resort to force.
Darius took up a position at the bow, gazing at Bushtabhar and pondering what other secrets the city held. He suspected it had plenty more up its sleeve, so many that Bleist couldn’t count them all. And he certainly had no desire to waste his time on trivial matters.
‘Colonel? ’ Darius glanced over his shoulder. One of the Azure Guards was approaching him, accompanied by a halfling in a grey tunic and turban, and an obese merchant in a tight-fitting white robe, offering some form of cordial greeting to everyone he passed. ‘These two gentlemen wish to speak with you.’
Bleist merely dismissed the Guard with a nod and summoned the waiting pair. Judging by their appearance, he had before him one of the merchants, most likely the most prominent one, and some sort of assistant.
‘You gentlemen wished to have a word with me,’ he began somewhat curtly.
The merchant bowed gracefully, introduced himself as Sathad ib Arrat, and began to speak rapidly. At the same time, the interpreter hurriedly translated his client’s words. Generally speaking, the conversation, initially rather one-sided, began calmly, but very quickly turned to topics of keen interest to the merchant – complaints about the problems with armed gangs preying on the roads suddenly seemed to escalate into a nationwide issue. Although other matters of interest could also be gleaned from the tirade. Among other things, thieves posed a problem alongside the bandits. It was quite obvious, but Bleist was nonetheless somewhat surprised.
The most interesting thing, however, was the remark that came almost at the very end. The merchant shared, somewhat reluctantly, that he often came across bodies left behind by bandits, but it seemed strange that not a single item of their equipment was missing.
‘And though it’s good that here… there’s more and more traffic… there are more caravans on the roads than there have been since the moon. These are good times,’ he added undeterred. Darius took some interest, as this wasn’t the first time such incidents had been circulating. And the connection between these events was
