“So, are you going to let me into your guild house now?” I asked as we stepped onto the docks. “Or do I need to kill all the starsquids on the Diamond Coast first?”
“You’ll do, I suppose,” Cadrin said. “Though you might need to smarten up; those robes look like ragged hand-me-downs.”
“Not hand-me-downs,” I said. “Venerated antiques. And are you really gonna talk to me when you’ve got ink and guts plastered all over your Paris Hilton boots?”
Cadrin glared at me. “What are you talking about?”
I let it go. Some things were just too good to explain.
We walked along the docks and up to the gates.
“So, you think I’m worthy to train with your guild?” I asked.
“You have the skills,” Labu said.
“You obviously learn fast,” Cadrin admitted. “Though I’m not sure I would allow it.”
“Good thing you’re too junior for anyone to listen to, then,” I replied.
Cadrin scowled, but he still let me into the guild house and pointed me toward the guest quarters before he stormed off. Labu nodded a silent goodbye and then, he too was gone.
I walked across a torchlit courtyard toward the guest quarters, a two-story building of marble and slate. It was less impressive than the magical ice that made up much of the rest of the guild, but at least it was warm. My fingers tapped their usual rhythm on the hilt of the Sundered Heart, and Nydarth’s customary purr didn’t rise to my thoughts.
“Something about this guild house feels peculiar,” Nydarth whispered in the back of my mind. “Be wary.”
I pushed open the door of the guest house and found Kegohr and Vesma on large cushions in a well-lit room. Kegohr was clutching his stomach, and Vesma looked up at me with sleepy eyes.
“We have eaten so well,” she said. “So much seafood.”
“Almost too much,” Kegohr admitted. “But not quite.” He groaned as he reached for another shrimp from a bowl and tossed it into the back of his mouth.
I settled down in a corner of the room and opened my pouch. The talk of food had made me realize how hungry I was, but other priorities came first. One by one, I pressed the starsquid cores against my chest and absorbed their Vigor. I closed my eyes, meditated, and opened a channel for the power of the new technique.
Slowly, carefully, I directed the water through me. My skin cooled, and I heard a sharp crackle. I opened my eyes and saw plates of Frozen Armor encircling my forearms. I pushed the Vigor further, and the ice appeared on my upper arms, then my body, and, finally, down my legs. It wasn’t pretty. Just a slight sheen of thin ice. I didn’t feel my body temperature drop at all, either.
“Wow, wow, wow,” Kegohr said. “You’ve been busy.”
I let the armor melt away into mist and shrugged. “Just gaining techniques while the sun shines. What have you two learned, apart from how good the food is?”
Someone pulled open the door and stopped them from answering. We looked up to see a young woman in a Resplendent Tears tabard push the door open and look imperiously in at us.
“Which one of you is Ethan Murphy?” she asked.
“That’s me,” I replied.
“I’m sent by Guildmaster Horix. You are to attend his office immediately.”
Chapter Six
I made sure to scoop up Xilarion’s letter before following Horix’s messenger out of the guest quarters. I expected to be led to one of the upper floors in the main complex since lines of sight and an elevated position were usually the hallmark of a tactical thinker. Instead, the messenger escorted me to a narrow passageway and down a spiraling staircase.
Walls of ice gave way to marble as we descended beneath the guild house. The light of a dying day was quickly replaced with an eerie glow cast by wall-mounted orbs of pale stone.
The staircase widened into a waiting room with stone benches flanking a thick door of ancient wood. The messenger knocked, swung the door open, and stood back to let me through.
A wave of claustrophobia hit me as I stepped into Horix’s office. Xilarion’s office had been small, tidy, and simple. This one was an echoing chamber that could have held a small crowd. The only wall of marble sat at my back, and the others were huge sheets of transparent ice.
More light-orbs illuminated the depths outside the crystalline barriers. An octopus clung to the outside as its tentacles curled and uncurled. Suckers latched onto the icy surface while the sea creature sporadically shot out a limb and caught a passing fish. A shark flashed past with razor teeth bared as it chased a school of nimble prey. These creatures weren’t the cored monsters that I’d spent my afternoon hunting, but they were still intimidating, carnivorous beasts that ruled the deep.
While more grand and imposing than Xilarion’s office, Horix’s did share some similarities. A katana hung on the wall as a lone decoration amid otherwise minimalist decor. Cushions lay on the floor while books and scrolls filled hefty shelves to either side of the door. A single, low desk sat in the center of the room, dwarfed by the space around it.
Horix stood on the far side of the desk and faced the ocean with his hands clasped behind his back. The Guildmaster was a tall man, and his pristine white robes with blue trim added to the appearance of height. Snow-white hair fell freely over his shoulders.
He turned to face me, showing the pointed ears and pale skin of an elf. His gaze found me, and I met his eyes without so much as a flinch. Bone-white irises examined mine with a clinical interest.
I comforted myself with the thought that I’d had dentists scarier than this guy.
“Disciple Ethan Murphy lo Pashat,” he said in a cold, clear tone. “Please, take a seat.”
I inclined my head and took a place
