The thieves guild, p.25
The Thieves Guild, page 25
There was not a single volume about the Thieves Guild in the entire library.
62
Meeting in the Study
Wilhelm's horse was not only a magnificent beast, he was fresh and well-fed. The result was that Ralan quickly caught up to Karch trotting along on Ralan's own exhausted horse. As he saw Karch in the distance, Ralan considered talking to him, but he could not think of anything be gained in it, and there being value in just rushing past him, making Karch wonder what had happened.
Wilhelm's comment about the power of the unknown was fresh in Ralan's mind. Karch would see Ralan's black cloak streak past, and know that Ralan rode a horse that was given to him by the Outlanders. The Merchant deputy would have no idea what to make of that, and that uncertainty was what Ralan felt would be the most valuable outcome. The fact that Karch and Larsen couldn't reveal to others that there had been a mission to visit the Outlanders meant that Karch and Larsen could do nothing more with the knowledge of Ralan's visit than speculate amongst themselves as to what he was doing.
As Ralan made his way through the foothills he knew that the Rangers were watching him, but none approached. Remembering his conversations with the Rangers of their respect for Pietro, Ralan had to smile. Soon the raids from the Outlanders would stop, and the Rangers would know that Ralan had somehow helped bring it about.
The South Gate he had exited was closed, but, as he approached, it swung open. Carich stood alongside the entrance with a smile on his face. "Welcome back, Guildmaster."
"Thank you, Carich. My mission went well. Do you know where Alard can be found? I need to talk to him right away."
"He is in the tower, Guildmaster." Carich stepped forward and held out his hand. "Would you like me to take your horse? The Tower stables aren't fully restored, but there is a stall for your horse." Carich's eyes went wide as he finally noticed Ralan's horse.
"Yes, this is a new horse. It was a gift from the Lord of the Outlanders," Ralan replied as he slid off his saddle. The ground felt odd under his feet. He had been on a horse for the majority of the past few days. "See that he is well-cared for."
"Of course, Guildmaster." Carich took the reins as Ralan stretched his legs while he strode toward the Thieves Tower.
* * *
Ralan had to ask a few of his guild members where Alard was before he found out that his deputy was in the kitchens, checking on the progress of their renovation. Ralan approached Alard without him noticing Ralan's presence. The dark bald pate was a welcome sight.
"Alard!"
He turned, the huge smile on his face lit up the room. "Ralan!" Alard strode over, not quite jogging, but at a pace that underscored his enthusiasm at Ralan's return. "Are you okay? Did you intercept Karch?" Alard looked Ralan up and down.
"I did not, but there is much to talk about." Ralan grabbed Alard's hand and pulled him in for a hug. Not knowing what to expect, Ralan was surprised at Alard's warm return embrace.
"Let's go to your study. It is at least livable, if not worthy of a guildmaster's presence just yet." Alard clapped Ralan on the back. They made their way up the stairs of the tower, which quickly winded Ralan.
"I need to work on my endurance if I'm going to be climbing these steps every day."
They reached the top floor, and Ralan followed Alard as he strode across the stone. To the left is your study, which I'm afraid has been taken over by someone you know. Raef looked up from a book. He appeared exhausted.
"Raef!" Ralan walked over as Raef stood up.
"Ralan! How did it go? Did you warn Karch?"
"Not exactly." They hugged, and the three of them sat down at a table covered with books. Looking around, Ralan was in awe of his study, which was nothing like the office of his brother. It was more of a library, with shelves and shelves of books.
Ralan outlined his entire mission, while Raef explained what he had discovered. Raef was excited to hear that the Great River was called the Dragon's Tear. "Yes. That would make sense with the mountains named the Dragon's Teeth. Here, let me show you the map I discovered."
As Ralan looked at the map Raef had found in one of the books, he better understood the position of the Outlanders. They were between a dry plain and a desert, with the only fertile land conceivably near the river. Food had to be a challenge.
