Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 6

“Hullo!”

Chimali’s voice drifted over the ripping currents of the Rol’en’gorek as he waved to a ship laden with cargo entering the lake. At first, the other vessel seemed to pay no mind to his calls, but, as it drew closer, Xoc spotted the crew taking up positions along its length. At the bow of the ship, a well-dressed Lup with windblown grey fur shaded his eyes, looking in their direction.

Her friend continued waving, making random motions as they closed distance with them.

“Does that mean anything?” Winter Moon asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Chimali replied, “I’m just trying to get them to come alongside us.”

“Why don’t you call them over, Enxoc?” Winter Moon asked.

“Me?”

The huge, spotted Beastman regarded her curiously.

“You are a lord, are you not? Lords should have a few communication skills.”

“I don’t know anything about that…”

The other ship paddled by, keeping a good distance between them. Chimali cursed and plopped himself onto his bench.

“Why would they ignore us like that?” Xoc asked.

“Things must be getting worse across the jungle,” Chimali said. “The Merchant ships may have been attacked by people raiding their boats.”

“Raiding their boats?” Xoc tilted her head, “From boats? Boat raiders?”

“Pirates,” Winter Moon said.

“What?”

“What?”

Xoc and Chimali stared at Winter Moon. Were boat raiders actually a thing elsewhere?

“Here comes the next one,” Winter Moon told them.

Several minutes went by before Xoc spotted the incoming barge. Chimali rose and waved his paws overhead.

“Hullo! We’re not suspicious or anything!”

“How suspicious,” Winter Moon said.

“We’re not dangerous, we just want to talk! We–”

The barge sped past without a word in response. Their ship rocked as its bow wave rolled under them.

“Why aren’t they stopping?” Chimali grumbled.

“Has anyone told you that you’re a very suspicious-looking individual?” Winter Moon said, “Rogue-like, even.”

“Sh-shut up! I was born like this!”

“Is that so? Then how about we let Enxoc try?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Hold on, I have just the thing…”

Winter Moon’s paw went into one of the satchels on her belt. They were mysterious items that seemed to contain any number of things. Several seconds later, she produced an amber comb with a set of jewelled flowers attached to it.

“It’s beautiful,” Xoc breathed. “Where did you get that from?”

“Some Merchants returning from the Great Lut,” Winter Moon replied. “Hold still.”

“Huh?”

Xoc flinched as Winter Moon reached over to attach the jewellery to her head. Was she allowed to wear something so nice?

“Hey,” Chimali said, “that’s not fair!”

“Would you like to wear it instead?” Winter Moon asked.

Chimali’s mouth snapped shut. After adjusting the comb for several moments, Winter Moon stepped back to examine her.

“What do you think, Chimali?” She asked.

“It’s fine, I guess,” Chimali mumbled and looked away.

Why do you have to say it like that?

“Maybe I should groom you…” Winter Moon scrutinised her.

“I-I’m not a cub!” Xoc backed away, “Look, another ship is coming. What do I do?”

“Go over to the bow and call for help.”

“Help?”

“Yes, like that, but louder.”

Xoc worked her way to the front of the shop on uncertain steps. When she got there, she looked over her shoulder at Winter Moon, but the entire crew only looked back at her expectantly. The sound of the approaching ship’s paddle wheels grew louder.

“They’re going to pass us,” Winter Moon said.

With a sigh, she looked back forward. The other vessel has nearly crossed the line of their bow, her crew looking curiously in Xoc’s direction.

“Help…”

“I don’t think they can hear you.”

“HELP!!!”

The ship immediately turned, cutting a smooth curve over the water to glide up alongside them. A smartly dressed Ocelo went to stand across from her.

“How may we help you, miss?” He asked.

Unbelievable.

“We need food,” she answered. “We can pay for it. Are you the Merchant?”

“Chohtl, at your service. How much would you like, miss?”

“All of it.”

“All of it?”

“It’s for my clan,” Xoc said. “The city’s been a mess since the flooding and food shipments haven’t been getting through properly.”

The Merchant’s gaze went to the southwestern horizon.

“That so?” He said, “I admit it was a pain the last time we came in with the harbour flooded and all, but I had no idea things had gotten that bad.”

“It’s not the Merchants’ fault,” Xoc said. “The flooding’s driven people inland and the slumlords have carved out new territories. They’ve chased most of the people away to turn the land into pasture.”

“Wait,” Chohtl said, “then who have we been selling to?”

“The gangs,” Xoc said. “Then they turn around and sell it to the desperate people driven to the fringes of the city for as much as they can get.”

Chohtl stroked his jowls with a thoughtful expression. One of his crew came up behind him.

