The city looked more like a big village to me. Not that I had ever seen or set foot in one. Sais was different from the cities I knew. No walls, no aqueducts and only one road entering the city in the east and leaving in the north.
It was a small trade hub and a lot of caravans seemed to be resting here as well. It did make sense considering Sais was the last stop before reaching Alexandria. If you used the desert route.
“Why are all of you looking so down? Look, there is a meal, bed and a warm bath waiting for every one of you”, Jalvund tried to raise the mood.
“I never knew I would miss one of those things”, I said.
“You only went through a week of travelling and look worse than all of us combined”, Hana interjected.
“I am a Noble. The last week was a first time in many ways. I think the challenges presented to me, have been fulfilled adequately”, I defended myself.
“You let the food burn twice, you ate two rations instead of one thrice, you fell asleep five times when it was your turn to keep watch. Did I miss anything?”, Adophis said, and I just felt a bit guilty, a tiny bit for all the extra work I caused.
“I may have not performed as good as I thought I did, but I did help a lot in gathering food and scouting the way”, I added Quintus achievements to mine. The wyvern appeared from my shadow and pushed me forward with his head before disappearing again.
“Quintus seems to disagree”, Hana said.
“He could start to take my side more often”, I grumbled to myself. “What are our plans after entering the city?”
“We will split up into three teams. Jalvund will mingle with the guards and caravans to see if our pursuers are present here. I and father will deal with the lodging, while the three of you will resupply our provisions”, Noor commanded and all members of our little party nodded at her.
We headed to the city. A pair of guards required a toll from us and wrote down the names of our group. Those were not our real names, but it’s not like the guards cared or could do anything about it. They literally had no way to check, anyway.
We split up as discussed. The market area was not a single place like in the other cities. Instead, the market stretched through the entire city. Everything was mixed together, no districts, no designates areas for certain crafts or services. The range of the goods was smaller than in Alexandria, but impressive nonetheless.
“Listen up boys”, Hana stopped and turned to me and Adophis. “We will split up. I will get the supplies for camping, brother you will fill up the water and food supplies, Lucius you will rent two mounts for us.”
“Wait, why is it my task the hardest”, I complain as usually. They should have learned to not give me those.
“You just have to rent two camels and then find me and my brother to load them up”, Hana said. “Try to haggle the price down. It could save us a few coppers and silver coins.”
“How the heck do you haggle and I am not even sure, if I ever have paid for something with silver and certainly not with copper coins”, I interjected. The servants accompanying me handled the paying in most cases. My allowance from mother was also paid out in gold ducats.
“Yeah, right, nobles are not known for haggling. You sure you want to give him the task?”, Adophis said and looked at me. I could see a bit of pity mixed with envy in his expression. Pity? Why would he pity a noble?
“He will be fine. Lucius just try to keep the price under twenty silver for each camel”, Hana said and looked at me with a bit of worry.
“I guess I will try my best. It can’t be that hard. I have read documents about state revenue for years. This should be doable”, I spoke with confidence, but a last look at the siblings showed they didn’t share that feeling. “You will see!”
We split up, and I headed to the place making animal noises. There I should find the camels.
The noises were not the only way to find my destination. The smell, oh god the smell was awful. I followed the trail of piss and shit until a building with a camel on its door appeared. To its right was a fenced area packed full with the animal in question.
I entered the shop after knocking twice. It was built from simple wood and the interior of the room was decorated with a few shelves, tables and chairs. Behind a counter stood a man with a beard and turban. He eyed me as I closed the distance.
“What can I do for you, boy?”, he spoke. The man kept his expression blank.
“I would like to rent two camels for a trip to Alexandria”, I said and looked around the room.
“And what can you pay for?”, he asked.
I returned my eyes to him. If you haggle, you should start with a low price and meet in the middle with the seller.
“Five silver for each camel”, I offered. A frown immediately appeared on his forehead.
“Five silver for a camel. Are you trying to rip me off here? Those camels are worth 50 silver each!”, he shouted and supported his claim with wild hand gestures.
“Ten silver?”, I asked and was unsure if this was the right way to do it.
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“Ten silver?”, the boy in worn-down noble clothes tried again to haggle for the price.
He was probably a son of a failed merchant or fallen noble house by the look of it. No real noble would run around in such clothes. He also was quite bad at haggling for prices. The gold coin in his hand was my goal for the day.
It will be easy to relieve him of the burden to carry the ducat. The poor boy didn’t even seem to know the basic of the craft. Never show how much money you have.
“No, you don’t understand. There is no way I can go under 50 ...”, the next words stopped in my throat.
