22/06/81 ATE

  The journey to Fort Strong from Thrat’ka was uneventful. Approaching Fort Strong, the caravan could see the town’s stone walls come into focus. They were made from thick blocks of sandstone, casting shadows away from the rising sun in the east. The walls angled into a perfect octagon with gates on the north, south, east and west side. Towers existed along the walls to form the connections between the points of the octagon.

  Approaching from the west side, the caravan approached a wide gate manned by a small number of town guards, their postures slack with boredom. However, there was no inspection or questioning. After they had passed through, Illuminus and Tyler gave Phillip a look. Phillip was confused for a moment but then said,

  ‘I can tell you guys haven’t been here before. What were you expecting – search dogs and paperwork to fill out? This settlement houses the main barracks for Drovak. The walls and fortifications may have held importance in decades past but with the instability of Karresh, the danger and tensions have somewhat passed. The walls are mostly maintained for aesthetics now, they definitely don’t want to be scaring away caravans by dealing too harshly with them.’

  ‘Oh wow, there’s so much going on that we don’t know about,’ said Illuminus.

  “Exactly,” Phillip replied. “You really should know the history of these lands if we want to be taken seriously as a caravan. Tell you what—let’s find a cartographer or someone who deals in maps for travellers. A place like this should have something. We’ll pick up a few that cover Drovak and Karresh, and I’ll walk you through the important details.”

  ‘Sounds like a plan. Let’s sell our cargo first,’ said Illuminus.

  The shoes and jackets sold well—not quite as lucrative as the leather run from Phixgow to Thrat’ka, but still enough to turn a hefty profit. It didn’t take long for Illuminus to discover Fort Strong’s niche: blacksmithing. Though iron and coal arrived only intermittently, the local smiths wasted no time transforming raw materials into a wide array of goods. Their forges produced everything from horseshoes and saddles to scythes, sickles, and iron plow heads. Even the smaller tools—wrenches, screwdrivers, nails, and hammers—were in steady supply. Judging what would fetch the best prices back in Phixgow, Illuminus loaded the caravan with a carefully chosen selection of wares.

  As was now their custom, the caravan animals were stabled, and rooms secured for the night. After some careful investigation, Phillip found just the type of place he was looking for. A general store catering specifically to passing caravans such as theirs. The man running the store was old, he had a well-polished walking stick on which he leaned on heavily.

  ‘Ah new faces, what brings you to my store? What are you looking for?’ The shopkeeper said.

  ‘We’re looking for some maps, particularly of this region and Karresh. I was asking about, surely this place would have something like that.’ Said Phillip.

  ‘Maps are not easy to create, especially accurate and to-scale maps. Come through to the back area, I’ll show you what I got.’ The shopkeeper said. They all walked past the main counter and into a smaller room where unsorted stock was kept.

  ‘You know, back in the old-world people had these devices that could tell your exact location by talking to artificial satellites way up in the sky, real high up—circling around us. Many of those satellites would probably still remain up there, but they are useless now. These days we have to make do with maps and compasses.’ The shopkeeper continued.

  ‘I’ve heard stranger things about the old-world. So much was lost that will never come back.’ Illuminus said.

  ‘I’ve kept some of these maps around from the days when I was running a caravan myself. Things haven’t changed much since I retired from the caravan business except that the settlements have gotten larger. Let me know once you’ve chosen something.’ The shopkeeper said. They spent some time flicking through the maps, Phillip was the one who took the lead. He selected a particularly large map that was folded up tight, he also selected another one that was much smaller to keep in reserve in case the larger one got damaged.

  ‘Alright, we’ll go with these two.’ Phillip announced. They then paid the shopkeeper and headed back to their rented rooms.

  Phillip, Tyler and Illuminus gathered in one of the bedrooms. Phillip then unfolded the larger map and placed it on the bed.

  ‘So these settlements – Josa, Phixgow, Thrat’ka, Chora, Clemens, Krosa and Fort Strong which we are at now are all administered as part of Drovak. Thrat’ka is their capital, however the settlements do have a bit a freedom as to how to run things as long as Thrat’ka gets their tax money.’ He shifted his hand to the southeast corner of the map.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  ‘Now over to the south-east we have – Free City, Gusas, Tuset, Trevine, Derton, Cotton House, Slate, Vlose and Shock all part of Karresh. Except Free City. They’ve broken away. Banned slavery outright within their walls. They’re independent in name and policy, even if Karresh still claims them. So far, no open war, but it’s only a matter of time. There’s already a full embargo on Free City, caravans departing from the settlements of Karresh are forbidden from trading with them. Karresh probably thinks they can win them back without bloodshed. Me? I think the whole region’s a powder keg ready to go off.” Phillip said.

  ‘Is Karresh the centre of slavery? That’s probably where we’ll have to go to find Olaf.’ Said Illuminus.

  ‘You are correct that the centre of the slave trade is Karresh. If indeed your friend Olaf has been captured as a slave, it is likely he was passed through this region. You guys don’t seem the type to run from danger, are you?’ Phillip said.

