Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Stray Shadow

Symon put his fork down and took hold of his napkin. He lifted it up and wiped at the corners of his mouth, making sure any particles of food were wiped away. He placed it down and let his mind drift, now that he had a full belly.

Serafina eyed the young man across from her as she sipped her tea. “What’s on your mind?”

Symon woke from his inner thoughts and lifted his head a few inches. He looked into her eyes as his thoughts coalesced.

“Thinking about my route tonight,” the young man said simply.

Serafina nodded. “Still trying to locate that stray?”

Symon gave a single nod, his thoughts flowing back to the last couple of nights since he helped the two kobolds find their aunt on Moss Street. Rumors and discord grew across several districts in Old Town, of a thief breaking into homes and stealing valuable objects and coins. The rogue always seemed to know when the residents were not home and would be gone for several hours.

Symon skulked about as he wandered many of the streets of Old Town. He listened as people from many different walks of life complained about the mysterious thief. Between moments of picking pockets and listening to people, it seemed like an opportunity was brewing.

Serafina leaned back in her chair, holding her cup of tea a few inches from her lips and a knowing gleam in her eyes.

“You think this may be an opportunity?”

Symon shrugged. “Maybe. You told me we need new members and this thief in the night may be just what we’re looking for, if I can find them.”

Serafina sipped her tea. “Or they may try to kill you. I know you can handle yourself, but we may need to look into purchasing some enchanted items and weapons soon. Many members of the other guilds have certain enchanted weapons and they do like to use them. You should be armed as well.”

Symon grinned. “Can’t save any coin if I’m spending it.”

“Don’t use my words against me,” Serafina snickered.

The young man stood up and piled the empty dishes on each other. “It feels like we’re running out of time and I need to do something.”

The woman in black nodded. “I understand the urges. I am drawing up some plans that we may be able to help our future, but you are correct, we need more members if our guild has a chance to survival. What about the kobolds you helped a few days ago?”

A memory washed on the shores of his mind. The young rogue had been keeping track of Nyana and Qin. The two kobolds and their aunt, were often around their home on Moss Street. Symon often tried to stay far enough so we wouldn’t be noticed, which was harder than he thought. The three kobolds only went into Old Town once, spending time in the Book District as they went from shop to shop, looking and purchasing books.

Symon couldn’t help but have a soft spot for the two hopeful mages. They were excited to be in Gray Gate, and often chatted with locals about the Grand Allotment. It was all anyone could talk about, the time drawing closer. The city was besieged with young hopefuls, wanting to join the prestigious academies and take on the path of being true mages.

“I have seen them, from time to time,” Symon said casually. “But I must ask, can mages be part of a guild?”

Serafina put down her cup and gave Symon a serious look. “Mages can be part of guilds, but it is generally frowned upon. There is a need to spy on everything, in and out of the academies. Each guild may only have a few mages in their guild, but they cannot wear any of our colors, or perform any work that may take them from their studies. Should they be caught, or discovered doing something nefarious, they risk expulsion. It is a great risk for a young mage, one they do not often take.”

“So, we should keep them at arm’s length?”

Serafina shook her head. “I didn’t say that. I said it was frowned upon. At the current state of our guild, beggars cannot be choosers, but I will leave it to you in that respect.

“As for our plans, we may not need full members to join us right away. We may hire freelancers to aid in an errand or job. If they work out well, and can be trusted, they may join our guild. The price is always the same, fifty copper rooks to join, and a lifetime to earn their way up.”

Symon picked up the empty dishes and stepped over to a sink.

“Leave the dishes. I’ll take care of it. You still have work to do this night,” Serafina said.

Symon put the dishes in the sink and looked out the window over the sink. Night had already fallen and a full moon hung in the black sky. The lunar body was so bright, it washed away all but the brightest stars. Its celestial body pulled at his very being, a need to change his shape tickling the back of his mind.

No changing my shape tonight. I need to not rely on my animal form too much so I don’t draw any more suspicion. With all the talk of the thief in the night, no one has brought up the mysterious fox and I should keep it like that for a time.

