Chapter 321: An Unexpected Welcome
Owain shook off thoughts about his family and returned his attention to his spineless steward. Privately, he wondered what Lord Hanrahan had done to his bastard child to leave him so skittish and eager to please. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was genuinely talented at his actual duties, he’d have done as Hugo’s father had and found a way to rid himself of the cowardly knight, but now, all he could do was try to hammer the poor man into shape and hope that a trial by fire would be enough to turn pig-iron into refined steel.
"My father-in-law is far too busy managing the affairs of this busy county to spend time giving me pointless introductions," Owain said, waving the thought off like it was trivial. "Besides, if he attended, the merchants would negotiate with him instead of negotiating with me and I don’t want that at all. Better that he stays out of it."
"Besides," Sir Rian said, attempting to mimic his lord’s disdainful attitude. "Didn’t he send most of his available knights to escort Lady Jocelynn and protect Lady Ashlynn until she gives birth? This is only a county, he can’t have as many knights to spare as Lothian March does."
"Enough about the Blackwells," Owain said more sharply than he’d intended. Reminders of Ashlynn were always a sensitive matter with him, but ever since the nights he spent entertaining her at the Summer Villa, reminders of Jocelynn were even more sensitive. If he wanted anyone with him while handling these merchants, it would be her.
It might not be appropriate to involve a delicate lady in matters of commerce but in the few nights he’d spent talking to her about his upcoming trip, he’d come to realize that the education she’d received from Rhys Blackwell wasn’t any worse than his own.
She might not be clever enough to put all of the pieces together the way he could, she lacked a mind for strategy, but she had a talent for offering up useful pieces of information at the best times in ways that let him refine his own plans and strategies.
Now that he was preparing to put her experience with these merchant guild masters to use, he found himself wishing she were here at his side to whisper in his ear all the things he couldn’t possibly have learned from her in the short time that they spent together.
"Rian, keep a tight hold on that chest and don’t lose sight of its contents once this Master Sebastian starts to examine them," Owain reminded the portly knight for what felt like the tenth time.
The iron bound chest sitting on the floor of the carriage was their bargaining tool for this round of negotiations. Most of the riches that Bors Lothian had plundered from Airgead Mountain had been spent in the years since his campaign against the demons, but a few treasures remained. Enough, Owain thought, to spark the greed of simple merchants eager to find easy profits.
Tonight, they would meet with the most important of the guilds on Owain’s list. It was necessary to enlist the support of the Fellowship of Wayfinders to begin ferrying soldiers and knights across the sea from the old countries under the Church’s declaration of Holy War as soon as possible.