XLII. Unfortunate Delays
The harsh sunlight cuts through the cracks in the shutters, dancing dapples upon the dusty walls. A few precious plants grow in lacquered pots, brought inside to keep them out of the heat. You have seen how they do things here; taking plants in at midday and only putting them out when the worst of the heat has passed. Plants are little different from people.
"I'm really very sorry, Lady as-Sayu, but we simply don't keep that much firedust here." The sour-faced Lara am-Muskila spreads her hand. "This isn't a major mercenary supply point. If you were in Zorpondam, yes, you could easily get it, but as it is we only have a quarter of the firedust you need."
Your brow crinkles in annoyance. "So little?"
"The ulinke no doubt has more - but that is what he reserves for his men. I doubt he'd sell it." She looks over at you, kohl'd eyes suspicious. "Unless you could ask him for it as a personal gift." The insinuation in her voice is barely veiled.
"I'd really rather not indebt myself to him over such a petty matter." You wouldn't put it beyond Fahd to spread the rumour that you were already his mistress, to present it to you as a fait accomplis, and you're quite sure that he would use such a gift to only put more pressure on you. "No one else in this city has any for sale?"
"Perhaps scraps, but we of the as-Sayu handle Zorpearl's firedust supply."
Hmm. You did your research, and you believe she's telling the truth here. "Well, in that case, I really do need more. I need it to get past an obstacle out on the ruins, and it's too solid and too hard for men with picks to stand a chance. Tell me, would your suppliers have more?"
She brushes down the sleeves of her tan-coloured gown. The embroidery there is sparse. You would be ashamed to be wearing such a thing when entertaining guests. "I am sure that we can procure more for you, though it may take several days. Of course, it will be somewhat more pricey - and of course given the cost of procuring it, a payment in advance would be needed."
Ah ha. You swirl your cup of watery tea. This is what you excel at. "What price would you offer per barrel?" you ask, lips quirking up.
Her first offer is complete fantasy. It is about as based in reality as one of Blue's lies, although he at least has a grandeur to him. This is just a squalid little number which you estimate to be thrice the cost it will take her to procure it. But now you're into the field of numbers and costs and all the delightful little lies involved in any business transaction. She hammers on and on about the cost of transporting such amounts of firedust safely under the heat of the sun, and the many many bandits in the ruins and other such things. You counter with the offer of soldiers to protect it. And so on and so forth.
In the end, you get it for less than you feared, though rather more than you would have liked, and then you draw up the contract then and there and sign it with a generous flowing flourish. Meira's signature is even more liquid than your own. It is elegant and graceful and you are rather fond of it.
Then Lara reads it, her eyes skimming slightly over some of your intricate polysyllabic clauses. You doubt she understands some of the Realm terms of art in use, but ah - she doesn't want to look like a backwater rube in front of such a beautiful, graceful, cultured woman as yourself. You feel just a tiny smidge of empathy there. You've been in a similar place, dealing with buyers from House Peleps. Of course, then again, you were a dragon-child and wise to their tricks and she isn't. But still. Y'know. You do have empathy, and it's almost enough to very nearly make you feel slightly bad about slipping some of these clauses in.
"Why, thank you, Lara," you say to her, making Pasiap's rock with your hands and inclining your head to her. "Thank you for such a mutually beneficial deal."
You are feeling more than a little saddle-sore by the time you make your way back to your temporary home. Your feet are aching and you are very, very thirsty.
"Bad news, boys." You flop down onto your cushioned seat in the private tent set up in the ruins, and pour yourself out wine. The pink-painted twilight refracting through the crystals dances over the top of the fabric. "We're going to have delays. And pay more than I wanted to."
"I will run them through!" Blue announces.
"No, no, darling, don't." You fend off his attempts to placate you before he can spill your drink. In fact, you take another mouthful and swallow it, so there's less to waste. You need your wine in you, not on the floor. "It's going to happen. Don't stab anyone."
"What happened?" Amigere asks.
You recount the tale to him. He seems less affected than you were hoping he'd be. It would have been nice to commiserate in misery. "Mmm. It's the curse of this city, Meira. Nothing gets done quickly. Maybe it's the heat. It makes the Cahzori lazy."
That draws a laugh from you. "You're not wrong. No one can get anything done when it's so hot outside."
Amigere paces back and forth, hands folded behind him. The oil lamp lights his beak from below. "So, you've promised to provide the men for the escort and the haulage."
"It's cheaper this way. And," you sip again, "and this way, they're not sitting around in the ruins with nothing to do."
"Hmm. Between the firedust transport and keeping this site safe, we're going to be stretched thin, I suspect."
You bite your lip. "Fahd might be a problem if he puts it in his head to make trouble. And he's the sort of man who might. 'No' is not one of his favourite words."
"If he does, I will keep our lady safe!" Blue contributes.
"That's probably a good idea," Amigere admits. "I'll head out with the buyers - there are some supplies we could use and I think we all want an eye to be kept on the firedust. But this means the work here will probably crawl to nearly nothing. I doubt we can get anything else done, not when there's the risk of monsters in the ruins.
