The Empress of Beasts, page 17
part #13 of The Wandering Inn Series
The Watch Captain sighed and sat back down at her desk as she read. She reviewed the sums, looked at the final number, and clenched her claw into a fist and exhaled a plume of smoke.
“Yes!”
It wasn’t everything she’d asked for. It never was. But it was a lot. Almost everything.
“You want to send a reply? Let me know and I’ll run it back!”
The Street Runner bounced on her feet, grinning. The young Gnoll was as excited as Zevara. The Watch Captain sat up and reached for her own parchment. She began writing. Then she thrust the note at the Gnoll girl.
“Send a [Message] to the Watch Captains on the list of cities I’ve written down here. Non-priority. Copy the contents to each one. Here. A tip.”
She fished out a silver piece and tossed it at the girl. She disappeared with a pleased yip. Zevara heard her thundering down the stairs. Then she sighed.
Watch Captain Zevara sat back in her chair. There was a lot you could do if you had an actual budget and more importantly, a way to get past the Bloodfields to other Drake cities. She’d dreamed of this before, but it had always been too far. But now? She glanced out one window, east, towards an inn she couldn’t see, but knew was there.
You could buy and sell between cities. Poach other promising recruits. Trade gold for needed supplies or weapons. Or lend aid where aid was needed. It was one of those archaic rules only people like Zevara ever read. In practice, it meant you could gather and call in favors. And oh, what favors…
Zevara heard something walking down the hallway. She poked her head out of her office and saw one of the senior officers. She nodded to the Gnoll.
“Beilmark. Off-duty?”
The Senior Guardswoman smiled slightly.
“Jeiss is still at work. We’ll have to find another schedule around his job. I’m taking rookies on patrol.”
She looked…well, not exactly happy. But not bad either. Zevara nodded, an acknowledgement from one [Guard] to another. Beilmark returned the gesture. Zevara paused, and then snapped her claws.
“I’m going to talk to the prisoner. Do me a favor and stop by city hall at some point? This is for them. I forgot to send it with the Street Runner.”
She disappeared into her office and scribbled frantically. Beilmark came in and found Zevara reaching into a little cupboard behind her. The Gnoll’s brows rose as she saw Zevara pull out a slightly dusty bottle.
“Have you heard that they want to set up a permanent route along the Bloodfields? That will be a challenge and a half. But it’ll mean trade all year. If they can manage it. What’s the note say?”
“Read it. It’s just about the prisoner. I’m planning on putting him to use. That’s my notice for the Council. I don’t have to ask them, only notify them.”
Beilmark read the note. Her brows shot up.
“Well, I don’t think they’ll object to any of that.”
“I don’t either. Join me for a drink? I’m off-duty starting now.”
The Gnoll hesitated. But then she shook her head.
“I’ve got to work. Watch Captain.”
She saluted and left. Zevara returned to her desk. She sat on the edge for a moment, and then regarded the bottle as she found a glass. Aged Permere Wine, a vintage made of a magical flower along with an excellent grape. The wine was so pure and clear that it almost hurt the eyes to look at. Even the clean wine glass looked dirty as it held the liquid.
Zevara was planning to share the drink with a certain someone. He might be miserable—although he had those new pets—but her news would cheer him up. It might earn her criticism but right now Zevara was floating on clouds. She looked for another glass but then she couldn’t help it. The wine was a special treat, as rare as the smile on her face. She took a drink and felt a few dead scales fall off of her arm where she’d missed them. She spat out a bit of plaque and inhaled. The world felt new. Then she lifted her glass.
“Here’s to the future.”
And she laughed.
——
Erin Solstice stood in her inn, smiling. In the distance, Liscor stood. And it was the same old place. But it was changing. She could feel it. And that was almost upsetting. But also, wonderful.
Speaking of which…she looked around her inn. Workers trooped past her, holding buckets of copper nails and wood. Lyonette was shepherding them gently with Pawn.
“Erin, any problems with us getting to work?”
“Nope! You do that building thing, Lyonette!”
Erin gave Lyonette a thumbs-up. The [Princess] smiled and turned back to Pawn. After a moment, she came over to Erin.
