Mark of the Fool
Chapter 706: The Coin of Silent Friends

“Kymiland’s resisted being conquered for thousands of years, and I’m willing to betthe Empire’skeen to bring that realm back into their territory, permanently.” Gel-Dor had said. “Which means, the Guild’s getting aggressive.”

Gel-Dor had said those words when Alex was entertaining him, his brother Fan-Dor, and Lucia in his dining room just before the young wizard, Theresa, Brutus and Claygon had teleported to Kymiland for the first time. The selachar sailors were sharing drinks and information, sitting around his dining table, telling stories of what they might find in the northern lands of the Irtyshenan Empire.

Both wonders and dangers.

Well, mostly the dangers.

Almost exclusively, the dangers, truthfully.

“The guild? What is that?” Selina had asked.

“Oh, that’s what we call it,” Fan-Dor had said. “Its full name is the Guild of the Red Mouse. It’s uh, a thieves’ guild.”

“Why would thieves need a guild?” Selina had wanted to know.

“To organise themselves,” Gel-Dor explained. “They’re not so much ‘thieves’ as they are an organised group who want to obtain and trade goods that might not be exactly…legal. They’ve stolen from one noble and sold to another, they offer ‘protection’, but they—most importantly—smuggle weapons. Word has it that they’re getting aggressive, trying to smuggle as many weapons in and out of the Empire as possible before the borders tighten even more. I suspect the guild’s going to be in Kymiland.”

Gel-Dor’s words immediately returned to Alex.

“Yeah, the Guild of the Red Mouse…they’re a thieves guild in the Irtyshenan Empire, right?” Alex frowned. “I heard they were running weapons while the Empire prepares for war, and that they might be here in Kymiland.”

“Then you know more about what they’re currently doing than I do,” Birger admitted. “But what I’m telling you now pertains not to what they’re involved with these days…but to their origins. Do you know what colour Kelda’s hair was?”

“Red,” Alex said, remembering the image of her on Hannah’s artefact. “It was bright re—Oh. Oh!” he suddenly cried. “Was she involved with the guild? Was she a member?”

Now Birger laughed. “Involved with it? Truly? No, my friend, she started it.”

“What?” Theresa said.

“That’s right.” the giant smiled. “When she came here to Kymiland to learn about the rune-marked, she needed information and resources. I helped her for a time—along with some other folk—but we were few. And even with her teleporting about as far and fast as she needed to, of course, she couldn’t be in more than one place at a time. So she needed help.”

Birger’s smile grew wider. “The Empire’s a big place, as you might know, people here have a lot of wealth and power…but there’s also an underbelly to it; from commoners whose farms burned inwar, to nobles and knights who ended up on the losing side in fights over succession, to foreigners who came here and couldn’t leave for one reason or another. Those are the folk who got left behind…they’re the ones who needed to turn to rougher trades to get by: thievery, banditry, black market trade and so on and so forth. But the Empire was never easy on outlaws and still isn’t; they torture criminals and don’t think twice about burning them alive. Armies of guards, investigators and rangers get single minded when they’re after someone. Sometimes, they’ll use bloodwalkers to go after them. Well, Kelda saw all of this and had an idea…”

He raised a thick finger. “...what if they were organised? She said her Mark gave her a way of seeing through folk, of being able to persuade them and organise them. So, she got in with the right folk, trained them and showed them how to work together as a group so everyone benefitted; backstabbing was a common enemy to everyone, so they thrived.” Birger paused, chuckling. “She became quite the leader of her band of thieves, ruffians, and outlaws. It took time, but she made herself a solid organisation here in the Empire. Thieves who joined had protection from the emperor’s justice—real and false—they got into places and stole things they could have only dreamed of before. In return—”

Birger pointed to Alex’s Mark. “—they helped her build her sanctum and research the rune-marked. They stole magic lore for her. She brought some of them into her close circle and they helped her when she needed help building her devices and magical machines for her experiments. I wasn’t a part of the organisation, but I was friendly with them, many of them knew where her sanctum was. There were lots of different folk around her, some long lived ones too, so maybe there might be one or two still around, or someone with old records that could point you to where you need to go. If any exist—they’ll have them.”