"So Ness was a kind of central hub for trade, but at some point in the past, the city guildmasters shut down all commerce outside the city," Ralan mused.
"That appears to be the case," Alard stated. "But there is much we don't know. I have asked Raef to be the guild historian, researching these important gaps in our knowledge of the past. Do you agree?" Alard looked at Ralan.
"Of course! This is perfect for Raef. I've normally pointed him in the direction of doing things like finding the best way to annoy Larsen, so this is perfect. Telling him to find some ancient secret? He'll love that." Ralan shoved Raef in the shoulder.
"Absolutely!" he replied.
"I am glad that is resolved, but what do we do about Larsen and Polo?" Alard asked.
"Well, Karch will tell Larsen that they need to handle Polo themselves. Knowing Larsen, he'll probably have his Blade sneak in to assassinate Polo." Ralan scratched his chin, which had a few days worth of stubble.
"But wouldn't he have tried that already?" Raef asked, which elicited a nod from Alard.
"I'm sure he has tried, but he has been unsuccessful as of yet. There will be more attempts, I am sure," Alard replied.
"Have we warned Polo? Does Maela have any information?" Alard looked at Ralan and lowered his head.
"She has not returned. We have inquired through our Harvest Guild channels, but we have heard nothing. We fear she has been captured or killed in trying to warn Polo." Alard shook his head. "I am concerned."
Ralan didn't quite know what to say as he swallowed hard. He really liked Maela. Her short curly hair. Her fearlessness. Her lack of any regard for Ralan's position. Her dark skin and sharp features. "Let us continue to look for her. We will not and must not assume she is dead until there is verification of that fact."
"Understood, Guildmaster."
Ralan drummed his fingers on the table. "We are in dire trouble unless we can protect Polo. With his death, Larsen will run the city. As we know from the guild history, I will not be able to veto a unification vote on my own. Polo and I need to work together."
"Indeed. I'm not sure what we can do to protect Polo. I had considered doing the opposite, but there is no real way to reach Larsen."
Ralan stopped drumming his fingers and looked at Alard. "Wait. What do you mean, 'I had considered doing the opposite?'"
"If Larsen would wake up one morning with a knife embedded in his nightstand with a note that said 'If Polo dies, you die next,' I believe it would stop him."
Ralan's face lit up. "Yes. That would assuredly stop him. He is so confident in his power that such a thing would shake him deeply." Nodding his head in excitement, Ralan continued, "This is a great idea! I know Larsen. He will not do anything if he feels remotely threatened."
"Alas, we have no way to get to him," Alard replied. "We could easily assassinate him when he is active outside the tower, but we have no way to easily threaten him with an assassination, indicating we can get to him even if he hid."
"What do you mean? I've snuck into his bedroom all the time. There is a small food lift that goes from the kitchens to his bedroom. He stopped using it when a glass of wine spilled, ruining his food. After that, he demanded that his food be carried to him, but that doesn't mean the lift doesn't work." Ralan couldn't suppress a mischievous smile. "I would hide inside, and pull myself up to steal money from him."
"You were born for this guild!" Raef laughed.
Alard nodded. "Fascinating. The lift sounds like a new addition, and would explain why we had no record of it in our plans of the Merchant Tower."
"This mission is simple," Ralan said excitedly. "Put someone small in the kitchen, have them pull themselves up to Larsen's room, and they can leave the note and escape the same way." Ralan felt good. He was creating plans like a real guildmaster.
"So does this solve all our problems? We threaten Larsen. He stops worrying about Polo, and things are back to normal?" Raef asked.
"Raef, we will never be back to normal. There are things going on that we don't even comprehend yet, I'm sure. Think of Ralan's visit with Lord Wilhelm. Somehow we not only have to stop Larsen, we need to figure out how to re-open Ness to the outside world." Alard peered at Raef. "But to do that, we need to better understand the guild history."
