As we hurried off to do our shopping for tools and other items of import for Segerick’s people, I noticed that Tikter was still following us. Why? I had no clue. I thought for certain he would hurry back to camp because he was missing happy hour. I was wrong, though. Great, now I would have to concoct some bullshit cover story to explain our purchases, and his presence would limit the quantities of things that we could buy.

There were a couple of blacksmiths that had set up shop in the port. We headed to the closest one. The proprietor was an older orc with burn scars up and down his well-developed arms. Why not use protective gear? I guess that wouldn’t be orcish enough. Some of the layers of scars looked like they had been burned and then burned again several times. I suppose he thought they made him look experienced and tough. I, on the other hand, thought they made him look like an idiot.

He was serving a customer when we arrived so I stood to the side trying to be patient. My patience was an act, though. I needed to get these transactions done as quickly as possible because we were going to be sent out again the next day. All three of us could use a bit of rest, unencumbered by the constant state of alertness we needed to practice out in the field.

Thankfully, he finished with the other customer quickly. He turned to me with a greeting.

“Welcome to my forge,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“We could use some tools,” I replied. “A couple of normal axes, a saw, and a couple of pickaxes.”

“I think I have just the things for you,” he said, turning to move towards the storage area back behind his forge. “I’ll be right back.”

“What do you need the tools for?” Tikter asked me.

That’s a good question, I thought. Then, I had a sudden burst of inspiration. We had brought back gold and uncut gems. I could make this work.

“Well, you saw the gold and gems we brought back, right?” I asked.

“I most certainly did.” he said.

“What are we going to do if we come across an exposed seam of gold up on the mountain? The gold we found was in a stream but it had to be washed in from somewhere. People pretend that slaves are where the real money is at, but let’s say we find a seam like that. We could make more pulling gold out of the mountain than we ever could capturing slaves. It takes up less space. We don’t have to feed it. It won’t die on us halfway back to Shroud Hallow. That’s what all of this is about, right? Getting rich with as little effort as possible? If we do find a seam we can bring the whole company up and we can likely make much more profit digging in the mountain than we can wandering all over risking life and limb trying to capture a few slaves.”

“That’s actually a great idea,” he replied. “It would be much safer with all of us together. But why do you need the axes and saw?”

“Because we might need to make a path to wherever the seam is. We also might have to clear brush away from the seam itself. We have to have room to work after all.”

“Now that you explain it, that makes a lot of sense,” he replied. “But if you can’t find the gold, aren’t you just wasting a bunch of your money?”

“This whole trip is one big gamble,” I replied. “If we don’t find the gold then yeah, we will be wasting quite a bit of money. But maybe we can resell the tools and get a little of that back. But the payoff if we can get a good strike is worth it.”

“Oh, I agree with that,” he said. “After all, you are risking your money, not the company’s.”

An orc with a deeply generous spirit, Tikter was not.

By this time, the blacksmith had returned with an assistant carrying the items that we had specified. There were two axes with obviously new heads on them, a one person saw the length of my arm, and a couple of pickaxes as well. If Tikter wasn’t around, I likely would have tried to purchase more items, but there was only so far I could stretch my cover story.

I examined the items. They all looked like they were in decent shape, but the pickaxes had obviously been used at some point and repaired.

“These will do,” I said, turning to the blacksmith. “It looks like the pickaxes are used, but they have clearly been inspected and repaired by you. How much do you want for the lot.”

“Fifty gold,” he replied.

Fifty gold? If we were back in Greynard, everything together would have been much less than ten.

“That’s a little too rich for my budget,” I said. “I guess we can go to the other smith and see if we can get a better deal.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” he said. “You are supposed to bargain.”

Ah, yes. Bargaining was an ancient game. I explained that back on the continent, everything together would be less that ten gold anywhere but Shroud Hallow. He countered with the fact that ore had to be shipped in to the island and that added expense to everything. I agreed with him but expressed skepticism that the costs of the ore created the need for a five hundred percent markup. He allowed that his initial offer was perhaps a tad optimistic. I offered him twenty. That visibly angered him, although I wasn’t certain how much of that anger was for show. Back and forth we went, wasting my precious time. I slowly inched my price upwards. He equally slowly offered some concessions on his asking price. We finally met at thirty gold. It was, after all, a seller’s market. As I counted out payment with a pained look on my face, he looked more than a little gleeful. I didn’t care, though. After a self-imposed exile in a village with no amenities except squalor and misery, he deserved to make something for his efforts. Well, that and I absolutely needed these tools. I had promised Segerick that I would bring some back and I tried very hard to be a man of my word. The blacksmith must have felt a degree of goodwill towards me as he had thrown in a utilitarian belt knife to sweeten the deal.

Then, it was off to one of the general stores. There, we bought a whole list of things -whetstones to keep the tools sharp, a larger quantity of lamp oil in skin bladders, some thin line and fish hooks, a quantity of salt, and a couple of large tarps. Once again, prices were exorbitant but the merchant was an adherent to the take it or leave it philosophy. He was not a bargainer, which I appreciated. The price was the price, and the price was high, close to another twenty gold.

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“What do you need all that stuff for?” Tikter asked.

“The oil is for our lanterns,” I said. “What if we have to go into a cave to find the seam? I am getting sick or preserved food and thought I might set some trotlines to get something fresh to eat. And you won’t let us take our tent, so we can at least use the tarps to fashion a crude shelter, something that we dearly missed on our last trip out.”

“That makes sense, but why so much salt?”

“Some seasoning is better than no seasoning. And if we catch too much food to eat at one time we can use the salt to preserve some of it freeing us up from having to forage every day.”

