by Allan Joyal
The guard showed little interest. "Free trade token. Do you have any wagons or pack animals?"
"No," I replied.
"Animals are not allowed to wander the city. If you have any, they can be stabled in the yards. Free traders can rent storage in the caravanserai for a small fee. The fee includes shelter and fodder for animals while you trade in the city. If you don't need storage, you can pay for your animals to be kept in the stable," the guard continued as he took the token from my hand and turned it over to view the markings.
As I watched he held the token up and then pulled it in to scrutinize it closely. He lowered it enough to stare over his hand, looking me directly in the eye. "Captain," he said. "Can you come over here?"
"What is the problem?" another guard said as he approached. He had an ornately decorated helmet under one arm. He appeared puzzled to be called over.
The first guard said nothing, but handed the token to the captain, who took it and immediately began looking at it.
He had examined both sides before he looked over at me. "Daytona Trade?"
I nodded, not quite trusting my voice at this moment. The other guards had finished with the people who had been entering when we reached the head of the line and were now watching the situation rather than summoning the next groups forward.
"How long have you been free traders?" the captain asked.
I sighed. "We were given the token yesterday by a member of the road guard. We were resting and taking lunch at a split in the road. The guards encountered us there and provided the token."
The captain looked a bit more interested. His guards appeared surprised. "Yesterday? So where did you come from that you didn't have a token before that time?"
"Our home is far away and nearly impossible to travel to. We arrived by mistake and our conveyance will not return us home," I replied.
I could hear Elizabeth trying to move up to talk. She was hissing in frustrated fury. Her hisses cut off and then Steve cursed quietly. "Don't bite, you bitch. We can't have you charging in right now. Let Ron handle this."
"How many in your group and what are you trading?"
"Sixteen people in the group. We have little to trade although..." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the token the merchant had given me. "I was given this yesterday after a dispute on the road."
The captain looked at it without taking it from my hands. "Montferlyn's. They keep quality goods there. You plan on any other trading?" I could see his eyes looking over the girls.
"Not of the type you think," I said. "One of the girls was attacked by a large cat a few days ago and is still recovering. We are hoping to find an inn to settle in for five days or so while she heals. Some of the group might seek part time employment or training. That's all."
The captain nodded and handed the first token back to me. "Step forward, all of you. If you are from as far as you say, you'll need some advice."
The other guard stepped away from the opening in the barrels. I stepped through and then turned back. Martha, Dusty and Al quickly made their way through. Steve followed, holding a still struggling Elizabeth in his arms. The lawyer was hissing at him about allowing her to discuss free trade and travel.
"Elizabeth, shut up," I snapped as they passed. "This isn't the time or place to cause that kind of trouble."
Elizabeth subsided into a sulky pout. Her immature antics had Lisa giggling as she followed through the barrels. Next was Natalie, trying to hold her body up with the staff and her good leg. She had just finished passing through the barrels when the staff caught on something on the ground as she tried to move her left leg forward. She tumbled to the ground with a scream of pain.
Esme and I both jumped to her aid. "Get both of her legs in front of her lying flat!" Esme said.
I followed her instructions. "I'm sorry," Natalie sobbed as I shifted her right leg. "It just hurt so much I couldn't hold any weight on it."
"She is the one who was attacked?" the captain asked. The guard who was letting us through had moved to lead the others to a cleared space on the right of the road. The captain was now standing at Natalie's feet and looking down at her.
"Yes," I replied as I tried to massage Natalie's leg through her skirt. "She should be resting the leg, but we had to travel and she's been walking. It hasn't helped her heal."
The captain knelt down. "Can I see? No, let me say this again. We've had people try to smuggle items in by having actors appear hurt. You will let me see."
Esme gave me a worried look. I stared Natalie in the eye. "Natalie. I'll have to lift your skirt. Can you hold down the left side?"
She nodded. "I'm wearing my shorts, so he won't see everything."
"We'll try not to raise the skirt that high," I affirmed as I began sliding the material up her calves. Esme was knelling to Natalie's left and holding her body up. There was a mild look of surprise and lust as the man gazed at Natalie's legs. They were smooth and silky and the calf had a healthy glow to it. I tried to ignore his leer as I raised the material above Natalie's right knee and the first slash appeared.
I had not looked at the injury closely since Esme first bandaged it, so I took a moment to examine the first slash. It ran diagonally up from the inside of Natalie's right knee to about a third of the way up her thigh toward her hip. The lower part of the second slash could also be seen, starting about an inch above the first. The others were still mostly covered by the skirt, but a faint shadow and swelling revealed the presence of at least one more scar to the captain. The visible scars had neat black stitches helping hold the scars together.
"This looks a few weeks old," the captain said dubiously.
"I forced Natalie to drink a healing potion immediately after we killed the creature that did this. The potion has sped the healing, but the muscles aren't fully recovered," Esme said.
"She will walk?" the captain asked.
"Walk and even run if I have anything to say about it," Esme said. "I spent years learning about how to help people recover from this kind of trauma injury."