“How are things?”
“Good! I mean, everyone’s super busy. But I bet Krshia and Selys will tell me about it tonight.”
“And Olesm? How about him and his uncle?”
Erin paused. She wavered, and then shrugged.
“Eh, I’ll wait until he comes crawling to me to make peace. I still think he’s a jerk for going after Calruz and Klbkch. But he’s still a friend. I’m gonna beat him at chess a lot, though!”
“Fair enough. Oh—someone’s calling you. I’ll get back to work. We’re going to build those hot tubs you mentioned! And a new wing of the inn! Pawn! Where did you go?”
Lyonette hurried off. Erin watched her leave the inn, and then turned. Someone was indeed calling her name. She saw a Drake hurry over, a wooden clipboard and bit of parchment neatly held in place at both ends.
“Excuse me, Miss. Are you Miss Erin Solstice?”
“That’s me! Hey! Are you from the new Council?”
Erin beamed at the Drake. He adjusted the clipboard and quill. He had a few splotches of ink on his pale orange scales. He nodded.
“I am! Geillsten. At your service.”
“How can I help you, Geillsten? If you’re looking for Klbkch—”
“No, Miss Solstice. You are just the person I’ve been looking for! I have a message from the Council.”
“Ooh! From Krshia? Or Lism.”
The Drake coughed reprovingly.
“All of the Council, Miss Solstice. They have enacted a number of reforms lately. Among them, they’ve seen fit to bestow upon you some honors for your efforts in aiding Liscor!”
“Wh—really? Well, about time!”
Erin beamed. Geillsten just gave her a slow nod.
“Yes. And for your efforts, and due to your inn’s proximity to the city of Liscor, they have decided that your inn, and you are de facto inhabitants of the city. As such, you are entitled to the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of Liscor and the protections of the Watch, as they note you have enjoyed since your initial stay at Liscor.”
The young woman slapped her forehead, scowling.
“What? I’m a citizen? Just like that? Couldn’t they have done it yesterday? And—”
Then the wording of the Drake’s message caught up with her. Erin paused.
“Wait, since the beginning? The rights and…”
“Responsibilities, yes. You aren’t in trouble, Miss Solstice. But I am here to, ah, ensure your civic duty is carried out.”
Erin stared at the Drake.
“Say, Geillsten? What’s your class?”
“[Tax Collector], Miss Solstice.”
The penny dropped. Erin looked around, but Geillsten was standing neatly in front of her. And she couldn’t kill him and melt his body with acid fly juice! She’d sold all of it yesterday! She hesitated and scuffed one foot on the floorboards.
“I uh, haven’t been keeping a record of how much I make. And to be fair, I didn’t know I should, so…”
She looked hopefully at him. The Drake gave her an encouraging smile.
“Not to worry, Miss Solstice. Happily, as a [Tax Collector], I have a Skill which allows me to calculate exactly how much you owe. You can be sure that the number I produce is accurate and fair—I am routinely checked by the Watch under truth spell, and you may pay a nominal fee to ensure the accuracy yourself if you so choose!”
“Oh. Oh, that’s—er, do I have to do anything?”
“Not at all, Miss Solstice. If you’ll just wait here? I will conduct my inspection.”
“Sure…”
Erin looked around for Lyonette. But it was no good. The Drake began walking around her, peering at her or through her at something. He began writing furiously on the parchment.
“Hmm…oh my. Well, there are a number of sources of income that the city does not count as viable taxation, so let me just note that all down here…and here…and here…er, did you really sell a flower for…pardon me, I shouldn’t ask…very well. With those incomes subtracted—please pardon me, the Council wishes to see a copy of this report—here is your owed tax, Miss Solstice!”
He finished and showed Erin a notation at the bottom of the parchment. Then he neatly tore the number off, handed it to her, and gave her an embarrassed smile.
“I am sorry. It is my job, and I do see that you can pay the indicated sum.”
“Buh.”
“If you would require time, there are repayment options I can go over with you—”
“Huh.”
Geillsten hesitated. He coughed again and cleared his throat. His was a thankless job.