Symon stepped over to the kitchen door and grabbed his black leather jacket hanging on a peg. He pulled it off and put his arms through the sleeves, the jacket settling on his shoulders.

The young raven looked over his shoulder to Serafina sitting at the table. “Don’t wait up.”

“Don’t do anything foolish and good hunting,” the woman in black winked.

Symon smiled before opening the door, stepping out, and closing it behind him.

Serafina stared at the door for a few moments. Something tickled her senses and she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“There’s something foul on the air,” she said before picking up her tea and taking another sip.

***

The chamber was filled with chairs, each one occupied with a body. An orc sat in one chair, a tube at one end connected to a jar, while the other end was connected to a needle that was in his thick arm. He flexed his hand as blood flowed through the tube and crimson blood dripped into the jar by his boots.

In another chair, a dark elf was reclined back with closed eyes. A needle was in his arm, and he too slowly flexed his hand as blood dripped into a jar beside his feet.

Tarron sat in a chair with a needle in his arm. He glanced at the others in the chamber, as mages in white walked about, checking on donations. The elf couldn’t hide his annoyed disgust as he sat, his very life’s blood dripping into a jar with so many others.

The chamber had many more people in chairs. All of them were mythics of varying degrees. A kobold sat in another chair, as a pair of goblin woman sat side by side, chatting to each other as blood dripped into jars.

Sanguine parlors were scattered all about Old Town. They were simple, clean buildings. The parlor was had many shades of red, from crimson to ox’s blood. Tapestries hung with scenes of mythics giving their very life blood to aid mages from all walks of life. Each parlor was staffed with young mages, often dressed in white robes, overseeing donations and pay out after a pint was donated.

The elf gritted his teeth as he glanced down at his jar and seeing it half full. He sat back and closed his eyes, mirroring the dark elf. His skin crawled, thinking he should be used to it by now.

Tarron tried to push away the reality of where he was, a place that collected ichor so the mages could keep making their precious spell ink. Mythics had greater amounts of mana within their blood. The donations often grew the closer to the time of the Grand Allotment. If a poor sap needed some extra coin, the parlors were the place to get it.

A mage in white stepped over and touched the elf’s shoulder. “Tarron, you’re nearly finished. Do you still want the same payment, or in copper rooks?” she asked.

Tarron opened his eyes and looked up at the beautiful mage. The elf hated that he was known here by name. It gnawed at him, further showing the fact that he, and his people, were now considered a lesser since the cataclysm. Faint memories from his studies snuck into his mind, telling of how many cities of his people were all nearly destroyed by rampaging umbra beasts. Mana had become a precious commodity, the forest elves rushing to shore up their defenses against others who would steal their mystical items, tools, and many times, their blood. Those defenses were not enough against umbra beasts, who could smell mana from hundreds of miles away. Entire cities were laid to waste, and the once glorious kingdoms of the forest elves, were reduced to but a handful of places. Many of his people, forced into a nomadic life, to protect themselves from monsters, and others who would pray on them for the higher-than-normal mana within their blood.

“A silver knight,” Tarron said through a grimace and an attempt to be polite.

The mage in white bowed her head before moving to another mythic and asking the usual question.

The forest elf lamented on his life, and his career. There was no grand plan and he despised knowing that. He would never be rich from being a city guard. We could not learn magic, for elven mages were often targeted by others and umbra beasts for they practically glowed with mana. It was too much of a risk, unless an elf mage was very skilled, enough to keep the hungry umbra beasts, which there were not many.

No, Tarron understood, his simple life here in Gray Gate was the only life he could attain. The mages and walls would protect him from monsters or blood hunters. He fell deeper into a pit of despair, knowing he was trapped with no light to climb to.

The mage in white approached him again. “You appear to be all finished,” she said as she knelt down with a cloth in one hand and reached for the needle in his arm with the other.

