The Thieves Guild
by Jake Kerr
(dramatic music plays) . Episode 62:
Fires in the Flats.
It was a dark night, and all Raylan could see from his balcony were a few glittering
lights from those up late across the city.
"It's calm and beautiful, isn't it?"
Raylan said to Rafe, who stood next to him.
"Yes, I love this view. It's like we're on the mountain looking down on the city.
Can you imagine watching the Founder's Day festivities from here?"
Raylan nodded. He had enjoyed watching the festivities from his brother's
office when he was younger, but this vantage was better.
"Do you think this is our future?
Looking down on a joyous city that doesn't know we are watching her?"
"Why would it not? Larson's plans have been stopped, so the guilds can return to normal
business. Our guild is still hidden and can provide for the old quarter.
Nothing has changed, has it?"
"Perhaps not. We still have much work to do, but at least we have the time to do
it."
Rafe nudged Raylan's arm and pointed out toward the Flats.
"Look, a bonfire. Someone's having a good time."
In the distance, the light of the flame grew larger and larger.
Flames and smoke.
As if things couldn't get more complicated for Rogers in his new position as the
captain of the Flats, another klaxon rang out in the distance.
Good gods, that's coming from the Lower Triangle.
Rogers turned to Moss, his deputy captain.
How many fires in the Flats now?
Four major ones. Grell House is destroyed, two blocks near
the Great River are burning but under control, and...
He nodded to the flames burning a short distance away.
It doesn't look good for Ironside Estate.
How many minor ones?
I don't know. A lot.
Rogers wiped his face with his sleeve.
He was covered in soot, sweat, and burns after doing whatever he could to help
battle the fires. He could see the tendrils of the flames from the Ironside
Estate reaching far into the sky in the distance, lighting the city in a
devilish orange glow. Four fires in one night was
unprecedented, but more fires than that, and now fires in
the Lower Triangle. Rogers knew it wasn't random.
Moss, this is important. Tell me what you know about the blocks burning near the river.
Moss shrugged. He, too, was covered in soot.
The thieves did what they could to fight the flames in their role as secret protectors
of the downtrodden of Ness.
Well, the one near the gate destroyed one of our safe houses.
He shrugged.
They both were Green, if that matters.
They were both green. That meant that the blocks were dominated by
Harvest Guild members. "This is not good," Rogers muttered.
He turned to Moss. "The fire in the Lower Triangle.
Have your fastest thief run there and find out where it burns.
Then have him meet me at Ironsides with his report."
Starting toward the Ironside Estate, Rogers yelled back,
"Moss, have as many of our men meet me at Ironsides as you can."
As he strode through the midst of a burning city, Rogers tried to understand
what was going on. The fires were all in Harvest Guild homes.
The Grell family lived in a mishmash of wooden townhomes that had
expanded over the decades as the Grell family grew.
They eventually took over nearly an entire block.
But, more importantly, the Grell family was one of the most
influential Harvest Guild families in Ness, and their Crooked Estate
in the Flats was a landmark. The fire had destroyed everything.
The only family more important in the Flats than the Grells in the Harvest Guild
was the Ironside family.
They were synonymous with the mines far in the mountains.
They had a home inside the mines, where they were known for their brilliance at finding iron
ore veins. But their family seat was a large building that looked like it
would have been more at home in the Upper Triangle than the Flats.
The Ironsides were wealthy, important, and dominated the
Flats. Even the Merchant and Knight Guild members who lived in the Flats
understood the special role the Ironsides played.
And now, their estate was burning to the ground.
He didn't know what he was looking for, but he knew something was amiss.
The fires were set on purpose, and he was certain that the Harvest
Guild was a target. There was no other possibility that made sense.
But why? He walked up to the Ironside mansion just as a
section of wall crashed, throwing sparks into the air.
The smell of smoke was overwhelming.
The Ironside family was large, and a number of them were crowded together,
watching the flames consume their home.
Neighbors and friends came up, hugged them, patted them on the back, and did
whatever they could to express sympathy.
The crowds were thick, but the road was empty as fire protectors and wagons
were coming and going, fighting a fire that Rogers saw was a lost
cause. Several Thief Guild members arrived and stealthily stood
by, waiting for the word from their captain.
Rogers just watched. "Something isn't right," he thought.
"But what?"
A few merchant wagons arrived-... and Rogers watched as some merchant guild
guards wrapped Ironside family members in blankets and
escorted them to the wagons, presumably to take them to shelter for the night.
As they started to pull away, Rogers turned to one of his men and
barked-
"You follow that wagon. Let me know where they take them."
