Chapter 7
Harnessing the ponies was like a smack in the face, this was it, once he left here, he was on his own. With a baby. But that was going to be his life now.
He paired the grey and the lesser black mare and harnessed them to the wagon, hooked up the shop-cart to the back of the wagon and tied off the other two ponies to it. Like him, the ponies seemed both eager to move and reluctant to leave the stable yard.
But finally, Harry couldn’t put it off any longer, it was time to go. He said his farewells to Tavric and Sílor, giving both dwarves bows and wrist clasps. Then he climbed up onto the wagon’s drive-seat and picked up the reins, he might not be the most proficient pony driver, but he knew the basics and like Tavric said, he would learn the rest as he went along. As he left the stable courtyard and emerged onto the little back-street, he wondered... How Tavric would react to what he'd left for the dwarf, on the cot in the room he'd used?
~~~
March 16th 2920
Getting out of the city, in a wagon towing a cart, was harder than Harry expected. Or rather, getting from the grain merchant’s to outside the city, was harder than Harry expected. Getting from Tavric’s to the grain merchant’s was a piece of cake, in comparison. It showed Harry how much he had to learn about driving a wagon.
But he made it. One mile down, only nine-hundred-ninety-nine to go, plus however many on top of that until he figured out what he was going to do.
Was he going to sit back and let an unprepared hobbit, go off with thirteen dwarves that had little, to no respect for him? No, of course he wasn’t. But was he going to educate the hobbit or was he going to educate the dwarves? It would be easier to teach the hobbit, but better for hobbits in general, if the dwarves learnt not to underestimate them.
He wasn’t in a hurry to decide, he had over twenty years to make that call.
Stopping outside the city gates, to make sure all the ponies had survived his first go at wagon driving, was as simple as pulling off to the side of the road and jumping down from the seat. The two trailing ponies happily accepted their treats and pats, while Harry double checked their ropes, then it was back to the front, up to his seat and they were on the move again.
He spotted the two streams, that Tavric had mentioned. The first was much larger, almost twice the size of the stream at the bottom of the Weasley’s little field. The second was much smaller, still more than a trickle but nothing near the size of the first stream. He slowed his mares to a shuffle to allow a big wagon, pulled by a team of four massive draught-horses, to cross the first stream’s sturdy stone bridge, then with a ‘move on’ and a flick of the reins, his mares took up the strain and the wagons started to move again. A wide turn and he was on a narrow track, gravel fading to dirt, the further he went.
Another mile and the little woods swallowed the track, but Harry kept going. Tavric had said, he was to turn as he came out of the woods and that was what Harry did. He found himself in a neat, almost circular clearing, bordered on one curve by the little stream and by the woods for the rest. He hummed and eased the mares around so that the wagon was just past the curve of the stream, backed by the woods, before he called them to a halt. He left Teddy in his hanging cradle, while he unhitched the mares and tied them to a nearby tree branch.
Then it was a quickly cast HIPS charm and a relieved sigh. Levitation charms moved rope around the clearing, looping it around this tree and that one, forming a small field for the ponies, a small section of stream was included to give them access to fresh water, without Harry having to fill a bucket. He and Hermione had discovered the hard way, that aguamenti created water didn’t last long, it evaporated much faster than naturally occurring water.
Once the ponies were unharnessed, untied and free to roam their temporary field, he moved onto the wagon, setting up the awning and pulling down the camp stove and getting it ready to light. He brought Teddy’s cradle down and stuck the legs under it, placing close to the wagon.
When he saw the first biting insects headed for a succulent Teddy-morsel, Harry sighed and cast the repellent that had been a must when wandering the Weasley’s fields, that was quickly followed by a broader cast of the same charm when one of the mares looked almost covered in flies. With a now insect-free camp, Harry was free to begin work.
