Chapter 6

Stoney-Brook Village was gone. Only the walls of the burned down houses stood. The fields were burned. Jutwaso and Poh searched the houses for survivors, while Lira stood and wept. Samasan went to his house, and sighed.

"You were too good for this world Izabelle."

Samasan stabbed his walking stick into the ground where his front door used to be. Jutwaso was crying while cutting down the five bodies. They fell like rag-dolls.

"Did you check the stocks." Samasan asks Poh who came to check on him.

"Raided." Poh looks down.

Samasan nods his head, and ties a dirt covered pouch to his cloth belt.

"There's no one else here, besides..." Poh trails off.

"War." Samasan sighs.

He pokes the crumbling remains of Izabelle. They throw Yar's and the family's bodies onto the charcoal pile, and set it on fire.

"Why do you burn the bodies?" Samasan asks.

"So they can stay at rest." Lira sniffles.

"What now?" Poh asks.

"We kill everyone who did this." Jutwaso growls.

"No," Samasan shakes his head, "First we rebuild our strength."

"How will we do that?" Lira asks.

"We lay stakes in the city." He answers.

"Those bastards deserve to die!" Jutwaso screams.

"We're going to Queen Irida's kingdom." Samasan speaks.

"What!" The group cries.

"This was done by either by the army of Lord Halgar, -"

"Lord Halgar would never betray his own people." Lira grits her teeth.

"Or this was done by Queen Irida's Army." Samsan reasons.

"Why would we ever go to Irida?" Jutwaso sighs.

Samasan points up the dirt road and says, "Our enemy lays in that direction after destroying this village. Irida has no registry of us as citizens. No one will recognize us. We'll travel there as merchants. Collect information, and decide our next move from there."

"Who made you leader?" Asks Poh.

"I don't want it." Samasan says. "I don't want to die. This is how we live."

"I say we burn down the forest around those Iridan bastards attacking our kingdom." Jutwaso riles the group.

"What if it was Halgar who attacked?" Samasan tries to throw water on the fire.

"They would never." Poh retorts.

"If it was Irida's soldiers who attacked us, they will be travelling towards Halgar's castle. As long as we are travelling behind Irida, Halgar will see us as spies and defectors. If it was Halgar who-"

"Halgar would never dishonor his citizens." Lira interrupts.

"If Halgar's soldiers are still fighting at the border with Irida, then only Halgar could have attacked our village." Samasan finishes what he was trying to say.

"How do we know that Halgar didn't push back Irida?" Poh asks.

"It takes over a day to reach the Iridan border. We were only gone two days. They wouldn't be pushed back in two days, because it takes three days for news to reach Lord Halgar's Castle." Jutwaso answers.

"Jutwaso you said two." Samasan comments.

"You're a bad influence, brave idiot." She tells him.

Samasan laughs, and the others follow suit. They sleep in the village square. Jutwaso and Poh set the gallows on fire, before leaving Stoney-Brook Village with Samasan and Lira. The walk towards Irida was quiet. Suddenly, Samasan covered Poh's mouth as he tried to scream. They hadn't reached Irida yet, but here was a small village still standing. Jutwaso's face had turned bright red, while Lira's face was ghastly pale.

"There could be an answer we're not seeing yet." Samasan tried to get Poh to calm down.

Samasan knew saying the answer wouldn't help the group. He took his hand off of Poh's mouth. They walked quietly, while all four of them carried one handle of the wheel barrow. They border bridge to Irida came into view.

"Wait." Samsan stopped the group.

"What is it?" Lira asked.

"We need to get our story straight." He tells them.

"We're merchants. What of it?" Poh says.

"Merchants from where?" Samasan asks.

They look at each other for an answer.

Samasan takes off his dirty coin pouch, and dumps the them into the rock-spit.

"What the hell?!" Jutwaso yells at Samasan.

He had dumped four green emerald coins, and one blue sapphire coin into the murky black liquid. Their total value exceeded six million dollars. Sapphire coins break into thirteen emerald coins, and emerald coins break into thirteen ruby coins, then gold, then silver, and finally copper worth approximately one dollar.

"You've been hiding money." Poh points at Samasan.

"I've been saving for an emergency." He answers back.

"With this money, Lord Halgar could've-" Poh begins to speak.