“The Council also wished to inform you that they will be sending a delegation to negotiate with Esthelm, and given your previous aid to the city, they would consider it a personal favor if you aided the [Negotiator] in his task. I believed they phrased it as a ‘civic duty’, Miss Solstice.”
Erin jerked out of her stupor. Lyonette was going to kill her. As soon as she killed Krshia! How could she? Erin narrowed her eyes at the Drake.
“What? My ‘civic’—is that some kind of shady threat?”
The Drake looked appalled.
“Oh, you’re free to decline! However, the Council would also agree to discount your taxes by…this much if you accept. And put you in for a citizenship along with your wards, Miss Lyonette and Miss Mrsha! And perhaps a provisional entry permit for your ah, employee? Mister Numbtongue?”
He showed Erin another number. Erin bit her tongue and stared at him. The Drake gave her a smile full of chagrin. She sighed.
“You’re really good at your job, Geillsten. Do people ever get mad at you?”
“More than one wishes, Miss Solstice. But it is a knack. And a Skill. The Council would like a reply by tonight—you may send a Street Runner to them free of charge or apply for a meeting in person, although I understand there is a queue—thank you for your time. And not throwing stones at me.”
He bowed and was gone. Erin watched him go. She thought of the new Council, full of vim, vigor, and cheap but filling sandwiches. She thought of change, and what Liscor could be.
Because that was what it was about. You could stay the same forever. Or you could…Erin looked around her inn. She looked out at the city of Liscor in the distance.
Then she stared at the number on the parchment. Erin sighed.
“I hate progress.”
6.50 I
Erin Solstice’s inn was now an establishment. Not just a curio, an attraction, or simply a locus of unusual events. It was a home, a gathering spot. A place that people had made their habit to visit, for food, entertainment, and in that way, it became part of their lives. Like a local diner, or a library, or park, The Wandering Inn’s worth had taken on a value you couldn’t sum up in an arbitrary number.
Well, you could if you were paying taxes. Erin sat in her inn the next morning, feeling a bit grouchy. She’d paid the taxes. Since it wasn’t a small amount, the friendly tax-Drake, Geillsten, had even arranged for two ordinary [Guards] to pick the gold up in a bag of holding. And how polite they’d been, too!
She’d paid. But Erin had not had a good yesterday resolving the issue. First, Lyonette had scolded her for ten minutes and then gone off to see if she could renegotiate the terms. After all, it wasn’t fair! You couldn’t tax someone for before they were a citizen, right?
Well, the [Princess] had found out that you could and Liscor would do just that. Geillsten had referred her to the Council’s notes, which had pointed out that Erin had received the City Watch’s help on numerous occasions—an officer had even died protecting Erin’s inn. Klbkch.
Never mind the fact he had come back or that he and Relc had been helping her as friends. The fact was that Erin’s inn had benefited from the City Watch patrolling around Liscor to remove the majority of monster threats, the healing potion Klbkch had given her that was City Watch equipment, and the numerous occasions the City Watch had helped resolve crises threatening Erin’s inn.
“And to be clear, Miss Lyonette, the Council’s position on this is that a tax should be paid. And they have allowed Miss Solstice to claim a number of discounts, including a sizable one for aiding in the negotiations with Esthelm.”
And that was that. Lyonette had glumly returned to the inn empty-handed. Because, when you got down to it, Liscor’s new democracy only extended to electing the Council. In their seat of authority, the Council could enact whichever laws they pleased.
“It’s like a monarchy. Only, [Kings] are often balanced by a lot of forces. Their advisors, the nobility, public unrest—but some of them can simply order someone to be jailed or someone to pay more taxes. It’s all about having the right kind of power, Mrsha. Knowing how to use it and incur the least amount of pushback or mitigating it.”
Lyonette had balanced Mrsha on one knee as she explained why Erin was counting gold coins. The [Innkeeper] wasn’t sure that was a suitable lesson for Mrsha, but she didn’t have much to say. So she’d paid up the next day and now she glumly regarded the contents of her safe.
It was still quite a bit. But Lyonette’s not-quite-a-glare as she put out today’s breakfast for the inn’s morning crowd told Erin it wasn’t good.
