He draws a breath, "You will be travelling upriver to my brother's camp, called Sukiskayn. Kalanos, the friendly balding chap whose boat you hopped upon, will be providing the transportation to the camp on his way up to the lumber camps further north. I have other business to attend to, but I will meet you all in Sukiskayn in one weeks time. My brother Petr will treat you well, but simply in the meantime. He is a good man." He looks at the group as if their business is concluded, "Oh, and the voyage will be made by water, so do not purchase any steeds. I doubt you would find them affordable in this town in any case." He guffaws at himself. "If this is acceptable, Kalanos will be ready to leave as soon as you are. If you wish to rest another day, that is fine with me. Everything fine here? Good, good." He briefly pauses before he leaves, giving the group it's first real opportunity to dialogue with him.

After he finishes speaking to them, Rhune looks around at the others first then back to the man. His offer is very tempting and she does feel that she owes him something. But she has several questions that she wishes to ask him. "I have a question that has been nagging at me a little. Last night Jacobus was talking to the helmsman. He told Jacobus that you had been looking for people all along the river. That you expected to find people such as us. Why is that?" she asks him in curious tone of voice.

Jacobus' flashes Rhune an alarming look as she freely mentions his conversation with the Helmsman last night. But it is too late.

"Aye," agrees Marika. "I was curious about that as well. And while your reasons are naturally yours to keep, I fear we may be taking advantage of your good nature in this transaction. This past night's hospitality alone must have cost you more than the typical asking price of a ragtag mercenary band such as ourselves..."

While her words are skeptical of Stephan's story, her tone is light and amiable...after all, she reasons, were she in his place, she too would be slow to hint at her true thoughts...

Ullar seems distracted somehow. He sits silently in the room, occasionly looking up at the group and Stephan but not saying anything. He then moves over to Matteo and starts whispering in a low tone: "Is it me, or is that man crazy? Why would he pay us that much for a pretty simple job?"

Stephan looks at the women with a light in his eyes, "Shrewd, you beautiful ladies are, I see. Well, there is no harm in revealing the means by which we came together. I hold great store in the power of mystics. Not sorcery, mind you, as that is largely the domain of the church now." Looking about, Stephan crosses himself with an almost imperceptible look of distaste, "Those who are closer to real magic, divination, I place great faith in. A gypsy in the outpost city of Threshold told me to not search in the guild houses of Florence and not to attempt to hire a mercenary band in any of the usual ways, but to coast up and down the Arno looking for those required to do the deed. She said the more ragged they looked, the more likely that they were the fulfillment of her sight. As you lot couldn't look more ragged, you must be it." He smiles broadly, "And so my faith in the augury is proved out!" He seems quite contented.

"As for your question of cost, indeed all this has been expensive, and outfitting you properly will be more expensive yet, but if you are able to assist my brother in getting those horses to the interested parties, it will all be well worth it. Petr does not accept my financial assistance, and I would be much in your debt if you would downplay the payment you all are receiving so that he would not feel indebted to me." He smiles graciously, "Is that all? Or is there something else I can do for you inquisitive ladies?"

"No. On second thought there is just one other thing. Who are we to deliver them to if we decide to accept your offer?" Rhune asks him, wondering about his statement that the elves would help in that.

Stephan is about to answer when Ullar stands up.

Realizing that there might be a potential danger, Ullar stands up and asks Stephan:

"Ehm.. kind Sir, or should I say, very kind Sir. You have given me or us no reason at all to doubt your motives, but when someone comes up with such a proposal my instincts tell me that there must be some strings attached. Like who are the ones we are going to be negotiating with? It wouldn't be the Drow elves, would it?"

At Ullar's mention of drow Rhune shudders. She hopes that is not the ones that they will have to deal with. Her people and the drow do not get along. She has heard far to many stories about their raides and the attacks on women and the taking of slaves. Even her own mother was nearly taken as a slave once by a drow raiding party. If it had not been for her father. . . she shudders at the thought of what might have happened to her mother. "Yes, I would like to know the answer to that myself."she says to Stephan.