“What’s the word, boss?”

“Hm? Oh. How will you be paying, miss?”

Xoc looked over at Chimali, who had made his way over while they spoke. He hefted a bag of copper coins in his paw.

“All coin,” he said.

“Is that alright?” Xoc asked.

“It’s fine,” Chohtl replied. “In fact, you’ve saved us a load of trouble. Getting this big old boat through the trees is a real pain.”

“If you didn’t know,” Chimali said, “the city still has a functional port on the northern river.”

“The northern river…you mean the one with the inn in the cliffs?”

“The very same! Tens of thousands of people have been pushed into the northern fringes of the city, so there will be a steady demand for your goods.”

“That so? I’ll keep what you said in mind.”

Once they settled on a price, Chimali instructed the crew to secure the two ships using the ropes they had brought along with them. In addition to three hundred tons of smoked Nug meat, there were also a dozen bundles of hides to move over. Another ship came from upriver, drifting into place alongside them as they transferred their purchase.

“Chohtl? What’s happening here?” A Nar female called out to them.

“Just making a sale,” Chohtl replied.

“We’re in the market for food if you have any,” Chimali added. “We pay in coin.”

“Sounds good,” the Nar replied, “but it doesn’t look like your holds will be able to store anymore.”

“You can follow us back,” Chimali said. “We have a functional port and a great many mouths to feed.”

“Could we come along?” Chohtl asked.

“Of course!” Chimali answered, “In fact, it would please us if you let all of your Merchant associates know – the ones you don’t hate, at any rate.”

Knowing chuckles rose from the two Merchants. Chimali’s tail waved contentedly as they made their way back to the Cuorocos Cliffs. Winter Moon’s bright turquoise eyes seemed to measure his proud figure standing at the bow.

“He was so evasive back then,” she said. “I thought he was going to have us attack Merchant vessels for their cargo.”

“Huh?” Xoc looked up at the towering Beastman sitting beside her, “Why would you think that?”

“You didn’t think he was acting awfully suspicious?”

“It would be a lie if I said he wasn’t, but what’s wrong with that?”

“I believe most of the people that I know wouldn’t trust such a fellow with anything important,” Winter Moon said. “Many would shun him outright.”

“That’s weird,” Xoc said.

“It is?”

“It is to me,” Xoc said. “We grew up in a city that’s so huge that pretty much everybody is a nobody. People fight to gain even the slightest advantage here, trying to pull themselves out of the drudgery of being poor. It’s natural to keep any potential advantage to yourself for as long as you can. Otherwise, people might steal away that advantage or destroy it…or destroy you just to keep you from getting ahead.”

“But you don’t seem to be like that,” Winter Moon noted. “If anything, you’re something like the opposite.”

“I’m not,” Xoc replied. “I know exactly what it’s like and I hate that my people have to be like that to survive. That’s a big part of why I’m doing what I’m doing: I’m trying to create a place where people don’t need to be like that.”

“Interesting. I know a few people who would probably get along very well with you.”

“Really? You mean outside of Rol’en’gorek?”

“Indeed. You share many similarities with my min–erm, one of my tributaries. She’s not the only one, either.”

Xoc wondered if she could meet that person one day. It would be nice to have a friend who shared the same views. Maybe she would be able to learn things from her. Then again, they were probably far away and Xoc would never get the opportunity to leave Rol’en’gorek with how busy she was.

A line of labourers awaited them at their berth under the Cuorocos Cliffs. Chimali leapt ashore before their ship reached the pier and ran up the ramps to the second terrace. Xoc had no issue keeping up, though the ease of doing so surprised her.

“Master Leeds!” Chimali called out, “Master Leeds! It worked!”

“Of course it worked,” Master Leeds said from one of the balconies overlooking the river. It’s all like I said, right?”

“What did you say?” Xoc asked.

“I’m pretty sure you were there for those lectures, as well,” the Guildmaster said. “Actually, I’ve repeated it on several occasions. The Merchants of Rol’en’gorek are fundamentally peddlers. They don’t have trades arranged in advance so they’ll sell to whomever offers them an acceptable deal first. That includes anyone who intercepts them while they’re still en route to market. With the city as it is, there’s no profitable return trade that they know of so they’ll more than happily take coin. To top it off, spreading the word that the city still has a functional harbour will bring other Merchants straight to us.”

“If you knew all of this,” Xoc said, “how come you didn’t send our Merchants to do it before?”

“The best ideas rarely work like that,” Master Leeds replied. “Often, you need just the right angle to see the path to profit. Chimali’s applied what he’s learned well.”