"I thought you said you were about to get your RN," I said. "That sounds more like a trauma nurse and physical therapist."
Esme giggled. "I was about to finish my classes for my RN. But I want the excitement of the emergency room and surgery, so I was going to take more classes. And physical therapy was something I got into to help a friend when I was in high school."
Natalie hissed as the captain reached out to touch one of the scars. "Friend?"
Esme sighed. "My boyfriend, Milton. He was walking home and a drunk driver jumped the curb and hit him. I wasn't willing to see him give up, and went with him to many of his physical therapy sessions. It was a huge part of why I got involved in medicine."
The captain sat back and looked at Esme. "Can you heal any cuts?"
"Not a chance," Esme said sharply. "I was learning to help and to do many of the routine procedures, but there were a lot of things I had not learned."
"But you can heal some?" the captain asked again.
"Yes," Esme admitted with a shrug. "I could deal with most cuts. I also could handle simple broken bones, muscle strain and sprain. I could possibly help someone recover faster than normal, but that's about it. Too much of what I know requires medicines I don't have."
I reached out to warn Esme to say no more. "The alchemists of our land are truly amazing, but Esme only knows how to administer the potions they create. The training she received did not include how to make medicines and potions."
The captain snorted. "If she has formal training from a scholar, she knows more than most of the so called healers in the city. She could probably make some money offering her skills."
"What about me?" Natalie asked.
The captain looked down at her, obviously startled. "I'm sorry. It's clear to me that the injury is very real. Please, feel free to cover yourself."
I pulled the skirt back down and stood up. Esme and I then pulled Natalie to her feet. Esme immediately put Natalie's
left arm over her shoulders. Al jumped in to grab Natalie's right arm and then carried her to where the rest of the group stood waiting.
"Can you recommend a good inn for us to stay at?" I asked the captain as we began to walk toward the group. "We'd prefer a quiet secure place upwind if we could find that."
The captain barked a harsh laugh. "The merchants always complain about the smell here. It's not that bad, but now I know you are a merchant. You want the Gilded Bass. You'll enter the city. Go straight past the first two cross streets. Turn right on the third. A tavern with the sign of a duck floating in a tankard will be on the corner. The inn you want is just a short walk from the main street."
"What about the outfitters?" I asked as we reached the group.
"Their warehouse and main store in town is just inside the gates. Turn left at the first crossroads and look for their banner. Their colors are green and black."
I nodded and turned to look at the group. The women were still wrinkling their noses at the stench. Everyone looked tired and frustrated.
"Sorry to delay you," the captain said. "But from things you have said I figure you are new, and I'm willing to take a moment to instruct you. Otherwise you might have trouble in town."
Everyone in the group got quiet and was watching the captain. "First, you can't use your weapons in the city except in self-defense, and if you are caught holding one in an attack posture, the guard won't care if you are trying to delay or bluff someone. If you hold it aggressively you will be charged, and the punishments can be nasty. Second, you don't bring animals into the city. I see you don't have any, but if you do purchase them, they stay outside in the stables. We don't want to have horse droppings all over our streets. Third, you need a permit to sell things in the market or the streets. That includes just playing music on a street corner. Don't do it. Now I do see that you ladies aren't looking too closely at your menfolk for guidance and direction. The people in town are a bit conservative. They won't take too kindly to unmarried women talking to men unless they are properly chaperoned. Try to avoid any incidents. The guard might know you didn't start trouble, but they often are forced to defend the citizens even when the citizens caused the trouble."
He turned after that, walking away and ignoring Elizabeth's near command to return and explain his words. Steve grabbed Elizabeth before she could rush off after him.
"That's outrageous," Elizabeth fumed. "I can't talk to men without a chaperone! Who ever heard of such a thing?"
"The townsfolk here appear to consider it right and proper," I said. "Now, I have a suggestion of an inn we can stay at and a route there. Shall we enter the town?"
Everyone turned toward the town gates. Ahead I now noticed that there were two spurs leaving the road. The one to the left sloped downward. I looked that direction and noticed that someone had dug out a pit the size of a football field and then sectioned it off. Inside I could see men moving around, feeding a few animals and keeping come of the walled off sections cleared. To the right, the trail led into a long low building. Through the open doors I could see several stalls. From the smell, this was a stable used to keep animals outside the city.
We reached the city gate to discover another guard, but this one merely waved us through. Passing through the large open gate and into the city took only a moment. Once past the walls, I looked around.
The buildings appeared to be mostly wood construction. The main street was as wide as any major street back home, with enough space for six cars to run side-by-side heading directly towards a large building in the distance. There was a large, wide cleared area just inside the walls. This ran along the wall as far as I could see. In the distance, several men were going through a spear drill. There were not many people wandering the open area. Instead, I could see that there were street vendors ahead, and the crowds seemed to form at the edge of the street vending zone.