"Bought more people into existence?" Samasan cuts him off. "Everything in war goes towards killing. The more either side has, the more lives are lost, until there is no one left."

"This money could've brought peace." Jutwaso argues.

"How many ages of rest have any of you witnessed? How long do they last?" Samasan fires back.

The others look down at the ground in defeat.

"We are merchants passing through Halgar to Irida." Samasan tells everyone. "Our cargo is an ingredient for an elixir. It is a secret to keep control on the substance. Is that clear?"

Everyone looks at each other, and nods. Samasan throws the empty wooden jar into the forest, and smashes the clay pot on a tree.

"I'm the leader of this group." Samasan says.

They get to the border fort on the Iridan side of the bridge.

"Who are you?"

"I am Samasan. These are my associates Poh, Jutwaso, and Lira." he explains.

"What are you doing here?" the guard asks.

"We are transporting goods to Irida for sale." Samasan answers.

"What kind of goods?" the guard takes off the lid of a wooden pot while asking.

"These goods are a trade secret, used in the making of elixirs. If I told you, I would be destroying my business."

"It looks like rock-spit to me." The guard comments. "Peter, come inspect this liquid."

Peter comes down from the guard tower stairs. He holds his hands over the wooden jars, and closes his eyes.

"It's poison." Peter says.

"You're not supposed to drink it." Samasan replies.

"You said it was for an elixer." The guard questions Samasan.

"It's rock-spit. Okay. It's rock-spit. Halgar's troops would've stopped us from carrying it here if they knew." Samasan tries to defuse the situation.

"I suppose we could let you pass, but you'll have to pay a tax." The guard reaches for the wooden pot that holds the money.

"Wait."

Samasan interrupts the guard, and takes the lid off two of the wooden jars. He pours some of the rock-spit from the pot with money into the pot without. Samasan hands the fuller pot to the guard.

"Here take this." Samasan smiles.

"Hmm... I'll take this one." The guard points to the other wooden pot without the money in it.

"Are you sure?" Samasan tries to hold his bluff.

"Yes. Now get out of here, before we confiscate all your goods." The guard chases Samasan off.

"That was too close." Poh says as they walk through a forest.

"Never say that around here." Jutwaso scolds Poh.

They buy moon-wheat bread from Iridan villagers while travelling to the capital. It took thirteen days to travel to the capital of Iridan, Waterton. Four rivers run into it, and fall down a chasm into pitch darkness. The chasm is three-hundred meters across, and the city of Waterton is built around it. Irida's castle is built in the northern district.The area closest to the chasm are slums. The eastern district runs commerce for the city. Cargo comes through the south and east port rivers.

The four rivers are named, Solus to the east, Halgus to the south, Rutguard to the west, and Yipur to the North. Samasan, and the others are travelling north by the Halgus river. There's a fish slaughter-house on the Halgus south of Waterton, and the river was named after the Hal family for its smell. The current leader of the Hal family is Lord Halgar of the Halgar kingdom. Samasan has Poh pay two gold to the caravan leader at the city gates for aiding their safe travel there.

"Where are we going?" Lira asks.

"We need a base of operations, but first we will find simple lodgings." Samasan answers.

Samasan pays the guards five silvers for information about the city. He thanks the guard, and leaves for the eastern district. The stone streets are covered in horse shit, and the citizens are throwing their bathroom waste out their windows, and onto the street.

"Disgusting" Samasan gags.

"I'll search around for a decent inn." Jutwaso tells the group before disappearing in the crowd.

"How will she find us?" Lira asks.

"I'm hungry." Poh complains.

"Lira you're the only one of us that knows how to read. We need guards for protection. Take us to where we can buy them." Samasan tells her.

Lira leads the group to the adventurers guild, and goes inside while Poh and Samasan guard the wheel barrow. She comes out of the building with ten people.

"I said buy a few." Samasan exclaims.

"This is how much we could get with what you gave me."

"How long will they aid us?" He asks her.

"We'll follow you for a year." One of them responds.

"A year!?" Samasan is shocked. "Wait, how do you know what a year is? What is a year?"

"Five hundred cycles." The adventurer answers.

"How did they decide that?" Samasan asks.

The adventurers shrug their shoulders.

