The Orb of Wrath (The Merchant's Destiny Book 1) Read Free

established and the lands that would be irrigated.
    The information itself was quite valuable, especially if the Commander never perceived that the plans have been looked at. With this information, he could buy some of the land that would be later watered at a low price and then sell them after completion of the project by a much higher amount. He could sell the information to any of those affected by the flood in the area of the dam. They could get rid of the lands before they were to be devalued, or worse, expropriated by the Mark or the Kingdom. He could set a seed store in Xelake, with other agricultural products that allowed or would facilitate the growing of crops from the irrigation. This would make him an instant monopoly because at the time, that part of the Mark had some very arid lands for those crops and only wheat and other cereals were cultivated there. Surely there were other more intelligent choices, if he thought a bit, but this is what he could quickly improvise.
    He kept flipping through the sheets. They included a detailed accounting of the project. Mr. Balta'ryon would be in charge of the monopoly on water management, in a lifelong concession for and in which he was free to set any price for the water. Since then, they seemed to be extraordinary privileges. And everything despite that the Mark and the Kingdom equally funded seventy percent of the cost of the work, and the employer only thirty percent. This was getting interesting at times. In the last of the documents he found a loose sheet in the middle of the papers. It seemed to be entries from a bank account. A number of important amounts had been deposited in the Calen bank, who was the only bank in the Mark and had just been established a few years earlier. All proceeds were in the Commander's name. In another document, the Commander appeared as head of the Commission of Water Development of the Mark.
    That son of a bitch! How many people have suffered from shortage to pay the taxes that would finance that work? How many peasants would be abused in the future once the project was finished? He had to do something. He had to think of something.
    He decided to act. He took the pen and inkwell that the Commander used to write regularly and opened the terms and conditions page of the concession to the employer. That document was final and was confirmed with the signing of the king of Bor. The idiot probably didn't even know what he had signed. The fact is that the document would be difficult to change. Moreover, as it was past all controls, it probably would remain intact until publication.
    After reviewing the document for a while, with maximum concentration, he sought the table of terms and under the conditions for setting the price of water, added: "With a maximum of the market price of water in the Deepcliff Central Square" ; the original text stated "to be determined by the dealer." Deepcliff, capital of the Kingdom, had abundant water sources of high quality close to the city and was one of the cheapest places to buy it in the country. The change in practice nullified the privileges of the businessman and this would make him feel deceived and betrayed by the Commander. Erion had a knack for forging documents and knew that only the best expert could distinguish the handwriting that was added.
    Then he took a sheet of paper from the table, the same kind that the Commander had used to write down the bank account entries, and began writing a letter saying:
     
    "Dear Principal Cashier of the Calen Bank
    Hereby I beg you to undo the following entries in my bank account number 4392:
    (The letter listed below all the entries of the fraudulent transfers contained in the sheet, with the amount, entry date, and volume, page and log sheet thereof).
    I also request that you issue a check for the value of such amounts on behalf of the social work of the Order of Light for use in their charity work and their soup kitchens, and remit it to its headquarters located