Another day and another series of lectures. Nedric found it hard to believe that there were that many different aspects of jobs that it took a whole week to explain everything. His personal belief was that a week had been set-aside for the students to be in Elseth and therefore the days had to be filled. It came as something of a surprise when they were told that morning that they would not be visiting the boardway works but instead would be taken to the exchange.
Master Karik explained the thinking. “This trip is meant to be educational. You are being trained to be effective in whichever field of work you eventually join. Ideally we want a fair number of you to be working with the boardways but as most of you come from a merchant background we have to allow that many of you might become merchants. If any of you want to join the military then you are already receiving adequate training to have a head start there.
Anyway, as part of your training we have arranged that you can see the internal workings of the exchange. As you are probably aware, only one master merchant from each family is allowed in the exchange and even then he must be prepared to post bond of ten thousand golds. This means that the people you see today are the richest men, other than the nobility, in the land. Do not annoy them! If any of you cause any trouble today you will be expelled from the school and your parents will not be compensated.”
Nedric was interested to look at the faces of his fellow students. The exchange represented the pinnacle of the merchant profession. Most merchants had a comfortable life; the students were generally from fairly wealthy merchant families. Those merchants at the exchange however would never dream of having their children schooled in any other way than by a private tutor. Most of them looked keen to view the building and its contents and to meet the people inside. Marryn was probably the least interested but then since the boat ride he had been rather distracted.
The tutors led them through the city in much the same direction as Rialto and Nedric had headed on the first evening. They passed the other side of the square from Yurin’s house and found themselves in an area that whilst busy was filled with people who all dressed smartly and moved with a sense of purpose. Most of them were carrying documents and many of them seemed to be quickly visiting buildings before moving on. Nedric was sure that one particular man with a harried expression had passed them three times whilst they walked along the street.
“Who are all these people?” he enquired of his friend.
“They are all assistants to the various companies represented at the exchange.”
“What do they do?”
“They let the people outside the exchange know what’s happening in it. As prices are set each day, people need to know the price before they decide whether to buy or sell.”
The exchange was an imposing building with a solid granite frontage that said that the people within were the epitome of high-class business. There was a huge oak door that looked solid enough to bar the path of even the most determined barbarian invader and the windows on the ground floor were all behind solid iron grillwork.
“Why do they need all the security? Is there lots of money in there?”
“Not to my knowledge, just lots of records of previous years and the prices that were set then. I guess that if you were new in business then that sort of information would be worth a fortune. As it is, all the older businesses would keep similar records.”
On the next floor the windows were large and did not have the grillwork in front of them. It seemed to Nedric that any enterprising thief with a ladder and a brick would have no difficulty getting into the place. As the building rose, the windows got smaller and the uppermost floor had windows that could hardly have let in any light. Partly because of their size but mainly because the roof had a large overhang that obscured the windows from almost all sunlight.
The roof itself was interesting in that there was a huge array of different chimneybreasts scattered over it like so many pimples on a teenagers face. At each corner of the building was a rather ugly but not particularly scary gargoyle. These were entirely for decoration as the guttering connected to extremely rickety down pipes.
Inside an extremely frail man in a very expensive outfit greeted the group. He introduced himself as the Master of Ceremonies and told them that he was traditionally known as ‘Fekund’.
“When us old people get a little too old to work here they have to find something to do with us and I get to do all the traditional duties and little ceremonies that surround working here. For example, I ring the bell at the start and end of the day to say when the work starts and ends. If the business of the day does not look like finishing in good time then I leave ringing the bell to later.”
The hall in which they stood, whilst only a vestibule, was large and ornately decorated. On either side large portraits of soberly dressed middle-aged men looked down with sombre expressions. A large chandelier was suspended from the ceiling on what seemed to Nedric to be a rather flimsy chain. The inner door was as large as the outer one but was of a much darker and richer wood. Nedric had seen quite a lot of the same material at the boardways and recognised it instantly as narwood.
“When you go into the main hall it is very important that you say nothing. If someone says a number and one of the traders thinks it was one of them who said it then you could be costing somebody a fortune. The whole of the country depends on the decisions we make here. You might think that the figures for one day are not very important but if a farmer has to keep his produce sitting around for another day then half of it could ruin. Or a merchant might buy at too high a price and be unable to sell the goods with enough profit and quickly find himself in debt. Be quiet or someone might suffer, it could well be your families.”
