"I can't believe this is actually happening," Count, now standing, remarked to those surrounding him. Since they departed from the harbor of Sogbury, things have become much quieter. They were currently in the midst of their passage a rather brief ways west, towards the Facility ruins, marked by the decrepit Smith's Cross. "And no one else knows that the Master Bringer has come. There's no telling how they'll react when I release the Calendar off schedule- and to think that you are the Master Bringer!"
"I can't believe it either," Soal avoided eye contact with his old friend as he peered back at Sogbury, where they had come from. "Who will remember?"
"Don't worry; from the rumors I've heard, a lot of them are still there," Hemingway remembered he was here, and reminded them. "The ones named Emma, Marshall, and Renyro-something are (or, perhaps, used to be) in Hendera. The other one... I can't remember the name, but she's there- in the Crusade. We can't find her out."
"You mean Anibar?" Irene inquired. Soal stood by her side, also curious.
"Yes, that was her name," Hemingway nodded. "Just a moment. I shall leave Count with you to converse." He then proceeded to scamper across the deck, dotted with Sogburian Thieves, to speak with Gnat, busy piloting the steamboat's movements. Count, Soal, and Irene watched together as they busied themselves with Gnat's heated debate, and Hemingway's defense of his treasured principles. Clearly, aside from the task at hand and this argument, most significant issues had already been left behind.
Eventually, he gave in, and invited Soal and Irene below deck, to a more fanciful explanation. "Don't mind me," he declared, "it's time you received a real description of what happened on 'Flying Helmet Day,' as you may say it." His conversation with Gnat may have prompted returning memories of what he should have done earlier.
"We're very thankful," Irene nodded quickly, although it looked to be more of a slight bow instead. Soal followed suit, and they joined him below deck, in a much more suitable location than the "cellar" from earlier (which was to provide secrecy). This time, Soal and Irene seated themselves at a table, across from a grim Hemingway. Morrison was visible speaking with some of Gnat's crew at the end of the chamber.
"Ahem," Hemingway began. "Allow me to educate you in the operation of the stories I have been told many a time by my elders. Let us begin."
YOU ARE READING
The Sketch Rift: The Time-Bound Thief
Fantasy{Book One in the Sketch Rift Trilogy} Charles Hemingway is a spy. Only the most cunning and clever actions will carry him to his end goal, as with any spy. But Hemingway is no ordinary spy- he manipulates time itself to bring himself to his...
