Chapter 99 — Beyond Elton's Reach

Rodrick returned from Rainwood with mud on his boots and a sea chart under one arm. He entered FireStorm's council room before changing clothes, placed a thick agreement in front of Arlan, and accepted a cup of ale without ceremony.

"The Rainwood route is mostly settled," he said. "More importantly, I found people Elton cannot frighten with a letter."

Three merchant houses formed the center of the proposal, based respectively in Braavos, Pentos, and Myr. Their agents had traded through Westeros for years, maintained a combined fleet of twelve ocean-going merchant ships, and regarded disputes between Stormlands lords as local weather. Rodrick had reached them through contacts dating to his Oldtown years, then spent two days proving FireStorm could supply more than a few sample bottles.

"They care whether we can deliver," Rodrick said. "Not whether Elton approves."

He had shown them Red Sun Flame and FireStorm's clearest glass. The response confirmed what earlier black-market sales suggested: high-proof spirits had buyers among wealthy households and sellsword companies, while unusually clear glass could command several times its Westerosi price in Free City markets. One merchant from Braavos estimated the best glass might sell for five times the current Rainwood price if FireStorm avoided flooding the market.

The merchants offered more than coin. In exchange for exclusive Essosi agency rights, they would provide wheat, salt, medicinal herbs, warhorses, fine steel, crossbow components, and other supplies FireStorm struggled to move through the southern blockade.

Exclusive did not mean permanent. Arlan limited the first grant to one year and only the three named Free City markets. FireStorm retained sales inside Westeros and the right to end the agency if two scheduled deliveries failed. The merchants demanded compensation if war closed Rainwood; Rodrick changed the clause so each side carried losses after its own seal took possession. A storm was not breach. A captain selling cargo elsewhere was.

Their opening price on several bulk goods was roughly thirty percent of the prevailing Westerosi market price, an astonishing figure Rodrick had made them write twice into the draft rather than trusting a spoken promise. Whether the margin came from their routes, their appetite for FireStorm's glass, or aggressive bargaining for exclusivity, the number was valuable enough to verify shipment by shipment. Arlan marked the clause for separate inspection; prices that generous had a habit of hiding costs somewhere else.

"They want exclusivity without an end date," Rodrick said.

"They are not getting it."

Arlan rewrote the terms around three limits. Exclusive agency in Braavos, Pentos, and Myr would last one year, after which FireStorm could renegotiate or choose new partners. Minimum sales volumes would rise with the market; failure to meet them allowed the house to withdraw exclusivity. He also required written cargo accounts by voyage so FireStorm could compare what left Rainwood with what the merchants claimed to have sold abroad.

Second, the supply side of the agreement had to be reliable. If Elton frightened one merchant into stopping grain, the entire partnership became useless. Repeated failure to deliver contracted necessities would permit FireStorm to terminate the arrangement and approach competitors. The first shipment would include wheat, salt, herbs, and steel specifically because those were the goods Elton was trying hardest to obstruct on land.

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Third, the merchants would use their networks to help FireStorm acquire ships, experienced captains, sailors, shipwrights, metalworkers, and other skilled craftsmen. FireStorm would pay commissions on successful recruitment rather than relying indefinitely on foreign crews. Rodrick added that foreign specialists were to be offered wages and fixed terms, not quietly sold into service by brokers who called coercion a recruitment fee.

Rodrick read the clauses and nodded. "They will argue over the third."

"Good. It means they read it."

The choice was not simply sea against road. Braavos offered the broadest network and captains least dependent on Stormlands favor, but the longest first negotiation. Myr valued clear glass while competing with it and might learn to imitate FireStorm's methods. Pentoshi partners promised speed and asked the most invasive exclusivity. Arlan kept all three houses in the agreement so no single foreign factor could replace Elton as the gatekeeper.

Rodrick had also planned the inland leg. The first cargo would leave Rainwood in smaller wagon groups by secondary mountain tracks, then rejoin only after passing the roads where Caron watchers were most likely to count axles. FireStorm could not hide regular trade forever, but it could avoid presenting one perfect target on the first attempt.

Rodrick's expression tightened before he finished his report; he unfolded a second note bearing an informant's cipher from Rainwood. "Elton has anticipated the sea route."

"Pirates?"

"Stepstones. Our Rainwood informant says his people offered selected crews thirty percent of whatever they take from ships identified with FireStorm."

Arlan looked at the chart.

Elton could not command the Stepstones, but pirates required no loyalty when plunder was enough. A lightly defended merchant vessel carrying FireStorm glass and spirits would make an attractive target even without a Caron bounty.

"Finalize the merchant agreement," Arlan said. "I will handle the ships."

That afternoon, he entered the secret chamber and opened Balin Anvil's trade window.

The order was specific: ten ship-mounted heavy ballistae, five hundred armor-piercing bolts, twenty sets of lighter plate suitable for fighting aboard ship, lookout telescopes, nautical compasses, and complete reinforcement plans for ocean-going merchant hulls.

[Balin Anvil: Heavy ship ballista package available. Effective range up to eight hundred paces under suitable conditions. Hull reinforcement plans included. Total price: 200 Gold Dragons.]

Arlan paid.

[Payment confirmed. Instant delivery permission triggered.]

The equipment entered the Group Warehouse. Arlan withdrew one ballista assembly and examined the parts before authorizing the rest for staged transfer to a secured workshop near the future ships.

The mechanism was compact enough for a merchant deck and powerful enough that its heavy bolts could threaten a lightly built hull at useful ranges. The eight-hundred-pace claim was an ideal figure rather than a promise of accuracy on a rolling deck, but pirates did not need to be hit at the maximum range to understand that approaching FireStorm's ships would cost them.

The telescopes and compasses offered warning before a fight, while the hull plans showed where merchant frames might bear the weapons. None of the plans guaranteed that a Braavosi-built carrack matched a dwarf's measurements. Arlan added shipwright approval and live-load testing to the departure orders.

Wayne would need crews who could service the weapons without revealing their source in every tavern. Arlan assigned two smiths and four experienced guards to train behind the southern storehouse, where a wagon frame could imitate deck movement badly enough to expose loose mountings. Foreign sailors would operate their ships; Ashenblade men would command neither rigging nor navigation simply because they owned the bolts.

Arlan closed the crate.

Elton had tried to make every southern road end at a Caron checkpoint. Arlan chose a route Nightsong did not own, knowing that it would belong instead to foreign captains, coastal weather, and contracts FireStorm had not yet learned to enforce.

Three days later, word reached FireStorm that the first Braavosi hulls had entered Rainwood's harbor under merchant colors. The agreement had moved from parchment to cargo, which was the only stage Morton considered truly persuasive. Until a sack of grain crossed FireStorm's gate, every brilliant trade plan remained a very expensive way to decorate a table with signatures.