“But you can? Figure them out I mean, even Lemure boots?” Tia asked doubtfully. The man got an incredibly sly look to his feature before he quickly looked around. Then he leaned in real close to Tia. She took a step back.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna touch ya. I just want to whisper one line to you that will prove that I know how to work with Lemure boots.

  Tia decided to trust him though he looked a bit like an ogre. She leaned in.

  “It’s all in the temperature and steel. Get it out of the room, you don’t want it anywhere near hot sap,” he said with a satisfied chuckle and leaned back into stool.

  “Very good, I’m impressed,” Tia said sincerely and noticed the affect her praise was having on the man and she realized that this was an opportunity. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a newly made toe guard that she was using to sell the new feature.

  “Do you know what this is, Vern?” He smiled when the pretty girl remembered his name.

  “Can’t say that I do.”

  “It is the new toe protection my brother and I developed, it goes over your toe like this and is sewn into the sole in a manner that only someone who is familiar with our techniques can do.”

  “Are you thinking that I should buy a bunch of those and try to sell them to someone else?”

  “Heavens no, that would be too hard to get down here from Riverhouse,” she said and paused while she formulated her plan. That actually had been her plan, but when he guessed, she passed it off as a nonstarter. In order to set up a new market for other products she was going to have to put something out there that they hadn’t thought of.

  “Well, ya was thinking of something, don’t leave me in suspense,” Vern prompted.

  “Well, you might not be interested, but we are looking for a craftsman that knows our system to buy sheets of our specialty sap and make other things with it. It would be a tough go at first but there is no limit as to what could be made from it.” She paused and scanned his features as he pondered the possibilities. By the glint in his eye, he saw potential.

  “I do see a small probability of making a fair amount of coin off of such a venture. What would one do in order to be considered as a potential craftsman or distributor of such a product,” Vern said, proving that by reaching for more than simple artisanship he too was a businessman.

  “A distributorship could be a very viable option. My uncle and I would have to come by your shop tomorrow and have you work some product for us so that we can be confident in your abilities. This will have a Lemure stamp on it as well as Riverhouse Cobblers stamp, which is a division of Lemure Boots. Then for the distributorship end of things, we will have to gauge your warehouse viability.”

  “Warehouse viability? I’m not sure what that means but if it’s a fancy way of seeing if I have space and a loading dock the answer is yes. So that will not be an issue I assure you. My da left me a couple hundred square in one of the brownstones in Smithtown. I better go clean up my shop then if you’re going to be coming by, the earlier the better seeing as how we got the fair and all and by noon I got a pace going that I don’t like to get interrupted. Take Butane Street into the city proper until you come to Poly Styrene where you’ll take a right. Cross the street and I am the center door of three. I actually have the whole back, but have to use a hallway to get by two other businesses. Like is said, come early,” Vern said as he reached for his pouch.

  “No, Vern, this one is on me.”

  “Seriously? I’ve had more’n a couple?”

  “On me I said. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She reached out and shook his hand as he left. Then a few of the shop owners came and sat with her trying to get to know the new rep. She established some good rapport with people that would help her down the road, it also seemed to put her uncle at ease.

  “I’m not sure about this, Tia,” Rowen said as they made their way to Poly Styrene and the craftsmen’s shop.

  “What’s the big deal, Uncle Rowen. He was a nice guy and seemed on the up and up.”

  “Then why, in all my travels have I never heard of him?” Rowen argued.

  “He’s freelance, like a specialist they call in for tougher jobs. Besides…he knew the secrets of working the sap, maybe we can use him,” Tia said hoping he would just back off and see what played out.

  They crossed the street and saw Vern waiting outside his shop smiling because they had managed to come early.

  “Mister Rowe,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “I hope it was all good,” Rowen said in an upbeat tone. “Vern is it?” Vern nodded. “My partner is under the impression that we may be able to help each other.”

  “We might, we might at that. Follow me please,” he said and turned into the long but well-lit hallway. It opened into a foyer where business was conducted and several plaques of accomplishment dressed the walls. Rowen leaned in and read the name Vernon LeKyter.

  “You’re the Vernon LeKyter who won the Leathermasters competition four years running, down in Lavonne?”

  “That I am, would still be winning it today if I wasn’t so tired of making the trip down to the competition. So I was thinking about our little conversation last night and I want you to know…I ain’t looking to become another cobbler. I could never stay focused on one thing like that to make a living at it, plus I don’t think my fingers could handle attaching the soles for too long.”

  “That does hurt your hands, try to keep up with Tic and yours hands cramp all night long. I am thinking of something much different than that,” she said as she pulled several sheets of sap out of her pouch and laid them on his workbench. Make something with that, other than a shoe that is.”

  “Like what?” Vern asked, used to having a customer express their need and not him coming up with something.

  “I don’t know, something small, but something that could be really useful to either you, or the city,” Tia said hearing the clopping of hooves in the open-air workshop. She liked it, it was nice, and she could see how he could close it up for inclement weather.

  “How much damage do you think it could stand?” Vern asked.

