Chapter Fifteen
The Ardiaei tribes had, for centuries past, used barter to facilitate their commerce. Trading salt, barley, and onions for cattle, goats, chick peas, and dates.
This system worked well enough, but there was always a great deal of haggling over the value of particular items in relation to the commodity on offer for trade.
There were a few odd coins in circulation, but they were more curious trinkets, rather than being seen as money.
In fact, the theory of money was beyond their understanding. Bags of salt or a mooing milk cow had obvious value. If commodities could not be traded away for some other useful product, then they could be consumed: a small piece of metal couldn’t be eaten.
When the Seventh made camp, whether for one night on the trail or a few days to rest th
