The morning sees the camp of the caravan wake up and start to pack from their campsite outside the village. The night guards, including the group, have not been troubled, and a day’s travel should see them come to Bardij.
Most of the caravan of their employer is pack animal based, but there are a couple of carts, pulled by strong mules that Dhran is tending to the delight of their drivers. He will be tending mules the rest of this session. Out of the corner of his eyes Utana notices a leg squirrelling under a pile of blankets and bolts of fabric from the north.
Reaching in he drags out an urchin, in fact the same one that had tried to thieve from them the previous night and from home they had obtained the name of the fence Payam. Utana asked him his business and was told that, having given them the name of Payam, he had intended to get to the city and warn the fence that he had done so, he intended to go to the town and warn Payam.
The group considered that and made a bargain with the child, they would let the child come as he had planned, but he was to introduce them to Payam and they would pay the urchin a silver dan for the favour. This was agreed and the child went back to his hiding spot.
The day was uneventful, and the group arrived at the market place outside the city walls in time to get a good spot in the campsite, other caravans arrive and there is the start of celebrations. The urchin is passed some food by Utana and slips off to make his way into the city to contact Payam.
There is singing, which drowns out Farshad, to the delight of all, but then wrestling. The form this takes is a ring in the dirt, two lightly oiled contestants trying to push or overbalance their opponent out of the ring, best of three. Utana is up first, he is not a skilled brawler, but he is strong, and , in the end, despite some scrappy moments, manages his well matched opponent handily, though the second fall was by grappling his opponent and falling out of the ring, but ensuring that his opponent went first.
Next up is the seeming mismatch of Farshad versus the giant Sakah caravan guard Bunjid. Farshad is small and fast and has some training, but Bunjid, whilst untrained and huge, is faster but not as strong as he appears. Farshad is forced on the defensive, slipping past Bunjid’s attacks, but winding himself in the process, not as winded as he was from a heft slap from Bunjid would have made him had it been meant in earnest. Eventually Farshad’s skill told and though it came down to the third pass, he was able to knock his opponent off balance and out of the ring. There was a lot of grumbling as many, including Utana, found themselves out of pocket after losing what seemed a sure, if low paying bet,
The rest of the night ended up in drunken revelry, and Farshad’s voice could not be contained. However Bunjid gave him some information on Bardij, what the areas of the city were, and the names of three of the leaders of the unsavoury part of the town, Payam, they knew, Donya is another leader of the fences, and Irish, who looks after mercenaries.
He also tried to explain the peculiar nature of power in Idym, that there was the civil power, and it ruled, but there was the Temple of the Cold Ones, and it reigned, but that the Temple had the power to depose their Servant of the Land. In matters of trade however, it was the civil power that you dealt with day to day, and they had set up the markets from Haraxa on the East of the city, and you traded there, and the market from Ishtir on the North, and they traded there, and any goods passing through the town, at the north or east gate were subject to tax and there they made their money on trade from the south or between the neighbouring nations.
Farshad sang, and there we will draw a veil
Morning broke, and the Sakah brought over cooked flatbreads as the group tried to make themselves human. They market was being set up and by the time the horns blew to announce the opening of the town gates. A procession of priests led out a crowd from the town, two holding flaming incense braziers on rods, and a third singing praises to the gods. The rods were thrust into the ground at either end of the market and the priest finished their prayers and hymns. The priests withdrew and the crowd behind, led by the customs officials, came to the market.
The market open, Jose was able to find and purchase rare and expensive leaves, “Woundheal” that were explained to have miraculous efficacy in the repair of wounded flesh. This he has heard of but never encountered, and he bought all four leaves for a high price.
The caravan master came to them to let them know that they would be spending two days here before heading south, so the group had their own, unpaid, time. If they wanted to continue with the caravan then they knew where to find them. The group left their most bulky weapons and armour in the secure and guarded cart, save Utana, who hid his armour under his robes. By this time the urchin had returned ad was able to lead them to Pavam, circumventing most of the tight, winding alleys of the Closed Quarter to pick a broader road in and leading them to what was, ostensibly, a potter’s workshop, though with two bruisers outside.
Once escorted them in and they spoke to Pavam about possible opportunities for a change in trade to Haraxa, perhaps opening up, perhaps removing other barriers, bound to have an effect, and who might be interested and able to work with what they presented as traders, to effect that. Pavam saying he would talk to Donya and Irash, but also try to find the names of officials in the Servant of the Land’s palace that might be amenable to an informal approach, with Pavam’s suggestion that the next day, with an open audience at the place, might be a good time to slip aside and find them for a talk.
And there we left it