The first thing he did, was conjure great swathes of canvas for drop-cloths and laid them out in a semi-circle around the wagon. Next, he climbed up into the wagon that now had a door and a window open, and levitated everything in it, out onto the drop-cloths. Over the next hour, things were put back in place, items were etched with runes to make whatever charms applied to them permanent, before they were slid where Harry wanted them.
The sun had set and dusk was just fading, before Harry was happy with his work. He’d had to stop in the middle of it, to feed and change Teddy and now, he was ready to feed himself.
For a moment, he considered packing the rig and moving on, the next morning, but he remembered the pouches that he’d filled just before entering the city, pouches that contained who-knew-what?
After a hearty dinner of thick stew and crusty bread, sent by Tavric’s cooks, Harry sat on his bench/bunk/cot with Teddy on his lap, making notes about how to go about the sorting the next day. It was also about this time, that Harry realised that he could use a dictation charm and write down all the stories he was telling Teddy, so that he could have them forever. Even if something happened to Harry.
~~~
March 17th and 18th 2920
A breakfast of the left-over stew on toasted bread and a large pot of strong tea and Harry was ready to start the Sorting of the Great Unknown, as a part of his mind was calling it.
Teddy was fed, changed and burbling away in his cradle, arms waving every now and then. Drop-cloths that had been finited last night, had been re-conjured this morning and laid out. Ponies had been feed and groomed, how on earth (or middle-earth) did they get so dirty so quickly, did they roll in the mud?
The pouches were laid out and Harry’s holly wand was slid into his hand. Within seconds, items were spewing from the pouches, filling the drop-cloths and alarming Harry, he hadn’t thought there was that much stuff. Obviously, he was wrong. It took minutes for the pouches to empty and everything to settle to the ground.
Lock and keys were sent to one cloth, chests and boxes to a second, purses and pouches to a third, while any other container went to a fourth. Chest and boxes were unlocked and the locks and keys went to join their compatriots. The contents of the chests and boxes went onto a fifth cloth and the containers themselves went to the second cloth. Next it was the purses and pouches, the coins and other items they held went into a conjured barrel or to join the contents of the fifth cloth. The now-empty purses and pouches went into the pouch that he’d first used for that purpose, days ago. Eventually, he would place them in the shop-cart's display box.
He ignored the fifth cloth and its cargo for a few minutes while he worked with the locks and keys to match them into sets. Each key had a piece of string to attach it to a lock, then the lock was threaded over a fine rod, which would sit on a set of hooks on one side of the shop-cart’s double doors. After a few minutes of levitating things around, Harry snorted to himself and levitated the cart, turning it around and backing it up to his work-space. The locks on their rods went onto the hooks and he laid aside two damaged boxes, removing the lids to use them as storage, one for the unmatched keys and the other for unmatched locks. The smaller boxes, tins and caskets went onto the shelves of the other door and the larger boxes were checked over before most of them went into the cart’s main cargo area. The three that were too big for this space, Harry would store, temporarily, on the cart’s seat, wrapped in canvass.
He pulled out the display box from under the cart’s main cargo area, set it on the legs and opened it up. Then it was a simple case of emptying the pouch that held the empty purses and pouches and funnelling them into the relevant places.
The cart was left open while Harry tended to Teddy and had a few minutes of pure ‘Teddy time’ as he called it, telling Teddy more stories and tickling chubby legs.
After a Teddy break, he tackled the third cloth, it had all sorts of containers resting on it, tins, bottles, baskets, bags, tubes, you name it, it was there. It took him another hour to empty all the containers and sort their contents, he had to set up a few more barrels, for gems, gold, silver, Mithril, clothes, boots, belts, weapons and even a few books. And yes, a few more locks, keys and a couple of really nice jewellery boxes with delicate keys that clipped into hidden recesses, were added to the shop-cart.
