by Allan Joyal
"And?" I asked.
Corwar appeared confused, but Heather walked in behind him and nodded. "It's not official yet. We mostly talked to a shepherdess. But she told me that based on the early snows -- which destroyed some of their hay harvest -- and the size of their flock of sheep, they probably need to cull about twenty animals. We can probably get them for a fairly low price."
"What about chickens or goats?" I asked.
"I didn't find any farmer who had extra chickens. There is one with some goats, but he refused to allow us onto his farm or to talk with him. I also checked on rabbits for fur and meat. They do exist, but we'd need cages and a way to transport them," Heather reported.
Verval was nodding. "I recommend talking to the sheep farmer tomorrow. We might be able to talk him into selling thirty and at least one ram. It would likely cost about one gold."
I nodded. "We can pay that. The only question is how Steve and his group made out. Oh, we do have cloth coming. It might not be much and I've been warned that there is a flaw in the weave, but it should work for making clothing that will last for a while. We'll have to try again at Saraloncto."
"We'll probably be looking for more carts by then," Lydia pointed out. "You know at some point you should check the pouch the dwarves gave you."
"I'll do that tonight after we eat," I said. "We should probably head down as a group and get tables near the stairs. If we watch for who goes up, our goods should be fine for tonight."
"Just our eating utensils and the two crossbows up here," Aine said. "It didn't make sense to bring the rest of the items from the sleds."
"Well, shall we head downstairs for dinner?" I asked.
Everyone enthusiastically responded. I watched Aine stand up. She was holding both crossbows. One she passed over to Lydia. Lydia convinced Hencktor to take it from her as Aine walked up to me. "You should have this," she said. "I expect women carrying weapons would generate alarm."
"Provincial people," I scoffed. "I'll hold it, but sit at our table. You are a far better shot than I am."
Aine giggled as she joined the exodus from the room and down the stairs. I was one of the last people to start down. Jeff slipped in behind me. "What about my outfit?" he asked.
"Sit with me as well. We'll try to get a corner table so you can sit by a wall and try to be invisible. I promise that we'll have clothing made for you tomorrow. The cloth should arrive soon."
Jeff said nothing as we all trooped down the stairs. Steve and Hencktor separated to claim tables just to the left of the stairs. This left one directly in front of the stairs empty. I nudged Aine to head there. Heather, Shaylin, Jeff and Jennifer joined us at the table.
Heather was setting out bowls and spoons when Maitian walked up. The innkeeper looked over at Jennifer and frowned. "What happened to her?" he asked.
"We had to descend an icy hill earlier today," Jennifer said as she turned her chair. I could see she was trying to keep her elbow away from the table. "One of the sleds swept me off my feet and I broke my arm when I struck a rock on the way down."
"A rock?" Shaylin asked. Aine immediately put a hand on the preteen's arm and shook her head. Shaylin glanced at Maitian and then nodded.
"Esme is sure I'll heal, but she wants me to keep the arm bound for the next two weeks," Jennifer said.
Maitian looked surprised. He turned to me. "My sister is the cook. She's prepared a meaty sheep stew. We'll start bringing it out shortly. What about drinks?"
"Bring a single pitcher of ale to each table if you could," I said.
"Only one?" Heather asked.
"We don't need anyone getting drunk," I reminded her. "Of course, it would give me an excuse to wake you with a splash again. Oh, that's another thing, we need more bowls and such, since we keep adding people."
"Steve brought that in just before you said we should walk down," Aine said, pointing at the set in front of Jeff. "He was going to tell you how much he spent, but you suggested dinner too quickly.
I shrugged. "As long as there are no problems."
"None," Steve said as he got up to walk over to the table. He leaned over the chair I was sitting in. "We found a few salves that Esme thinks might be useful, but the apothecary didn't have much. We did find a merchant who specializes in travel food. I asked him to deliver in two days. It should feed twenty five people for about twenty days."