“What, our food isn’t good enough for you?” he asked.

“It’s fine, but if you tell me that all you have been eating up to this point is stuff that we brought with us, I am inclined to call you a liar.”

“Alright, you’ve got me there,” he said sheepishly.

“Does everything make sense now?” I asked him.

“Very much so,” he responded. “Since I have been so helpful to you all today, I was hoping you would buy me a drink.”

“How much does a skin of that nastiness you and Caider drink cost?” I inquired.

“I think it is quite tasty,” he said. “It is a gold piece per skin if you return the skin.”

“Do you have an empty with you?”

“Yes,” he said. “I do.”

I handed him a gold piece. “Thanks for your help,” I said, wondering what exactly I was paying him for. “We are headed back to camp.”

He immediately hurried off through the muck with a spring in his step. The three of us, however, just loaded up our purchases and headed back up the mountain. He would have to find his own way back. If he was waylaid on the way, I wouldn’t be bawling my eyes out over it.

Although there was a lot of traffic on the roadway this close to town, nobody bothered us on the way back to camp. Just because we weren’t bothered, though, didn’t mean that people that we passed were friendly. Quite the contrary, really. I looked forward to being back on the streets of Greynard where people would stop and chat for a little bit. Well, most people. There were still a few families that were avoiding me there.

We made it into camp and stowed our gear. Caider saw what we were carrying and I had to go back through the whole digging for gold excuse again. By the time I was done, he was really excited about the proposition. That wasn’t a tremendous surprise because I knew he did not envision himself doing too much digging. Just as I was wrapping up my explanation, Tikter wandered back into camp. He held up the skin of alcohol that he had procured and smiled at Caider. Caider decided we had talked enough and started heading over towards Tikter. Not doing anything of import must create a powerful thirst in a person. Before he finished walking away, though, he delivered a parting shot to us over his shoulder.

“You have been gone so long that you have been missing your guard shifts. You will each take one tonight so the others can get some rest. Then you can head back out tomorrow morning.”

So the others can get some rest, I thought seething inside. What in the hell did he think things were like far up the mountain? That’s right, he had no clue because he was spending his days lazing around at camp instead of doing any of the work he constantly exhorted others to do. What a monumental ass. I decided then and there that if there was ever some way I got the chance to return the favor, I would. Maybe I would find a gold mine even if I didn’t actually find a gold mine, if you understand what I am saying. There are a lot of dangers out in the wilderness. Accidents happen from time to time. Initially, I thought I needed to preserve his life because he was the person we had our deal with but by this point our deal had become common knowledge among the members of the company. I thought we had developed enough goodwill with the fellows we gamed with every night that nobody would try to screw us too badly.

Aleyda looked confused when Caider walked away. “Did he just say that we have to stand watch?” she asked, clearly having understood at least a little bit of what he said.

“That he did,” I replied.

“I’ll take middle watch,” she said. Then she headed to our tent to try to get some sleep.

“Do you want first or last watch?” I asked Bowen.

“I’ll go first,” he said.

I nodded to him and went to get some shuteye as well.

It took me a little while to fall asleep. After so much time in the wilderness, the sounds of other people talking or laughing, of moving around the camp kept me on edge. Finally, I was able to fall asleep but it seemed that I was being shaken awake only a short time later. I woke up and noticed Aleyda standing over me.

I got up without saying anything to her, clapping her on the shoulder as I passed. Then I walked out into the night and started patrolling the camp.

For some reason, Caider had concluded that having one guard up and active at all times was enough. Amazingly, as far as I know, nothing had barged into camp intent on raiding the food supply. I thought that only having one person up and guarding the camp at night was the height of folly, but as long as nothing happened while we were here I would let others handle the fallout when something inevitably did occur.

I spent my watch, which was about three hours long, walking around the camp trying to keep warm. Contrary to my dire predictions, after the grass had been cleared from the meadow the tick problem largely went away. At one point I wandered over to where the single slave captured by the company was being kept. He had wanted to talk and there was no time like the present.

When I peered into the stockade, though, he was sleeping, curled into a fetal position to preserve his warmth. He didn’t stir as I approached and he was obviously having a nightmare as I heard soft whimpering sounds and fragments of what I thought might have been someone’s name. Having a nightmare? He was living a nightmare. Caider hadn’t even bothered to issue him a blanket. That decision was an interesting way to protect potential profit. If the poor guy didn’t die from exposure, I would be surprised. Honestly, maybe it would be better if he did.

Soon enough, the sun was coming up and the camp started to stir. I walked back to the tent to find Bowen and Aleyda already awake. We silently packed our things and then walked over to draw some more food from the company’s stockpile. We took as much as we could reasonably get away with. I planned to leave some with Segerick and his people as a buffer against a bad hunting day.

After lashing down the tools to our packs, we started to head back out of camp.

Caider was already up and when he saw us leaving he walked over to meet us by the trail.

“Weren’t you going to say goodbye or get permission to depart?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “I was just following your orders from last night. As you have said many times, we all have to work hard to make this venture successful.” I think I may have put a little too much emphasis on the word all.

“You go out and find that gold,” he said, greed dripping from his voice. “Once you find it, you come get the rest of us. Keep looking until you find it. It’s better that you don’t come back at all than coming back empty handed.”

I didn’t know how to fashion a reply to that. Anything that I decided to say would end up coming back to bite me in the end, so I just nodded at him and we turned and headed down the trail out of camp. I was distracted as we walked away, my mind occupied with plotting my revenge. I doubt if Caider fell that anyone in the company would miss him much except for Tikter, and maybe Yahg if he had a soft spot for family.