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The blacksmith frowned at her as if she were daft.
"Richard sells me iron and steel for a lot less than I can buy it through the regular transport companies-like from Ishaq."
"I charge what the committee on fair pricing tells me! I have no say!"
"That's just crazy," Nicci said to the blacksmith, ignoring Ishaq.
"No, it's smart. You see, the foundries produce more than they can sell, because they can't get it moved. Their furnaces have to be heated whether they make one ton or ten. They need to make enough iron to make the heat worth it, to pay their workers, and to keep their furnaces going. If they don't buy enough ore, the mines close and then the foundry can't get any ore at all. They can't exist if they can't get raw materials. But the Order won't let Ishaq, and those like him, move as much as the foundries need moved. The Order takes weeks to decide on the simplest request. They consider every imaginable person who they fancy might conceivably be hurt if Ishaq were to move the load. The foundries were desperate. They offered to sell their extra to Richard at less money-"
"So they are cheated in Richard's scheme, too!"
"No, because Richard takes it, they sell more, so it costs them less to make. They make more money than they would have otherwise. Richard sells it to me for less than I have to pay from the regular transport companies, because he buys it for less."
Nicci threw her hands up in disgust. "And to top it off, he is putting working men out of jobs. He's the worst sort of criminal-making his profit off the backs of the poor, the needy, and the workers!"
"What?" Ishaq protested. "I can't get enough people to work, and I can't get enough permits to haul the goods people need. Richard puts no one out of work-he helps create more business for everybody. The foundries he hauls for have each hired more men since they are able to sell through Richard."
"That's right," the blacksmith said.
"But, you just don't see it," Nicci insisted as she raked back her hair. "He's pulled the wool over your eyes. He's cheating you-milking you dry. You're getting poor because Richard-"
"Don't you get it, Mrs. Cypher? Richard has made half a dozen foundries money. They are working now only because of Richard. He moves their goods when they need them moved, not when they can finally get some asinine permit with seals all over it. Richard has, by himself, enabled a whole string of charcoal makers to earn a living supplying those foundries, along with a number of miners and any number of other people. And me? Richard has made me more money than I ever thought I'd make.
"Richard has made us all rich by doing something that is desperately needed, and doing it better than others can do it. He has kept us all working. Not the Order and their committees, boards, and groupsRichard.
"I've been able to keep men on because of Richard. He never says it can't be done; he figures a way to do it. In the process, he has earned the trust of every man he deals with. His word is as good as that gold.
"Why, even Brother Narev told Richard to do what needed doing to get me the iron I needed. Richard told him he would. The palace wouldn't be this far along if not for Richard keeping everyone going with what he gets for us, when we need it.
"The Order owes Richard a debt of gratitude, not torture and punishment. He has helped the Order by doing what they need done. Those piers standing out there would not be built yet, if Richard hadn't found me the iron to make the bracing ties. Those carvings on the palace walls down there would not be done if he hadn't gotten me the steel I needed to make the tools to carve them. The goods down there are only moved in by wheels turning on iron bands I make to repair them because Richard got me the steel. Richard has done more to raise that palace up out of the ground than any other single man. Besides that, he's made friends doing it."
Nicci couldn't make it work in her head. It had to be true; she remembered that Richard had met Brother Narev. How could someone make so much money, help the Order, and have the people he deals with still trust him?
"But he has made all this profit. ."
The blacksmith shook his head as if she were a snake among them.»
`Profit' is a dirty word only to the leeches of the world. They want it seen as evil, so they can more easily snatch what they did not earn."
The frown returned as the blacksmith leaned toward her. His voice became as hot as the iron he worked.
"What I want to know, Mrs. Cypher, is why Richard is in some stinking prison being tortured to give a confession, while his wife is standing here acting a fool over him earning money and making us all happy and rich in the process?"
Nicci felt a lump rising in her throat. "I can't pay the fine until tomorrow night."
"Until I met you, I never thought Richard ever made a mistake." The man pulled his leather apron off over his head and heaved it at the wall of his shop. "With that kind of money, we can bargain him out sooner. I hope it's soon enough. Ishaq, are you with me?"
"Of course. They know me. I'm trusted. I go, too."
"Give me the money," the blacksmith commanded.
Nicci dropped it into his upturned palm without even thinking about it.
Richard wasn't really a thief. It was a wonder. She didn't know how, but these people were all happy with him. He made them all rich. It didn't make any sense to her.
"Please, if you can help, I'd be indebted to you."
"I'm not doing it for you, Mrs. Cypher; I'm helping a friend I value who is worth helping."
"Nicci. My a is Nicci."
"I'm Mr. Cascella he growled as he started away.
-]--
Mr. Cascella tossed four gold coins on the table in front of People's Protector Muksin. He had told Nicci and Ishaq that he wanted to hold something in reserve so they could "pump the bellows" if they "needed more heat."
The blacksmith towered over the man behind the table. Several officers put their noses to their work. The guards around the room all watched.
"Richard Cypher. You have him. We're here to pay the fine."
Protector Muksin blinked at the coins like a fat carp that was too full to eat a worm.
"We don't assess fines until tomorrow night. Come back then, and if this man, Cypher, has not confessed to involvement in anything more serious, you can pay then."
"I work out at the new palace," Mr. Cascella said. "Brother Narev keeps me busy. I'm here now, so couldn't we just take care of this matter while we're all here? It would make Brother Narev happy if his head blacksmith didn't have to come all the way over here again tomorrow, when I'm here now."
Protector Muksin's dark eyes turned from side to side, traversing the crowded room of wailing people. His chair chattered as he scooted it closer to the table. He folded his stubby fingers atop a pile of tattered papers.
"I would not wish to inconvenience Brother Narev."
The blacksmith smiled. "I thought not."
"However, Brother Narev would not want me to overlook my duty to the people."
"Of course not!" Ishaq put it. He swiped his red hat off his head when the dark eyes turned his way. "Such was not implied, of course. We are trusting in you to do your duty."
"Who are you?" the Protector asked Nicci.
"I am the wife of Richard Cypher, Protector Muksin. I was here before.
I paid a fee to see him. You explained the fine to me."
He nodded. "I see so many."
"Look," Mr. Cascella said, "we have a lot of money for the fine. If we could pay it now and get Richard Cypher out today, that is. Some of it is money other people might not be willing to contribute tomorrow."
The blacksmith slid four more gold marks across the table. The Protector's dark eyes looked unimpressed.
"The money all belongs to the people. There is great need."