"Enough to get to Saraloncto," I said. "Anything else?"
"What's the rule on people joining?" Steve asked.
"I won't charge, but they really need to bring some skill if they want to join," I said. "And we won't feed them until we leave. But if they show up as we are getting ready to leave, I won't run them off unless they cause trouble. I don't recommend it though."
Steve laughed. "I wouldn't either, but the merchant was telling me he has a bastard son who needs a goal. The young man is eighteen and apparently has some skill at cheese and butter making."
"Hopefully he has more skill than that," I said. I was about to say more when a couple approached. They were clearly husband and wife. A young girl of maybe eight or nine years walked just in front of them. The man had a look of terror as they approached. I nudged Steve to move away.
Steve returned to his own table. Once again I noticed that conversations in the inn had died out. The couple continued forward. I noticed they were pushing the girl to walk up to me.
I looked more closely at the girl. She was young and clearly confused. The dress she wore was a patchwork of different fabrics and colors. It was fairly clean, but she had no blouse under it and there was a slash from knee to ankle in the front of the dress. The girl was wearing a belt, but the cup and bowl hanging from it were dented. She wore no hairnet and her black hair fell down her back in a silky wave.
Heather gasped. "That girl will probably have supermodel looks in a few years," she whispered to me.
The man walked up to me and looked me in the eye as he held the girl in front of him. "I hear you don't like slavery," he said firmly.
"No human should feel he has the right to own another," I responded. "It makes both the owner and the owned into something less. I will never own a slave and will free those I can."
The man looked at his wife, who sobbed. She seemed to want to refuse something, but then gasped. "We have no choice."
The man looked at me again. "This is my daughter Yveney," he said as he placed a hand on his daughter's head. "I ... I ... I need you to take her with you when you leave."
"Why?" I asked.
The man bowed his head. "The slavers, they have seen her. They promised that when they return, they will take her. I said I would fight, and they laughed and said that killing me would be easy when they thought of the profit of selling Yveney."
"Ron," Heather and Aine both said. I raised my hand and the group sat back in their chairs.
"She might never return. And while I'll take her from this town, there is always a risk we will run into slavers on the road," I pointed out.
"Please," the wife said. "Years ago, the slavers took my sister. We never heard from her again and have no hope. Please ... ."
"Ron," Heather and Aine said again. I just nodded silently. I scanned the inn. Most of the patrons were smiling as Yveney's parents stood there waiting for an answer.
"I can't believe I'm in this situation," I muttered. "Yveney can't be more than eight summers old. Does she understand what might happen to her? Does she understand she might never see you again?"
The father nodded. "We told her it will be an apprenticeship. Her brother left for an apprenticeship as a ship's carpenter three years ago."
"From here?" I asked.
"My brother left Purahomp after the slavers took my sister. He ended up in Baton Seaport and wound up serving as crew on a merchant ship. He talked the ship's carpenter into taking my son as an apprentice. Last I heard, Yolman was doing well and had even received an offer to move to a new ship," the mother said.
I looked at Yveney. "Hello, my name is
Ron, what is yours?"
"Yveney," the girl said calmly. Her eyes darted from person to person at the table, but she did not flinch away from me. "Are you going to be the master I learn under?"
"I'm the master trader for our group, but we divide the work often," I replied. "You'll have several teachers in the years ahead. Now, can you promise to listen to us and obey our directions?"
"Not orders?" her father asked.
"We aren't a military so calling them orders seems wrong. If your daughter does come with us, we'll probably have her helping monitor any herds or flocks we bring with us," I said.
"That doesn't sound like you'll be doing much teaching," the mother said.
"Oh, we'll teach her how to do numbers as well as how to read and write. After that, it will depend on her interests. We don't want anyone to end up in a job they don't like or aren't suited for, so we'll allow her to explore different possibilities. Once she finds one she likes, we'll have her spend time with whoever has the best skill."
