Tom had a bad feeling about Biff Tanner. Let's get the salt delivered to the others before Biff tries something stupid. As they walked, Tom considered whether to try hiring a couple of men to back them up when he returned to Tannery Row. In normal times, he would have made some friends he might ask, or learned where he could find some men, but if he couldn't trust anyone in the city, then it was best to stick to the elves. He led them back to the house.

He rapped twice, then once, to signal that it was him, then unlocked the door. Inside, Arven and Eubexa were sitting near the fireplace, each with a mug of tea. Eubexa turned to him at once. "Hello, Tom. How did it go?"

"Fairly well so far, but I'm worried about retribution from a stubborn tanner—he might try to rob us. I don't know who I can trust in town, so I'd like to bring you both along for the deliveries. More of us might make them think better of it."

"Tom, I would not be useful at all in a fight."

"You could just drive the wagon. With the veil, you're mysterious, and one more thing for the other guys to worry about," Tom pointed out.

"I..." Eubexa trailed off. "Is that an order, Master?" She sounded scared.

Tom grimaced, realized that she had just called him Master again, and sighed. "No, Eubexa, you don't have to come if you don't want to. Please ask Arven. He doesn't have to do it either, but I would really appreciate it." Eubexa translated his words, and then Arven's reply.

"He says that he is not much good for a fight at the moment, but he can drive the wagon and look menacing if it helps."

"Great. We'll get the wagon first, then swing by and pick him up so he doesn't have to walk. Thank you, Arven."

"Master, we have news," Eubexa put in.

Tom blinked. "What kind of news?"

"A child stopped by who met Rillik and secretly helped him buy food a few days ago. Arven thinks that the other elves might arrive as early as tomorrow night."

Tom grinned. "That's fantastic! I'll be happy to hear all about it later, but the sooner we get the deliveries done, the less likely we are to be interrupted. Arven, we'll be back soon. Eubexa, as always, thank you for translating."

Tom headed directly to the stable, where Kervan took charge of the ox. Then they brought it to the wagons. While Kervan and Diavla hitched the ox up, Tom transferred twelve bags of salt to the other wagon. As soon as they were ready, Tom brought the wagon back to the house, picked up Arven, and had him drive toward the west gate. To his surprise, Arven was wearing one of Eubexa's veils.

Huh. I guess being mysterious does help him look menacing, and it hides his beat-up face, so they don't even know he's the same elf. Very clever.

They rolled up to the gate. "Back so soon?" Geoff asked, speaking to Tom but leering at Diavla.

"Got to get the damned work done," Tom explained. "Hey, do you know Biff Tanner?"

"Yeah?"

"Is he trouble?"

"Biff's all right. Why?"

"I made a business deal with him and he didn't seem too happy about it. I was wondering whether he was going to be a problem."

"What did you do to him?" Geoff asked with some hostility. Uh-oh.

"I just haggled with him. He was trying to rob me blind and I didn't let him. Eh, maybe it's nothing. I just don't want any trouble, you know?"

"If you didn't want trouble, you shouldn't have brought elves into Oak Mill."

"Yeah, well, I know that now, and I'll get them out of your hair as soon as I can." Tom gestured and Arven got the wagon moving again. Well, that backfired. Shit. Tom wasn't sure whether he had just made a fight more likely or not.

They turned onto Tannery Row a minute later, and headed straight to Steven Hides' workshop. He had Arven pull up as close as possible and hopped down. "Diavla, ask Steven to get the money ready. Kervan, with me."

Tom grabbed three bags of salt; he could have handled more, but didn't want to stress the bags more than necessary. Kervan tried to lift two, but ended up carrying one. They hurried inside. Steven pointed out where they could pile the salt, and Tom and Kervan made four more trips.

"There you go, twenty bags of salt, Mr. Hides."

"And here's your sixteen and seventy. In a hurry?"

"Trying to avoid trouble with Biff Tanner. He wasn't happy that I didn't have enough salt for him, and I want to deliver to everyone else before anything bad happens."

"Ah. In that case..." Steven looked around his worktables. "How about this?" He snagged a leather bag with a strap that looked new and well made, showing to Tom very briefly. "Thirty silver."

"I don't..."

Tom wasn't sure what Steven was driving at, but he didn't slow down. The man started grabbing small pelts and stuffing them into the bag. "Forty, fifty, sixty, seventy silver." The tanner reached into the money pouch he had offered and removed the silver, then took the pouch of sixteen gold and buried it inside the bag, padded by the pelts. Then, he held out the bag. "Do we have a deal?"

