Читать книгу The Last Tariff - Alistair Nunamaker - Страница 2

Alaric and Charles rushed back to their home as quickly as they could. Every person they passed that had a horse got told what happened. Many of these people took off immediately to warn the government and the many military encampments. When the boys finally made it back to their home, Alaric wasted no time in getting his father's company signed over to him. At first there was some question as to whether or not Ezekiel had actually died; however, after telling the story of what had happened and word having already reached the town that the front line had in fact been overtaken, the business was finally signed over. It was in his father's will that the business was to go to Alaric and Nathaniel to co-own, but with Nathaniel gone it was signed completely over to Alaric. Alaric knew that if he and his brother were to survive, he would need to run his father's business at least as well as his father had. For the next week or so Alaric spent his time trying to figure out how many goods they had stocked and who his customers were. He continually drilled himself on the various prices on the goods.

Charles spent most of that time, hiding from everyone. Wallowing in his own grief, Charles wanted nothing to do with anyone. Alaric tried on several occasions to get Charles to have dinner with him or help around the store, but he wouldn't agree to anything. Eventually Alaric grew frustrated and went next door to speak with a woman that he had known most of his life. The woman's name was Edith and she had helped Alaric's parents out when they were too busy to care for him or his brothers. When anyone in the family was sick, Edith would bring over soup or tea. Alaric could remember several times that he had been upset and Edith always seemed to have the answer. Alaric approached the door and knocked; no one answered. He knocked again and still there was no answer. Just as he was about to give up and walk back home, Edith came around the corner of her house. “Alaric my dear! I'm sorry for making you wait. I was around back in the garden and couldn't hear the knocking.” Alaric smiled brightly, he walked over to Edith and gave her a hug. She returned the hug and then looked at him worriedly. “I heard about your father and brother; how are you and Charlie holding up?” Alaric sighed, “Charlie hasn't come out of his room much. He hasn't been eating much either; he's worrying me. I'm not really sure what to do for him.” Edith nodded slowly in understanding, “There isn't a whole lot you can do. Just be available to him when he finally decides he needs someone. Don't push him too much or else he might run.” Alaric took a deep breath, “I'll try. It's just hard to see him like that.” Edith patted Alaric on the back, “I'm sure it is. I'm also sure you'll do fine with your father's business.” Alaric blinked, she had already guessed the other thing that was bothering him. Alaric gave Edith a hug and smiled, “Thank you. I knew coming over here was a good idea.” Edith smiled him, and then a question formed on her face. “Have you thought about going to church since you came back to town?” Alaric frowned and shook his head. “You know I haven't been to church since mother died.” Edith sighed, “You still blame God for her death then.”

“Who else would I blame? If he's so powerful, why didn't he save her?” Edith looked sad for a moment, but then nodded and smiled at him. “I will go for you then, and one day perhaps you will find your way back.” She stepped forward and gave Alaric a hug. Alaric exhaled and returned the hug, simply happy to have the hug after everything that had happened. “Thank you Edith.”

A few days later word reached the boys that the Kudranians had attacked one of the cities near the mountains. The citizens, who were armed since they were legally allowed to own firearms in Estad, fought tooth and nail. The rumor was that while most of the soldiers stationed in the city fell fairly quickly, the citizens kept Kudrania from taking the city for several more days. There was no reason to doubt the claim, since Kudrania enacted a policy of rounding up firearms and killing a third of all able bodied men in all of the towns they went through. Alaric became fearful that when the Kudranian army finally made it to where he lived, the same would happen to him and his brother. So he began packing what goods he could into their last wagon. Alaric couldn't get Charles to help him pack, being too engrossed in his own grief to do much of anything. The packing ended up taking two days. Finally finished, Alaric went to the bank to withdraw all the money his father had, in gold and silver only. The banker was a bit confused as to why Alaric would want to carry something so heavy, rather than the lighter paper money. Alaric only said that the metals would be more useful. With everything that needed done finished, Alaric went back home and told Charles to prepare to leave. As Charles grabbed his essentials, Alaric went into his father's room. Opening a trunk, he removed his father's revolver and belt. Before Ezekiel had become a merchant, he had been a sheriff, and kept this revolver in his house as a safety precaution. The revolver had a frame with an extractable cylinder and a spare cylinder to decrease loading time. The extra cylinder was extremely important because it took some time to reload the cap and ball weapon. Putting on the belt and grabbing a coat, Alaric walked back out into the main part of the house to meet Charles, who was at this point, ready to leave.

