Chapter 15, Micheal and the Guild

(Reskeme, Micheal and the guild.)

Reskeme laughed, he reached down and lifted Rory around himself. Rory laughed, the grin on her face worth every second. He turned to Micheal, who was still spinning Alex. Reskeme breathed lightly, his head spinning from all the spinning.

" More, more!" demanded Rory.

" Enough of that, leave my office if you are going to play around." said the bald man standing from his desk. The bald man scribbled some more and put one of his pieces of paper on his desk before passing the other to Reskeme.

" Show this to the office clerk, she will decide if they want to hire you on." said the bald man sitting down in his desk waving them out of the room impatiently.

Reskeme clenched the papers carefully, holding them to his chest so not to lose them. They were his ticket in the guild.

" Lets go, I have waited far to long for this." said Micheal dragging Reskeme from the room.

" Hold on a minute Micheal," said the official.

" What is it? He has the magic we need, surely we can join?" Asked Micheal cautiously.

"Perhaps, we are still at the problem of there being no runesmith's with soul magic. Its so rare to have two mages with soul magic in the same place that there are no runesmith masters in the guild with soul magic." said The Official.

" That just means my armour will be worth a lot more. If it is so rare no telling what we can do with it." said Micheal facing the official.

" Allright, just because it is you Micheal. I will need to take this to the guild master, he will want to make this decision. Come with me." said the official, walking down the corridor away from the bald man's office.

After several minutes of exited chatting from Rory and Alex, they arrived at another door. The official reached into a coat pocket and unlocked an ornate dark wooden door.Reskeme

The door led to a passageway that let them into another hallway. They followed the hallway until they reached another desk. Placed right out front of a door and protected by fully armoured guards leading to another room. Only this one wasn't plain but ornate, accented by not one but two guards. One on each side of the door, just behind the desk.

The guards behind the desk eyed Reskemes sword carefully, but didn't give him more than a cursory glance.

The official held out one hand. Reskeme reluctantly released the papers and waited to see if his efforts paid off. As the official took the papers from Reskeme and walking towards the guards.

" Wait here, I need to go speak with the guild master." said the Official, glaring at all of them, especially Reskeme before walking over to the man at the desk. The Official spoke to the man for a minute before walking past the armed and armoured guards as though they were decoration.

Reskeme leaned against one wall, resting the soul of one boot on the pristine white walls of the building. The man behind the desk cleared his throat, glaring at Reskeme with a stare that could melt iron.

" Can you make me a sword?." asked Rory.

" I probably could, but you are too young to carry a sword." replied Micheal laughing.

" No, I'm not. I am ten. Mom said I'm old enough to learn to swing a real sword." said Rory proudly.

" How long will it actually take to make something like that?" asked Reskeme. Micheal blushed sheepishly.

" I have a breast plate I have been working on for a couple weeks. I have infused my mana into the steel armour during the entire forging process. All I Need is another mage with soul magic and a new affinity to make the armour useful." said Micheal smiling.

" Do I need to help you the entire time that you are creating the armour?" asked Reskeme.

" I am unsure, if i-"

The door to the guild master's room swung open, and the official waved them forward.

" Kids will you wait outside, this is a grown up matter." said the official smiling at the two kids.

" Come over here kids, I have some sweets that might interest you while you wait." said the kindly man behind the ornate dark wooden desk. Sighing in relief, Reskeme left the two pains in his ass and walked towards the guild master's room. One of the two armoured guards raised one callused palm towards him.

" No weapons allowed into the room with the guild master. Please take off your sword and give it to the secretary. Don't worry, when you leave it will be returned to you." said the guard gesturing towards the secretary.

Reskeme removed his sword from his belt, scabbard and all before passing it to the man behind the desk. The same well muscled guard walked up to him, palm resting near his sword hilt.

" Raise your arms outwards, I must conduct a search to make sure you do not have anything pointy on you." said the guard calmly. Reskeme grumbled, raising his arms, pointing outwards and letting the guard pat him down.

The other guard watched him carefully, the woman causing a chill to run down his spine. He was sure that if he made a move on the guard searching him, the woman would draw her sword and run him through. The male guard retreated to his post and waved Reskeme forwards. Reskeme smirked as they subjected Micheal to the same treatment as he had been. Reskeme couldn't help but wink at the Micheal as the second guard, a tall athletic female guard, patted him down searching for weapons.

Micheal flushed a bright red, as he followed Reskeme and they both entered the chamber with the official. Inside, a man in a dark black doublet stood in front of a painting of a mountainous landscape. To the man's side stood a book shelf with dozens of books. A row caught his eye, one that had gold lettering on the spines.

