karviteri
Regular
By the Lust of Men
Chapter 10: For sale
Unfortunate those who have seen it all; poverty, illness, sadness, death - war. Calradia was a well oiled war machine where friends and enemies were ambiguous concepts, today you could fight at the side of your friends but tomorrow, you would never know. These were the wars of Calradia, but Alissa had her own.
Marnid spent long hours learning from the other traders in the marketplaces of several towns. He took notes in a piece of paper, filled with drawings, lines, names, places - it was his treasure and his secret. "Marnid, we have spent days without earning a single denar and that haven't stopped you from eating like a king. I can't afford spending more time like this, we will move out soon" - Alissa said with great concern - "Oh boss! You see this?" - Marnid said while showing his notes in a piece of paper - "Yes. A bunch of lines and half-written words... most impressive" - she said - "It may seem just like that, but this is our treasure. We will earn our monthly livelihood in only one trip, and if we keep doing it we will have enough money to buy all the food we want!" - Marnid said enthusiastically - "Or we could spend it in better equipment. And when do you think we will be ready to start with your 'master plan'?" - Alissa asked sarcastically, to what Marnid replied - "Just a minute" - and after writting the last word he stood up, broke the paper into a dozen pieces and added - "Now it is all here" - while pointing his head with a finger - "I hope you are better in memorizing than in combat" - Alissa said mockingly after Marnid's performance in the last tournament.
Alissa spent all of her money in a careful selection of goods as indicated by Marnid and our heroes travelled north, crossing the Swadian fields. It was a beautiful evening of may - the stars shined in the sky and our heroes were greeted by the sea breeze as they arrived to Thir. Here they sold some goods with great profit, as predicted by Marnid.
They travelled troughout the Nordic lands, following a well planned route written in Marnid's memories. Even when they were a great source of income, our heroes learned fast that Nords were savage people. Alissa had to deal with the annoying and lusty drunk men multiple times, who were impressed by the beauty of a women without a mustache, which was typical of the locals - but they were just Nords being Nords after all.
Finally, after selling all of their goods and making a great profit, Alissa decided to go back to Swadian territory. Forest Bandits tried to rob our heroes' fortune more than once, but our young lady led them to victory each time. This time around things were starting to work - Alissa made the fighting and Marnid made the numbers.
"What are you doing?" - Alissa asked while Marnid bound the wounded enemies together, after fighting a group of Forest Bandits on the way back to Swadia - "Money, my lady. I am making money" - "I'm very sorry my dear friend, but I do not support slavery and neither should you" - she said, but Marnid replied immediately - "Well I guess it would be best if we just let them go away to keep killing travellers for a couple denars like they did to me" - and he added - "My lady, sometimes there is no white or black, but only something in between" - and after thinking for a moment Alissa said - "You have proved yourself trustworthy, I will trust your judgement".
Even when they were a bunch of brigands and her enemies, Alissa gave enough food to her prisioners and treated them with dignity. But she had to keep an eye on Marnid, who was still filled with hatred against banditry for what they once did to him.
After days of travel, they stopped at the first town belonging to the Kingdom of Swadia to rest. Alissa entered the tavern to arrange the stay of the whole group with the tavern keeper when Marnid interrupted - "Ha! I told you we would make good denars with those bastards!" - he added - "Come, I've found a man willing to pay for the human scum we took for prisioners".
"I broker ransoms for the poor wretches who are captured in these endless wars. And you look like the type who might have a prisioner to sell" - the stranger said - "Maybe. How much are these men worth to you?" -Alissa asked - "Well, they look like they have been fed lately, which will save me some money during the coming days. I would say around 75 denars per head" - Alissa turned to Marnid and said - "I can't believe we are doing this. Please close the deal, I am not comfortable doing this" - "Of course, my lady" - Marnid said while she took a step back.
Marnid received the money and handed the prisioners to the ransom broker while the brigands begged - "Please, my lady! We will be slaved for the rest of our lives and we will never go back to our families. I beg you!" - but Alissa turned her back on them and returned to the tavern.