Stephan chuckles, "Ever heard of one of the dark ones riding? I have not. And if they did, it would not be one of the magnificent horses you all are going to be transporting. They are white and pure, everything that the black ones despise." He seems quite amused by the idea.

Ullar continues, "And the terrain we have to pass with the horses, that is free of danger as well?"

Stephan laughs louder at this, "Why of course there is danger involved! I am not hiring you to go on a pleasure cruise, my friends! There are rampant tribes of nonhumans about as well as...other things. Chances are that your protective services will be tested on at least one occasion, but I hoped that with such a large group you might keep raids away merely with your presence. Trust that your services will be equal to the fee I have offered you." He looks at Ullar with a smile, "I am not a stupid man."

Ullar finishes, "And my last question, are those wild white horses sacred to anyone connected in this deal?"

Stephan's laugh fades quickly, and he looks at Ullar with a curious eye, ".....Actually, the Riffliani do hold the white horse sacred, yes. You must know something of these parts." He continues to look at Ullar inquisitively. "This is one of the reasons Petr is bringing them from the wilderness. We know the Riffliani will spend good money and will be happy about it. Also, they will take excellent care of the steeds."

Marika nods, apparently satisfied with Stephan's explanation. She listens as Ullar counters with several questions of his own. "Our friend brings up several important points," she tells Stephan, her tones firm and businesslike, her features set in her best imitation of the cool, composed look of a mercenary.

"The pay you offer is top-rate, and in return we will certainly respect your privacy. If this privacy extends to keeping certain activities away from the attention of church and state, that is not a problem. However, we do have our limits, and to avoid misunderstandings, we should state them up front. We don't deal with slavers, nor do we start trouble of any kind with those who don't have it coming. If we're going to be infringing on anyone's property or holy ground, please tell us now. It might not be a deal-breaker, depending on the circumstances... but if it is, it's better for all of us if we find out beforehand, rather than once we're in the field. If these conditions are acceptable to you, then allow us a moment to confer in private, and you'll have our answer."

Stephan looks at Marika quizzically, "What have I done to give you all such an ill impression of me? I have merely plucked you from the river, treated you to a wonderful night's rest and fine meal, which certainly appears to have improved your condition and appearance. And yet you assume some sort of illegality or ill contact in my dealings? I swear upon the Lord's cross that everything I have proposed to you is entirely within the boundaries of legality and morality for all involved."

Marika's attempt at impersonating a hardened mercenary dissolves and she smiles warmly, fully satisfied with Stephan's intentions and mentally preparing an apology for her overly direct line of questions...

"The only persons whose property we may be infringing on are intruders upon the sovereign ground of Italia in any case, damned goblins and worse." Looking discomfortedly at Urak, "Apologies to you of course, but most of your race are not as intelligent seeming or well behaved as you are." He seems a bit put out by the continued inquisition. "I hope that you were the correct group to pull from the river. Perhaps I should have kept on going."

Marika's smile fades somewhat at Stephan's slight to Urak's people. Her manner remains cordial, though, as she speaks to Stephan. "My apologies, good sir, if my questions were too direct. To answer yours, I had no reason at all to doubt your intentions, and much reason to regard you as a man of good will. I simply felt it wise to openly reveal what we can and cannot do, before you placed your faith in us. Forgive me if I gave offense."

"In return for the honest answer you gave us," she tells him, "there are things that we must warn you of before we work together." She glances around at the others, and seeing no overt objection, she continues. "We'll spare you the details, but we are not on the best of terms with the Church. I don't anticipate that this will cause any trouble for you are your brother, since the Bishop's men are hardly likely to turn up in the wilds above Sukiskayn.

But it is only fair that we tell you this, especially since I pressed you so hard before."

