Asif draws his twin scimitars, his anger beyond all reason now. Youngand impetious he strides forward to join Taras.He says to Taras."Efendi, fear not. Her kind, do not prosper. Horse thiefs deserve no mercy!I act on your word?" Taras nods, "You may certainly have...." "Damnit, Taras!" snaps Marika, trying to manuever her horse between theangry youth and the elven merchant. "You're not helping matters."
Asif looks up at the challenge from Marika, in a firm voice he says.."Whoever pets scorpions with the hand of compassion gets stung. We let thisoutrage pass, and we are not longer men. I am a Faris, not a lowly slave. Iintend not to see this kind honourable man (pointing to Taras), be treatedin such a fashion. This viper has his goods, and I intend to see themreturned before the light of Aten disappears over the horizon"
"Asif, take it easy!" Ullar says to the noble man from the far east."As Taras has said before, he can't prove those horses belong to him. This lady is in her right and we can't do anything about it, except for lowering us to the level of the Goblins and attack her. I, for one, don't feel much to this, so please.. keep your temper under control."
Asif fights to control himself. "Efendi, in the land of the enlightenedpeople of Aten, one does not deal so civil tone with obvious horse thieves.The most blind begger of the streets of Amnara can see that this is suchan injustice to our friend and his clan. Does clan honour mean so littlehere? This viper (pointing to the horse trader) who speaks such untruthsshould feel our wrath".
"But they are no horse-thieves! She is just a clever merchant, I'll have to give her that! She BOUGHT the horses from the Goblins! And as she stated, since the church of that evil Bishop is in control, pagans are not allowed to have such property and clearly she is claiming it for the Catholik church."
"There is no solution but to fight her and her men if we want to get the horses back right now, and I'm not afraid to fight, but I think we are a tiny bit outnumbered here! If we could chase down the Goblins and get their money, we can buy the horses back, for 50 GP's a piece, the same price, she says, she bought the horses for."
"I think she is reasonable, really. That might sound strange, but the odds are just against us right now Asif" Ullar says, while putting his right hand on Asif his shoulder.
"Efendi the ways of this land are strange. What merchant buys goods thatare so obviously stolen. Also by what law does she have right to say we arepagans. All live beneath the Solar disc of Aten, but go not I to force histruth upon others. Since when do I also ask do these Goblins swear by thisCatolik faith. Surely they too can not have rights to property as well? Indealing with them too, does she not break law?"
"I guess so, but if we want to complain about it, we'll have to get to the Bishop or other church-authority, and I'll pass for that one, my friend" Ullar replies, with a faint smile on his lips.
Taras nods sadly, "You are right, my foreign friend. She has indeedconducted herself both immorally and illegally here, but in this part ofthe world a properly greased palm is more important than the truth. We arenot connected to Catolik law, so she may conduct herself as she sees fitregarding us. The elves of Riffliani, knowing this, still conductthemselves with honor, but some with black hearts use the laws to exploitothers." He sighs, "This woman seems an expert at doing that."
Asif's anger continues to boil like the desert sun. Heka or not wielded bythis women, her tongue was like a viper. She may indeed be able to see theinner secrets of a man, but such power was useless against a descendingscimitar. Respect would she give to his friend Rhune, or by Aten would herfoul tongue be removed. Asif pushes his way forward to stand by Rhune, hiseyes cold with anger. Touching his right hand on her shoulder he speaks.
"Rhune my efendi, it is said that one who gives nourishment to a ravenshall find there eyes plucked from there brow. . This viper is unworthy ofconversation. A thief and a speaker of lies shall choke beneath the sands.We go now. Judgement comes to all who have no honour. She is no better thanthe clanless ones, who live upon the blood of others. Come!"
Asif glares at the women, with obvious distast, then attempts to sheperdRhune further away from her.
Rhune looks are Asif in surprise. This strange young man intrigues her verymuch, as does his people. Perhaps when this all over with she can journeyto his land and discover more about his people. His language is verymusical as she is discovering. She smiles at the young man as she allows him to lead her away from the woman.
