After Red walked out, Biff met me at the door. “The guild master of the Brawler’s Guild wants to meet with you. I put him in Meeting Room 2.” He had a bit of an anxious look on his face.

  I understood why. When your guildmaster shows up unannounced and asks to meet with your “boss,” it sends all kinds of warning signals down your spine.

  “Ok, thank you, Biff. I’ll see him now.”

  He nodded his head once in thanks and walked me to the room. He opened the door, entered, looked around without acknowledging his guildmaster, nodded to me, and I entered. Biff followed and stood at the door.

  “You are dismissed from this meeting, Biff.” The guildmaster stated with a wave of his hand.

  Biff did not move. The guildmaster stood and fired him an angry glare. “I said dismissed, journeyman!”

  Biff still did not move.

  The guildmaster smiled suddenly. “He was always one of my favorite students. It’s why he got dragged along to the Duke’s meeting this morning.” He looked at me. “Please excuse your bodyguard, Patron. I have private things to share. What you share with him after is your decision.”

  I didn’t take my eyes off the Brawler guildmaster, but I said over my shoulder, “Please wait outside the door, Biff.”

  He nodded once and departed without argument.

  The guildmaster sighed. “I am sorry to be here like this, Lord Istari.”

  I motioned to some wide chairs around a central, low table. “Please, let’s sit down, and when we are here alone, you can call me Gwydion, Guildmaster.”

  He boomed laughter that would certainly be heard around the main floor.

  Biff jerked the door open, saw us sitting down together, and closed it just as rapidly.

  “You call me guildmaster and offer your first name. You are not much like your mage masters.”

  It was my time to chuckle. “I have been told that before,” I said.

  “I bet you have, I bet you have.” He said, distractedly.

  “Well, this is a hard meeting, but let me first say how very sorry I am at the loss of Sundance. I am not overly fond of dwarves, but he was a good master, a good client, and treated all our apprentices with a respect that was uncommon among most of our clients. I am sure you miss him deeply. I know that Biff does.”

  I had only recently even thought about the fact that Sundance was also Biff’s master. While Biff was more of a bodyguard and bouncer, and I was a professional apprentice working on jewelry and gems, Biff would also have grown close to Sundance. Given Sundance’s kindness to all the apprentices, Biff would miss him as well. I had run around like I had lost a second father or beloved uncle, which I had. But Sundance would also have meant a lot to Biff. Because like me, Biff was apprenticed here for many years while taking his classes at the guild hall.

  “Thank you,guildmaster, I deeply appreciate your words,” I said.

  “Well, I just wanted to say that first.” He straightened his too-small jacket for his huge, muscular frame and withdrew a parchment. I noticed that his right hand had significant damage to it, and it was somehow smaller than his left hand. It looked like some kind of magical curse or perhaps an illness from as long back as his childhood.

  Not that the damage prevented him from earning his place as guildmaster of one of the most dangerous guilds in the city.

  “As heir, this is your weregild for our failure to protect your master. It offers voluntary service for one year for two plus one additional brawler per eight-hour shift for the term of one year. If you wish to continue services thereafter, you will receive the preferred client rate. If you wish to break services, there will be no argument or consequences.”

  He passed me the contract to sign.

  “In addition,” He said as he withdrew a large coin sack from some inside pocket of his coat that must have been magical, given the size of the bag. “You receive 1,000 gold pieces as weregild.”

  I did not move to take the gold.

  “This is customary?” I asked.

  “It is the contract Sundance agreed to. We rarely fail in an assignment, so there is nothing customary about it, but it is legal according to the contract.”

  I happen to know that Sundance also gave his brawlers a bonus silver piece per hour and the apprentices a silver piece per day for spending money.

  “Biff will hand-pick the men and women who serve here. I will not take random and rotating assignments.”

  The guildmaster nodded his head once. “Agreed.”

  “And their work here is paid by the guild for one year, is that correct?”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “It is.”

  “I will also pay each one that he chooses an additional gold piece per hour hazard pay. This assignment will not be like any regular shop protection.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “That may be, but it is not required.”

  “I want the best, and I want to reward them for their work and sacrifice. We have a lot we need to do and little time to do it.”

  “Most of our veterans are accounted for, and I cannot break existing contracts, but we do have a recent large crop of journeymen who are Biff’s classmates that are on rotation shifts. He will understand how this works. Yes, I agree to allow them to be permanently assigned if he so chooses. It is uncommon to award them permanent spots over masters, but it might go along well with the same talent and age cohort of your mage journeyman.”

  That was a long discussion for the Brawler guildmaster. I did not realize he was quite that chatty. But then, maybe he thought through things by talking through them.

  He stood and said, “The guild thanks you for your loyalty, and we will return it with our lives.”

  “Guildmaster,” I said, “the men who also died here with Sundance. Did they have families?” I knew the brawlers who worked for Sundance, of course. But I didn't really get to know them as I did Biff or the other brawler apprentices. It made me feel a little guilty.

  His jaw worked side-to-side. “One had a family, yes. A wife and a young daughter.”

  “Are they being taken care of? Is there anything I can do for them? I know Sundance would have asked.”

  He said, “We take care of our own. They will be cared for and provided for. There is nothing they need. Except for the name of the murderer who got away.”

  “When I learn that, guildmaster, I too will have words to share,” I added.

