Getting Your Guild in a Twist

Martel spent the next days trying not to be anxious about the summons from the Apothecary Guild. He told himself to trust Mistress Rana and his position as a fire acolyte; he was too valuable that the Empire would allow some guild to harm him. Even if they demanded he paid some ridiculously big fine, what could they do if he refused? If it came down to an Imperial magistrate determining his fate, Martel expected that the Empire preferred him on the frontlines rather than imprisoned for debt.

Still, the whole affair made him uncomfortable. It had been months since Martel had helped the orphans in the copper lanes; he had barely seen them since, nor had he lent them any aid – something that made him feel guilty, thinking about it, but for other reasons. Regarding this business with the Apothecary Guild, Martel had to wonder how this alderman had found out, and why the knowledge had surfaced now.

Remembering Kerra's warning about people searching for information about him in the copper lanes, Martel could hazard a guess that somehow, Duke Cheval had orchestrated this. An unpleasant thought, though perhaps Martel should consider himself lucky; if this was how the duke's revenge took shape, it could have been a lot worse.

Which in itself felt suspicious and did not help Martel feel any calmer.

***

When Manday came, Martel walked westward to the merchant quarter, alongside Mistress Rana. Besides hosting men of trade, it was also home to many guild halls. Martel knew little of this whole system, and it surprised him to discover that Morcaster probably had hundreds of these associations. Every single craft or trade had their own guild, though they clearly differed in size and prosperity. Some were too poor to have their own guild hall; others, like the cloth traders, had a building that almost looked like a small palace in its own right.

The Apothecary Guild lay somewhere in between. The structure was certainly much bigger than any ordinary house, though it lacked the rich ornamentation Martel had noticed on some of the other guild halls on the way here.

Resolutely, Mistress Rana strode through the front doors, and Martel followed. They stood in a completely bare entrance hall. To the side, a flight of stairs led to an upper floor; in the back, a set of doors led into the offices of the guild. Mistress Rana flagged the nearest clerk. "Tell the alderman that Mistress Rana and Master Martel have arrived for the tribunal."

The clerk hurried away through the doors in the back, leaving them to wait. Martel glanced around at the hall meanwhile. He saw some sparse decorations on the walls, typically depicting the tools of the apothecary trade. A plaque had all the names of the aldermen engraved, going back some four hundred years.

In the distance, the bells of the nearest temple rang. The clerk returned. "The tribunal is ready for you."

***

While a tribunal sounded imposing, Martel found it less so. It turned out to be three men sitting behind a desk in one of the smaller chambers inside the guild hall. A secretary sat by a small writing desk to take notes; otherwise, the only people present were Martel and Mistress Rana, whose presence immediately caused some confusion.

"I was surprised to hear of your arrival," said the man seated in the middle, who Martel assumed was the alderman. "Your name did not appear in any of our investigations."

"It should have, Master Charles," Mistress Rana retorted. "After all, Martel works for me."

The older man cleared his throat and glanced at his companion, who shuffled through papers. "But you already have an apprentice by the name of –"

"Nora," said the other man.

"– Nora, which I do not presume to be another name for Master Martel here."

"Martel is hired to my workshop as a helper, not an apprentice."

"That is not in line with the rules of the guild," Charles pointed out, sounding smug.

"I have hired him in my capacity as a member of the Alchemist Guild. As a teacher of the Lyceum, I have free reins to teach alchemy to all the students." The expression on Mistress Rana's face did not change, unlike the alderman, who seemed rattled. "Thus, the reasons for your summons are irrelevant. The guild's charter cannot have been breached as Martel acted on my authority."

"Ah, so you do not deny that he distributed apothecary remedies in the copper lanes as accused?" Charles said, regaining his composure.

"We do not."

"But your apothecary is placed at the Lyceum. You do not have the rights to peddle your wares in another district."

"Nor did we. We accepted not a single coin as payment, considering it our charitable duty towards the least fortunate of Morcaster, the children on its streets. Is that not the case?" Mistress Rana turned her stern gaze towards Martel.

"Quite right," Martel hurried to say, deciding to otherwise keep shut. He could not imagine doing better than his teacher.

The three guild members looked at each other and exchanged whispers, while the secretary furiously scribbled to catch up with everything that had been said.

The alderman cleared his throat again. "Charity towards your own district is all well and good, but other apothecaries could argue that you have undermined their business by giving away remedies to their prospective customers."

"Very well. If any member of the guild can reasonably argue which sales they have lost, which otherwise would have been made to a group of penniless orphans, I am happy to compensate them," Mistress Rana declared.

The alderman sighed. "That will not be necessary. You may leave. This tribunal is adjourned."

With a nod, the Sindhian woman turned around and strode away, Martel quickly following. "That was impressive," he admitted.

She snorted. "A waste of time. But these guilds take any opportunity to guard their privileges, however frivolous. In any case, this does warrant a change."

"Which is?"

"I better begin teaching you alchemy, as I told them I would."

Martel had no objections to that.