All the air left Raef as he exhaled in defeat. "But I can't find a single book about the Thieves Guild. It's like we don't exist. And I couldn't even begin to tell you how our past fits with our future beyond what we know already."
Alard put his hand on Raef's shoulder. "It's okay. You have time. All we need to worry about right now is our present, and that's threatening Larsen into leaving Polo alone."
Standing up, Alard added, "I can make the preparations. In the meantime, let's continue with returning the Tower to its former glory."
Ralan smiled, he would finally be able to focus on the lower stress things like learning who his captains were, how Pietro had organized the guild, and just keeping things running without problems.
63
The Long Road
Not having any way to track time, Maela and Darla walked along the road for as long as they could, using two more torches in the process. They made good time, as the road was intact and mostly free of rubble.
"How much longer?" Maela asked.
Darla stopped and looked at her sputtering torch. "Not long, but we should probably rest. We don't want to exit while exhausted."
Maela nodded. "That's a good idea. I'm not sure how much longer I can walk."
The two decided to rest and then finish the trip out of the cave the next day.
Darla sat down and started to remove her boots as Maela looked into the distance. "We only have four torches left." They were in the middle of the road and there was nothing to prop the torch on, so Maela held it. "How long will this take do you think?"
Dale wiggled out of a boot and set it on its side. As she stretched and set her head on the boots, she replied, "Not long. The exit must be a good way south, and we're not sure if this road is absolutely straight. Just keep track of the torches, and if we get down to two, let's continue even if we're still tired." Darla added with her eyes already closed, "The exit cannot be far."
"That will work," Maela replied.
As Darla rested, Maela decided to investigate the cave and the road. They were clearly in a tunnel, but it was difficult to tell if it was natural or carved out of the stone of the mountain. Maela couldn't fathom how a tunnel that large could be carved out of rock, so she assumed it was natural.
The road had a decorative curb that was made out of single laid bricks. The walls of the tunnel rose just beyond each side of the road and varied in distance from a few feet to as many as twenty feet from the curb.
As she examined the wall, something caught her eye. Walking up the road in the direction they were heading she noticed a sconce holding an unlit torch. Removing it from the wall, Maela returned it to the camp. She hoped they wouldn't need it, but it was good to have.
Maela woke Darla as her torch started to die out. Maela showed her the new torch, but they agreed to not change their plan and to move on after Maela got her rest. Maela lowered her head but found it difficult to sleep with the ghostly sounds echoing through the tunnel. The noise had lessened considerably once they left the giant cavern, and the sounds were easy to ignore as they walked and talked, but with eyes closed the ghostly sounds reached deep into Maela's skull. She eventually fell into a fitful sleep.
Maela awoke to Darla shaking her shoulder. "Time to go."
* * *
As they walked, Maela kept an eye on the wall, but all of the torches she found were already spent. Darla broke the silence by saying, "I have only been to Harvest House once, but I don't remember much of the visit. Can you tell me about the outside?”
Maela was relieved that Darla had thus far not asked her about her past. They had chatted first about things they had in common—weapons, sparring, and dealing with men who assumed that they were weak. They laughed over stories where they had defeated one arrogant man or another.
Asking about the city was similarly safe to Maela. She could talk for hours about its secrets—both the beautiful and the ugly. The time went by fast as Maela described to Darla a city she had never really seen.
Several hours later they had fallen to silence until Maela finally spoke up. She could not deny the truth any longer. "We chose the wrong direction." Darla continued to walk, not saying anything. "Darla. We need to go in the other direction. We've walked too far. This is leading us into the mountain, not out of it."
Darla stopped and turned to face Maela. "I know, but we have no choice. We don't have enough torches to make it all the way back. We could feel our way along the curb of the road, but what if it splits or it is damaged and a chasm opens across it?"
"Do we have a choice?" Maela wasn't sure how moving deeper into the mountain would solve anything.