A young man sprinted three steps and then melted into the crowd.
The tendrils of flames from the buildings rose high into the air, giving the
entire area an unholy glow. The fire protectors did a
good job containing the fire, but it was too strong for them to do more than
watch its hunger consume the mansion.
"Did anyone see the fires in the early stages?"
Rogers asked.
"I did, sir."
It was a young apprentice.
He looked about Raylan's age, and Rogers had to force himself from frowning.
He still could not believe that a child delinquent was his new guild master.
"Which fire, and how did it spread so fast?
Weren't the fire protectors effective?"
The fire protectors were part of the knight guild, and their job was to fight and
control fires. They seemed to be doing a good job of the latter, but not so
much of the former.
"The fire protectors arrived too late to stop the flames, sir."
"Which fire?"
Rogers snapped.
"The one near the Four Triangles."
"More oddness," Rogers whispered to himself.
Any fire near the Four Triangles would have been near both the river, River
Road, and the knight guild.
The fire protectors should have been there quickly, if not immediately.
There was a scuffle in the distance, and Rogers watched as two Ironside
family members were struggling with two merchant guardsmen.
"Stay here and keep an eye out. Let me know if you see anything strange," Rogers
said as he moved toward the disturbance.
A crowd was forming, and Rogers could hear a young woman, her voice a mixture of
distraught pain and fearful anger. "Unhand me.
I will not leave my home."
Luckily, Rogers' disguise this night was the blue of the merchant guild, so he
approached the two guards and said-
"What is going on?"
... with a tone of camaraderie, as if he could perhaps help the guards.
One of them looked up from his hold on the woman's arm.
"Nothing, guild mate.
We are to take the poor family to a safe location while the fire is raging."
The man's tone made it clear that no more questions were welcome.
"Where are their Harvest guild mates?"
Rogers looked up and down the street, and that's when he realized that the access to the
area was blocked by knight protectors.
In fact, as he looked around he realized that the entire area was
swarming with knights. Not fire protectors, knights.
"Yes, I am waiting for my guild mates,"
the woman screamed, which led to the merchant guard giving Rogers a withering
stare. A second guard covered her mouth with his hand and
roughly dragged her to the wagon.
"She is distraught."
The guard who had been speaking said.
"Now, go."
He said the command to Rogers, but it was clearly meant for everyone.
The crowd dispersed as the last of the Ironside family was led away in a
merchant guild wagon.
Making his way back to the other thieves, Rogers took stock of the night.
Harvest guild members were being targeted with fires.
The fire protectors were slow to help.
In fact, they didn't help at all, other than make sure nothing else burned.
The merchant guild was forcibly taking the top Harvest guild family
somewhere, presumably to safety, but possibly something more
nefarious.
"Okay, everyone."
Rogers looked over his fellow thieves, all dressed in the white, green, and
yellow of the other guilds that they used for cover.
"You three, go to the fire near the Four Triangles.
Ask around about merchant wagons and citizens who were displaced.
If they are still there, ask them what happened.
If they are gone, find out where they went."
He turned to another group.
"Same for you three, only go to the other fire. And you two, go to Grell House.
See if any of the family is there.
Ask them about the fire protector response.
We would expect it to be aggressive for a landmark like Grell House."
They all stared at Rogers.
"Something is happening, and we need to find out what."
As the guild members ran to fulfill their missions, Rogers focused on the
alarms coming from the Lower Triangle.
He had been captain of the Lower Triangle for a long time, and that was his
home. He wondered what was happening there.
The Flats was his new assignment, with Mayla off on her mission
as the Blade of the Guildmaster. He hoped that none of his friends were hurt
or lost homes.
An hour later, a young man, breathing heavily, nearly stumbled into
Rogers as he approached. Gasping for breath, the young man leaned over,
his palms on his knees.
"Captain."
Rogers waited patiently.
"The Greenbelt burns."
Rogers closed his eyes. The Greenbelt was a three-block stretch in the Lower
Triangle where Harvest guild families lived.
It didn't house all the Harvest guild members, but the most important families
lived on one of the blocks, their homes a centerpiece of the Harvest
guild outside of the Harvest district itself.
Rogers looked around at the slowly fading orange glow diffused across the night
sky.
"Mott."
"Yes, sir."
"I don't care how you do it, but I want you to find out who set these fires.
These were not an accident. I also want a report on where all the displaced families are."
"Yes, sir. We already have people in the field."
"Good."
Rogers sighed. Someone was targeting the Harvest guild, and with
the appearance of blue wagons, he had a good idea who.
The more important question was why.
(instrumental music plays)