Two full days, was what it took to sort through everything. Any dwarf-sized clothing was put aside for later, either for Harry or Teddy as he grew up. Weapons were assessed, with thanks to the goblins for that knowledge, and the decent ones were divided by size, dwarf-sized ones went into a weapons chest that was shrunk and stored in one of drawers under Harry’s bunk, Man-sized went into a barrel, to sell later. Books went onto the shelf above the bunk, all eight of them. The three blank journals were carefully put aside for Teddy’s stories, although Harry was recoding each story on a loose sheet of parchment, first, then reading and editing it (taking out Teddy’s coos and Harry’s responses to them) before transferring the ink to a fresh sheet and storing that in a box, when he had enough, he would transfer them to the books.
Money was divided up, pennies and ten-pences were put in small barrels, he’d change them in Edhelland. Florins were removed from both purses and reallocated, one hundred for the spending purse and one thousand for the savings purse, the rest would also be exchanged. As would sceptres, all bar for a dozen which Harry kept in the savings purse. The purse went into the same drawer as the weapons chest.
Clothing and items that were Man sized were stored in a chest and Harry planned to sell these in Edhelland, along with the weapons, if he could. Jars and tins were assessed and some were kept, while others were put aside to sell and some were just vanished. Leather was broken down into thin strips unless it was in sale-able condition. Baskets were hung on the side of the cart and Harry planned to sell the decent ones, although he did keep one for himself, to use when going shopping. Ratty or damaged ones were broken down and burnt in the little camp stove.
Blankets and rugs were shrunk and stored in a stasis box, again in the drawer with the weapons chest.
Jewellery went into a chest, along with what he’d already sorted. Gems went into a small set of drawers, similar to one that Sílor kept his in, but Harry wasn’t a gemsmith or jeweller so he just sorted them by colour, which probably meant that emeralds were in the same cubbyhole as green diamonds, peridots, topaz or jade. But at least they weren’t lumped together like rainbow barf or crystalline sprinkles.
The few bags and duffels, Harry huffed over for a bit, but decided that he’d put them in the cart and would drape them over the display box or hang them from the cart's doors, for sale. It’s not like he needed them.
Sewing and knitting needles and their accessories went into a box, he had no idea what to do with them. He could knit thanks to Dobby’s obsession with socks and Hermione’s elf hats, but what did he do with the stuff he wasn’t going to use? Did he sell it? Keep it and trade it? Barter it? What?
What it did do, though, was remind Harry that he still had the goblin’s not-a-sewing-kit, still looking like a sewing kit.
Holy Merlin! He wasn’t expecting that!
The kit had looked a bit like a book, that closed with a ball-clasp. Once he’d finited the transfiguration, and he was ever so glad that he’d done that outside, it resembled a large sheet of canvass with rolls of rope of different thicknesses instead of thread. Where the scissors had been was now a pair of really odd looking daggers that bent back over their hilts. The needle threader was a pulley, the safety pins were bows and the packets of pins and needles were quivers of arrows that also had spare bow-strings looped around the ends of the arrows. The tape measure was a bedroll and the buttons were simple round shields.
And when he lifted a bow from the collection, he found that it was exactly the right size for him. He added the daggers, bows and quivers to his weapons chest, but kept out one bow and one quiver, for himself. The ropes, pulley and shields were spread out around the wagon, giving it a more established feel, as well as a more dwarven look.
~~~
March 19th and 20th 2920
Day six in middle-earth and Harry was ready to be on the move again. It would be too easy to settle in one place and just stay there, but he felt he owed it to the memory of those he left behind, to not waste the life he was given and he owed it to Teddy, to see to it that he grew up in the safest environment that Harry could provide. That meant, at least to Harry, seeing that the One Ring was dealt with, once Bilbo Baggins found it. Keeping Thorin Oakenshield and his nephews alive, would be a nice bonus. But to do any of that, Harry had to go north.
