Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) (14 page)

"What's this?" Leia asked curiously, still absently munching on a piece of bacon.

"This is Selli and Burt." Lady Skie told her, gesturing to the two men, who bowed to the young girl respectfully. "They are rival merchants who both have shops in town selling general wares. They have come to ask that we settle a dispute that has caused quite a bit of tension between them."

"What kind of dispute?"

"If I may, Lady Leia," The merchant Selli started in a respectful tone. "The dispute stems from this man's despicable behavior, and lack of ethics. I sell nothing but the finest dwarven wares obtained through the trade agreements that your father himself negotiated. My associate," He gave the other man a hard look. "sells only the cheapest merchandise, usually gnomish in origin."

Leia frowned. "I fail to see the problem. Those who want to save themselves some coin will go to him, while those who wish a quality product will visit your shop. Where does the conflict come into play?"

"The problem lies with the fact that he has hired several men to bad mouth my products, claiming that they are inferior, while selling his shoddy products at an enormous mark up."

"I have done nothing to break any laws." The other man stated in a haughty tone. "I cannot be blamed if some of your customers have voiced their displeasure with your merchandise."

"You paid those men to spread those falsehoods!" The first man growled, his face growing red with suppressed fury.

"So you claim," Burt smirked smugly. "but since you have no proof that I paid them to smear your wares, there is nothing you can do about it."

"What do you think?" Leia asked Lady Skie while the men continued to bicker back and forth.

"This problem has been going on for the last several years." Lady Skie frowned in displeasure. "There are several merchants in town that have taken to these exact practices. It has caused quite a bit of disturbance among the local merchants, as well as the locals themselves. We've attempted to put an end to such practices, but, sadly, it continues to happen on a regular basis." She shook her head. "I don't have any ideas on how to handle this."

"You're preying upon the good people of Sevria," Selli continued angrily. "not to mention sullying my good name! I will not continue to stand for it!"

"What are you going to do?" The second man sneered. "Do you think this child is going to be able to help you? Is she going to send me to my room without supper?" He turned to glare at Leia. "I have done nothing wrong. I refuse to sit here and listen to anymore of this nonsense!"

"You'll stand there and listen for as long as I choose!" Leia suddenly snapped, causing the merchant Burt to flinch back in surprise. "I have yet to make a decision in this matter, and until I do, you'll stand there with your mouth shut and your ears open!"

"Who do you think you are?" Burt demanded in an outraged tone. "You are nothing more than..."

"Careful," Sly warned him in a stern tone. "That is the daughter of the Dragon Lord that you are speaking to, and any impertinence will not be tolerated."

"Be that as it may," Burt sneered. "I have broken no laws, nor is there one bit of proof of my competitor's outlandish claims. There is nothing that this child can do."

"That's where you are wrong." Leia told him in a hard tone. "I promised my father that I would do my best to protect the people of Sevria, and that includes protecting them from people who would prey upon them." She drew herself up in her chair. "Merchant Burt, I hereby command that you close down your shop for no less than one year, and pay a fine of ten thousand gold pieces in compensation for all of the victims you have duped into purchasing your shoddy goods."

"Y-You can't do that!" Burt's face drained of all color. "I-I don't have ten thousand gold pieces just laying around! There's no possible way that I can come up with that sum of gold!"

"That's too bad." Leia frowned. "If that is truly the case, then we'll just have to confiscate your shop as payment." She glanced over to Sly, who was trying hard to hide his amusement. "Sly, would you be kind enough to escort our friend here to his shop and watch while he packs his belongings? Make sure that he only takes clothing and provisions. Once he is finished, escort him to the city gates."

"It would be my pleasure." The scruffy little man grinned, rising to his feet.

"B-But...I...B-But..." Burt stammered helplessly.

