Chapter 22: Bitterbridge Part III
When Damian approached the innkeeper to ask him about his friends, he told him that he hadn't seen them. The innkeeper, a middle-aged man named Edmund, told him he knows Alester well as his father, also named Alester, used to stay at his inn whenever he passed through Bitterbridge, so he knows who he is talking about.
"You said you entered town at the same time?" Damian nods. "That's strange, they should have passed the controls by now."
"Do you think there was a problem?" Damian asked him.
Edmund frowns and thinks for a while.
"Lately, the number of itinerant merchants who stay at the inn has decreased considerably. My wife said it is because of the season, since summer is ending they don't go far from their homes anymore because there are rumors this autumn will be a short one. No one wants to be far from home when the snow starts to fall."
"But you think there is another reason." Damian looks at him expectantly and Edmund nods.
"The few itinerant merchants who stayed at the inn have been complaining about some tax increase, something to do with the Merchant Guild. I couldn't hear clearly but maybe that's why young Alester and his men are not here."
Damien frowns. That possibility is quite worrisome for his merchant friends. The taxes that Alester has to pay are many and if there is any unforeseen change the merchant could find himself in serious trouble. Since there is currently nothing stopping Guilds from raising the prices of memberships or permits, or Lords from raising taxes overnight, that is highly likely.
"Maybe it's nothing." Edmund says without sounding too sure. "Maybe the guards are giving them a hard time and they'll be here later."
"Could be." Damian doesn't rule out that possibility but the information about the guild worries him a bit. "Only time will tell."
"Aye. Are you going to wait for them here?" asks the innkeeper.
"I think I'll go look for them, but before that I want to rent a room for two nights."
"What kind of room?" Edmund explains the types of rooms he has available. First there are the communal rooms, they are the cheapest and he would have to share with five other people. Double rooms are shared with another person. Then there are the single rooms, which are the most expensive.
"A single room, I never liked sharing." That's not completely true, the idea of sharing a room with strangers doesn't bother him, what bothers him is having to worry about his roommates stealing his belongings.
"Two nights, that's 2 copper stars, since your horses are staying in the stables, that's another copper star, so three in total."
Damian gives him a silver stag and Edmond gives him the change: 4 copper stars.
The redhead follows Edmund up a flight of stairs to the second floor and enters the room he will stay in during his stay in Bitterbridge. The room is very simple in appearance and small in size: against one wall is a single bed with a straw mattress and against the other wall is a table and chair.
"It is simple but comfortable, you will feel at home." Damian nods and puts his luggage on the bed. "Here's the key."
***
After accommodating his belongings in the room, Damian left the inn with his backpack on his back. He has all his money in the backpack, since he does not rule out the possibility that Edmund or some other guest of the inn sneaks into his room to see what items he has. Gold is a great temptation, one that can bring out the worst in even the most decent people.
Damian speeds up and arrives at the Gate of Silver, he sees some merchants discussing something with a guard. The merchants look agitated while the guards look at them smugly.
"-I don't make the laws. I only enforce them, if you're not going to pay, go back the way you came." Says a guard who seems to be in charge.
"Laws? What laws?" A merchant spits at the guard's feet. "You're just fucking swindlers, glorified thieves. All of you and that guild ilk are nothing but greedy bastards!"
"What have you said?" A very tall guard draws his sword and takes a few steps towards the merchant, who steps back and yells at the sellswords he has hired as guards to help him. They seem undecided whether to intervene, the gold the merchant pays them to protect him is not enough for them to risk their lives fighting more than a dozen guards.
Damian looks at the merchant and sees in his eyes impotence and anger. He knows these feelings very well, they are as common in Westeros as slaves in Essos, he himself has felt them numerous times but unlike most people who resign themselves to their fate, Damian will challenge the entire world.
`This is something I can work with.` The merchant class is essential to his plans, he needs their power to increase and rivals that of the nobility in order to tip the scales. Damian knows how to make that happen, he knows how to increase their power and influence. He has numerous plans drawn up and it is only a matter of time before he puts them into action.
Everything he's learned since he joined the caravan gave him dozens of ideas and inspiration for more plans, and what he's seeing before his eyes right now is just another opportunity.
An opportunity that he unfortunately can not take advantage of at the moment, but one that would be stored in his memory for later use.