"Makes sense," you agree. "I'll miss you, darling. From the sounds of things, you'll be gone for maybe as much as a week. They say two-three days to the place, and Cahzori delays might strike. Make sure you keep safe and watch out for sand storms."
That ruffles his feathers, but in a good way. He likes the attention. "It's going to be expensive, melting through that door…"
"Darling, trust me, I am acutely aware of that." You try not to be acidic. You really do.
"... but I think it's the best chance we have to find something here. The delay is annoying, but I think it's the best we have in this building." He approaches you, coming around to start to massage your shoulders. You need it. You always get tight and wound up when you spend a lot of money. "And just think about what we might find in there if things do go well. There are buyers of Shogunate trinkets in Gem who I know. Oh, we'd have to smuggle them out of Cahzor and hide that we got the money that way, but I'm sure we can make much more profit that way than feeding the gullet of any of the petty lordlings here."
You wince. "The ulinke here fed his former lover to his crocodile for smuggling. We'd need to make sure we didn't get caught."
"I could just kill him," Blue points out. He's in front of you, slipping off your shoes.
"I mean, I'll consider it," you say, leaning back into Amigere's hands. Such attentive boys. "If it's valuable enough, his 'accidental' death might well be very useful." And to thwart Blue's immediate likely response you add, "The kind of accident that isn't an accident."
"Ah! My lady, you're so clever!"
The lovely thing about Blue is that he's such an idiot that it's not flattery; he genuinely does think this kind of thing is clever. Some people might say that it's not very worthy to be praised for such low standards, but nearly-unconditional admiration is a lovely thing to have. To reward him, you pull him up for a kiss and, well, one thing leads to another. Or maybe two things, because you're not going to leave Amigere out of your favours when he's being so useful right now.
Alas, you can't just spend all day in bed with your boyfriends. For one, there's not really space in the bed, so you have to take it elsewhere. But more importantly, there are preparations to be made and arrangements to be… arranged. You speak with Captain Burhan, and he finds one of his officers to head up the soldiers who'll be guarding the firedust. Then you need to wrangle your sullen labourers into going out into the sun - yet more costs! - and by the time it's done, you're simply exhausted.
You see Amigere off in the pre-dawn greyness with a kiss, and get to work going over all his notes and drawing up some maps of the local area from the vantage point of a window. Blue comes in to show off the corpse of some wyld-twisted dog he slew, and you are momentarily distracted by taking its horns for later examination, before you tell him to dispose of it somewhere where you won't have to smell it.
Of course, you're not being lazy and pottering. No, it's all part of your masterplan. Now, with this happening, you have time to go and start investigating the area around the temple of the nameless Elemi gods. Preferably without anyone noticing that you're heading in. The Cahzori are so tiresome about some things that really don't matter, and you really don't want them to realise that you're looking for a contract with forbidden gods.
Blackmail is such an ugly word, so you don't want to give anyone a chance to use it against you.
So once you've taken some time to look like you're only interested in this current site, you tell Zakiya Far the guide and two female soldiers that you want to scout the surrounding area with them. There's a small village closer to the Elemi fortress that's of interest to you - named Godden. You wonder why it doesn't have the 'Zor prefix - maybe it's too close to Zorpearl to have it. You dress in your deep-city wear, nothing like the slightly-rustic elegance you wore to the dinner with the ulike, with your face veiled against the dust and a broad-brimmed hat to keep the sun out of your eyes. You are still notably taller than the Cahzori women, but at least you wouldn't be immediately recognisable as yourself.
Because Blue is Blue, he insisted on coming along to ensure that you were kept safe. And because Blue is Blue, you had to veto his first few choices of appearance. Oh, he would definitely have been handsome, but he would also have been exceptionally obvious. As a result, the Blue who rides alongside you on a dreamed-up charger dresses like one of the desert raiders, a dark burnoose almost flippantly thrown on and his orange eyes gleaming from under the shade of his hood which somewhat obscure his gorgeous features. He still stands out, but many chaos princes find it physically impossible to look boring. You'll have to settle for having a charming desert horseman as your companion. Such a burden. How will you live with it?
You rise past Zorpearl, heading towards a smaller village that exists within its orbit. The looming mass of the giant pink structure is behind you, and you feel glad you don't have this occupying your field of view. Instead, you can hear the running of water. You ask the guide Zakiya what it is.
"That? That'd be the Demon's Gullet."
Ah, you'd heard of that when you were considering what to dig. "I hadn't thought it was so close."
"Oh, it's big. The wellspring is back towards Zorpearl, but it stretches out a long way. Miles, before its water returns to Ma." She gestures ahead. "We'll pass over it, on the way towards Godden."
"Over it?"
"Bridge," she says laconically.
It might be interesting. You follow the path towards the noise, heading down dusty old roads where scrubby grass peeks up between overturned paving stones.
