving as he spoke about something. The others followed his gesture, attention riveted away from her.
“Den, we’re going to have to move fast once they scatter. When that happens, you bite me. You’ll have to load up as much as you did on the Unseen Island.”