Chimali narrowed his eyes in pleasure at the praise. The Guildmaster reached into a pocket and produced a set of small stone tablets strung together on a leather thong. Each tablet was roughly the length of her paw and carved in the outline of a river barge.

“Now, it’s time for the killing blow,” he said.

“Of course!” Chimali somehow grew even more related, “Now that we have someone delivering to our port, we can offer them delivery contracts…but will they understand how the system works?”

“Any true Merchant should once it’s explained to them. It’s your idea that brought them in – care to do the honours?”

“Right away!”

The Guildmaster dropped the ring of strong tablets into Chimali’s palm, along with another purse of coins. Chimali rushed back down, finding the two Merchants on a walkway extension a level above the river.

“Your ‘functional port’ is a metre underwater,” Chohtl noted.

“Merely the pier,” Chimali said. “The important part is that our storage is high and dry. Besides, if Merchant traffic grows, we’ll be sure to address the problem.”

“I think everyone would rather the floods recede instead.”

“No doubt,” Chimali agreed. “Are things getting any better upriver?”

“Worse,” Chohtl said. “From what I’ve heard, every city up to Ki’ra is half underwater and the rivers past that point have become so violent that entire towns have been washed away. Also, many ships laden with warriors have been spotted heading east. The flooding has probably lent great advantages to the Jorgulans.”

“Has the demand for armour gone up?” Chimali asked.

“Not that I’ve seen, though logically it should have. Things are just broken these days.”

“Broken?”

“Yeah. The floods hold up the herds. That means the seasonal tribute’s been disrupted. The warrior clans might need armour, but they might also not be able to pay for it.”

“They should just say something if they need help.”

The two Merchants snorted in unison.

“As if they ever would,” Chohtl said. “They’re too proud for that. We still don’t know what all that movement to the west was about and I doubt we ever will.”

“Perhaps that will change with so much befalling our people,” Chimali said, then turned to Ghrarl, the Nar Merchant. “Here is the agreed-upon payment for your goods. Additionally, I have something else that may be of interest to the both of you…”

Chohtl and Ghrarl leaned in as Chimali presented one of the stone tablets. It was carved out of basalt and polished to a dull gloss. At the end of the skinny tablet was carved the symbol of the Merchant Guild, inlaid in obsidian.

“Artwork?” Ghrarl said, “A fine piece if so, but there isn’t much of a market for luxuries these days.”

“It is so much more than artwork,” Chimali’s tail rose confidently. “This is a contract for goods. An order that you may fulfil with a guaranteed buyer!”

“How do they work?”

Chimali held the tablets up to face the two Merchants, pointing with a claw as he spoke.

“As you may have noticed, the carving of the stone is that of a ship. The ship here has been divided into five ‘holds’.”

“I see…so each ‘hold’ is marked with a specific good and we’re to deliver it.”

“Exactly. In total, each hold is the equivalent of fifty tons of smoked Nug. The marking on the last hold is for hides.”

“And these contracts are good forever?”

“Ah, no,” Chimali said. “Each of these contracts is unique and may only be used once. These symbols here say when they expire. We record every transaction and issue new contracts when necessary.”

He flipped the tablet over, revealing rows of circular pits.

“On this side is the promised payment. Each uncarved pit represents ten copper coins. Right now, it indicates just a bit more than we paid you for today to account for the slow rise in food prices. In the future, we’ll have someone you can personally negotiate contacts with. Don’t let any mischievous fellows carve new holes into here or the contract value goes down.”

Chimali united the leather thong holding the contracts together and freed two of them. One went into each Merchant’s paw.

“Make sure they aren’t lost or destroyed,” Chimali said. “Well, that’s not a problem for the time being, but it will be when the demand for commodities isn’t so overwhelming.”

“What about the rest of the contracts?” Chohtl asked.

“What about them?”

“I know a few guys who can take care of those,” the Ocelo Merchant said. “I’ll bring them back with me on the next round.”

“I know some people, as well,” Ghrarl said.

In the end, Chimali divided the contracts evenly between the two Merchants. He returned to the second terrace with a triumphant expression.

“How’d it go?” Master Leeds asked.

“They cleaned me out,” Chimali’s tail hit Xoc in the leg.

“Nice,” the Guildmaster nodded.

“That was awfully nice of them,” Xoc said.

Chimali and Master Leeds exchanged a look.

“They aren’t doing it because they’re nice,” Master Leeds told her.

“They aren’t? Then why…?”

“It’s because they wanted to sell the contracts, of course,” Chimali said. “Or exchange them for favours.”

“…can they do that?”