They left the little clearing with his good black mare and the dun pulling the wagon, which Harry had etched a weight-reduction rune sequence onto. Not a true feather-light, as it only reduced the weight by half, but that was more than enough to take pressure of the mares and make travelling a breeze. With Teddy in his hanging cradle, whiffling through his morning nap, Harry was enjoying the morning.
He stopped in two villages that day, one was a profitable venture and the other was a flop, but still good experience. The that evening, saw him reach the Horse Fair that Dafid had told him about and he quickly made himself known to Dafid’s brother, Horf. The tall man took Dafid’s letter and laughed, before agreeing to help Harry, he then showed Harry where he could camp for a few nights.
The next morning, Harry strapped Teddy into his carrier, harnessed up the lesser black mare, making sure that he put her papers in his pocket, and led her over to where Horf said he could be found.
“Good morning, young Master Harry.” Horf had known enough dwarves to be able to read Harry’s beads and knew that Harry was young to hold a Master’s bead, of any sort.
“Master Horf.” Harry nodded back to the man.
“You’re lookin’ to replace tha’ mare, then.” Horf didn’t phrase it as a question but as a clear statement.
“I am.” Harry nodded. “She's good, but not a candle on the others.”
“Right, then. Her papers?”
Harry pulled her papers from his pocket, handed them over and Horf handed him a half dozen gold coins.
“As agreed, Ç1, Š5.” He said and held out a hand for harry to shake.
“As agreed.” Harry nodded and shook the man’s hand.
“Let’s see your other mares, that ways I can gauge ya standards.” Horf waved and a young teen darted forward and took the mare. “Do you know how many ya want?”
“I’m thinking… at least one and possibly as many as three, depending on their quality.” Harry walked beside the man, quite unconcerned about the disparity in their heights, the difference between Harry’s new height and Horf’s was fairly close to what Harry was accustomed to between he and Hagrid.
“A team of six is a fine string.” Horf nodded and hummed as they reached Harry’s campsite. “Oh, now that’s nice. Dafid picked ya a beauty there, that black mare is definitely prime horse-flesh. Do ya have her papers? We might try and find something related.”
“I’d prefer not related.” Harry as spent the last two evening thinking about this, he wanted unrelated mares that he could breed to unrelated stallions when he was ready. “If I decide to breed her or the other mares, I don’t want them too closely connected.” While he was talking, he had climbed into the wagon and retrieved the papers for all three ponies.
“You’re looking to start a breeding concern?” Horf asked, brows rising.
“No, not really, just a possibility for the future.” Harry assured the man and spread out the three documents on his makeshift table, made from an old door he’d bought earlier that day, in a village a few miles back towards Dol Amroth.
“Ah, well, let’s see what we’re working with.” Horf leant over the table and studied each sheet. “I thought so, the black’s from the line of the Western Nimrais stud, Little Stamper, he’s probably the finest of the west highland studs to come this way. The grey’s stud is from Erech, Silken Mouth, he’s been gone a year or two, but his progeny are sought after. The dun is from Pinnath Gelin, we don’t get many from there, they tend to head west to Langstrand. Matching this lot’s not going to be easy. Do ya want matches, or does that not matter?”
“I’d prefer matches, if I can get them, but I’m more concerned with quality.”
“Right.” Horf nodded. “Have ya read their names?”
“Their papers have their names?” Harry asked leaning forward to read, one hand bracing Teddy’s head. “Onyx, that’s apt… As is Pearl. And the dun is…Willow…” Harry shook his head. “The women of my mother’s family named their daughters after plants, how ironic.”
“Huh.” Horf grunted and changed the subject. “Let me a good look at your mares and we can make a start.”
“Of course.” Harry nodded and put the mares’ papers away while Horf was doing his inspection.
“They’re nice, young Master, very nice. Matching them’s going to be a challenge.” Horf said and headed back towards the Fair’s pony section.
An hour later and they’d found a black to match Onyx, called Ebony and a dun to match Willow, that wasn’t named and Harry decided he would call her Hazel. They broke for a bit, as Horf was wanted to deal with a mare in labour and Harry needed to feed Teddy. Horf said he would come find Harry, once he was free.
