The Epic of Dalen Grey

I woke up alittle earlier then normal. I would have preferred to stay and sleep however. The cut beneath my left arm felt alittle worse then normal. In the last three days I was able to deal with it fairly well. It didn't feel good to touch any where near were I was wounded. I remember it getting alittle worse day by day but nothing like this. I didn't think much of it. This could wait alittle bit, until Ondre woke up.

"Ondre, your status report is due."

"Don't you ever sleep Dalen, the animals in the wild don't get up this early."

As luck would have it off in the distance came the sound off a rooster crowing at the rising sun.

"You have no excuses now."

"Wait til I get my hands on that traitor. Ok, I'll tell you what I learned about the Council of elders and the Dragon Foot Clan. The Dragon Foot makes its wealth in the slums. They let the lawless flourish when there taxes are paid. All of the brothels, casinos and band of theives in the slums pays a duty to them or they get shut down. The ones that pay get alittle protection. I say little because as you know there aren't city guards in the slums, Just vigilantes that collect wages from the Dragon Foot. The citizens themselves pay no tax."

"So all of the poor and all of the criminals moved in."

"That seems to be the case. Thats what the old timers tell me. Its been like this for at least twenty or thirty years. All of the seedier businesses are run in the slums where the laws are few. The criminals steal mostly from the merchant district since no one in the slums has much money. The system seems to work out in a way."

"How, by making people suffer?"

"Stealing from the rich to support the poor is two sided issue Dalen. Who deserves money the most, the people that earned it or the people that need it?"

"That sounds like an endless debate and I don't have that kind of patience. What about the Council of Elders?"

"This group runs the merchant district, which you already know. They are in charge of order, and they certainly clamp it down hard. The city governor demands pretty tight control over what he considers moral inJustice. Only a few bars exsist there and its mostly because its the first stop for most traveling caravans. Its also taxable income for the city."

"So money once again trumpts morality."

"It would seem that way. Don't get the wrong idea though. Most religions people consider certain spirits to be sacred. The practice of excess is quickly punished as well. So even drinking is orderly here. All of the stronger herbs however you have to find in the slums. The traders often visit the slums for other thirsts if you know what I mean. The people are taxed, the business are taxed and the caravans are taxed. I must admit they are reasonable though. With those taxes they pay for city guards and in case of an invasion, which is very unlikely now days, we have soldiers on the front lines. Without that part of the city, it would break into chaos."

"The Council of Elders controls the guards?"

"The simple answer is no. They can't really approach a guard and give them orders. The Council is more of an invisible hand in politics. They are more or less free lance spies. They are part of the order. They collect there funds from the governor for services. They find all the banned practices in the merchant district for the city to shut down. They keep the Dragon Foot in control as well."

"They control them? How?"

"They keep them in check. They let them have there section of town and their own rules. They collect a sizable fee to keep the guards out of the slums. This is how it has worked for many years. Most people are left in the dark. I have lived here for most of my life and I didn't know how it worked. They think the governor controls everything and its often who gets blamed for the problems. The Council knows everything here and they have spies everywhere. With information they control it all."

"This is gonna be a tough fight ahead of me."

"Indeed. You won't be facing it alone."

"Thanks."

I went in search of some sort of healer. I found an herbalist shop. I went in and showed then the cut on my body. It was alittle red and started to swell up.

"I have Just the thing for you. Its thirty five drakers. It will clean up that cut and make it heal faster."

"Thirty five, thats way too much."

"Thats my price, I suggest you take it before it turns green."

"Here, this better help."

"It will."

She picked away parts of the scab. That hurt a bit. She put the green colored cream on the wound that that hurt alot more. I bit down hard to keep from screaming. The pain became managable after five minutes. She bandaged it up for me and sent me off. It hurt even worse now. That night I had a few drinks on the Job. It numbed my body alittle and no one seemed to mind. I hope it gets better by morning.