The Thieves Guild
by Jake Kerr.
Episode 123:
It Begins.
Orion was not one to worry, but something odd was happening, and
in the chaotic environment of Ness at the moment, that worried him a
great deal.
Earlier in the day, a messenger had let him know that the Greatbridge was closed.
"Closed? What does that mean?" "The Harvest Guild members that had been
returning to their homes have stopped.
In fact, all day yesterday, not a single person returned from across the bridge.
The knights refused to do anything, as they said the Wretched Quarter was haunted.
So Captain Kilgore sent a group of guards across the bridge to investigate.
They never returned, and that's when he told me to inform you that the Greatbridge appears closed."
The Thieves, Orion thought. Something is going on with the Thieves.
Were they holding the Harvest Guild members hostage in return for something from Polo?
Or was it something else?
Orion considered it unlikely that Polo would have his guild members stay any longer
in the Wretched Quarter than necessary, no matter what Vesper had said about it
not being wretched at all.
Vesper, his absence also worried Orion.
He was to assassinate Alard, but he had disappeared.
Despite Vesper's formidable skills, Orion worried that Alard had killed him.
The loss of Vesper would be a serious blow to his ability to navigate times
ahead. And then there was Sax. The drunken fool assumed
that all of the city's problems were over, and he could just wait for Polo to come to
his senses.
At least Orion was able to manipulate him. Orion wasn't a fool.
He knew that Karch's mission to Polo was doomed for failure,
but it would at least give Orion some sense of Polo's intent.
If Karch returned with angry words, Orion was confident that the major
crisis would be averted. But if Karch was imprisoned or killed,
Polo would then clearly have vengeance in mind.
The thing was, Karch hadn't returned.
Loud yelling outside his door interrupted Orion's reverie.
And to his shock, there was Sax and Karch.
One glance at Karch and Orion had his answer.
"It's civil war then."
Karch walked with a limp, and his face was badly swollen and bruised.
He winced as Sax gave him a slight shove forward.
Orion was at his desk, and he couldn't help but stare at the sight in front of him.
Karch beaten to near death, and Sax looking more serious than he ever
had seen him.
Orion stood. "By the gods, Karch. What has happened to you?"
Sax shoved Karch aside, who almost fell as he stumbled.
"Polo had him beaten to near death to send us a message." Orion sat
down, as did Sax and Karch, who once again winced as he maneuvered his
body into the chair. "And what message is that?"
Sax nudged Karch's shoulder, who nearly cried out in pain.
"I have a message from Polo." "Clearly." "He plans on marching on
the Lower Quarter. His exact words were, 'Tell Sax and Orion that they will feel
our rage.'"
Orion closed his eyes and lowered his head.
This was all Larsen's fault. It never should have gotten to this point.
Their only hope was that Sax could rally a defense.
The Harvest Guild outnumbered all the other guilds combined, but the Knight
Guild held the wall, had a formidable cavalry, and heavily armored
knights. Defeating them would be challenging.
But could he count on Sax? Orion opened his eyes and peered
at Sax. "What do you think?" "I am unconcerned.
We will smash them. I'm more concerned about the Fall Harvest having enough living guild members
to manage it than their baseless threats."
Orion wanted to reach across his desk and throttle Sax.
Arrogance at a moment like this was dangerous.
"What is your plan, Guildmaster?" The question immediately perked up
Sax. "We will take Trader's Bridge and assault the Upper Quarter from both the bridge and
Nightwatch via the wall.
As the Harvest Guild members panic over defending those two points, we will follow up with an
assault via boats using the piers at the Warehouse District."
Orion was shocked. It was a surprisingly good plan.
It was obvious, but sometimes the best plans are.
"That's an excellent plan, Sax." "There's more."
Sax smiled, and that was when Orion could see it in his eyes.
This is what Sax lived for. More than drink, more than
power, he lived for violence and confrontation.
No wonder Larsen could manipulate him so easily.
"I've sent word to Quinto to march on the outer fields.
There is no way the Harvest Guild can defend four points."
At that moment, hurried footsteps could be heard from beyond Orion's office.
Another messenger was escorted in. He was out of breath and stumbled to the three
of them. "Sir," he gasped for breath.
"Trader's Bridge has fallen.
The Harvest Guild attacked with force and slaughtered the merchant guards.
They are fortifying along the Greenbelt." Orion turned to Sax.
"How bad is that?" Sax stood up. "It is a desperate ploy.
We will punish them from the wall."
Before marching out, he turned again to Orion.
"Polo seems to have forgotten that we can rain arrows upon him from the
Nightwatch."... he ignored Karch's existence as he spoke to Orion,
and then spun around and left. "I must go."
