Raylan abandons his duties at the guild for a personal quest with Rebecca, only to ride directly into the shocking aftermath of his brother's destruction—a ruined quarter, a shattered bridge, and a power struggle already taking shape in the chaos.
Some secrets are worth dying for. Some are worth killing for.
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Free Patreon members also receive copies of the first Thieves Guild ebook. The next book will be released in 2025 and Patreon members will also receive that book (and all subsequent books!) for free, too. Want to go directly to get your free books? Click here.
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If you would like to view a map of Ness, you can find it here.
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Artifacts of the Arcane
A historical urban fantasy set at the beginning of World War Two.
The world has abandoned magic, but magic hasn’t abandoned the world.
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Thursday
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No one can be trusted when nothing is real.
https://podcastalchemy.studio/thursday
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00:00:00
Music.
00:00:24
Raylan had done countless irresponsible things in his short life,
00:00:28
but he very clearly considered his current actions by far the most irresponsible.
00:00:34
He wasn't even sure why he was doing it.
00:00:37
Was it because he felt compelled to follow Pietro's magical puzzle to its end?
00:00:42
Was it because he felt this was the best path forward for a guild that was now
00:00:47
exposed and needed the power of magic that Pietro had mysteriously bequeathed to them.
00:00:53
Or was it much more simple?
00:00:56
He was completely enamored with Rebecca and couldn't stand her leaving on her own.
00:01:02
Whatever the reason, he was leaving behind the guild, which was now bustling
00:01:07
with people he knew but was without leadership.
00:01:11
Philos came back with bad news. Rafe had taken an alternative path,
00:01:16
and all of the guild knights that had searched for him came up empty.
00:01:20
Typical Wraith, thought Raelynn. He probably had some mysterious map that would
00:01:25
take him directly to Goutland via some path that no one had ever heard of.
00:01:30
Philos escorted Rebecca in as Raelynn was still pondering the news of Wraith escaping his pursuit.
00:01:37
Are you ready to go? Go where?
00:01:39
Raelynn turned around and nearly gasped. Rebecca was in some kind of Harvest
00:01:44
Guild outfit he hadn't seen in a very long time.
00:01:47
The breeches were cloth and tight, while her top was a loose yellow shirt that
00:01:52
was tucked into her breeches.
00:01:54
Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
00:01:57
Where in the four quarters did
00:01:59
you find that outfit? Rebecca smiled and turned around. Do you like it?
00:02:05
Raylan couldn't help but stare. She looked stunningly beautiful.
00:02:10
A messenger from the outer fields.
00:02:13
Indeed, I could not think of a better disguise to walk freely in the upper quarter.
00:02:18
Rebecca walked over and looked Raylan up and down. And what shall you wear?
00:02:24
He didn't even question whether he should wear anything special or whether he
00:02:29
should match her disguise.
00:02:31
Furthermore, he didn't consider the wisdom of leaving the responsibilities he
00:02:36
should have been facing. He found a simple yellow tunic and had Bryn grab them two simple horses.
00:02:43
And then he left. No pelos, no goodbye to Mela.
00:02:48
He grabbed two horses and just left with Rebecca.
00:02:53
It was irresponsible, not irresponsible like throwing eggs at Billy's dad's
00:02:58
wagon or stealing carrots from the inner fields.
00:03:02
No, this was irresponsible in a way that Raylan felt uneasy about in deep ways, but not at first.
00:03:11
At first, Raylan was stunned and astonished at the sheer destruction his brother had wrought.
00:03:17
After rushing out without informing Philos, or anyone else for that matter.
00:03:23
Raylan and Rebecca made their way across the great bridge, which was so busy
00:03:28
with the coming and going of those in yellow that their passage was completely ignored.
00:03:33
What do you think of heading directly to Trader's Bridge?
00:03:37
Raylan looked around. He and Rebecca stood on River Road, the bridge behind them.
00:03:43
They had discussed turning left and then heading to Trader's Bridge via the busier throughway.
00:03:49
It would be a longer journey, but would hide them much better.
