Chương 217: 214. Kirnos

The standing guard frowned and looked at his partner, who seemed to be thinking about it, before giving a curt nod. The standing guard began, "Tell ya what, ya seem like a good fellow who's been dealt a bad hand of soyent in life. Just for ya, we are willing to waive off a full silver of the taxes. That's five silver you need to pay to enter through the gates." Feroy gave a sigh full of despair.

"No, no... that barely helps me at all! I just don't have that much coin to spare... Make it two silvers in total for the entry, and I might be able to do it."

"Ya mus' be kidding..." the guard stared at them.

"We need to give four silvers just to the baron! We'd have to pay from our pockets if ya give that little as taxes!" Feroy tilted his head.

"Just four? Didn't you just ask for six silvers? You both wouldn't be trying to extort an innocent merchant, would you? I've got to complain to the baron in that case..." The standing guard looked nervous now, and wiped his forehead, while the one who had been sitting until now walked towards them, and glared at his partner. The earlier guard tried to say something, but the new guard told him to shut up before he looked at them and gave a pleasant smile which somehow still seemed full of venom.

"There is no need for that, not that a common merchant like you would ever be able to get an audience with Baron Farodas or even the young master. This idiot just keeps forgetting about that raise in the tax last week. Anyway, let's make it four silvers and five coppers. That's final!" Feroy sighed.

"The best I can do is four silvers and two coppers. That would still leave me with barely anything as profit. Any higher, and I'll just have to turn around my wagons." The new guard remained quiet for a while while glaring at his partner, before he nodded.

"It's a deal, but you gotta give the coins right now. No credits or extensions for you to give it when you return." Feroy took a visibly deep breath, like he was parting with his firstborn, and put a hand inside his fur coat to get the coins, before counting them very slowly. Eventually, when it seemed like the guard was getting too annoyed and was probably thinking of denying them entry anyway, Feroy very slowly extended his hands towards the guard, putting the coins in his fat hands.

The guard confirmed the amount himself, before he looked at them.

"You can enter now, but don't forget, it will be double of this when you exit. No more discounts on that."

"Can't help taking a loss on this trip, I guess," Feroy muttered in a low voice, which was still loud enough for the guards to hear clearly.

"I do need to clear my stock of coal anyway." Then the ex-mercenary looked at Tesyb and pointed ahead. Not wanting to stay any longer near these corrupt and greedy guards, Tesyb touched the whip to the sides of the horses, which started moving once again. The second wagon followed them as well, and then they were inside the gates of Kirnos. Once they had moved far enough inside on the snow-covered path, Tesyb whispered towards Feroy, "Why'd you show us as so poor?

Wouldn't that be bad for trading here, if local merchants find out that we don't have any coin to pay for the fish we need to buy?" The ex-mercenary looked all around them with sharp eyes, before he replied, "They only need to see our coin at the moment of purchase, even if these idiot guards blab about us when they go to the local alehouse to get drunk after duty. Either way, we need them to think that we are penniless and don't have anything worth stealing.

It probably won't help much, but if Torhan's bandits have regular contacts with the local merchants, we need all the luck we can get to show us and Tiranat as poor, just so they don't get any ideas of raiding us again any time soon."

"Oh..." Tesyb gave an understanding nod, not having thought that far ahead. Putting it in the back of his mind for now, he gazed at their surroundings. The narrow snow covered path they had been travelling on passed between huts and shacks on both sides, with hardly any people outside at this time, even though it wasn't night yet. Unlike the fat guards at the gates, these people looked like they barely got anything to eat.

The few children they saw were huddling in the corners of their parents' shacks, instead of running and playing around like they should be. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Their wagons kept moving on that street for a while, as they followed a few people carrying small satchels after confirming from some locals about the location of the marketplace.