  “I don’t know, what are you thinking?”

  “Well, if it can hold up like steel, even for a little while I could try to make a set of horse shoes. It would quiet down the city and might give a bit more traction for the horses. They slip all of the time.”

  “I would be very interested in seeing the results of that experiment. Let us go work the fair today and we’ll come back this afternoon to help you.”

  It was agreed that with the fair, they would do their testing that late afternoon.

  “What is bothering you?”

  “I thought you were going to sell him some shoes?” Rowen said.

  “Not this time around. If this works, I will give him a pair with a toe guard. Tic and I talked about it and have decided that we are the exclusive manufacturer of this type of product. I am trying to find the people who can utilize it and we will simply bring stock to them to work. This is big, trust me.”

  “Look, we don’t even know if you’re going to be able to handle this route, don’t you think it is too soon to be making long term connections?” Rowen said knowing that he had crossed a line somewhere though he didn’t know where.

  “What are you talking about? This is already my route. The decision is out of your hands. I don’t think you know what you gave up when you turned things over to Tic, but…you and the rest of the world see a meek little bookworm who is easy to manipulate. The joke is definitely on you, his resolve is like iron and there is only one person that he listens to, and you’re looking at her. So quit fabricating all of these issues and get on board, this is a virtual gold mine here.”

  They went back and started working the stock sap with Vern who was struggling with the wooden mallets to compress it enough to suit their purposes. Tia picked up a marble mortar and started to press down with that.

  “I never thought of that, marble would work. I wonder how long a mallet would last.”

  “Save yourself the worries and have a couple of copper mallets of various size made, but it has to be pure copper. Any ore in it at all can ruin it. Some marble has streaks of ore so you have to be careful with that also.”

  “Copper, that would make this much easier,” Vern said.

  “It does, but only copper. No ore or gold or, god forbid, silver. Banging on this stuff with silver could possibly set the building ablaze,” Tia added.

  “I didn’t know, I found that wood worked and stuck with that.”

  “You have to remember that we have been making this product for almost thirty years now, we have learned some tricks and we can teach you more every time we come down, but I need you to promise me that you will only show this to apprentices under contract. Will you agree?”

  “I will.”

  Within two hours they had the shoes made and had a local farrier come and put them on Vern’s horse.

  “They’s quite a bit lighter than the steel, ma’am, I don’t know they’ll be holdin’ up.”

  “That’s what we’re going to find out, now isn’t it? Tell me, were they easy to work with?”

  “Heck yeah, ma’am. Could’ve shaped them exactly to the hoof ifn’ we’d had time.”

  Vern walked his horse about and then got her up to a trot before slowing her down to a stop and checking the shoe. He shrugged and looked at Tia.

  “They look fine. I’m gonna take her out to the cobbles and see how they do under weight,” Vern said before hopping into the saddle and trotting out on to the road

  “I can barely hear them,” the farrier said in amazement. “I can’t tell ya how many times I been woke up at night by running horse. I sure to hope they hold up.”

  “If these don’t, we will figure out how to make a pair that does,” Rowen said finally coming on board with the project now that he saw the potential.

  It took them the better part of three weeks to get their skiff unloaded and more orders placed for their next return. She had kept in contact with Vern while she was there and sold him the hundred pounds of sap sheets she had with her. Two days before they left, the city changed. That was when the churches burned and there were strangers just wandering around as if they belonged.

  26

  Muridai

  It was a couple of hours before dusk when they came upon the slavers just breaking camp to start their night’s walk. Forty dwarfs and five gnomes, shackled foot and hand, a ragged looking lot, showing signs of starvation as well as multiple beatings. Their clothes were torn or missing and stained rusty brown. These men had not gone willingly into servitude.

  The entire concept of slavery sickened most fair folk, but none so much as elves who believed that to be free in the world was the only way to be who and what you truly are. So, when the plan was laid out, it was Drick whom they requested to take the point as the Har Karoome of Lilieack.

  He exited the woods astride the magnificent Ice king. The Har Karoome of the of the most powerful Elven kingdom on the planet… Lilieack. He sat straight in the saddle with his sword drawn and the shield of his princess upon his arm, his own shield being attached to his own horse, wherever she may be.

  His sudden stately appearance so commanding it drew all of the slavers attention. Ramriders from Follock T-boned them unawares practically wiping them out immediately. The slavers consisted of trolls, humans, and muridai, but the hard horns of the rams didn’t discriminate as most were pushed back and ground into the dust with the rush of antler, bone, and muscle leaving less than half their number to be dealt with hammer and pin.

  Why are there so many guards for a small contingent of slaves? Drick wondered for the last second before he charged forward to lend his sword to the compliment of dwarven pikes and hammers when a very large troll stepped out to meet him, only to be run down by his skilled steed. He plunged his sword into the chest of a muridai who was too slow to get his defense up. He yanked it out and plunged it into the throat of a different troll and, with a flick of his wrist, partially decapitated the vile creature.

