by S.J. Drew
their brief conversation.
He was at a bit of a loss of what to do, so he went to one of the many appetizer and drink tables. The waiter, he noted, gave him wine in a blue glass even though there were many other colors to choose from. Upon tasting the wine, he understood. There was no alcohol in it. It had an alcoholic after-taste, but he was sure it was alcohol-free. Then he thought perhaps he just wasn’t used to drinking fine wines, but it would make sense that Adrie wouldn’t want her people to get drunk. He was saved from trying to figure out what else to do by a secretary from the Iron Guild coming over and starting a conversation with him.
The evening was, for the most part, quite boring. The other people he was talking to showed him little respect and sometimes barely concealed their disdain. Then they seemed to get upset when he was as recalcitrant about business as they were. Occasionally Adrie would meet his eyes, which he quickly figured out was her way of summoning him. He chafed, feeling like a dog obeying its master, but did as he was supposed to. His suspicions regarding the wine where also confirmed after the fourth glass in an hour and he had felt no ill effects whatsoever.
“Donnan? What are you doing here?” came the voice of the last person he had expected to run into.
“Aolani?” he stuttered, turning to face her.
She was wearing a lovely dark red gown that complimented her strawberry-blond hair, which was up in a mass of ringlets that framed her pretty face.
“I was invited. By Mistress Adrie. I work for her now,” he managed to answer.
“Oh? Well, very good for you. May I ask how you got such a job?”
He felt a flush of anger, but held it back. “She needed someone who knew Arcana. So I guess I have you to thank for this.”
She blushed a bit. “Well, you were quite a dedicated student.”
“How have you been? I heard you were sick. I’m sorry I couldn’t come visit you. Mistress Adrie has kept me pretty busy.”
“I’m better now. I had some sort of lung infection and had terrible trouble breathing. I started back at work this week.”
“That’s good. I was worried there. Again, I’m sorry I couldn’t come visit. I wanted to, but Mistress Adrie expects a lot of work from her employees.”
“I have heard she does at that. I did get your gifts and they were very nice.”
He blushed a bit. “Well, I figured it was the least I could do. So what are you doing here?”
“It’s just one of those things I’m required to attend occasionally as the daughter of the mayor. Since I haven’t been able to leave the house in some weeks, I figured this party was as good as any other to make my appearance,” she replied, not quite disguising her bitterness.
“I’m sorry this isn’t much fun,” he said, feeling this was a lame response, but couldn’t think of anything better to say.
She flashed him a warm smile. “It’s just one of those things. Anyway, I’m glad I ran into someone I could talk to here. It’s a pleasant surprise.”
He felt his face starting to flush again, then he noticed her smile faded. “Is there someone here you don’t want to talk to?”
“Well, as I matter of fact, I’m rather hoping Reese is not in attendance. I suspect you feel the same.”
“Oh, right, I forgot this might be the kind of party he’d show up to. Yeah, I kind of hope I don’t run into him. It wouldn’t turn out so well,” he said darkly.
She gave him a sympathetic look. “I don’t believe he’ll show up tonight. He has been in a lot of trouble with his father since he got thrown out of the guard. Unemployment and disgrace has not been good for him.”
“You aren’t feeling sorry for him, are you?” he asked, trying not to sound bitter.
“Well, he was my friend for a long time. I’m certainly grateful he’s been removed from the guard, but I do hope he gets himself together and does what he needs to in order to recover from this.”
“You’re very forgiving, Aolani. I’m not.”
“You also didn’t know him like I did. I’m sure you’d be more willing to forgive your own friends for their mistakes.”
“Thanks for being so understanding.”
She smiled again. “I do try. I’m afraid I must wander off now. There are many people I’m expected to talk to before I’m allowed to turn in, even if I do try to turn in early due to my recent illness.”
“Hey, Aolani, would you like to go out for coffee with me sometime?”
“As friends?” she asked, with her eyebrow just slightly raised.
“No, not so much. You’re a really wonderful person, and I’d like to get to know you better. If that’s alright,” he added quickly.