The boys were heading to the southern border, into a land dominated by independent city states. These city states tended to attract inventors and merchants from all over the world, and, thus, were somewhat wealthy. Being that they were individual states, they had all elected to only trade in precious metals and stones, not accepting the credit type currencies of many of the sovereign nations to the north. The value of precious metals for the most part never went down, but the individual currencies of nations, fluctuated frequently, especially if said nation, collapsed. It took about a week in their laden wagon to reach the border. As they got closer, the brothers discovered that they were not the only ones who had decided to flee. The roads were crowded with people on foot and in wagons, all trying to leave the country. Alaric realized with so many refugees some of the city states may start closing their borders. He hoped that having goods for sale and being a merchant, would give him and his brother a better chance of being admitted.

One evening when they had stopped to rest for the night, Alaric was pulling out their dinner, which consisted of bread and cheese mostly, when a person in a long coat approached the wagon. There were many people around, all stopping for the night. Alaric wasn't really sure what sort of person this might be. He couldn't get a good look at the person in the dark. Alaric realized this person was shorter than he was and was carrying a pot. Alaric stepped towards the person, “Hello there.” The person stopped, held up the pot a bit, placed it on the ground, and then walked away without a word. Alaric was bit confused as to what had just transpired. Curious he walked to the pot to investigate what was in it. As he lifted the lid, he found that the metal was warm. The smell of food rushed out of the pot to his nose. It smelled delicious and seemed to be some sort of soup. Alaric's mouth watered at the prospect of something other than bread. He quickly picked up the pot and took it into the wagon to show Charles. Charles was still quiet and not doing much of anything, but even he had a bright look on his face when he smelled the soup. While the soup was no longer hot, the brothers still enjoyed it. Having eaten their fill, Alaric hopped out of the wagon hoping to catch a glimpse of the person that had brought it. After a good while, Alaric gave up and left the pot partly under the wagon in hopes the person would come back to get it in the morning.

Early the next morning, before the sun had really peaked over the horizon, the stranger came back to pick up the pot. Alaric was fast asleep but was woken when the stranger slid in the dew covered grass and accidentally bumped the pot against the wagon, creating a clanging noise. Alaric sleepily looked out of the wagon and saw the coated stranger. “Thank you for sharing your soup.” The stranger, who was standing back up after their fall, didn't seem prepared to be spoken to and jumped, startled at the sudden voice. As the person jumped, their hat fell from their head and long dark hair emerged. The stranger quickly grabbed the hat, jumped up, and practically ran away, leaving the pot in the grass. Alaric raised his eyebrows but was too tired to chase the person and didn't want to yell and risk waking anyone nearby. He flopped back down in the wagon and fell asleep for another few hours.

The remainder of the journey took about a week to reach the first city state, which, as Alaric had expected, had closed its borders and was screening refugees. They were not simply turning everyone away quite yet so Alaric hoped he could get through before they did. He and his brother had not brought much food with them and ran the risk of starvation should they not be admitted. There were two families ahead of Alaric and Charles when the guards announced they were not taking any more refugees. People began shouting and pushing. More guards came up to quell the crowd and give them directions to the next state. Alaric pushed through the swelling crowd towards the guards.

“Please let me and my wagon through. I'm a merchant come to trade.”

“Let's have a look at your cargo; can't be letting anymore unfortunates in.”

