The Supreme Warrior *2014 ABNA Contest 2nd Round*

CHAPTER 4.1: Gellan Ware's Disaster

Porters transporting goods to and from the fairground crowded the street outside the bar. Gellan's mind raced even faster than his body as he rushed back to his booth. Something is going on in this town...and I don’t want to be here when the chamber pot spills. I need to sell as fast as I can and get the hell out of here.

The Trader pushed his tall, big-boned body through the crowd in a rude hurry.

Brilliant, just brilliant. You told Weder to hold the price no matter what. He probably hasn’t sold a blasted thing. If I don’t get to my booth fast, I could be stuck in this town with a load of worthless silk, with nothing to pay my guardsmen.

Gellan did not like the idea of welshing on a debt to men who played with swords for a living. He began to run.

As the burst of energy from his panic burned away, fatigue gnawed at his ribs. Despite the pain, he pushed on. An age later, Gellan reached the market. All across the field covered with tents and small booths, buyers surrounded the silk merchants. Business was brisk. The price was now four silvers a bolt. No one was buying from Weder.

When the apprentice saw his master's slack face, he began to defend himself, “You told me not to lower...”

“Yes. Now we are selling as fast as we can.”

The Trader pulled himself to his full height and barked out his new offering, “Three and-a-half!”

A great roar went up as cloth dealers shouted out their orders. So many customers swamped his apprentices that Gellan himself began to modify balances on Fair vouchers, and to endorse transaction notices to send to the Exchequer.

Gellan Ware’s sudden shift in policy shocked the other silk merchants. One older merchant ordered his apprentices to shut his booth when he noticed Ware’s tactics.

Drudan panicked when the buyers ran from his stall and screamed out new prices. The hysterical merchant drew men back when they realized Drudan was selling at a slightly lower price than Gellan.

Most of the silk merchants did nothing and waited to see which way prices would swing. A few sent senior apprentices to get bank loans.

An hour later, new rumors blazed across the field.

“Baron Grelig seized the capital of all the banks in Dannik!”

“The Assistant Exchequer is missing!”

Drudan looked toward Gellan and proclaimed, “He robbed the fair. The Baron must be trying to plug the leak with funds from the banks.”

Even though Ware knew that Drudan had panicked, the fat merchant’s words made Ware nervous. Traders deposited coin in the Fair’s treasury, in exchange for a fair voucher with a balance they could use to buy and sell goods. The Barons created this system to ensure they taxed every transaction.

If the Exchequer has robbed the treasury, somebody is not going to get his money at the end of the Fair.

Moments later, a horde of Traders rushed to the Exchequer’s tent, shouting that they wished to close their accounts. They became even more agitated as the Exchequer’s clerks seemed unusually slow in matching transaction notices to the sales listed on vouchers. The merchants thought the Exchequer had ordered his clerks to avoid redeeming voucher balances for coin. Obviously, they had come to the same conclusion as fearful Drudan.

An unidentified voice cried out, “There’s a run on the treasury!”

Gellan Ware turned his head toward the crowd in front of the Exchequer’s tent. If everyone pulls their money, the panic will ruin the fair.

Drudan left his booth in order to talk to Gellan Ware. “He can’t let his fair collapse. Merchants would avoid Dannik for years. He’ll have to close the grounds for a few days, and hope that the market will calm down.”

Gellan knew this prospect terrified Drudan. He would not be able to move either his money or his goods.

The fat merchant continued to blubber, “I can’t get stuck here. When there’s this much trouble in a Barony, merchants can lose entire fortunes!”

Drudan waddled back to his booth as fast as he could. Still huffing and puffing from his exertions, he cried out a desperate new price. “Two and-a-half!”

As an eager horde of silk buyers descended upon him, Drudan and his apprentices scrawled receipts.

A frenzy of new buying spread across the field. Desperate traders screamed, trying to dump their merchandise as fast as they could. While his competitors sold in a panic, Gellan Ware left the fairground with a satisfied smile spread across his face.

I sold before the bottom fell out of the market.

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