Scene 1 part 1 draft 2
I never knew the true value of a good story till I came to Berryglen; A two crate full of wax bars and four barrels of honey. The revelation was like finding an uncut gem at a market for a handful of copper coins. Soon I found myself as the uncut gem in another’s eyes. But, at first, let me tell you about the wax and the honey.
“Bee master Bauble, what would you depart from those crates of wax if these farming tools aren’t for your hands?”
“Like I said, I’m waiting for the Caravan folks to arrive during the harvest festival to trade. I’m very sorry mister Ben but no tools or goods you have in that cart of yours worth any of my wax,” the old halfling about a third of my size chuckled at the title I just dubbed him, the bee master and resumed puffing his pipe.
I smiled bitterly and gleamed over the small bar of wax on the table. It was a fine quality would be sold at a higher price up at north, especially at the fort Saltmarsh. I heard they burn through wax due to ongoing skirmish with the goblins every winter. I cleared my throat and reengaged the halfling.
“What do they have that I cannot provide to satisfy the trade?”
“They weren’t here last season, but one before, Trapeze brought me these peculiar shaped rocks from the Cracked Plains where he had to risk his life to pick up freshly minted by thunder roamers during their mating season. They always have something to tell with their finds during their travels,” the old Bauble walked over and brought oddly shaped rocks resembled like hooves. I had to contain my disdain for his poor taste in objects, but I figured what would work for the trade.
I placed two silver coins with three sailed ship with a swallow above it, Port Distance coin. Bauble looked at the coins and I cleared my throat.
“Would you be interested in these coin’s stories and make an offer afterwards?”
“I haven’t seen those ones before, I’ve seen squared ones from a dwarf once. I do have fair amount of wax stashed up for some good time.” Bauble nodded.
“Port Distance, known for a hub of folks from all over the continent and from the sea beyond. This made difficult for trade of goods. Lord De’anor sought to make trade easier for his guests and consulted the local mercantile guilds of various trades. The miners and smiths suggested bars of bronze bearing De’anor’s signet, while the jewelers proposed precious Coronite, Port Distance’s renowned gem for its circular shape and the arcane weavers offered sigil sealed tokens to prove its authenticity. Lord De’anor liked all the proposal and decided to combine them all. He created a circular shaped token with one side bearing his signet and the other having the enchanted sigil made out of silver and initials of the jeweler who inspected it. The coins were minted with a unique number after the signatures, registered in the lord’s mint ledger to further legitimize its value.”
I raised the coins to the halfling’s eye level to show the signet and where the initials and the number would be. Bauble almost pressed his nose to the coin.
“Today, we follow Lord De’anor’s methods with some changes, there’s a year and the unique number is now designated to the jeweler’s initials. But the first minted and only has its initials and a number. There are only a thousand of them made.” I split the two coins in my fingers dramatically at the end.
“Only a thousand?” He looked dazzled.
“Only a thousand, and one of them is in your hand,” I nodded.
“two boxes and four barrels!” Bauble said excitedly, “And you have to tell me more.”
Mister Bauble was a prime example of Berryglen, I thought. A hamlet yet swept up by greed and war, especially of elves and dwarves. The summer harvest was in a full swing and reaps were bountiful yet none came to trade from the outside. Except me.
Now the only thing I have to do is to return to Broc’s Landing from Ringbay and sell them for at least five gold coins. However, my luck dried up when the pub’s door was kicked open.
“Room for five and some hearty meal! Stupid rain.” the halfling barked as she entered and hung her drenched cloak on a chair table next to mine. She gave me a snide look and made me fidget on the tiny chair.
She had a companion, male halfling who resembled her with large bulbous nose like rat’s. He sniffled and slumped on the chair with sigh of relief.
“Thank the bird we made it,” he exclaimed.
“No thanks to the bird, we lost everything and how could you be smiling like that? You traded, traded, your precious stones for some lousy sea weed?” she retaliated flailed her arms around. Her commotion caught the eye of the elders by the fireplace and gave an audible cough.
“At least we have each other and and I still have the sea weed,” he squeaked and raised a pouch, only to find empty with hole at the bottom. the female halfling groaned audibly.
I almost snickered but paled once the door swung open again, two elves entered.