“Of course they can,” the Guildmaster said. “The contract itself has value: it’s the right to sell a specific set of goods to us. It’s common for Merchants to pay for security. In this case, it’s knowing that they have a buyer when they arrive in port. Saves a lot of time and trouble and time is money and all that.”

“But it’s their first time seeing them,” Xoc said. “How can they trust something that they’re unfamiliar with?”

The Guildmaster seemed amused by her disbelief. He leaned his elbows on the railing of the balcony, watching the dockworkers unload Ghrarl’s cargo. Chohtl’s ship had already departed and was halfway to the lake.

“You’re only considering that notion in itself,” Master Leeds said. “If you look at the bigger picture, it’s not as much a risk as you think. Those Merchants deliver food and hides to the city anyway, so the contracts are more like an extremely convenient bonus to them. Our true objective is to redirect trade to ocelo Pa’chan and build trust in our new contract system. By doing so, we can leverage the entire trade network instead of having to rely solely on our own ships and people.”

“I think the only thing I heard was ‘my life is going to get a lot busier’,” Xoc said.

“It’s a good kind of busy…at least if you don’t delay in delegating all that busywork you’ve been trying to handle on your own. Anyway, I assume we’re transferring this new cargo to the trade post? The meat, at least.”

“Yeah,” Xoc replied. “How long until the ship gets back?”

“Shouldn’t be long now. Speaking of which, the elders wanted to speak to you.”

“Which elders?”

“The ones assigned to situating the people we displaced for the first trade post. I think they’re still at the lake landing.”

Xoc hurried off to the lake. Chimali’s plan had taken up all of her time and all of the other things that were demanding her attention had slipped her mind. She found the elders – along with the migrants – still waiting for her not far from where they had disembarked.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” she said. “Has there been any trouble?”

Metztli, an elder whose spots could barely be seen against her black fur, came up to speak with Xoc.

“They’ve been behaving nicely,” she said. “Many were famished, so we handed out some food. They’ve been content to rest and digest since then.”

“How come you didn’t take them to their new homes?” Xoc asked.

The clan members populating the new trade post vacated their old homes, so it was simply a matter of moving the migrants into them.

“I wasn’t sure what you intended,” Metztli answered. “I thought that maybe you were waiting for the remaining people to come in before moving everyone to their new homes.”

Why would I do that?

“I’m sorry,” Xoc said, “I should have given you instructions, but I rushed off instead. You can go ahead and bring them in.”

The elder bobbed her head in acknowledgement and turned to address the newcomers. Not long after, the ship appeared from upriver, laden with the second wave of migrants.

“How are things going out there?” Xoc asked the captain.

“We’ve got an audience across the river,” the captain replied. “I think we’re going to need more security.”

“How big is this audience?”

“Hard to tell. At first, they kept going in and out of the trees to make their group look larger, but now there’s clearly more of them.”

“Did they say anything?”

“No, but I don’t like the way they’ve been looking at us.”

A low growl issued from Xoc’s throat. Chimali’s bluff wasn’t as effective as she had hoped and they didn’t have very many trained warriors available. Most of what they could afford to deploy was already divided between the trading post and the trade caravan going back and forth between the clanhold and nar Tamal.

“I should get back out there,” she said.

“We should bring more people,” Chimali said. “Anyone is fine. Xigaoli’s thugs will only attack if they think they can overwhelm us.”

“We’re shipping meat upriver,” Xoc said. “Maybe some of the locals will work as sentries for food.”

“In their condition?” Chimali scoffed, “A bunch of skinny refugees aren’t going to threaten anyone.”

“Fine,” Xoc said, “we’ll bring the warriors training in the clanhold.”

She supposed it counted as valuable experience. They could train anywhere so long as they had the space, as well.

“Contact Master Leeds while you’re up there,” she told the runner. “We need another ship. Have the warriors carry the ship moored at the wharf up here.”

“I hear you, Enxoc.”

The second ship arrived just as the first finished loading. Together, they made their way up the river while Xoc addressed her warriors.

“A slumlord is trying to pressure our new trading post,” she said. “We’re going to need to station you there for now.”

“A gang is threatening us?” One of the warriors said, “Where did they draw their courage from?”

“They’ve been running wild since the flooding started pushing people inland,” Xoc replied. “The clanlords left their holdings and the gangs moved in. Now they’re trying to carve out territories and extort the people like they usually do.”

“How many will we be fighting?” Another warrior asked with an eager look.

“We don’t know how many there are, but they’re slowly building up. Hopefully, they’ll back down once they see us arrive.”

Chimali made a derisive noise.

“It would be better if we bleed them,” he said. “They’ll be slinking around, harassing our people until they learn to fear us.”