“That…is…great!” Claygon cried. “We…will be able to find…her…sanctum.”

“Maybe.” Alex tapped his chin, deep in thought. “There’s a good chance they’ll know—or maybe they’ll have records left behind by people who died—but you’re talking about an organisation that was around three hundred years ago. Three centuries is a lot of time for things to change and just because they helped Kelda back then, doesn’t mean they’d help me now.”

“Oh, you’re right about that, they wouldn’t help you, they might even kill you.” Birger shook his head. “But she crafted laws for the guild, and one of them is the Law of Silent Friends. Come, let’s go inside. I have something to show you.”

###

“I haven’t looked at this in almost a hundred years,” the elderly firbolg pulled a small, burlap wrapped object from a chest under his massive bed. “I used it in the past, but…well, times change.”

His son helped him to stand, and he went to the table and unwrapped the burlap, revealing a copper coin the size of one of his fingernails inlaid with the image of a red mouse in the centre.

“This is a Coin of Silent Friends,” Birger said. “It’s a symbol that was handed out by the guild to those who’d given aid to them; every member of Kelda’s inner circle had one, and they were only handed to a select few during my time knowing her.”

“The craftsmanship is amazing,” Alex said, eyeing the coin. “The mouse looks real enough to jump right off the coin and run around your cottage.”

“Funny you should say that; the coin is very mana conductive; it’s a copper and zinc alloy,” the giant explained. “Kelda wanted them to animate and do just what you just said, but in the end, she discarded the idea. It would make no sense to have the coins detectable by magic.”

“So what does it do, then?” Theresa asked.

Bjorgrund stared at the coin. “Yes, father, I’ve never seen that before.”

“The important question isn’t what it does; it’s what it is. What it symbolises; anyone that carries a Coin of Silent Friends is considered a lifelong friend to the Guild of the Red Mouse. They can call for favours from the highest levels of the guild, hire guild members and have access to their network for whatever delicate dealings they need handled.”

He frowned. “I used this coin to try and get the guild to tell me where Kelda was…but all they would say was that they didn’t know. They acted nearly as confused as I was.”

“And they didn’t tell you where her sanctum was?” Alex asked.

Birger shook his head. “No, they wouldn’t tell me. They seemed hell bent on keeping their leader’s secrets, and weren’t about to reveal them to me or anyone else…not without her say so, or unless she did it herself. So, I didn’t have any idea of where to go looking for her.” He released a long sigh. “But, I suppose things are different now. It’s been three hundred years since she’s been gone.” A note of sorrow touched his voice. “Now, another Fool’s come along walking the same path she was.”

The firbolg looked at Alex, “You might be told what I was denied.”

“That’s a big if,” Alex said. “But it’s the best lead we have. Do I just present the coin?”

Birger shook his head. “When I last spoke with a guild member, they had records of everyone who carried a Coin of Silent Friendship. They also had a firm rule that we cannot just pass our coins onto others, be they friends, family or lovers. I’ll have to go with you and personally present the coin to them; they’ll at least hear you out if I’m with you. My reckoning is that they’ll help you: but not without a price.”

Alex shrugged. “Well, you asked us to slay an entire band of rune-marked: so, what’s another price?”

“But, hold on,” Theresa said. “Where is this guild located? Are there members for us to go to here in Kymiland?”

“Kelda made their base in a central spot, right in the capital of the Empire: Sorcovo. Likely, their headquarters are still there.”

“The…capital…?” Claygon asked. “Do…firbolgs and other giants…live in the Empire? Are they…citizens?”

“No,” Birger admitted.

“Then…how can…you go to the capital…? They will say…that you are…barbarians…and attack you.”

Bjorgrund grinned at the golem’s words. “There’s a trick of firbolg magic that my father taught me. Can I show them, father?”

Birger smiled. “Go ahead.”

The larger giant stood to his full height and drew in a deep breath.

Then he exhaled.

His chest shrank.

His shoulders slumped.

He seemed smaller as the air he blew out flowed from him in a long stream.

Alex paused. ‘By the Traveller, he is getting smaller.’

