Queen of the night guild, p.37
Queen of the Night Guild, page 37
part #3 of Queen of Thieves Series
But Bryden’s words echoed in her mind. Most of it belongs to me. She was owed well over a hundred thousand imperials for the theft. With it, she could take it and be rid of Praamis and the Guild forever.
“No.” The word came out at barely above a whisper.
Bryden whirled, eyebrows rising. “What?”
“No,” Ilanna repeated in a louder voice. “I will not be the next Guild Master.”
The Hawk’s jaw dropped. Even Errik seemed surprised by her response.
“Why in the bloody hell not?” Bryden demanded. “You’ve been angling to take over since—”
“I never wanted to take over anything.” Ilanna spoke in a cold, hard tone. “I simply wanted to be free of the Night Guild. And I will be. I will take the freedom and gold promised to me by the Guild Council and leave Praamis forever. As I told the King, I am done with the life of a thief.”
Bryden gaped, at a loss for words.
Ilanna studied the assembled Night Guild. “You blame me for the death of your friends and comrades, but I am no more to blame in this than all of you. You chose to submit to the rule of the Bloody Hand when you should have fought back. Some of you out of fear, others out of greed.” She pounded her chest. “I, with the help of those few brave enough to stand up, did what needed to be done. My hands are stained with blood, but it is the blood of Rhynd and his comrades, the ones who would seek to enslave you. You owe me your lives. And I have come to collect. My price is my freedom.”
Disappointment filled Errik’s expression, but fury flashed behind Bryden’s eyes. “You choose the way of cowards? Take what belongs to you and run, leaving the rest of your comrades to starve.”
“I am what the Night Guild made me,” Ilanna snarled. “From the brutality of Master Velvet’s training to the indifference of the Guild Council to the enmity and ingratitude of those I fought to save, I have learned that the only way to survive is to take care of myself. After all, I am the only one who will.”
Bryden’s face darkened. “You’d empty the Guild coffers and condemn every man, woman, and child in the Night Guild to death? Without equipment, food, and the basic necessities of life, we will not survive.”
Ilanna shook her head. “Be that as it may, I will not remain in a place where human life is valued so little.”
The words came from somewhere deep within her. The fact that she had to steal had never bothered her—she’d found a certain thrill in outwitting the nobles with more gold than good sense. But she’d never been able to come to terms with the Guild’s casual attitude toward the suffering it caused.
Sabat had escaped punishment time after time, until he killed Ethen and violated her. She’d murdered him and gotten away with it. The Guild Council had hardly cared that Sabat was dead. Master Gold had used her to his own ends, and Allon and Master Hound had betrayed the Night Guild in order to seize power. They might have claimed to have the Guild’s best interest at heart but, in truth, they’d only cared about their personal desires for power or vengeance. Master Hawk had been alone in his regard for the wellbeing of his Journeymen and apprentices.
How many lives had the Guild ruined in their harsh indoctrination under Master Velvet? Every man and woman in the Menagerie had suffered the same physical, mental, and emotional abuse, and it had turned them into monsters. So little good remained in the Guild.
Yet she couldn’t ignore the desperation in the eyes of the men and women around her. They’d dedicated their lives toward their own ends—earning gold through murder, theft, and violence—only to have everything they’d worked for hauled away by the Duke’s men. The threat of the Duke’s wrath hung like a sword over their heads. They had nothing left, and it terrified them.
A burden settled atop Ilanna’s shoulders, but of responsibility rather than guilt. She had played a part in the destruction of the Night Guild. Could she really abandon them to face the consequences alone? Much as she hated the idea of staying, something within her refused to leave. They needed her. She could see the realization in the expression of every Journeyman and apprentice. Someone had to tell them how to move forward, how to recover. And they wanted that someone to be her.
Worst of all, Ilanna knew she couldn’t leave. She had nothing else either.
The dreams of starting a new life outside the Guild and Praamis had made sense when she had Kodyn and Ria. They were dead, and she was alone. She had nothing to pull her away from the last vestiges of home that remained.
