Jason and Clive stood by solemnly throughout the service. After it was done, the family thanked them for bringing their son home. It was widely known what Humphrey, Clive and Jason had faced to do so, and they were looked on with respect. They were invited to a private gathering, but Humphrey had warned them that it was correct etiquette to be asked, and correct etiquette to respectfully decline.
The gathered adventurers made their way to a bar where they took part in a traditional adventurer wake. It was an informal ceremony where a drink was shared in silence to the fallen, then a drink each was taken to Humphrey, Jason and Clive for bringing him home. Then those who knew the dead adventurer shared stories as the mood shifted from mourning to a celebration of life.
The adventurer was not from a famous family, or well known for his accomplishments. Many were grateful that someone as well-known as Humphrey was willing to go out and find their friend. Even if the Adventure Society didn’t have rules against sending an adventurer’s friends and family to retrieve their body, they all knew they would have fallen too. Jason discovered even he was building something of a reputation among adventurers. It was no match for Humphrey’s, but he took many a respectful handshake and offered drink.
As the night grew late, Humphrey, Jason and Clive left with most of the adventurers, only the dead man’s closest friends remaining. The Island streets were brightly lit by streetlamps as they walked side-by-side in silence.
92
Unusual Contract
The Adventure Society campus was an unusual bustle of activity as Jason made his way to the jobs hall. It was normal to see people wandering about, but there was a preponderance of society officials moving about in a harried fashion. The marshalling yard was normally an open space where groups would meet up, but it was now covered in tents and surrounded by temporary fencing.
Outside the jobs hall, he found a notice that the marshalling yard was temporarily off-limits. It directed teams and expeditions to use the space in front of the administration building to assemble. As he was reading the notice, he felt a familiar aura, turning to spot Beth Cavendish approaching.
“Quite the debacle, isn’t it?” she said, nodding at the notice.
“Do you know what it’s all about?” Jason asked. “I’m assuming this is something to do with all those tribesmen we captured. Did your uncle let anything slip?”
The silver-rank leader of the expedition had been Beth’s uncle, Jason discovered. He was the one who had defeated the Ustei chief and accepted the surrender of their leadership.
“The Adventure Society wants to find out why the Ustei came south in the first place, then put them on their barge and send them back,” Beth said. “It isn’t going smoothly.”
“They don’t want to go back?”
“No,” Beth said, “and Uncle Ephraim won’t say why. What he did tell me was that if I did pick anything up, I should keep it to myself. To prevent any potential unrest, is what he said.”
“That sounds serious.”
“What he did tell me is the other problems the Ustei have caused. For one thing, they take their defeat and surrender seriously. They’re claiming that their war barge and everything in it belongs to Uncle Ephraim, now.”
“Is that a problem?”
“It is once you realise that includes all the women, children and slaves,” Beth said. “We didn’t fight our way high enough to find where they were all chained up.”
“Slaves,” Jason said. “That’s never a good sign. Wait, they want to give up all the tribe’s women? Won’t the tribe die out?”
“It’s their culture, apparently. The idea is that now they have to go raiding for more women.”
Jason shook his head. “It just keeps getting worse.”
“You’re right about that. Remember I said they don’t want to go north?”
“Yeah.”
“They want to go east. The nomad tribes follow a circuit around the northern oases. The eastern desert isn’t as harsh as the north, and there are more oases.”
“With towns and villages around them, not to mention everything in the delta they would chew through to get there.” Jason said. “Do they seriously expect us to unleash a literal horde of men looking to kidnap women and slaves on a bunch of small, isolated populations?”
“It’s their way, and they say we should kill them or let them be.”
“I’m all for freedom,” Jason said, “but that does not include the freedom to take people as slaves.”
“You know they hit up one of the coastal villages, the day before we attacked?”
“I didn’t hear about that.”
“Those villages make a living from fishing and collecting water quintessence. The raiders rely on water quintessence for survival in the desert, so they raided a village. Losing food and quintessence is one thing, but they took all the people.”
“We got them back right?”
“The ones who survived. Nasty business.”
“What are they going to do with all these tribesmen?” Jason asked. “Doesn’t sound like we can let them go, but we can’t just lock them all in a prison somewhere.”
“I have no idea what they’re going to do with them,” Beth said. “Someone floated the idea of taking the Ustei men as slaves, which would at least be something they understood.”
“That’s insane,” Jason said, face creasing with anger. “Slavery isn’t allowed here is it? Have I been seeing people and not realising they’re slaves?”
“We don’t have slaves,” Beth said. “We have indentured servants. A lot of criminals are sentenced to indenture, then their indenture is sold or auctioned to recoup the cost of their crimes.”
“You sell criminals?”
“What do they do with them where you come from?”
“We lock them in boxes for years and treat them like animals,” Jason said, then shook his head. “I think we both need better systems.”
“You don’t need to worry about taking the Ustei as slaves, at least,” Beth said. “The idea died completely when someone pointed out that the Ustei wouldn’t accept it. Their culture doesn’t allow warriors to be made slaves. For them, capture means release or death. It’s the only thing they’re willing to accept.”
“They aren’t talking about executing the whole tribe, are they?”
“I’m not sure. Uncle Ephraim was only willing to tell me the ideas they’ve already rejected.”
“It sounds like an absolute mess,” Jason said, then tapped a finger on the notice. “Which I guess it is. Admin must be a mad house with every team assembling on their front steps.”
They went into the jobs hall and checked at the front desk. Since neither had any assigned contracts waiting, they went to the noticeboards. They were both two-star adventurers, so they went to the same one.
“You’d be after the big-ticket items, with a whole team behind you, right?” Jason asked as they perused the notices.
“That’s right,” Beth said. “Mostly I’m after something that can push the team, but also something that still pays out well, split four ways. Fortunately, they tend to be the same jobs. You work mostly solo?”
“Yeah, but I’ve been picking up some group work here and there,” Jason said. “I’ve worked with Humphrey Geller a bit, and a friend from the Magic Society.”
Jason plucked a notice off the board, frowning at it.
“Find something good?”
“Something interesting,” Jason said. “It reads like a one-star mission, but it’s two-stars.”
“Probably means it was one star but some complication cropped up. Once a couple of people try and fail, they kick it up. They tend to be annoying contracts, so most of us avoid them.”
“I’m more about learning things the hard way. I’ll see you around, Beth.”