  He stared at me and then made a decision. “Sniffer asked about you.”

  I sighed. “He has it in his head that I killed my own master, or at least had him killed.”

  “Sniffer is a nuisance, but he is talented. He will unwind a thread to its source even if it destroys the entire tapestry along the way. I do not believe you were responsible for your master’s death, but there is something behind his death that does not sit right. Sniffer will find what it is, even if it means creating turmoil and troubles for the innocent along the way.”

  “Thank you, guildmaster. That helps put his work into perspective. I had focused on how his words and accusations affect me, and not the one he seeks.”

  “If you are his public target, the guilty might draw attention to you in support of this effort or merely rest easy feeling he is free from suspicion.”

  “It doesn’t make it any easier for us along the way, though.”

  He laughed again. “No, indeed it does not.”

  I signed and handed him the contract.

  He nodded, turned, and as he walked toward the door, he bellowed, “Open!”

  Biff opened the door, and the guildmaster passed through without slowing. I was thankful that Biff opened it as quickly as he had because, given the strength of the guildmaster, he may have passed through the door without noticing it had been there.

  We both watched the guildmaster leave. “He is a giant of a man,” I said.

  “In more ways than you know,” Biff remarked.

  I made a decision.

  “Biff, please send for Sniffer. I wish to speak with him.”

  My friend’s expression spoke volumes. “Are you sure that is a good idea?” He asked.

  “No. But please do so, anyway.”

  “If you say so. Oh, you have another guest. I put him in meeting room 1.” He said with an apologetic look.

  “Who?” I asked.

  He handed me a business card. It was blank except for two words: “Gray Master.”

  “He is here to see me?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Bella has passed him along but urged that we keep a close eye on him.”

  Before I entered the room with yet another guildmaster, and perhaps one even more dangerous than the one I had just met with, I told Biff what had happened with his guildmaster.

  “I will see to the replacements.” He promised and opened the door for me to welcome the guildmaster of thieves into my shoppe.

  The guildmaster of thieves was seated with his back to the door and to me. It seemed highly uncharacteristic for someone in his line of business.

  Bella said, He did this to show vulnerability to you and to throw you off balance.

  I sure appreciate having you around. I said to Bella in my thoughts.

  I got a sense of pride and thankfulness from her.

  I walked into the room and sat down across from him. With a smile, I said, “Welcome to my shoppe, guildmaster. I have to admit I am more than a little surprised to see you.” I tilted my head as I looked at his gray cloak and face full of shadows, “or at least, what I can see of you.” I widened my grin.

  He withdrew his hood with one hand and tilted his head to one side in a mirror reflection of my own. “And I am equally surprised at the welcome. I do not get that very often, but when I do, it is coated in pretense or fear. I sense little of either from you.”

  “I’m not wise enough to be good at pretense, and I have nothing to fear while I am here.”

  “Oh?” He said, “Why is that?”

  “Because I am here to protect him,” Bella whispered in his ear from where she appeared behind him.

  His reaction was both remarkable and fast.

  He leapt to one side, rolled away, and had a dagger drawn and pointed at her within the time it took me to effectively blink and realize what happened. Had he drawn and thrown the dagger at me, I would not have been able to avoid it through any normal means.

  “What are you?” He hissed at Bella.

  She arched an eyebrow at him and then turned to me, “Will you and your guest be having tea?” She asked as if nothing had happened.

  “Yes, please. And a very small tray of bread and cheese choices, please.”

  “As you wish, Patron.” And she departed across the room, opened the door, and walked through it. Biff looked in on us briefly, saw the Gray Master, and started to come in.

  “Just a misunderstanding, Biff. All is well. Please see that we are not disturbed until Bella returns.”

  The Gray Master had already stood, replaced his dagger, and sat back down by the time I had finished speaking with Biff. But he chose to sit with his back to the wall, to my left, so that he had a better view of the room. Only a few feet remained open between his back and the wall now.

  “I see your point.” He said after Biff departed, taking up our conversation as if nothing had transpired.

  I didn’t reply. I didn’t feel that rubbing his nose into what had happened would be very wise.

  “I came for two purposes. Professional and personal.” He said.

  “Which do you wish to discuss first?” I asked.

  “Professional must always come first.”

  I examined this man. He was handsome, but not unusually so. He was older but still clearly in good shape, given his acrobatics. I’d guess him to be in his sixties. I’m not sure I would pull him out of a crowd or remember him as we passed on the street. He had one of those kinds of looks. But his eyes held an intensity that spoke of a different life. A life of danger, both to himself and others.

  He was a dangerous man.

  “What is your professional purpose, guildmaster?” I said.

  “My students and subordinates call me that.” He said with the tilt of his head again.

  “I am a student and I respect my elders. And despite letting you know I possess powers to defend myself, this you would have already known, I pay the same respect to other guild masters, be they mage or crafter.”

  “Such as jewelers and weaponsmiths and armorers and brawlers?” He asked.

  I smiled. “You do not need to overplay your hand, master. I respect your power and your skill. Why are you here?”

  He nodded to me. “I apologize. I am so accustomed to ensuring that I am the dominant alpha in a room of alphas that I sometimes forget civility. Especially when I come to apologize.”

  I was immediately on guard. Why would the Gray Master apologize to me?

  “Apologize for what?” I asked, slowly.