Unguilded by Jane Glatt Page B

it is midsummer. See how Gyda is lower in the sky?”
    “I never noticed that before,” Mika said. He stooped and gently turned to the next page. “And this drawing?”
    “This is early harvest.” Kara turned another page. “And late harvest.” She smiled at Mika. “As long as you know the season you can determine where you are, more or less.”
    “I’ve been lost a time or two since I had this book. If only I’d known what it held,” Mika said. “No wonder they don’t want us all to read. They’d lose their power over the rest of us.” He picked up the second book. “Imagine if I had that first book and then this one showed where fresh water was? I could go somewhere new and wouldn’t need a Guider to tell me what routes were safe.”
    “I’m sure Guider Guild has water sources marked down,” Kara agreed. She could have used knowledge like that in the past few days, instead of praying for burros to lead her to water.
    “Yes, they would,” Mika said bitterly. “Hoarding what they know so’s their guild can manipulate the other guilds, letting us regular folk suffer. People lost ’cause they can’t afford a Guider—children without shoes ’cause Maker Guild hasn’t bothered to send anyone to their town—houses letting the rain in ’cause no Mason’s willing to fix it. And Mage Guild,” he sent her a sideways glance. “That’s the worst of them all. They let sick people get sicker and die ’cause there’s no Healer close enough, or cheap enough. If you’re not guild, you’re nothing, and if you are guild, you better be important. It’s all just people looking out for themselves. Nobody cares about their neighbour, their friends, or even, sometimes, their family.”
    “True enough,” Kara agreed, thinking about how her own family had treated her, how they had used her—even planned her birth—in order to gain status within Mage Guild. And what her fate would have been had she not run away.
    “Anyways,” Mika said. “The two of us aren’t going to change how things are done. You promised to teach me how to read some.” He sat down beside her and held out the second book. “No pictures in this book. I got no idea what it’s about.”
    “ First Guildsman, the Teachings of Paolo Santonini ,” Kara read. “It must be a history of how the guilds started.” She looked over at Mika. “Are you sure you want this? I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to read either of these books any time soon—I can only give you the basics.” She paused. “I could show you another healing poultice, instead.”
    “No,” Mika said. “You said you would teach me to read and write.” He frowned at her. “Why are you trying to get out of this trade?”
    “I’m not,” Kara said. “I agreed—I promised —to teach you and I will. I just . . .” She looked away. “I don’t know you. You could be planning to hand me over and collect a reward from Mage Guild.”
    “Could be,” Mika said. “But if I was, do you think I’d ask you to teach me to read? Gyda, if Mage Guild found out I knew the healing trick you already showed me, they’d kill me. And you and I both know they would be able to find out.”
    Kara met Mika’s solemn gaze and nodded. If Mika did betray her, she would have no reason to keep the healing poultice a secret. Mage Guild wouldn’t believe her, but they would get the truth out of Mika—either by magic or torture.
    “All right,” Kara said. She was as satisfied as she could be. Mika had just as much to lose as she did if they were caught. “Which would you rather start with, letters or numbers?”
    “Numbers?” Mika said. “You know numbers too? I wasn’t even hoping for that.”
    “I can’t do the calculations Masons need to build a house or a bridge, but I can do simple addition, subtraction, and multiplications,” Kara said.
    “Nothing simple about that,” Mika replied.
    “All right.” Kara picked up a stick and smoothed the dirt in front of her.