Watching what rides in.

Wim was relieved to learn that with the soldiers came the pay box from the Duke. Loose coins and trapped men was a glorious combination of potential profit.

Wim spent a fair amount of time on the back of the wagon selling goods. It might seem a bit of a shock, but the hard part of selling supplies he had was that everyone wanted everything for free. They thought that the Duke had sent him and that the Duke should pay. This made Wim the right man for the job, as he worked his magic explaining that the Duke did not send him and that things were a bit more expensive that back in the city because of transportation costs - wagon rental, paying taxes to the Duke, Horse fees, and the customary fees that the guards got for protecting the shipment.

His Ale was sold at twice the price. Still keeping one cask in reserve to deal with the Mountain Clan in an emergency. The Hole would be feeling the effect of a bit of competition and a higher quality product being sold. He could sell the cask to the Hole on his way out of town. They might even come try to buy the open cask just to shut him down.

Wim selling wood took a bit more work. He had enough wood to basically build a nice one room shed. Which would be better than living in a tent. The problem was not many of the men had that type of money here and he was not taking a marker with war coming. That left selling it to the mine or the foundry.

Wim took orders for things. Mostly blankets, boots, and work clothes. They would have to sell the idea of building a dorm to the Duke and the Clan Leader. He would let Master Sadir handle the Duke.

After completing a transaction, he hopped on to the back of the wagon and sat down. As he looked out, riding in to this little hell hole of a town was the Lady Arbiter Voah, Hunter. Wim took a cloth from his pocket and wiped his face in order to look a bit more presentable.

Their presence likely meant that there was a worry that magic was in play and they had come to deal with it. This did not make him feel better about sitting on a powder keg.

He did not think his efforts to save some of the young people from the cult families had won him any admiration from Voah. He understood why. Hunter at least had nodded to him at the tavern and did not seem to want to pound him into the ground, most the time. Watching them ride into town was like sitting at the card table knowing the other guy has a pair of kings and not being able to do anything about it.

Deep in Wim's mind was a weird fantasy that worried him. Not that he would admit it. He was hoping for was a couple half dressed native girls with magical powers to bring back to be servants. He really did wanted to learn the clan and tribal languages and having a dream walker would make business so much easier. That part of his mental scheming worked well. Elizabeth would need her own servants though and they would be helping to "civilize and educate" them. It would be quite noble. The problem was he could not sell himself. He was not buying the idea because it smelled like trouble.

He would have to put them in real clothing because the half naked part would cause problems. Getting a label of "native lover" would cause problem for business. Knowing Elizabeth, she would probably make him return them. Then an even worse thought hit him. It would work and the whole group of them would gang up and run his life. No more card games, or going drinking, Elizabeth knowing all his wild thoughts and schemes, Elizabeth would become fluent in both languages and they would use it to talk about him.

He sighed a pitiful sigh. Knowing what he really needed were young tribe men that knew how to care for the horses and enough horses to pull multiple heavier wagons. That is what he needed, it just wasn't as sexy. Maybe some of the tribal girls were horse wranglers and dream walkers. More horses and a trade deal with the clan was what he hoped to walk away with.

Wim waved to Voah, Hunter from the wagon. They would need a drink and he wanted to know what brought them this far north and into danger.