“We’re looking to sell quickly,” said Alfric. “Besides, I can’t read any of what’s written in the books.”
“You can still tell by looking,” replied Eddel, who was leafing through the small stack. “Sometimes there are one or two pictures, sometimes you can tell from the headings, sometimes just looking at the shape of the paragraphs.” She pointed to one open page. “Punctuation is usually done with small marks, different from the glyphs they use for letters or words, so if you see marks that seem to be annotating something, they can be pretty obvious. Here, you can see that these are probably quotation marks, though I’d be hard-pressed to bet on it.”
“They are,” said Mergan, who had slipped the monocle into his front pocket.
“It lets you make a good guess, anyhow,” said Eddel. She looked at the large stack of books that had been put off to the side. “And all those are dross?”
“Not dross,” said Mergan. “But I’d sell them as henlings or ship them off to someone who’s willing to do the work of bleaching or a wortier.” He clucked his tongue and looked at Alfric. “All right, I’m thinking for these,” gesturing to the small pile, “three hundred apiece.” He pointed at the other pile. “For the stinkers, five each.”
“Five?” asked Alfric, folding his arms. “That’s nearly robbery. It’s high-quality parchment and good binding, and beyond that, they’re nearly standardized.”
“Five is a fair offer,” said Eddel. “It’s good parchment, but it’s got ink on it, hasn’t it?”
Alfric deflated somewhat. “But that’s what, thirteen thousand for the lot?”
“When you say it like that, it seems like a worse deal for Mergan,” said Eddel. “Personally, I’d offer less.” She turned to Mergan. “You think you can recoup three hundred apiece for those? Or did you see something I didn’t?”
“I think it’s a fair price,” said Mergan. “And I think they’re worth more considering how many of them there are, all from the same place. They could be sold as a set.” He shrugged. “You’d get a better price taking them back to Dondrian, but that’s quite a journey to make, and travel comes with costs of its own.”
Alfric had been prepared to get less than the fifty thousand he’d dreamed of, but so much less was a real blow. The money didn’t matter that much, and a low price might help keep the party hungry, which was important in the short term, though he tried his best not to listen to that intrusive thought. Still, he had been certain there were things to be had over at Sharpe and Eddel’s, and he was equally sure that they would be expensive. Perhaps there was something to going further afield, but without fortuitous timing on a portal, he’d have a wait ahead of him, and then another wait coming back, all while risking leaving the party stillborn.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t like it, but I’m not buying the books,” said Eddel. “And I know if you’re hot off a dungeon run, you’re probably coming my way soon, so I’ve got every incentive to get you to milk this poor bugger.”
Alfric looked at Isra, who was standing impassively. “Thoughts?” he asked.
“The opening offer is never the limit,” said Isra.
“It is with me,” said Mergan. He was standing still, as solid as a rock.
“Fourteen for the lot,” said Alfric. “I don’t think you’re trying to squeeze us, but I think there’s some give, and this is getting split five ways.”
“How it’s getting split isn’t my problem,” said Mergan. He looked at the small stack of books again, which wasn’t actually all that small. Alfric tried to see where his gaze landed but failed to pinpoint which of those books was the moneymaker. “Fine,” Mergan finally said, holding out his hand.
Alfric shook, feeling mixed emotions. Barter was a crucial aspect of being a dungeoneer, but it had always been a weak spot for him. In an ideal world, it would have been the responsibility of someone else on the team, but the party wasn’t a team yet.
“Well,” said Eddel, “should I expect you over shortly, flush with rings?”
“Of course,” nodded Alfric. “And thank you for your input.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” said Eddel. “We’re competitors, of a sort, but we also have to watch each other’s backs. I suppose I’ll wait for the transaction.”
It took some time to settle up with Mergan, in part because while he had fourteen thousand rings on hand, they were locked away in an entad that took some time and effort to open. It was a large sum of money, and Alfric was mildly surprised to see so many high-value rings in one place. In Dondrian, most purchases like this would go through banks, with nothing actually changing hands except a signature or seal. Here in Tarchwood, it was done differently, perhaps owing to the lack of banks, or possibly the fact that people were a bit less trusting of each other or had fewer methods of enforcing trust.
The three of them, Alfric, Isra, and Eddel, went over to her store together.
“Now then, looking for anything specific?” asked Eddel. “You’ve got the funds.”
“Unfortunately, there are only two of the five of us,” said Alfric. “So most of the money has to be reserved.” Along with what he had on hand, he’d gotten a hundred rings to spend, and he was hoping that she would have something good for that price. Looking more closely, he could see that none of the entads on display had their prices listed, only descriptions.
“If I can offer a bit of advice,” said Eddel. “And this is only because I want you to succeed for my own selfish reasons—it’s best to hold off on buying some of the more common stuff. You’re a new party, aren’t you?”
Alfric nodded. “How’d you know?”
“You were talking to each other rather than using the channel,” said Eddel. “And you’re not as dripping in entads as I’d expect. Anyhow, if you’re a fresh, new party, you’ll be finding stuff in the dungeons, and it’s a shame to spend rings on something basic only to come across it in the very next dungeon.”
“We could sell the extra to you though, couldn’t we?” asked Alfric.
“You could,” she replied. “But I take my cut, and my cut can be pretty big, because I’ve got floor space and presentation to worry about. Besides that, there’s always the problem of binding.”
“How much for this set of arrows?” asked Isra, who had been looking at the displays.
“Two thousand,” said Eddel.
Alfric winced. Eddel had been with them when the deal was struck and now knew exactly how much each of them could afford. Her going over there had definitely not been altruism.
“They’re indestructible?” asked Isra. “The price seems high if they’re not.”
“If you manage to destroy one without magic, I’ll refund half your rings,” said Eddel. “They passed the scratch tests with flying colors, and I had the cleric of Oeyr look at them last time he was in.”
“Wait, the book might help,” said Alfric. He took the book from his pack, again ruing how heavy it was, and laid it on the floor. He took one of the arrows from Isra and fed it into the book, then waited for the description to appear. From their tests, it hadn’t been able to identify entads or their functions, but it could give an indication of their material composition, which was nearly as valuable. “Described as being like corum,” said Alfric. “Which is a rare metal, virtually indestructible.”
Isra nodded and took another one of the arrows from the case they were in. She looked it over, examining the flight and the head, then tried to snap it over her knee. She winced in pain, but the arrow was unbroken.
“Don’t try that with anything else in the shop,” said Eddel, frowning. “Not without my say-so.”