"We ventured into the Merchant Quarters one early morning. It was the first time I had ever been there, but I didn't have time to soak in the grandeur and beauty of the place. However, it was a stark contrast to the slums: beautiful, neat, and big. The Guildhall was impossible to miss. Its white marble façade gleamed in the sunlight, with emerald green granite trim adding a touch of regal elegance. The carved frieze above the portico depicted a busy harbor scene, and the massive ebony doors stood open, beckoning us inside. The place reeked of wealth.
The heavy doors swung inward with a soft groan, revealing a startling emptiness. The grand hall stretched before us, a cavernous space of polished marble and intricate mosaics. Yet, there was no one. No bustling merchants, no clattering of ledgers, no murmur of conversation. The only sound was the echo of our own breathing. Dust motes drifted lazily in the sunbeams that pierced the stained-glass windows, highlighting the emptiness. In the far corner, almost hidden in the shadows, a small, unadorned door stood slightly open, a thin line of light escaping into the gloom. We approached cautiously. The small door creaked open as we pushed it further, revealing a small, sparsely furnished office. A single window, smaller and less ornate than those in the grand hall, cast a warm glow across the room. Behind a simple wooden desk sat a woman, her head bent over a stack of papers. She wore a plain, dark dress, and her hair was pulled back in a severe bun. The only ornamentation in the room was a small, intricately carved wooden box on the corner of her desk and a few neatly bound ledgers stacked beside it. She looked up as we entered, her expression neutral, almost wary."
Khaller shifted on the bed before he continued.
"Kosher took the lead, as he so often did when we went to an unfamiliar place. He was the more charismatic of the two of us. He greeted her politely while keeping a smile on his face. I remembered thinking he was smitten by the woman. But I didn't blame him; she was beautiful. She replied politely as well and asked us our business. Kosher told her we wanted to join the guild. She observed him for a moment before her gaze fell on me. In a brief moment, she had scrutinized me completely; I felt naked and struggled to keep my shaking knees from buckling. Beautiful women tended to have that effect when they focused their gaze on you."
I noticed he avoided my mother's gaze when he said this. I personally couldn't relate to his experience; I didn't remember any women, save for my mother, and while I admitted she was pretty, I had seen her all my life. To me, she was just my mother.
"She asked us if we weren't a bit too young. I was nineteen at the time; Kosher was a year older. I asked what age had to do with anything, and she raised a brow at me. Eventually, she asked us to wait in the hall, and she closed the door behind her. A few moments later, three hefty men came out of the room following behind the woman. She said they would test us; that a guild member must be able to hold his own against these three to even be considered for the job. As you might expect, we made light work of them. They were tanks, so it took a bit more power to put them down. The woman looked fearful after that. Her tone was nervous, and she fidgeted. She asked us who would vouch for us. We obviously had no one. She apologized and said there was nothing she could do as it was guild policy, and we left begrudgingly.
"Luckily, we met a man named Jon as we were leaving. He was a fighter at Madam Cati's fight club. He left the fight club a short while after I joined. Apparently, he fixed a fight. He paid the price, though, because he has a stump where his left hand should have been. Anyway, he took us back in and vouched for us, saying the guild would be shitheads to reject our services. We were swiftly registered and shown the ropes, as well as being oriented about the rules of the guild. It w-"
My mother cut him off. "You can skip that part."
Khaller shrugged and continued.
"Anyway, that's how we became guild members. We started with the easiest of jobs: guiding some nobles through the Merchants and Foreign Quarters, and sometimes followed some to the docks to inspect their goods. There wasn't much for us to do, though. Security was tight in the town; it was close to a naval base after all. And the constant hanging of miscreants' heads at the city gates made most criminal groups rethink their profession.
It was about six months when we were given a high-profile job. We were among a hundred-man group assembled to protect some big-shot merchant's daughter to the capital. Apparently, banditry had been on the rise in recent months. There was a small forest between Cross Harbor and the capital city, making it the perfect place for bandits to lay an ambush. The forest could have easily been removed if they wished, but it had some sentimental value to a child of the queen's older sister, so the forest was left untouched.
"Another reason for the overkill group was the presence of a new threat in the forest. He was dubbed Malady, the Ail Bringer. Not much was known about the man, but he was capable of causing diseases that wiped out entire caravans. No one was usually left alive to give any information about him; all we knew was he wore a black hooded cloak and wielded a dark sword. It was said that if you ever saw the Ail Bringer in front of you, you should run as fast as you can in the opposite direction and pray to the gods he doesn't come for you. I understood then that the fears of the big-shot merchant might not have been unfounded after all, as he also heard rumors that someone had hired Malady to kill his daughter. So, he hired all the available members of the guild to protect her. He must have paid an incredible amount of money to get the guild to agree to his demands. The guild masters also wanted to solve the Malady problem anyway. Malady was bad for business. Fewer people came to Cross Harbor from the kingdom, and even more guild members quit. They didn't think the amount they were paid was worth the dangers to their lives. So, one hundred of us were assembled. Most were veterans of the trade, and some others, like Kosher and I, were fairly new members. They needed the manpower."
"The guild masters gathered us just before we left. One of them gave a rousing speech about how important the work we did was and how this job was the most important one we'll ever do. The speech garnered rounds of applause from the group. Kosher and I just rolled our eyes. And soon we set off. We got far enough into the forest that we couldn't easily go back but still far from civilization when we saw him. He stood in the middle of the forest, his black cloak swaying in the mid-morning breeze, the hood covering his face. His sword was unsheathed. He stood, waiting. We met him. Malady, the Ail Bringer."
Khaller sighed. "Of course we did."