After lunch and a short nap, Teddy and Harry were enjoying the afternoon sun when Horf reappeared.
“Master Harry.” Horf called as he approached the wagon.
“Master Horf, good afternoon.”
“Aye, it’s a nice one.” Horf nodded. “I sent me sons out to find some more mares for ya and… Well, they’ve done me proud. I don’t expect that you’ll buy them all, but they’re all much the same quality as you’ve already bought.”
“We’d best have a look, should we?” Harry climbed to his feet and slid Teddy into his carrier and then the carrier over his head. “Lead the way, Master Horf.” Harry gestured and when the man began to move, he easily kept pace.
“They’ve found two bays and five greys. Two of the greys might be a little light-on for normal wagon work, but you’ve got a plains-runner, they won’t have much trouble pulling that.”
And that was not taking Harry’s weight-reduction runes into account, but he wasn’t going to mention them.
“We can only see.” Harry said.
“However, if you’re going to buy them all, I’d suggest another small wagon, just for feed.” Horf said. “It’s not essential, but it would make life a lot easier for ya, ya wouldn’t be buying feed every other day, for one.”
“But a feed wagon would mean that I’d have to have ponies pull it.” Harry said. “That would still leave me with tired ponies.”
“Aye.” Horf agreed. “I was thinking about that. I know of a few heavier Standard Cobs, like yours, for sale. Keep them just for the feed wagon and then use whatever you buy here, for your camp-wagon.”
“Hmm…” Harry hummed. “Let’s see the ponies, first. I hadn’t anticipated having an entire herd to travel with.”
“Ponies travel easier in a herd than alone.” Horf offered.
“We’ll see.” Harry wasn’t committing to anything until he’d seen the ponies, he already had five. He took one look at the grey mares and wanted them. All of them.
He understood what Horf meant when he said that two of them were verging on being too light for wagon work, but geez… They were pretty! They reminded him of a pair of Arabians that the carriage stable had, light and delicate but so, so strong. He just hummed and asked to see the bays before he made any decisions.
Okay, he had a dilemma, the bays were just as nice, not the same type but just as nice. He hummed on it for a bit and looked from the greys to the bays and back again. He wanted them all. And he had the resources to get them, but was that smart? After a few minutes, he asked Horf if he could think on it overnight, because right now, he wanted all of them and he wasn’t too sure that was a good thing.
~~~
March 21st 2920
The next morning, he fronted up to Horf’s tent.
“Good morning, Master Horf.” He nodded to the man.
“Young Master Harry.” Horf nodded back.
“If those mares are still available, I’ll take some of them.” Harry wasted no time on extra pleasantries.
“Which ones, some of the greys or the bays?” Horf asked.
“The greys, all of them.” Harry said. “And I’ll use the heavier greys to pull a small feed wagon. Not going for a full-sized dray, just a small one will be enough for ten ponies. It should be enough to carry a week’s worth of grain.” Especially if Harry added his rune sequence to the chassis, it halved the weight of anything it carried.
“Hmm…” Horf hummed. “We can only see. I do know that you were the only one to look at them yesterday, but that was yesterday. Shall we?” Horf got to his feet and gestured towards the yards and when Harry nodded, he led the way into the warren of roped off yards.
Across the way, they found the yards that held the grey mares and while there was someone there, they were only half-heartedly looking, Horf spoke to the trader and when the man hung a 'sold' sign on the fence, the man that had been looking just shrugged and wandered off.
“Master Harry, this is trader Limm. The greys are all his.” Horf introduced a skinny old man, with a twisted arm.
“Master Harry, greetings.” The man’s voice was wispy and he sounded almost breathless.
“Trader Limm.” Harry nodded formally. “Eru’s blessing on the day.” This was a fairly neutral greeting to give to an unknown person.