"Hey!" Samasan yells at a child who just cut off his coin purse.

"Allow us." The adventure leader speaks.

Five adventurers chase after the child. Samasan waits around while the city bustles about. They see the group of adventurers run around a building toward them.

"Stop that child." Samasan yells while pointing at the kid.

One of the adventurers in with Samasan steps out into the street. She looks ready to tackle the kid, and then a dagger flies out. It lands in the kid's chest, and he looks scared. The kid who was no older than seven, falls to the ground, and drops the coin purse. The adventure leader pays a silver to the city guards who carry the child's body to a bridge, and drops it into the river Solus.

"How could that just happen?" Samasan gawks.

"Simple street trash, sir. Probably abandoned." An adventurer speaks up, while handing Samasan his money.

Samasan leans over, and vomits in the street.

"Are you alright?" The lead body guard asks.

"I can't believe this just happened." Samasan gags.

"We won't let them get away with anything, as long as we're around." The leader tells him.

"I found you." Jutwaso says to Samasan spitting on the ground.

"How did you find us?" Lira asks.

"I saw the body floating down the river," Jutwaso points behind herself. "That kid was trailing us since we passed the south gate. Figured you caught onto him."

Samasan dry heaves.

"Got some guards huh?" Jutwaso comments.

Lira rubs Samasan's back, while Poh tells Jutwaso what happened.

"All this for a ruby." Samasan speaks.

"You had a ruby in there?" Poh asks.

"No," Samasan answers, "I gave Lira a ruby to buy some guards."

"Best protection you can buy in Waterton." The guard leader boasts.

The group and the guards visit an inn for the night. Samasan, and the others sleep in a attic room, while the body guards sleep in the stables and keep watch. During the night a jar of rock-spit disappears.

"It's gone!" Poh rattles the group awake in the morning.

"What's gone?" Jutwaso asks while rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"The jar with the extra money in it!"

Samasan jolts awake, and calls for the adventurer leader Wesro. They meet at the bar downstairs.

"What is it boss?" Wesro asks.

"We had a thief visit last night." Samasan tells her. "They stole rock-spit from us. I need it back safely. It was being transported in a wooden container that looks like this one. I will buy all ten of you a meal of stew and beer, and reward one gold to the person that captures the thief without killing them."

Wesro and five other adventurers leave to search the city. During that time, Poh and Jutwaso are eating at the bar, while Samasan talks to Lira.

"I thought ten was a good price." Lira states.

"I'm not complaining about that." Samasan answers.

"Why do you seem so unhappy?"

"It's just..." Samasan looks down. "Son of a bitch."

The other jar of rock-spit at Samasan's feet is missing.

"What's wrong?" Poh asks.

"We were just robbed again!" Samasan yells.

Jutwaso shakes her head, and drinks more beer. An hour later, Wesro comes back with one of the adventurers restrained with rope.

"Let me go!"

One of the other adventurers shoves Jutwaso aside, and runs for the door. The other adventurers tackle him. Wesro places the two wooden jars of rock-spit on the table where Samasan is sitting.

"These two colluded to steal from you." Wesro outs the two adventurers in her group.

"I'm glad you didn't kill them."

Samasan dumps out both containers of rock-spit on the dirt floor, and picks up the coins that fell out. The coins' worth are unrecognizable, because they're covered in black sludge. Samasan squeezes the coins in his hand, and washes his fist in the beer mug. The two thieves look on in shock. Samasan hides the content of his hands, while peeking inside of them.

"It's all here." Samasan says.

"Good..." Wesro sighs in relief.

"Now we need to handle these thieves humanely."

"Leave it to me." Wesro answers.

"Now if we just call for the city gu-" Samasan stops speaking.

The male and female thief had their hands placed on the bar, and Wesro cut off their thumbs. The two were shoved out onto the street, and ran away crying.

"Proof of our honor, sir." Wesro drops the bloody thumbs on Samasan's table.

"We got ourselves some good ones." Jutwaso walks over to the table.

Samasan stares at the thumbs in fright.

"You don't have to be scared with us around." Wesro boasts.

"I need a bank." Samasan laments.

"I can find a good one." Lira answers.

She returns to the inn three hours later, while Wesro and her men are enjoying a hearty meal. Samasan is resting his face in his hands.