  ‘It should be fine, we got our caravan physician now.’ Tyler said gesturing to Phillip.

  ‘we’ll see what Garrick says first. If that turns out to be a dead end we can always make our way to Tuset is it? To inquire a bit.’ Illuminus says gazing at the map.

  ‘Who is this Garrick fellow you guys are talking about?’ Asked Phillip.

  ‘he’s our contact in Phixgow. He’s not exactly an upstanding citizen, so we have to be careful, but he may have clue as to where Olaf could be.’ Illuminus said. Phillip nodded, reluctant to ask more questions.

  Overnight, Illuminus dreamt about Olaf. Olaf was branded with the Flame Brotherhood brand and shackled in their camp. A Workforce Merchant caravan arrives and purchases all the slaves in the camp in a bulk purchase.

  Illuminus was reluctant to reveal the Workforce Merchants to Phillip and Garrick’s involvement with them. He did think he should be honest with Phillip, especially now that he’s a core part of the caravan now. I guess he’ll find out and we’ll explain once we are in Phixgow, he thought. Illuminus also pondered whether he should forget the whole lead about Garrick and make a dash for Tuset. Remembering the map from earlier, getting to Tuset would be a long journey – longer than from The Sharp Spear tribe to Phixgow. Illuminus thought if he did rush to Tuset, he’d arrive, but he wouldn’t have a plan to locate Olaf. Following up with Garrick was the only real substantive lead and so he settled on returning to Phixgow.

  23/06/81 ATE

  The next morning, they all departed Fort Strong from the north gate on their way to Phixgow.

  03/07/81 ATE

  Approaching Phixgow, they saw the pastured animals surrounding the settlement once again. Heading to the marketplace, Illuminus flash some of the metal tools about to grab some attention. He didn’t manage to sell everything in one go but had to converse with a few traders to load up on Ashers and Austermarks.

  ‘We’ll stable the animals now and get our rooms. Then… we can finally chat with Garrick again. We’ll need to bring these goons. I hope our trip back to Phixgow was worth it,’ whispered Illuminus to Tyler and Phillip.

  ‘You’re acting all glum again. You said it yourself, this is our best lead. Besides he definitely knows something. He and Luther were al buddy-buddy.’ Tyler said.

  ‘I guess you are right, Tyler. I was just put off by his attitude of not taking us seriously until we are a real caravan.’ Illuminus said.

  After stabling their animals and purchasing some rooms for the night, they started to walk over to Garrick’s house. The same black cloth was hung over his door. Illuminus then started knocking on the door. After a small while, Garrick opened the door.

  ‘You are back and not looking too great.’ Garrick said looking over Illuminus’ arm sling.

  ‘We ran into some trouble on our way south to Thrat’ka. They got the worst of it though.’ Illuminus said with a smirk, which soon was mirrored by Garrick who also gazed over the new members of their caravan.

  ‘Come in then, guys.’ Garrick said and lead everyone inside into a special meeting room.

  ‘I would love to get the Workforce Merchants to sponsor a new caravan like you. I just have a small favour to ask. There’s this fellow, Oscar, he’s a real piece of work. I need you guys to buy his house and get him to leave this settlement, I’m willing to offer double the price. If he insists on staying and refuses you – I’m not opposed to more direct methods of elimination. Just don’t get caught. Don’t ever mention my name, he’ll definitely refuse to sell if he knows the offer is coming from me.’ Garrick said.

  ‘Are you really putting a hit out on this guy and telling us to do the dirty work?’ Illuminus said.

  ‘Workforce Merchants must not be afraid of getting their hands dirty. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Just make the offer and if he refuses come back here and we can plan our next step.’ Garrick said.

  Illuminus and Garrick then proceeded to iron out the finer details, such as the exact price to offer and the ceiling to raise it and also where the house was located. Garrick would only hand over the money if Oscar agreed to the sale. They all then left Garrick’s house.

  After walking by for a few blocks, making sure to be out of hearing range of Garrick, they stopped.

  ‘Alright guys, take a break. We’ll meet you back at the caravan stop when we are ready to leave this settlement sometime tomorrow.’ Illuminus said, dismissing the mercenaries.

  ‘What was that?’ Began Tyler, ‘Did we really get put up to a hit job in order to join up with the Workforce Merchants?’

  ‘The Workforce Merchants? I’ve heard about them, they have influence over many caravans in Drovak and Karresh. Don’t tell me you are planning on joining them and start trafficking slaves.’ Phillip said.

  ‘Look no, I’m not a slaver. Garrick is just the strongest lead we have to where Olaf may be. Before we arrived in Drovak, Tyler and I were up north where tribes are settled. We were fighting this slaver warlord named Luthor who I think captured Olaf. I found a letter connecting him to Garrick, you can take a read of it if you like. I’m fairly certain the Workforce Merchants purchased Olaf off Luthor and sent him south.’ Illuminus said.

  ‘Let’s just talk to Oscar. There must be an important reason Garrick hates him.’ Tyler said.