It had been over four months since Elsebeth had been captured but there was no diminishing of the urgency Nedric felt. As they rode up to the border he felt the desire to release her from her captives grow even firmer. Although the danger was now much greater, nothing was going to stop him.
The countryside through which they travelled could have been Setherland, Cantherin or even some of Esteril; they knew however that they had reached Nothering when they met a barrier and a set of border guards.
They had passed through the Cantherin border post without being stopped. The guards had just waved them through. At previous posts they had been subject to a cursory inspection. It soon became clear that Nothering was much stricter.
When a merchant wagon went through without stopping they were not expecting the guard to halt them but he did.
“Drive the wagons over there, then everyone stand in that area and don’t leave it.”
Nedric could hardly believe the way that the black uniformed guard was acting. There were five of them and only one of him. He was just about to say something to antagonise the man when Rialto waved at him to comply.
“There is a troop of guards watching us from within those trees. Do anything silly and we all die.” Rialto whispered as he leaned across to Nedric.
The group complied and stood in the marked area. Another guard appeared from the trees behind the barrier and began to search the wagons. He unceremoniously dumped clothing and utensils on the ground as he cleared the wagons of articles.
He found the daggers and other weaponry belonging to the two rangers and there was a brief discussion between the guards before they began to pile the weapons separately from everything else.
“Why do you need all these weapons?” asked the first guard.
“It’s part of the act.” Daiga replied. “Shall I demonstrate?”
The guard gave his assent and Daiga removed one of the boards from the wagon. This was marked with the outline of a person and could be made to stand alone. Daiga retrieved five of the daggers from the pile and stood about fifteen feet from the board.
“Imagine there was someone strapped to the board in the position marked.”
Faster than seemed possible, Daiga aimed and threw the daggers at the board. Two stuck out on either side of the head, two underneath where the armpits would have been and one stuck out from between the legs.
“People seem to be impressed by that.” Daiga said simply.
The guard also appeared fairly impressed, as he could not have reacted in time if one of those daggers had been aimed at him. He had Daiga retreat to the rest of the group and signalled that the weapons should join the other possessions of the rangers.
When the guard started on the second wagon, Nedric thought that there could be nothing that would cause any problems if the weapons were allowed. He was wrong and in a way that was really surprising.
The first thing he knew was when the guard inside the wagon shouted for the other guard to come and see. When they emerged from within the wagon they were holding one of the narwood carvings Nedric had brought with him. The carvings were either depicting the gods or showed scenes from the legends and the one they were holding depicted the goddess Ruth.
Nedric could see no reason why the carving could cause offence. The gods were the same as far as he knew in every country and Ruth was the one who looked after peace, love, fertility and the like. There seemed little that anybody would dislike about her.
The guards placed the carving in the guardroom and returned to searching the wagon. They seemed strangely excited by their find. Nedric whispered to Rialto.
“What’s with all the excitement?”
“You’re bringing pornography into the country.”
“What?” Nedric exclaimed. “The carving is just a normal pose of Ruth.”
“To you and me it’s a perfectly respectable carving, to anyone from Nothering it is slightly depraved. You see she hasn’t got her hair covered. Unrestrained hair is seen as being provocative. The guards will want to keep the carving for themselves.”
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His words proved to be true. Shortly afterwards the guards let them proceed. They were told that if they wanted to travel through Nothering they would need to obtain a permit of passage from the first town they came to, otherwise they would be stopped and sent back at the first internal border.
* * *
They reached the town fairly quickly. Nedric was surprised at the size of the place. It was nearly as big as Lerrit in Esteril although it was barely mentioned on his map of Nothering.
The first thing that he really noticed about the town, other than the size, was the smell. There was no provision for easy disposal of refuse and most of it seemed to be dumped in the nearby river. This was fine during the winter but at the start of autumn when the river was at its lowest the refuse just piled up.
He thought at first that the river was swirling around the town but as they got closer he could see that what he had first thought was water was actually the movement of vast numbers of rats living off the refuse.
As they neared the town walls, a number of children appeared and started offering them everything under the sun. Each child showed evidence of malnutrition and most had sores or lesions. Some were deformed or missing limbs and Nedric, looking at them, found the sight unpleasant.
“A copper to guide you.”
“Do you need a girl?”
“I’ll show you the best inn.”
“Spare change?”
“Get you drugs.”
“We don’t want anything and we aren’t going to give you money.” Rialto spoke in a precise way that demonstrated a well-bred Nothering accent. The children stopped shouting out offers and instead started asking the group what they planned to do.
“You doing a show tonight?”
“Where you going to be?”
“What you going to do?”
“Do you really wrestle anyone?”
“Have you killed anyone with those knives.”
