(suspenseful music plays) The Thieves' Guild
by Jake Kerr.
Episode 39:
The Old Quarter.
The blade of the Craft Guild realized his mission would be much more
difficult than he expected when less than 20 steps into the Wretched Quarter a
man in a torn and dirty black robe confronted him.
The blade was covered in filth, had on a dirty and torn yellow tunic, and
should have looked like any other wretched Craft Guild citizen returning from across the river.
Yet the man made a beeline to him. "Name your guild," the man asked.
"I am a custodian. I clean the floors in the Warehouse District."
The blade couldn't quite believe he was seeing a man in black.
Maybe there was some roving gang that liked to pretend they were the Heir of Pietro
or something. He dropped his hand to the stiletto sheathed against his leg.
"Where do you live?"
The blade nodded in some vague direction.
"Over that way."
"Which street?"
The man in black was not backing down.
The blade couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but he didn't want to raise any alarms either.
"Who wants to know?"
The blade hoped that moving to an aggressive approach might do the trick.
The gang member was probably used to people cowering in front of him.
To the blade's shock, the man in black didn't even ask another question.
He reached out and grabbed the blade by the arm.
"You're coming with me." The man's grip was like iron, and the blade
was yanked nearly off his feet.
Looking around, he was surrounded by quite a few people, but not enough to stop his
escape, which was good as he had very few options.
He couldn't follow the man. He had no idea what this gang had in mind.
Did this criminal element rule the Wretched Quarter?
And how did the man know that the blade was not a resident?
With a fluid motion, the blade pulled his stiletto, sliced it across the
back of the man's hand, and as he let go, the blade sprinted off to the
Great Bridge. There were no knights in white on this side.
It was lawless, and the blade used that to his advantage, darting in and
out among the sad faces that were leaving or heading to their jobs in Ness proper.
By the time he walked into the Lower Quarter, the blade realized that his mission to
find and kill Raylan had just become much more difficult, and it had been
difficult to start with.
Something about him tipped off the roving gangs in that lawless,
sad excuse for a city, so he would have to head back in the shadows,
avoiding people and looking for Raylan without revealing his presence.
The blade shook his head. He had hated the Wretched Quarter before, but
now that he knew that it was even more violent and full of chaos than even he had
thought, he hated it even more.
Like his guild master, he wanted it burned to the ground.
The Mines.
Despite the fact that Polo was tossing her into prison, Maela had to admit that he was at
least nice about it. He told the guards to treat her well and to give her food for the
journey, even as they were to lock her up in the most secure prison of the guild.
Maela wasn't even sure where the Harvest Guild prison was located.
It wasn't under Harvest House. Other guilds had their prisons deep under their
guild towers, but Harvest House seemed too small and vibrant for a stone
prison.
She sat in the darkness with a loaf of bread in her hands as the locked and barred coach
started down the road. The road led in three directions, toward Trader's
Bridge and the center of Ness to the northeast and the Outer Fields, and to the
southwest and the Silo District.
Figuring the prison was most likely out beyond the wall in the Outer Fields, Maela
sat back for a long ride.
The clip-clop of the horse's hooves on the cobblestones was calming at first.
After an hour or so, however, she was finding the persistent knocking annoying,
and two hours after that, Maela was ready to never ride in a coach again, the
repetitive sound driving her crazy.
At one point, she heard the sound of rushing water and assumed that the coach was
crossing the North Fork, far to the north of the Outer Fields.
It made sense to her, as no one in Ness would ever go out that far, and its
seclusion would be a good place for a prison.
She expected the maddening sounds of the hooves to end soon.
Much later, as Maela sensed that the coach was climbing a hill and had traveled so
far as to be well past the Outer Fields, it hit her.
The prison was in the mines. It made so much sense that Maela
couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it first.
The mines were under the control of the Harvest Guild, and the mines themselves
were made up of dozens of passages. All the Harvest Guild had to do was find
some shaft that was no longer producing ore and turn it into a
remote prison. For the first time during the entire mission, Maela was
frightened. She had the arrogance of the thieves in her that every prison in the city
had some method of being beaten. She and Raylan had proven that when they broke
Alard free from the Night Guild prison.
But a solitary cell deep in the mine seemed outside the capabilities of even the
thieves. Her fears were confirmed when the coach stopped and the door was
opened. She looked out on a dim cavern lit by torches.The
guards helped her down and, to her relief, continued to treat her
well. Escape was out of the question.
They were deep in the mines and even if she got away from the guards, where could she go?
There was one way in and out and she was quite sure it was heavily guarded.
It was a short walk to her cell, which was a cube cut out of pure
rock with heavy iron bars at the front.
She entered and turned as the guard closed the door and locked it.
An armed guard wearing a flowing green cape walked up.
We are to treat you well, but that luxury will be lost if you try to escape or you treat your
guards with disrespect.
And he turned to leave.
May I ask a question?
Mailer replied. The guard slowly turned and walked back.
One question.
When will I be released?
Mailer pondered how angry Polo could be.
He knew that she was not trying to harm him, so perhaps he just wanted to teach her a
lesson.
The guard stared at her for a while and then shook his head.
I assumed you knew.
He stepped forward and there was kindness in his voice, even as his words were spoken
with the force of a command.
You are to live the rest of your life in this cell.
He looked at the shock on Mailer's face and continued with a sigh.
If you would prefer to end your life, I can provide a rope or a knife.
You may ask your guard at any time.
The guard turned to leave, but paused and turned back to Mailer.
I had forgotten. Guildmaster Polo told me to give you this.
He reached into a small pouch, pulled out a single red rose,
and tossed it on the floor at Mailer's feet.
And without another word, the guard of the Harvest Guild turned and walked out into
the dim light.
Mailer looked around her small cell.
"No one knows I'm here," she thought.
With that sobering thought in her head, Mailer focused on assessing how she could
escape.
When she had been trapped or imprisoned in the past, she could always find hope
or opportunity.
In the bowels of the Harvest Guild prison, all she could find was solid rock
and a single red rose.
(dramatic music)