Once outside the earshot of the horsetrader, Asif forces a smile."Efendi I hope you feel not too shamed by those poisonous words which pourfrom the lips of that foul viper.Honour not, does she have. In my land onewho cheats with so little shame would find there tongues cut from therelips, their ill gotten gains seized by the authorities, and there worthlesshides cast into the street. I swear to do my best to give justice to hewho has given us shelter. The honour of Taras and his clan shall beavenged. That foul women has not won this day!"
Rhune nudges her horse closer to Asif's. Laying her hand on his shoulder,"Thank you, my friend. The only thing that shames me is that she is one ofmy race and speaks so others. We are not all like that I assure you.Perhaps someday when this all over you can show me your homeland, Asif. Iwould like to meet others of your people." she says smiling at the youngman, her deep purple eyes glittering in the fading light.
A look of great surprise crosses Asif's face.
"What say you efendi, she one of your CLAN? One of elfkind? How she speakso foul of one of her own flesh and blood. Her behaviour now cause me evenmore pain. No one worthy of breath treats one's own clansman in such a way!Your ways are most confusing efendi. Understand I not well!"
Asif shakes his head with some anguish. "ahhhhhh it not good at all! mmmone day go we to most beautifull country on earth. Land most blessed byAten. Unlike this land of merchants we fear not other peoples truths. Thereality of Solar disc unquestioned, it seen ever here. (Asif points to thesun) We seek not by force the hearts of Men and women of other faiths. Yousee our truth and come to it if your heart is called"
"Oh Asif! you misunderstand me. There are many different tribes of elfkind,not just one clan. Just as Urk is a Urk-stelli-Cor and you, Jacobus, Ullarare human, and Sam is a halfing, I am elf. So is this woman. But she is notof clan, my village. She doesn't even speak with an accent the way that I do."she says to the young man.
Jacobus sits mulling over the problem of the horses, Xania's hips seem tokeep intruding on his thoughts until he curses himself for being an idiotand puts it down to distractions.
"If the horses were to break out of their corral then according to the lawthey would be no-one's property, right? That would mean that if we just sohappened to round up the horses then they would become ours."
He leans forward and adds "I for one wouldn't like to take this matter upwith the Bishop, I have heard that some of his lesser functionaries haveone or two perverse entertainments they'd like to try out on my hide.""So can we cause the Corral to break, without implicating ourselvesdirectly?? Or would we require certain people to break the Corral?"
"Friends," Marika continues, "why don't we give Miss Fyodorll a few minutesto think over her position while we examine the path she says the horse thieves took?" She inclines her head toward the eastern woods, thenturns to ride in that direction.
"I think a cooling down period of a few minutes won't harm anyone here!"Ullar adds to the discussion.
As the group prepares to leave, Fyodorll adds a chilling statement, "Wecould always take the matter up before the Bishop. While I was in Arezzo, Iheard he was on his way there to visit. I am sure he would make a fairruling on things!" She then bursts out into a fit of deep laughter.
After a cursory examination of any tracks the group can find, Marikasighs and gazes back toward the merchant's corral. "If we chased down thegoblins en masse, they'd just scatter," she says to the others (or as manyof them as have followed her to the woods.) "To get the money back, we'dprobably have to slaughter them...and I'm not about to spill blood for gold. Especially *her* gold," she snorts, with a derisive glance towardthe merchant's wagon.
"The way I see it, we've got three choices."
"First, we could track down the goblins. Rhune and Sam might enter theircamp by stealth and steal back Miss Fyodorll's gold. Seems to me that we'dbe doing her work for her, but it's a possibility."
"Second, we could try to take back the horses. This wouldn't be easy, andTaras, she might make trouble for your clan in the future -- either byslandering your reputation, by trying to have you arrested, or by hiringthugs to raid your home. Our chances would be better if we waited for nightfall -- it would give me time to prepare a sleep spell. But then weleave Sukiskayn practically defenseless."