The group were eagerly looking forward to seeing what was inside, it sounded important and mysterious. When the doors were opened it all seemed rather less interesting. Groups of men were sat at different tables, one of the men would shout something and then everyone at the table would call out numbers, by some process that Nedric could not fathom these numbers got closer and closer together until at some point one number was repeated several times and then the man who had started the process wrote that number down. As soon as this happened a second man who had been standing behind the first would rush through a door to the rear of the room and a third man would take the place of the second. When the third man had got to his correct position then the whole process would start again. There were about a dozen tables with different numbers of people on each and occasionally one of the men from one table would move to another, sometimes at a run. As the group watched one table all the men got up at the same time and moved to different tables. At last Fekund gestured for them to leave the room through a different door and the group filed out.
“What was all that about?” Nedric asked Rialto. Before his friend could reply Fekund was answering the question.
“What you saw there probably made little sense. If you think that each of those tables represented a different set of commodities for example produce, minerals, or cloth then you can get the idea that each material needs to have its price determined. Now the men who were moving around from table to table have interests in more than one type of commodity and have to make sure that their interests are represented at the appropriate tables. Only someone who is actually at the table can have a say and if you have a wide array of interests you have to be fit. That is why the older people like myself either represent only one commodity or stand aside and let a younger relative take our place. The man who stands behind the Master of the Table is a messenger who lets the rest of the town know the decision almost as quickly as we know in here.”
Elsebeth raised her hand and was acknowledged by Fekund.
“Is the price of a commodity determined by whoever talks the most?”
“It might appear that way by an outsider but actually it is much more complex than it seems. Everyone is trying to determine the best price, as they will have to both buy and sell the produce. Everybody is listening to everybody else and it might be that one person who is most knowledgeable says a price and everyone agrees with it or it could be that someone knows that they can make a lot of sales quickly and wants to get the price lower and they will fight it out with everyone else. As the price set determines both buying and selling price the determining factor is how much you are able to move or are prepared to store until the price changes. If the price goes too high then outsiders will not buy from the major traders but rather from smaller traders who cannot normally handle the quantities but can offer a competitive price if we get it wrong.”
“Does that mean that commodities that are only sold in small amounts are not covered by the exchange?” asked Rialto.
“Generally yes, however if the commodity is very highly priced then it might be dealt with here as only the merchants who are here are able to handle the costs involved.”
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The group was then taken on a tour of the building. They saw the rooms filled with old ledgers that had all the prices ever decided at the exchange. There was one room that was devoted to keeping a record of every merchant who had ever worked there and had family details dates of birth and death and notable details about each person. The walls were covered with small portraits each with a name and the date they joined the exchange. Fekund pointed his own portrait that showed a proud and handsome young man and was dated some fifty years earlier.
“One of the youngest merchants ever to join, I was.”
They were shown the members lounge, which was a room filled with comfortable looking chairs and tables where the merchants could rest, eat and study the old records. As the room was empty when the group entered there was no way to tell how much it was used but the adjoining catering facilities were large enough to feed all the merchants several times over. Fekund pointed out that there were quite a few other people within the building other than the merchants and they needed feeding as well. Apart from the merchants themselves there were the older, retired merchants who helped keep the records and did other none to onerous tasks, there were the runners who kept the town informed, there were cleaners and cooks and several guards who did nothing much but stand around all day. Apparently in the past there had been a much greater need for them when other merchants had protested the decisions in the exchange and had tried to change the merchants minds by eliminating a few of them. Fortunately for the guards this was long in the past.
Eventually the tour ended and as the group left the building they had a bigger surprise and it came from Master Ernick of all people.
“As it is your last day in Elseth, we have decided to let you have the rest of the day for yourselves. Remember that you should stay in pairs at least and we will be leaving fairly early tomorrow morning and if you’re not packed you will be leaving without your possessions. Oh and if anyone fails to make it back they will have to make their own way back to the keep and will be put back a year.”
