NOVEL NEXT Chapter XLVI – March before me faithfully and be inconspicuous.
“…that’s why we went all the way around to the Southern gate?” Ayomide couldn’t help but look upwards to the ceiling while passing through the gate. The stone gate and the two-stories-tall wall that surrounded it looked quite impressive to say the least. She could see more guards watch them through slits in the ceiling.
“Yes, Bobby is famous for being lax. Anyone in the know makes sure to go through him.” Shinasi looked back at Billy. “I was worried a bit when I saw his new assistant.”
Brown was walking alongside them, watching the walls in a similar fashion to Ayomide. He wasn’t fascinated by the architecture however; old Brown was concerned with thinking about how he’d siege these down. A cannon could make short work of the walls. Brown thought of the copper mine in Mount Curry: with a bit of tin that copper could be turned into bronze and that bronze cast into a cannon. Then the issue came down to gunpowder, but the people of this world seemed to have already figured it out. It was likely that the natives of Gemeinplatz had already manufactured cannons as well. Perhaps Brown would need to be on the lookout for an engineer who knew how.
His thoughts of smashing the chains of slavery with 64-pounds of solid iron vengeance were briefly interrupted when the city of Casamonu came into view. Compared to Azdavay it was a grand settlement, for the standards of Gemeinplatz anyways, housing more than ten thousand people inside its walls. For the first time Brown saw buildings that were taller than two floors, some adventurous architects having gone up to four floors.
The crowds of people travelling between these building was equally grand as well, with Brown having to constantly say “Excuse me.” while passing by passersby. The sun could barely manage to make its way amongst all the buildings. The tents and stalls of the countless shopkeepers were left in the cool shade which was a welcome change after having to travel all the way under the summer sun to Casamonu. All the colors that could be reasonably found on not-Earth were on display to tempt customers into parting ways with their precious money.
Brown approached on of these shops to take a look at the textiles, only to be rudely interrupted by Shinasi tapping his shoulders. “What is it, young man?”
“Old man, the customs guards would rob us blind if you tried to get these out of the city in their view.” There was a building in sight that had a sign with a bundle of cloth and a thin bottle drawn on it. “See that building? That’s the United Guild of Textile Manufacturers & Winemakers. They don’t like it when you try to export their stuff without permission. I’ve had my fair share of problems with them.” One didn’t need to guess what Shinasi had difficulties exporting out of the city.
Brown looked quite displeased. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner, young man?” The economy of Gemeinplatz seemed way too protectionist for a man who came from the United States of America.
“Oh, don’t you worry.” Shinasi looked quite relaxed compared to Brown. “A good adventurer has his ways. Follow me.” He led his party out of the crowded market square. Shinasi marched a fair way inside the city before he slipped inside a deserted backstreet which the sun had forsaken. Brown and co had to march in single file formation, the street being as small as a slave’s quarters. Shinasi went down a small set of stairs going down from the road, where an inconspicuous door lay. He knocked on it a few times, leaning toward the door and shouting out “Oh the grand city of Ancoire, whine not! Your day hath come”.
The backstreet looked like it’d have no living souls in it, but to the surprise of Brown there was a reply that echoed from the other side of the door. “Shall we make amends for when the day comes?”
“You needn’t make any amends for thine sins hath already been forgiven by the One above.”
With Shinasi’s enigmatic reply the door opened an equally enigmatic figure who immediately shut the door, leaving only a small slit for their voice to be heard. “Didn’t I tell you not to bring friends?!”
“Come on Ayda, they’re going to be your clients.” Shinasi tried to ply the door open with his spear to no avail. “Is this how you treat an old friend bringing you customers?”
“Customers?” The door slipped open a tiny little bit. “You aren’t tricking me, are you? Because the last time you came in with a bunch of ‘customers’, and all you did with them was party around and trash the place.”
“Young man, that is not okay.”
“You can berate me later, old man! Ahem, no, these are actual customers.” Shinasi’s spear suddenly slipped from his hand when the door suddenly opened. He’d have actually hit the woman behind the door if not for the woman grabbing hold of the spear with her bare hands.
“Be careful.” Ayda pushed the spear away, almost knocking down Shinasi in the process. “You should use a crowbar if you want to ply open doors. The penalty for murder is much greater than that of thievery, so try not to kill people.” She was quite the tall woman, standing at equal height to John Brown. Her arms had enough muscle to repel a dozen spears if need be, making her stand out as an intimidating figure. The woman’s pure black hair, in a spiky and messed up fashion all to similar to Shinasi’s, flowed down to meet her pure black eyepatch, her only functioning eye scanning the old man and the catgirl. “Good. You were going to leave with a few broken bones if you came here to party with your friends again.”
John Brown (currently travelling under the pseudonym of Isaac Smith) and Ayomide briefly introduced themselves to the woman. She didn’t care to introduce herself, only going inside into her shop. Shinasi followed her inside, so did the others after him. The room inside was a dimly lit one with only a small window to the outside letting light in. It was filled with boxes and barrels of various shapes and sizes, all of them having labels (illegible to everyone in the group) of some sort on them. The walls of the room were cluttered with empty bookshelves of unknown purpose. “All of you, turn around.” Only Shinasi turned around with the first command. “Turn around I say!” The rest of the group followed with the second. They all heard shuffling sounds, before a sudden audible click.
“Feel free to stop looking at the wall now.” Upon her command Brown and Ayomide turned back, unable to contain their curiosity. To their surprise they found that a spot in the floor had opened up, one that lead downwards to an even danker basement. “Follow me.” The only calm person in the group was Shinasi, who seemed to have done this a million times before, the others were looking around anxiously while they followed the woman into the dark basement. Another bout of shuffling began before an oil lamp attached to the ceiling lit up. There was no visible source for the fire except for a small blaze on the tip of Ayda’s hands.
The room was quite small as expected from the basement of such a cramped building. Half of it was occupied by a desk in the middle which had writing implements and tacks of papers on it full of text. The wooden walls had countless maps attached to it, all of them full of markings pointing to various locations. It was as shady as basements could get.
Ayda put the oil lamp on the desk, slowly and carefully to make sure it doesn’t go out. She sat on an armchair which stood out as the most expensive thing on the room. The woman made herself comfortable, leaning back and firmly planting her shoes on the desk.
“So, what’s your deal then?”