The bridge is old enough to be stone, and well-made if worn. There are broken dragon statues by it. In the claws of the dragons are broken crests. You guide your horse over to them, dismounting to peer at the worn stone in the bright light. No. Not worn. Deliberately defaced. Someone intentionally scratched out every sign of the makers.
Well, that's promising. That suggests you're on the right route, because the bridge design is clearly post-Shogunate and to have such a deliberate eradication of - you suspect - a jansi glyph suggests this bridge was built by the Elemi.
But such thoughts are washed away as you look over the edge of the bridge. The Demon's Gullet is a sizable gash in the land. A canyon of sandstone and Shogunate building materials. The walls are red with rusty residue from forgotten metal, but the passage of water has worn away the walls and structure to this. Instead, thin soil covers the eroded slopes. They are covered in grasses where the angle is gentle, and mosses and lichens where it is not. There are even scrubby trees down there, with green leaves.
You inhale, and feel the humidity against the back of your throat. Oh. Oh. There is even the scent of plants on the rising air. Your legs feel all weak. By the dragons, you have missed it. This canyon is worse-off than the most parched river in the height of Fire in Cherak, but right now it is paradise.
"They say," Zakiya says, pausing by you, "that once it was even higher. That long ago a water dragon and an earth dragon fought, and the water dragon smote the earth dragon so hard that she plunged her foe into Ma's domain and because of that Ma began to bleed."
"It's beautiful," you whisper.
"Aye. That it is."
You want to go down there. Down, picking your way over the rocky, scree-covered slopes, barefoot on prickly grass, and swim in the gleaming river that sparkles at the bottom. Be surrounded by water and green things, growing wild. Live in the living world; not this parched corpse of a city. A place where water has turned the works of man into geography. You stare down at it, hands balled into fists, and inhale, trying to fill your lungs with as much moisture-carrying, green-scented air as you can. Something to carry with you.
"We should go," you say reluctantly.
"If it helps, lady, the water down there is probably bubbling with chaos," Zakiya says. "It's higher than usual. See, look down there, You can see where some old outflow is piping water from some flooded basement into the canyon."
You nod, and lead your horse across the bridge, staying close to the edge so you can let the air alleviate the tautness in your skin. The water rushes below, and little brown birds flap around, peeping. Some nestle in the little trees, while others dip and dive through the spray, chasing after the buzzing insects. Something tight clenches in your chest. Nostalgia.
Something gleams up ahead at the far end of the bridge, reflecting at the sun. You shield your eyes, and squint ahead at it. Something metal… oh.
There is a group sitting around in the dappled shade under a scrubby tree, dressed in sand-coloured robes. And metal like that…
Zakiya curses in the Cahzori dialect. Well, you assume it's a curse. You don't know that word, but it sounds enjoyable to say. "Bandits."
"Do we fall back?" asks one of your soldiers, hand going to her curved blade.
You turn on your horse. Other figures have moved to take the other end of the bridge. Of course. "I suspect they'll have some bows among their number," you say, trying to sound calm. Mortals need a dragon-child to show no fear, because if you show fear, they'll panic. You nudge your horse with your heels. "Let us see what they want."
The group under the tree rise, and spread out to try to block off the end of the bridge. They don't do so very well - there are perhaps ten of them, and only a few have the short bows that you've seen in Cahzor. The others carry spears. Their lead is a stocky woman with a faded red shawl hanging around her shoulders, a long spear in her hand.
"Good day to you!" she hollers up over with a lazy drawl. "This is our bridge. You need to pay to cross. We'll take your horses."
"They're good eating," one wit hollers from behind her.
You roll your eyes, and glance over at Zakiya. "I expect they'd take coin?" you check. "Because I'm not handing over my horse."
"Probably half a dahab is more than enough to pay them off," the guide says, with the voice of experience. "It'd be much less if we weren't mounted. I reckon your bodyguard and that good quality charger will make them greedy. That's a good horse. And yes, a good few meals."
"Such an affront!" Blue blurts out. "Lady, let me take their heads!"
You lean forwards on your saddlehorn, and consider your answer as the hot wind howls through the towering spires. A shame. And you had been having such a good day.
What is Rena's response?
[ ] Pay up. The cost is… small. Not nothing, but she simply can't be bothered to go for a fight today. Not under this sun. (+0.5 Debt)
[ ] Hire them. She can always use more people if Fahd decides to make trouble, and this has to be worth more to them than standing around to try to mug travellers (+2 Debt).
[ ] Break through. Between threats and your horses, you can likely push through their weak line. Oh, you'll need to watch for arrows, but this is an annoyance much like the flies that pester your steeds.
[ ] Destroy them with sorcery. People have not been taking you seriously. That will have to change - and your power can sweep these bandits away. It will be an instructive lesson for your guides and your soldiers that you are not a woman to trifle with.
[ ] Blue. Sic 'em. Your darling boy has sworn to defend you. No doubt he will have fun. And if they break and run from him, why, that just shows some wits on their behalf.
[ ] Write-in.
Though tbh in a tower made of crystal I'd put equal money on the place simply being an Earth-aspected demense/manse or something similar. 