Tarron’s face was a cold mask as the needle was pulled out and the clean cloth pressed to his arm. He lifted his arm and curled it close, knowing the drill and keeping pressure on the point where the blood was drawn.

The mage pulled a silver knight from her robe pocket. Tarron held up his other hand and she dropped the coin into it. He closed his fingers and stuffed the coin into his belt pouch. He then stood up and made his way to the front doors.

“Next week?” the mage called out with understanding eyes.

The elf nodded without looking back. He stepped out of the parlor and onto a cobblestone street. Tarron glanced up to the dark sky and the pale moon in the vast distance. He let out a small exhale, before walking away. His day was finished and it was time to go home and rest before it all started up again the next day.

***

The front doors to the Jester’s Saloon opened. An ogre heaved back his thick arms and launched a man with a book clutched to his chest.

Cedric grinned maniacally as he flipped through the air and barely landed on his feet. He attempted to turn around on his heels, when one heel slipped and he slammed down onto the hard street. A groan rose up from his mouth as he drunkenly tried to gather himself.

The ogre stood at the entrance to the saloon, his arms folded and watching the thin man as he slowly stood up.

Cedric slid his hair back as he stumbled about, trying to keep his balance. The ogre kept shifting between one form, and four in his vision.

“How dare you put your hands on me, you strong and vile brute! If I was an ogre, you wouldn’t haven’t treated me in such a way!” the writer spat.

“If you were an ogre, you would have listened to me the previous three times I told you to be respectful,” the ogre said plainly, his single horn on his head gleaming in the moonlight.

“How dare you bring some kind of ogre logic into this!” Cedric shouted as he fixed his clothes.

“It’s not ogre logic. Its normal people logic,” the ogre smirked.

Cedric checked his satchel at his hip and his journal was still in his hand. He looked up at the sizable mythic and reconsidered charging back in for his half mug of ale.

“I was leaving anyway,” Cedric lied as he tried to save face. “Your establishment is a bore and I have better places to spend my coin!”

“Go to some other place and spend your coin,” the ogre said with tired eyes.

“I will!” Cedric shouted belligerently. “And I will have you know, I will add your establishment into my next novel. I will be unkind, writing about the big, ugly, fat ogre who treated me with such disrespect. Your story will live through the ages, a reminder to all who read it of what you are and how you treated me!”

The ogre felt a tap on his shoulder. He stepped aside as a woman and a female dark elf stepped out of the establishment. They winked, smiled, and waved to the ogre as they made their way into the street.

You are reading story The Raven Guild at novel35.com

“Night Brawn!” the woman smiled brightly at him.

“Night ladies,” the ogre said and bowed to them.

“He’s so on fire,” the dark elf said to the woman as they walked off into the night.

Cedric’s jaw dropped. He turned his incredulous eyes to the single horned, large humanoid.

The ogre shrugged. “It’s a gift.”

Cedric took a shaky step forward. “How? I must know for my book. I’ve been trying to get their attention all night! They must be regulars. You see them occasionally, yes?”

“This was their first night here,” Brawn shrugged again.

“No, there must be a secret. Something you haven’t told me. An enchanted charm, or trinket?”

“Sober up and learn better manners before coming back here,” the ogre said before stepping back into the saloon and closing the doors behind him.

“I have to know,” Cedric whispered before rage filled his eyes. “I didn’t want to drink here anyway! I’ll go into New Town, where they will appreciate my wit and my coin! You sir, have lost a loyal patron! Don’t you dare step out again, or I will give you what for!”

Cedric’s voice echoed across the deserted street. The doors didn’t open, and the ogre didn’t come out. The writer turned his attention to the red glass window. The minstrels played louder and patrons laughed and cheered.

“Good! Stay in your pathetic establishment!” Cedric shouted like a mad man.

He turned and took loose steps down the street. He mumbled under his breath as he made his way along, the full moon shining in the night sky.

***

Symon leaned against a chimney with his arms folded. The cold night tried to seep into his muscles, but with his back to the warm chimney, it helped keep the chill away.

