Richard Tuttle - Web of Deceit

“Do the rest of the merchants do this as well?” queried Rejji.

“Most do,” Wendal answered. “The permanent ones anyway. The transient merchants usually bring their own food.”

“Would the permanent merchants pay to have a meal brought to them?” quizzed Rejji.

“I imagine they would be most eager,” chuckled Wendal. “You certainly have a future if you ever figure out how to rid yourself of that slave tunic. I think most of the permanent merchants would not be adverse to paying an extra gold coin for the delivery service.”

Rejji grinned and stood facing the line of inns behind the first row of stalls. Wendal reached over and pressed three gold coins into Rejji’s hand.

“Try the Wine Press,” the merchant suggested. “They serve a decent meal for one gold and would probably offer a discount if you were to purchase a lot of meals.”

“How many do you think I could sell?” asked the Pikata slave.

“Start with fifty meals,” advised Wendal. “Offer them thirty gold, but be prepared to pay forty. If you sell them for two gold each, you will make from sixty to seventy gold for you efforts. That is a very tidy sum for a short time.”

Rejji grinned and headed straight for the Wine Press. He entered the common room and was immediately struck by how much fancier it was than the Inn of the Rose. The clientele sitting in the room also appeared to be more affluent. He felt awkward in his slave tunic, but he strode up to the innkeeper.

“I understand that you serve a decent meal for a fair price,” opened Rejji.

The old innkeeper squinted at the pin on Rejji’s tunic before answering, “Ah, a Bursar’s boy. We serve only fresh foods here and the price is one gold. Is your master staying with us? I don’t recall seeing him.”

“No, he is at the palace,” Rejji stated. “Would you be wiling to sell fifty bag meals for thirty in gold?”

The innkeeper’s eyes narrowed as he studied Rejji. “And what would you do with fifty meals?” he asked.

“Feed the hungry,” Rejji grinned. “Actually I may need to have a hundred or two hundred, but fifty is all I want right now. If I need more I will come back.”

“Do you have gold?” the innkeeper inquired.

Rejji held up his pouch of coins and the innkeeper nodded.

“Forty gold would be fair,” the innkeeper stated.

“Thirty five would even be fairer,” smiled Rejji. “Your room is hardly full and I would be getting rid of a lot of food so you can prepare fresh food for the evening meal.”

The innkeeper shook his head and sighed, but he stuck out his hand for the coins. “I suppose you will want to borrow a cart to haul it?”

“If that does not cause you troubles,” nodded Rejji.

“Very well, lad,” the innkeeper said. “Go around back and fetch the cart. Bring it to the rear door and we will start handing out the bags.”

Rejji raced around the inn and found the cart alongside the stables. It was fairly dirty and Rejji took the time to secure a broom from the stables and clean it off. When he pushed it to the rear door of the inn, he could see the kitchen staff stuffing food into pillow sleeves. A kitchen girl started handing the sacks out to Rejji. The innkeeper walked out and watched.

“You will need to leave me ten gold as a deposit for the cart and pillow sleeves,” the innkeeper declared. “They must be returned.”

Rejji nodded and gave the man the coins. He grabbed the last few sacks and hurried off to the market stalls. From his previous day’s work, Rejji knew right where the permanent merchants were and he didn’t bother going to the ends of the rows.

The reaction of the merchants was very positive. There was no quibble over the two gold price and most of the merchants that Rejji went to bought a meal. Rejji knew there were around three hundred permanent merchants, but time would limit the number he could serve. He sold the meals as fast as he could without being abrupt. When the meals ran out, merchants down the row were calling to him to bring more.

Rejji returned twice to the Wine Press to reload the cart and by the time he emptied the third cart, the sun was declining. He returned to the inn and settled up with the innkeeper. He returned the cart to the side of the stable and walked to Wendal’s stall.

“How did you make out?” Wendal inquired.

“One hundred and fifty meals sold,” grinned Rejji. “I now have three hundred gold coins. If I get an earlier start tomorrow, maybe I will have enough to buy Mistake.”

“Perhaps,” frowned Wendal as he started to pack up his stall. “You have talent lad,” he smiled. “There are more lessons for you down the road though.”

“I will find a way,” promised Rejji. “I have to.”

Wendal remained silent as he packed his wares up. Rejji gazed around at the market and saw the figure in the black cloak again. The man was two rows away, but Rejji was sure that the man was watching him. He turned and asked Wendal if he had ever seen the man before, but when Rejji and Wendal looked, the man was gone.

“Your pouch is getting a little large to be hanging from your belt,” Wendal said. “Let me show you a trick.”

Wendal pulled out a knife and removed Rejji’s belt. Where the belt usually lay across Rejji’s tunic, Wendal cut a slit in the fabric. He bent down and retrieved two pouches from underneath his stall. He untied the drawstring on one and handed the other to Rejji.

“Put the bulk of your coins in that pouch,” instructed Wendal as he retrieved a needle from the inside of his own belt.

He cut the stitching on the cordless pouch and unraveled it. He took the strong thread from the stitching of the mutilated pouch and sewed one end of the drawstring to the inside of Rejji’s belt. The other end of the drawstring he tied to the pouch holding the bulk of Rejji’s gold. Lastly, he stuck the needle into the inside of Rejji’s belt and handed it to him.

“Let the large pouch ride inside your tunic,” Wendal explained. “Keep enough coins in your regular pouch so that you are seldom required to access the hidden one. I stuck the needle inside your belt. When you are back in your room, stitch up the ends of the cut that I made in your tunic so the tear doesn’t spread. Make sure the slit is large enough to pull your pouch through, but small enough to be hidden by your belt. When you get back to your estate and get some matching material, fashion some loops like mine to pass your belt through. That will keep your belt from sliding and revealing the hole in your tunic.”

Rejji thanked Wendal and strode back to the Inn of the Rose. He quietly sat where the innkeeper had preferred him to sit and waited. The service was prompt and Rejji smiled when he saw he was being served the same as everyone else. He ate quickly and silently and was relieved that the man in the black cloak had not shown up. He went upstairs and mended his tunic and went to bed.

Rejji woke early in anticipation of a profitable day. He whistled as he headed downstairs and found a plate of food and a bag meal waiting for him at his usual spot. Even the desire of the innkeeper to be rid of Rejji did not douse the excitement he was feeling as he hurriedly ate and left the inn. He was early enough that most merchants were still setting up as he strode towards Wendal’s stall. Several of the merchants he had sold meals to the day before waved to Rejji as he passed and the Pikata slave waved merrily back at them. Rejji thought he caught sight of the mysterious man in black again, but the arriving crowd milled between them and when Rejji looked again, he was gone.

Wendal was humming a merry tune when Rejji arrived and Rejji saw a rather large diamond going on display that had not been there the day before.