Chapter 27

"This is unbelievable!" Dent exclaimed as he looked at the pile of papers sitting on the desk in front of him. "How could anyone understand, let alone run, this mess?"

Dent, Nesho and Paco spent the better part of three days secluded in Garishnie's old study going over the details of the deBabear's far flung empire. It turned out to be far more substantial then even teNeigho was aware. In addition to the two houses -- mansions really -- and the three brothels, there were a number of other rental properties deBabear had a controlling interest in that would normally never have been associated with the slave trade. There weren't three ships but ten, most currently sitting idle in other ports. It also appeared that he had loaned a substantial amount of money to a number of highly-placed and influential Houses in Harv'el and even more as personal loans to the Putram himself.

"It's all fairly standard, dear," Nesho said without looking up from an inventory of goods presently sitting in one of their warehouses. "I must admit that while Garishnie was a real prick, he was also a good businessman. I have never seen anything quite this substantial before but I can see the logic of what he did."

"I'm glad one of us does," he muttered. "Now what do we do with it?"

"Whatever you want," she replied. "I take it you still want to rid ourselves of the slave trade trappings?" He nodded. "Then the first thing we need to do is to decide what to do with the merchandise on hand. Unfortunately we can't just let them go free. That is strictly against the law here."

"Maybe we could move them somewhere else and then set them free?"

"Hmm, maybe. But where? All the islands we could send them to have the same laws for the most part. Even Salas won't accept them. Better we find something for them to do with us."

"How many do we have that are, um, merchandise?" Dent asked.

"About two-hundred," Nesho said.

"Two-hundred?" Dent blanched.

"Yes, some ninety-three men and the rest women, of course. A lot seem to be sailors from the ships taken by Jeevel's privateers. Although a fair number appear to be skilled labor of one kind or another;: carpenters, masons and the like. The women for the most part are imported from other slaving countries and look to be here as either fodder for the brothels or household servants."

Nesho sat back and looked at Dent thoughtfully. "We don't have to decide anything immediately. They are costing us only food for the most part and we can cover that from our cash position for quite some time. Closing down our activities in the slave trade will be easier than I first thought. That part has been relatively inactive for a while given the lack of trade in general."

"Good," he said. "I want out of it as soon as possible."

"The next question is what to do with all these ships," Nesho pursed her lips. "They are spread out all over and are basically just sitting doing nothing."

"Can they be used to ship cargo?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "We can probably ask Vel about that."

"Why don't we sell or lease them to Southern Cross like we are doing with the Makro?" The Vengeance Mine had been renamed the Makro after Dent's mother and was being leased to Southern Cross Shipping Company. It was presently undergoing the same conversion the Death Grip had. In a few weeks there would be two fast, well-armed ships in the company's tiny fleet.

"I'll talk to Vel about that," Nesho said nodding. "I don't think he'll be ready to use them anytime soon but..." They were interrupted by Clarise walking into the room unannounced.

"I want to talk to you," she demanded imperiously.

Don teNeigho had been wrong about one thing: It hadn't taken the full week for Clarise to adjust to her bond, sort of. Having stayed in her room for the two days as he ordered, she had been out since that morning and was making a real pain in the ass of herself. Although she had been "temperate in language and moderate in actions" as he instructed, temperate and moderate seemed to be words widely open to interpretation. She had already started a spat with Sosho until they both realized Sosho's word became her law as per his instruction.

Clarise quickly learned it was foolish to cross swords with the younger woman as it were. Sosho not only held a grudge but crushed it to her bosom never letting go. Sosho didn't forget Clarise's attempt to eviscerate her man and given a chance was going to pay her back with interest. Sosho had her cleaning chamber pots when Nesho found them. Nesho told her daughter to leave Clarise alone until Dent had a chance to deal with her, after Clarise finished the pots, of course.

"Clarise," Dent said with exasperation, "it is not polite to barge in and interrupt someone while they're busy. I insist you knock first and wait for permission to enter from now on."

"This is my house and I'll do what I please..." she started and then gave a little gasp and her hands went to her throat again. Dent just smiled and shook his head. Nesho had a smirk on her face.

"I mean of course I will," Clarise gasped.

"Master," Nesho said to the girl.

"What?" Clarise stared at her blankly.

"I'm sure you meant to say 'Of course I will, Master, '" Nesho prompted.

"I'll call no man Mas... ack!" she gagged. Recovering quickly she continued, "I mean, of course I will, Master!" she almost spit out the word.