“Master Horf says that you like my mares.”
“I do, trader.” Harry replied. “I’d like to see their papers and perhaps a price can be agreed on.”
“Of course.” Limm pulled out a box and one by one laid out the mares’ papers, Horf and Harry studying them carefully, noting that neither stud-lines and dam-lines coincided with those of Harry’s mares, for the five generations listed.
“Right, good.” Harry and Horf nodded and sat back. “Let’s start with the heaviest mare.” Harry suggested.
“That would be Feather.” Limm pulled sorted through the papers and brought her to the top. “Seven years old, proven breeder…” Limm began the negotiations that would last for nearly and hour.
“So?” Limm held out a hand. “Ç3, Š1 for Feather, Ç2, Š7 each for Dancer and Delilah and Ç2, Š5 for Flora and Iris.”
“Including their papers, yes.” Harry closed his hand around Limm’s and the two shook. Harry got his purse out and dug out the coins, while Horf witnessed Limm writing up a receipt and updating the mares’ papers with the transfer of ownership.
With Limm’s permission, they left two mares in the yards and took the other three to the harness-maker, to have harnesses fit to them. Dafid had recommended that each pony have their own harness to avoid harness-sores and rubbing, something that Harry was happy to do. Then back to Harry’s camp, to unharness and leave those three, before headed back to fetch the other two mares and doing the same with them.
After that, Horf went to check on his mare and her new foal, while Harry saw to Teddy and got acquainted with his new mares.
Harry had barely finished his own lunch after cleaning Teddy up, after a messy nappy and spilt bottle, when Horf turned up.
“Master Harry.” Horf called as he rounded the front of the wagon. “The greys have settled down nicely.”
“They have, a little bit of nipping from Onyx, but nothing too serious.” Harry agreed. “Just give me a moment to put my shirt on , I didn’t screw the nipple on Teddy’s bottle tight enough and ended up wearing half his lunch.” Harry was shirtless, and Teddy was in his cradle, snoring his whiffling little snores.
A minute and a half later, a still snoring Teddy was in his carrier, and was Horf leading Harry away from the pony yards.
“Small wagons are hard to find, Master Harry.” Horf said. “I can’t guarantee we’ll find what you want.”
“Still, I have to look.” Harry replied cheerfully. “If I don’t look, I’ll never find it.”
“Aye, that’s true.” The man nodded as they reached a tired old shed. “This is cartwright Pell. Cartwright, this is Master Harry, he’s looking for a small wagon.”
“Master?” Came a harsh voice from the shadow. “You’re young for a Master.” A heavyset dwarf emerged and nearly glared at Harry.
“Master Karol of Trade-Master Tavric’s house assessed me less than a week ago.” Harry replied calmly.
“For what?”
“Axe-fighting, axe-throwing, knife-fighting, knife-throwing, hand-to-hand and swordsmanship. While Guards Trainer Harlan assessed my archery and Master Tavric, himself assessed my scribe-work and locksmithing.” Harry answered.
“And?”
“My axe-work is bare minimum for utrab. I have my Tarbûnel for Knife-fighting but everything else I have Tarbûn beads for.” Harry recounted, checking things off on his fingers, just to be sure. “Yep, that’s it.”
“And where are you headed?” Pell asked.
“Right now?” Harry replied. “I’m aiming for the East-West Road, I haven’t decided if I’ll go east to the Iron Hills or west to the Blue Mountains.” He shrugged. “Not sure which would be better for me and Teddy.” He rested a hand on Teddy’s back.
“Your son?”
“I’m his Hand, his parents died a week and half ago.”
Pell grunted his understanding. “And you’re after a small wagon? With a nadnith?”
“I’ve got a wagon for us to live in, I just need a feed cart for the ponies' feed.”
“How many have you got?”
“Ten mares. Two pairs will be predominantly for the feed cart, two pairs for the main wagon and two ponies that can be subbed in, where necessary.” Harry explained how he was planning to use his mares.”
