Читать книгу The Last Tariff - Alistair Nunamaker - Страница 3

Upon entering the city, it was immediately obvious how different of a place it was. There were several contraptions along the street that emitted steam and they were attached to the street lamps. The street lamps seemed to have a glass container within them and some wires instead of wicks. The buildings were the usual brick and stone that Alaric had grown to expect of cities, however they seemed much more perfect than in some of the cities of Estad. A man walked towards them and called for them to hold a moment. “Refugees?” Asked the man. Alaric shook his head, “Merchants.” The man cocked an eyebrow, but shrugged and reached into a haversack, pulling out two medallion type things. “These will show authorities that you are merchants legally admitted into the city.” Alaric took the medallions and thrust his thumb back towards the rest of the wagon. “We have one more in the back with the goods.” The man nodded and pulled out another medallion, handing it up to Alaric, he wished them luck and urged them to move forward for the next people to come up.

“Where may we set up?”

“Go to the center of town, there should be room for you to sell from your wagon there.”

Alaric got the horses moving once again. Although the center of the city was not really that far, it took them over an hour to reach it with the crowds the way they were. After reaching the center, Alaric hopped down and yelled for Charles to start taking down the canvas. Emilia climbed down from her seat and followed Alaric, not really sure what to do and waiting for him to give her a task. Once the canvas was down Alaric and Charles began moving things into different positions and fixing piles that had been messed up from the journey. Alaric motioned for Emilia to come to him. “Right now I just want you to watch what we do. I also want you to know that I was being serious; this is our father's business. He was killed by the Kudranians. We worked with him, but we've never run it ourselves. So it may be difficult for awhile.” Emilia nodded, “I knew you were too young to actually own a business with so many goods. I was right when I said that you're close to my age, right?.” Alaric turned a light shade of red, “I think so, I'm seventeen.” Emilia grinned “I'm sixteen, only a year younger than you.” Alaric quickly looked back into the wagon. “Let's get this finished up so we have as much time as possible to sell some goods today”.

The three young merchants got the wagon transformed into a tent-like store front and then sat, waiting for customers. Several hours went by, and no one had stopped. Charles was bored and decided he was going to wander the streets rather than sit and be available to help should people start coming around the wagon. While Alaric and Emilia sat at the wagon, hoping people would stop, Alaric was looking around the town center and at the people. Although there were those he could tell were poor, most of the people seemed to have some money; Alaric even saw a couple of pickpockets. However, even some of the people wearing ratty clothing were carrying contraptions of one sort or the other. Alaric decided that those were some of the inventors that the city states were famous for. They probably didn't care about their appearance and, instead, were more interested in getting to where they needed to go to continue working on their projects. Most of the buildings were made of brick. There were factories putting quite a bit of smoke in the air making the city seem endlessly cloudy. The number of odd inventions that Alaric saw carried back and forth, however, had him excited. He wanted to talk to some of the inventors. Some of the things might be worth selling and could help keep the business going.

Meanwhile, Charles was wandering aimlessly through the city. As he passed an alley, he saw a couple of men pinning someone against a wall. Charles stopped and watched them, trying to figure out what was going on. One of the men spat on the victim's face. The victim squirmed trying to get away, when the other assailant suddenly put a knife to his throat and drew it slowly across. Blood poured from the man's throat as he crumpled to the ground. The first assailant smacked the back of the murderer's head, “Now we'll never get anything out of him.” The murderer shrugged and, as he turned to face the first man, he spotted Charles watching them. “Maybe, we get something out of him.” The first man turned and his eyes widened in shock that someone had seen what had just happened. They both started walking towards Charles, who turned and ran. The men chased after him, pushing people out of the way to get to him. Charles ducked and weaved trying to remember how to get back to Alaric and Emilia. After a few moments of running around, he realized he had no idea where he was. He turned left into an alley and discovered that it was a dead end. He turned to leave it but the criminals were already at the entrance of the alley. Charles backed up slowly, trying to yell for help, but couldn't get words out. The men laughed as they closed in on Charles. “Come now, we aren't going to kill you, but we do have to make you come with us. You've seen too much.” Charles ran at them trying to push between them and escape. The men scooped him up under the arms and carried him off while he was kicking and screaming.

After a couple of hours passed, Alaric began wondering where Charles had gone. It was getting dark and he still wasn't back. Alaric also knew he couldn't leave Emilia alone in the city with all of the merchandise either. Alaric wandered the square hoping to catch a glimpse of Charles but had no luck. Alaric returned to the wagon and saw Emilia talking to a man. As he approached, Alaric saw that the man was buying a dozen candles. It wasn't much but it would definitely keep them in the city a little longer. The man thanked Emilia for the candles and walked off. Alaric smiled at Emilia, “Thanks for watching the wagon. Glad to see you made a sale.” Emilia grinned in return, “Should we close up and get something to eat?” Alaric thought for a moment and looked over what little food they had left.

“Let's eat what we already have for tonight. Save a little bit of money until we can make some more.”

“Fine, but when we do go out to get something, I get to choose what it is, since I made the first sale here.” Alaric chuckled, “I can agree to that. Let's get the wagon closed up and we'll sleep inside it for tonight.” The two of them got the goods put back away and covered the wagon back up for the night. Alaric pulled out the little bit of bread and dried meat they had left and gave Emilia half. “I haven't seen Charlie yet. I hope he's all right.” Emilia took the food gratefully, taking a bite. “I'm sure he'll be fine, he probably just got lost. We'll see him by morning for sure.” The two of them finished eating and laid down on top of the goods. Alaric started dozing off almost immediately but was startled awake again when he felt Emilia move close against him. She was asleep, or seemed asleep, but was shivering. Alaric carefully grabbed a blanket and put it over Emilia, but did not move her for fear of waking her up. Alaric laid on his back once again and closed his eyes. Emilia opened an eye and smiled before closing it again and going to sleep.

The next morning, Alaric and Emilia woke up at the rising of the sun and began setting back up for the day, hoping that it would be a more successful day than the previous. There was still no sign of Charles, and it worried Alaric. “When the day is over, if Charlie isn't back, I want to go look for him.” Emilia nodded with a frown, “What about your merchandise? Will it be all right left alone?” Alaric shrugged, “Whether it is or isn't, Charlie is the only family I have left. I can't just accept that he's gone without looking for him.” Emilia nodded and gave Alaric a hug before getting back to work.

The day went on, and a few people actually stopped to look at what was being sold. One woman bought a fox fur for six silver dollars. Another man bought half a dozen candles. The rest of the people that stopped did not buy anything. They simply looked around, wished Alaric and Emilia a good day, and walked off. By the end of the day, they had made enough silver to cover the bribe Alaric had to pay and to get them some food for the next couple of days. Alaric still had a good amount of money stashed away, but wanted to use as little of it as possible in case there was some emergency. Alaric and Emilia closed up the wagon once again and bought some food from a nearby shop. Emilia had apparently been watching the place all day and had decided she wanted to try the food there. After eating Alaric hopped out of the wagon, “I'm going to go look for Charlie, you stay here and watch the wagon. Here, just in case you need it. “Alaric took his father's gun belt off and handed it to Emilia. “You pull the hammer back. It will click twice, then you just point and pull the trigger.” Emilia took the gun cautiously and set it next to her. Then, she lunged forward giving Alaric a hug, “Good luck, stay safe.” Alaric blushed, “I will. I'll be back soon.” Emilia stuck her tongue out at him, “You'd better be, or else I'll take the wagon and run.” She grinned and winked at him when his eyes widened. Alaric laughed nervously and hurriedly walked off to look for his brother.