Tom only had to consider for a moment. The man had moved too fast to be thinking about raising his prices. He was offering a fair trade, and in the worst case he wasn't losing much. "Thank you. You know how to make a good deal quick." He accepted the bag.

"It helps that neither of us is trying to screw the other over. Good luck, Tom."

"Thanks, Steven."

They hurried back out to the wagon, and Kervan pointed Diavla at the next stop. "Sixteen gold, eighty silver," he reminded her, and Diavla darted off after a glance at Tom for confirmation. Arven mumbled something to Kervan. "Arven says a man with black hair noticed us and disappeared around the corner."

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"Yeah, a man with short brown hair is following us," Tom muttered back. "Let's go."

It was only a minute before they were stopped at the next tannery, and Tom and Kervan hurried to unload another twenty bags of salt. Diavla joined them, carrying one bag at a time. He explained the situation very briefly, and the tanner thanked him for making the delivery, handing over a coin pouch. It felt about right, so Tom tucked it in his shirt and headed out with a nod.

"Twenty-five gold, fifty silver," Kervan told Diavla, who moved to dash ahead, but brought herself up short.

Five men were blocking the road, including the two men they had spotted, and Biff Tanner in the middle. Here we go, Tom thought, trying to evaluate the situation. "Mister Tanner! I was just on my way to deliver to you."

"Well, that's good to hear," Biff called back. "I was starting to worry that you weren't going to sell me my forty bags of salt."

"They're my bags of salt at the moment, and I'm only going to sell you eight," Tom corrected loudly. In the edges of his sight, the few people nearby seemed to be moving farther away.

"Pretty sure you have more than forty bags in the back of that wagon."

"Almost. But your neighbor Jefferson already contracted to buy thirty bags, leaving me with only eight for you, the eight we agreed on." More flickers of motion in the distance.

"You told me you had more than that."

"I did, but on my way here I sold twelve bags to the smithies in town." That was a lie, but Tom fully intended to do that before the day was out.

"Jefferson doesn't need thirty bags."

"That's fine, then. I suggest you ask him to sell some to you."

"Why don't you deliver to me first, and we can discuss the details."

"Jefferson is closer, but if you would kindly get your men out of the way, I'll be with you shortly."

"No, come to my place first. I insist."

"Insist on what, Biff?" boomed a voice behind the thugs. Everyone turned to look.

Jefferson stood there, still wearing a work apron and gloves, though he was taking the gloves off slowly, casually flexing his hands into fists. On either side of him was an assistant. Off to one side, a small blond girl who looked vaguely familiar was backing away from Jefferson, watching the scene intently.

Biff scowled, but recovered quickly. "This guy is trying to screw me out of a delivery. I wouldn't trust him or do business with him if I were you," he told the other tanner.

"Yes, well, I'm not you. And Mr. Walker has already agreed to sell me thirty bags of salt at a fair price. Now I suggest that you get out of his way so that he can make his promised delivery."

"Man come close," Kervan warned from the back.

Tom raised his voice. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to any of the bags of salt now, would we, Mister Tanner? It would be a shame if I didn't even have eight bags to sell you, wouldn't it?"

Everyone tensed at the sound of a blade scraping on stone, but before they could react, they heard it again. It was recognizably the sound of someone sharpening a dagger on a whetstone, and it was coming from the back of the wagon. Kervan, that could have gone very badly, Tom grumbled mentally.

"Well, you wouldn't get your money, that's for damned sure," Biff countered. Tom saw him give the tiniest of head shakes to his man near the back of the wagon.

"Now that that's settled," Tom declared, climbing down from the wagon seat and walking between Biff and the ox, "we're moving to Jefferson's now, to finish our business." He gestured to Arven and started forward, getting in Biff's face. The man might have stood his ground—he was stupid enough—but with the ox bearing down on him as well, Biff gave way slightly. The tense standoff continued, Biff walking backwards at first, slowly moving the scene down the short distance to Jefferson's Tannery and stopping in front.

At that point Jefferson stood to the side and supervised as his two assistants unloaded the thirty bags of salt. Neither Tom, the elves, nor Biff's men moved during the whole process. Tom's soul was racing as he tried to figure out how to get out of this without bloodshed. He certainly did not want the guard involved, either, but he wasn't sure he could avoid it at this point.