"This road has to lead somewhere. The wind that blows through the tunnel is strong and is coming from that direction." Darla pointed down the road. "Also, we know that there may be torches ahead of us on the wall. There are nothing but spent torches behind us."
Maela nodded. "What about food?"
"Have you seen the rats?" Maela shook her head. She had been focusing on the walls, looking for torches.
"There are rats. If we need to, I can kill them." Darla patted the knife at her waist. "I'm skilled at knife throwing." Maela was horrified at the idea of eating a raw rat and hoped that they wouldn't have to resort to that.
With no other options, they walked on in silence.
* * *
Darla broke the silence. "You aren't a Harvest guild member, are you?" It was the first time Darla asked specifically about Maela. The question came so suddenly that Maela stammered before replying. "Why would you ask that?"
"Your description of the city, and the things you've seen. That isn't something a member of our guild would experience. You would have to travel far and wide to every corner of Ness. Also, you said you were a warrior, and our guards don't wander the city like that." Darla didn't seem mad, more curious. "Are you a Knight Protector?"
Maela could understand Darla's theory—Knight Protectors wandered the streets, upholding the laws and assuring the safety of the citizens. What Darla didn't know was that Knight Protectors were assigned to specific quarters and rarely were moved to others.
"No. I'm not a Knight Protector."
Maela was still trying to come up with an explanation of her guild when Darla said, "But you didn't deny not being a Harvest guild member."
"No," was all Maela could think to say in response.
Again, before Maela could come up with an explanation, Darla spoke, "It's okay. You don't need to tell me your secrets yet. You will when you're ready." She then reached over and put her hand in Maela’s, intertwining their fingers.
Maela squeezed Darla's hand, ostensibly to keep her from asking more questions, but the truth was that in the dark, lonely, and eerie tunnel, holding Darla's hand was a welcome feeling.
* * *
They were down to one torch when Maela found three straight unlit torches on the wall. "I think we'll be okay. There aren't a lot of torches, but there are enough that we should be fine as we make progress."
Nodding her head, Darla replied, "All we need to worry about is food." Maela didn't want to think about that. There was no way she was going to eat the raw meat of a rat.
* * *
A day later Maela greedily gnawed the meat off the bones of a scrawny animal. Darla had called them rats, but Maela wasn't sure what they were. They seemed bigger than rats, but had rat-like fur and tails. Whatever they were, Darla had missed her first few throws at them and Maela worried that they had waited too long and that Maela was too weak to be able to throw with force and accuracy.
When she finally hit one, the two of the screamed out in happiness and hugged.
There were a lot of the rats, and they seemed not to fear the two of them or their light, so Darla didn't have much trouble gathering food. The real problem was water. They both drank the blood from a few rats, but knew that it wouldn't be enough. They had to find water.
* * *
"Are we going to die under this mountain?" Darla asked, as the two of them stopped to rest. They were stopping more often as their bodies became weaker with thirst.
"No!" Maela exclaimed. "Even if this damn road leads all the way through the mountain we've made good enough progress that we have to be near the end."
* * *
Darla killed every rat she could see, but they still grew weaker. The only good news was that the supply of torches from the walls was just enough for them to be able to keep their way lit. Maela couldn't tell how many days they had been traveling. Two? Three? Weeks? Months? She couldn't focus from hunger and thirst. Darla hadn't killed a rat in over 24 hours, as her aim was becoming less true due to weakness. They held hands, out of desperation, not so much affection, dragging their bodies forward and supporting each other.
After stumbling to her knees, Maela looked up at Darla. "I'm not sure how much farther I can go."
Darla knelt down beside Maela. "I wanted to see the sun and sky with you." Her voice was a hoarse whisper, and Maela knew that if she had the tears to do it, Darla would have been crying.
"I wanted to show you Ness, from the Thieves Tower to Founder's Park and all of those places I told you about." Maela felt a deep sadness over losing the opportunity to share those things with Darla. But they both had come to an acceptance that they were going to die in a dark tunnel full of ghostly wind.