Pell nodded consideringly. “So a dray?”
“No, something smaller.” Harry countered. “I’ve got room set aside on the main wagon for a few barrels of grain and a bale of hay or two. I’m thinking the feed cart only needs to carry a week’s worth of feed.”
“Ten mares ‘ll go through a dozen bags of grain a week.” Horf said.
“That’s fairly much what I was thinking.” Harry agreed. “I give them four parts mixed grain and one-part oaten chaff, twice a day, with a biscuit of hay at night.”
“Twelve bags of feed and six bales of hay…” Pell muttered.
“Eight bags of feed and four bales of hay.” Harry countered. “I can stack the rest, in the main wagon.”
“Huh, right…” Pell grunted. “I’ve got what’s technically... a buckboard wagon, that might suit you. I haven’t put it for sale, as the seat springs are busted and while I have parts, I haven’t had a chance to put ‘em together. But it would work for you. I can put the seat parts in a bag and tie them to the kickboard, that will give you a wagon-bed of six-by-four feet. Plenty big enough for what you’re after.”
“How many pieces are there, for the parts? How much space would they take up if I were to bundle them up?” Harry wanted to know.
“This is them.” Pell said, laying a hand on two pieces of timber and a handful of pieces of metal.
“Show me the cart?” Harry requested and Pell led him to a simple four-wheeled cart, solid low sides and a drop-down tail-gate. “The side's are a little low, if I’m standing bags of feed upright.”
“I’ve got an iron grill-work that would raise the height of the four sides and tail-gate, and can put one together for the front, in about an hour.” He pointed to some ironwork leaning against the side of the shed.
“Total cost?” Harry tilted his head.
“Ç3.” Pell said.
“Ç2.” Harry countered.
“Ç2, Š7.”
“Ç2, Š2.”
“Ç2, Š5.” Pell held out a hand and Harry took it.
“Ç2, Š5.” Harry agreed, nodding. “I give you Ç1, Š5 now and the other crown when I return in an hour.”
“Deal.” Pell nodded sharply. “Iffen you’re gonna be back in an hour, you’d best pay and get out me way, so’s I can get to work.”
Harry grinned and pulled out his purse and dug out the appropriate coins. He and Horf wandered their way back the fair.
“We’ve a grain merchant here, Master Harry.” Horf said. “Chem’s a good man, he’ll deal with you fairly, won’t try and cheat you out of a coin, like some can.” Horf led Harry to a massive tent, that was more pavilion than tent, and called out. “Chem? Chem, you about?”
“Horf?” A voice came from inside. “Gimme a bit, I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Harry could hear thumps and thuds from inside, that were followed by a metallic squeal and clunk, before the tent flap was flung back.
“Horf.” The man wasn’t tall, but he had shoulders like a bull, broad and heavy.
“Chem, this is Master Harry, he’s got a nice collection of ponies and needs some feed to keep them going. He’d heading to Minas Tirith and beyond.” Horf said.
“Master Harry.”
“Trader Chem.” Harry replied.
“What are you after?” Chem asked.
“Eight bags of milled Mixed Grain, two bags of Oaten Chaff and five bales of sweet hay.” Harry replied.
“Easy done.” Chem nodded.
“An hour and a half?” Harry asked. “I have to collect the feed wagon from Pell in about an hour.”
“I can do that.” Chem nodded. “I’ll have them ready for you. Ç5, Š5, pay on collection is fine.”
“Excellent, thank you trader Chem, I’ll see you shortly.” Harry grinned.
“Well, Master Harry, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll do my best to catch up with you before you head out in the morning.” Horf shook Harry’s hand and was gone.
“Alright, Teddy, let’s go give our girls some treats.” Told his still sleeping godson. “Then we can have a little drive.” He wondered how different it would feel to drive one pony as opposed to two?
~~~