I Do a Job, I Get Paid For It

Writers: Devin, Noola
Date Posted: 4th April 2010

Characters: Jerroll, Quelek
Description: Jerroll does a job and gets paid, despite the intentions of his contact.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 8, day 16 of Turn 5

Quelek sat in the sand, poking his fire with a long stick. The ship
carrying his goods was due any night now and he'd been spending his
nights on the beach waiting for it. His men, waiting in the treeline,
out of the range of light from the fire were getting restless. There
was only two days until Threadfall and that would be another delay as
the area would be swarming with both people and dragons for a while
afterwards.

There'd been nothing -but- delays during this whole transaction and
the large man was growing more and more displeased.

"Quelek?" Jerroll asked, staying in the shadows. He'd pulled up in a
rowboat farther down the shore, the passage silent and almost
invisible.

"Who's that?" the man called, suspiciously.

"I need to know if you're the man I'm looking for. What's the name of
the man who made the deal with me?" It wasn't likely that there would
be anyone else out here besides his contact, but it payed to be
cautious.

What sort of test was that? He could be anyone claiming to have made a
deal. Chances were that this was the man Chimel had sent, it was about
the right time, and certainly the right place, but still. He made a
subtle gesture, knowing that his mean were watching. A soft rustling
told him they were making their way towards the voice and he spoke
loudly to cover the noise, "If Chimel sent you, you're late. Where's
my goods?"

Jerroll stepped into the edge of the firelight. "Your goods are safe
aboard my ship. We're only one night past our agreed delivery, and the
sea doesn't always agree with our schedules."

"True enough," Quelek got a good look at the man, and he fit the
description he'd been given. "But still, late's late. Not a good
business practice, keeping the customer waiting, is it?"

"If you're too upset about an unavoidable delay, then maybe someone
else would like to buy the goods from me." Jerroll wasn't going to let
the man scold him like he was a drudge.

Quelek stood, tossing the stick into the flames. "You do that and
we'll have a problem. I'm the rightful owner of those barrels and
you'll deliver them as agreed." He knew his men were just there,
waiting on a signal. If this sharding bastard thought he was going to
steal from -him- he had another thing coming.

"And you'll pay me as agreed, and everyone will be happy." Jerroll said.

"Course," Quelek offered a smile. "Wouldn't be civilized otherwise."
He pulled a smallish bag out of a pocket. "Here's your marks, go fetch
my barrels." He tossed the bag toward the seaman. It was only about
two-thirds the total agreed to, but given the amount of waiting he'd
had to do, both on Chimel and on this one, he felt it was more than
fair.

Jerroll weighed the bag in one hand, then dumped it into his other
hand for a quick count. As he slid the marks back into the bag, he
said, "Should I only bring what you paid for? This isn't the full
amount."

Quelek's lips tightened, but he forced a smile. "I give you the full
amount all at once, who's to say you won't decide to just sail off and
leave me less the marks and my goods. You bring my barrels, you'll get
the rest." He pulled another bag out of his pocket and shook it, and
the sound of the wooden discs inside was easily audible.Then he
returned it to the pocket.

Jerroll nodded, then turned toward the water and made a series of
sharp whistles. "Your barrels will be here shortly." The rowboats were
already full. They would need to make a few trips, but with no dock
that was the only way to deliver the goods.

"Excellent." He sat back down to wait. "Have a seat," Quelek gestured
toward the ground near the fire.

Jerroll sat, wondering if Quelek was done being difficult. When the
first rowboat arrived, he helped unload it and did so each time a boat
arrived. Eventually, all the barrels were delivered. "I'll have the
rest of my pay now."

Quelek considered the other man for a moment before replying, "I think
what I've paid is more than fair. Given the waiting I've had to do."

Jerroll smiled at him. "I was aware I was dealing with someone that
wanted to avoid the authorities, but I must admit I wasn't aware I was
dealing with a liar."

His lips thinned, the seaman's mentioning the authorities sounded a
bit too much like a subtle threat for his liking. "You're dealing with
a man who doesn't want to pay for poor service," Quelek corrected,
sounding out how far the other man meant to take it.

"No, I'm dealing with a cheap bastard looking for an excuse not to pay
me and my crew the agreed upon amount. I think you'll find that paying
me the rest of what I'm owed is in everyone's best interest." There
were four of Jerroll's men on the beach, waiting with the rowboats.
They would be more than happy to relieve Quelek of everything he had
on him and to take the barrels back.

For his part, Quelek was not concerned by the men in the rowboats, as
he had his own men standing by as well. He didn't even consider that a
threat. No, the threat he was concerned with and the one his mind
jumped to with the seaman's words were that a tipoff would be made to
the authorities. The barrels were completely illegal and if he was
caught with them there would be hell to pay. Not to mention a complete
loss if he had to dump them to keep from getting caught.

Wordlessly, he pulled the second bag from his pocket at tossed it at
the other man. "You best be off, then. Wouldn't want to miss the
tide," he bit out through clenched teeth.

"This all could have been much more pleasant if you had done that in
the first place." Jerroll and his men got into the boats and rowed
away.

Last updated on the April 20th 2010

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I Do a Job, I Get Paid For It