Love you and miss you, Gwenna
It has beenthe longest week of my life.
I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can’t concentrate. Every time I close my eyes, I see that stupid mucking artifact tube lighting up, and I fear I’m going to be caught. That someone’s going to find out that I was somehow involved and I’ll be imprisoned and booted from the guild for good.
If I am, it’ll be the destruction of all the dreams I’ve cultivated over the last year, all the hopes for a better future. I’ve allowed myself to imagine what life would be like if I wasn’t a maid, and I want it so badly I can taste it. I can’t help but feel that I’ve been targeted because I’m awoman attempting to join a guild primarily full of men. That has to be the reason, doesn’t it?
I’m uneasy. Even though we gave the artifact to Sparrow and Hawk and explained the situation, I’m still worried that I’m not going to be believed. That no one will care about the former maid crying foul and just get rid of me. Sparrow reassured me that it would all be handled and my name would be kept out of it, but I know it’s out of her hands.
And of course this week Master Jay decides we need to start doing obstacle courses as a team. I have some experience with those from last year, but last year my team consisted of four women and Kipp, and I could hold my own with the others. This year, I’m the only woman, and it’s far more difficult to keep up with the men in my group as we climb over massive stones and crawl through narrow training tunnels and sling ourselves over short walls.
Raptor makes us all look bad. Even the most physical of challenges look effortless for him, and he frequently must wait for all of us to catch up—or he pulls us through the remainder of the course.
Master Jay hates it when he does that. “They need to learn to run it on their own,” he barks at a bored-seeming Raptor. “Quit helping them succeed when they cannot! You aren’t doing them favors!”
Raptor just ignores that. “Being a team is about more than how well someone can climb a wall.”
I kinda love him for saying it, especially since I’m short and the wall gives me the most trouble out of our team. Kipp is shorter, but he can just scramble up the side of it. Me, not so much.
I’m feeling a lot of things for Raptor right now—most of all, gratitude. He’s been at my side all week, no matter what we’re doing. “I’m here with you,” he tells me. “No one is going to try anything while I’m around. And if they do, I’ll handle it.”
I’ve never had a male protector before, and it’s so nice. Even if I’m the last one to finish the obstacle course, Raptor waits for me. If I head to the kitchen to draw a bath in the small copper tub, Raptor stands guard at the door. He checks my bag for me every time we return to our rooms. So far, there’s been nothing, but I still get anxious every time we return to the dorm and I see my bag hanging on the end of the bed.
“Once more and then we’re done for the day,” Master Jay calls out aswe drag ourselves to the front of the obstacle course again. “And this time I had better not see Raptor helping anyone!”
“Oh, he won’t see it,” Raptor mutters as we prepare at the starting line. Arrod stifles a snort of amusement, and Kipp wriggles in place. I put one leg forward, leaning in so I can be ready. My waist is sore from the rope attached there and me constantly being jerked forward over the course by the others in my Five. No one’s complained, but I’ve caught a few frustrated looks that Arrod and Hemmen have sent my way.
Is it them, I wonder? Is one of them trying to get me out of training? I eye Arrod and Hemmen with uncertainty. If it is, it makes no sense. If I’m removed, our entire Five fails out. It’s only after we pass the team exam that we’re assessed as individuals. They need me until then.
Master Jay blows a whistle. “Begin!”
Fighting back the groan rising to my lips, I race forward with the others. My legs throb, but at this point we’ve run the obstacle course a dozen times today. I’m hurting but I know the motions by now—over this heap of rocks, under a set of fallen logs acting as a roadblock. Over a stack of old bricks that form a wall, dive into a too-shallow tunnel that requires we belly-crawl to the other side. Over the next obstacle. Into another crawl space. By the time I emerge from the last crawl, the others are ahead of me by quite a bit. When I get to my feet, the rope attaching us together jerks me off balance and I plant, face forward, into the muddy pit that I’m supposed to use a balance beam to get over.
I push myself up out of the mud without complaint. I need to get faster. I know I do.
“Who the muck was that?” Raptor growls as I get to my feet. I look up just in time to see him grab Arrod by the collar and shake him. “Was it you, you mucking brat? Do you think that’s funny?”
“Raptor!” Master Jay says sharply, racing onto the obstacle course. “Stop it!”
He snarls at the teacher in response, and then drops Arrod and stomps to my side, his hooves like the beat of a heavy drum on the ground. Looming over me, he offers a hand.
I take it, a little surprised at his reaction. I’m even more surprised when he takes the hem of his tunic and untucks it from his belt, then uses it to wipe the mud from my face. “…Thank you?”
“Fucking pricks,” he grumbles. “Are you all right?”
“I’m just fine.” A little embarrassed that he’s fussing over me in front of the others, but I like it, too.
Master Jay blows his whistle again. “That’s enough today. I’ve seen all I can take. Be ready at dawn on Firstday, and if everything goes well, we’re going to start with our first forays into the basic tunnels soon. Take the weekend to prepare yourself, as I’m not going easy on you from here on out.”
And he looks at me pointedly.
Raptor catches that, too. He steps in front of me as if to protect me, and his hands go to his hips. “I’m working with Gwenna all weekend,” he tells our teacher. “No need to worry.”
Master Jay eyes the two of us and then grunts. “Good. You should probably work with Hemmen, too. He could use some assistance as well.”
Hemmen doesn’t look happy at being called out. “I don’t think—”
“No,” Raptor says, just as quickly. “I already promised Gwenna. Someone else can work with him.”