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The Thieves Guild

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by Jake Kerr.

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Episode 136.

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Thieves are more at home in the sewers than rats.

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The journey was brisk, but awkward and silent.

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Raylan had made a few efforts to start a
conversation, but each time Rebecca

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tersely shut him down. He finally gave up after an
exchange that made

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him feel bad. "So you are Pietro's granddaughter?

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Who are your parents?"

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Before Rebecca could reply, he remembered her
mentioning that she had been to the Thieves

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Tower and barreled forward. "Were your parents
thieves in Ness or Gautland

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citizens?"

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They're dead.

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"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any
painful

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memories."

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They're not painful.

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They died when I was little.

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Oh, okay." And with that awkward close, Raylan

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decided to just focus on the gentle canter of
Callisto and

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Rebecca's magnificent horse, whom she had named
Brownie.

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They made good time and the ride along the paved
road was nothing more than a

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gentle clip-clop, clip-clop.

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Raylan's mind began gravitating to the things that
had been bothering him, but he

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hadn't had much time to ponder. The first was
Pietro.

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Why did he have a cell or a room in Gautland?

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He clearly had power there, if not power tempered
by fear of him.

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Pietro also wanted to open the trade routes.

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But the more Raylan thought about Pietro's
efforts, the more they fell apart.

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If he really wanted to open the trade routes, he
should have been using politics,

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not creating some shadowy populous.

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His efforts were undoubtedly good. He fed the
hungry and took care of

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the poor, but the more Raylan thought about it,
the more he realized his efforts

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were woefully incomplete. The truly hungry were
the people of

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Gautland who faced starvation if the weather led
to a poor harvest.

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Yet Pietro lived there. What was he doing?

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And how much did Pietro know anyway?

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Rafe had uncovered the history of the Magic Guild
and the Thieves Guild in Pietro's

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own books, books which were mostly purged of the
guild's history.

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Did Pietro do that? And why?

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The more he thought about Pietro, the more Raylan
had become convinced that Pietro's

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goals were not actually opening the trade route to
Gautland.

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He had bigger plans, but didn't seem to know how
to achieve them.

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But what were those plans?

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And that led him to Rebecca.

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She sat straight and elegant in the saddle not six
feet away.

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A slight sheen of sweat shone on her face as she
stared ahead, her face

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intensely focused on, what?

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It was in staring at Rebecca that he realized
something.

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She wasn't as old as he thought she was.

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She was hard, and serious, and dismissive,

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even regal,

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and all those things made her seem older.

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But in the glow of the sun and watching her
lithely manage Brownie, he realized

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she was perhaps even just a few years older than
him.

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Did she even know Pietro?

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He was very old and he'd lived in Ness for as long
as Raylan could remember.

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When had he been back to see Rebecca?

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Did he even spend any time with her at all?

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And that's when Raylan realized what was driving
her.

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She didn't know anything. Pietro had left her
behind or forgotten her in

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his mysterious mission, whatever it was.

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She was doing the same thing Raylan was doing,
trying to figure out what

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Pietro was trying to achieve.

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Even her earlier questioning of Raylan on this
topic touched upon little more than

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vague terms. She clearly felt that the books were
the key to

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figuring everything out, and perhaps they were.

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But Raylan couldn't help but think that they were
missing something important.

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He wondered if Alard would have any ideas.

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Raylan was about to ask Rebecca a blunt question
about Pietro's goal in

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building the Thieves Guild when she held out her
right arm and reined Brownie

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back. Raylan pulled back on his reins and stopped.

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"What is it?"

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We will cross the river here. It is shallow
enough.

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"But the gate is on this side of the river."

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And so is Wilhelm's forces.

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I want to avoid the battle, if not the field of
corpses.

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She clucked and pulled Brownie toward the river.

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Raylan quickly caught up. "But how will we enter
the city?"

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Rebecca looked at Raylan like he was a dumb child.

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"By the Black Gate, of course. You're the guild
master.

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I would assume they would let you through."

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Raylan would have retorted, but he had another
answer to one of his ever-increasing number of

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questions. Rebecca was definitely familiar with
Ness and the Thieves

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Guild.

