306. LONGSTRIDER: TABITHA

“Hello, Tabitha. Wiremu. I was sorry to hear about Warren,” Longstrider strode into the room, followed by Snake. It was only those two. No guards.

I wasn’t surprised he had figured out who Wiremu was. Snake mostly had it figured out anyway. Lee acted surprised, but Ruku and Wiremu didn’t react. Modrica was her stoic self.

“Adrian. Susan,” I greeted them, getting a scowl from Snake at the use of her first name.

“You are approaching us as equals,” Longstrider said, “Has the student surpassed the teacher?”

“Isn’t that the aim of teaching?” I replied. “I suspect it is only in some areas, though.”

Longstrider grinned, “Really? You have learned some modesty?”

“Not a lot,” Wiremu said.

I gave him a glare.

Longstrider smiled, then said, “I see you two have a good working relationship. I have met Captian Lee, but I have not met the other two here.”

“My name is Ruku.”

Modrica was in a full-face helmet. Her only response was one of the low growls that only orcs can do.

I smiled and said, “She’s not one for words,” without introducing her.

Longstrider’s eyes flicked between each of us. He is always assessing. Then he said, “What you missed, Snake, was that those four all have affinities. If you focus your Spiritual Perception through the Skill, you will pick up a sense of what they are. Those two are solid, but Wiremu is hotter. Ruku is a liquid of some sort. Tabitha is different to anything I have sensed before, but I am sure it is an affinity.”

“What Skill is that?” Wiremu asked.

Longstrider smiled, “All information comes at a cost.” He turned to me, “Snake said you want to establish an underground organisation to free slaves.” He pulled out the enchanted slate. “This is interesting work but incomplete. I don’t doubt you have a full set of plates to do the job. Rumours are already coming out of the Free Republic about this and about the famous Wiremu Hunter visiting there. I could be rewarded handsomely if I handed you over to them.”

“I don’t think you are that interested in more coins,” I said.

Longstrider just raised an eyebrow.

“I think back to the jobs you had me do when I worked for you. Half of them were for information only. Even now, you say information comes at a cost, but you are not necessarily talking about coins. When I arrived in the Kingdom, I had an idea to become a travelling information broker because that is what I saw in you. You talk a lot about coins, but they are not your main focus.”

“You were always quite observant,” Longstrider said. “I hoped with some experience and more skills under your belt, you would end up in charge of the thieves. That was the main reason I sent you to the kingdom. Not because of some minor stuff up here, but to get experience. I expected you back in a couple of years, but then you didn’t arrive in Hrothgar as expected, and I lost track of you. Things would have been different if I had known about your affinity.”

“I am sure you were heartbroken.”

“I invested a lot of time and skills into you. I had no return on that investment, but now here you are.”

“That’s garbage. I returned plenty of that ‘investment’. I am here now, but not to help you.”

Longstrider looked toward Wiremu and raised an eyebrow.

“If I thought you would betray us to the imperials, we wouldn’t be having a meeting,” I said threateningly.

“I have been in charge in this city for over five decades. Many have tried to muscle their way in. Four Affinity Users is a first, I will admit. I am almost interested in seeing how it will go. However, it would waste a lot of lives and draw attention we don’t want, which is why I am here having a meeting.”

“You are also controlling the information,” Ruku interjected. “That is why there are only the two of you. You don’t want Wiremu’s identity to leak.”

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Longstrider smiled, “Information is valuable.” He looked back at me, “You have collected some very interesting and talented people, Tabitha.”

“I don’t collect people,” I responded.

“Nonetheless, the quality of the people around you says a lot about your leadership.”

“That is the first error I think I have seen from you,” I said. “All these people are not gathered around me. We are gathered around Wiremu.”

That got a double eyebrow raise, and even Snake reacted. “The famous Wiremu Hunter and his crusade against slavery. This is really what you are here for?” Then he had an aha moment, “The quarry to the west of us. You did that?”

Wiremu nodded. “I spent three years as a prisoner in that quarry.”

“I remember Quarry Worker was your highest class. I really want to know how you summoned a nest of gargoyles, but I will not ask.”

