The Captain pulled up short, his eyes taking in the dozen people who had stopped walking as if seeing them for the first time, his anger transforming into confusion.
Camilla moved back to join Shell and River, leaving him standing alone. She said, “You’re a stupid man.”
“What right do you have to say that?” He asked, but didn’t move closer.
“Because in a ten-day you and your whole family will be sold to slavers and we came here to stop it.” She turned her back on him. “River, take us to the money-lenders, and we’ll buy his ship and hire a captain with some common sense.”
“Wait!”
Camilla said, mouthing her words softly, “Keep moving.”
River and Shell turned and walked with her. Shell heard running footsteps and spun. The Captain was reaching to grab Camilla’s arm, but found Shell’s knife waiting. The Captain stopped and said, “I want to talk.”
Camilla shook her head, “Boys? Let’s go.”
As they turned away, a woman stalked from the garden where she’d probably seen and heard everything. She stormed ahead of them and stood firmly with her jaw set. “You have coin?”
“We do,” Camilla confirmed.
“Then we will talk. It is not only my stupid husband that will be sold but me and our three children. Please, come inside and allow me to serve you tea.” She smiled and nodded at her husband, “He can remain outside if you wish.”
They followed her inside, the Captain following behind. There was seating for five, and they sat, two on one side of the room, three on the other, as if a contest was about to begin. Camilla said, “We do not need tea.”
“Good, I have none,” the woman said. “I just wanted you where I could speak in private without embarrassing my husband with the temper from the stress he is under. What is your offer?”
Camilla nodded to River, who said, “We may offer to pay your debts, purchase your ship, and retain you as Captain.”
The woman paused, considered and said, “There is more. You could simply go to the lenders and buy the ship for less than half of that amount in ten or fifteen days. We would be sold into servitude, and you could purchase a ship that nobody else wants. Why are you willing to pay so much today? You cannot wait?”
“That is our business,” River said.
Camilla held up her hand to stop him from talking. She said, “It is our business, but it now seems to be yours, too. We do want something, more. I will tell you the truth, but if you do not accept our offer the three of us will walk away and disappear, never to be found or seen again. If you spread the tale of us, I will have you slain and your house burned and salt spread over the land, so nothing will grow her for a thousand years.”
The woman looked to her husband and said, “Do you still want to hear their story?”
“Whatever they say will not be repeated by me. They are giving us an option to accept or refuse. We can listen.”
Two choices. It’s always about two choices. Shell said, “We are Dragon Clan.”
The shock and fear said those were the last two words, they had expected to hear. Camilla said, “Across the Endless Sea is a land called Breslau, and the ruler there is planning to invade Princeton and rule with their people making all the laws.”
The Captain said, “I have heard whispers.”
“We wish to go there. To Breslau. And return. Maybe several times,” Camilla said. “It will be dangerous, and we may all die, but that’s our deal.”
The Captain glanced at his wife and then turned back to them. “In short, your offer is that I risk my life for your purposes, whatever they are, and my family is free? I accept.”
Camilla said, “We will negotiate with the lenders and buy your debt, the ship, supplies, and the personal debt of your family. We will also provide money for them to live well in case you die.”
The Captain stood and reached for Camilla’s hand.
They talked for a while longer, and the three of them left, choosing to leave the Captain with his wife to discuss the situation further, although all expected the deal had been all but sealed.
Outside, River took the lead. He said, “You two are ruthless.”
“We got our deal,” Camilla said.
“But if they had not accepted, I was ready to cut their throats. We will all three have to go before a family council over telling them who we are, but you knew that.”
Shell said, “These are different times. People are not so against us like they used to be, but if the Breslau royalty comes here, the hunts for us will begin again, the rewards more, and all of us may die. Different times need different rules.”
“Let’s hope the family councils see it that way, too,” River said, as he escorted them down the hillside and to the road that ran along the docks and piers. He nodded to a small doorway with no sign. He knocked.
A short man wearing a patterned robe opened the door, a pair of looped gold in the lobes of each ear. He almost smiled. “May I help you?”
River said, “We have a proposition for you.”
“I do not loan money without collateral.”
“We are here to perhaps put gold into your purse, not the other way around,” River said and waited.
After only a second, the man swung the door all the way open and waved a hand. “My name is Raymonde. You are the people I’ve been waiting for since winter.”
Inside stood a desk, several chairs, as if the room often held six or eight people, and an iron stove. On the stove sat a pot of hot water. A small shelf held ten small metal mugs. The room smelled of tea, spices, and cleanliness.
Raymonde asked, “Tea?”
“Talk first,” Camilla said.
The man shrugged and offered chairs as he sat in one padded, bottom and back. He leaned back and interlaced his fingers over his ample stomach. “In my land, which admittedly is very far away, business matters are discussed in a mannerly way, not abrupt as here.”
Hoping not to hear Breslau, Shell asked, “Where is your home?”
“Far south of here, where the sun is hotter, and there is less rain.”
Shell gave that some thought. “There are lands south of Princeton?”
“First comes a desert, so vast none has crossed it, but in a ship, one can sail where ever.”
Before Camilla or River could change the subject, Shell leaned closer, “And south of your home are more lands?”
“Many,” Raymonde smiled as he sat, seemingly relaxed, but his eyes were too intelligent, too probing.
Shell said, “Captain Spanner owes you a substantial sum.”
“Yes, he does. It was a poor investment on my part and a lesson to be learned.”
“How so?”
“What seemed to be a good investment with a good man didn’t work out as expected. That happens from time to time, but my gold was protected by the value of his ship, so I didn’t worry. However, I lost sight of the business aspect while trying to help Captain Spanner and his family.” Raymonde waited.
“You loaned him more.”
“Indeed. Then to try and recoup my investment, I compounded the amount in an effort to recover all.”
River said, “What is the debt he now owes?”
A new twinkle entered the money-lenders eye. He consulted numbers in a book he pulled from inside his robe and used a pen to calculate. “Four gold crowns and three silver slags.”
“Ridiculous,” Camilla said as if insulted at the number.
“Excuse me?” Raymonde asked, looking offended, but the look didn’t appear genuine.
Camilla said, “A man and woman well beyond their prime, and three children, all without skills to offer buyers, will bring a minimum on the auction block. The ship, as you well know, is too big to operate for trading along the coast. The required crew and expenses eat up any profits, and that is why Captain Spanner lost money. Who would buy it?”