"I want to trade," the girl said. "Dad tells me that there are no female merchants, but I want to be the first one."
"And that you would be the one to teach," Heather said. "You are the master at trading."
"I guess she can shadow me then," I said, "at least when we are in towns or markets. But she has to remember to be quiet and only ask questions when the negotiations are over."
Yveney raised her right hand. "Can I ask a question?" she asked.
"What is it?" I replied.
"Does that mean negotiations are over?" Yveney said before giggling.
I looked over at Heather. "It's a young version of you with black hair."
"You could come too," Heather blurted out to the parent.
The parents appeared relieved for a moment and then Yveney's mother frowned. "No," she said. "We were born in this town and I will die here. I'm not interested in leaving."
The mother turned to go, but I reached out to grab the father. "Is there a way for us to send you messages to let you know that she's alive?" I asked.
"Send them to the town council here. Just label them for Yveney's family. Our council keeps widows employed making sure messages like that get to the families," the father said. "And thank you."
I nodded and then lifted Yveney into my lap. She giggled as she looked at the people at the table. "So who is everyone?" she asked.
"Well, we are actually scattered across three tables," I said. "But at this table you have me, Ron. Then the others are Aine, Shaylin, Jeff, Jennifer, and Heather," I continued, pointing at each person.
"Who was talking to you as we walked up?" Yveney asked.
"Observant girl," Heather said with surprise in her voice.
"That was Steve," I replied. "In many ways, he's my second in command. Earlier today, he was negotiating for travel food so that we won't have to hunt too much while we head to Saraloncto."
"Should you let people know where you are headed?" the girl asked.
"We are moving quickly, so it's unlikely that we would be setting ourselves up for an ambush," I said. "But you are right; sometimes it is wise to be careful when discussing your destination. Especially if you are seeking a special trade good."
"We aren't?" Yveney asked.
"We are, but it's one that will require a long journey," I said. "Saraloncto is merely a stop on the journey."
"We'll get there," Yveney said confidently.
Her statement came just as the cooks brought the food to the table. Everyone concentrated on eating and conversation lagged.
Chapter 29: The Road to Rockspire
The cloth arrived just as Aine was finishing eating. She and Al carried the two rolls up to the room. The rest of us remained downstairs for a while, chatting with each other and occasionally answering questions from the locals.
Most of the locals clearly supported the end of slavery, but the poor harvests as well as the lack of advanced tools meant that the city required a massive farming workforce to keep it fed. Unfortunately, purchasing slaves had become a way to make up for the shortfall of available labor. We did receive multiple warnings that the slavers would see many of the women in our group as valuable. The consensus was that the slavers were headed to Baton Seaport, so our route should be safe.
Of course, the next two days spent in town proved to be two of the laziest yet busiest days I had ever had. Purahomp was a town that did not move quickly. Merchants and farmers would make you stand while they carefully measured out a cup full of grain and then would want to discuss the weather and the state of the roads before talking about their goods.
It probably did not help that there were so few goods available. Hencktor's observations seemed prophetic. Despite being in a fertile valley, the city had barely managed to store enough food and seeds for its own needs. We were able to obtain enough smoked meat for the travel to Saraloncto, and several times we managed to obtain tools for almost nothing, but other than the one flock of sheep Heather had noted, there were no seeds or herds available.
The one nice thing was late on the second day, while we were working in the caravanserai to move our goods to the new carts, Amalya, Gerit's wife, showed up. She brought three wooden cages, each containing a hen as well as a barrel of seed she said would keep the birds alive.
We secured the birds to the uprights on the rickety cart. Hencktor had gone over it and improved the uprights and frame, but the wheels were in poor shape, and we could see we would likely need a new axle in the near future. We ended up with only a small load on the cart.
Fortunately the other cart was extremely sturdy. We were able to move all of the seeds and tools from the sleds to the bed. There was space left over, but everyone agreed we would save that for future tool purchases.