The shadow of a monster appeared behind the boy. Golden eyes locked on me and the creature's black maw opened.
Cold sweat ran down my neck, the heart in my chest pounded like crazy, and I felt like hiding in the corner of the room. Terror, pure utter terror was what I felt.
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The seller looked terrified for a reason. I didn’t know what had happened to him, but it seemed he looked at something behind me. I turned around, but there was nobody. When I glanced at the man again he still looked frightened. Not as much as before, yet still noticeable far away from his blank expression.
“You you you said 10 silver coins right? You you can have them for that, but but please leave my shop immediately”, the man said carefully. Why was he stammering?
“Fine”, I accepted the offer. Money was exchanged and two documents certified the transaction. I left the building, and the door was closed and locked behind me without delay.
“It seems I’m quite good at haggling for prices, but I would really like to know why he reacted like that”, I said and moved to the fenced area. “Wait, Quintus did you do something?”
I got the feeling equivalent to a human shrug in return. That means he doesn’t know, right? Another thought entered my head. Can he lie to me? He wouldn’t, Quintus is something like a brother to me. On the other hand, he is a Vespasianus. So did he just lie to me? My brooding was interrupted when a stable boy moved to greet me.
“Hello Sir. How can I help?”, he said and even bowed to me.
“I have rented two camels. Give me the best available and I will be on my way”, I said. This was the first time somebody called me Sir. That would have never happened in Alexandria.
The men looked at a few points in the document. It looked like he couldn’t read very well. The stable boy also asked if 10 silver was correct. He assumed it could have been 100 silver. Another person who underestimated my skills in haggling.
After a bit of time, the stable boy returned with two camels. I eyed the animals carefully. They looked calm and well-fed. Both animals also seemed to ignore me.
“Here are the two best we have at the moment. Good luck on your travels”, he said and went back to his work.
I stared at the reins in my hand and the camels. Should I pull them? Should I ride one of them?
“Do you want to be ridden?”, I said, and it sounded wrong for some reason. I just decided to pull the animals behind me. The next task would be to find one of the siblings.
I moved through the streets and asked a few passers-by for directions to the next water supply station. While most people ignored me, a few nicer ones helped me in finding a direction. They asked for a few copper coins afterwards, but I was not about to pay them for a free service. That was a free service, wasn’t it?
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I found Adophis standing next to the water station with two barrels of water and plenty filled water bags. He waved at me.
“And, how much did they scam you?”, he asked and smiled at me. I didn’t know why both siblings enjoyed seeing me fail with things they could do without errors, but this time was a full victory for me.
“10 silver for each camel. I told you a bit of haggling is the least I can do”, I said and waited for the incoming praise. There was none. He stared at me in disbelieve. “What? Has my performance overwhelmed you?”
“There is no fucking way you paid just 10. 20 silver was a joke from our side, they should cost around 35 silver here”, he exclaimed and I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Read for yourself”, I said and gave him the documents from the seller.
“How? Why did he sell it to you for such a price? Are those camels ill or something?”, Adophis asked himself and checked on the camels for the next ten minutes. He ignored my remarks about my ‘noble’ aura, intimidating the merchant to keep the price low.
“Nothing, they are fine”, he finished his examination and stared in disbelieve at the documents.
“See, I told you. My impeccable charisma must have convinced him to accept the offer”, I teased Adophis, and he just shook his head in turn.
“That is amazing. And you didn’t even mess up like you did before in other things”, he said. “Now please help with fastening the loads on the camels we will buy food next before searching for my sister.”
We did just that. He had to correct my barrel, but I thought it was not bad for my first try. He took the reins and moved to the next destination.
We moved from shop to shop. Hana joined in between equally in disbelief about my success at haggling the price down to 10 silver. Marvel at my merchant skills commoners! We stocked the camels up with food and new equipment for camping and surviving the journey through the desert.
My legs hurt after running around the market for hours. The siblings could haggle dozen minutes with the sellers about the prices. They argued for a few copper coins. Who argues for copper coins? Anything you have to buy with copper coins shouldn’t be worth the metal in the coins anyway.
We reached the inn when the sun was setting down. Most of the things Noor wanted us to buy had been bought. A few minor things were too expansive or not available. Jalvund stood next to the door and took the reins from Adophis.
“You are a bit late. Your parents are worried about you. Get in dinner is being served”, he said, and I felt he was more on edge than usual for him. That meant bad news, doesn’t it?
We entered the inn, and I was surprised at the simple style. While far from our mansions, the place looked clean, welcoming and comfortable. The housekeeper did good work with organizing his business.
