The Taleweaver

Verd, part four

Harbend brightened at the thought of selling this very first batch of written insight in how the outworlders thought. Almost reverently he picked up one of the volumes and caressed its smooth leather.

Slightly smaller in size than he was used to, less than two hands high and just about one hand wide. Title printed both on the cover as well as on the back.

He carefully opened it. The paper was dull but of very fine quality and the peculiar structure of the writing made him guess he was holding a catalog of words.

The cargo would bring a good price, probably better than the normal load of metal he'd initially expected to handle for his client. "And you have five crates full of this?" he asked, slowly letting out a long breath of air. Here was splendid profit waiting to be made.

"No," Arthur said opening another crate, "I thought I might need something more easily converted to money here to cover my expenses."

Harbend stared at the contents of the crate, mouth wide open. "What, what... Do you have any idea how much..."

"No, as a matter of fact I don't. I haven't had to think about money the last twenty years, and I wanted to make sure I brought enough valuables not to start now."

Harbend stared at the riches displayed before him. Bars of gold, silver and platinum neatly stacked between small cases he almost certainly knew were filled with jewelry, most probably sorted by either value or material. "You have brought enough to buy a large town including all farms supporting it."

"Oh, it doesn't represent such a fortune where I come from," Arthur answered silently.