00:03:53
However, with the clear chaos and lack of guards anywhere to be seen,
00:03:58
a more direct path seemed better.
00:04:01
My dear Raylan, I am at your command.
00:04:04
Rebecca smiled at Raylan. That's certainly not true, but it's true that I know the city better.
00:04:10
Pulling his reins toward the north road, Raylan nudged his horse forward.
00:04:15
Rebecca quickly pulled up alongside him. She was an excellent rider.
00:04:20
Do you smell that? Smoke, yes. Raylan nodded toward the lower triangle.
00:04:26
I was looking, and you can't see much fire damage, but you can certainly still smell it.
00:04:32
No, the smell of death.
00:04:35
Raylan didn't know how to reply to that, so he kept quiet as they trotted toward
00:04:40
Merchant Tower, his home of many years, and which stood towering in the distance.
00:04:46
It was a short distance later when the damage started to show,
00:04:50
and then shortly after that when the scale of the devastation became apparent.
00:04:56
The fire has destroyed practically the entire lower quarter.
00:05:01
Raylan looked at the charred husks of shops he bought from and stole from,
00:05:05
taverns where he gathered with his friends, and the homes of those friends.
00:05:10
At a certain point he could see nothing but burned-down houses as far as he
00:05:15
could see. They are already rebuilding.
00:05:18
Rebecca's small note of optimism couldn't lift Raylan's spirits.
00:05:23
Yes, there were small groups of people moving stone and collecting charred wood.
00:05:29
There were even some plots of land where new houses were already in the process
00:05:33
of being rebuilt, but it was nothing compared to what he was seeing.
00:05:38
Larson, what have you done? Raylan thought.
00:05:42
This is astonishing. Raelynn looked over at Rebecca.
00:05:46
She seemed as stunned as he was. The entire quarter is woodhouses,
00:05:51
and it is surrounded by water on two sides.
00:05:54
Certainly the city had a plan to contain and fight fires.
00:05:58
Raelynn thought over the various neighborhood emergency plans.
00:06:02
They didn't happen very often, but they happened, and the core way to fight
00:06:07
a fire was to contain it until the night fire protectors arrived.
00:06:12
The knights abandoned the city. There is no other explanation,
00:06:16
and it explains why Quinto overthrew Sax.
00:06:19
He is a good man and couldn't live with such a stain on his guild.
00:06:23
The Blue Guild at least seems to be taking this seriously.
00:06:27
Raelynn just about fell off his horse. The Blue Guild was the merchants.
00:06:32
They caused all this. But Rebecca was right.
00:06:36
The further they travelled along River Road, the more they could see groups
00:06:40
of people in blue, removing trash, cleaning streets and hammering wood to rebuild buildings.
00:06:47
Was this the work of Orion via his nephew?
00:06:51
That would make some sense, but why were there no craft guild members helping?
00:06:56
This doesn't make sense.
00:06:58
Rebuilding doesn't make sense? No. The Merchant Guild being so active,
00:07:04
the leader of the Merchant Guild is someone my age.
00:07:08
He is the nephew of Orion, the Guildmaster Craft. He wouldn't lead anything
00:07:12
like this. He's less responsible than I am.
00:07:16
And that thought of responsibility became the first pang that he was focusing
00:07:21
on the wrong thing in his journey to the Golden Wand.
00:07:24
Well, he must have turned over a new leaf like you have. Rebecca smiled at Raylan,
00:07:30
but his thoughts were of the city.
00:07:32
Let's see what is happening in the upper quarter. I'm absolutely enthralled
00:07:37
with learning everything about your beautiful city, Raylan.
00:07:42
Raylan kept looking for the bridge in the distance, but all he could see was river. It then hit him.
00:07:50
Raylan just stared. It's gone. What's gone? The bridge. Raylan pointed.
00:07:58
Rebecca peered toward the remains of the bridge. Indeed it is.
00:08:02
This would explain all the boats on the river.
00:08:04
Raylan was thinking just that as he looked upon the remains of Traders Bridge.
00:08:09
The feet of engineering lay in two stubs.
00:08:13
The entire center section was gone.