The two boys didn’t need any more encouragement than that. Rialto had a music shop to get to but had no idea where it was. He asked one of the guards who surprised Nedric by being polite and helpful. He directed the two boys to head for the market and the street they wanted was just off the far side. The two boys were keen to get going and raced through the streets dodging nimbly through the crowds and hurdling a low cart that one busy labourer swung in their way as they sped across the city. They reached the market rapidly and stopped when the atmosphere hit them.
The volume of noise had increased dramatically as had the number of people. It was barely possible to move in the area. What really brought the two to a stop were the smells and the colour. The colour was as chaotic a mixture as you could possibly imagine as stalls competed to catch the passing customers eye, whereas the smell was indescribable. Not foul, nor for that matter particularly pleasant but rather a mixture of the two and everything else besides. At one second a whiff of exotic perfume would caress them, instantly to be replaced by the odour of some animal, to be replaced again by oiled metal or fish or even rotting vegetables.
Rialto was in a hurry to get to the music shop and led his friend around the outside of the market but promised to Nedric and himself that they would return. Both boys had some money to spend and this looked like the place to find whatever they wanted. The music shop was hard to find as it was down a small alley, which lay between one of the smithies and a carpenters. There was a small, slightly flaking sign that read ‘music shop’ in fairly illegible lettering and the two followed the alley to discover a small door with the word ‘enter’ upon it.
When they obeyed and went through the door, they walked into a room that didn’t so much contain musical instruments as try to concuss people with them. There were instruments hanging from virtually every inch of the ceiling as well as standing on the floor and on shelves. These instruments were of all sizes, shapes and kinds. Rialto couldn’t name all the different types of instrument, some he had never seen before in his life. One brass instrument was so big that he felt it hard to believe that any one person could carry it yet alone play it.
At one side of the room was a counter with a bell upon it. The boys went over to it and Rialto rung the bell. From a back room Iwan appeared and beamed at them.
“My two young friends from the Black Lion! How may I be of assistance?”
“I need some strings for my mandolin and maybe a plectrum or two”
“No problems, would you prefer standard cat gut or the new wire strings?”
“How much do the wire ones cost?”
“A gold a set.”
“In that case I’ll go for the catgut ones then,” Rialto grinned.
“Wise choice,” agreed Iwan, “that will be two bronze.”
“How about plectrums?”
“I have the standard quill and tortoiseshell and then there are these.”
Iwan brought a box from under the counter that contained some small slightly rounded pieces of what looked like some sort of scale.”
“What are those?” asked Nedric.
“I’m not really sure,” Iwan replied, “a trader brought them in one day, said they came from a lizard that attacked him in the southern desert. They are strong, slightly flexible and last better than anything else I have. Of course these are the only ones I have and musicians tend to lose plectrums with amazing regularity so they will not be around for much longer. I am charging four bronze for them.”
“That’s a bit steep isn’t it?” Rialto asked. “Normally plectrums are two for a bronze.”
“They are much better, believe me I’ve been using one since I got them and it hasn’t broken yet.”
“Well why not, I’ll have one.” Rialto handed Iwan a silver and received his strings, plectrum and change.
“I noticed that you have more than one style of mandolin at the back there.” Rialto pointed.
“I like to experiment with my instruments, the ones with the flatter backs are louder but they have a much harsher sound, have a try.”
Rialto needed no encouragement and immediately went over and started to play a few simple melodies. Nedric could see by the way his friend was becoming oblivious to everything else that if he didn’t do something soon he would be in the shop the rest of the day.
“How much would ones of those instruments cost?” he asked Iwan.
“Only fifty golds.”
“In which case we can’t afford it. Come on Rialto I want to look around the market.”
He had to drag his friend out of the shop but they managed to get away within a few minutes and once outside Rialto showed much less reluctance to look around. The two made their way immediately to the market and slowly walked through the crowds gawping at the variety of goods on display.
At one point they stopped beside a stall selling weapons. There were blades of every length from small daggers to two-handed swords. Nedric tried to pick up one of the broadswords and found that he needed both hands and all his strength just to lift it.
“That wouldn’t be much use in a fight,” he commented.
“It doesn’t require much skill, just a lot of strength. Can you see one of us blocking one of them with a sabre or epee?”
“No but we could easily get out of the way of it, there is no way someone swinging that could change swings quickly.”
“If you were on a battlefield there might not be the room to get out of the way and that is where one of those bludgeons is useful.”