Yveney helped as much as she could. This proved to be largely a case of her helping herd our flock of sheep. I had made that trade on the morning of our second day in town, with the agreement that we would pick up the flock the following morning. Gertrilla and the puppies were supposed to stay with the shepherdess to learn a bit more about herding. It turned out that Gertrilla struggled to control thirty sheep and the puppies wore out as the sun rose in the skies. In the end, we had to ask Yveney and Corwar to assist when it came time to move the sheep to the caravanserai.
Everyone seemed honestly relieved when we woke up after our third night in the inn. The food at the inn had been filling, but not very tasty and the crowds in the inn proved to be less than welcoming after we had been in town for two days. Victoria did admit that the three days of rest had been needed, but as we rolled up bedrolls and collected knives, everyone had a smile.
We trooped down the stairs. Maitian was waiting in the common room, standing next to a table filled with biscuits. "For you," he told us.
I nodded as most of the group moved to grab biscuits. "Thank you," I said.
"You filled my inn for three nights when usually I'd just see a few members of the guard. You put money into this town that wouldn't have been there normally. Perhaps we can have a good harvest and start turning things around."
"Your merchants need to take advantage of the fact that you have an entrance to the underworld in your territory," I replied. "The dwarves are willing to trade and if you find out what they need, they will come with more metal. That could be the way this town returns to prominence."
Maitian looked surprised and then shrugged. "You are a dwarf friend. It's not that easy for the rest of us."
"Clan Skyve merely asked that we be honest and fair in our dealings with them," I replied. "Too many humans look down on dwarves and try to cheat them. Don't cheat them and they will be fair with you."
Maitian said nothing so I grabbed two biscuits and followed the rest of the group out the door. When I bit into my prize I discovered that it was filled with a meat stew. The tasty treat gave me energy as everyone walked over to the caravanserai. The gate stood open and I could see Amalya standing in the opening.
Amalya looked around quickly a
s we approached and then waved for me to enter. "Piotr is upset," she said.
"Is it something he can have us held for?" I asked.
"No," Amalya said. "A messenger arrived yesterday from Baton Seaport. One of the merchants who passes through Purahomp every year is demanding that Piotr reduce his prices or he'll stop using him to repair carts and wagons."
"Well, he should be happy to lose an apprentice or two then," I said as I looked over our carts.
Gerit was over by them checking the hitches. We had disassembled the worst of the three sleds and used the pieces to repair the rickety cart and the remaining sleds. Al and Verval had also modified the harnesses on the remaining sleds, setting them up so a horse could pull them. Verval was coaxing one of our four horses into the harness for one of the sleds.
I frowned as I looked at the horses. None of them looked healthy. Three had piebald marks on their coats. The fourth stood listlessly looking at the ground as the group gathered.
"Have the horses been fed this morning?" I asked Amalya.
"No," she replied.
"Shay! Ger! Get some hay and offer it to the horses. Each one should eat at least four handfuls before we head out. Victoria, we need to make sure the horses eat all day and get plenty of water," I called out.
Shaylin ran over to the rickety cart and started pulling handfuls of hay from the bundles we had loaded the day before. Gertilla ran up to me. "I need to watch the sheep," she reminded me.
"Damn," I said. "Jeff, can you help with the horse feeding? Aine and Kariy, it would be nice if you help as well."
I heard a chorus of affirmative voices. Amalya watched as people began moving to carry hay to the horses. "Is that it?" she asked me.
"Probably not," I said with a shrug. "We expected the horses to be ill, but these are worse than I thought. Personally, I'd rather we not ask them to pull the carts, but we don't have the ability to move them otherwise at the moment."
"What will we do?" Amalya asked.
"I expect that once we are out of the city, we'll have men pulling the sleds and assisting with the carts. We'll also keep the pace down and not run as long as we might want. If we find a good meadow, the horses will be allowed to rest," I said. "If it's just a lack of food and care, they might recover."
