Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
He shrugs off the pack and sits down in his seat, tugging the floppy hat over his face. “I’ll just nap while you two work, or whatever it is you do.” He waves a hand at us. “Wake me up when you’re done.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes, because we both know he’s not napping. Metta just annoys him and so he pretends to sleep in the chair while I visit with her.
There’s a stranger inside Metta’s house, and the woman is sitting at a table eating a chunk of buttered bread. She gets to her feet when I enter, brushing crumbs off her lap, and beams at me. “You must be Elsie. I’ve heard so much about you! My name is Varina, and I’m a priestess of Belara from Eagleton.”
“Eagleton,” I echo. It sounds familiar but I can’t place it.
“Nice little place up the river,” Metta says in a brisk voice. “We do a lot of trading with them. They have a great many peach trees.”
“Oh.” I manage a smile. Varina is a plump older woman with beautiful skin. Her hair is covered with a bright red veil decorated with tiny leaves, and her clothes are rich and sumptuous compared to mine. I resist the urge to touch my collar again, thinking about my conversation with Kalos earlier. Maybe I should take the time to sew together something nicer. “I didn’t realize there would be visitors here today.”
“Everyone’s been talking about Lord Kalos and his Maiden of Medicine and your book of magic. I wanted to come and see such a thing for myself.”
“Is that right?” I keep my tone mild, looking over at Metta. The woman refuses to make eye contact with me, a sure sign of guilt. So much for keeping Kalos’s location a secret. I’m not surprised, though. The road that winds along the edge of the Dirtlands backs up to their village, and so both they and Omos deal with travelers. Plus, they all love to gossip.
Varina beams, her veil fluttering as she moves forward and showing a flash of faded red hair underneath. “Oh, indeed. The Anticipation is always a source of interest, but having a god local? That’s special. Especially since Lord Kalos has taken you as his apprentice.”
My eyes go wide. He…what? “I’m not his apprentice! I’m his Anchor.”
“But you’re sharing his magic…?”
“It’s not magic,” I say again, though I feel like shouting it at this point. “It’s herbalism. You can literally find all this information in books. Anyone can learn it. No one needs to be a wizard to use it.”
They both stare at me as if I’m speaking in tongues.
“Here, I’ll show you how it works,” I say, pulling the book out of its leather wrappings.
For the next hour, I open the book to different pages and show Varina how to read it. I point at the symbols and go over them, and how to find the plant, the season it grows in, and how to prepare it. She makes fascinated sounds and gazes at the pages with intense focus. She asks a lot of questions, and I’m pleased she’s taking the book seriously. If anything, she’s more enthusiastic about it than Metta is.
Varina sighs when we get to the last page, running her fingers over the final drawing. “That’s all so far?”
I nod. “So far, yes. It’s been a bigger project than I anticipated, but I think it’s going to be really effective once it’s completed.”
“To be certain.” The priestess smooths her veil back from her round face. “The knowledge should be shared with everyone. All the villages nearby will benefit from such a gift.”
She gets it. I get an excited flutter in my stomach. Varina sees the vision. “Yes, exactly! Everyone can use it.”
The priestess flicks to the back of the large book, thumbing through the empty sheets of vellum before closing the book once more. “Can we borrow it for a few days?”
Her question throws me for a loop. “Borrow…?”
Metta clasps her hands together. “Yes! Priestess Varina heard about the book and came here specifically to make a copy for her town. They want all the secrets, too.”
“Still not secrets,” I say cheerfully. “And, I mean, it’s not done…”
“I’m only going to be here a few more days,” Varina replies. Her fingers brush over the book again in a covetous way that makes me feel strangely possessive of it. “I want to copy down as much as I can in that timeframe, and we can return it to you.”
“It’s not a problem, is it?” Metta asks. “You were going to give it to us anyhow, were you not?”
“Of course I was. Am.” I keep smiling, even though I’m feeling wildly reluctant over this plan. I’ve put in so many hours working on this one single book that now the prospect of handing over the fruits of my labor feels…strange. But like Metta says, that’s always been the plan. I just…what if they spill something on it? What if someone tears a page out? “You can always come with me to the monastery and copy there,” I say, gesturing behind me as if Omos’s home is just over my shoulder. “We’re staying with a very kind monk—”