Ilbei Spadebreaker and the Harpy's Wild Read Online Free

three hundred measures northwest. Whatever they’re mining is an aberration at best. I saw the geology reports. That far east, I should think statistically those miners barely collect enough of anything to recoup living expense, whether from trace gold or from copper and lead combined—those last two being the most likely constituents to be had, again based on the survey, which was taken only a year ago. The prior survey, taken three years before, had promised a dispersion of gold, but subsequent investigations revealed that not to be the case. Therefore, while there may be copper to be had, I would think at this point those mining the area are surviving primarily on the sale of lead, given the growing demand for pipe in urban centers these days, and given that the camps themselves are populated by scofflaws who live there largely to avoid paying taxes to the Queen—which the copper, should they report it by weight, would incur. These people are ruffians to the last, the sort who’d choose a spartan living over one of comfort merely for the illusion of being free from the monarchy. I imagine they’re practically animals.”
    Everyone on the raft was staring at the young wizard by the time he’d finished speaking, including Ilbei, whose lips had paused in the action of blowing across the top of his coffee when he began to realize just how long Jasper was going to carry on. It was in part surprise at the unexpected nature of the young man’s dissertation, a sort of awe at its long-windedness, but it was also out of genuine interest. Ilbei had had no idea that Jasper knew anything about Three Tents or its mineral history—much less about the disposition of those men who chose to live on the edges of the empire rather than under its thumb—as neither were the sorts of things he would have thought the scrawny young mage would know of or think about.
    “How come you know so much about the southern mining camps?” Meggins asked, saving Ilbei having to inquire himself. “You talk like a sissy northern boy—no offense of course—so I figured you for Leekant or Crown City, or one of the small high-north towns at least.”
    Jasper made an impatient face at him. “I’m from a little mining town on the western edge of Great Forest called Alumall, if you must know. But even had I been born on Duador, I would have read about Three Tents and its history. You see, I enjoy reading. You do know what that is, don’t you? All those little marks on parchment that they stack up into books? Well, it turns out there’s all sorts of information in those there things.” The last bit was spoken in dialectical way, obviously intended as an insult. He was clearly still out of sorts over the treatment he’d gotten yesterday.
    “My mum taught me to mark my name,” Kaige put in happily. “And I learned myself to read most tavern signs. The ones that are serving has the same four marks every time: a ‘O,’ a ‘P,’ a ‘E,’ and a ‘N.’ Ones that aren’t serving has some other ones. I don’t recollect what they are called, but they count to six. I just look for them that I know, and it works fine.”
    Hams and Meggins laughed, and Meggins asked through his chuckles, “You figured all that out on your own, did you?”
    “I did,” replied Kaige. “There wasn’t nobody inside whenever they hung up the six-letters sign. Plus you can tell if the door don’t open. Didn’t take me long to recognize.”
    Well, that was about as far as that conversation could go because even Ilbei had to laugh, and so they set about to cleaning up the dishes as the river carried them bodily downstream and laughter floated their spirits right along with it, at least for most of them. Once again, poor Jasper seemed to have missed the joke.
    As Ilbei had anticipated, the sun was high above by the time their raft was carried into the first shadows of the woods. The sound of the river came back differently now, amplified in a way, its tone changed by