Asif looks up with a look of confusion upon his face at the mention of slavery. A slave treated well was like a member of the family. His father employed five in his workshop. One called Giovani had been owned by his father for over twenty years and had taught him what rudimentary italian he currently knew. He had been allowed to retire upon his fathers estate as a reward for his fine service. Hell! a well fed slave lived better than the begger he saw that infested the streets of Damascu. The cultural turmoil of Asifs mind burst forth with a single word. "SLAVERY?"

Ignoring Asif's outburst, Marika looks around at her companions. "Did I leave out anything?"

"I don't think so", Ullar responds. He has a frown upon his face. It's obvious that he is surprised a woman can be so direct and complete in her words. "It's a strange world outthere Ullar!" said his former master, mister Muphus. It's quite obvious Ullar is convinced of that now :-)

Urak remains silent throughout the questioning. The man had extended them hospitality from their enemies, and that was well. Although his attitude was somewhat frivalous for the serious minded apprentice, his actions and words seemed honorable enough. At the least, he had treated the party with more decency than the peculiar tunnel dwellers.

But still, Urak was not quite convinced. As the party adjournes, he rubs his furrowed brow in deep thought, pondering his choices.

Continuing to look at Ullar, Stephan motions to the whole group, "If there are no further questions and you are interested at all in my offer, please feel free to equip yourselves. I have put forth the word regarding credit advanced, so there shouldn't be a problem with any purchases you wish to make, within reason." It seems Ullar's question and Marika's implications have taken a little wind out of Stephan's sails. However, he recovers quickly, "If there is nothing else, then?"

Ullar then sits down, peering at Stephan with a friendly, but questioning look. In a soft tone he says, to noone particularly "Kinda kewl that I can buy a new Two-Handed! And a ringmail. We'll see who dares to attack us then!"

Looking around at the rest of the part, Rhune speaks, "I don't know about the rest of you, but we may have to accept his offer. The money I retreived from the dead guard would not go far split between us all. And we will need to have money if we are to do something about the other problem. I also feel that we do owe him something for helping us and for pay for all of this. What do you think?" she asks the others.

Once Stephan has gone Jacobus can't help himself but throw his hands in the air "What did you do that for ?" he asked Rhune "You never tell anyone the source of your information ever !!" he tells her rather bluntly "He will be more wary in his dealings with me now because he knows I'm curious and you could of very well just ordered the Helmsman to a keel-hauling because he spoke to us !! I'd be surprised if he's going to be so trusting with me now."

Jacobus smiles but shakes his head "I can admire your honesty, but you need to forget it every now and again. But be careful not to get into the habit of losing it like I have." he grins wickedly at her.

Asif listens to everything in silence, his mind a whirl as to the events of the past 72 hours. Not a week has he spent in this strange land, and what great trials of his faith. Sitting quietly his feet crossed he looks with great interest upon the faces of those who fate has put upon the same path as he. Why has ATen the greatest of the Djinn forged together these infidels with one of the enlightened. Despite being unaware of his light, they where indeed people of good heart. The heka wielded by Marika was indeed a blessing of a God or Goddess unknown to him. The Girl called Rhune who came of a warrior race called elfkind had taken great effort to be kind to him. Small must be there tribe, for there need for women folk to wield steel with as much skill as men. But alas one question worried him. How trusting they where of these Boatmen who has dragged them from the water.

As the prophet Amenhotep said: Once you put your head into the mortar it is useless to dread the sound of the pestle. As things stood necessity had forced their hand, but where these boatmen offering so much to be really trusted, or where they scorpions ready to strike, once there guard had been lowered. Asif nods with appreciation of the probing questions made by the two women to he who called himself Steven. With that mans departure he stands to his feet and walks over to the two women.

Upon performing his customary ritual greeting of touching his forehead, lips and heart and he begins to speak to them in his hesistant style.

