 | Antaran's Journal |
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Tartek woke me up by knocking on my door so hard this morning, that I thought it would break in. I quickly got my clothes, shoes and coat and left my house. Tartek was waiting impatiently, walking in circles again, until I stood in front of him.
"Let's go," he said. We went towards the bank. Tartek almost ran and I had a hard time keeping up with him, heck, I technically was still asleep! Just then I noticed the bag in his right hand, which looked exactly like the compensation money bags I had received. We finally arrived at the building with the stone inscription above the entrance that read "Bank of Insomida" in big black letters. Tartek opened one of the two doors so hard, that it hit the wall and I could have sworn that it fell out of the hinge, had I not seen that it swung back again after we had gone through (it almost hit me). Tartek marched up to the only banker who was in the bank hall, my banker. "Good morn-" the banker began with a broad smile in his face, when Tartek bashed the bag on the table in front of the banker with such a loud noise that it cut off the banker's words. Still smiling, the banker just looked at the bag, raised both eyebrows, then sighed and stared at Tartek. "What can I do for you?" "Where is my old banker?" Tartek growled. "All other bankers quit their jobs because they probably couldn't stand their clients' behaviour anymore. But don't fear, I will not run away from you. I am here to serve!" Either it was just my imagination, or the banker's smile really broadened with every word. "Fine. Put the money in the bag on my account," Tartek ordered harshly and folded his arms. I got a bit nervous. "Very well, Sir Batunan," the banker said, bowed, turned around and was about to leave when Tartek shouted: "Wait! How do you know my name?" Tartek's face was red as blood and the banker looked like he had had a heartattack. The banker threw a glance at Tartek over his left shoulder and grinned. "I'm your banker, I'm supposed to know my clients, don't you think?" "Your clients? I wasn't even your client up until now!" I already saw Tartek jumping over the table and sinking his fist into the ever-smiling face of the banker. His hands were trembling. "There is really no need to raise your voice, Sir Batunan. Now, let me empty that bag for you." Tartek was about to say something, but the banker had already disappeared, and came back after a short moment. "Speaking of the bag," he began. "Yes? What about it?" Tartek asked impatiently. "May I keep it? It looks like this little bag is about 100 years old, if not more, and you know, I collect bags," the banker said, still smiling. Tartek shrugged. The banker bowed and thanked him. Then he looked at me. "Oh, Sir Sivand! What can I do for you today?" I moved closer to him, and waited until Tartek turned around and walked a bit away. He stood still with his hands in his pockets, mumbling random curses. "Do you have any news for me, regarding our... accord?" I said. "No. Nothing unusual happened at all. Insomida is one of the most peaceful places you can live in," the banker answered, loud and clear. I rolled my eyes. "Are you sure?" I repeated. "Yes," the banker said, sounding slightly annoyed. I turned around and nodded at Tartek. As we left the bank the banker wished us a pleasant day. Tartek led the way to Scarlat's. We sat down, ordered and drank hot tea. After a while my friend began to speak. "He's one of them," he said with a calm, low voice, looking into his mug. I nodded and sighed. "What a clever strategy. We will most likely never see our money again. They even get back their compensation bags." Tartek shook his head. "Bastards." I leaned back in the old wooden bench and listened to the creaking sound that I've heard ever since I had been sitting there the first time. We waited a bit, emptied our mugs and gave Scarlat a sign that we wanted to pay. Scarlat nodded. He dried off some glasses amd came to us. "Antaran, Tartek, you want to pay? Or do you want me to note it down for next time?" Scarlat said with a friendly face. "We are going to pay this time," I said. Scarlat nodded and told each of us the price for the tea. We paid and gave him a tip. "So," I started to get Scarlat's attention. "Yes?" "Did anything happen in the past few days that I should know of?" I asked. Scarlat looked surprised, but then he seemed to remember the favor he promised. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, nothing unusual came to my ears." Me and Tartek looked at each other. I thanked Scarlat and we left the inn. We were heading towards our office. It took us a few moments to get there and when we were finally inside, Bikk and Jonar greeted us. "Thanks, boys. We will take it from here," Tartek said. A bit confused Bikk and Jonar nodded and left the office to go outside and do their usual work. Tartek sat down behind his table. I walked around a bit, looking at paintings and old maps of Insomida on the walls. After a while Tartek broke the silence. "Do you think...?" "No," I said. "I believe he really just doesn't know. Scarlat would never betray anyone." "What makes you so sure?" I always hate it whenever he asks one of those "question your own opinion"-questions. "The fact that we're like his children to him, the fact that we've known each other for a very long time," I said. "What if money could break him? An enormous amount of money, that is." He formed his hands so that only the finger tips touched each other. "Money is not important to him. He already has achieved everything he ever wanted. Wife, children, inn, friends and a whole city of people who know and praise him. Besides, he's not where such an information could leak. He'd have to get it from a source, so they keep someone else quiet in order to prevent the information from even reaching Scarlat's ears. The less people involved, the less complicated it is to organize." Tartek remained silent for a while, and then nodded. "You're probably right," he sighed and stood up. "Well, what else can we do anyway? We've got packages to deliver." So, the rest of the day I once again ran around and delivered packages in various sizes to clients with various moods. At home I talked to Carana about what we had done this morning. She didn't really say anything, just nodded and listened to what I had to say. She told me that she's feeling alright, although she complained about stomachache, which had "other" reasons... This whole situation we're in right now is really getting on my nerves. But I feel better now that I've written everything down. I kind of need some form of distraction. And what would be better than starting the other book that I still have to read? |
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