Chapter 14

The sheepish look that was on Violet’s face quickly turned into one of blinding rage. She tried to force her way inside, and looked to want to attack Lillian, until I grabbed her. She kicked and hit my arms and shoulders violently, but I was really surprised when she sank her teeth into my arm. I cried out in pain, but I did not let her out of my grasp, afraid she might hurt Lillian.

“Let me go, Davik! The bitch needs to pay for taking what is mine! If you do not let me go, I will scream!”

“First, she is not a bitch,” I stated matter-of-factly, “she has not taken anything of yours. Second, you can go ahead and scream. If the guards come, they will be told you came in uninvited and attempted to attack the person who lives here.”

“How long have you been fucking the little whore? Since you left me here? Was she worth it?”

“Davik and I have not done anything intimate of any kind. He said that nothing could happen between us other than friendship, unless you said it was okay. He did not want to risk hurting and losing you.”

Violet continued to struggle but did not attempt to bite me again, which was good. I did not think I would be able to keep holding her if she did that again.

“Are you ready to calm down?” I asked my prisoner. “I want you to promise that you will not attempt to hurt your friend again.”

She nodded silently, and I carefully released my grip, ready to grab her again if she tried to attack Lillian. Instead, she ran into Lillian’s bedroom and I once again heard the opening and closing of drawers.

“If you two are not having sex, “she yelled from the room, “why are your clothes in her drawers, you lying bastard?!”

“The pack I carried back had our clothes and some other items of his. The one he carried was far heavier, as it contained some books, he believed would be of use to Celka,” Lillian told her.

She walked out of the room with a look of pure disgust and hatred in her eyes. Not just for Lillian, but also for me. My heart ached in my chest from the pain of the unspoken words in her eyes.

“You can have him,” she said with a dull, emotionless tone. “I am done with him, you and your lies.”

She then brushed past me and walked away, I longed to go after her, but that would only make things worse.

“I am going to tell Ilane of what happened as well, Davik,” Lillian told me. “You should go home. Talk to the girls there, maybe they may know of a way to get through to her.”

I nodded and left Lillian’s to head to my final stop, my thoughts drifting to Violet, as I weaved my way through the town to the carpentry shop. About ten minutes later, I arrived at my destination. It looked to be just as busy as any time I had visited when Ruben had run it, so I was happy to see that there had not been much change from that. In fact, based on the foot traffic, as well as a new waiting room, business was up. The sign had said “Cartha Carpentry” since Ruben took over all those years ago and he never changed it. I made my way inside and round a young woman seated behind a counter in the waiting room who had not been there before. She had a pleasant smile and looked to be close to my age. I could not tell how tall she was, nor her build, though that was not important now. There looked to be a few people waiting, possibly to pick up, check the status of, or place an order.

“Hello there, ma’am,” I said with a friendly smile. “My name is Davik, I need to speak with Brandon immediately, please.”

Her eyes widened with recognition, and she gave me a quick glance before getting up and opening a door leading to the shop.

“Please go ahead, sir. Ruben had instructed me you were to be able to go where you liked back when he was running the shop. He told me that if anything happened, the shop would go to you, unless Kafe was of age. Brandon told me that I was to give you open access to the shop. So please, no need to ask in the future, sir. And my name is Genevieve, it is a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Why, thank you, Genevieve, and do not worry, your job is not in jeopardy if you were wondering. Besides, your response just now showed me that you are the perfect person for the job.”

She blushed at that, and I made my way into the back shop. Everything was as I had remembered, though the people working it in had changed. Kafe was working on a lathe, shaping the leg of a table or chair. He had an air of confidence and experience as he worked the machine. I could see the ghostly shape of Ruben standing beside him, explaining how to shape the wood, the pressure to use, the tool to use next. I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. When they opened, Kafe was once again alone at the lathe, the spectral form gone.

Brandon was at a table along the northern wall, making measurements on a long, flat board. He glanced over and saw me, placed his tools on the table and came over to greet me.

“Davik, I did not know that you were back. I am happy to see that you are doing well, and I hope that your time away helped as you had hoped. Tell me, to what do I owe your visit today?”

“I am glad to see you, too, my friend, as well as happy to see things are going well here. I just got back last night. I spoke with Carl and the others at the workshop and was meaning to pop in and talk to you.”

He gestured to a small table with two chairs and we sat down, he brought a pitcher of water that was on the table and poured us each a cup of water. After I had finished drinking, I got down to business.

“First, I want to let you know that I have sent papers to the capitol, for you and the others to be made journeymen. You will continue to run this shop for me, Kafe will then officially become your apprentice. Though a difference will be that you will be paying him a wage, equal to what I paid you. Remaining money will be divided except general fees to maintain the shop and such, account for wood being sourced by me, and therefore remove that as an expense. Of the money left, a third will go into an emergency fund for the business, the rest will go to Ilane. This is still her husband’s business and she will reap the benefits of our work, just as if Ruben had continued working here. Start with the current funds that you have accrued and go through it all. If you need help, Ilane or Liza may be able to help.

“Now for the other business we have to discuss. I made two deals to generate cash flow for the town. The first was when I was in Dru’Tirk, looking for help with my shoulder. You, in conjunction with the others at the workshop, will make fishing boats out of Teaka wood. We will also be making wagons that can successfully transport the boat there, while still being able to ship fish back to Cartha for sale. I am thinking something watertight. That way, the fish will be able to survive the travel between there and here. I am sure you four will come up with an adequate design that will work for us. For now, we will be making three boats, and we will be paid for them from the profits of the fish. I expect to use no more than twenty shipments of fish to pay off both the wagons and the boats, given that I expect them to ask for ten of each.