"Most honourable, wise friends, of this humble son of Aten, words most important must I speak. I feel not well this day, worry trickles like quick sand upon a sinking man, making thought heavy and painfull. It is said by one of our enlightened prophets that: Once you put your head into the mortar it is useless to dread the sound of the pestle. Speaks does he by these words, that trust not all on face value. If one jumps without thinking, does one pay for what that leap brings. Italy land of merchants, not land of priests or warriors. Merchants speak not based on words of honour, but of coin. How we trust these men who offer so much for so little? Merchants give nothing away for free. Is the payment of there aid, greater than what we are willing to give? "

Rhune listens to his halting words, "I understand your misgivings about this man. I, too, do not trust him fully. But we have each come here either learn something of or to do something about the cult. And for that we will need money. What I took from the dead guard will not be enough. what this man offers will be. And, he apparently does not care for the cult." She looks up at him and then with a slight chuckle, "And by the time we get back, the bishop and his men will not be looking for us, hopefully."

Marika listens thoughtfully as Rhune argues for accepting Stephan's commission, while Asif pleads for caution. She carefully weighs both their points before speaking. "My advise is that we accept his offer," she says.

"It will give us a way to lay low for a time, far from the eyes of the Church. I'm quite curious about Rhune's scroll tube, as well...but if we're to open it without risking its destruction, then we'll need the services of a skilled and discrete wizard, which I don't think we can afford just now."

"I believe Stephan's commision to be a fair one," Urak says slowly, searching for the words to voice his concern, "Amongst my people, following the advice of a shaman or an oracle would be the natural and proper thing to do before setting out on a venture such as his. That we appeared merely lends honor to the strength of the seer's vision."

"However, while I cannot speak for anyone else, I do not know that I should follow this path. I came south and west on a mission for the People. One entrusted to me by the elders, and I have sworn to complete it. Every day these mindstealer's stay in power, is a day their power grows. While we were in Florence, we witnessed this firsthand. A gathering of those in fierce opposition were crushed, not with weapons or arguments, but with the blackest of sorceries."

"Eventually, ones such as the Bishop will not be content with their territory. Evil men always seek to widen their territories, and it will not be long before the lands of the People are endangered. If I have not acted before then, I will have failed my duty and imperiled the very existence of the People."

"The Urk-ste-khalid-kor would not fall easily, others who have attempted to destroy the children of Grunish have learned of our resiliance. But against the powers of the entire western continent? What victory could we achieve? And too, what of those whose spirits will be enslaved by the Catoliks? I remember the brave African warriors who died attempting to reclaim their freedom. To damn others to the same fate through inaction is surely intolerable."

"Furthermore, if we are a threat to the Bishop, and he has forces searching for us, than if we take this contract, we threaten to bring our troubles to bear on Stephan, who has caused us no harm. We were insistant that he be upfront and honest with us, I do not believe we can take this contract without offering him the same courtesy."

Marika chews her lip thoughtfully, then nods reluctant agreement. "You're right, of course," she tells Urak. "We don't have to give him the gory details, but it would be unfair of us not to warn him that the Church may come after us...he doesn't seem the type to sell us out to the Bishop, whether or not we end up working with him."

Urak continues, "I have heard what Rhune and Marika have to say, and I readily admit that they are more familiar with the ways of these parts than I am. But I do not understand these things. Why is money so important? How can little pieces of metal that people trade for food help us defeat the power of the Catoliks? Isn't this amount," he gestures to the sum Rhune has divied up, "more than enough to feed us for many months? Why do we need more?"

"You are wise to downplay the importance of money," Marika responds. "Though you'll find that it can be exchanged for many more things than food, a wagonload of coins wouldn't bring us much closer to unravelling the spell this cult has unleashed on the people. It's not for the money that I think we should consider Stephan's offer." She chuckles briefly. "Though I did my best to act the role of a mercenary at our meeting just now."

