Chapter 21:

Into the Mages' Guild

The Cat-Eared Historian Mage on the Crumbling Planet


“Stairs,” Dr. Shreburn breathed a sigh of relief. “When did you have stairs put in?”

“Not as young as I used to be,” Wincent grunted. “Ladders got to be too much.”

As he ascended the staircase, Ashtin did his best to ignore the fact that the mage who crafted these stairs had done so against their will, and was likely killed shortly afterwards. He pushed open the trap door at the top of the staircase and emerged into a city in chaos.

Once outside, they were greeted by blood-soaked streets and the sound of intermittent gunfire. Though it was only a couple blocks away, approaching the guild building in the open seemed dangerous, so Ashtin used most of the remaining magical energy in his staff to cast a semitransparent dome shield around the three of them.

There was no plan, only a goal. Circumstances had left Ashtin no other choice. He would storm the mages' guild and attempt to subdue or, if necessary, kill the culprit or culprits. There was a good chance that he would die in the attempt, but he knew his mother wouldn’t hesitate to put herself at risk for even the smallest chance of saving him, and he was determined to do the same in kind.

They’d made it only half a block before a City Guard officer called out to them from a nearby window. “General, is that you? You’re alive?”

“Not even the council could kill me,” Wincent boasted as the group walked over to the window. He was well-known for shows of false bravado that improved morale and won supporters. “They did, however, remove me from the city for a few days. What’s going on?”

“It’s been chaos since the council took you,” the officer reported. “There was a power struggle at the top, and the guard’s split into factions. They’re literally battling it out in the streets. The criminal element’s taking advantage and escalating. Gangs openly control parts of the city. The council pushed out and created a perimeter around their HQ and are shooting anyone who ignores their orders to keep away.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Ashtin said, tugging at the back of Wincent’s shirt. Every second of delay added to the risk that Dr. Shreburn would die from her injury, or worse, that his mother would be attacked. Just as he was turning away, however, Ashtin realized that the officer may know something that could save them time. “If the faction heads all eliminate each other,” he asked, “who’s the next most likely candidate to take over?”

“Col. Fanmizer, I suspect,” Wincent remarked.

“That’s right,” the officer said, visibly perking up. “Col. Fanmizer’s the only one putting the city first. That’s why so many of us are following his lead and trying to regain some order around here.”

“Good work,” Wincent grunted. “Tell me, last you heard, which areas of the city do we control?”

“We have most of the city center,” the officer answered, “aside from the council HQ and the mages' guild building. Further out, territory is changing hands too quickly to keep track. Some of it’s owned by gangs, others by various guard factions, and they’re all fighting each other.”

“Who controls the mages' guild?” Ashtin asked.

“The mages,” the officer shrugged. “Col. Fanmizer went to appeal to them for help taking back the city, but a gang surrounded the building shortly after. A barrier’s keeping them out, so we’re waiting until we hear from the colonel to coordinate a pincer attack on them.”

“I’m sure supplies are tight,” Wincent said, “but can you spare a pistol? The council took mine, and we’re about to force our way into the mages' guild.”

“Sure thing, general,” the officer said, unholstering his pistol and holding it out. Ashtin retracted the shield to allow Wincent to take it. “We’ll back you up,” the officer added.

“No need,” Ashtin assured him. “We’ll be safe behind this shield. Stay here until you receive further orders.”

The officer looked at Wincent, who nodded and then turned back towards the building that housed the mages' guild. Ashtin began walking quickly, catching Wincent and Dr. Shreburn by surprise and forcing them to hurry to catch up. The shield around them had a three-meter radius centered around the staff, but any part of it that came into contact with Dr. Shreburn would dissolve, so she had been entrusted with the staff. Ashtin’s sudden departure almost caused him to smack his head into the shield. He probably would have, had Dr. Shreburn not sprinted forward at the last moment.

“General, give the gun to Dr. Shreburn,” Ashtin ordered as soon as the other two caught up with him.

“Why?” Wincent asked.

“I trust her more than I trust you.”

“She can’t carry the gun and your staff with only one good arm,” Wincent pointed out.

“Fine,” Ashtin said, keeping his eyes focused on the guild building, “then give me the gun.”

“Have you ever fired one before?” Wincent asked.

“No,” Ashtin admitted.

“You’re going after mages, right?” Wincent pressed. “I have experience putting them down.”