00:08:15
The side near the upper quarter looked like its foundation had been destroyed.
00:08:20
While the lower quarter side still had part of the bridge still intact.
00:08:25
He had ignored the river full of boats as more chaos.
00:08:29
But now it made sense. The only way across the North Fork was either via the
00:08:35
wall or via boat. For the first time, Raylan could see activity from other than
00:08:41
Harvest Guild and Merchant Guild members.
00:08:43
A large force of knights appeared to be guarding the bridge from further damage.
00:08:49
Craft Guild members still were nowhere to be seen. Shall we procure a boat?
00:08:54
Raylan put his concern for the lower quarter and the Thieves Guild's response aside.
00:08:59
He wanted to see what was happening in the now isolated upper quarter.
00:09:04
He couldn't even remember the name of his captain of the upper quarter.
00:09:08
He just knew he had one. He didn't even know any of the safe houses.
00:09:14
Yes, there's a public slip just past the bridge.
00:09:18
Or we could just use that one. Rebecca pointed to a man on the bank of the North
00:09:23
Fork, waving his hand and pointing at his empty boat.
00:09:27
It looked like it could hold three or four people.
00:09:31
Raylan looked at the river. The traffic was heavy and there wasn't a single
00:09:35
empty boat but the one on the bank.
00:09:38
Raylan dismounted and patted his horse on its flank. Someone will need you, friend.
00:09:44
Rebecca dismounted with an elegant twist of her body and a short jump.
00:09:49
She rubbed the horse's muzzle but didn't say anything.
00:09:52
How expensive do you think this journey will be? Very.
00:09:58
Orion sent a messenger to recall some troops as soon as he had heard of Kera's death.
00:10:04
It was Karch's work. Orion was
00:10:07
positive of that, and when his troops returned, he would make Karch pay.
00:10:11
Perhaps hanging him from the Merchant Guild statue in Founders Park would send
00:10:16
the appropriate message.
00:10:18
Until then, however, Orion had to wait.
00:10:22
Things were chaotic, but Orion felt that everything would work in his favor.
00:10:27
Quinto would take time rallying support within the Night Guild.
00:10:31
In addition, the few interactions Orion had with him were pleasant.
00:10:35
He wasn't taking anything for granted, but Orion felt he had time.
00:10:40
Polo was obviously blaming Orion, despite all of Orion's efforts to stay out of the conflict.
00:10:47
Karch's message and bruises were clear on that point, but the Harvest Guild,
00:10:52
large as they were, were but one guild.
00:10:56
Still, Polo's message of rage was undeniable.
00:11:00
That made Orion think about Karch some more.
00:11:03
Despite the beating, perhaps Karch promised Polo fealty for security.
00:11:08
Yes, that sounded like something the snake Karch would do.
00:11:12
His killing Keras and taking control of the guild all but confirmed that.
00:11:17
How could he have missed it? Karch was now under Polo's thumb.
00:11:23
So, Orion thought, that's the battlefield. The craft guild against the merchant
00:11:28
and harvest guild, with the knights staying out of it.
00:11:32
Orion would have considered this a hopeless situation, but for one thing,
00:11:37
the destruction of Trader's Bridge.
00:11:40
One guild had control of the boats and thus the river, his guild.
00:11:45
That was an enormous advantage, and Polo was going to use it.
00:11:50
And while Karch had taken over the Merchant Guild mastership,
00:11:54
he was just as hated as Larson.
00:11:57
Orion felt that the Merchant Guild members would be drawn to his side,
00:12:02
especially when they learned of Karch's treachery.
00:12:05
Yes, I will not smash the upper quarter in one big blow.
00:12:09
I will hit them hard and often across the river at countless points,
00:12:14
knights on the side, merchants leaving Karch and joining me.
00:12:19
That leaves a single guild. Harvest. I can manage that.
00:12:24
As he spoke to himself about the complications he had to manage,
00:12:28
Orion appeared to overlook one guild. The Thieves.
00:12:33
Music.
00:12:35
We'll be right back.
00:12:55
A podcast alchemy production.
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