"Very good, Clarise," Dent said mildly. "Now what can I do for you?"

"I deman... ah, would like to know what you have planned for me?"

"I don't really know yet," he said shrugging his shoulder. "What should I do with you?"

"I don't know," said a frustrated Clarise. "I was supposed to be betrothed to Juanen of House deOrlen in another six ten-day but he would never look at me now! Not like this!" she pointed to her salidin.

"Are you in love with this Juanen?" he asked.

"Of course not!" she said looking at him like he was insane. "I said I was going to be betrothed to him. What does love have to do with anything?"

"If you loved each other then I would contact House deOrlen and see about getting the two of you together, is what," he said.

"You'd sell me to them is what you mean," she snapped.

"There may be cash involved," he muttered, "but I don't know if we have enough gold to make it worth their while."

Nesho snorted while Clarise fumed.

"Well, if that's not possible," Dent continued, "then just what should I do with you?"

"It's obvious, of course," Clarise said standing up straight, her nose in the air.

"It is?" he asked. "Please enlighten me."

"You have bonded me to yourself," she made the word sound like a curse. "I will become your woman. I know you are sleeping in my father's room and I should be moved in there immediately." Nesho started laughing hard and holding her side while Dent stared at the girl in disbelief.

"You? My woman?" he sputtered. "I don't know where you got that idea but let me dissuade you of it right now. Do you see this woman sitting here? She is my woman, my wife. You've met Sosho, I understand; she is also my woman and my wife. You are not and will not be my woman."

"That's absurd!" Clarise said haughtily. "They are mere slaves; they can't be your wives. Besides I am much more beautiful and better bred for that matter. You may have had your dalliances with these common tramps but now you have a real woman and you do not need them any longer."

Nesho continued laughing although she tried to hold it back by covering her mouth. Her eyes sparkled with mirth as she looked between Dent and the girl.

"Nesho," Dent said reproachfully, "that's not helping." Turning back to Clarise he pondered just what to say.

"I admit you are a beautiful girl," he started and she smiled giving a little sniff to Nesho, which of course set Nesho off on another round of laughter.

"As I was saying," he said a little louder. "You are beautiful, but let me assure you, you are not more beautiful that either my Nesho or Sosho and to be perfectly honest the ugliness of your soul eclipses that beauty every time you open your mouth. I have no intention of making you my woman. I don't know right now just what I will do with you, but if you don't improve that attitude of yours, it will be something unpleasant. Maybe I will give you to Sosho as a toy. I'm sure she would be happy to find your proper place in this household. Is that understood?"

Clarise just stood staring at him, her mouth wide open. Suddenly her eyes flared and she tried to force the words out of her mouth.

"You... can't... you... are... argh!" she finally screamed and turning, fled from the room.

"That one sure has a fire in her," Nesho said still chuckling.

Dent just shook his head and putting his head in his hands, sighed.

"Yes, we can use them," Vel said after pondering for a bit. "They're configured for slave transport of course but it wouldn't take very long to modify them for cargo. I'm familiar with that type of ship: a little slow but they can carry quite a load."

"The problem is they're spread out all over the place," he continued. "It would be best to have them all here, and then we can determine what to do with them."

"I'm not sure I want them here in Harv'el," Dent added. "I'm not comfortable here. That bastard, Westel, is still Putram and even though deBrisil seems to be running things now, I'm not sure I trust him either."

Vel, Dent, Nesho and Paco were meeting at the Southern Cross factor's office. Dent was a little reluctant to include Garishnie's old seneschal in their discussions but both Nesho and then Vel assured him he could be trusted, now. The deBabear's old retainer seemed to have no difficulties in shifting his new loyalties, even given the control the salidin provided. In fact the only emotion one could infer about the fate of his previous owner was one of only slightly repressed glee. He had proven to be invaluable in understanding the intricacies of deBabear's little empire and appeared to be completely devoted to Nesho.

"I can understand that," Vel said with a frown. "I don't think deBrisil is necessarily a bad man, but he is under pressure right now. It turns out deClover and his family had more support then anticipated; it appears impossible to remove him right now. At least deBrisil has been able to keep him in seclusion for the time being, due to his 'illness, ' but for how long is the question. The problem is, if not Harv'el then where?"

"Safehaven, that's where," Dent said with conviction.

Vel pondered for a moment and then nodded. "That would be possible, I suppose." Suddenly he broke into a grin, "At least we could expect the support of the new governor."