Both dressed in dark brown and green, the curly motifs and the notable quiver on their side clearly screamed wood elf. I subconsciously reached for my knife and left my right hand there, eyes fixed on the two. One of them took off their hood. It was human female, auburn hair like mine but braided in elvish fashion with a pin with three maple leaves, symbol of the elven god. She saw the fireplace and warmed up to the elders with a bright smile. She hung the cloak by the fire place to dry. She thanked them by placing her right hand by her left collarbone, an elven gesture. I thought she’s a halfer but she had normal ears like mine, round and no piercings.
The other elf joined the two halflings silently and he gave me the chills even though his face was still covered. I tightened my grip on the knife. This one is for sure a wood elf.
“Izzy take your cloak off, it’s wet.” the girl came over and took the elf’s cloak off before he was able to respond. The elf had jet black hair with cold gray eyes like a black wolf.
“I told you not to call me that,” Izzy had low soothing voice, unexpected. The girl ignored his words and went to hang the cloak by hers.
“We should leave before sunrise, the raiders will decimate this place”. Izzy stated.
“We’ve got eyes, but first we have to wait for Domalin.” the female halfling nodded.
“Where did he go?” the male halfling asked.
“Higs, he was singing what he’s going to do the entire trip, so he’s gone to just do that.”
“Why do I have to pay attention to someone’s singing the whole time, I was getting sick of it. If I could just nab his box then that might worth…” Higs mumbled and stared at the deflated pouch with mopey eyes.
Raiders are nearby? Where did they flee from? I had so many questions and kept peering over their table until I was startled by the girl.
“Greetings fellow, human? Can I help you?” she was walking back with a bowl of baked potatoes with goat cheese. She was awfully close. The smell of baked potatoes with cheese, the earthy smell mixed with fresh rain tickled my nose and her curved wooden belt like object caught my eye before noticing elven quiver and a pair of sword. I looked up and she might be in her early twenties. Her eyes were light hazel glinting with a smile on her lips.
“Greetings, I was fascinated by your group, it’s rare to see an elf and another human in this area.”
“Is it? I’m Geese. Nice to meet you.”
She kept me baffled with her friendly attitude, she didn’t pick up I have my hand on my knife handle? I felt a chilling gaze from the the elf. Geese casually shifted her weight and placed her free hand on her hilt. I forced a chuckle and relaxed my grip on my knife. She nodded and dropped her hand from the hilt.
“Ben, nice to meet you too, and where are you coming from?”
“Something that rang, but we’re headed to the mountains,” She brightly answered, gingerly held one of the potato and squealed in joy upon taking a bite. Now the entire table was looking at me.
“I’m going to where it rang,” I humored her, but I think she actually don’t remember the name of the place.
“I don’t recommend it, the bay’s been raided and the goblins are coming down here.” The female halfling butted in.
Either these are war seasoned people or heartless, I was leaning towards the latter. Even the innocent looking Geese knew I had hostile intentions and asked me with a smile.
“Interesting tale you speak of, the last time I was at Ringbay they had formidable defenses and never heard of goblins coming down this far from the north.”
“You are outdated and you’re welcome,” the female halfling reached out her hand as of she’s asking for some payment for the information. I looked at her with some incredulous look. She stared at me for good few blinks before bursting into a laughter.
“I’m just messing with you, but the raid is real, a massive goblin warband raided the place about a week ago. We escaped and skewered some gobs in the way,” she shanked the air to reenact.
“Thimble, do not scare a fellow traveler like that.” A new voice joined the group and we all turned to the source. It was a dwarf with a box in his arms.
I wasn’t sure which was worse, the goblin warband coming down here or surrounded by types of beings I dislike the most, elves and dwarves.
“Domalin is my name, and seems like you’ve befriended my companions,” the dwarf nodded at me, his face were covered in rustic beard down to his chest. The dwarf had beady dark brown eyes rolling slowly as if he’s searching for something.
“Ben, a fellow traveler.”
“So did you get what you came here for?” Thimble cut in and tried to reach for his box only to get her hand slapped away.
“Careful, I just had it woven and sealed. This is your payment once we deliver this to Kupferkrone before the Crowning Day,” the dwarf wagged his finger slowly at Thimble.
“Show me the coins and I’ll believe you else I’ll just take that thing and sell it myself,” Thimble growled.
“I could count on you we booked the room for the night as I asked, a good sleep would be nice before we walk for another week.”
“Wish I could count on you too,” she replied.
“Come on Thimble, I have to be the Oracle of the Mountains to figure out whether a warband rolling in the moment we started our journey?”