She sought out Jarl. The huge Hawk stood behind Master Hawk’s empty chair, sorrow in his eyes. For over a decade, he had been a solid, silent presence at her back, never speaking a word but ever supporting her.
Despite the lines of fatigue on Darreth’s slim face, the intelligence that had made her seek him out still burned in his eyes. They had formed a friendship—a tad awkward, perhaps, but mutually understood and appreciated.
And Errik. The acting Master of House Serpent sat slumped in his chair, disappointment and hurt written in every twitch of his facial muscles. He’d lent his unquestioning aid, thrown himself headlong into danger beside her time and again.
One by one, her gaze found the people who had lent her aid in the past: Journeyman Tyman the healer, Elmar and Joost the Foxes, even Verum with the bloodstained bandage around his head. Their lives of crime hadn’t erased all traces of their inherent goodness, or that of the men and women no longer alive. Journeyman Donneh. Master Hawk. Denber. Werrin and Willem. Ethen.
Inevitably, her eyes turned to the boys and girls scattered throughout the Menagerie. Their faces lacked the twisted, haunted look of their older counterparts. The lives of thieves, assassins, poisoners, and thugs hadn’t yet driven all sense of decency from them.
And what of the next wave of tyros and apprentices? The children would be condemned to the same life of suffering, deceit, and crime. How could she let anyone else endure the same horrors she had?
Kodyn’s arrival had made her realize she wanted a better life for her son. She’d kept his existence a secret because she knew the Guild would sink its clutches into him and drag him down into the mire. She wouldn’t be able to give him the better life she’d wanted, but perhaps she could offer it to the innocent children that would inevitably find themselves in the Night Guild’s hands.
“However,” she found her voice again, “I will consider becoming the Master of the Night Guild on one condition.”
Bryden quirked an eyebrow. “And what condition is that?”
Ilanna drew in a deep breath. “The Night Guild must change.”
A stunned hush blanketed the room. For long moments, no one spoke. All eyes rested on her, as if waiting to hear the next words from her mouth.
Ilanna took advantage of the silence. “For too long, the people of Praamis have regarded the Night Guild in the same way the people of Voramis perceive the Bloody Hand. They hate and fear us, for we bring nothing but suffering into their lives.”
An image played through her mind: her father, weeping and bleeding under the clubs of the Bloodbears, begging for mercy. Another memory followed, this one of men, women, and children screaming in agony as green fire consumed them, of people huddled in the smoking ruins of Old Town Market.
“But I believe it is time to change that. We have been given a chance to start afresh—let us be the Night Guild that protects the city of Praamis instead of destroying it.”
Eden, the Master of House Fox, frowned. “But we are thieves.” She gestured to the other House Masters. “Assassins, poisoners, strong-arms. Criminals all. We cannot simply change who we are.”
“Nor should you.” Ilanna shook her head. “You have dedicated your lives to being masters of your crafts, and no one is foolish enough to believe that will change.”
“So what, then?” Master Grubber’s brow furrowed. “What are you suggesting?”
“Do any of you know why the Guild was originally created?” Ilanna’s gaze roved over the Journeymen, apprentices, and tyros in the Menagerie. None answered. “The Guild was conceived as a means of controlling crime in the city of Praamis. Every city will have its thieves. Wherever there are noble men and women, there will be a demand for assassins and poisoners. And,” her mouth stretched in a sly grin, “there will be a need for clever third-story thieves to part the nobility from their ill-gotten gains.”
This brought a few chuckles, but most of the Guild remained silent.
“The title of ‘Guild’ was chosen because it signified the practice and control of a craft. Our craft is crime, but we are no less professional an organization than the guilds of silversmiths, steelworkers, or cobblers. We cannot allow ourselves to devolve into senseless murder, mayhem, and violence just because it is in our nature to do so. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard. For if we do not, the King and the Duke certainly will.”