"I'm back."

"Thank god." Samasan sighs. "Please tell me that no one was hurt or killed, because of this."

"Nope. It's not far from here." Lira says.

They all walk to the bank. The guards at the bank only allow Samasan and Lira to enter.

"Can I help you?" The manager of the bank asks.

"We need to safely store our money. How much do you charge?" Samasan asks.

"One silver per deposit, and withdraw, and one silver per hundred days stored." He answers.

"I need to store this." Samasan holds out the blue sapphire coin, and five green emerald coins.

The managers eyes grow wide. The teller behind a desk whispers ferverishly to another teller.

"Yes, I'm sure we can help you." The manager quickly responds.

Lira confirms the bank documents, which are sealed with blood. Samasan holds onto the blue Sapphire per Lira's suggestion, and buys a coin locket to hold it in. The locket is made of silver.

"This is too obvious." Samasan feels like the silver jewelry will stand out on him.

"Try it on." The sales woman speaks.

When the locket hangs on Samasan's neck, it disappears.

"Amazing." He responds, while feeling the invisible jewelry. "How many coins can these hold?"

"Seven-three." She tells him.

"I'll take Seven-three."

Samasan pays five gold for the four lockets, and gives the other three to Jutwaso, Poh, and Lira at the Inn. Samasan keeps four emerald coins in his locket, while Jutwaso, Poh, and Lira's lockets hold three emerald coins.

"Don't tell Wesro or the other guards about these." Samasan tells the other three.

"What are we doing now?" Poh asks.

"Samasan told the bank to find him a warehouse near the docks to use." Lira tells him.

"Why do we need a warehouse for a wheel barrow?" asks Poh.

"Working space." Samasan answers.

There we're no warehouse available for purchase. The bank bought out part of the slums from Queen Irida, and had the city guards evict them. Samasan was unaware of these happenings.

"This whole area is just for us?" Samasan looked around the large lot of land.

"Yes sir." The bank manager answers. "We were able to procure the land for two emeralds, and six rubies."

"I don't like that," Samasan points to the chasm, "But this is great. I have so many ideas."

Samasan stabs his walking stick into a large pile of ashes. The people of the slums had already stolen the iron nails from it, but Samasan didn't know anything about that. He looked around at the quarter kilometer area, and smiled. It took a month for the lumber for buildings to arrive. Samasan had the largest warehouse ever seen built. It was one-hundred meters by two-hundred-fifty meters. The building was two stories tall, and had stone walls protruding two meters above the roof which were dividing the building every twenty-five meters.

Despite the builders arguments, Samasan insisted on having the stone walls added to the warehouse for safety. He put them in for fire safety. If the warehouse catches fire, the stone walls will stop it from spreading to the whole building. That was his logic. It only took a couple months to complete the construction.

"These people are incredibly strong."

Samasan admired the people that were able to lift several times more than was humanly possible on earth. The use of a wooden crane wasn't necessary with all the man power. Samasan was very specific about the building. He included unusual things in the building, including a stone foundation, and iron braces for the tongue and groove style framing. Hand railings for stairs to the second floor houses was the strangest request.

Samasan was offered by a group of wizards to have the building blessed with protections. Jutwaso helped him decide to just hire a few apprentice wizards to look after things. Half of the money was spent getting the building constructed. Samasan wanted glass windows, but found out that glass is too expensive for the amounts he desired. Wooden barred windows were used instead. The building was complete.

"This is a work space." Samasan's voice echoed inside the building.

"It's a big empty building." Jutwaso spoke up.

"But it's our big empty building." Samasan smiles.

"When are we gonna work on avenging our village?" Poh asked.

"I already hired people to collect information regarding the attack on Stoney-Brook Village." Samasan says in passing. "They were accused of harboring Iridan rebels by Halgar's knights. Yar, and the refugee family were killed as the rebels. The rest of the villagers were sold as slaves. Halgar's knights destroyed the village."

"What?" Jutwaso asks in disbelief.

"When did you find this out?" Lira asks.

"Over ten cycles ago."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jutwaso is fuming.

"I thought you would get angry, and hire mercenaries to go on a killing rampage." Samasan answers.

"We should hire mercenaries!" Jutwaso yells.