“I know,” Ashtin grimaced. “Can you promise to only use it as a last resort, and only to shoot who I tell you to shoot?”

“I’ve got limited ammunition…” Wincent said.

“And you want to save it for Col. Fanmizer?” Ashtin guessed. He hadn’t failed to notice that Wincent had only asked for the gun after learning Col. Fanmizer was close by.

“No,” Wincent said, “rogue mages are more dangerous, but…”

“I get it,” Ashtin said. “Mass hypnosis, no matter how powerful the caster, can’t explain everything that happened within the guard over the past weeks. There must have been saboteurs within the guard’s ranks. While the other colonels kill each other for power, Col. Fanmizer has likely holed up with his co-conspirators. If that’s the case, we’ll deal with him, gun or no gun.”

Wincent opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the sound of gunfire ringing out from the bottom floor of the guild building. Bullets impacted against the shield and glanced off, protecting those under it. Ashtin didn’t slow his pace, continuing to walk quickly towards the building. The gunfire intensified and then fell off as it became clear to the shooters that they were accomplishing nothing.

“Hold your fire,” Ashtin shouted. “We’re not here to fight.” It was unlikely that any of them heard him, but they allowed him to approach the building. His shield, however, was too wide to fit through the double-door entrance. Just as he was contemplating how to best shrink the shield, a large man approached from inside the building and pressed the barrel of a rifle up against the shield. Although he was confident that, even at point-blank, no bullet could penetrate his shield, Ashtin didn’t want to find out. He reached for his staff, but froze when he recognized the gunman as the burly mercenary he fist-bumped days prior. “Oh, hey,” he said awkwardly, waving at the man.

The gunman squinted at him through the shield before recognition clicked. Were it not for the cat ears, he might not have recognized the scrawny mage he met at the immigration office. His robes were torn and bloodied, and he had an intense, frantic expression on his face.

“You look like you’ve been having fun,” he grunted, lowering the barrel of his gun.

“Not as much as you, I’d wager,” Ashtin shrugged. “Hey, can we call a truce? I don’t have time to stand around and get shot at, and you probably don’t want to waste your ammo on me anyway.”

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of ammo,” the man laughed, “but if you give me the general, I might be willing to let you go.”

“No way,” Ashtin said. “I can’t take that risk. He’ll do what I say as long as I keep him close by, but you have no idea the damage he could do if left unsupervised.”

“All I know is that the order came down to kill him on sight,” the man said, the smile fading from his face.

“Yeah, I know,” Ashtin said, “but I need his knowledge and experience right now. I promise he’ll get what he deserves afterwards.”

“Orders also came down to keep everyone out of the guild,” the man followed up.

“I know that too,” Ashtin retorted, “but I’ve got this gynoid brain, I need to get data from it, and I can’t get near the council building, so this is my only option.”

This bluff relied on the man knowing very little about gynoid internals. The brain itself held very little information. They would need to recover what they could from the memory chips in Ginevra’s chassis. Ashtin had been hoping the guild would have been guarded by gynoids. They wouldn’t have questioned why he was bringing a gynoid brain to the mages' guild.

“Sorry, I’ve got my orders,” the man said. “You’ll have to take it somewhere else.”

“And I have my orders,” Ashtin insisted. “If you don’t move in ten seconds, I will move you, and I’d hate to get violent with someone cool enough to return an unsolicited fist-bump.”

“You are the mage,” the man sighed, stepping aside. “The elevator’s down, so you’ll have to take the stairs.

“Thanks, man,” Ashtin said. He opened a small hole in the shield and poked his fist out of it. The man, once again smiling, tapped his knuckles against Ashtin’s.

After shrinking the shield, Ashtin, Dr. Shreburn, and Wincent entered the building and walked past two dozen rough-looking men and women. Though they glared at the shielded trio, none of them made any move to impede them. Once they entered the stairwell, Ashtin removed the shield and took his staff back from Dr. Shreburn. It was a risky move, but the shield didn’t cover the ground beneath their feet, meaning they would be vulnerable to gunfire below with or without it.

When they reached the second floor, Ashtin bumped into an invisible barrier. Dr. Shreburn steadied him with her good hand and stepped around from behind him to open a hole in the barrier, allowing the three of them to enter the mages' guild.

Makech
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Koyomi
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potadd
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Dracors
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Bubbles
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