"That's right," Dent replied. "True, it's a small harbor, but what's there isn't being utilized and there's room to expand. It'll never be a big as Harv'el or any of the other major ports but it should be adequate as a home port for us. We have been discussing this with a naval architect and based on the charts available it appears the addition of two to three new docks, possibly even more, are well within reason. The initial cost is substantial but Nesho believes if we divest ourselves of a few of the properties I wanted to get rid of anyway we can swing it."

"How do you envision this working?" Vel asked. "Do you want a buy in to Southern Cross to provide capital? That would place you in a majority position and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that."

"No. We're happy with the way things are with Southern Cross now. What Nesho has tentatively set up is a separate company -- our company -- which would build and maintain the facilities and lease space to SC. The terms we can work out later but I can assure you it will be favorable to both of us. After all, we do own part of SC, even if it's a small part.

"The first thing we need to do is retrieve those ships I have scattered all over the place. The two in port now are going to begin their conversion soon. When they're done we'll have the lifting capacity to transport the materials needed for at least one new dock and a warehouse."

"What about labor?" Vel asked. "I'm not sure Safehaven can support a building program like that. There are some skilled craftsmen there, I'm sure, but not in the numbers you would need."

"We'll import our own," Dent said with a grin. "It turns out deBabear had a number of craftsmen in his 'inventory'. Why I don't know, but he did. I asked them if they would be willing to work away from Harv'el and they seemed quite agreeable."

"You asked them? That must have been a bit of a shock to them: A slave being asked if and where he wanted to work."

"Shock is as good a word as any," Dent agreed. "In fact one actually fainted. All the same, I gave them the same choice I give all our other, ah, associates. To a man they all indicated they wouldn't mind leaving Harv'el. In fact I got the impression as long as it was away from here, they wouldn't mind me sending them to hell itself. A good number of the men that weren't craftsmen indicated they would like to learn, and a fair number of the women also, for that matter."

"That's a bit radical, isn't it," Vel said. "You aren't honestly considering doing that, are you?"

"Why not?" Dent said with a shrug. "You can have only so many housekeepers and cooks. Why can't a woman cut a board or tar a seam? It can't hurt to try. I need craftsman now and there just aren't enough men to go around. Not only do I intend to refit the rest of the fleet in Safehaven, but I'm also going to need housing and other facilities built. I plan to move my entire family there within the next six months so things are going to have to get done quickly."

"Why six months?" Vel asked.

"First, because I want to get out of here as soon as possible; second, because I intend for my first child born there." As he said this he reached over and grasped Nesho's hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

"If everything goes as planned the two slavers being converted will be ready at about the same time the Makro is. The Pinya is already set to go so we'll have three ship's worth of material ready when we get started. I'm assuming the Makro will be carrying her own cargo. I've already split the guard force and recruited a few new members. Their training should be complete about the time you'll want to sail. In fact everything should be ready shortly after you get back from this trip."

"I wish you were going with us," Vel said wistfully. "I know, I know: It's not possible but it would make me happier. The guard still hasn't been battle tested even given the brush with the Blade and it would make me feel better if you were there."

"Don't worry," Dent said with a grin. "I've arranged for a short-term contract with a couple of Warriors from the Guild. Both are veterans and very good. Yes, it's a little costly but they are helping with the training now and will accompany you on the voyage. I think that unless you meet up with a full Malshall battle fleet you'll be more than adequately protected. You should be gone about four weeks and by the time you get back we should have everything ready for our first trip to Safehaven. I know there's not much around here to worry about but I'd like the Makro to escort us to Safehaven for that first trip."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Vel said. "Everything seems to be coming together nicely. So how has your other little problem been coming along?"

"What little problem?" Dent asked guardedly.

"Clarise, of course," Vel said grinning. "I understand she has been quite a little handful."

"Yeah, well, that seems to be getting a little better anyway," Dent muttered.

For the few days following their discussion in the den Clarise had required frequent and firm guidance by the three of them to not only keep the civility of the household at a barely tolerable level but also to keep the existing staff from choking her. What surprised Dent was Sosho's reaction to hearing about Clarise's declaration of her intent. Dent was sure she would have gone after the older girl tooth and nail but nothing of the kind happened. Instead she reacted much the way Nesho did, laughing until she actually peed herself. Instead of hounding Clarise she instead took to having the girl follow her around as she learned the tasks of managing the household. Dent may have been puzzled but Nesho wasn't.