"I agree with her." Poh adds in.

"Halgar would never dishonor the citizens of the kingdom." Lira can't handle the news.

"He sits on a crown of lies." Jutwaso tells the group.

"Our village was innocent." Poh says.

"Those refugees we took in were Iridan spies. They confessed under torture by Halgar's army. Yar was hung, because she allowed them into the village. Halgar isn't a liar." Samasan talks slowly.

"Maybe if we go back, then Lord Halgar will-" Lira speaks.

"Will what?" Jutwaso interrupts her. "Will his majesty give us an audience? He'll just release our brothers and sisters, because a serf asked him kindly."

"Nobility doesn't talk to peasants." Poh comments.

"We know, Poh." Samasan responds.

"We have to do something. We'll hire the best mercenaries, and-" Jutwaso starts talking.

"We'll be killed. We can't fight two armies; Irida and Halgar. More blood won't bring our village back!" Samasan cuts Jutwaso off.

"We can't sit around doing nothing!" Jutwaso screams.

"This is not nothing!" Samasan throws up his arms.

"It's a big building." Poh comments.

Samasan slaps and rubs his face.

"We can fight and die, like everyone else around us." Samasan starts talking. "I don't want to die. I'm tired of seeing pain and suffering. We could conquer two armies, and our brothers and sisters would still be slaves. Our biggest enemy isn't a king or queen, it's us. We keep making plans to hurt others, while they're doing the same thing against us. Everyone is killing everyone. This place wasn't built to create death. It's built to bring life to this fuckin' world."

"I'm not going to abandon them." Jutwaso says.

"Me neither." Lira adds.

"I'd rather be back at Stoney-Brook." Poh tells everyone.

"We'll get them back." Samasan promises.

They sleep in their homes inside the warehouse. The constant sound of air rushing into the chasm sounds like a freight train passing. The group had the apprentice spell casters cast silence on the sleeping area at night. It was better than ear plugs that hardly did anything. The first official morning came, and everyone was standing together on the main floor. Samasan came down from his room later than everyone.

"Is it morning already?" Samasan yawns.

"What about the plan? What about saving our people?" Lira leans into Samasan.

"It's not even five-three star, and it's already an interrogation." Samasan stretches.

"This is serious." Jutwaso complains.

"This is my serious face." Samasan yawns again.

"You're not a very good leader." Poh states.

"I'm the leader?" Samasan is shocked. "When was I made the leader?"

"You said you were the leader at the bridge." Poh answers.

"The bridge..." he tries to remember. "I didn't mean I'm the leader. That was an act for the guards."

"We've been following you around this whole time." Jutwaso starts off.

"I thought everyone just agreed with my decisions." Samasan says.

"We did not agree to anything." Jutwaso cuts into Samasan's argument.

"I agreed with most of the stuff he wanted to do." Lira spoke up.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Jutwaso smacks the knife out of Poh's hand.

"I was using that." Poh responds.

"Useless." Jutwaso complains.

"Don't say that about Poh." Samasan speaks up.

"All he does is say stupid things." Jutwaso knocks the knife out of Poh's hand again, and walks off.

"Why is she mad at me?" Poh asks.

"She's not mad at you." Lira answers. "She's mad that we're not doing enough."

"Let's get started on that now, shall we?" Samasan tells the two.

The first workshop is set up. Ten wooden lathes. Ten spindles for making thread. Two looms that were made three meters wide. Three carts with horses for transporting materials. Samasan had already bought ten-thousand kilograms of moon-wheat straw, and hired slum workers to process it into lunar fibers. Hay bale sized bats of lunar fiber were piled four meters high. The slum workers got paid five coppers per week each.

Samasan hated the pay rate, but businesses require profit. There was no guarantee that mass produced fabric would sell quickly. Two production lines were made. The first made coarse thread and fabric for the lower class. The second made very fine thread and fabric for the upper class. It was much slower than the first. The lathes were used to make arrows. Jutwaso felt like Samasan was betraying the kingdom of Halgar, but he argued that it was necessary to keep a low profile.

"There are no sides in war. Only profit." Samasan argued.