"But consider our options. An overt confrontation with the Church would end in disaster; we've seen that repeatedly. Our best hope, it seems to me, is to continue massing knowledge about the Cult. Already, we've witnessed secrets about their methods that the remnants of my Temple's priesthood have been unable to discover in two years of effort. We'll need to make sure that knowledge reaches all people of good faith, in Italia and beyond. I intend to send word today to anyone I can safely contact. But I doubt we'll learn much more if we return to Florence. The Bishop and his cronies will be vigilant now...and they've seen most of our faces." She suddenly pales. "By Hades, they know our NAMES, if that functionary has any kind of memory."

Marika spreads her hands. "So it seems to me we must seek knowledge and allies where we're not known or expected. And while the wilds above Sukiskayn seem an unlikely spot to find either...something about Stephan's story intrigues me. A gypsy mystic places him in just the right spot to deliver us from the clutches of the Church...it hints at the hands of benign gods at work."

Rhune Listens to Urak's words, "I am not saying that we do nothing against the Bishop or this cult. What I am say is that we need money to do that with. The money I have here may very well feed us, if we eat little, for a month, but it will not replace the equipment that was lost in the river. It is unfortunate, but we need to go with Stephan. As for telling him about our recent troubles with the Bishop and his men, you may have a point there. I do not know." she looks up at the Urk with dark eyes.

Despite Rhune's words, Urak does not look convinced. His failure at the river weighs heavily on him, and any deviation from his sworn duty seems equally disasterous.

"But would we not use equipment on Stephan's mission? And would not that equipment have to be replaced as well? After delivering the horses, we would be far from the seat of the Catolik's power. We would once again have to travel all the way back, and the Catolik's would be even stronger upon our return. Plus, if the Bishop does have guards looking for us, we could very well have to fight every step of the way, both out and back."

"The seat of their power?" Marika winces slightly. "I hate to have to say this, Urak, but I'm afraid we've only seen the outer edges of their power. Their seat is in Rome, not Florence...and as satisfying as it would be to bring down that insufferable Bishop, he's a minor figure with respect to the Church as a whole."

Urak continues, "And then, if we managed to return, we could still have used up all of our money and equipment, at which point we would be in the same position we are now. Our odds look slim as it is, I do not know that allowing the Bishop to accumulate more power will improve them any. Stephan seems to be an honorable man, and I wish that I felt that I could assist him, but, in good faith to my People, I simply do not."

Furrows crease the priestess's brow as she contemplates Urak's words. "Urak, I may have misunderstood the mission which your Speaker entrusted to you." Worry and curiosity are equally evident in her voice. "Are you to gather knowledge about the Catoliks to take back to your people, or to single-handedly shield them from the Cult? And does your duty focus specifically on Florence, or can you travel elsewhere in Italia without breaking faith? Forgive me if these questions are ignorant or presumptuous; I merely wish to understand your duty so that I might be a more effective ally for you."

Marika rubs her chin thoughtfully. "But before I pry into Urak's duties and priorities, I should lay out mine. You all know that I serve the goddess Minerva. I was still but an acolyte when the Cult reached Sicily two years ago." She shudders, visibly upset for a moment. "The less said about that time, the better. Suffice it to say that our temple is now a Catolik shrine, our libraries are ashes, and most of our Brethren faithfully serve the thrice-damned Cult or its lackeys in the Sorcerer's guild." Her voice betrays open anger now. "Except for those who died or vanished. And those few who escaped the Cult's lure, who remember the Goddess and practice her mysteries beneath the very nose of Jerboha."

Suddenly realizing that her defiant tones may carry further than she intended, Marika blushes and lowers her voice. "Several of my old teachers are among this number. And thanks to them and to the Goddess, so am I. I had to leave Sardinia, though. I was a natural target of suspicion there...the daughter of a disgraced foreign slave, and it was whispered, of a nonhuman father." A shy smile flashes across her face as she touches her oddly shaped ear. "I didn't want to bring this suspicion down on my Brothers and Sisters...