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(suspenseful music plays) The Thieves' Guild

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by Jake Kerr.

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Episode 52:

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The South Tunnel.

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Darla knew the mines well, and Mayla realized
quickly that she would have had no

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hope of escaping without her.

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They exited the tunnel that led from her cell and
moved off to another tunnel that

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led to the left.

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Mayla could hear voices a short distance down the
tunnel that had led to the right.

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After two more turns, Darla patted Mayla's arm.

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"I can walk on my own now."

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Mayla felt guilty that she had hit Darla so hard.

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In hindsight, it seemed like all she had to do was
ask her for help.

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"How is your head?"

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"I have a headache, but I guess that's to be
expected."

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"Here, let me see."

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Mayla tugged Darla toward a torch and gently
pushed Darla's hair aside to

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examine the cut. There was a gash, but it was not
long and had stopped

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bleeding.

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"You are cut, but it won't require more than
keeping it clean.

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It isn't bleeding anymore."

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Darla reached up and took Mayla's hand.

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"I don't blame you for hitting me. I should have
offered to free you."

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Squeezing Darla's hand, Mayla replied.

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"We're both free now. Let's just find a way out."

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Mayla went to look over her shoulder, but Darla
darted forward and kissed her quickly on the lips.

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Mayla's eyes went wide as Darla pulled away
quickly and turned to face down the tunnel.

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Not knowing what to say, Mayla struggled with
whether it would be better to thank Darla

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or to just stay quiet. To her relief, Darla spoke
up, her voice

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clear and confident.

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"We are safe here. This is beyond where the guards
make their rounds.

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Our only concern will be any search party that
looks for us and perhaps an expeditionary

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miner."

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Mayla couldn't make sense of what had just
happened.

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Darla kissed her, but immediately became
matter-of-fact and clinical in her words.

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Deciding to just go with Darla's current line of
conversation, Mayla replied.

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"Expeditionary miner, what's that?"

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"These tunnels extend for miles.

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The captain of the mines is constantly sending out
people to look for new veins of ore."

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Mayla nodded.

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"So what is the plan? We work our way through some
little-used tunnels and then sneak through the

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entrance?"

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"That is impossible."

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Frowning, Mayla replied.

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"Nothing is impossible. We can hide in the shadows
and wait until they give up looking for us.

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Then we can disguise ourselves and leave."

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"That is true, but it will take a long time. I
know Captain Fraken.

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He will not forget about us, nor will he give up
on finding us.

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But I have a better idea."

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Darla pointed down the tunnel. "We can take the
south tunnel."

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"The haunted one?"

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Darla nodded.

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"The one you described as treacherous?"

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"Those are rumors. I have actually investigated
the tunnel a great deal.

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It is a rite of passage for those born here."

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Darla started talking with her hands, waving them
to the right and left

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as she described directions and tunnel entrances.

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"There is a deep chasm through the side entrance.
It is why it isn't guarded.

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It would be impossible for an army to traverse.

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But there is a path, and it winds down along the
chasm, presumably to the bottom."

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"You've not been to the bottom? Then how do you
know it leads outside?

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And what about the ghosts?"

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"I have been through the natural tunnels that lead
off from the path.

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The wind howls through, creating the noises that
sound like ghosts."

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"Ah, that makes sense."

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"But those tunnels are near the top, where the
youngsters hide and play.

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Very few have made the trip down the path beyond
them.

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I have."

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Darla pointed down.

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"I went as far as I could, but ran out of time.

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I tossed an extra torch down into the chasm to see
how far I had to go and discovered something

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amazing."

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"What did you find?"

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Mayla hung on every one of Darla's words.

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She loved hearing about parts of the city that
she'd never experienced.

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As a thief, it was her job to know the city's
secrets, but the secrets of the mines appeared

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to be hidden, even among many of those within the
Harvest Guild, which

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oversaw them.

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"Metal tracks with abandoned mine carts and tools.

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I was about 50 feet from the bottom, but that
trail was steep, and it would have taken me too
long to

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get down and back, so I had to give up. I never
went that far again."

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"Did you mention what you found to anyone?"

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"Of course. I told my friends, but they dismissed
my comments as lies to

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support my claim of having been near the bottom of
the chasm."

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Darla's voice sounded bitter.

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"They could not believe a girl would be braver
than any of the boys."

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"What about your parents?"

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"Tell my parents that I broke the rules and went
into the south tunnel?

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That didn't seem wise."

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Mayla laughed.

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"So there is an abandoned tunnel to the south that
no one knows about?

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How do you know it leads outside?"

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"I don't, but with the wind and a cart, it seems
likely that the cart tracks would

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lead to an exit."

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"That does make sense, but is it wise?

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It seems safer to wait and eventually go out
through the front."

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"I'm not waiting any longer."

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Darla's voice was strong and cold with the
certainty of someone on a mission.

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Mayla remembered their conversation.

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"She needs to be free more than I do."

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"Okay.

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Maybe there is an exit that was abandoned near the
Ash Fields.

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I'm willing to risk that with you."

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"Oh, that makes a lot of sense. If the mines in
the Wretched Quarter went dry the same

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time the fields died, then it would, of course,
have been abandoned."

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"Old Quarter?"

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"What?"

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"Not Wretched Quarter, Old Quarter."

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Darla peered at Mayla and then nodded.

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"So, we will exit to the Old Quarter.

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That seems safer than exiting into the Silo
District."

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"Yes, much safer."

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Mayla thought of what was possibly a secret path
through the mountains that linked the Old

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Quarter to the Inner Fields and the Silo District.

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That would not only free Mayla and Darla from the
mines, it would be very valuable for

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the Thieves' Guild in future operations.

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"Grab every torch you find. We don't know how long
we will be walking.

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The last thing we will want is to be without light
deep underground."

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Darla pulled a torch from the wall and
extinguished it under her boot.

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Mayla nodded and followed Darla down the tunnel,
looking forward to returning to the Old

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Quarter soon.

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(suspenseful music)