Many of the warriors voiced their agreement. She didn’t recall them ever being so bloodthirsty.

“The defence of the trading post is our primary goal,” Xoc told them. “If they do something like light our provisions or merchandise on fire, it’s as good as a loss for us. The same goes for them injuring our Merchants and artisans. If you catch anyone trying to do anything like that, I won’t complain if you send them back across the river in pieces.”

That seemed to mollify her excited ‘warband’. When the trading post came into sight thirty minutes later, they found its surroundings well-lit by torches. Unfortunately, it was still too dark to see the opposite side of the river.

“Xoc,” Patli came down from the camp to meet her, “thank goodness you’ve come.”

“I heard that Xigaoli’s gang was up to no good.”

“They’ve been trying to intimidate us all evening,” Patli sighed. “Once the sun went down, they started barking and howling to unsettle us.”

Xoc swivelled her ears toward the river.

“I don’t hear anything…”

“That’s our newest problem,” Patli said. “I think they’ve moved away to cross the river somewhere. We sent a few hunters to shadow their movements.”

“It would be nice if they all just decided to go to bed…”

Her hopes were dashed shortly thereafter when the hunters dispatched by Patli returned with a breathless report.

“The gang’s crossed the river,” one of them said. “There must be over a thousand of them.”

“A thousand?” Xoc gaped, “Get our Merchants and artisans on a boat back to the clanhold. Our warriors will confront them on the riverbank.”

“Do we have enough people?” Chimali asked worriedly.

Three hundred untested warriors against a thousand thugs…

If they were afforded the time to train to her satisfaction, their victory was probably assured. Unfortunately, most were still barely novices who were learning the basics of combat. It could be that Xigaoli’s thugs were their betters.

“I don’t know,” Xoc said. “Remind me to ask Hgroth what he told them the next time we get our claws on him.”

“Well,” Chimali said, “you did say that if Xigaoli only reacts to our success, it will be too late. It could be that he realises the same thing and they’re trying to snuff us out before we can get too strong.”

“Why does a slumlord have to be so insightful about the most inconvenient things?” Xoc muttered.

Everyone froze as the baying of Xigaoli’s thugs suddenly filled the darkness. Her warriors quickly finished forming their loose ranks while the hunters loaded their slings with smooth river stones. It wasn’t long until the front fringe of Xigaoli’s gang appeared at the edges of their Darkvision. They stopped and continued making threatening noises, baring their teeth in savage snarls.

“This seems like a lot more than a thousand,” Chimali said in a small voice.

Xoc was forced to agree. At first, she thought it might be the darkness playing tricks with her mind, but the gang became more and more substantial, coming out of the jungle to pin them against the river. A familiar Gao with silver-tipped brown fur appeared from their centre.

“Xoc,” Xigaoli said, “long time no see. Your last match at the fighting pit won me a hefty sum.”

“That’s Enxoc to you,” Xoc spat.

Xigaoli barked out a laugh.

“If you are Enxoc, then I am il-Enxigaoli! Everyone here can see who is superior. Normally, I’d have anyone who challenged me as you have skinned, but these are troubled times and you seem to have learned some useful tricks. Submit to me and I will kindly allow you to be my tributary.”

“Yeah…no. Sorry.”

“Come now,” Xigaoli held his arms out. “I have three thousand to your three hundred. Why waste the lives of you and your people on worthless pride?”

“It isn’t worthless pride,” Xoc replied with a menacing growl. “I’m just saying that dogs like you need to be put down.”

The slumlord and his thugs seemed taken aback by her statement for a moment. Then, Xigaoli shrugged and waved his gang forward. Xoc eyed the throng as they crept forward far too cautiously for their overwhelming numbers.

Can we survive this? Winter Moon should be around here somewhere…will she fight?

Suddenly, Chimali jumped out in front of her.

“STOP!” He shouted, “Don’t make me use this!”

Use what?

The advancing gang stopped, looking about as confused as Xoc felt. She glanced about to see what Chimali was referring to, then realised that he was holding Vltava in his paws overhead.

“Chimali,” Xoc hissed, “are you crazy? He’s a guest of the clan! Put him down!”

Laughter rose from Xigaoli and his thugs.

“And what, precisely, do you plan to use that thing for?” Xigaoli asked, “I hope you don’t think it’s good enough to feed the lot of us.”

“Y-You don’t understand!” Chimali shouted, “You don’t…”

Chimali settled into an awkward silence. Xigaoli and his goons looked at one another in bafflement.

“Do it,” Vltava said.

As if compelled by some dark force, Chimali hurled Vltava at Xigaoli with all of his might.