I determined that the inn would be the most important stop, and I walked forward. Along the main road most of the buildings were clearly businesses. One we saw before we reached the second crossroads had several women standing on a balcony overlooking the road. The women were only wearing loincloths and engaging in bawdy repartee with a street juggler. The crowd was laughing at the obscene suggestions of the ladies as the juggler hunched over more and more while performing his routine. Finally, one of the ladies offered an extremely salacious suggestion, and the juggler grabbed his crotch, falling to the ground, but reaching out with one hand to catch every one of the seven balls he had in the air. The crowd gave him an ovation and a cascade of copper coins sailed into the bowl at his feet.
The juggler got up and started bowing. With each bow he grabbed coins from the bowl and quickly flung them into the air before catching them in a pouch he pulled from his belt. The crowd started calling for more, but I moved on before I could see if he had agreed.
Martha and Dusty had started to move ahead, but jumped back with a cry. They pointed to the ground. The ground was clearly muddy, but the smell made it clear that the liquid involved was not water. The faces of the other girls became pale and they started watching the ground carefully as we weaved through the crowd.
The crowd jostled us as we worked down the street. Once I felt fingers grasping at my belt. I twisted slightly looking for the culprit, but never found the man in the crowd. Finally, I could see a sign hanging on a building in the distance. The picture was of a brown duck, lying on its back, an empty tankard worn like a helmet covering his eyes and resting on his bill. The sign appeared to be new, and I guessed it was a replacement for the one the guard captain had told me to look for. I looked below it and could see another road branching off to the right.
I fought my way through the crowds to get to the road. They parted grudgingly. Finally I broke through to find myself on a nearly empty road. I moved down the road far enough to allow the others to follow. The lack of a crowd allowed me to look around. Unfortunately, it also allowed three men to emerge from the shadows of the buildings on the road. They were carrying clubs and staring menacingly.
"This road isn't for townsfolk," One of the men growled. "You should find another route."
"I was trying to get to the Gilded Bass," I replied. I was checking my pockets and looking back as the others pushed their way through. Martha and Dusty were both blushing as they emerged.
"I can't believe those men kept grabbing at our breasts," Martha hissed.
"Doxies shouldn't expect any better," one of the trio of club-wielders growled. "This is a private road. You need to return to the main one."
"If it's private, why did the captain at the gate suggest I use this one?' I asked as Al and Eddie pushed their way through carrying Natalie.
"He shouldn't have. This street is maintained and policed by the Traders Guild," the club-wielder said again.
"Traders? As in free trade companies?" I asked reaching into my pocket to find the token. I stepped closer to the men while pulling the token out of my pocket. "Would this token prove that I have a right to be here?"
The man handed his club to one of the others and walked forward to meet me. The walls of the buildings surrounding us left the street in shadows, but he seemed to have little trouble seeing the markings. "Daytona Trade? I've never heard of that group."
"We're fairly new," I admitted. "I had hoped to stop by the guild office here during our stay to clear up some things. Meanwhile, do you think we can get to the Gilded Bass? One member of our company is hurt and needs rest."
The man looked and noticed Natalie being held up by Al and Eddie. "I'll lead you there. Mal, Mor, watch the entrance. I'm taking these people to the Bass, they have a Free Trader's Token."
The duo walked past us. One of them leered at the girls, but a sharp look from Hencktor convinced him to back away. The man who had talked to me turned and started walking away from the crowd.
"Sorry for the reception," he said. "When Linktrum's governors allowed the market to extend past Stockyard Square about three years ago, we had
trouble with the street thieves trying their skills on traders as they went to and from the offices on this street. It caused problems until the Trade Guilds demanded action. The city refused to move the street vendors, but now pay half the cost of keeping a security force dedicated to making sure only guild traders and their employees are on the street."
"And you didn't recognize us, so you had to act," I said with a nod. "We understand. I might wish such measures were not necessary, but they protect us too."
The man nodded and then pointed to a stone wall with a single archway. Above the archway was a wooden sign. The sign was in the shape of a fish and colored a bright yellow. "That's the Gilded Bass. They are a good inn, but I'll warn you that they have another entrance facing the rest of town. Their tavern can get lively most nights. The courtyard is private and only for traders though."
"Will our goods be safe in the courtyard until we get a room?" I asked.
"I'd watch them," the man said. "Oh, if you need help in the future, or a guide, ask any of the other guards for Elden. I'll be glad to help out."
Elden turned to the rest of the group and bowed at the waist, lowering his head a foot before straightening again. The group filed past him into the courtyard. He smiled as each of the girls passed, looking them in the eye.
I joined my friends in the courtyard. I had expected it to be barren, but in each corner stood a trellis holding up a leafy flowering vine. Another trellis ran around the edge of the courtyard, giving the vine more area to grow. Two small fountains bubbled along one wall, and three tables stood scattered about. Steve led everyone to the first table as I walked across the courtyard to the only door I could see.
I was almost there when the door opened and an aged man of perhaps fifty years walked out. He had a burn scar across the left side of his face and his smile showed that he had lost several of his teeth over the years. Still, there was no lack of welcome in his eyes, or the hearty hug he doled out as he walked up to me.
"Welcome. Welcome to the Gilded Bass! How might the humble Gastelion treat his esteemed trader guests?" he boomed out.