The Iron Teeth

Interlude: Coins and Whispers

Zeckus Hurale was working late. He was at the small office off the side of his warehouse in Anstabul. It had gotten dark outside but he continued to work by the light of a steady oil lamp on his desk. The merchant was a pudgy blonde man. He was dressed in high quality clothes that he knew were quite out of fashion. He had much more important things to worry about.

One of his ships had just come into port with a cargo of fine wine from the Homelands. That was normally a lucrative trade but this time his agents had not been able to acquire nearly as much as usual, and what they had gotten had been far too expensive. Apparently, some sort of pest from the eastern continent had made it across the ocean to the Homelands, and was ravaging the grape fields there.

Zeckus sighed in exasperation. It was a small thing really, but lately there had been a lot of small things.

Everyone knew the best wine came from the Homelands. Human civilization had developed there for over two thousand years before they had expanded across the ocean in Imperial times after all. The wildlife here outside the Homelands was almost as hostile to grapes as it was to humans, and now some of it had invaded humanity's ancestral home.

There was nothing he could do about that, but perhaps he could turn this setback into an opportunity. With advanced warning of the wine shortage he might be able to buy up some of the local vineyards while they were still cheap.

They might be of poor quality but the shortage would still drive their prices up. He might even be able to figure out a way to improve the quality of the local wine! That would earn him a pleasant profit indeed.

With a smile, he went to work writing up a series of new orders for his agents. He had almost finished when he was interrupted.

"Your sister Kleia is here to see you, sir," his secretary announced from the doorway.

Zeckus frowned. He hadn't heard the door open. What was his sister doing here so late? It must be important, and that meant bad news.

"Thank you Gregory. See her in please," Zeckus told his clerk as he finished writing a line on the parchment in front of him.

He then put his quill down neatly next to his ink pot and looked up just in time to see his sister enter.

Kleia was a short woman who, like Zeckus, had their family's blonde hair . However, she wore it long all the way down to her back. Her somewhat pudgy figure and plain face gave her a matronly quality, but that had not always been the case. When she had been younger she had been considered quite pretty, but ever since her husband's death she had started to put on a little weight and had changed the way she dressed.

Zeckus supposed that with two kids and her husband's businesses to run she simply didn't have the time, or need, to care about her appearance.

He hadn't ever bothered with such things, which is why he was more than a little overweight himself. If either of them wanted the intimate sort of company then he knew they could both afford to just pay for it.

"Greetings Zeck, how is my little brother?" Kleia asked with a smile as she entered the room.

Zeckus gave her a polite smile back.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking, sister. What brings you to my office at this time of night?" he asked her back.

"Oh Zeck, must you always be so to the point. It is a rather unattractive quality in a man you know. No wonder you haven't been able to find yourself a good wife," she replied as she sat down across the desk from him.

"I'm thirsty, why don't you have your man there bring me a cup of tea," she added after she had made herself comfortable.

"As you wish," Zeckus answered.