She smiled again. “It’s alright. Send a note around my place and let me know when Mistress Adrie gives you a night off.”
“I’ll do that,” he replied, feeling elated.
“Well, I must be off. I’ll try to find you again, but I’m not sure how much of this party I can take.”
“You and me both,” he agreed, noticing Adrie was trying to get his attention.
She laughed a little. “I’ll see you later, or in case I don’t, good night.”
“Later, or good night,” he said, and they separated.
Spring was rapidly approaching in Tallis Marrom. Eliora realized she’d had quite enough of snow and a dead forest and was delighted to hear the ice was melting from the Azura River. However, the approach of spring brought news and worries to the Hunters. The Council worried about having the trade caravans lodged in the city, but it would be more suspicious to keep them out. The news was not encouraging. To Eliora’s mind, it was clear the Salt and Iron Guilds were attempting to consolidate power. Legislation had been passed in Renfrew that was favorable to both guilds in regards to taxes and import and export restrictions.
“So what does it all mean?” Hialmar asked, quite frustrated.
“The Iron Guild is smuggling weapons into Renfrew,” Eliora replied simply.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Absolutely. I think they’re also trying to exercise influence in other city-states as well.”
“But why?”
She sighed. It was all so obvious to her having spent much of her life listening to her father talk about his work in the military and being a scribe. “The Salt and Iron Guild are working together to destabilize the government in Renfrew. Only the guards are allowed to carry weapons, so the Iron Guild is smuggling them in. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an effort to recruit mercenaries to use those weapons. The end result is that the current mayor of Renfrew will be deposed and someone, probably the Head of one guild or the other, will be elected to that position. That’s when the guilds will likely start exercising a lot of political influence in the other city-states, possibly waging economic war on them.”
“But the guilds are answerable to the local government,” Jomei said. “How can they get away with that?”
“Because the money lies with the guilds and money can often trump the law.”
“But the other guilds won’t go along with it because it’s not to their benefit for the Salt and Iron Guilds to get too powerful. They could start influencing other guilds,” Hialmar objected.
“Yes, that’s a good point. I would have expected they would protest when the Salt and Iron Guilds got those tax breaks in Renfrew,” Eliora replied, “but it doesn’t seem so.” The room fell silent for a few minutes.
“So what does that mean?” Hialmar finally asked.
“Well, there are other ways to influence people besides money. There’s blackmail. There’s also magic,” she answered, remembering that she had met the ShadowWalker in Mulago. She was fairly certain he’d been there for the same reason she was and had spent a lot of time thinking about the type of magic he’d want to learn.
The Council members exchanged angry looks. “So that’s what it comes to,” Hialmar said. “Damn mages. How do we fight agains
t this sort of thing?”
“Well, trying to help the guards find smuggled weapons shipments would be a good start. The blackmail will be a little harder. We need to know who is being blackmailed and what they did, and then we have to try to get rid of the evidence. If it’s some crime, of course, I don’t want to just help them get out of being punished, but there may be deals that can be made to save face.”
“And the magic?” Hialmar snapped.
“I don’t know. There must be some way to find the mage responsible. No one likes mages so who would hire one, especially for something as potentially damning as mind magic? I guess the best place to start is to find out if there have been any new hires in the Salt and Iron Guilds in Renfrew.”
“That could be dozens of people,” he interrupted.
“I know, but dozens is a place to start.”
“Maybe we’ll be so lucky to find someone’s hired a registered mage,” he said wryly.
“I doubt they’ve hired anyone registered, but Mulago’s the only place I know of to learn any magic. I’ll do some more research to find out if there are any others.”
“What about the mercenaries?” asked another Council member.
“I’ll bet we can pick up information about that to pass along to the proper guards. Surely I’m not the only one who’s worried about the recent actions of the Salt and Iron Guilds. While hiring private bodyguards isn’t illegal, hiring them for the purpose of political revolution certainly is, especially when they’ve been armed with smuggled weapons.”
The Council made their