There wasn’t time to answer any question before several others piled in on top of it. The children were now acting like children anywhere. Interested in a show and what it had in store for them, the begging or services to be offered forgotten for the moment. Nedric did a little juggling for them as the wagons moved onwards but stopped after a short while and told them that they could see more later.
As they reached the town they could see that the poor state of the children was reflected in the health of the adults. Nedric had never seen such an unhealthy group of people in one town. Occasionally there would be a smartly dressed, well-fed individual walking through the crowd but mostly the passers by seemed weighed down by ill health and great cares.
The wagons proceeded to the town square, which held a market and was surrounded by the important buildings. Unlike a Setherland village or town, the important buildings consisted of two administration buildings, a bank and the church. The stores and taverns were located along side streets and the smithies and other similar tradesmen were located further out.
The group parked their wagons in the square and Daiga went into the closest building to find out where and how to get the required permit. They had decided that the more talkative ranger would be the one to sort things out as he was naturally much more intimidating than the younger men and was more suited to talking to clerks than his companion.
Daiga asked at the front desk and was told that he needed to see an administrator in the other building. It seemed a fact of life that the person you wanted was never in the first place you looked. Surprisingly it was quite easy to locate the man responsible for permits in the second building.
The man was short, fat and had a shiny face with oiled hair. He had a small and neatly trimmed beard and his face appeared to have a constant smile. Daiga didn’t trust him for an instant; he was reminded of an animal in Esteril that acted all friendly until it got close enough to attack.
The man explained to Daiga that they would need to do a free performance as soon as the market closed before they were issued a permit. The performance would be assessed for its suitability and if found unsuitable they would be unable to continue and if necessary they would be evicted from Nothering.
“What makes a show suitable or not?” Daiga asked.
“Does it include anything that would upset the people of Nothering? Is it obscene? Does it cause offence to anyone? Would it foment unrest? Does the show suggest that the people of Nothering are inferior to others? That sort of thing, I’m sure that you’re show would not be offensive but regulations insist that I view it and note the reactions of an average audience.”
“Fine, we will be ready by the time the market closes. I will see you later.”
“There is one other thing.”
“What’s that?”
“My fee.”
“I thought you were paid by the government to do your job.”
“Inadequately, inadequately.”
“So what sort of fee do you require?”
“Ten golds.”
“Ten golds? That’s robbery.”
“Without it you will be travelling no further.”
Daiga seemed to grow more menacing without moving or doing anything obvious. The administrator looked nervous but resolute. He also looked on the verge of calling for help and so Daiga reluctantly conceded.
“I will talk to the others in the group and tell them of your ultimatum. Perhaps I should also have a word with your superior.”
“It won’t do you any good, he gets half of that money and his superior is in another town.” The man named a town that Daiga had never heard about. It was clearly further within Nothering and probably over an internal border.
Daiga retreated to the wagons, whilst the other man smiled warmly at him. “Don’t forget that the first show is free to the audience.”
* * *
“Well we have to pay him and he must have some idea that we would have that amount of money. I don’t like it but what can we do?” Daiga was explaining the situation to the others.
“We could always kill him!” This came from Rialto.
“Then we wouldn’t have the permit and we couldn’t get to Elsebeth.”
“He probably has guards around or hides the gold before he issues the permit.” Nedric chipped in, “The returns must be fairly good in other towns for it to be worthwhile for other entertainers.”
“It does suggest that the officials in this country are corrupt, that could be useful to us.” Scabad rarely spoke and when he did the others listened.
“What maybe bribe Elsebeth away from imprisonment?” asked Rialto.
“It probably won’t be that easy.” Suggested Bethan, “but it might make it possible to find out where she is being held.”
“So we need to earn lots of money to pay off any officials who might be able to help. We can’t afford to stay around here and argue, so we better do what this man wants.” Nedric summed up the situation. The others weren’t inclined to argue and so they set about constructing the stage and arranging the props.
After the show Daiga and Scabad went up to the administrator, who had been standing to one side making notes on a pad of paper. The man looked nervous as the two large rangers approached but held his ground.
“What did you think of the show?” Daiga enquired.
“It seemed fine in most parts but there were a couple of slight problems that you might wish to discuss in my office.”
They followed him into the building. When they entered the office, they discovered that several large and well-armed men were already in the room.
“So do we get the permit?”
“When I get my fee.”
Scabad handed over a purse which contained the required coins.”
“That looks sufficient, I’ll prepare the permit.”
The man disappeared into another room taking the pouch with him. When the rangers tried to follow, the guards, which is what the other men obviously were, moved to prevent the rangers from passing. The two decided to take seats and wait.
They didn’t have to wait long. In only a couple of minutes the man returned bringing with him a large parchment on which a detailed description of the act was transcribed. After embossing a large wax seal on one corner the man handed over the permit.
“A pleasure doing business with you gentlemen.”
The two rangers left without reply.