“The other deal that will help facilitate our work will be wood shipments from Fardun. While we do get the occasional order from them, they will provide our wood, and perhaps even for Dru’Tirk, if I can manage it. They will arrange the transport of the wood in this case, and our first shipment will be near the end of the month. Both deals run through me, which means we pay the necessary taxes, then split the profit between us and the corresponding village. Given the popularity of your work, I believe that the deals will cause growth for those villages as well as Cartha.

Given the increase of work, I will expect you to hire more help, as will the others. To make sure the cash flow to Ilane is not affected, I will pay the new hires out of my pocket until the profits are no longer at risk of being affected.”

Brandon had a look of utter shock and even Kafe had stopped his work on the lathe to look at me with awe.

“Wow, that is quite the deal,” Brandon said softly, the shock still evident in his voice. “I am going to need at least two more apprentices, but Kafe will be head apprentice. The others will need at least three or four, but I would suggest you talk to the Patron.”

I gave him a quizzical look, as I believed I had covered all our basics with my plans. Of course, I had hoped to get their input, as they seemed to be able to think outside the box.

“About your smithy,” he said with a laugh at my expression. “Brant had all metal work sourced out of town when he could not get his hands on your father’s shop. I am not sure if there are still any restrictions made on metal working in the town. To prevent problems with the Patron, I would suggest that you ensure that there would be no issues should you start it back up. Once that is cleared up, I would immediately search for a smith, as it will make our work go much faster.”

I nodded and paid him and Kafe a good day, before I left. I also made sure to say goodbye to Genevieve before I headed out. I immediately had a thought and rushed over to Ilane’s clinic at a normal speed. I was hoping to catch Lillian before she left on her trip and I luckily caught her as she was leaving the building.

“I am glad I caught you before you left,” I said quickly. “Could we go inside so I could write another letter?”

She nodded and we entered the clinic, making our way to the counter she would sit at when she was not helping in the back. I got a piece of paper, as well as a quill and quickly wrote a letter asking if they had a soon-to-be journeyman smith looking for his own shop. I handed the completed letter to Lillian and asked her to give that to the Patron, as well. She nodded and quickly made her way out of the clinic. Noticing that there was no one in the waiting area, I knocked on the door to the back. After hearing confirmation from Ilane, I opened the door and found her tidying things up around the room.

“Hey, Ilane, sorry to bother you. I was surprised to see no one in the waiting area, is everything ok?”

“Oh, it is fine Davik,” she said with a soft smile. “Days like this come and go, and I use them to clean up. I double check my inventory, so I know what I am running low on. It will take longer today, since you have Lillian leaving on an errand and Violet has refused to come into work since the night you came back.”

“I am sorry about that,” I replied, “I never intended to cause any issues, though I never expected to see Violet acting that way.”

“She acted much like this after you left the first time all those years ago. I had thought she had gotten over it, but it seems recent events have brought those feelings back. So, what is it I can do for you?”

“Ah, yes,” I said distractedly, my mind lost on the events of the past two days. “As you know, Ruben put his shop into my care. Until Kafe becomes of age, I will maintain the business, and of course, take a share of the profits during that time.

“I have instructed Brandon to do the following things. First, he will be paying Kafe a wage, fitting for his apprentice status. He will become Brandon’s apprentice officially, as I have sent the paperwork needed to make Brandon and the other apprentices journeymen. Then what is left over after his, Kafe’s and Genevieve’s wages, he then will deduct what is necessary to maintain the shop, minus wood costs, as I will be the source of that moving forward. The money remaining would be split into three, one third for an emergency for the shop and two thirds to you for loss of Ruben’s share of the income. He will be getting two more apprentices, which I will pay out of pocket until the profits increase enough that it will no longer impact your income.”

Ilane looked at me in shock, until tears welled up in her eyes and she rushed into my arms. I just held her until the tears that she shed were spent, which took a little while.

“I had worried what would happen,” she said with a sniff. “I knew you would not keep everything for yourself, but I still had to wonder. What would happen to Kafe, how would you deal with the expenses and growth, what would happen to the loss of income. You have put a lot of my fears to rest, though would not paying out of pocket be expensive? I do not want you to put yourself in a bad position to help us.”

I shook my head and replied, “No, I have made enough profit from the wood we have sold as well as the girls’ market stall. Besides, with the income from my deals with Dru’Tirk and Fardun, I will have no problems paying the wages. I expect within a year we could nearly double the sales from the shop. Anyway, I will leave you to your work and hopefully, we will see you over at the house soon. I know you need to focus on your family right now.”

She nodded and I made my way out of the clinic, I stopped to look around and noticed Violet across the road. She had a blank look on her face, then turned to walk away from the clinic. While my heart told me to chase after her, my instincts told me it would only make things worse at this point. Resigned to waiting, I made my way over to the market.

My last business of the day was to set up the necessary fees to cover the increased business and other possible ones that might crop up in the future. It took me roughly fifteen minutes to get from Ilane’s, through the market, to the building housing the merchant’s guild. I made my way in and found a young man behind a counter reading, with a few chairs lining the walls of the room. I approached the counter but found that the young man did not acknowledge my presence, nor did he ask my purpose for being there.