The giant was shrinking before Alex’s eyes, his massive bulk reducing, contracting, decreasing further and further. Soon his height matched Claygon’s. Then his father’s.

Then shorter still, shrinking until he was a few inches taller than Baelin or Thundar. The young giant now seemed no more than a muscular human man with coarse facial features and a broad form, standing in the room.

“That’s a neat trick,” Alex marvelled. “I remember reading about your ability, but seeing it is damn impressive. I’d never know you were a firbolg if I didn’t see you shrink like that with my own eyes.”

Birger exhaled, the breath seeming to last for minutes as his body shrank to nearly Theresa’s height. Where a giant had been standing, an old man in barbaric garb now stood, his eyes twinkling. “Kelda and I travelled through many cities in the Empire like this when she was searching for anything that could help her on her road to be free of that Mark she had. Heh, back then, women in the Empire thought me quite the dish! Aaaaah, the stories I could tell you about my youth would set you on fire! But, of course there was Kelda, and she was a special one. There’ll never be another woman quite like her, to my mind.”

He smiled briefly, relishing old memories. “Bjorgrund and I will take you to the guild’s headquarters, if they haven’t moved it, that is. I’ll use my coin to get you in, and you can take care of things from there.”

“Thank you,” Alex said. “I can’t speak for her, but I think Kelda would be happy that you’re helping me.” He paused. “Actually, that sounds a little arrogant now that I actually said it out loud.”

“Oh, don’t second guess yourself, you’re right!” Birger laughed warmly. “She would be. I think she would be at that. Right, this means Bjorgrund and I will need to prepare for a journey! I take it you can teleport us where we need to go, if you’ve got Kelda’s talents?”

Alex nodded. “I’ll have to scout out the capital first, but after that? I can take us there whenever we’re ready. How long do you think you’ll need?”

“Two days, probably,” Birger said. “Bjorgrund and I will have to set things right here…and we’ll have to burn all those bodies out there. They’ll only start to stink and attract fishers and the like.”

“Trash doesn’t burn itself,” Theresa said. “I wish things were so convenient.”

“Hmmmm,” Bjorgrund rumbled, the sound was like rock grinding. “How did those rune-marked get in here, anyway? What happened to your ward father?”

Birger frowned, his cheer vanishing. “That’s…a fair question, son. Let me check.” The old giant closed his eyes, Alex felt him reaching toward the ward he’d set.

“Hm, blast it, I’m a fool,” the firbolg muttered suddenly. “I shouldn’t have dismissed what I thought I felt earlier. The ward’s off. Something’s happened to it. I’ll have to go take a look at it.”

“Will it help if I teleport you around the forest?” Alex asked. “We could investigate together, and it’d probably be a lot faster for me to take you to the trees you warded, instead of you walking from place to place.”

Birger made a face. “Bah, I feel like a helpless old man, but fair enough. Maybe we should go after we eat. The meat might be a bit dry by now.”

“Dry sounds good, I’m hungry enough to eat a whole moose, bones and all!” Bjorgrund said.

“Me too, friend,” Alex admitted. “Me too. But maybe we should check the ward before we sit down. If there’s a weakness in it, the longer it stays, the worse it’ll be to redo.”

Birger snorted. “Bah, your reasoning overrules my stomach. Fine, let’s go take a look and see what’s happened. Maybe a tree fell or—

###

“—this has been forced!” Birger cursed, glaring daggers at a tree. The giant, now grown to his normal height again, rubbed his hand along the bark.

He squinted as the wind blew a spray of snow through the trees, layering all in a cold, white haze.

The trunk’s symbol had been damaged by something with a sharp edge.

“Oh, hell,” Alex swore, examining the symbol alongside the giant. “It looks like it was tampered with.”

“Damned right, it had to be done on purpose, but the rune-marked couldn’t have done it. I might not be the best ward maker, but my power was focused against them,” Birger explained. “No, they must have had help. But who? The Irtyshenans? No, they don’t work with the rune-marked. Maybe elves—”

‘Father…’ Claygon’s voice spoke in Alex’s mind, travelling through their link from the cottage. ‘Come back…Chief Olaf…and his warriors…are on the way here.’

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