"Third, we could return to Sukiskayn now, and come back tomorrow to deal with Miss Fyodorll. The obvious danger with this plan is that she could vanish before then, or sell the horses, or take them where we have no chance of recovering them. The benefit is that we could return withmore people and appropriate spells...and Taras, is there any evidence wecould bring back that the horses are yours?"
Ullar does not look pleased, "Of all your options, none of them soundreally appealing to me. Those Goblins, how evil they might be, will put upa fight for what they claim what is rightfully theirs. And if we can getthat money back, do you think she will sell the horses for the same amountof money? I doubt that.."
"We need some cunning movement in this situation and I bet they will be on their toes tonight if we leave without the horses, surely they will expect us to get back. We could send out some to Sukiskayn so that they are informed, but that would leave us with even less people to do anything about it."
"If it comes to violence, we need to take that miss Fyodorll out first. I doubt she is just a merchant. If we can get her as a hostage, I don't think the rest will put up for a fight. She is clearly their leader. Did anyone see a way of getting close to her, without being noticed, or with a less change of being noticed if she would be distracted by talking or something else?"
Ullar and the rest could not observe any ready way to get in close withoutbeing noticed, though perhaps one of the sneakier members of the groupcould attempt getting in through the back door of the main wagon. Samvolunteers for the duty, being the smallest, but waits for the rest of thegroup to okay it before attempting to get inside. He seems to think that hecould take her out of action if there were some sort of distractionprovided. Alternately, the men in the corral seem to be keeping a veryclose eye on things, so it would be difficult to plan any type of ambush onthe corral itself.
When the party discuss their plans at the mention of sneaking into thecamp, Jacobus will volunteer to accompany them. If anyone is surprised hemerely shrugs and smiles "I have not always been a merchant you know" hewinks at Rhune.
Jacobus listens to the other options, he seems to be thinking to himself.At first reluctant he comes up with a fourth option. "There is another way,he turns to Tara's "If you had some document of proof of ownership wouldthe law state that the goods had been sold fraudulantly and that therightful owner has his goods returned to him?" Jacobus looks around beforecontinuing "When I still had a business empire, I needed many tradepermits, proofs of purchase etc etc. it was a mighty task to keepeverything in order. To speed up the process I sometimes decided not totrouble the authorities and create these documents myself." he smiles "Ihate to make extra work for others. What I'm saying is, with a little timeI could come up with a very real set of documents that proves these horsesare yours, I can make it official."
Taras' teeth grate, "I am afraid that the bitch is right. The Church law,which has recently expanded into Arezzo, including all this territory,states that pagans have no rights to own property. They allow us to settlehere and live, but if she truly has authority to deal under Church law, Icannot claim the horses, even if you were able to forge up any suchdocuments. In any case, she appears to have the ability to read ourthoughts. Even the best forgery cannot defeat that." His temper appears tohave lowered somewhat. "What can we do? You all are injured, and her menappear eager to fight. Added to that, she appears to have some magicalability. We cannot purchase the horses, as I did not bring any money.Indeed, I do not think that the settlement currently possesses enough moneyto purchase all the horses back, and my father would not do so in any case.I fear I have disappointed my clan heartily." He seems very disconsolate.
"No Taras, you have not!" replies Ullar to his sad words."If I got the dialogue with that bitchy elven women right, then she will sell us the horses for the same amount of money she bought them for. There is still some honour in her heart!"
The warrior looks at Jacobus and sighs."I'm afraid forgery would never work against her. She has some kind of magickal device which can look into our hearts, which will keep us from lying to her. I'd suggest we head of after those Goblins to get that money back asap!"
Rhune has left the discussions earlier with Sam in tow, busily looking forthe goblinet they had meet. If she can find her she will try to get her tocome with her. If she can't she return to the camp sight, but from aslightly different direction that the one she left in. She is hoping thatshe does not meet any other goblins at this time or anyone else that shedoes not know. She wishes mightly that Taras's father was here.
Rhune's wishes, and her searching, both prove futile. She sees that the sun has begun it's downward climb, and she has no skill at finding the tracks of one lone goblin in the woods. Discouraged she returns to find her groupequally discouraged.