BECMI Chapter 402 – The Profits of a Guild
I departed as quietly and suddenly as I’d come, there to lend power and Valences, not to take the glory of their moment. My presence would be a quiet footnote in the history of the Schools, the acknowledgment that Hydrosa and Jaderose had a sister of great power their successor Headmistresses could call upon if needed… and the implication that I was out there, and not an Elemental Ruler with such obligations.
If they called, I might come, and the reputation that would filter in from the fleets clearly painted a tale that I was not scared of the power of the exiled Followers of Air, either, nor afraid to thwart the Immortals themselves.
Again, it was a long flight, as once again I’d emptied Valences and had to fill them. Still, it was a unique trip, as, even though the Crystal Ice Dome had largely faded from sight, it could still be glimpsed at sunrise and sundown as the light changed, night gave way to day, and the moment swept across the dome that turned Fire and Air to Earth and Water in resonance with the change.
It would somewhat limit their ability to start exploring their skyworld of Meandrel again, but nothing said that new Schools couldn’t be built outside the dome to train new Aeromancers and Pyromancers.
In the meantime, Iotar and Omicra’s fleets were sailing to Thatallix for one heck of a scrum, and my armada was heading for the Merchant’s Guild headquarters… which was already screaming for help from fleets otherwise occupied as the collected power of the pirate clans decided to take advantage of their defenses being weak and had invaded them for fun and profit.
My armada of ships were going to hit two days after them, and not only were they not reinforcements, we were the fleet they’d been trying to stop!
It was going to be a very bad week for the Merchant’s Guild, but we had to resupply, and a selection of trade goods to be brought home would be most appreciated by the troops.
I was coming in behind them, but this fight was being organized and carried out by them with great enthusiasm. While having me do the fighting was great, it made them feel small and unable to affect their destiny. This was not my fleet, actually, and a bunch of them were mercenaries. It was time to turn a profit!
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The horizon was covered with smoke as we swept in, multiple ports on fire in several locations. The Merchant’s Guild had directly bought up a large island, perhaps the size of Hawaii, and turned it into their mid-ocean base of operations, basically close to halfway between all three Remnant Kingdoms, and on the edge of the islands of the Pirate Clans. They had profited from trade for centuries, becoming essential to the trade between nations and profiting immensely thereby, and also rendering them immune to invasion or takeover by the Remnants, as the other nations would intervene to keep them a free port.
No such compacts existed with the piratical Free Clans, who were long suppressed or bought off by its money and influence, sometimes working for the Guild, sometimes against them. It was all in good fun and bloodsport, keeping the seas merry, exciting, and lethal to the unprepared.
Our fleets sweeping in to hit the ports that had escaped attention was not greatly appreciated, especially with those numbers and actual military discipline. The shore defenses were overwhelmed in short order, and our marines poured into the two cities to show their appreciation for the group that had chosen to try and stop us from getting home.
Still, they were military and kept their discipline, if only because I would heartily disapprove if they did not. Looting and pillaging was fine, fighting defenders was fine, but rampant slaughter, rape, and such behavior was going to earn them a removed head.
There was more than a little arson going on, and I was sure some of it was by the natives. The marines didn’t interfere with anyone fighting fires, but they didn’t help, either.
If it was a defensive strongpoint, no one was fighting them, regardless.
The fighting had reached the apex and passed it by the time I arrived, and if there’s one way to let a population know they’ve lost, it’s a great black Bat the size of a roc flying leisurely into their airspace while leaving behind crimson trails the color of blood.
One valiant mage flew up to challenge us. I Spellflared him, and he and his defensive spells lit up like a psychedelic rainbow before taking a long, awkward, and flaming dive into the harbor.
“This the Lady Edge of the Eislan Fleet. If the defenders of this port wish to surrender, kneel right now and remain in place. Further deaths will be minimized. If you wish to keep fighting, do so, but we will not accept your surrender forthwith.
“This is not a negotiation. We are going to loot you, resupply ourselves, and leave you with much, much less than you had before, a sad fate for all civilian populations in a war zone.
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“If you wonder why we are doing so, Guildmembers, it is because your elders hired a mercenary fleet to stop us from using the Mists of Infinity to get home, deeming it their own secret route of travel which they wish to monopolize. Our desire to get home seems to be considerably stronger than your aptitude in preventing us from doing so, hence the immediate situation.
“I recommend you surrender, as I doubt most of you had anything to do with that decision. You can work out who to blame later, I’m sure it will be fairly obvious, although the captains you sent out to stop us aren’t coming back.
“You have five minutes to comply. After that point, we are going to assume you wish to fight, and the marines will cut you down when they reach you.
