PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS RAW MATERIAL FLOWING WITHOUT RESTRICTION IN ORDER TO GET THE IDEAS DOWN. I CAN SEE THE MISTAKES MYSELF. PUNCTUATION, BAD SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION ETC.

Whilst Timmy slept peacefully beneath Jim the carters seat, the carter was well aware of the boys presence. He had been tipped off by Alfie who in his turn had received a warning from one of Timmys employers that questions had been asked about any casual help they might have known about.

In fact there was quite a protective shield about Timmy thanks to the high regard his parents had earned and the contempt that the majority of traders and merchants had for Plant and his villainous designs.

It was one way to safely get some revenge for all the threats and extortion they were subject to as obligatory members of the guild without which 'protection' no business could function in theory at least.

Needless to say these onerous restrictions on free trade that Plant had used to gain control of the guild had given rise to an underground movement largely based on the various businesses such as the artificers who could operate without needing to be restricted by the port authorities.

Their income was mainly derived from the various chandlers and suppliers that the ships required to replenish stocks of food, materials and equipment. These small businesses were numerous and thus there was no apparently easy way to include them in Plants scheming because on the face of it a ship might get its supplies from a chandlery which in turn received its stock from any one of dozens of suppliers.

Blocks and tackle, ropes and canvas, beef, pork and mutton all came in from separate providers in small orders often provided by factors who travelled around collecting the work of various cottage industries and small farms.

They paid the providers with tokens, small metal medallions of various shapes stamped with a numerical value and the insignia of the issuing company. Some companies tokens were worth more than another even though the face value was the same, such as a goldsmiths 5 versus a victuallers 5 and even then there could be disagreement about the worth of a butchers versus a greengrocers token though both were victuallers.

To simplify matters there arose a separate occupation known as tallymen, whose function was to exchange tokens for their own markers which were coins with a central hole to allow them to be kept securely on a cord.

These coins had no metallic worth being made from various alloys such as bronze, brass etc. However these coins were universally accepted for their engraved value and fulfilled the function of coinage though Brythan minted none of its own

Foreign coinage rarely encountered and carefully hoarded was of great value if it derived from the continents wealthy countries that used precious metals as their basis for value. A foreign trader canny in the ways of Brythans odd system of currency could gain great advantage in trading coins for markers by knowing how to use the fluctuations in token values to purchase goods directly from their source using tokens that were locally valued

Unbeknownst to all but a handful of canny insiders was the part played by the apparently innocuous carters in keeping the flow of mercantile goods and credits mostly little guessed at.

That had been how the founder of Hilton Shipping circumscribed the citadel ports onerous tariffs and restrictions, long before the machinations of Plant and his ilk had found a means of skimming the profits for themselves.

Jim, in whose cart Timmy slept, had been a part of the secret circle of insiders that realised just how much the apparently dominant citadel owed to small trade and transport by road. It was assumed to be small fry not worth considering compared to the advantage of the port authority that had complete control of the rewarding marine traffic.

In fact the real wealth of Brythan had little to do with shipping and almost everything to do with agricultural industry without which the apparently powerful citadel would have quickly starved.

As there were only two highways, the north south and east west roads called the kings highways, though nobody knew why since there had never been such a person, save one or two hopeful pretenders that hadn't lasted even a lifetime, travelling inland required an intimate knowledge of the footpaths, tracks and bridleways which were the sole means of communication between rural outposts often well concealed by heavy forestry.

Jims and the other carters like him were a valued resource because try to manage on your own navigating Brythans deceptively peaceful countryside and you'd be lucky to survive without an armed retinue to accompany you and where was the profit in that?