Alaric opened the back of his wagon for the guard to take a look. He glanced quickly, most likely just making sure it looked like a merchants wagon and there weren't refugees hidden inside. He nodded and gave a wave for Alaric and Charles to get moving. Alaric hoped that the goods he had with him would sell well in the city. He had furs, blankets, coats, candles, and amber. Alaric knew that candles would sell easily, but they weren't worth very much. He assumed people would be interested in the amber, as it usually sold well, but he had no experience trading with the city states. Alaric jumped back onto the front of the wagon to get it moving, when he saw a family begging the guards to let them in. The guards refused and tried to push them away. What seemed to be the mother of the family was begging the guards to at least let her child in. The guards continued to refuse her and seemed to be getting frustrated. Alaric pushed through the crowd towards the woman.

“My name's Alaric, I'm a merchant and could use some extra help. I'd be willing to hire someone on to get them inside safely.”

One of the guards overheard Alaric and approached them, “I see what's going on here and we can't have you do it. You're lucky we're letting you through. I'm not quite sure someone so young could be a merchant worth having in the city.” Alaric frowned, he then put his hand into his pocket, and pulled out four small silver coins. “I'm sure one extra merchant wouldn't hurt the town would it? After all for me to safely sell my goods an extra set of eyes would be good to have with all of the desperate people entering.” The guard eyed the silver Marks. They were lighter in weight than the silver dollars the city-states used, but they seemed to do the trick. The guard sighed and then shook his head. “Very well, but no more!” He took the silver from Alaric and walked away. The mother thanked him, tears in her eyes. “My daughter is a hard worker, although she can be argumentative at times. It means so much that you will take her on.” Alaric nodded, “I am sure we'll get along well enough”. The woman nodded vigorously before rushing through the crowd a little ways to collect her daughter. Alaric waited patiently for the woman to return. After a couple of minutes Alaric's attention was grabbed by another person. It was the same stranger that had brought Alaric and his brother soup. “It's you! You left your pot. I have it in my wagon. You're welcome to...”

“Oh good you two have met already then. Do take that ridiculous hat off Emilia. I keep telling you there's no need to hide that beautiful hair of yours.” The woman snatched the hat off of the coated stranger's head. The stranger was a beautiful young woman, with long red hair and cheeks lightly peppered with freckles. “Mother! I don't wan-” Her voice trailed off as her face grew red. She turned away from Alaric as her mother stood shaking her head. “This young man is a merchant, he's agreed to hire you on so you can get into the city. It is only proper he see the face of a person he is hiring.” Emilia turned slowly and looked Alaric up and down. “Aren't you too young to be a merchant with any success?” Alaric turned a little red and shrugged. “I just inherited the business from my father. I might be a little young to own a business, but I am not too young to know the profession well enough.” Emilia laughed and took a step closer. “Honestly, you can't be that much older than me.” At that point Emilia's mother gave her a light smack on the back of her head. “Behave yourself! He's giving you a chance at a life away from the war and a job. Besides, he's pretty cute wouldn't you say?” Alaric and Emilia both responded with red cheeks of embarrassment, Emilia trying to voice objections but being completely ignored by her mother. “Take good care of my daughter young man. If I find out you've hurt her in any way, I will be on your doorstep before you can say oops.” Alaric nodded vigorously, not wanting to get on this rather strong looking woman's bad side. Emilia's mother turned to her daughter and grabbed her up in a strong hug. “Work hard and make a life for yourself my dear one. I will come find you when things are calmer.” Emilia hugged her in return, “I promise mamma.” She then turned to Alaric, her cheeks still a little pink. “Let's get to your wagon before the guards change their minds.”

Alaric and Emilia raced back to the wagon. Charles was still in the back as gloomy as ever. “This is my younger brother Charlie. Forgive his sour mood. We recently lost our father and it's been the hardest on him.” Emilia smiled warmly at Charles. “Hello Charlie, I'm Emilia. I'll be working for you gentlemen for a while.” Alaric checked the horses, giving Emilia the chance to get settled. He then climbed up to the front of the wagon to get it moving. As he settled himself onto the seat, Emilia clamored up to sit next to him. She didn't look at him or speak to him but simply stared ahead at the gates of the city. Alaric decided she must be as nervous as he was, at the prospect of trying to live without their parents support, surrounded by strangers. Alaric got the horses moving and they entered the city. A guard helping guide people through nodded to them. “Welcome to Aerahagen.”