Page 67

‘Try five,’ Cal quipped.

‘Have you tried the initiation test then?’ Thea pressed.

But Kipp shook his head. ‘Weapons master insisted I give it more time. Said I’d wind up dead if I attempted in my first year. In my fourth year he said, “what’s one more year of training?”…’

‘Wonder what he’ll say this year,’ Cal laughed.

To Thea’s surprise, Kipp just shrugged good-naturedly. ‘Who knows, Callahan… Who knows.’

‘You’re not bothered then?’

‘Depends what day you ask me,’ Kipp replied. ‘But personally I’ve never really seen myself as a Guardian of the midrealms.’

‘Then why the training? Why not stay on as fortress staff?’ Thea couldn’t believe that there were people in the training program who didn’t wish to be there, while she had fought tooth and nail for her place. She kept that thought to herself.

‘Dwindling numbers, isn’t it? The intake of shieldbearers each year gets less and less. So they take who they can.’

Thea had heard as much, but it was another thing entirely to have it confirmed directly from the source. The conversation dwindled, and they finished up with the shields, moving into the armoury.

‘What now?’ Thea asked.

Cal tossed her a clean rag. ‘Esyllt likes things really shiny,’ he said.

Thea groaned. ‘This is turning into a very long day…’

They set about cleaning the countless blades in the armoury, and the questioning turned to her.

‘So… You went to Harenth…? With a Warsword?’ Kipp prompted.

‘To petition the rulers of the midrealms?’ Cal added, impressed.

Hawthorne’s dimple, the scar through his brow, and then his scowl flashed before Thea in a blur.

‘Uh… yes,’ she managed. ‘With Wilder Hawthorne.’

Cal let out a low whistle. ‘Some say he’s worse than the Bloodletter.’

Paying far too much attention to polishing a mark from a blade, Thea shrugged. ‘He wasn’t so bad,’ she said defensively. And then, ‘Perhaps I’ll tell you about it another time.’

‘Fair enough.’

And she was grateful to them for not pushing her.

‘We should tell her about the code…’ Kipp was saying.

‘Code?’

Cal nodded. ‘You know, the usual shit… What happens between shieldbearers, stays between shieldbearers.’

‘You mean, don’t tell the commanders when someone is hazing you?’ Thea said.

‘Pretty much,’ Kipp sighed. ‘There’s a lawless side to Thezmarr’s regime and it lies within the shieldbearer training.’

‘Good to know,’ Thea replied. ‘Though I can’t say it would have been my first instinct to go running to Esyllt.’

‘Perhaps not now,’ Cal said seriously. ‘But I’ve certainly found myself in a situation or two where a commander’s interference would have been welcome.’

‘I’ll say,’ Kipp agreed.