Annabeth Chase

Mercantile endeavors inherently succeeded or failed over the cost of labor. So it would come as no one's surprise that Annabeth did her very best to lower those expenses. For one it began with keeping the trip as short as possible. It was the main reason her family preferred to use ships whenever possible. Lower costs and usually higher travel speed for considerably fewer wages that demanded to be paid. That of course just wasn't an option.

She had initially been eager, even excited to be put in charge of the entire endeavor. However, Annabeth had not anticipated how cold it would be, huddled up in the back of a carriage in the falling snow with the other women of the caravan. Originally she had tried to insist on joining the mercenaries on horseback, though four hours into the trip she was grateful Will had stood his ground. Huddled in the back of the carriage under a generous pile of blankets with the few other women in the caravan was considerably warmer and more comfortable though that didn't mean she wasn't freezing her ass off.

It seemed that fortune favored them for they reached Finist just in time for a fair celebrating some local aristocrats' birthday. With the city's main marketplace already packed and the meed flowing, it was surprisingly easy to find eager buyers for many of their goods. For the more wealthy merchants, however, bartering took its time. It would have gone quicker if one of the merchants hadn't tried to negotiate her a favorable price in an arrangement that would have her spend the night in his bed. It went without saying that no accord was struck on that incident. Despite such unpleasantries though overall Annabeth was quite pleased with herself.

After four days in Finist Annabeth finally sent word to prepare the caravan in the snow-filled main street outside the main street. She would have stayed a few days longer, and some merchants even planned to stay behind to continue offering their inventory. Annabeth knew better than to push her luck though, even if she might have made a few good sales and purchases. She had even brokered a preliminary deal to ship five hundred men and a few knights including their equipment and stores across the sea during the next summer.

One issue was that for one her bodyguard had learned some gossip from a Munk that performed his duty to the gods in a local monastery, according to their observations the weather was due to soon deteriorate. Annabeth had thought best to simply take that bit of gossip to heart and not ask any undue questions concerning the nature of that conversation, though she had her suspicions.

But on a much more concerning note, the city watch's accountants had been getting increasingly nosy about the content of their wages and disturbingly reluctant to accept bribery. Annabeth had no wish to find out what happened to virgins like herself in a torture chamber.

Her current accommodations, a guest room in the Duke's keep, was very much preferable with its roaring firing and access to some rather exquisite wine. So was the company of Lord Luke Castellan, Constable to his father Duke Castellan, the warden and ruler of their entire province. While a few years older than Annabeth he was certainly charming, handsome, and intelligent with sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and a scar cut across his cheek, a momento from some tournament. From what she had heard a quite skilled swordsman, though Annabeth could not attest to that fact personally. Even Annabeth, who considered herself to be rather levelheaded, was not immune and though being mildly tempted to indulge further into the Lord's pursuit, she knew better than to proceed past graciously accepting the nobleman's comments and offering a few well-chosen words in return. Nothing good could come from an affair with a nobleman.

"Must you leave so soon?" Luke Castellan asked as get stepping closer, his hand casually resting on an arming sword. "It would be my league's pleasure to host a woman of your intellect and beauty until the snow melts. The journey back to Anthia would be a ghastly endeavor ."

Feeling both slightly flattered and not wishing to shake the boat from a business perspective Annabeth closed the harbormasters log book of that year and rose. "I fear I must once again decline your offer, my Lord," Annabeth replied. "There are matters for me to attend to back at home."

The young lord sighed dramatically. "Then I fear I must also deliver bad news."

Annabeth paused and gave the young man a suspicious sideways look. "Which would be?"

"The Master of Artisans has just reported that the Kings' bridge has been damaged by ice."

"You are joking, right?" Annabeth asked, all pretense of cordial behavior suddenly forgotten. "When did this happen?"

Lord Luke of house Castellan only shrugged, his blue eyes twinkling. "An errand boy delivered the message an hour ago. The Master of Artisans fears a proper damage assessment and repairs will only be possible in springtime."

"What about the ferry?" Annabeth asked immediately. It would take quite a while to deliver the wagons across the water one by one, she knew that, but she might not really have a choice.

"I fear Annabeth, the ferry is beached and undergoing repairs during this season."

The grin on Luke's face spread even further.

Not willing to concede quite just yet Annabeth wordlessly strolled over to a map she had left on a shelf and unrolled it and traced up the flow of the Finist Finger in the direction of the mountains. Certainly, there were river crossings marked on the parchment, but Annabeth did not even bother contemplating those. They would not be a viable option until late spring when the water had warmed enough and the water levels, high from the annual melting of ice and snow receded. What few bridges there were would not be suitable to bear the weight of horse-drawn carriages. Finally, her finger stopped on the town quite a bit north, not far from the mountains themselves.

"Ashton," Annabeth murmured the name. She knew for a fact that that town had a bridge with the capacity they required, she was certain of that because wagons full of Iron from mines in the mountains were brought to her own home city through that very town, and across that very bridge. "Ashton's bridge is a viable alternative, even if it is a few days extra travel."

"That close to the mountains this time of the year, you could be hit by bad weather," Luke warned.

Annabeth offered what she hoped was a wolfish grin. "Ah, there are enough towns on the way. We can always shelter in them. Now forgive me, my Lord, I must go buy additional provisions for my people."

Feeling rather good about herself, despite the noble's obvious disappointment, she curtsied and left the library and joined Will who waited outside. "The Lord seems rather eager for your company." Will mused.

"Have you heard," she asked, ignoring the comment.

"What?" Will asked.

"The king's bridge is closed due to damage," Annabeth explained. "It looks like we will have to take a detour through Ashton."

"Where is Ashton?" Will asked with a frown.

"Small town few days upstream," Annabeth explained. "Roughly north, at the foot of the mountains."

Will sighed and rubbed the pummel of his blade. "I will have the quartermaster buy additional provisions, but it will take a while," he announced.

"You needn't," Luke added, joining them behind. "It would be my pleasure to assist in the matter."

Annabeth smiled at both of them. "We still leave today. I shall buy what provisions we need in one of the towns on the way. Will, depart as planned."

"Then, as the city's Constable, it would be my very great pleasure to guide you back to the west gate," Luke offered generously.

So here we go, the next chapter is already being worked on. Sorry for the long wait and lack of any editing, I am too drunk for such things right now. The next chapter will be a lot longer, but this was a good place to end this one. Might also finally be meeting Percy.

With regards

Henry Locker