“You cannot and will not win this fight. It is already lost. The proper mercantile viewpoint is now to minimize your losses, and I believe your lives are still considered your greatest assets. Do not disappoint me, given how much you pride yourself on being smarter than outsiders.”
The Transyvian accent is absolutely wonderful at conveying icy resolve and guttural intimidation. Heartsong twitched the edges of it, and a dour, somber note in the Sublime Chords made all their spellcasters clutch at their heads and stare up at me in horror as their spells reverberated to every syllable I was speaking in an alien tongue and accent that nevertheless they all understood perfectly...
Guildfolk started kneeling and surrendering all over the city with great speed, the will to fight sucked out of them by the great black and bloody Bat overhead, somehow more ominous than any dragon…
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There were words from some of the men about occupying the place, which were coldly dismissed as the looting proceeded. Harsh directions were given on the type and amount of plunder the ships could carry, as if they were too heavily weighed down, they’d be unable to navigate with any speed.
Happily, we’d inherited a few more ships from their fleet, and a few more yet in the harbors… including some being stocked up so the elders and wealthiest members of the Guild could flee to safety, something that tragically did not manage to take place.
There was also a lot of paperwork forming a trail, as those wealthy souls had also fled here from the ports under attack by the pirate clans. The admirals and captains dealt with that news as they discovered who the worms were who’d plotted against us, and disposed of them completely, bodies Burned to vivus and True Death making coming back extremely unlikely even for men with wealth like theirs.
Wealth that was no longer theirs, as a great amount of it was burned to display our unhappiness to the survivors of those families, along with a general lack of respect for their properties and personal belongings being loaded up and taken away.
The armada was on the island only three days, making off with all the precious items that could fit, all the resupply items we could need and more, and then a whole bunch of trade goods that could be sold off for shares to the crews. I waved off any desire for shares for myself, which made the crews very happy, and when we left the harbor, its ships taken, docks burning, and defenses destroyed, the crew was quite happy indeed at their performance.
Given the reports coming from the three harbors sacked by the pirates, the people at our two knew they’d gotten off light, and we’d killed far, far fewer of them… and even left them their arms and armor, just in case.
Blue and Brown souls, with the Guild’s officials tilting to Amethyst. They were wheeler-dealers playing the kingdoms against one another, profiting from both war and peace, believing themselves above the petty conflicts of the larger powers and pulling strings as they pleased.
The fact they had agents and assassins in all Remnants ready to enforce their desires was a fact they would have been very surprised to know Chalcedony and Vitae were quite aware of, as well as exactly who those agents were. Crystals and pools make for good Scrying tools, after all, and all the Sims had inherited my love of Divination magic.
Many of those agents were going to disappear over the course of the next week, and the Merchant’s Guild was going to find itself going from power broker to broken power rather quickly.
I had neither hatred nor regret for their choices coming home to roost on them. They were pawns of the Immortals in the end, their fears fanned by Immortal dreams and whispers, and they’d been chewed up by it, as mortal men usually were.
The Immortals got their bloody spectacles in the end, no matter what people wanted of life.
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“Lady Edge, there’s a flotilla of ships with black flags approaching from ten o’clock starboard!” the faithful watcher in the crow’s nest above sang out.
I glanced at Captain Sigmal, who moved to the wheel and started ordering sails out. The Scampering Wave, idling in the vanguard of the armada as we threaded a course between the scattered coasts of the Pirate Islands, picked up speed and shifted course to intercept them.
To my complete lack of surprise, the Haughty Gift was leading the way, clearly loaded down fat and heavy with plunder… and not a few non-combatants, wives and children visible on on its deck and those of several of the surrounding vessels.
It appeared that Captain Palgermas knew he’d really kicked over several bee hives this time. If the Merchant’s Guild couldn’t come after me, they certainly could go after him… if he stayed around enough for their hired knives to do him in.
The Scampering Wave surged up next to him easily enough, drawing attention for its speed and ease of handling as it did so. Captain Sigmal brought us alongside, and I snapped my fingers, turning the rough seas and its crosscurrents as smooth as a glass mirror around us, stopping the incessant up and down motion of the pirate captain’s galleon.
The Gift’s crew was a bit on edge, but seeing as how none of our sailors were at weapon stations, as easy and relaxed as before, they visibly settled down… and didn’t even order the women and kids off the deck.
“Ahoy the levitating wonder of the seas!” the colorfully-clad pirate captain called out, waving cheerfully. He had a glistening band of jewels on his tricorn, a new deep crimson long coat heavily done with gold embroidery, and rather more rings on his fingers than was appropriate, along with new earrings and bracelets, and at least six new gold necklaces.
“Captain Palgermas.” Our rails were only a few feet apart, and without the wave chop, it was easy to speak over to him. “It doesn’t look like you’re trying to hold a flanking maneuver with us as the target now...”