“All information has value,” Wiremu said.

That got a smile out of Longstrider, “Maybe we can deal as equals.” Longstrider turned back to me, “I have two major concerns. Snake raised the first. How are you going to avoid Imperial attention? The second is what is in it for us if we let you operate here.”

“The second is easy to answer,” I said. “Information. Nobody pays attention to slaves. You can have first-hand access to freed slaves, many of whom will be angry at their previous owners. Many of them might wish to seek alternative employment acting against their previous owners. I came into this city with twenty people in my employ, seven of whom were ex-prisoners at the quarry, and thirteen were ex-slaves. Some of them used to work for you and were sloppy or unlucky. I got up to speed on your organisation very quickly.”

“I can see that being very useful. It also will explain why Pedro came knocking. It also tells me you took over the quarry before the gargoyles. That is very intriguing. However, what about the first concern?”

“The first concern is trickier,” I said. “Breaking slave bonds is going to be noticed by their master. Killing masters will be even more noticeable. Some slaves can be purchased legitimately and then released. They could work off the debt in more equitable ways.”

Wiremu interjected, “Bear in mind that freeing slaves is not cheap. We will provide the enchanting slates, but it takes monster cores or a Jouneyman-level enchanter to power them. The amount of energy required is dependent on the level of the slave class. We anticipate there will be a debt to be paid either by the ex-slave or their family. What we are not interested in is this debt being slavery in every way except the class.”

“It is one of the reasons Lee is here. The Free Republic will manage the debt,” I said. “Things get murkier for slaves that cannot be bought. The price of slaves will also rise as they become less available.”

“We have already seen that with reduced Taskmasters,” Longstrider said. “What you are proposing will take a lot of upfront capital and years to pay it back. Who is fronting up with that?”

“That is not information you can afford,” I said.

“I wouldn’t assume that if I were you,” Longstrider said.

I ignored that. “We are not looking to free every slave all at once. This is a long-term operation that will need to spread to various cities. What we want to do in Yelets is a pilot scheme proving its effectiveness and profitability. Other operations will then be able to be started by various people who are not us.”

“There might be some start-up funding available,” Wiremu said.

The idiot. Does he want to stay broke for the rest of his life? Hang on. Maybe he is not an idiot. Start-up funding with interest accruing over the years to pay it back could be lucrative. It is high risk as the empire will shut them down where possible.

Longstrider seems to have had the same thoughts as I did, “Interest rates will need to be kept reasonable,” I said, dampening some of the enthusiasm. Then I continued, “It will take a varied approach for the non-legal.”

“Illegal?” Longstrider clarified unnecessarily.

“We have forged bills of sales,” I said and handed over one for Longstrider to look at. Interestingly, he passed it directly to Snake. Did she have experience in this? “Alcohol and some mental confusion should do the rest.”

“Mental confusion?”

Wiremu tossed over a small pebble of his Phantasm (mineral), which both Longstrider and Snake were fascinated with.

“Those could be for sale while we are in town,” I said before Wiremu could give them away.

“Interesting,” Longstrider said. “You know the empire will shut these businesses down where they can.”

“That is why they have to stay illegal. Having said that, there is no law against a business funding the release of slaves,” I said, having looked it up.

“No law yet,” Longstrider clarified. “I am sure the enchanted slates will be illegal soon.” I didn’t disagree. “You have answered my concerns to some degree. The empire will still come hunting. Inquisitor Cooper has always been worse than Jones in figuring things out.”

Wiremu started, “The reason…”

“THE REASON,” I interrupted, “ is simple but will cost you.”

Wiremu looked a little sheepish at that. Then he perked up, “For some extra fees, I can give you a similar advantage.”

Longstrider was looking carefully at us, “I am interested. You have only been in town three days. Cooper has been here for almost five years. How did you find the secret so fast?”

“Let's just say Wiremu has some unusual Skills,” I said.

“I would be interested in talking about those as well,” Longstrider said. “OK, you have sold me on this for now. Let's talk details, and profit sharing.”