"No buts." Leia told him in a hard tone. "I will make sure that every single merchant that does business in this city realizes that dirty business practices will not be tolerated here. Anyone who is caught deliberately deceiving the people of Sevria will learn that lesson very quickly." She nodded to Sly, who seized the merchant by his upper arm and led him out of the room, then she turned her gaze to Selli, who suddenly looked nervous. "I hope that you will take this news to the other merchants in town, and let them all know that there is one less disreputable businessman in the city. Perhaps it will help keep others from attempting to employ any unsavory practices while selling their wares to our people."

"I-I will, milady." The merchant bowed hastily, then hurried from the room.

"I'm not exactly sure if that was wise." Lady Skie said uncertainly. "Every merchant alive takes advantage of their customers once in a while. We don't want them to think that they can't carry on a normal business day without being forced to worry about being fined for unethical practices."

"It'll be fine." Leia assured her confidently. "It won't affect any of the normal businesses that sell here in Sevria, and it will let everyone know that we will not tolerate such behavior. Anyone that attempts to take advantage of our people will regret it for a very,
very
long time."

By mid afternoon, they had seen several more citizens with a variety of minor problems, all of which Leia was able to settle with little effort, then Captain Repheth entered the room wearing a weary expression on his weathered face.

"Good afternoon, Captain Repheth," Leia greeted the haggard looking man. "Is everything okay?"

"About the same as ever, milady." The old man sighed in a tired voice. "There have been more reports of goblins being sighted to the north of the city. There haven't been any incidents yet, but it's only a matter of time before the beasts attempt a raid on one of the caravans passing along the trade route. Something is going to have to be done about them, I'm afraid."

Leia nodded. "Slither is going to have some of the spawn take care of them as soon as he is able to locate where they all went." She gestured to the huge shadowspawn, who nodded to the old soldier.

"I hope you find them before the goblins decide to start causing problems." Captain Repheth murmured worriedly. "We don't want the Merchant's Guild in Sierra to think that it's too dangerous to send their caravans through the mountains."

"SSSlither will find the ssspawn sssoon." The huge shadowspawn promised. "The ssspawn will not have gone far. Once SSSlither locatesss them, SSSlither will have them deal with the goblinsss, and make sssure that they do not return."

"Very good." Captain Repheth nodded in approval, then rose to his feet once again. "I need to return to my post at the gate. One of the patrols that watches the road to the south should be returning anytime now to report in." With another weary sigh, he hurried from the room.

"He doesn't look too good, does he?" Lady Skie murmured in a worried tone. "I think that the years are starting to catch up with him. He's not as young as he used to be."

"He just needs to get some rest." Leia said, her expression thoughtful. "Maybe we should get him to promote one of the castle soldiers so they can take a bit of the responsibility off of his shoulders."

"That's not a bad idea," Lady Skie said. "but I'm afraid he may get offended by the suggestion. Captain Repheth is a very proud man, and to suggest that he may need some help to fulfill his duties would be quite insulting."

"That's true, isn't it?" The young girl frowned. "Let me give it a little thought. Maybe I can figure out a way to make it seem like it was his idea." She shifted in her chair restlessly, then sighed in resignation. "What's next?"

"I think that's more than enough for your first day." Lady Skie smiled. "You did very good. Some of your decisions were a bit... unconventional, but, all in all, I think you did very well."

"Thank you." Leia smiled happily. "Does this mean Slither and I can go work on my training?"

Lady Skie nodded. "Just make sure that you're careful, and try to return before dusk. I'm not comfortable with you running around in the forest at night."

Leia frowned. "That's doesn't leave us much time to hunt. It's going to take a lot of meat to replenish what we used over the winter."

"SSSlither knowsss of sssome fertile hunting groundsss not far from SSSevria." The huge shadowspawn suggested to the young girl. "There ssshould be plenty of game to take while you train."

"Let's go there then. Just give me a few minutes to change into my armor, and then we can get going." She hurried up to her private chambers and quickly scrambled into her armor, then she and Slither made their way down into the city.

They had traveled less than a hundred yards from the castle courtyard, when a nearby disturbance caught their attention.

