The Marksman [The Talent of Three: Book 1]

17 ••• The Sphinx's Riddle

The three exchanged a look. Atheris saw in both Chip's and Kayne's eyes that they didn't like the sound of what the sphinx had said. She saw her own grim expression reflected back at her in their faces.

"Ask us your riddle, sphinx," Atheris calls.

The sphinx smiles. "But who shall answer my riddle?"

They look at each other. 

"Atheris, you've got the best chance of getting the answer. You look into things a lot more than I do," Kayne says. "I'll get stuck on one word that doesn't have anything to do with the riddle."

"You're the quickest thinker," Chip adds. He pushes on as Atheris starts to protest. "You did the best out of all three of us when we tested each other with riddles. These riddles will be much harder. You have the best chance."

Atheris heaves a sigh. "Fine." She turns back to the sphinx. "I shall answer your riddle, sphinx."

The sphinx crept closer to her, her nostrils flaring as she approached. The sphinx's female head was beautiful enough but there was a deadly glint in her eyes. Her wings were folded across her body, which was that of a lioness. She sat on her haunches and curled her tail around her feet a little over a yard away from Atheris.

"You are the Archer," the sphinx breathes. "You know weapons. You know survival. But can you use your brain for words?" 

"Give me your riddle, sphinx, and we will find out," Atheris says, barely keeping the snappish tone out of her voice. 

"Alright, then," the sphinx says. "This the hand sows, this the eyes harvests, this the mind cultivates."

An alarm went off in Atheris's head. She recalls what she'd read for the sphinx that had stuck with her, as the three had discussed it immediately after discovering it: A sphinx will, no matter what riddle they present, drop a hint in what they say before they give the riddle. There will always be a pattern.

Atheris thinks of what the sphinx said before giving Atheris the riddle. The last word of each sentence jumped out at her: Archer; weapons; survival; words. The first three were related, the last was not.

Words... Okay, good start, Atheris thought. Now the riddle itself... The hand sows...eye harvests...mind cultivates. And it relates to words.

Atheris snaps her fingers. "Reading and writing."

The sphinx looks surprised. "Well, well, well! Nicely done, Archer. You have gotten to the right answer and quickly. As for your companions..." The sphinx scrutinized Chip and Kayne. "Yes, yes. Very good. Your answer did not surprise them. Yes, they would have done well."

"And...?" Atheris asks.

"Now you shall be able to open your Task. You will understand by nightfall. I will let you pass and I shall keep the centaurs from where you camp. But only for tonight. Tomorrow, my buffer from the others shall wear thin. I will not be able to protect you," the sphinx says solemnly. "So go quickly, Atheris Jones, Chip West, Kayne Ledow—go quickly and you shall succeed." The sphinx stands and pads off into the woods, where she disappears without a trace.

Chip pulls the Task from his pocket. He pries the paper apart. "Well, it worked, I suppose."

"And?" Kayne asks.

"It's blank."

"WHAT?" Atheris demands. She peers over his shoulder. The paper is, indeed, blank. Furious, she swings around and begins to pace.

"The sphinx said we'd understand by nightfall. Maybe we only see it at night?" Kayne suggests.

"That makes sense," Chip reasons.

"Yes," Atheris agrees, latching onto the last shred of hope. "Yes, let's hope that's it. Now we'd better get going. We're going to need to find a place to camp before nightfall and the sun has already started to go down." 

They picked up the knapsacks they had cast aside during the fight with the manticore and griffin and once again began to pick their way through the forest.

•••

Kayne whistles as Atheris hunts for their dinner. Chip glances at him. 

"Are you trying to scare away all the prey?" he demands.

"And draw every monster around to us?" Atheris adds.

"Sorry," Kayne mutters. He looks back down at the ground and returns to trying to start a fire. 

Atheris stalks off into the woods.

•••

Nearly an hour later, the three are sitting around the dying embers of the fire, the taste of venison in their mouths.

"Good catch, Atheris," Kayne praises.

"Good cooking, Chip," Atheris says, completely ignoring Kayne's comment. Kayne rolls his eyes.

"Oh, what, do you not take praise?" he snorts. He's not expecting an answer—especially not a true answer—but maybe a snarky comment. He jumps in surprise when Atheris locks her eyes on his and speaks, as serious as Kayne has ever seen her.

"We're going to have to work together. Not one of us can be accredited to any one action. Not anymore," Atheris says.

•••

Atheris sits on her bedroll on the far right of the tent. Her knapsacks are at the foot of the bedroll and her blanket has been stuffed into the bedroll, making it fluffy.

"Alright, guys. It's nightfall. We gotta look at the Task," Kayne says.

Chip looks up from unrolling his bedroll and Atheris stands. They join Kayne outside the tent and they open the paper. Kayne shines a flashlight on the paper, but it only succeeds in making the blank white paper exceedingly bright and blinding.

"Okay, not helpful, Kayne," Chip says.

Kayne shuts the flashlight off and pockets it. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know—" Chip starts. "Wait, wait, wait! Look at this!"

Atheris and Kayne both crane their heads to look at the paper.

Silver, glowing lettering begins to form on the paper's surface.