“There’s nothing more to say. I won’t be competing in the Dooling tournament this year,” Runa said sharply. “As I’ve decided to take on apprentices instead.”
The room quieted, realizing that offending Runa could ruin their chances of becoming her student. Barclay wondered why Runa wouldn’t share more about the sport that had made her so famous—it was obviously what all the students wanted to hear about. Maybe her memories of Dooling had been bad ones. Maybe that was how she had gotten that scar.
This time someone raised their hand, rather than shouting. “What was it like to be apprenticed to the Grand Keeper?”
Barclay elbowed Ethel in the side. “Runa was Viola’s father’s apprentice?” he asked.
“Well, yeah,” she said. “Didn’t you know that? So was Cyril Harlow, who’s also a Guardian Keeper.”
No wonder Viola had been nervous to go talk to Runa the first time they met.
Runa didn’t seem to like this question any more than the last. “I learned a lot,” she said, and left it at that.
When she didn’t continue, the same person pressed, “But… Is that when you met the Horn of Dawn? Maybe you could—”
“I don’t wish to elaborate on my relationship with Cyril Harlow. Any other questions?”
Barclay didn’t know a lot about Guardian Keepers, and with Runa refusing to answer anything, he doubted he’d know any more after this presentation ended. What was the point of giving a lecture if she refused to speak?
“Soren Reiker said you used to know Conley Murdock, that you all worked together studying Lochmordra—”
“He told you that?” Runa growled, looking up with a fire in her glare. A hush descended over the students.
The girl who’d spoken seemed to shrink several inches. “I… Yes. That’s what he said after the first exam. I don’t… I mean…”
Runa’s gaze traveled over the room, as though she was looking for someone. Each of the students straightened, hoping her eyes fell on them, but she didn’t seem to find who she was searching for. Then she grimaced and stood up. “You’re all dismissed.”
And she walked out the front door.
Almost no one moved. “Do you think she’ll be back?” someone asked.
“No. What do you think ‘dismissed’ means?”
“I wanted her to sign my champion card!”
While the students at last filed out, Abel asked, “Am I the only one who found that a bit strange?”
Ethel’s brown eyes narrowed shrewdly. “It sounded like she had something to hide.”
Barclay agreed that the lecture was strange and her leaving abrupt, but he couldn’t help but feel loyal to Runa. She was the only person who hadn’t laughed at him when he told her he’d bonded with a Lufthund. She was the only one who could help him get back home.
“Something to hide?” Barclay repeated. “I thought you said Conley Murdock was killed by the Legendary Beast of the Sea. What is there to hide?”
Abel shrugged. “For all we know, she could’ve had something to do with it too.”
“And either way,” Ethel continued, “she can’t be that good of a teacher, can she? Not after a performance like that.”
Barclay didn’t want to fight with his friends—he barely even knew Runa, and theydidknow more about Lore Keepers than he did. But he still felt guilty, talking about her like this.
So he stood up and muttered, “I’m going on a walk,” and he left the Guild House.
He’d only wanted to clear his head, but it was hard to get the lectures out of his mind. How Scholars could read books banned from the general public. How Apothecariesbrewed medicinal tonics or traps, and Surveyors mapped out places never before discovered. And especially Guardians, who protected vulnerable towns like Dullshire from the Beasts… even if Dullshire didn’t realize it.
The world of Beasts was more fascinating than he’d ever imagined it.
And then there was the matter of what he’d read inA Traveler’s Log. That maybe Root had not bonded with him by accident. Maybe that was exactly what Root had been trying to tell him.
As he turned down a cobbled alley, still lost in his thoughts, he spotted Runa in the distance, dragging Tadg with her.
