“Fiat justitia ruat caelum.” - Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus

(Let justice be done though the heavens fall)

For a moment all was peaceful as Hank left the building. Dawn was breaking, so Hank paused, watching the early morning light creep into the camp. It was almost peaceful. The stillness and the soft light gave Hank a moment of pause to enjoy the natural beauty of the valley in the woods.

The peace shattered with a very loud and irate voice from the cabin Hank had just left. Hank didn’t care. He was tired. If he could just sit for a moment or two, he believed he would be able to catch up with the new day. He sat down, leaning against a tree. He didn’t notice dosing off.

Raised voices three steps away startled Hank awake.

Opening his eyes Hank saw a mountain of stuff laid out in front of him. Someone, it seemed, had been quite aggressive in their looting. Everything, except actual bodies and buildings, lay in piles across the clearing before Hank. What drew his attention however was Sabine standing on top of a chest and yelling at Jamie. She didn’t reach his shoulders. If she wasn’t so irate it would have been funny.

“What seems to be the matter?” Hank asked rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“She won’t add that chest to the loot.”

“He won’t acknowledge it’s our chest.” They both yelled at once.

“Jamie. It’s her chest. It’s why we came. My agreement requires I don’t look inside.” Still half asleep Hank replied

“Told you.” Sabine grumped.

“Which is the problem. The little arse who murdered Azar stole stuff from the bandits and put it in there when it wasn’t theirs to begin with.”

“You have no proof of that.” Sabine shouted in defence of her people.

“Yes, actually, I do. My daughter was here before you all. She knows not only that there are gold knives and forks from the chief’s house that are missing from the loot pile but also missing is a very detailed map of the entire continent. I should look into the chest to ascertain if someone placed it there, inadvertently of course.” Jamie affected an air of polite reason.

“You can’t.” She snapped back at him.

“Why not? I didn’t make any foolish promises to you.” He calmly responded.

“Jamie, by agreement they’re in charge of sharing the loot anyway, so why make a fuss. They just need to hand over the maps and books like they promised and what belongs to your people belongs to you just as what belongs to them belongs to them.” Jamie appeared about to protest loudly but Hank was not in the mood for any argument so he pushed on without waiting for a comment. “So, time to share the loot. Sabine, divide it up.”

“Let’s pack it all up, head back to camp and then we can divide the spoils.” Sabine seemed keen to move on but Hank sensed another agenda.

“No. Let's not.” Hank was firm and getting sick off what appeared to be concerted deception by the Wee people. “You divide it now. After all, everyone receiving a portion is present. Nobody needs comments from anyone else. Sabine share it out.”

“But that’s not the way my people does things. We let our leaders share it out as they deem necessary.” She protested.

“How convenient, I imagine there is a small fee for the service? Perhaps a number of evaluations need to be done by different learned people who all charge separately. Perhaps there is only five gems instead of six, perhaps one is flawed and we need to compensate the adjudicator. Perhaps some clan can prove previous ownership once sufficient time has passed to ‘find’ appropriate documentation. Perhaps there is a reason why you won’t divide this now. Five portions and everyone can have their say and share.” Jamie was bitting in his comments.

Marko actively scowled and started to open his mouth to protest. Hank knew where this could go decided there needed to be a reminder. “Yes, five portions, with Marko’s portion to be held over until his trial. Who knows what may happen to it there. Which is all irrelevant, or do I need to remind you, Sabine, about our discussion previously?”

Sabine sighed. “This will result in arguments with my people. But as you pointed out, what we want and what comes are two separate things.” Marko scowled but with the threat of execution he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Good, you’re starting to get the picture.” Hank was heartily sick of the Wee people’s awkward ‘customs’.

She started to share things out. First, all twelve books, were stacked in the pile for Hank along with two maps of small import. These bandits were obviously not the learned type. The eight functional tents came next, one for each portion with three set aside for future discussion. Hank used his inspection skills and saw something similar for each of the tents.

Inspect

Item :

Miylanese Military Tent

Owner :

For adjudication

Quality :

Poor

Durability :

Poor (not maintained)

Materials :

Water resistant canvas

Poor hemp rope stay ties

Rusted steel pegs.

Size :

8’ Long

4’ Wide (Two People)

3’ Tall

Attributes :

Designed for two sleeping people

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Must be suspended between two trees

Not designed for self standing

Hank was intimately knowledgeable about these tents. After all his character had used them when participating in the Miylanese education’s compulsory outdoor training years before Dave became Hank. He glanced at the tents still standing. They were all rotten through and useless. He thoughts were so far away he almost missed the one tent which was only ‘bad’ quality. He chose it on his turn.

