30 The Cosmos region (1/2)
The Cosmos region was a no man's land, situated geographically between the Waltham province and the Calabar province, neither province wished to pump money into this rural region which was devoid of any natural resources and was rife with random fierce-beast attacks all year round.
The cost in money and man power to make it safe for people to live was too great and the returns too little.
Because of this, it has become a haven for criminals. The people wanted for serious crimes in either province will most likely be found here and over time this place developed into a small town in its own right, there was a well built two story inn and a variety of small shops randomly scattered around and crude huts or tents could be seen off in the distance.
The main road used by citizen and merchants to travel between Calabar province and Waltham province was only 5 or 6 miles away, so this place was the unofficial headquarters for bandit activity in the region.
Bandits would usually rob small timers or innocent travelers and leave the big merchants or people who look like they might have some kind of esteemed background, the backlash if they overstepped their mark with these people would certainly be heavy handed.
The Bandits operating in the region knew that if either province dispatched experts to suppress them, it would cause lengthy disruptions to their operations or even losses of lives to them and their comrades so there was an unannounced and unofficial understanding between officials from both provinces and the undesirables in the cosmos region.... until now.
Recently merchants traveling on the main road have been attacked and killed or have gone missing along with their goods worth thousands of gold. After a spate of incidences like these the Baron of the province had ordered missions with hefty rewards for the eradication and dismantling of the bandit operation.
It was spiraling into a big issue because the people being robbed and killed were big contributors to the economy of the Waltham province, merchants had to be confident that the people they are paying taxes to can safeguard their lives and their investments or they would start new business ventures in other parts of the region where they felt safer.
The Baron knew that if the merchants stopped doing business or relocated to somewhere else it would leave a economic hole to be refilled by other merchants, but convincing new merchants to start businesses would be impossible if the old ones were killed at will by lawless bandits en-route to delivering their goods and services.
Merchants were greedy people by nature but even greedy people needed their lives more than money, so they would try to find a place where they could keep both their lives and their money....
There was a black haired youth about 1.8 meters tall making his way towards the Cosmos regions, his hair was tied backwith a simple piece of string, he wore grey loose robes looking neither haughty nor thrifty.
On a trail flattened by regular foot traffic with the trees on both sides swimming in dense foliage that could hide a possible ambush, the youth was mounted on a black horse as it canteredat a moderate pace moving northwards.
The sun had just dipped behind the horizon bringing a hint of darkness to the already gloomy region but he was almost at his destination.
Hartley had dealt with several small fries trying to rob him of his possessions on his journey, but they had been dispatched easily enough.
Hartley finally pulled up to the make-shift town which was very lively. Even at this early hour drunken men staggered through the street ranting at passing people, shady characters were trying to fence merchandise that were obviously stolen and random fights broke out between several people making the ambient sounds of the make-shift town a chaotic mix of screaming and arguing happening everywhere.