Ilanna let the words sink in. “In gratitude for our defeat of the Bloody Hand, King Ohilmos has forbidden Duke Phonnis from sending his Praamian Guards and Arbitors to invade. But that will change if we turn Praamis into another city like Voramis, one ruled by fear and violence. Our continued existence depends on our being better.” She met the eyes of each House Master. “We must improve the city, not destroy it.”
Chapter 49
Septin, Master of House Grubber, snorted. “You want us all to become bloody Beggar Priests? Give all our earthly possessions to the poor? Good luck bringing that about!”
Ilanna rolled her eyes. “Are you so short-sighted that you can’t see the truth?” She turned a baleful gaze on all in the Night Guild. “When we steal from the nobles, the common people of Praamis secretly smile behind their hands and mutter that the wealthy bastards got what they deserved. But when our actions set us against the common man—the merchants plying their trade, the laborer, those struggling to earn a living—we become the thing we hate. We are as bad as the nobility; we take from the poor to fill our pockets.”
“What are you suggesting?” Eden leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “That we only steal from the wealthy? That may work well enough for you Hawks, but what about the Foxes and Grubbers working the streets?”
“In the months I spent alongside the Foxes, I never saw one take a single copper bit from the hands of a man or woman who had less than they. You know as well as I, a smart Fox targets the wealthy man with a heavy purse and a careless eye.” She shook her head. “The dispute lies not with House Grubber or House Fox. The problem is House Bloodbear.”
The Bloodbear who sat in the House Master’s seat looked up. “What?” he spat. The few remaining Bloodbears bristled as well.
“How many honest, hard-working men and women of Praamis have you beaten? How many shops destroyed, homes wrecked to send your message?”
Anger flared in Ilanna. House Bloodbear had been the cause of all her woes, from the very beginning. Their beating of her father had led to her mother’s death and her sale to the Night Guild. Sabat had tormented her from her first day in the Menagerie. House Bloodbear had sided with the Bloody Hand.
“If we are to survive the Duke’s wrath and return to our former prosperity, House Bloodbear must no longer continue to operate as they have. They have brought pain and suffering to too many innocents in the name of the Night Guild. They are the reason so many curse our names.”
Agreement sparkled in the eyes of many of the Journeymen, apprentices, and tyros around the Menagerie. The brutes and strong-arms of House Bloodbear hadn’t restrained their violence to the shopkeepers and merchants they extorted. Their bullying, thuggish ways had brought pain to every House in the Night Guild. The angry glares cast toward the half-dozen Bloodbears emphasized her statements.
The new Master Bloodbear leapt to his feet. “So what, you’d simply do away with us?” He sneered. “Kill us all, or turn us over to your new ally, the Duke?” His huge hands balled into fists. “Over my dead body.”
Steel glinted in the lantern light as the Bloodbears drew weapons. Serpents, Hounds, Foxes, and Grubbers replied with bared weapons of their own. The atmosphere in the Menagerie grew dangerously tense.
“Stop!” Ilanna’s voice cracked like a whip. “You see? We leap at each other’s throats at the slightest disagreement. Are we no better than the accursed Bloody Hand? Are you no better than the Voramians?”
The Journeymen and apprentices lowered their weapons but didn’t sheathe them.
Ilanna held Master Bloodbear’s gaze. “The men of House Bloodbear are strong and capable, no doubt about it. But your strength is wasted on the wrong people. If the Night Guild is to survive, House Bloodbear must cease their predations and violence—not just toward the people of Praamis, but toward their fellow Journeymen and apprentices as well.”
The voices of over one hundred Guild members echoed agreement.
“Instead, let House Bloodbear be the protectors of Praamis. Let them stand against the Bloody Hand’s attempts to infiltrate our city, and be the strong arm to drive out the Voramians when they return. For make no mistake, they will return. Without knowledge of the tunnels, but with their desire for power undiminished. But with the might of House Bloodbear to stand against them, the Bloody Hand will fail again. And again.”
A smattering of cheers rose from House Scorpion, House Grubber, and the few remaining Serpents, Foxes, Hounds, and Hawks.
“No more will House Bloodbear extort the hard-working men and women of Praamis for their hard-earned gold. Instead, they will be the protection they have claimed to be. Their might will be turned to the betterment of Praamis.”