"Sheath your sword!" The guard in charge shouts to his subordinate.
"But captain-"
Some guards noticed his presence and were looking at him, their eyes shining with eagerness to show their manhood to the world. The kind of urge someone feels when he wants to take his wrath out on some poor unfortunate soul, the look one sees in a bully's eyes before he pounces on his victim.
Damian didn't stay to listen to the rest of the conversation as he doesn't plan to become another of the targets of these thugs dressed in law-enforcer uniforms.
`More than protectors of Bitterbrigde, they look like a gang.`
He walks down a street that is very close to the town wall and after five minutes he arrives at another of the Bitterbridge Gates, the same one through which he entered the town just three hours ago. The traffic of people has decreased a lot since morning and even the number of guards is lower. The four guards are leaning against the wall and appear to be very lethargic, barely looking at the people going in and out of Bitterbridge.
The difference between these guards and the ones he saw in the Gate of Silver is enormous, these ones seem relaxed and calm while the others seem like thugs with excess testosterone.
Damian notices that their clothes are different, and assumes that the townguards have several divisions, that or the Gate of Silver men belong to another group.
`The Merchant Guild controls the trading activity in Bitterbridge, they want to control what kind of merchants are allowed in their town.`
The redhead walks away from the town and looks around in search of his friends, in a very short time he sees a large group of people on the other side of the Mander. Alongside the group are at least a dozen wagons filled with goods. They are too far away for him to distinguish people so he decides to go closer to see if his suspicions are correct.
Upon reaching the middle of the bridge he recognizes several of Alester's employees, and in a corner he sees Alester and Alysanne talking to some people. Even from a distance he can feel the tense atmosphere surrounding the group.
`What happened?`
"You have returned." Benton comments, Damian is surprised to see that his normally scowling expression isn't directed at him. The guard is looking towards the town, more precisely towards the Gate of Silver, with contempt. "Greedy snakes." He mutters under his breath.
"What happened?"
"Those guild snakes put up a new impost for the merchants' goods. Now they have to pay a third of their value to get into the city." Benton spits and curses the Merchant Guild of Bitterbrigde again.
"One third?!" Damian looks at him in disbelief. "That impost is outrageous!"
If Alester were to pay that impost he would not only lose any profit he could make from the sale of his merchandise but he would also lose money. Something that could well ruin him, and from the somber expressions of the other merchants who are gathered here, that is also their case.
Traveling through Westeros is not cheap: merchants have to pay the salaries of their employees as well as mercenaries to protect them since the roads are not safe, to that is added what they have to pay for supplies because it is a must for an employer to provide his workers with food during the journey. Those costs are not a small thing and the merchants have to cover them with their own money, and if the merchant can't sell their merchandise... They depend on the money they will make from the sale of their merchandise.
If they can't sell anything in Bitterbridge they might as well throw themselves in the Mander as they won't have the money to pay for the trip to the next town. Employees and guards will abandon them if they are not paid and traveling alone without protection with their merchandise is suicide.
"Exactly!" Benton pats him on the back and looks at him approvingly. "Nobody here can afford to pay that damn scam!"
Damian is surprised at how angry Benton is on behalf of his employer, this is not a reaction he expected to see from the man who is always complaining about his boss. This impost doesn't affect him in the slightest and yet the guard is fuming with anger on behalf of Alester and all the other merchants who won't be able to afford it.
`There is more than meets the eye in Benton.`
"Damian, come here." Alysanne interrupts them, waving for him to come over. "Help me convince my father to stop this madness." Alysanne's tone is very tense.
"Hm?" Damian lets her pull him by his hand in the direction of where Alester is chatting with other merchants.
"He's come up with an insane idea!" Alysanne curses under her breath. "He wants to set up a market outside Bitterbridge!"
"What?" At first glance the idea sounds marvelous: the perfect loophole. The new imposit of the Merchant Guild is to be able to enter Bitterbridge and sell the merchandise there, most of these merchants already have the necessary permits to practice their trade on Lord Caswell's lands.
Legally there is nothing to stop these merchants, but the Merchant Guild...
`There's no way they'll let this slide!`
Alester's idea will have repercussions, and only Alysanne seems to realize it.
***
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