“You keep telling me with your excuses about your string of bad luck. That turd won’t work on me anymore, this is the last time Dom. You owe me fifty-five silver krones and the losses my brother suffered in this trip.”
“Of course of course, but your brother’s poor choices should not be part of the cost,” Domalin gave a wide grin reminded me of the dwarf I met when I was young.
It was the first and the last time I was my father’s apprentice merchant. It was a deal that was bound to sour as it was with a greedy dwarf. It was his silver bars for my father’s casks of spirits, two things dwarves are very fond of. The dwarf deceived my father’s appraisal and we walked away with silver mixed with other metals. My father never figured out how he was deceived. Such detail can be for some other time, but that swindler had a smile.
I was immediately taken back and withdrew myself from the table. The crafty dwarf leaned forward to match my movement and placed the box closer to me, calculating.
The box was a piece of work, carved out of an oak heartwood inlaid with copper, snaking its path along the lid. The copper looked angled Dwarven runes mixed with the wispy Elven glyphs. Then I remembered he said the box was woven, so those must be it some sort of magical protection against theft. The most puzzling piece was the yellow wax seal in a form of intricate swirling lines like a circular maze continued from the copper inlaid. This must be heavily enchanted or just another object of deception.
“If I can deliver this in about a week before the crowning day, they’ll be coins for you and I,” the dwarf answered to Thimbles, his beady eyes were full of glee. Thimbles mumbled something under her breath and leaned against the chair.
The box and the band was an enigma; dwarf, elf, human and halflings. What sort of agreement brought such diverse people together? Greed? I thought the Izzy owned the Geese. The elves of the Ironwoods often raided the human settlements in the forest’s edge, either to kill or kidnap. But she was carelessly wolfing down the steamy potatoes and showering of compliments on its taste. The elf kept his eyes shut and simply nodded at the girl in agreement. I’m sure that’s just their way of keeping keeping his hearing keen, listening to his prey’s breathing or heart beat even, waiting for me to give him a reason to go for my throat.
“What brings you to this humble settlement, I don’t believe you came here to get friendly with the locals.” the dwarf traced my stare to Geese asking for more food at the kitchen.
“Business of course.” I deflected, returning to my own senses.
“Of course, of course, it’s rare to see someone like yourself to be out here in such times other than business. What sort I wonder,”
Such times, is he talking about the war or the crowning day thing?
“A simple hawker, trading some tools for grains, are you an arkwright mister Domalin?”
“Nay, a simple tradesman looking for an extraordinary finds,” the dwarf leaned back, tucking the box in his chest. He narrowed his eyes as if to scorn me for being what I am.
“But I might have stumbled upon something far more extraordinary while I was about with the locals,” His eyes softened.
“You see, Berryglen is full of hearty people,”
“Naive people.” Thimble cut in and Domalin ignored her.
“Hearty people who has very little desire for outsiders and prefers trade of services, favor for a favor. So it garners my interest when I heard the old Bauble made a trade with an outsider while I was away.”
I stiffened when he mentioned Bauble. Crafty dwarf, he knew about me before he stepped into this place.
“Old Bauble trades his wax and honey to the Great Caravan once a season, but they didn’t pass by last season so he had extra that was sitting in his barn. I offered to trade them abroad on his behalf but he insisted he would save it for this year’s pass.”
This I already knew.
“But to my surprise, when I visited him to offer my services again today he told me he got lucky and traded them for some exotic coins.” the dwarf strummed the table with his fingers and sounded like knocking. Then I noticed a coin underneath, smooth edged silver coin with three sailed ship with a swallow flying above.
I pretended to be interested in his story by leaning forward again but I was terrified. His message clear, ‘I know about you more than you know about me.’
“He never seen such coins before and he wouldn’t depart his goods with krones. He said these coins are special according to the tall folk and as a part of the trade, he shared that story.” The Thimble’s eyes came to me.
“Did he share the story with you?”
“Nay,” he replied without a pause. Lies. He’s holding onto one of the coins I traded Bauble on the table. I clearly saw the the coin under his leather gloves. What did this dwarf trade for that coin?
“So what did you trade him for that exotic coin?” I pressed, looking around the table to see if anyone else was interested in the story. Thimble was yawning and Higs was checking his pockets for more potential holes. the elf kept his eyes shut and the Geese came back with more food.