  Ice King danced them back from two spear-wielding muridai that lunged toward them and Drick felt a little uneasy with the closeness of the strike. He took a defensive stance only to see the two rat-like men crushed from behind by the giant war maul favored by many of the dwarfs. They crumpled as half the bones in their upper body turned to mush as their neck and spinal columns crushed into the torso with just a swing each.

  “Well met, Grodeg!” Drick said to the dwarf captain.

  “Pity it wasn’t more of a fight,” the dwarf responded. “These obviously weren’t trained soldiers.”

  “No, they weren’t. I have faced their soldiers several times in the past. Their technique is…different, but formidable. These are their herders, not their wolves.” Drick indicated the corpses on the ground before adding. “I never saw them ally with trolls or giants until just under a month ago when we faced them in a high eco in the Spires.”

  “Did’ja win?”

  “I don’t know, got separated and haven’t heard for my people since, it’s a long story that I will tell you when things calm.”

  “We’ll have to find out more once we get the boys freed up from their chains. Kinda surprised I don’t recognize any of them, their clothing is a bit off as well. I’m sure that we will get it all sorted out once we get a little beer into them.”

  “What if they don’t like beer?” Drick asked half-jokingly.

  “They are dwarfs, Har Karoome, all dwarfs like beer, you can trust me on that one.”

  “What about their guards, anything more than humans, trolls, and muridai?”

  “Nope, not a thinker among the lot. I am convinced they have been dragging these poor souls from somewhere else and I would like to know where.”

  “As would I, Grodeg, as would I, but finding out where they are bringing them too can be even more important.”

  “Aye” he replied.

  The dwarfs set up camp deciding to wait until dawn to lead them back to the city. Guards were posted though there was probably no need. Wolves and mountain lions frequented these hills with its many streams and forests, but they were too large of a group. Drick took some time to inspect the trail both back and forward. After dinner he went over and talked to Grodeg and some of the other organizers of the rescue. Two of the rescued dwarfs sat with him, the most present of them being Tomiose.

  “I have done a bit of searching around, Grodeg.”

  “I noticed you had yer nose to the ground out there. What did your elven senses tell ya?”

  “Mainly that this isn’t the first time this trail has been used, nor was it the second. In fact, it appears to have been used quite regularly for a couple of years now.”

  “Yah, they probably shifted the route when we put up Follock a few years ago,” Grodeg replied.

  “Yes, but where does it come from and where does it lead? That is truly the question of the hour now isn’t it.”

  “Tomiose here says they were captured way out in the western reaches. I didn’t even know there were dwarfs out that far west,” Grodeg said.

  “We, or I should say, my ancestors left while Riverhouse was being built due to clan issues. We owned a factory in Smith Town and it was being short armed in the process, so we packed our belongings and paid enough tax to leave that critical real estate just the way it is and took off. There are several thousand of us now living on the western coast, life was pretty good until a couple of years ago when the raids started. They never took things or land, just fair folk the ruddy bastards,” Tomoise explained.

  “That’s quite a story, I think that I want to scout this trail a bit before moving on,” Drick said, noting that one of the trails could come very close to Lilieack. Were his people in danger?

  An elf could go missing for months or possibly even years before anyone would notice and then it would be assumed that he was killed in the wilds. Had some been taken for…slaves? The thought of it sickened him.

  “I’m a not going to allow you to do that, Har Karoome, not alone anyways. Let’s get back to the city and we’ll gear up and head out by noon, fully provisioned. I want to send scouts the other direction too, so that we can stop this business.”

  “Yeah, you might want to send a sprint to Riverhouse or even Smith Town. Maybe they want to get involved in helping out their brothers,” Drick said. “This could be a lot bigger than you think, it wouldn’t hurt to have some soldiers garrisoned up here to put a lid on this.”

  “Ha! You’re a funny man for an elf, my friend. My leaders would send someone out to assess the situation and move in full force if there is profit to be had.” They laughed and had more than a few pulls on a skin of mead before turning in.

  The next morning, they headed out far ahead of the group of refugees and the other residents of Follock, reaching the town within a few hours. Drick took advantage of the privacy and told Grodeg his tale.

  Drick was grateful once again that his Riverhouse accounts were tied in to Follock’s Banking system and stocked himself with more gear. He took the saddle off and brushed Ice King down, then he took him over to the livery for some farrier work and so that Ice King could help to choose a mare to come along with them. Ice King hadn’t developed saddle sores yet, but there were some wear marks. Best to get a pack horse and ride light in the saddle for a few days. He was surprised to find that they had no horses available. There was a surplus of mules but elves and mules rarely worked together.

  Of course dwarves would have mules or ponies to pull carts and work the mines. I have to stop being so, so…elven. He bought a mule and was impressed when he saw the size of her. She stood at least two hands higher than Ice King

  He was surprised to see the gate guard Bryan from when he entered the city sitting with Grodeg, all geared up and ready to go.

  “It’s nice to see you again, Bryan, will you be joining us?”

  “I wouldn’t miss a scouting trip with the Har Karoome of Lilieack for anything.”