The bandits had been stripped of weapons and poor leather armour. Each portion received five sets of armour. Hank’s inspect skill wasn’t much use here, he just didn’t know enough about armour. There was some haggling over who got which set before some mix and matching was conducted by Fritz and Jamie. They followed the same process for the swords and knives. Hank traded all his swords and knives in for the four bows and ‘paid off’ his book and map portion. The two extra sets of armour, knives and swords went to the Wee people in payment for an extra tent going to Jamie. Though he tried to down play its value by saying that he would tear it apart to make a real tent with the other he already had.

Nobody wanted any of the kitchen utensils. Hank, shrewdly, demonstrated a lack of interest but eventually handed over 28 Tsuki from his wallet for it all, so the others where happy. Having studied prices in Person for pots and pans, it was a bargain.

In a quick bit of negotiation Jamie, offered for his people to bury the dead bandits and take the prisoners back to Perison for questioning by the king’s constabulary in exchange for the last two usable tents.

Then the real negotiations started. There had been, surprisingly, a reasonable amount of money, gold, silver, gems, embroideries, valuables and bits and bobs. Everyone decided to just work out an equivalent Gohan price for each and then let people ‘buy’ the bits they wanted on a turn by turn basis. Coins to be distributed last. Hank really wished he knew more about various things as his inspect skill was sorely lacking and the way things were being selected convinced him others were getting bargains.

Hank watched Sabine and Jamie, discuss backwards and forwards the values of various items but Hank decided to take a different tack. When it came to his turn, he ‘bought’ the barrels of beer, wine, cider and grain that nobody else had wanted. He was quietly very pleased the others had overlooked all the consumables. In the end he ended up with most of the coin due to the low value of his portion.

The last item cleared was a small embossed doeskin folio containing ten All Duchies Bank cheques countersigned by the Duke of Sarness. The folio also contained a register.

Cheques were typically carried by wealthy people in lieu of carrying actual Suiden and most of the people gathered had never seen one before. Cheques could only be issued by a bank whose job it is to ensure that they weren’t’t forged. Consequently the banks charged high fees to create them. However, the bank refused to cash the cheque without the counter-signer being present. On first glance this reduced the usefulness of cheques. In reality it meant cheques traded easily and frequently, usually many times before they were converted. Consequently they were ridiculously hard to change or destroy unless returned to the issuing bank.

The problem was the register. It made the cheques worthless. When a cheque was converted or paid out, it normally would be destroyed by the bank. But the counter-signer could also pay out the value without going into a bank. So not all cheques were destroyed immediately. Consequently to ensure that they paid only once, those who issued cheques kept a register. In the register they listed all the cheques they had issued and which ones had been converted. More astute business people issued copies of the register to their trusted employees. This register was obviously such a copy. To the disappointment everyone present, all the attached cheques had been registered. They were worthless. If a clerk from the issuer, the All Duchies Bank, had been present they would be destroyed. However, there wasn’t such a clerk so Hank paid and kept both cheques and register.

Just as everyone started to leave and leave Hank decided to play his trump card. “Jamie, I would like to hire you to transport one full wagon load from here to wherever I plant my village. Oh and pickup is right now.”

There was a stunned silence from the Wee people but a wry smile from Jamie. “I wondered when people were going to think about transporting their portions.”

Everyone knew how much of the pillaged coin Hank had received consequently there was plenty of negotiation until the deal was finalised. Hank’s best tactic involved threatening to pay the Wee people to fetch a wagon. After all, he didn’t mind waiting. Jamie’s best response being nobody knew where they were going. It was a tough negotiation.

Hank was very relieved nobody brought up timeframe. He suspected helping to rescue Jamie’s daughter was positively affection the negotiations. Hank agreed to pay extra for one of Jamie’s people to drive the wagon on his behalf. Before turning to the Sabine and offering to transport her’s, Fritz’s and Marko’s portions. Well at least the bits that fit. This wiped the smug grin off Jamie’s face as he realised the agreement was for a ‘full wagon load’, not Hank’s stuff loaded in a wagon.

Once again there was some tough negotiation until Jamie pointed out four full portions of loot wouldn’t fit in a single wagon. So Hank agreed to include about 40% of the Wee people’s portions for the value of two sets of armour each. Then Jamie, negotiated to transport the rest for a tent and a set of armour from each of the Wee people.

After the bandits where buried, and the wagons loaded. It was one very full Wanderer’s wagon train. Hank was surprised to see Jamie himself jump up next to Hank on the wagon he had hired. “So back to the ford.”