The siblings' parents were waiting at a table for us. The food stood there as well, already a bit cooled off.
“We were worried about you. What took you so long?”, Drusus asked. He was one of those quiet people but seemed to be on edge as well.
“They negotiated with the merchants for hours”, I explained and got glares from both siblings. “What? I brought the price down in a minute when buying the camels.”
A short explanation followed, and the parents were also surprised how I managed to get them for such a low price. The attention shifted to another topic after they put my success down as a random abnormality.
“Lucius, Jalvund found something out when searching for information on our pursuers”, Noor said and pushed a paper in front of me.
It was a badly drawn picture of myself and information on my person and looks. There was also a reward for finding me or bringing me to Alexandria. 2000 ducats for each task.
“Hmmm, it seems Alaric and teacher knew where I would land or are trying to find with all possible help available”, I was still a bit concerned about their conditions. Did they manage to survive the ambush? “Why are you three so much on edge? I would say this is good news.”
“We also found out our pursuers are in this city. There is a bounty on us. 100 ducats for each of us”, Noor said. “Dead or alive.”
It was silent at the table. Hana and Adophis looked the most distraught at the news. I couldn’t fault them. It is not nice to feel hunted like an animal.
“Again, no reason to fear the governor of Memphis”, I said.” Believe me, there is nothing he can do about it. You are part of my house as my servants.”
My attempt at reassuring them didn’t work at all they looked at me like a mother looked at her child, which proclaimed to protect its parents. A long-winded comparison, but fitting in my opinion nonetheless.
Jalvund entered the inn and sat down at our table as well. He checked our faces and dedicated his attention to the food. He spoke up with an empty bowl before him.
“So what do we do now?”, he asked us.
“We will leave at dawn. Through the desert as planned”, Noor said.
“Or we move with a caravan. They should be more than willing to escort us to Alexandria considering the reward they can get from my house”, I tried to make my point. “We would also have safety in numbers.”
“They could just hand over us while keeping you for the reward of the house”, Jalvund pointed out.
“Yes, they could, but they won’t. Attacking my servants means attacking my house, no merchant will dare”, I answered. Nobody picks a fight with me without paying for it. Well, except Helvallia, but she will pay as well in time.
“How sure are you about it?”, Noor asked, tensed.
“More sure than being eaten in the desert by some creature or being caught surrounded by your enemies in said desert”, I answered. “The caravan might be slower, but considering your pursuers already are here, means they have a way to move faster than we do.”
“Fuck. Let’s take the caravan. It should be safer for us to hide in some wagons, than risking being caught alone”, Noor said with great reluctance. “I hope your guess is correct.”
“I may be a greenhorn in many ways, but I know how to use my status as an advantage”, I reassured the people at the table.
We discussed the plan further. I would ask a caravan to take us along their trip. That should be the easy part. The family would hide in one of the wagons, while Jalvund and I would be at the front with the caravan leader.
If we manage to smuggle the family in, without their pursuers noticing the caravan should be able to finish its journey. There shouldn’t be any surprises then.
If they notice us, then they will trail the caravan and try to force us to give the family to them. This would be the dangerous part, because Quintus and my status may not be enough to deter them from attacking the caravan.
I also was not sure if Quintus could manage to survive such a fight. I liked the family, but Quintus’ life comes first. The wyvern shared an encouraging feeling with me. He wanted to reassure me of his combat ability, but I knew that he had no experience himself, except hunting a few small animals during the journey to Sais.
We went to our quarters, and I was surprised there was a room just for myself. I went to bed with mixed feelings about the coming days but was truly convinced to get all of them safely to Alexandria when sleep took over.
I would not fail them.
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“You have seen them in the city? Are you sure?”, the man asked the demi-human with a dog head.
“Yes, they are here. I am 100 percent sure about that”, the demi-human answered.
“Anything else or why are you keeping your mouth shut?” the man inquired. Finding their target after such a long chase was good news.
“Lucius Vespasianus. They are searching for him and the reward for bringing him back is 4000 ducats. I am quite sure he travels with them, but I don’t know why. I also can’t confirm if he is the person in question. He looks like the person in the picture, but it is the first time I got his scent”, the demi-human explained.
“That complicates things, but we will proceed as planned”, said the man. “I have the feeling that a deal with that Lucius should be possible.”
“Are you sure about that?”, the demi-human asked.
“Yes. A bow aimed at you or a knife at your throat can be really good a persuading someone”, the man said and dismissed the demi-human.
They would act as soon as their prey leaves the safety of the city.