The sound of the ocean kept getting louder, until they turned left at an intersection, and entered what had to be the marketplace of Kirnos. Even though the ground was covered with a few inches of snow, it wasn't difficult to tell from the sudden change in the sound of wagon wheels moving on the ground that just like Cinran, this marketplace also had cobblestone streets here, unlike the muddy ground in Tiranat.

While the path they had come from mostly had huts and shacks on both sides with barely any wooden houses, inside the marketplace there were only wooden buildings, most of them being two stories high. Looking around, he realized that this marketplace was bigger than he had expected, with the sea - no, the ocean - in front of them only a short distance away. In front of them, towards the ocean, he saw some straight wooden platforms extending into the water, with a real ship with sails anchored there!

On both sides of them there was a curved row of wooden shops and vendors surrounding the marketplace so that the area formed the same shape as half of a round wooden plate he ate from, with the ocean providing the straight boundary in the middle of that half circle. However, unlike the rest of the village, there were quite a few people here, with a cacophony of sounds surrounding them.

Unlike guards wearing fur coats at the gates, these people were only dressed in a peasant's clothing, their gaunt faces and hungry looks betraying the foodgrain situation in the village.

"Let's stop here," Feroy ordered. Tesyb nodded, and seeing some other wagons parked near the central area, he moved their own wagon closer to them and stopped the horses, with the second wagon doing the same next to them. Feroy jumped down from his seat and tied the scabbard to his waist again, and called up all the guards.

"Tesyb and I will go and take a look around the place to see if we can find someone who wants to buy coal from us." He gestured to the other two guards.

"You two, stay here and keep an eye on our wagons." Once they had nodded, Feroy looked back at Tesyb, "Try to see if anyone is selling smoked fish, but don't ask about the prices. Leave that for me. You go left, and I'll take the right. We'll meet right here after taking a round of the marketplace." With that, the ex-mercenary was off between the throng of people, so Tesyb turned around as well, and started moving towards the left.

As he walked, he heard a variety of sounds around him, as he kept moving next to the shops on the ground floor of the two story wooden houses. Many of the shopkeepers were shouting that their earthenware was the best, while pointing at the clay pots kept on the wooden counters of their shops. Tesyb wondered which of these shops had contacts with Torhan's bandits. Or maybe it was all of them? Further ahead around that half circle, he also saw some shopkeepers selling wheat.

He kept moving ahead and eventually he reached right at the coast where the ocean met the land only a short distance away. This was the first time he was seeing such a huge amount of water in one place, so he just stood there for a while, gazing at the setting sun in front of him while realising that he had probably never seen a more beautiful sight in his life.

Hues of orange, red, purple, and pink blended seamlessly in the sky at the horizon, while being reflected off the surface of the ocean, creating a breathtaking scene, despite the incessant squawking of the seagulls near the only ship in vicinity. Suddenly he realised that it had stopped snowing, making him come back to the present. He cleared his mind of the wonderful scenery in the west, and made a right turn to continue walking parallel to the sea line.

He thought that he heard someone calling the wooden platform next to that ship as a pier, but he wasn't sure. A few people - sailors - were loading a few crates on the ship through a plank connecting the pier with the ship. Many of them must contain smoked fish, but there was also a lot of pottery which was well-covered in straw padding being loaded as well, likely to be sold in the bigger markets like Ulriga.

On his right side, some traders were selling freshly caught fish, while further ahead some small vendors were even offering roasted fish as well on their carts. It made him salivate for a moment, before he remembered he had no coin to buy it anyway. Soon, he reached the central path dividing the marketplace, and turned right once again towards their wagon waiting ahead.

However, one thing that he had noticed was that despite all the activity and the crowd milling around in the marketplace, nearly no one seemed to be buying anything. There was a dejectedness in the air despite all the hustle and bustle, which wasn't very different from what was common in Tiranat a few months ago, if only done at a larger scale. Kirnos was a bigger village than his own, from what he had been told. Soon, he reached their wagons and saw that Feroy was already there waiting for him.