The Guild Master

As the sun rose, most of those working in the London headquarters of the Guild began to pack up, ready to head home after a long night’s work. The earliest arrivals from the day shift nodded sleepy greetings to them as they settled into their own desks, checking over their assignments for the day

ahead. The last to leave from the night shift was, as always, the unlucky draugr who was the most recent assistant to the Guild Master.

As he began to make his way out of the winding corridors from the heart of the headquarters towards his well-earned rest he was stopped by a harried looking guild member who hurried up to him, her mismatched hands clutching a pile of letters. She held them out to him, wordlessly. He glanced down, seeing a note on the top ‘Voicebox broken pending replacement, sorry! Please take these to her office!’

He glanced back up, the girl giving him a cheery smile that stretched the stitches at the corners of her mouth. He sighed, taking the pile from her with a nod and with a mournful look at the corridor that would have led to his exit, he turned, heading towards the heavy wooden door of the Guild Master’s office. Knocking, a muffled voice bade him enter.

“Lady Katriana,” he began as he pushed open the door. “Dawn is here and you haven’t left your office in three days”

The windowless room seemed dark even with the lights shining. He blinked as he realised the elaborate desk, though piled high with leather bound books and parchment scrolls as usual, lacked the usual presence of the Guild Master behind it. He glanced around the room. In the opposite corner from the desk was a fireplace, left over from the previous Guild Master’s final redecoration but unlit as usual, and in front of it was an armchair, occupied by the person he had come to see.

Holding a wineglass in one hand and an old, tattered piece of parchment in the other, Katriana raised her glass to him in greeting, though not leaving the comfort of her chair.

“I’m not so distracted as to have lost track of time, I’m just busy” She carefully folded the parchment that she had been reading, laying it carefully on the arm of her chair. “Let me guess, the post was late again and you were the unlucky volunteer to bring it to me?” She smirked, two sharp fangs coming into view as she took a sip from her glass.

He nodded, walking closer and holding out the stack of letters to her, trying not to get too distracted by the delicious smell coming from her drink. She took them, then gestured to the parchment she had been reading. “Take this back over to my desk, would you? And be sure not to damage it. It’s utterly irreplaceable”

He picked it up gently, carrying it to the desk. He could feel the aged parchment crinkle slightly even when held as carefully as he could manage. As he placed it among the other documents, he realised it looked to have been a letter – there was almost nothing left of the broken wax seal and the words ‘To my darling Anne’ were barely visible, the ink faded by decades if not centuries. He glanced back to Katriana, but she was already flicking through the letters, seeming to have forgotten his presence entirely. Quietly, he left the office, pulling the door closed behind him and making a note to let one of the day shift know to check on her and make sure she didn’t forget to eat all day… again.