“Yep, we have a forthcoming rendezvous with the rest of the Wee people. My fancy way of saying I have to help them cross the ford. You do know where the ford is, right?” Hank replied.

The tall thin man snorted. “Do leopards have spots. It’s the only way across the Rhea for two or three hundred miles in any direction. Everyone knows where the ford is.”

“Anyway we need to get there, have your trial and then be on our merry way north.” Hank said.

“My trial?” Jamie raised an eyebrow.

“You wanted it.” Hank reasoned.

“No I wanted him executed. You wanted the trial. So now without it you won’t have a leg to stand on in your village.” He changed subject. “Now were you aware that there are a number of ladies that we rescued. Most were raped and abused, so my wife has taken them into her care.” The wagon moved off after the rest of the caravan.

“Yes I saw.” Hank’s voice saddened. It was a horrific ordeal he imagined. He really should have introduced himself. He just didn’t know how to communicate with someone raped and brutalised for weeks on end. He admitted to himself that he had chickened out. Saviour or not he didn’t know and he wouldn’t know what to say to either opinion. His thought worked around. Should he talk to them. He needed towns people. He couldn’t council them. They might need a home and a fresh start. How do bring that up.

Jamie broke the morose silence. “By the way, that was quite audacious of you to re-lease a third of my wagon in front of me.”

“Hmm, which reminds me, how much would it cost to get you to move say a third of a wagon from Perison to the ford?” Hank snapped out of it with a start.

Jamie named his price.

Hank thought about it for a moment or two before responding. “Drop two Gohan from your price and you have a deal.”

“No, but I’ll take 1 Gohan and 5 of my offer and that’s final.” Jamie smiled back.

“Done.” Hank shook hands before handing over the coins.

“Agreed.” Jamie said taking the coins.

“To answer your question. Our first deal was for you to transport one full wagon from here to anywhere I establish a village within fifteen hundred miles, driver included.”

“Yes.” There was a note of caution in Jamie’s voice.

“Immediately, self explanatory.” Hank waited for a nod. “But you missed the ‘full’ part.”

“Ha ha. I didn’t even see that until you pointed it out before. What’s your angle this time?” Jamie smiled.

“You might have missed part B.” Hank smirked.

“There’s a part B?” Jamie’s focus sharpened.

“Yep. I have some items in Person that I also want you to transport to wherever my town is established so I have just paid for you to top my wagon up at the ford.” Hank smiled.

“Wait just a minute you have not paid my people to babysit your stuff.” Jamie replied sharply.

“No I haven’t. Which is why I still have enough to pay a reasonable bonus if you do.” Hank paused and looked out of the corner of his eye at Jamie. “Say until the spring.”

“Hah. That’s chancing your arm a bit. Not going to happen for less than 2 Suiden.” Jamie laughed at the effrontery of the suggestion.

“1 and 4 and it’s a deal.” Hank responded.

“Not likely but for 1 and 9 I’ve got you covered.” Jamie countered.

“Toss in one of those leather armour sets and you have a deal.” Hank tried.

“Done. What do you want with all this stuff, anyway?” Jamie was actually glad to get one of the useless thing off his hands.

“I'm starting a village. Figured twelve suits of armour would be a great start for the militia. On the wild frontier, bows are of more use than swords, hence the swap earlier. Besides people have their own knives.”

“You know most of the armour is rubbish.” Jamie frowned.

“Guessed as much, but if I can find a leather worker, he, or she, could make five or six suits will relative ease. However the real prize is there are six distinct types of leather armour. Taking them apart and mending them will allow us to get patterns for those designs.” Jamie’s eyebrow rose as Hank continued. “I have you to thank for my large pile of cheap food and drink plus transport to my village. What use is there for gold and silver on the frontier, survival is key.”

“You’re going to need coin if you have a village, lots of it. People won’t travel to unknown places without the prospect of payment.” Jamie was sceptical. “Besides, I suspect you don’t know what you have.”

Hank paused. He didn’t know what other people saw when they inspected things. It was certain you only ‘saw’ what you knew. He guessed that was why the Wee people made sure the right people were present during loot allocation. To ensure they wouldn’t be out played. Hank stomach sank. Perhaps some items he had traded for weren’t as valuable as he thought. He couldn’t dwell on it. What was done was done.

“But back to your previous point. I will need gold, and plenty of it, but not today. Today I have picked up a lot of useful things. If I could see my way clear to acquiring another tent or two, it would be perfect.”

The rest of the trip passed in subdued conversation. An undertone of tension remained, undoubtably due to death of Azar, which was playing on the minds of all, though for different reasons.