Chapter 26
A Wicket Keeper
There was a single path up the Timekeeper’s Finger, long unused and wild.
In certain places, the footing was gravelly, while in others it was slick and moist, spongy with dark earth and loamy moss. At first, the slope of the Finger was fairly shallow, and Nicolas took long strides, wanting to move away from the shelter of their camp as quickly as he could, before anyone discovered he was gone. He wanted to be far away before he could rethink his decision, before the surge of strength he’d felt in his heart receded. Before the anxiousness, and the burden he’d been silently bearing, could replace it like weighty stones strapped around his ankles.
If he was, after all, a Wren, then he wanted to do this on his own.
He wanted to leave his friends alone.
He wante