Moonlight glowed along rooftops. Smoke curled into the air from many chimneys, giving the nearby structures and ethereal appearance. Nothing else moved, a peaceful calm radiating along the city of mages.

It had been several hours since Symon left Serafina. He made his way into Old Town and quickly found an alley. Using his dexterity, he climbed up to a roof and began leaping from one to the next. The night air felt good in his lungs, at first. After an hour, it started to seep deeper. He continued his hunt, trying to find any hint of the stray robber so many people were talking about.

Symon visited places where the robber had struck before. Despite not being in fox form, his nose was just sensitive enough to pick up on some scents. He brought his nose close to edges of rooftops, to see if there was a correlating scent, but he often came up empty. Too much time had passed, or misty mornings would wash it away. It wasn’t enough stop him from searching, but he had to refine it to actually being out in the cold night to chance a glimpse of the thief.

I could be in my warm bed, instead of on cold rooftops in the middle of the night. What am I doing? There’s a very good chance other guilds are hunting for the same stray. They will have better resources then I do, and more numbers. Why am I exerting so much energy for a shadow that may already belong to a guild.

Symon’s thoughts shifted to the two kobolds.

Maybe I should refocus my energies on convincing them to join the guild? To have a pair of mages in the guild would help us greatly.

The young man pondered on possibilities as the cold tried to sink deeper into him. He was about to call it quits and head home, when something leapt in the distance.

Symon grew stock still, watching with unblinking eyes as a shadow leapt from one rooftop to the next. Even at a distance and in the moonlight, he could see a cloak flapping in the wind as legs moved in quick blurs.

The figure leapt onto another rooftop and halted their advance. Their hooded head turned slightly, eyes scanning the area.

Symon readied himself to leap up and give chase. He watched as the cloaked figure turned to a tall building. They leapt up into the air and landed on a window ledge. The place was dark, the occupants clearly not home.

Legs slowly curled under him as Symon watched with his full attention. The figure glanced around before they lowered their hands. Elbows moved along the sides of the crouched figure. A breath later, the window slid up.

Symon silently leapt to his feet and rushed across his roof. When the figure disappeared into the dwelling. Symon leapt across another roof, followed by another. He kept himself low and his senses alert. When he reached a rooftop across from where the burglar entered the dwelling, Symon hid himself in dark shadows along the edge of the roof and waited. He peered over the side, his hair helping him to blend in with the darkness.

Time ticked on. A dark shadow moved through the dwelling. The only sound Symon could hear was the wind over the cold rooftops and towers.

Heart quickening, Symon watched with cool eyes as the robber stabbed their legs out of the window, flipped through the air and landed on the roof he was on. They glanced around, ready to dart off, when a voice stopped them in their tracks.

“Impressive. How do you know when they’re not home?” Symon asked as he stood to his full height.

The cloaked figure spun around, releasing a throwing dagger. The blade shined in the moonlight before Symon bent his upper body to the side and the dagger missing him by several inches. It clattered on the rooftop as he regained his stance and watched the cloaked figure leaping onto another roof.

The hunt is on!

Symon darted forward and gave chase. Legs pumped and muscles surged with power. He leapt off a roof edge and onto another. The cloaked figure continued to flee, but Symon saw that he was slowly gaining on them. He pushed himself harder, misty breath blasting out of his mouth as he huffed.

The cloaked figure leapt onto a roof and darted to other side. They slid to a halt and peered over the edge, seeing that it was a wide street and the other rooftop may be just out of reach. They turned around, hands slipping behind them as the man in black slowed his chase into a walk. He had his hands out to the sides and a kind smile on his face.

“I’m not here to stop you,” Symon said. “I just wanted to speak with you before others come looking for you.”

The cloaked figure kept their stance, hands still behind them.

Symon put his hands down and kept his keen gaze on the cloaked figure. Shadows covered most of their features, but he could see a feminine chin.

“Are you part of the guilds? Is this where you spring your trap? I will not go down without a fight!”

Symon gave the cloaked woman a kind, disarming smile. “I am part of the guilds, but this is no trap. I only wanted to talk.”