“There hasn’t been a real battle for fifty years.”
“Then we are about due for another one, perhaps you should buy the sword!”
“You’re a scaremonger, anyway if there is a battle going on I’ll be in the next country, wars are dangerous to your health.”
“All right perhaps you don’t need the sword but how about a dagger?”
Nedric looked at the stallholder and asked “how much for that dagger?” He pointed to a particularly wicked looking blade, which was mostly out of a dark leather sheaf.
“Five silvers.”
Nedric had five silvers and a little extra but he did not want to spend all his money on one thing.
“Three silvers.”
“Four silvers, five bronze.”
“Come on Nedric we can’t stand here all day.”
Seeing the boys starting to walk off the stallholder suddenly started to reduce the price.
“Four silvers.”
The boys walked further away.
“Three silvers, five.”
The stallholder was beginning to sound desperate. The boys slowed down but continued to walk away.
“Three silvers.”
Nedric turned around and walked back to the stall.
“Did you say three silvers?”
“Well it has been a slow week.”
“Why didn’t you agree to the price when I first said it?”
“Well you have to try don’t you?”
Nedric bought his dagger and the two continued to look around the market. A stall that sold animals of many different types particularly intrigued Rialto. The stall was noisy, cluttered with cages and fairly smelly but his eyes had been drawn to one cage that appeared to be empty but which had a sign next to it saying ‘Nonnies 2 S’. Neither of the boys had ever heard of such an animal and wondered what they could be, that they had sold out so quickly.
They went closer to the stall and were just about to ask the holder about the sign when Rialto thought he glimpsed movement from inside the cage. He looked squarely at it but could see nothing. He turned away and again thought he saw something moving from the corner of his eye. The stallholder had noticed the two boys and made his way over to them.
“You boys haven’t met Nonnies before have you?”
“No, how did you know?”
“Watch!”
The stallholder went over to the cage and grabbed the cloth that covered the flooring. It was an extremely bright purple colour and he whisked it away and rapidly replaced it with an equally bright yellow cloth. The boys’ attention was instantly grabbed by the purple animals that they could now see in the cage. As they watched the little creatures, which looked very similar to common rodents, they started to change colour. The purple colouring gradually changed to yellow and only by keeping staring at the Nonnies could the boys tell where they were. The stallholder laughed at the look of amazement on the faces of the two in front of them.
“Very good pets, very clean, easy to feed and they don’t upset your parents as they have no idea that they are even in the house. Would you like one?”
Rialto was tempted but the thought of trying to make sure he wouldn’t lose the creature on the trip back to the keep kept him from purchasing.
“Those creatures are amazing,” Rialto remarked to Nedric. “Imagine what you could do if you had their abilities!”
“You could go anywhere, see anything.”
“Steal all the golds from a rich merchant.”
“Go into the girls rooms when they were undressing.”
“Nedric!”
“Just a thought” Nedric grinned.
“You should grow up with four sisters, you wouldn’t be allowed such thoughts.”
As they wandered around the market they started to get hungry. They stopped beside a stall that sold cakes and similar and spent several minutes drooling over the choice before committing themselves to triangular shaped pastries covered in nuts and icing and each needing two hands just to hold it. Nedric had to strap the sheathed dagger to his belt before he could eat the cake he had purchased.
They continued around the market and came across the stall that purportedly held quality scientific instruments. In reality it had a number of different pieces of equipment that used lenses in one form or another. There were telescopes, microscopes and binoculars all of which, Nedric noticed, had slightly distorted lenses. The holder explained that everything on the stall had been bought by a group of wealthy experimenters and then passed on to him when they failed to meet the specifications required. Rialto bought a magnifying glass when he was shown how he could use it to set light to things and then amused himself for the next few minutes by walking around viewing everything through one eye to see how it was transformed.
At last they had walked around all the market. Nedric had purchased a couple of drawstring pouches that were intended to hold juggling balls as otherwise they tended to get lost in his pack and also bought some sweets that they could not get back at the keep. Rialto had found a belt, which had a hidden compartment where he could hide coins. Nedric had suggested to him that if anyone was in the business of robbing people then they would probably know about such belts but Rialto ignored him.
“What do we do now?” asked Nedric.
“How about visiting the Black Lion again?”
“Why not, lead the way.”