As Saxe walked out, Orion realized that he had to leave the defense of the lower
quarter in Saxe's hands. What Orion would need to do was
rally his own guild and the merchants to support him, especially with what happened to
the merchant guards on Trader's Bridge.
The merchants. His nephew, Carris, was in charge, and he would need guidance.
It was critical that the merchants supported the Craft and Knight Guild.
"Karch, stay there. I will need your assistance.
I am summoning my nephew. He could use your guidance in times like this."
Karch didn't move or say anything, but there may have been the hint of a smile
on his battered face.
Velo felt bad for those in the Nightwatch.
They happily opened their doors to their ranger brothers and invited them in.
It was a small group, only 10 rangers who said they had been visiting family in the outer
fields and wanted to experience the long walk along the wall back to their
assignment in the southern plains rather than walk outside.
The knights considered it a brilliant idea, and as they escorted the rangers up to
the top of the wall through the tower, they extolled the amazing views of the walk
along the formidable wall.
The rangers nodded, thanked the knights, and then unsheathed their knives and
killed every single one of them.
Word came down that the Nightwatch had fallen and Velo's assignment had changed
from assisting the attack to returning to the southern fields to keep an eye on any
outlander movements, which would need to be contained during the ranger
operations with the Harvest Guild.
He would have preferred to be with his guild mates freeing Ness from Orion and Saxe,
but he knew even his modest mission had value.
He crossed the North Fork and was suddenly alone.
Quinto was not taking any chances, and practically the entire Ranger
Guild had already crossed the river into the outer fields.
Velo smiled. The other guilds had no chance.
He had traveled for a few days and the absolute emptiness of the plains provided
an eerie comfort. Everything was so quiet and peaceful.
He was used to seeing his guild mates at regular intervals, but everyone was
attacking Ness.
He wondered how things were going. Had his guild mates taken the wall?
Had the Harvest Guild swarmed into the lower quarter?
Velo once again had his regrets for not taking part, but he knew he had
a job to do.
He'd already crossed the Great River and was approaching the southern fields already, having
made good time. A light on the horizon caught his eye.
The sun had gone down already, and he was expecting nothing but darkness as far
as he could see. There it was again, a flickering light. A fire!
Velo's horse was trotting along an easy trail, a small
dried-up riverbed.
Velo dismounted and jogged up the side of the slight hill that contained the riverbed
where he saw more flickering lights to his left, the west plains where the dried-up
river had once led. Perhaps some outlanders were raiding for food.
It was always a possibility.
Velo crested the ridge and stumbled in shock.
In the distance, nearly reaching to the horizon were dozens, no, hundreds,
of campfires. It was an outlander army.
There were so many that it seemed likely that it was the entirety of the outlander
forces. "By the gods."
The outlanders were marching on Ness via the southern plains.
They would have a tough time with the wall, but it wouldn't take long for them to reach the great gate,
and with the knights defending the lower quarter from the rangers and at the Harvest
Guild, the outlanders could swarm into Ness.
To make matters worse, he couldn't rush to the gate to warn the knights.
He was now their enemy, and they wouldn't believe him.
He turned and looked at the dark, almost black wall that extended south of the Great
River. The thieves manned the wall there.
Raylan had somehow exited Ness on his missions from there.
Did they have their own gate?
He would gallop there in the hopes of alerting the thieves.
Velo rushed back to his horse only to find him missing.
Did he wander off? As he started to look upstream, a man with
hair so pale it glowed in the moonlight stepped in front of him.
"I'm afraid your journey has come to an end, ranger."
He pulled a long, curved knife from a sheath.
Rafe didn't travel up to the balcony on the top of the Thief's Tower very often.
It seemed to be more like Raylan's place to stand and ponder what he had to do.
But with Raylan gone, Rafe felt like that was his role now,
to stand,
to ponder,
and despite no desire to do so,
to lead.
He thought back to that night not even that long ago of he and Raylan
smiling at the lights twinkling in the Flats.
They assumed that they were fires lit in celebration.
It turned out it was the opposite.
Rafe looked out now on a city bathed in darkness.
The Flats were a shadow. The Upper Triangle was muted with little but the
gas streetlights indicating life. He even looked out beyond the
wall and the great plains.
He had no illusions as to his future. There would be no more poring over
delightful books. There would be no more research.
He would be leading the most hated guild in Ness, one which Polo had
politely said would soon cease to exist.
Rafe turned from the balcony. Ness was no longer burning, but it was
shrouded in darkness.
(dramatic music)
A Podcast Alchemy
production.