Duskbound

Granite Peak.

The name wasn't familiar to Velik, but that was hardly surprising. His knowledge of the country was limited to broadly defined regions and major cities. It didn't matter. He could get directions easily enough. The problem wasn't finding it or even getting there, it was whether he believed Pevril was telling the truth.

It was possible he could even confirm that. His former instructor had already given that info to the leadership here. If Velik asked them and they confirmed Pevril had told them the same thing, that would go a long way toward giving the man's words credibility. That came with its own set of issues, however. Velik wasn't really on good terms with anyone in the guild except for Torwin and possibly Aria. The fact that this knowledge should already be known to everyone, but that Velik hadn't heard it, probably meant that no one was willing to share it with him in the first place.

"Have you seen Torwin?" he asked one of the silvers he passed in a hallway.

"Why?" the silver responded warily.

"Because I'm looking for him."

The silver gave him a strange look, but then said, "Check the dining hall. There's usually a crowd around this time."

"Thanks," Velik said. He changed direction to the kitchens, where five people were busy working. Three of them had some sort of craftsman class, and the other two were laborers, according to [Apex Hunter], but none of them were threats, and the skill didn't get more specific than that. Velik ignored the looks he got as he breezed by them and entered the dining hall.

There he is. Torwin was sitting at a far table with Aria and two other golds he didn't know by name. There was a stack of empty plates between them and no less than three empty pitchers of beer scattered around the group. That didn't mean they were drunk, of course. Any gold with a class that put points into physical was going to have a hard time getting drunk off normal alcohol, and Velik already knew from Torwin's previous complaints that nobody was getting served "the good stuff" here.

Velik wove his way through the tables until he reached Torwin, who just sighed and said, "You know you're not supposed to go through the kitchen to get here, right? You're in the chefs' way when you do that?"

"It was the fastest way. Can I speak to you privately?" Velik asked.

"Oooh. Didn't know you liked them that young," one of the golds told Torwin.

"As old as I am, it'd be impossible to chase after women twice my age like you do," Torwin shot back.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the company of a lady with… experience."

Aria ignored the banter to eye Velik up, but other than a quirk of her eyebrow, she didn't say anything. Somehow, Velik got the impression that she already knew what he wanted to talk to Torwin about, or that if she didn't, she'd know soon enough anyway.

"If any of you touch my scallions, I'll know," Torwin threatened as he stood up. Casting an eye at this plate like he was counting them, he reluctantly followed Velik out into the hallway and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Velik said. "Why is your first assumption that I'd only come to you if I had a problem?"

"Because you do only come to me when you have a problem. We're colleagues, perhaps, but not friends. You've made that clear."

"Well, it's not a problem. I just wanted to confirm some information I got from an… unreliable source and was hoping you'd know the answer."

"You have sources, now?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, no. Of course not. So, what do these sources tell you?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Just one source," Velik said. "And I'm told that there's a town called Granite Peak which has a dungeon nearby."

He would have said more, but at Torwin's sharp intake of breath when he'd mentioned the town, Velik fell silent. Whatever else was going on, the town wasn't an unknown to the guild. That meant that Pevril hadn't lied about it being important, but Velik still had to determine if he'd been given the true reason.

"He told you, didn't he?" Torwin asked. Before Velik could reply, he shook his head and said, "Don't bother denying it. He was supposed to keep quiet, but I guess you made a deal with him. That's why you were gone for a few days. Velik, I need you to listen to me. Drop this. The guild's got it handled, and nobody is going to appreciate you getting in the middle of things."

"Well, I think that confirms everything I need to know."

"I'm serious. I know you don't care about politics and aren't on good terms with the guild, but this here, right now, is your chance to start over. Right now, the Monster Hunters Guild is rotten, and we're the ones who exposed that. That gives us a lot of good will. When things calm down, you're going to be in a good place. Don't throw that away chasing revenge. Good hunters are investigating this lead. They'll destroy the dungeon."

"And if that's not the end of it? Will they share everything they discover with me?"

Torwin couldn't give him any real answer, and they both knew it. Chances were that whatever that team did uncover, it would be given to the upper leadership of the guild, and Velik would have to fight to be included.

"Emberson's leading the team, and he's got Phun with him," Torwin said at last. "Don't let them catch you snooping around. Emberson's got no patience, as I'm sure you'll remember. Either of them could kick your ass. Both together would toss you around like children playing ball."

"Thanks for the warning," Velik said.

With an unhappy sigh, Torwin went back into the dining hall. Velik locked eyes with Aria for an instant before the door swung closed again, and he saw her lips start to curl up into a smile. Shuddering, he turned and walked away.

* * *

Sildra wanted to cooperate with Guild Master Nelspir. She recognized that they were doing important work. With her help, they were building a core of trusted monster hunters who would fight back against the corruption infecting humanity. It was a necessary step in completing the quest Morgus had bestowed on her.

But it would be a lot easier if the guild stopped treating her like a tool that detected corruption and started treating her like a person. They wanted her to go where they needed her, when they needed her, and otherwise remain tucked away on her shelf where she wouldn't be underfoot and couldn't cause any trouble.

It was easy to see why Velik had trouble getting along with any of them. Even their lower ranked members, the silver and the bronzes, walked around wrapped in a cloak of smug arrogance. Only the clerks and secretaries treated her like a real person, and not even all of those.

A knock on her door pulled her out of a passing fantasy of holding a few heads down in a pig trough until their owners learned some manners, and Sildra rose with a mental sigh to see where she was going to be hustled off to this time. To her surprise, it wasn't one of the hunters she regularly saw.

"Busy?" Velik asked.

"Morgus save me from boredom. It's a far greater threat than I ever imagined before I came here," she answered. "Come on in."

"How about we go out, instead?"

"The guild master…" she started to protest. Nelspir needed her on hand to ensure that no monsters infiltrated their group and that they only targeted those who'd already been turned to the other side.

"Can function without you for an hour or two," Velik finished for her. "And I don't know about you, but I'm thoroughly sick of the Monster Hunters Guild and everyone associated with it right now."

"You know what? So am I. What did you have in mind?"

Sildra was a bit confused, since she'd gotten the impression Velik didn't like her at first. Later on, she'd realized it was nothing personal, that he really just didn't like anyone. So having him seek her out was unusual, to say the least. He probably wanted something that he didn't want the guild to know about. She couldn't think of any other reason he'd invite her out for a walk.

They left immediately, Velik leading the way and saying little until they were several blocks away. Sildra started to ask what it was he wanted, but he held up a hand and looked back at the mansion. They walked another five blocks in silence—Is someone following us, or is he just being paranoid?—before he finally said something.

"The guild is keeping stuff from us," he said. "One of the victims we rescued knew where the agents are coming from. It's a dungeon near a town called Granite Peak. I asked Torwin about it, and he confirmed they all knew. There's already a team there to investigate it."

"Maybe…. Maybe they were going to tell us what they found when they got back," she suggested.

"I doubt it. I'm tired of playing their games. The old version of the guild was no better than what we're dealing with now. It's all about what they can take from us without giving anything back. I've had to fight for every scrap of help I've pried out of their greedy little claws."

You don't really go out of your way to inspire friendship and loyalty, though…

"What do you want to do about it? I know you're the Black Fang, but they've got you outnumbered fifty to one."

"I'm going to Granite Peak, of course. I figured, since this whole thing is your quest, you'd want to come along. So, you think you can get a horse to ride in the next hour?"

"I'll find a way," she promised.