Amanda Lynn's Arc

Chapter 3 of 14

Amanda Lynn reached the guild hall with the sun high and her one bare foot bleeding. She signed the roster minutes before the clerk closed the book. She had made it. But the tournament ran in stages, and the first leg started at dawn tomorrow. She needed the route, and she did not know this land. Outside the hall she found B.A. Ware leaning against the cracked stone facade. The split-faced courier had beaten her here, of course. Half their hair white, half black, the line down their face sharp as a knife. Their creature guide lay curled at their boots, one flank pale, one dark. "You made it," B.A. Ware said. Flat. Not a question. "Because of you." Amanda Lynn watched their face. Last night this person had saved her from the flood. But they were still her rival. Every runner here wanted her to lose. "So tell me the first leg. Which way is fast?" B.A. Ware pushed off the wall. They pointed north, toward a low green hill. "Take the river trail. Flat and dry. You'll shave off a mile." Amanda Lynn heard the words. She wanted to grab them and run. But her gut pulled tight. Last night she had trusted them with nothing to lose. Now they both wanted the same crown. "Why would you hand me a mile?" she asked. Something flickered in B.A. Ware's eyes. Two things, almost. "I told you. I beat people at their best." "You said that in the dark, when I was already broken." Amanda Lynn stepped closer. "Now I'm signed in. Now I'm a threat. So which of you is talking to me?" B.A. Ware went still. The creature lifted its head. For a long moment neither the courier nor the animal moved. "The river trail runs backward from the finish flag," B.A. Ware said quietly. "You'd add three miles. I wanted to know if you'd swallow it." Amanda Lynn's chest went cold, then hot. She had almost taken it. "You lied." "I tested you." B.A. Ware's jaw worked. "The disciplined one wanted to help you last night. The other one wanted to bury you today. I don't always know which is steering." They looked away. "The fast way is the ridge road. That's true. Check it yourself. Don't take my word again." Amanda Lynn stared at the split face and understood. She could never trust this person clean. Half of them would guide her; half would sink her. The only safe path was her own eyes. "I won't," she said. "I'll learn the ground myself." She turned and limped toward the ridge road while daylight held. She would walk every mile before dawn, mark every turn, trust no guide but her own feet. B.A. Ware watched her go and did not follow. Behind her the split courier stood alone, which was how they always ran.