Processing all the loot we had brought took some time. Under the watchful eyes of their mistress the clerks of the treasury didn't dare to cut any corners. Everything was weighed with great precision and the results were noted into the books. There were actual, real books! That might not sound like something I should get excited about but I had gotten so used to scrolls by now that I barely ever even thought of books any more. They probably were reserved for important things, like tax records. Scrolls were much easier to make and handle after all and they were more than sufficient for everyday use.
I probably should have been more appreciative of the numbers adding up in the ledgers, but I just couldn't find it in me. Like I had told the old woman, blood had been spilled to win this fortune and sadly it was not only that of our enemies. That the minister of the treasury was watching me with hawk's eyes ever since I had mentioned the ghoul king didn't exactly help either. I didn't dare relax under her scrutiny. At least I wasn't the only one who felt like this. The clerks were on their tip toes as well, although most likely for slightly different reasons.
Kaele was sitting with the others by now after watching the proceedings with great interest for a while. Zul'gar on the other hand was directing the arriving pack animals and carriers. I had no clue if he had been to the treasury before, but he certainly knew how to manage a caravan. Everything was proceeding quite smoothly under his direction. Finally the clerks convened to tally up everything and the lady of the treasury herself signed off on the document before presenting it and with it the final tally to me.
I swallowed hard as I saw the number and handed the document to my sister. She stopped playing with her familiar for a moment, much to the displeasure of the cat, and her eyes widened as well. The old forgeborn nodded as she saw our reaction. “Sadly war can be a quite profitable endeavor. At least for some.” She shook her head and I agreed with a solemn nod. “Better us than them in this particular case, but I suspect you will be spending some of that coin on the mercenary market before leaving our wonderful city once again.”
Kaele in turn handed the document to Zul'gar before returning her attention to the slightly miffed cat. The old caravan hand looked at the numbers as well and whistled before handing the piece of parchment back to me. At the same time he started doing some math. I could tell by the faraway look in his eyes as well as the way he started mumbling to himself while counting something or other on his fingers. Finally he finished. “I'm not sure how much you will spend on mercenaries, but we will need about two thirds of our pack animals for the coin on the return trip.” He paused as something else occurred to him. “We will need to invest into some sturdy chests as well.”
That put a little smile on my face. “Yes. We better do that.” No need to tempt those of weak character or questionable morale. A few sturdy chests with good locks would more likely than not save us plenty of trouble. “Don't sell off any animals yet though. If we hire some mercenaries we might need them to carry additional supplies.” He nodded and left us again to take care of things.
The forgeborn chuckled at our exchange. A most curious metallic sound. “Yes, our coins are quite heavy, especially if you have to deal with such sums, but believe me, it would be worse if we used a dozen different silver or gold coins like the member kingdoms of the Council of Kings instead of our iron crowns.” She laughed out loud. “The numbers wouldn't be any smaller and the coins heavier.” She handed me a quill and pointed at the document in my hands. “Now my dear, you need to sign off on this as well. Both on your copy and on ours.”
I couldn't disagree with that. I accepted the quill and signed both copies of the document. With these signatures at least one big load was off my shoulders. It would soon be replaced by another before long, but those were worries for another day. I handed the quill back together with one copy of the treasury document. The old lady handed both along to one of her clerks. Then she pointed towards the giantess. “Gash'zur will handle the rest and don't worry about strong chests. I think with a transaction of this size we can afford to let you have some of ours. It will take us some time though to mint the coins.”
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She chuckled again at my surprise before explaining. “We don't keep that amount of coin on hand. That would make us too tempting a target for some of the more illustrious and ambitious thieves. Most of the iron we keep in stock are big and heavy trade bars.” She laughed out loud and some of the clerks around joined in. “Only a very determined thief would even think of lugging one of those off. And I don't think that there are any that could take more than two.”
The treasury quieted down again as the giantess led away most of the clerks. They probably had to melt down all the loot we brought and mint those coins as the lady had mentioned. The old forgeborn started to move as well. After a moment she paused though and motioned for me and Kaele to follow her. “Anyway, we probably should head to the palace now. We will use one of the underground passages. Making our way through the crowd topside would take too long.” I waited only long enough for my sister to join me before following the old woman's lead.
These underground passages below the treasury, the palace and the plaza in between them was truly labyrinthine. It was even worse than the city above. It didn't take me long to lose any sense of orientation. They had been designed on purpose like that. At least that was my conclusion. It probably was just another defensive measure. I only realized that we were really approaching the palace when the guards, or to be precise their armor and arms, changed. The royal guard wore a most curious kind of plate mail. It was not made of metal, Instead it was fashioned out of enchanted volcanic glass.
Wearing these suits of shining, subtle glowing, black glass turned them into faceless, hulking, black giants. Only their horns peeked out from their helmets, giving them any individuality at all. The blades of their halberds were made from the same material. That was not surprising as it allowed for incredibly sharp blades. Usually it would have been too brittle to be of any use but the enchantments, countless runes carved into each and every one of the interlocking plates, took care of that. I stood taller than most and yet they were as impressive as they were intimidating to my eyes.
Their sight reminded me of the things that still lay ahead of me. One of them especially. My brother served with these guards now as well after all. Had we maybe even passed him already without me noticing? I thought about it for a moment. No. None of the horns had looked right. And I didn't even have any idea if he was in the palace at all. He might be with the king and the army in the field after all. In fact that would be for the best, but I doubted that I would be so lucky.
I reached out for my sister and squeezed her hand. “Are you sure you want us to go through with this?” We hadn't talked about it explicitly, but everything we had said and done implied that she wanted me to follow in mother's footsteps. Still I felt I had to address the issue one last time. I had to talk about it. “Are you sure that you don't want to inherit mother's domain and wear her circlet? I'm damn sure you would do pretty well.”
She squeezed back and shook her head. “No. I'm not the women our people need right now. They need you. I can't carry that burden. I'm not a warrior like you and a warrior is what the people need right now. They need someone who can stand firm in these troubled times, someone who can weather the hardships that are sure to still lie ahead of us.” She paused and almost missed a step as well. “I can't do that. I couldn't even face our brother and he is an obstacle that either one of us most certainly would have to face. He won't just give up on becoming the new lord of Caer'zoth and you know it. If I were to claim mother's circlet he would object and sweep me aside. I just can't stand up to him. And someone has to stand up to him. All the anger that is driving him would bring nothing but ruin to our people. That mustn't happen!”
I squeezed her hand once more and pulled her a little closer so she could lean against my side. “I understand.” I did indeed understand. I would shoulder this burden for her. At least for now. Maybe I could abdicate some time later when things had calmed down again. We would see. “I will shoulder this burden for our people.” I took a deep breath, gripped the heft of my glaive a little tighter and started to ascend the stairs ahead of us at the side of my sister.