Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 292 of 619

The dock stood finished below the walls, and the first cloth waited baled in Tarron's shed. But a dock earned nothing until ships chose to land there. Ajax gathered Grayson, Aldric, and Tucker in the hall at dawn. "We open trade," he said. "Tucker rides to the port. He sells our cloth and tells the merchants Black Oak has a dock. But before he goes, we settle the tax." Grayson leaned on the table. "Set it too high, no ship docks here. Set it too low, we bleed silver for the breakwater we broke our backs on." He states it flat, then stops. Aldric had a ledger open. He ran a finger down a column. "The port charges one part in ten on landed goods. Two if the master is a stranger." He looked up. "Match them and we're ordinary. Beat them and word spreads faster than any story Tucker can tell." Tucker sat with his boots crossed, gold chains catching the hearth light. "A merchant remembers two things," he said. "A short toll and a warm welcome." He grinned. "I can sell the welcome. You give me the short toll." Ajax weighed it. A high tax filled the vault fast but scared off the trade he needed to keep his men busy and paid. "One part in twenty," he said. "Half the port's rate. First season only. After that we judge it." Grayson frowned. "That won't cover the stone we laid." "Not this year," Ajax said. "But every master who lands here tells another. Come spring we raise it to one in fifteen and they still come, because ours is closer and quieter than the port." He looked at Aldric. "Write it. One in twenty, ships only, my seal." Aldric wrote the line and blotted it. "Cheap enough to draw them," he said. "Dear enough that we're not a charity." Tucker took the cloth bales and a folded copy of the rate on his cart. He rode out at midday. Ajax and Grayson watched the gate close behind him. He returned two days later, cart empty, purse heavy. He swung down and tossed Ajax a sack of coin. "Sold every bolt," he said. "The northern merchant took the lot and asked for double next month." He wiped dust from his mustache. "Told them about the dock. One in twenty and no port fees." He paused. "Three masters said they'd bring goods to land here before the thaw." Ajax closed his fist on the sack. Word was out now. Black Oak was a port. Tucker's grin thinned. "There's the other thing. A dock broker at the wharf heard me. Asked who runs the new landing and where it sits." He met Ajax's eyes. "I gave him a false name. But the port won't like losing tolls to us. Somebody's already asking where we are." Grayson set his hand on the gate bar. "Then we watch the road," he said.