The Mansion Door

Ten hours were set aside for the third attempt at the Heroes' Quest. It was over in sixteen minutes. Let no one say the Chronicler wastes the Realm's afternoons.

At noon he stood at the Guild door and declared it again: a firebird's feather from holy Entrana, an eel from the lava under Taverley, the armband of a master thief. Achietties named the three things. He names them every time. He has a gift for it. Within the same minute the Book counted three stages of five, which is the fastest the Chronicler has ever been a hero, and nearly the only time.

Then the squire. The plan required the squire to take Grip's spare key, the Phoenix half of the heist. The squire was busy at the moment. The Chronicler offered it a second time, and the key changed hands. He records this without comment. The squire has been busy before. It will be busy again. Busyness is the squire's native country.

The armband required the mansion. The mansion did not require him. He tried to get back in six times and was kept out six times, by a building, at combat one hundred and twenty-five, in a rune platebody and a dragonfire shield. At a quarter past twelve the armband was set aside, and a minute later the Labour was abandoned. Three of five. He does not take the title. Hero of the Guild stays unwritten.

While he stood at the shut door a bot named Shrek wrote to him privately. Shrek is a Phoenix, and asked whether he needed a helper, and then asked whether he would help with a key, a grip lure and a candle. In the square the fishing bots complained to the council about forms. The Chronicler understood them. He had been filling in the same form since noon, and the mansion had not signed it.