“I didn’t,” he lied again and I think he was trying to get a read of my response and I couldn’t help but looking at his hand on the table when he lied. He grinned.
“Of course you’re wondering about the coin in my hand?” Dae’s blood, he noticed. He slowly moved his hand to reveal the coin was a square and made out of brass with an anvil with a crown, Kupferkrone’s krone.
A trickster. A swindler. A typical dwarf.
“Mister Ben, I hope you were entertained and let me get straight to the point. Would you be interested in coming to Kupferkrone with us?”
“I love the offer but I have to return to port as soon as possible,” I slowly stood up, wanting to leave the place.
“Yes, but there’s war up north and who knows it might come down here,” the trickster said flatly. Thimble snorted.
“I prefer traveling alone mister dwarf,” I spoke with anger, I placed both of my hands gesturing I was about to get up from the table.
“Let introduce my companions,” the dwarf bowed slightly and gestured around the table.
“Thimble, former ranger now a sell sword. She’s the best ranger I’ve met in these woods and sharper tongue.”
“Higs, Timble’s younger brother, got a good knack for slings and never misses if it’s within twenty paces.”
“Ishyldr and Geese, Ironwood rangers with pinpoint accuracy with their bows.”
Higs awkwardly nodded and Geese blushed upon the compliment, Thimble and Ishyldr kept their silence.
“Seems like you have surrounded yourself with bodyguards for such a small object.” I retorted. It would be nice to have some protection against the war but this entire thing could be a set up. Until they came in there was no news about the war. They might be setting up to rob me once we’re on the road. He knows too much about me and my goods.
“Aye, it’s a precious good and we just met the Ironwoods rangers at the port. They have some sharp eyes and sharper arrows, very helpful when you’re running away from things,” the dwarf added. Geese bounced her head in agreement.
“it’s almost charitable for you to offer and I do not believe I have anything of value to trade for bodyguards.”
I did have coins but I feared they might be after everything I have at the guise of ‘protection’. the dwarf groaned and rubbed his nose bridge.
“It’s not a charity, it’s a trade, I believe you have a horse and a cart. Your cart for our protection.”
I kept my calm but I felt exposed when he mentioned about Marney and the cart. Did he also check the stable before walking in?
“Don’t bundle us with you. If we are protecting another person, then we ask for his fair payment,” the Geese tumbled her words with mouth full of mashed potatoes.
“Of course of course, this benefits you too miss Geese, we travel faster and you finish your work faster and get paid faster.” the dwarf pitched.
“…time is coin…” I mumbled my father’s favorite line, the dwarf’s cadence reminded me of him. The dwarf clapped in excitement.
“Well said! Time is coin indeed!” Domalin echoed my words, Geese blinked at the elf and he nodded. He saw while his eyes are closed?
I started to dislike this dwarf even more. He resembled my father who always cornered me till I was out of options. I felt like he came in here with the goal of recruiting me into his band of travelers just to get the cart.
If they are band of liars, thieves and killers, then they would probably went off with Marney and the cart while I was busy day dreaming in the building. Then again they could be planning something more elaborate to get rid of me and rob me completely once we’re off road. Although, Thimble and Higs looked like a local with a reputation. The dwarf too seem to know this place fairly well. I’m not sure about the elf and the girl but she’s too cheerful and clumsy to be a killer.
I shook my head. This could all be an act like the Great Caravan’s Troop to lure town folks to their tent for stories for their coins. Geese did notice my tension and spoke to me first, that smile was a warning. She could be a master of covering their intention like some women I know. A sell sword would do anything to fatten their purse and Thimble seem to be one of those. Higs and Ishyldr I don’t have a clue but at least elves cannot be trusted.
I came here to establish myself away from my past and my roots prepared to tread every step, mingling with elves and dwarves should be part of the package.
Then another person entered the Majestic Yew, frightened and looked at the fireplace with elders.
“The rangers are asking your wisdom, there’s a news of goblin activity in our forests,” the messenger informed and the halflings, picked up their hoods and left the pub. I looked squarely at the dwarf.
“Time is coin.” I affirmed with the dwarf and reached my hand forward for a shake. Domalin nodded and shook mine firmly twice.
“Speaking of time, we should retire for the night. It’s been a while since we slept under a roof and with your cart we should depart before sunrise.”
With that, Domalin stood up from the table, leaving some of his bronze coins on the table. I peered over the pile and among the squares there was one coin was a circular with three sailed ship with a swallow above it.