"You can't do this to me!" The merchant Burt was standing in the center of the street in front of his shop, his face an ugly shade of red as he screamed at Sly, who merely stared back at the merchant with a mildly amused expression. "That's my shop! You stop them this very instant!" He pointed to a pair of soldiers who were busy chaining the doors firmly shut.

"I can't help you." Sly told him, holding out his hands helplessly. "Lady Leia has made her ruling on the matter, and once she has made a decision, she rarely changes her mind. If I were you, I would take this as a learning experience. It's not a good idea to use deception and underhanded practices when selling your wares in Sevria." He turned to the pair of soldiers, who had finished securing the shop's doors. "Gentlemen, if you would be so kind, please escort our friend to the gates and make sure that he departs. We wouldn't want him to attempt to sneak back into the city in the middle of the night, now would we?"

"Get your hands off of me!" Burt screamed in fury as the soldiers each seized one of his arms. "Let me go! Let me go!"

Sly watched as the two soldiers led the raging merchant off, then turned to see Leia and Slither watching nearby. "That was entertaining." He grinned, glancing back at Burt, who had slipped loose from the soldiers' grips and attempted to rush back to his shop in desperation, only to be dragged away by the soldiers once again, kicking and cursing in fury. "I believe that he thought he was just going to ignore your orders, gather all his valuables, and depart, but I put a stop to that. We searched him from head to toe, stripping him of everything but the clothes on his back, then I escorted him inside and had him gather his clothing and some provisions. He went absolutely wild when I forced him to go back outside, and then ordered the doors to be chained shut. I'm pretty sure he has a small fortune hidden somewhere inside from all of his shady dealings."

"Make sure that it finds its way into the castle treasury." Leia told him, giving him a hard look. "All of it. I don't want any of it accidentally finding its way into your pockets."

"Would I do that?" The scruffy little man asked innocently.

"In a heartbeat, you old thief." She thought about it for a moment. "Find a couple of men to go through his inventory and confiscate anything of value, and then sell it off to the townsfolk at a discount. Have them take everything else and get rid of it. I'll decide what to do with the shop later."

"I'll get right on it." Sly hurried away to find a couple of helpers.

They continued on through the city, then paused again as they reached the battlements, where they spotted Captain Repheth angrily berating one of the guards at the gate.

"What's this about?" Leia asked as they drew closer.

"This man was caught accepting a bribe from a merchant leading one of the caravans." Captain Repheth stared at the soldier with hard eyes. "He was going to allow that caravan to pass without paying their taxes." He gestured to a long line of wagons that were waiting nearby.

"Is that right?" Leia turned her gaze to the soldier, who gulped nervously. "What is your name?"

"E-Edwin, m-milady." The man stammered fearfully.

"Thought you might make a bit of coin on the side while my father was away, did you?" Leia asked in a conversational tone, though her eyes were as hard as stone.

"I-I..." The man's face grew pale under the young girl's steely gaze. "I d-didn't think..."

"You didn't think that anyone would notice?" She asked, cutting him off. "You didn't think that you would get caught? Just because my father happens to be away doesn't mean that you can ignore your duties and fill your own coffers."

"Milady, I..." The guard was trembling now.

"Shut it!" She snarled, causing the man to flinch violently. "You
do
realize that those taxes are used to ensure that the people traveling on the trade road,
and
the citizens of Sevria, remain safe, don't you?"

The man opened his mouth, then closed it again, unable to defend himself.

Leia stared at him for several seconds, then sighed heavily. "Do you have any excuse for your actions?"

"I-I..." The man's shoulders suddenly slumped in defeat. "I needed the coin." He admitted lamely. "I'm trying to save up enough money so my wife can open a shop here in town. We have a child on the way, and we can't continue to depend on what little I make working as a soldier, but it takes a lot of coin to open a shop."

"What kind of shop does she wish to open?

"She is an incredibly talented seamstress, milady." The soldier smiled in spite of his situation. "She has designed some beautiful dresses, many of which she has already sold to ladies here in the city. I have no doubt that she will be quite successful, if we ever manage to get our own place."