There was a book labeled basis of Runecraft, all the way to the furthest and smallest tome. The final tome appeared to be falling apart and was placed by itself in a painting frame behind glass. The book was named the art of the rune craft master, co-author J,A. Reskeme gaped, glancing past the book to another painting of a young boy playing with his brown and orange cat.

" Guild master Lucas, these are the people I told you about." said the official bowing to man.

" Ahh, Micheal, so you have returned yet again?" asked the guild Master Lucas.

" Yes sir, I do not want to give up on my goals." replied Micheal.

" We tested your rune smith abilities already, and we found it lacking. Are you sure having another mage will help you?" asked the guild Master. Micheal fidgeted with his robe, the young man's face drenched in sweat.

" I think so. There are records of it working before. I read in the ancient text of the king's crowning, the grand master who created the scepter of KIHR was a soul smith." said Micheal.

" Hmm, this is a lot of resources to use on a potentially wasteful runesmith." said the guild master Lucas.

" It will take a lot of money and rare metals to make a set of runed armour. If your magic offers nothing other than a torch, I cannot justify all the crowns it costs to train you." said the guild master.

" I can do it! If you just give me the chance to prove myself, I won't let you down." begged Micheal.

" Very well, Micheal. I know you are an accomplished smith. I am going to give you one week. If you present a piece of runed armour, that does something useful. I will give you a place to practice your craft." said the guild master. Micheal Brightened grinning ear to ear. The guild master turn to Reskeme, eying him speculatively.

" And you? Whats your name?"

" Im Reskeme."

" Reskeme, what do you hope to gain from the guild?" asked the guild master Lukas, smoothing his full white beard.

" I want coins and power." said Reskeme instantly.

" A worthy goal. I expect all of my members to work hard to increase the wealth and prestige of the guild. If you can create something unique for the guild, the king might give us favour." said the guild master standing tall and proud in his dark black clothes..

" This will be your initiation. If you can help Micheal here pass his test, I will allow you to join the guild." said guild master Lucas grinning.

" If I enter the guild. Will I be able to train under a mage?" asked Reskeme.

" I will see what I can do. This is my offer, I will find a master of one of your affinities. That is, if you pass my test. What is the magic you want to learn?" asked Guild master Lucas.

Reskeme thought on it for a moment. His fire magic was coming along nicely, but he wasn't sure how to progress further. His illusion magic was not even half as good. He did not know if his soul magic would even be useful? Maybe he should find a master of soul magic? Reskeme nodded his head. He could find the other two teachers, but finding a soul magic master would help him the most as he know nothing about it.

" I would like to learn from a soul magic master," said Reskeme to Guild Master Lucas.

" That will take some searching, I think we have a few on our payroll who are skilled in soul magic." replied Guild master Lucas, cocking his head towards the official.

" Of course Guild Master, I will inquire as to their location." said the official.

The guild master gestured him away. Reskeme nodded his head to the man and left the room. Reskeme grumbled, he did not even have time to take one of the many books on the shelf. And what was with that old book? Reskeme just knew that one would be insanely valuable. Reskeme couldn't believe the man just left all of that gold worth of books just sitting out in the open like that.

He trailed Micheal out the door contemplating his challenge. Micheal turned to him grinning.

" Come with me to the forge. Its is almost an hour-long walk. But if we hurry, I can introduce you to my parents before they close for the evening." said Micheal. Reskeme smiled to Micheal, all of his strength focused on placing one foot in front of the other. He towed Alex and Rory along.

" I do not want to walk anymore." said Alex in a baby voice.

" Dont say that, Once you meet the mistress of the house you will be happy you came to visit." said Micheal as they followed the official to the exit of the building. Micheal hefted Alex onto one shoulder, the boy giggling.

" Where is this blacksmith shop?" Asked Reskeme..

"Back towards the south of the city. It is in the poorer district, but we are still well off." replied Micheal scratching his head sheepishly. They walked along the main cobblestone path much quicker than earlier, as the sun was setting and torches lining the roads were being lit.

" What about that nice lady who said we could stay with her?" asked Rory.

" You already forgot her name, that's not nice.?" said Alex, swaying on Michael's shoulders.

" You dont know it either." replied Rory, aghast.

" I do too, I just do not want to tell you." said Alex.

" It's okay. We can just stay with Micheal for a while, if we remember the nice lady's name we will say hello to her." said Reskeme as they continued back in the general direction they originally came from.