“We’ve still got enough to pay the staff and buy food and stuff! Plenty! We could go for like, a month on this alone!”
Erin weakly pointed at the coins with a smile. Lyonette pursed her lips. As she passed by with a huge, fluffy roll of bread and a bread knife, she pointedly looked at four table’s worth of Antinium Soldiers and Workers.
“That money was supposed to be used for refurbishing the inn, Erin. I’ll have to talk with Klbkch about delaying the first payments. And I’ll need you to make more ice cream. That’s one of our best sellers. In those…”
“Cones. They’re good, right?”
Lyonette sighed. But she nodded. Erin’s latest little innovation had been recreating the hard-batter cones that made ice cream a thousand times better than eating them in bowls. Plus you could walk around with them!
“I’ll need as much as you can make. Ishkr will buy the ingredients if you need more. No buts! You’re in the kitchen at least for three hours! Then you can go to Pallass.”
“But—”
Lyonette glared. Erin weakly smiled.
“But Lyonette, I have to go to Esthelm today! You know, to negotiate and stuff?”
The [Princess]’s brows crossed.
“Today?”
“Yup. For the discount?”
The [Innkeeper] watched as Lyonette tossed the fresh loaf of the bread on the table in disgust. Lyonette ground her teeth, and then nodded.
“Fine, I’ll get Ishkr to make the ice cream and have—how long will you be?”
“Um…”
At another table, the Horns of Hammerad were eating. Pisces, Ceria, Ksmvr, and Yvlon were having a rather nice meal of cereal grains flavored with a bit of sugar. Just a bit; the days of cheap honey were gone with the Ashfire Bee nest, which Ceria deeply regretted. Still—the food was really good. She noticed Ksmvr bouncing in his seat and watching Erin and Lyonette.
“What’s wrong, Ksmvr?”
“I am waiting for my sustenance, Captain Ceria.”
The half-Elf eyed Ksmvr. He alone wasn’t eating cereal.
“What, the bread? Is that all you’re eating for breakfast?”
The Antinium paused.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Um…”
Ceria had no idea. She suspected it was, but Ksmvr couldn’t get enough of gluten after discovering the Amulet of Food Poison Resistance or whatever it was. It turned out lots of Antinium liked gluten—they were just hugely intolerant to it.
“Just eat your bugs for dinner or something.”
The [Ice Mage] finished lamely. She heard a snort, but Yvlon and Pisces’ faces were completely neutral when she looked over. After a moment, Yvlon glanced over.
“You might have to go and get the bread yourself, Ksmvr. Lyonette’s not looking too happy.”
“I will acquire my breakfast now, then, Yvlon. I must not be the weakest link. Miss Erin has informed me of the perils of being one.”
Ksmvr got up. Ceria blinked for a few seconds, and then decided it wasn’t worth commenting on. She looked at the rest of her team, then at the diners the next table over.
“Hey, Bevussa, what’s your team doing today? You interested in the new missions being offered by Liscor’s Council?”
The Garuda sitting at the next table with her team looked up. She was having breakfast at the inn. Some of her team looked a bit annoyed at the question; Ceria was still Silver-rank. But Bevussa just smiled and shrugged.
“It’s interesting. They want to chew a regular trade route towards Pallass? It’s been tried before.”
“Really?”
Ceria frowned. Among the latest developments in Liscor, the decision to build a trade route to Pallass had been of most interest to her team. Bevussa nodded.
“Liscor had one, I think. Before the second Antinium War. Then—you know, the Necromancer—the city lost a lot of outlying villages in the Floodplains and trade stopped with the Antinium Hive. Not that it was doing well after the First Antinium War…”
“Wars tend to do that.”
One of the other Oldblood Drakes offered helpfully. Bevussa stared at him.
“Yeah. I guess they do, Zassil. Imagine that?”
“I’m just saying. Wars. Bad for the economy.”
“We get it, Zassil. That was Bevussa being sarcastic. This is me being mad.”
Issa, another Drake, snapped. Zassil looked hurt. Ceria bit her lip to keep from laughing.
