Chasing the Valley Read Online Free Page A

mean. Those girls’ only contribution will be money, but scruffers have more diverse skills. What good is money, anyway, when you’re on the run in Taladia’s wilderness?
    â€˜Skills,’ repeats Radnor.
    â€˜I’m an illusionist,’ I remind him. ‘You saw what I did in the tunnel before.’
    Silence.
    â€˜An illusionist?’ says Teddy Nort, looking eager. ‘Really? Oh man, you should’ve joined my pickpocket gang! We’d get rich with an illusionist. Imagine what we –’
    â€˜Forget it,’ says Radnor. ‘Just being an amateur illusionist isn’t enough to buy you a spot on my crew. What other “skills” have you got?’
    I hesitate. ‘Well, I can climb walls pretty well. I can scrounge, too, and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.’
    â€˜We’ve already got those skills,’ says Radnor. ‘We’ve got scruffers on the crew and we don’t need another mouth to feed.’
    â€˜I can get my own food.’
    Radnor laughs coldly. ‘Out there, in the wild? You’re a city scruffer, not a traveller.’
    I open my mouth to retort, but close it again. He’s got a point. I’ve never been outside Rourton’s walls. The only real trees I’ve seen are decorative, growing in the richies’ front gardens. And even those are pruned into unnatural shapes, wrinkled and disfigured by the city’s pollution.
    Of course, I’ve seen trees sprout from alchemy bombs. They can shoot up in mere hours, unfurling roots across the rubble to ensnare their victims’ corpses. But I doubt this memory will equip me for trekking through a real forest.
    â€˜What about you?’ I say. ‘You haven’t been outside Rourton either, I bet.’
    â€˜ We’ve got a plan.’ Clementine sounds, if pos­sible, even haughtier than before. ‘I wouldn’t expect some­one of your status to understand, but it’s amazing what you can achieve with a little economic leverage.’
    â€˜What are you gonna do, bribe a tree?’ I say.
    Teddy Nort snorts, then hides his amusement by faking a coughing fit into his sleeve. I suppose he isn’t keen to alienate himself from the rest of his crew. That’s fair enough, really; if I were about to risk my life on a long, perilous mission with only four companions, I’d do the same. Of course, the point’s moot, since I’ve alienated myself from Clementine already. It isn’t looking likely that I’ll escape the city with this crew, but I figure it’s worth one more try.
    â€˜I thought you were keen on being fresh,’ I say, ‘being the new generation. Why not try a crew of sixinstead of five?’
    â€˜She’s got a point there,’ says Teddy. ‘And come on, Radnor – she’s an illusionist ! I’ve been looking to recruit one for years . . . Imagine the pranks she could’ve played on richies while I nicked their diamonds.’
    Radnor shakes his head. ‘We’ve already got a crew of five.’
    â€˜Well, who says we can only have five?’ says Teddy. ‘Can’t hurt to shake things up a bit more. And hey, the guards won’t suspect us if we look too big to be a refugee crew.’ He grins. ‘Maybe they’ll reckon we’re licensed traders or something. I’ll be the richie merchant and you lot can be my servants. It’d make the trip a lot more fun.’
    I try to imagine Teddy Nort, of all people, as a licensed trader. All I can picture is him stealing coins from his customers’ pockets.
    â€˜Don’t be stupid, Nort,’ says Radnor. ‘We’ve already got a good plan, and we’re not screwing it up at the last minute for the sake of some random scruffer girl.’ He glares at me, then points down the tunnel. ‘Get out of here, and don’t even think about following us.’
    I want to argue with