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The Thieves Guild,

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by Jake Kerr.

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Episode 20.

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Not getting caught.

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Raelan knew that his biggest strategic asset was
his biggest tactical

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weakness, his yellow tunic. It would make him a
clear target for every knight in the

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tower. It would distract them all from his
friend's escape, but it also made him stand

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out in the sea of white, making him much easier to
catch.

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He didn't think much about it until he made it
through the front gate of the tower.

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Getting there wasn't very difficult.

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The knights all wore their armor, whether it was
the thick ornamental armor

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or the chain mail of the working knights.

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Raelan found it easy to sprint past one knight
while dodging another.

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In fact, his entire life had consisted of him
running through crowds and

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avoiding outstretched hands.

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One of the things Raelan had mastered was using
the momentum of one pursuer

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against a different pursuer. This was made much
easier by the bulk of the knights.

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He would pull a knight off his feet, only to have
other knights trip over their fallen

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friend. The most difficult trial was getting past
a string of knights at the front

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gate, who stood with their swords unsheathed.

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But Raelan had been through a similar gauntlet
during several escapes.

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Of course, he'd been caught more than a few times
facing them,

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but the difference between success and failure
always came down to one

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thing, the floor.

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Raelan ran to the knights who all appeared to be
salivating at the opportunity of

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striking him dead right then and there.

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There was one particularly huge knight near the
middle.

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Raelan pointed at him and grinned, running
straight at him.

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The knight set his legs and swung his sword in
front of him.

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With a slight leap, Raelan feigned a punch.

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The knight brought up his sword only to see Raelan
dive toward his feet.

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Just as the guard brought his sword down, Raelan
slid between his legs, the

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smooth marble of the tower floor offering little
resistance.

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It wasn't a perfect fit, which was fine for
Raelan.

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He tugged on the knight's white cloak, which
pulled him up and the knight backward.

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As the knight fell, he got in the way of the other
knights.

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By the time they had realized what had happened,
Raelan was in the grass field beyond the tower's

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large iron doors. He had escaped so quickly that
there was confusion as

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shouts and alarm claxons rang. Shouts of, "Stop
him!" were

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followed by knights looking around for whom they
were supposed to stop.

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"This is almost too easy," Raelan thought, as a
cry of,

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"Stop the craftsman!" came from the tower.

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Moments later, an arrow hit the ground at Raelan's
feet.

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Yellow tunic surrounded by white, archers on the
wall.

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"Not good," Raelan thought. And then he saw it, a
large wagon with four

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horses pulling it. It was on the side of the road
with a broken wheel.

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"Thank you, Mela," Raelan thought. He zigzagged
through the field,

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arrows barely missing him. Sprinting around the
wagon, he stopped as it

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shielded him from the archers on the wall.

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He quickly pulled off his yellow tunic and tossed
it on the ground.

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With a quick sprint, he ran up and leapt onto the
back of one of the horses at the

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front of the wagon.

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The horse was muscular and rested, and with a
kick, Raelan was off.

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Another skill that few knew that Raelan had
mastered was riding horses.

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When he was younger on his parents' property in
the Upper Triangle, he would ride his

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favorite horse way out to the outer fields, where
he would steal fruit from the

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orchards.

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Without fail, a guard would chase him on
horseback.

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But Raelan on a horse was perhaps more agile and
slippery than

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Raelan on his feet. He would leap hay bales and
take tight turns

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around trees and gallop along treacherous creek
beds.

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His adventures ended one day when Polo visited his
father.

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From that point on, Raelan had not ridden a horse.

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Yet, as he took off down the road on the back of
the mighty steed, it felt like he had never

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missed a day of riding in his life.

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The rhythm of the gallop felt natural as Raelan
leaned forward and let the horse guide

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him.

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The trouble was that outrunning the news of the
prison escape didn't matter.

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He was already the subject of a citywide manhunt.

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He'd get to the Great Bridge, and the fact that he
now wasn't wearing a guild color combined

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with the expectation that he would escape to the
old quarter meant that everyone on

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the bridge would target his approach before he was
within a hundred yards.

