Knight's Quest

Chapter XVII: The Guild

You keep walking, deeper and deeper. It is starting to get very cold. “Drake, I don't think we should be down here.” Sarah whispers “It's just an empty tunnel...”

 “Shhh, I hear something.”

 Sure enough, you hear some voices coming from down the tunnel. As you turn the corner there is a dark red light illuminating the end. You hear a deep laughing voice echo down the tunnel. “Bolt love it when they squirm. It makes the job more interesting. How about you Chain?”

A second squeaky voice replies still echoing, “Oh, yes. With blood going everywhere! Quite exciting, hehe yes. All over the place.”

Then you hear Blade say, “I prefer it quick and simple. Makes my job easier, nothing to clean up, nothing they can use to find me. Not like they could anyway.”

Then you hear a fourth voice, strong and noble say “You guys are ridiculous. Does it matter how they die? It's just kill them and get the money, that's it. Back when I was a knight, we tried to kill them the most honorable way possible, no matter who they were.”

“Well you ain't no knight no more Shaft.” The deep voice says.

 I creep closer to the end of the tunnel, being as silent and unnoticeable as possible. I motion for the princess to remain behind the corner, so as to stay out of view.

 Sarah remains hidden, and you are able to sneak all the way up to the end of the tunnel without being noticed. When you reach the end you are able to look into the room. It is very large, with a high ceiling. Crates and containers line the edge, along with some tapestries and paintings hanging on the walls. The room has a mismatched feel about it, like nothing really belongs here. Hanging from the ceiling is a large chandelier, which gives off the red light. Right beneath it is a table, with four men seated at it. Blade sits at the right end of the table. A large brute of a fellow sits next to a scrawny delusional man. And at the other end is a man who no doubt was once a noble in the castle. The way he holds himself and his cleanliness is obvious compared to the other three.

“Thank you for reminding me Chain.” says the nobleman, his voice still echoing across the large room. “But it doesn't matter if I had or hadn't been a knight, you all sound like mad men.”

 I sneak quietly behind some crates. Then I throw my voice across the room, using the echo to my advantage. “If it's mad men you're interested in, I'm your guy.”

 You can see Blade lift up his head, and grin under his hood. “It's about time you arrived. I was worried that you were too superstitious to come in here.” The others look around the room to see where the voice came from.

 I throw my voice to a different point using the echoes again to distort my voice.“Well here I am, your Mad Man. And what a quaint little band of robbers you have here.”

 “Oh this?” Blade gestures to the others. “These are just the leaders of our Guild. The rest are out “running errands”. I'm assuming that you can see us right now. So let me introduce you to the core leadership. At least that's what I call it. This” he points to the bigger man “is Bolt. Right next to him is Chain. And that's Shaft” pointing to the other man at the end. “We all run the Guild together.”

Then Bolt interjects in his deep voice “Now that you know who we are, you show yourself!”

 I don't throw my voice this time, so as to deceive them into thinking I'm not where I actually am. “I'd rather not. You see, I have a proposition. And in my experience whenever I try something of my own free will, bad things happen.”