I had no choice but to hire workers from out of town.
Elmer, on the other hand, had it easy.
With a princess backing him up, he had leverage I didn't.
Workers were conscripted and forced to labor under his command.
But at two copper coins a month, people started fleeing before long.
Some disguised themselves as out-of-towners and came to work on my ship instead.
With no one left at the estate, the businesses under Princess Evelyn's name had no goods to move.
Elmer couldn't even put food on the table.
That was the day he showed up with soldiers.
All of them under Evelyn's authority.
He stared at my massive merchant vessel, a sneer curling his lips.
"Seize it."
I stepped in front of him.
"Brother, how can you be so unreasonable?"
He scoffed.
"If you hadn't been out here throwing money around and disrupting the market, the princess's businesses would never have failed!
"Buying loyalty with coin. You've dragged the Dickerson name through the mud!
"The only way to stop you from lining your own pockets is to hand all this cargo over to me."
He was about to give the order again. I blocked his path.
"Brother, this is my cargo. My business. You ran yours into the ground, so now you come to steal mine?"
"Steal?"
He sneered. "I'm simply purifying your soul, little brother. Do it."
"No!"
I scrambled to stop them.
Evelyn's voice cut through the air.
"Hold him down."
My men and I were slammed to the ground at the same time.
Every last bolt of goods I'd hauled all the way from the River Provinces was seized under Elmer's name.
He looked at the emptied ship and smiled coldly.
"Brother, why must you insist on working against me?"
I said nothing.
"Men, burn this ship. Make sure Andrew Dickerson never trades again."
"Yes, sir!"
"I dare you."
I smiled. "Raise the lantern."
A crewman yanked the cover off the lantern mounted on the bow.
Four words blazed in the sunlight: ROYAL TRIBUTE GOODS.
I rose to my feet.
Looked straight at Elmer's bloodless face.
"What nerve you have, brother.
"Stealing from the King himself."