The peasant fabric line evolved into clothes making. A large square of rough fabric was folded into a rectangle, and cut in half. One half was cut, and stitched into pants. The other was made into a sleeveless shirt. The outfits came in one adult size, with a cloth belt to tie it all together. Samasan wanted to add a pair of wooden sandals, but it was too expensive for the serfs to afford. The undyed clothes were sold at one copper per.

The clothing upset the market. It cost less than half of usual fabric made at village farms. They raised the cost of moon-wheat, and Samasan responded by buying up land for farming. He convinced the Waterton city guard to pay for horse manure removal through himself in exchange for a discount on arrow prices. The manure was plowed into Samasan's fields for higher yields. Jutwaso was shocked at how quickly money came in.

The cloth and arrows were selling for a ruby per week. She didn't know what that money was going to, but Samasan was spending it as fast as it came in. The warehouse worked on the centi-coin, and silver & golden-rod measurements. It also adapted weights in soul-rocks, which were found to always weigh exactly the same amount, and be equal in size. The warehouse had become a monster being fed by over one-hundred people non-stop, day and night, always running.

Fifty more lathes were installed. Part of the land was converted into an area for melting iron, and forging it. Samasan made primitive steel tools by cooking iron tools yellow hot in clay to remove the oxygen from the surface. The first metal lathe was built, which made the first iron rollers. Those rollers were hardened into steel. One month later, the first one-fifth centi-coin iron rod was cut up, and bent into 'T' shaped nails.

Samasan hadn't upset the smithies too much, because he was only producing nails. Most of the iron smithed went towards making weapons and armor in the kingdom of Irida. The nails were perfectly sized for horse shoes. The smiths bought out Samasan's nail supply, because they could resell them for a higher profit. Samasan converted part of the warehouse next to the river Solus into a water-powered saw mill.

"You're building gigantic weapons for the enemy." Jutwaso accuses Samasan.

"Those are ballistae. They are a weapon for killing armies. A weapon for killing killers." he reasons.

"Is this how you've been earning so much money?" She asks.

"We're giving those away for free in exchange for tax exemption from Queen Irida."

"You are no brother to Stoney-Brook." Jutwaso throws her coin locket on the floor, and leaves.

Samasan sighs, and picks up the locket. He shakes his head, then drops the locket around his neck. Samasan opens Jutwaso's coin locket, and finds it empty. He lets out a sigh, and jumps as several Waterton city guards rush into the building.

"Samasan of Halgar, you are accused of espionage against her highness' country Irida. The penalty for this crime is death." The lead guard announced.

Suddenly a ball of fire shot towards the city guards. It knocked two of them back four meters.

"Stop!" Samasan yelled to his guards. "No more death."

He quietly left with the guards, and walked to the northern district while people threw rotted food and spit at him. Samasan was thinking about studying animals, and nature, while being haunted by scenes of torture and death in his mind. They stopped at the Waterton city Cathedral Square. The building was a vaulted pyramid. Seven stone pillars rose into five stone pillars, and those five rose into three that met at the apex of the pyramid cathedral.

Samasan looked around at the people of Waterton. He saw them engulfed in orange flames. The city looked like an endless fire to Samasan. The streets were crowded with people. He wanted to run away, and soiled himself when a knight with a shinning sword emiting light came forward. The guards knocked Samasan to the ground.

"This man is Samasan of Halgar, he is a spy for the kingdom of Halgar." The city guard calls out to the citizens.

Samasan looks up, and sees a blue in the sea of orange. He squinted the tears out of his eyes, and saw Jutwaso standing in the crowd, surrounded by blue flames. Her face emotionless.

"The penalty for treason is death!" The guard yells.

Samasan's head was placed on a chopping stone. His eyes locked onto Jutwaso. He could hear the knights armor rubbing together as he approached. Samasan prayed for mercy, and a voice called out.

"Stop!"

Samasan began to sigh in relief, but couldn't feel air passing his mouth. The world tumbled around him. When it slowed down, Samasan saw his headless body. The world stopped moving, and he was staring directly at Jutwaso. His vision lifted up, like he was ascending the world, and then he looked around.

"The punishment has been met." The executioner holds up Samasan's head for the crowd to see.

The people cheer wildly. Samasan's vision turns away from the crowd, and towards the leader of the city guard talking to a priest with a worried look. Samasan's vision grows dim, then black as the priest looks back at him.