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Still, he had no choice. The horse raced away from
the great gate up River Road, the

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river to his right and the flats to his left.

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The sun was setting and the road was thick with
traffic as crowds of

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people were making their way to the flats from
their work in the harvest fields or the

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mines.

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He passed coaches, wagons, horsemen, and crowds of
people walking along the

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road. He raced past a knight on horseback, and his
speed betrayed him

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as the knight called out-

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Hey you, what is the hurry?

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The knight immediately started to pursue Raelan.

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There were too many people to put distance between
Raelan and his pursuer, so he took a hard

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left into the flats. The knight was not too far
behind, and Raelan galloped

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as fast as the horse would go, and then he would
take hard turns into paths that led

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behind houses.

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Glancing over his shoulder, Raelan could not
believe that the knight was still

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pursuing him.

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In fact, the knight was catching up."He's a good
rider,"

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Raylan thought. "Let's see if he's fearless
though."

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Raylan patted the neck of the horse. "Be strong
and trust me."

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Raylan turned to the back of one house and a large
hedge that separated

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its rear yard from the rear yard of a backing
house.

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The hedge must have been about five feet tall.

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Raylan kicked the horse and leaned down as the
horse leapt the hedge.

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The horse stumbled as it landed, but Raylan held
on.

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Glancing over his shoulder, Raylan smiled. The
knight did not attempt the jump.

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He still wasn't far, so Raylan gave the horse a
kick and led it across another lawn

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and another jump.

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This one was lower but more dangerous as it was a
fence with sharp edges extending

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up.

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After clearing the jump, Raylan yanked the horse
to the west and they galloped

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back toward the Great Bridge. "You did me a favor,
knight," Raylan

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thought. "Even those pursuing me won't know where
I'm at now."

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As he reentered River Road, Raylan had to slow his
horse to a walk.

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He was closer to the bridge and a steady stream of
people flowed into the road, clogging

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it and making a fast pace impossible.

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Something he had never considered before suddenly
dawned on him.

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"There are hundreds of guild members that live in
the Wretched Quarter.

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All of these people in Harvest Guild colors, and
even some Craftsman

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colors, are heading to the Old Quarter.

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They must live there and work on this side of the
river."

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The concept that so many guild members lived in
the Wretched Quarter shocked

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Raylan.

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It went against everything his Upper Triangle
family had taught him.

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Shaking his head at the continued uncovering of
his own ignorance, Raylan looked at

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the bridge in the distance. It was a massive
structure that crossed the nearly

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mile-wide Great River.

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Rocks and steel were combined in one of the
greatest of architectural

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feats,

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a bridge that expanded the original city of Ness
over the river into the lush

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fields that would soon become the new center of
the city.

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Raylan knew little about the Wretched Quarter, no,
not Wretched Quarter, Old

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Quarter, I must call it the Old Quarter, across
the bridge.

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He had been taught that it was full of murderers
and thieves and the squalid poor who

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did no work and lived off of cheating the
hardworking citizens on his

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family's side of the river.

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Yet now he felt a new interest in it and its
citizens.

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The Thieves' Tower was there, but what other
artifacts of the old city

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remained? Were there other guild towers now
abandoned?

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What about the ash fields? He did know that the
entire move across the river was

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due to over-farming and the need to abandon the
fields that no longer could grow

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crops. Were those fields truly covered in ash?

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These thoughts went through Raylan's mind as he
slowly made his way to what he hoped would be

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nothing more than a shout from one of the knights,
and then him rushing past on the

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back of the horse.

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He wanted to be within just a few yards or even
feet of those looking for

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him before they noticed him.

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Then they wouldn't have time to organize any kind
of true barrier.

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He was over a hundred yards away, however, when an
alarm sounded.

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Raylan looked up and a group of men in armor and
blue capes was pointing at him.

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To his horror, there were dozens of them.

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"I'm not going to be able to dodge all of them,"
Raylan thought.

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(dramatic music)