“Oren, we’re going to be raiding the city lord’s war supplies, and probably killing his soldiers to do it. I don’t give two shits about legal. Gimme…” I straightened up and stretched, then led him off toward the more private upper deck.
“Ach, no, laddie, we dinna want t’ be up there… last o’ the corpses are there. Oracle said ye needed ‘em fer Bob. They be a bit… ripe.” With a jerk of his head, he instead indicated for us to lean against the railings, looking out over the forest with the Tower at our backs.
“Well, laddie, I guess it be time t’ talk a bit aboot me past. Ye ken I were a trader, along with Decin, aye?” he said, looking up at me.
“Yeah, you said; what’s that got…”
“Just trust me, there be a point t’ this.” He lifted one hand, and I settled against the railing, frowning at him.
“Okay, mate, tell me the whole story, then.” I gestured for him, and Oren shifted his gaze back to looking out over the treetops. He was silent for a long minute before the memories began pouring out.
“It were a good life… it were hard, dinna get me wrong. I had t’ go into debt to a lot o’ people t’ be able to afford me own ship. Me da borrowed gold from t’ clan, we got investors, and I took some gold from a… friend… who said he’d just ask me for a wee favor now and then, that were all.” Oren snorted and shook his head, his beard waggling, and he ran his fingers through his hair as he thought back to those days.
“Oh, I was so naïve! Business were good, I had contracts from t’ guilds, I ferried people back an’ forth to t’ Narkolt and other nearby villages, not t’ mention a few trips out t’ the Sunken City. I met some good people, loved ma life; I thought it’d go on forever. I thought I had it made fer life.” He snorted and spat over the side. “Then t’ war came. Overnight, it were treachery t’ be dealin’ wit Narkolt. T’ villages couldna afford t’ pay for ma goods, not wi’ t’ new taxes. Research at t’ Sunken City were cancelled, and all that were left were a few wee deals here an’ there. Mostly runnin’ t’ scummy tax collectors back an’ forth. I hated it.”
“I bet, mate. I’m sorry to hear it, though,” I said. Oren shook his head, continuing.
“Then me old friend, he comes outta t’ woodwork. Says he knows I need gold, an’ I’d already bin droppin’ off a wee package here an’ there for ‘his friends’. I knew what it were, smugglin’, but I didna care. It were only a wee bit, after all, and it were t’ keep me ship in t’ air. A dwarf has t’ pay ‘is debts, ye ken?”
He looked up at me from under one bushy eyebrow, as though waiting for me to condemn him. I grinned back at him and he nodded, relieved.
“I do.” I said, smiling at the use of ‘ken’ in place of ‘know’ or ‘understand’, the memories of the Scots I used to drink with coming to mind.
“Aye, well, turns out tha’ me old friend; let’s just call ‘im ‘Mal,’ alright? Well, Mal happened t’ ken a wee way fer me te make a wee bit more gold, an’ I were already going tha’ way, takin’ th’ taxman t’ the villages. Why no’ drop a wee parcel off here and there, mebbe pickin’ up a wee bit extra, too? Taxman didna care what I was doin’, as he were t’ busy t’ see. Thought I were under their thumb. It got t’ be a bit o’ a game; t’ villages were payin’ t’ taxes wi’ gold from t’ city. Half t’ time, it were gold I was carryin’ out on t’ ship, passin’ it over all subtle-like, an’ they’d be turnin’ around an’ givin’ it straight back t’ the taxman.”
I grinned at that, imagining the villagers laughing their asses off at the trick.
“Then came th’ day me contact were late. Taxman made me take off wi’ out the time t’ take th’ gold onboard. I gave th’ villagers what I had; me own gold, ye understand? It were all I had, but it were no’ enough. I tried t’ reason wi’ th’ taxman, but he were a bastard. Stripped th’ village o’ anythin’ valuable. He would ha’ taken th’ chief’s daughter too, ‘cept I put me foot down an’ refused, said he’d be walkin’ back iff’n he did.”
“Good man,” I said, a thread of anger rising at the detail. This realm seemed to be so in favor of slavery, it made my damn blood boil!
“Aye, well, it meant tha’ when I landed back at Himnel, I were arrested, fined, an’ they took ma contract."
"Taxman went back a few days later wit’ another ship. Th’ scumbag captain o’ the ‘Star’s Glory’, Bateman, e’ were happy te take it, and they brought her back still. Sold ‘er at th’ slave market. So, I lost me contract fer nothin’.”
“No, mate, you stood up and you did what was right, and if we ever come across that cocksucker, Bateman? Feel free to shoot him down. Especially if the taxman is aboard.” I said with feeling.
“Ha!” Oren laughed. “Aye, well, I’ll be holdin’ ye t’ that, laddie! Anyway, when I lost th’ contract, I also lost th’ cover t’ go t’ the villages we’d been usin’… Mal did pay me, fer th’ gold I’d lost and me cut I’d ha’ earned iff’n his lad had been on time. But it was still only fer what I’d earned up ‘til then.”
“Sounds like he’s a good guy?” I said and Oren snorted, shaking his head.
“Nah, laddie. Mal be a smuggler, plain an’ simple. He be out t’ line ‘is pockets, ye