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Raylan was familiar with the landscape.

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He had traveled over these hills several times
from the Black Gate.

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He had learned his lesson earlier and just let
Callisto choose the best way.

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He and Rebecca were making surprisingly good
progress when she once

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again held up her arm. Raylan pulled up and
trotted over to her.

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"There are forces ahead."

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Raylan peered toward Ness, the wall now clearly
visible in the

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distance. To their left was the great river, which
was wide and fast

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at this point,... he could see dust and movement
near what he assumed was the great

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gate.

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"Yes. As you noted, Vilhelm is attacking the city.

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I doubt he will see much resistance with the
Rangers far to the north."

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Raylan wasn't sure how he felt about that.

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He rather liked Vilhelm, despite him attacking
Ness and imprisoning

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him.

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The Crown of Gautlan seemed earnest and noble, so
unlike the guild

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masters of Ness.

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"Not there."

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Rebecca pointed to her left, and then swept her
hand to the right.

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"There."

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She was right. There was movement and dust
swirling near the wall outside the

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old quarter.

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"Do you think-"

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"Do I think the thieves are attacking Vilhelm from
behind? Why, yes.

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Yes, I do."

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Rebecca had a smile on her face as she said it.

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"But the Great River will block them."

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"They seem to think differently."

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Rebecca turned to Raylan with a huge smile on her
face.

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"Shall we go find out?"

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And without even answering, she kicked Brownie in
the side and started to canter

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over the uneven terrain, toward the junction of
the plains and the southern

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side of the Great River, the river Raif called the
Dragon's Tear.

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It was astonishing to Raif.

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He couldn't help but marvel at the magical view
from the Guild Master terrace on the

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Black Tower.

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He could see the Harvest Guild members rushing
across the great bridge to meet the

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Outlanders just inside the great gate.

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He could also see the smaller but much
better-armed force in black rushing out

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of the black gate and heading along the wall.

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When Mio had rushed in and shouted that the
Outlanders were attacking, Raif had no

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idea what to do.

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He was a librarian, a historian. What did he know
about guild

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defenses?

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Luckily, Philos took control.

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Raif had never been able to figure out Philos.

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He was simply the bodyguard for the Guild Master,
but everyone respected him,

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and no one gave him commands. He was this beacon
of stability

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housed in a body that would have given Alard, or
the night deputy guild

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master, pause.

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Assistant Guild Master, if I may?

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Raif waved him to the table where Mio and Raif had
sat down.

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The exhausted Mio was downing glass after glass of
water.

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Philos remained standing.

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"The Rangers are overrun, or have moved north.

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We don't seem to know."

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He looked at Mio.

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"We do not. I have my suspicions that they have
gone to join the Harvest Guild."

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"That makes sense. Then we are Ness' only
defense."

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Philos started to pace.

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"We have enormous numbers of Harvest Guild members
who are angry and wanting to defend

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their homes. I recommend we arm them with whatever
we can, clubs,

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pitchforks, knives, swords. Hell, give them
broomsticks.

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We send them off to face the Outlanders.

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Mio, you said the force is mighty, but not
overwhelming?"

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"Yes. The Harvest Guild members we are housing
outnumber them easily."

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"Then let's send them into battle. We will be
honest, of course, and tell

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them that many may die. But we will also tell them
that, unlike before, they can defend their

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homes with no traitors sowing discord."

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"It will be bloody."

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"That's not all."

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Philos stopped pacing and looked at Raif and Mio.

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"We'll send all of our guards and Black Knights
out the black gate to attack the

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Outlanders from the rear.

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We are well-armed and have horsemen. Their leaders
will also be in the back.

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If we hurry, we may be able to crush their will
and forces with a quick strike."

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"But the river is between the black gate and the
wall."

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Raif felt bad that he was bringing up the most
obvious flaw in Philos' plan.

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Philos smiled widely and looked at Mio.

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"Do you want to tell him?"

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Mio nodded.

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"Let me just say that the saying that 'Thieves are
more at home in the sewers than rats'

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has some truth to it."

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(dramatic music plays)

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(bubbles popping)

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A Podcast Alchemy production.