The House Masters nodded. Even Bryden looked impressed, though Master Bloodbear’s face had taken on an angry flush.
“And,” Ilanna shouted over the murmurs, “they will be the law and order in the Guild. They will work under the Guild Master to solve disputes between Houses and Journeymen. Let them be the strong arms that shield the Night Guild from harm, not the cause of it.”
Master Bloodbear’s face relaxed, and the tension drained from his shoulders. He inclined his head in agreement.
“If all can agree to this change, I will accept the position as Master Gold until such a time as the Night Guild has sufficiently recovered. On that day, I will pass command of the Guild on to the next Master Gold, one duly elected by the Journeymen of the Night Guild.”
Errik stood and turned to face the crowd. “Are all in agreement?”
The cries of “Aye” and “So be it” echoed off the hard-packed earthen walls.
Bryden nodded, his face a mask of careful control. “The Guild has spoken.” He crossed his arms before his chest in the ceremonial salute and bowed. “Hail, Ilanna, Master of the Night Guild.”
“Hail, Ilanna, Master of the Night Guild!” chanted the crowd.
“May the Watcher have mercy on us,” Bryden muttered as he turned back to his seat.
* * *
Ilanna found the plush apartment of the Guild Master terribly uncomfortable. Too many wide-open spaces, and not enough sunlight. Not for the first time in the hours since her election to the position of Master Gold, she wished to be back in the Aerie. Life was simpler on the Perch; she had only the limits of her skill and the laws of gravity to contend with. She’d been Master Gold for less than a day and already hated every minute of it.
“…heavy casualties in the last weeks,” Bryden was saying. “The good news is that there will be fewer mouths to feed, and the gold I have commanded from Filch should hold us over for a week or two at least. But we must begin recruitment if we are to—”
“No!” Ilanna slammed a hand on the table. “No more recruits, not until we’ve had time to consider the way we go about training them.”
“Consider?” Bryden stiffened. “Surely you don’t intend to change that as well?”
“You’re Keeper-damned right I do!” Ilanna met the Hawk’s gaze without hesitation. “Do you remember your training under Master Velvet?”
Bryden gave a slight wince. “I do. Unpleasant, but effective. And it’s the way it’s always been done.”
“Which is precisely why we need to change it. Master Velvet created the training regimen in order to break the tyros’ spirits, to erase all trace of their pasts to make them willing slaves of the Night Guild. But Master Velvet is dead. Let his cruelty die with him.”
Ilanna had seen the old man’s body during the Duke’s raid on the Night Guild. He’d worn the same crimson vest stained with the blood of countless tyros, his face unkempt and drooping with age. The sight of his silent, pale form had actually brought a smile to her lips.
No more children would suffer because of the former Illusionist Cleric. He would never beat another Twelve, send another Seven to bed hungry because she was too weak to carry a heavy bucket.
“Master Velvet’s methods may have worked in the past, but that was the old Night Guild. The new Night Guild will be better—must be better. For that to happen, we cannot build on a foundation of callous brutality and anguish. The training of the tyros should improve their quality of life, not destroy it.”
Bryden sighed. “Hours as Master Gold and already you’re intent on tearing down everything that makes the Night Guild what it is.”
“I intend to excise the rot that is poisoning the Night Guild.” Ilanna spoke in a voice as cold as the Frozen Sea. “By whatever means necessary. You knew that when you proposed making me Master Gold.”
Bryden’s expression grew stony. “If I knew the chaos you intended to cause…” He shook his head. “I always knew you’d bring turmoil and misery to the Guild. In the end, I was right.”
“Perhaps,” Ilanna snarled, “yet I’m also the one that’s going to save the Night Guild. Again.” She swallowed her anger. “And you know I’m doing the right thing, which is precisely why you’re going to help me.”
Bryden opened his mouth to retort, but the door opened and Darreth’s head poked into the room. “Master Serpent to see you, Guild Master.”
Ilanna grinned. “Thank you, Darreth.”