“What do you really want?” She asked with narrow eyes.

“I wanted to know, why a stray would attempt to rob anyone in Old Town? There are a lot of powerful people here and it will not be long before someone finds you.”

The cloaked woman was silent and unmoving.

Symon continued, “I ask because you have robbed some homes that are under the protection of some of the guilds. Not my guild, but a few others who may not be so forgiving.”

“No need to concern yourself! Tonight, is my last night. I will soon be gone and will never be heard from again.”

The cloaked woman turned to jump. Symon out-stretched his hand as he darted forward. The woman jumped and her eyes widened as three kobolds burst up from the edge of the rooftop. Her arms and legs flailed as the kobolds flew at her, each one wearing a copper gauntlet on one hand. Fire burst along the gauntlet, ready to slam into her, when a man in black slammed into her, propelling her forward and the young man following.

The pair stretched out their arms and barely grasped the opposite roof edge. Bodies slammed into the stone wall. The cloaked woman glanced back to see the three kobolds land on the rood edge Symon and her just leapt from. Dark green cloaks billowed around the kobolds as they crouched on the edge of the roof. Their gauntlets burned with small flaming auras. Their leg muscles tensed and they leapt across the wide street.

Symon and the woman scrambled over the edge and onto the roof. They both rolled back onto their feet as the three kobolds landed on the roof edge. Serpentine eyes glared from dark green hoods, the flames from their gauntlets illuminating their snouts.

“Step away, raven. This one belongs to the dragon guild,” a kobold snarled.

Symon held up his hands up to chest level. “No one had laid claim to the stray before. You three showed up after I had already engaged her.”

The kobold to the left of the other two spoke up, “Your life hangs on by a thread. Earn some time and goodwill with us. Step away and let us handle the stray. She broke our laws and codes and must answer for it.”

“This is ridiculous,” the cloaked woman sneered before her hands whipped out from under her cloak and released two throwing daggers.

The kobolds leapt to the sides as daggers missed them by inches.

“That wasn’t a good idea,” Symon said as he backed up. When she didn’t answer back, he turned to see her already fleeing.

He turned again and pulled his head hard to the side as flaming gauntlet missed him. It was so close, her felt the heat and flames lick the side of his head before he leapt back and took a stance.

“She’s getting away!” a kobold shouted.

A fellow kobold darted forward as the other two leapt at Symon. The young man’s hand snapped up and grabbed at the incoming kobold’s forearms, just past the edge of the flaming gauntlets. He took hold attempted to spin and throw them away, when feet snapped forward and slammed into his stomach. The force of the blow was enough for him to stumble back, but he continued to hold them. Upper body turning, Symon flung the two kobolds across the roof. They crashed onto the rooftop, rolled and hopped back onto their feet. Low hisses and growls poured from their snouts as they edged closer to the lone raven.

“I don’t want to fight. You attacked me first. I’m trying to talk this out,” Symon said as he took a step back.

“Then get out of our way,” one kobold sneered.

Both kobolds launched at Symon, flaming gauntlets reared back. Symon stood his ground, ready to incapacitate both of them. All three were within reach, when the night sky reverberated with a monstrous roar.

Symon dodged to the side as the kobolds landed past him and turned. Eyes widened as the three of them turned northward. Another roar blasted through the air.

A wave of loud rings filled the night. Belltowers rang out, massive bells swinging from side to side. Shouts and screams rose up like a horrific symphony.

Symon glanced to the side to see the kobolds were already gone. He turned his gaze northward again. In the vast distance, something immense moved at a steady pace. Its roar sent a chill down his spine as moonlight shined of an armored body.

Symon glanced down to the northern section of New Town.

“No,” he whispered as he darted forward and leapt into the air as another roar bellowed into the night.

You can find story with these keywords: The Raven Guild, Read The Raven Guild, The Raven Guild novel, The Raven Guild book, The Raven Guild story, The Raven Guild full, The Raven Guild Latest Chapter