I shouldn't have tried to sell to Biff in the first place, but I didn't know that at the time. No matter what deal we come to, he's going to lie about it to the guard, unless he thinks he came out on top somehow. Do I cut him a better deal? Eyeing the man, Tom mentally shook his head. No, he'll take the lower price and then call the guard anyway.

Deck him? That'll get us out of here, I know we can win this fight, but the guard will drag me off, and we can't afford that. How do I get us out of this?

If we were ready to leave town, I'd deck him and head out before he could try to stop me.

If we were ready to leave town...

It's seven gold twenty silver, but...

"I'll tell you what, Biff," Tom called out. "You've got enough guys here that you can handle all eight bags. How about you take them now, and you can owe me the seven gold twenty for a few days. I need to get back into town and I'm in a hurry."

Biff started to smile, but frowned. He's trying to figure out the catch. He knows he can try to stiff me for the whole amount, but all I really need is to buy time for the elves to get here so we can get out of town.

"All right, that sounds fair enough," Biff finally said with a smirk. He gestured to his men, and they gathered at the back of the wagon to take the bags of salt. They managed the handoff without violence, though it continued to feel close to it. Finally, Biff led his men away, smirking.

"Interesting choice. Do I have three days to pay as well?" Jefferson asked.

"No, because you're an adult."

Jefferson snorted. "You got a plan to get your money from that clown?"

Tom just smiled and nodded.

"All right then, twenty-five gold and fifty silver, I believe it was. Come on inside." As Tom followed, the tanner commented, "I'd be happy to pay part of it in trade, if you see anything you like." He waved an arm at a couple of worktables with leather and furs.

"I am looking for merchandise to take south when I leave," Tom admitted. I'm no expert on furs. I wonder how badly I would get screwed over if I trusted his prices to be reasonable?

"How much?" Kervan asked. He started inspecting the closest pelts. Jefferson looked a question at Tom, who nodded. If Kervan wants to try negotiating, I'll trust him. The tanner walked over and started giving a sales pitch.

Soon the elf asked for Arven to join them, and Tom excused himself to guard the wagon. In fact, when he saw Diavla looking a bit longingly at the tannery, he urged her to join the other elves. She flashed him a brilliant smile before she darted inside, out of the chill air.

It was half an hour before they emerged. Diavla and Kervan carried a large basket between them, filled with furs. Arven and Jefferson followed, Arven walking slowly with a limp. The elves looked happy, and Jefferson walked up to Tom, offering a fist.

The tanner snorted. "Your elves are good traders. Kevin's tight with the money, and Arvin's got a sharp eye for the furs." Tom held out his hand, and Jefferson dropped some coin into his palm. "That's twenty gold in trade, and five and a half gold in coin. I assume that's all right with you?"

Tom nodded. "Absolutely. Thank you for your business."

"Thank you. I wasn't expecting that many sales today. Good luck to you and your elves, young man."

"You too. Good day."

On the trip back, Kervan sat up front with Tom, while Arven and Diavla stayed hidden in the back. Tom noticed that they had a little blond shadow, but didn't comment for the moment. They got past Geoff without hassle when Tom grumbled about Biff getting the better of him. It wasn't long before the wagon and ox were stowed, and they were back at the house.

Tom fished out a half-silver. "Little girl," he called, holding up the coin. The blond child darted forward after a glance at Arven. He handed her the coin. "Thanks for running that message to Jefferson. It was a big help."

"Do you need any other help?" she asked eagerly.

"Not at the moment, but when I do need a helper, I'll look around for you first."

"Thank you, my lord." The girl darted off before Tom could correct her.

"Piper is a smart girl," Diavla commented.

"Is that her name?"

She nodded. "Arven telled me."

"'Told'," he corrected as they walked inside. In response, Diavla taught him the Elvish for it, and seemed to be slightly happy that it took him a few tries to get it right. Hm, maybe I'm being too annoying, correcting her. Something to ask Eubexa about.

Kervan worked some numbers, then reported on their progress. "Tom, you did spend 66 gold, 85 silver on salt. Today you get 38 gold, 30 silver, and 20 gold, seventy silver in furs. That is 59 gold in coin and furs."

Tom nodded. "We still have a dozen bags of salt left, and I'll try to get the seven gold twenty from Biff Tanner in a few days."

"How?" Diavla asked.

Tom smiled. "There are a few ways, but we will want to leave town right afterward."

After translating, Eubexa asked, "Are we going to rob him, Tom?"

He grinned wider. "You'll see."

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