Devil's Rise 98 A Cat's Boat Interlude

In a sweatshop factory were many halflings all dressed similarly in white and brown dog suits. Next to their work area lay a kennel with various breeds of dog running about.

"Dogga Logga, Do-om-pte doo

We have a perfect puzzle for you

Dogga Logga, Do-om-pte dee

If you are wise you will listen to me

What do you get when you guzzle down treats?

Eating as much as that d.a.m.n cat eats.

What are at getting terribly fat?

What do you think will come of that?

I don't like the look of that

Dogga Logga, Dom-om-pte daa

If you're not greedy, you will go far.

You will live in happiness too,

Like the dogga logga Dom-om-pte doo."

Sung the dogga loggas as they worked tirelessly in the sweat shop singing to the kennel.

~~~

"Meow, A s.h.i.+ny spent today begets s.h.i.+nies tomorrow," said Jurrath as lectured Alura over the cat lord way of life.

"Meow, The best s.h.i.+nies are all of them," he continued to tell Alura as she eagerly jotted every word spoken from him like they were pure gold.

Times had been quite well at Jurrath Mart or J-Mart for short. With Alura's a.s.sistance they quickly expanded into several business ventures. Jurrath had an expert management system and everything for dealing with tradesmen.

No longer was the shop called the Soulless Blacksmith Shop. Jurrath had quickly done away with that name when left to his own devices. Now the blacksmith shop, if you can even call it that anymore, was called J-Mart. There were many types of businesses and trades cannibalized by the greedy feline over the past five years.

He had created a monopoly within the small city consisting of everything the halfling's needed. Sadly, Osmin was powerless against the tyrannical feline. When he came to try to stop the greedy cat in his tracks, to protect the halfling way of life, he found himself running around the city as a dog for over a month. From then on J-Mart expanded uninhibited.

Jurrath had merged all the local businesses into J-Mart, an enormous retail shop where you could find just about anything at a cheap price. J-Mart was a whole different beast than the initial blacksmith shop. Jurrath wanted 'all the s.h.i.+nies' as he put it, so he out priced the compet.i.tion.

The tradesmen that didn't join J-Mart found themselves priced out of the market, unable to find a single buyer for their goods. Those that fought back and protested against this tyranny found themselves sent to the kennel for 're-education'.

Begrudgingly, most of the halflings eventually joined J-Mart to work at a low salary. Workforce abuse was one of the tenants of the cat lord's way of life. He dressed the halflings up like dogs and worked them just as hard. Jurrath named his new s.h.i.+ny printing workforce the Dogga Loggas.

Jurrath had acc.u.mulated many s.h.i.+nies during his long life, so it was quite easy for him to buyout the minor cities industries from all the halflings. A simple matter, it was kittens play for him.

He was the plague of the halflings. They all worked 12-hour days just to make ends meet, and in the end their entire salary would go to purchasing things from J-Mart. It was a vicious cycle. Jurrath had turned Coalfell from a quaint prosperous city to his personal slave encampment. And no one voiced a word of discontent, because all that complained ended up in the kennel.

"This is the end of days," said Osmin as he sat in his new J-Mart office looking over his paperwork. Because of his experience, Osmin was given a management position within J-Mart. He tried to make life better for the halflings where he could. But there wasn't much he could do. The cat had many rules and regulations he had to follow to 'ensure maximum s.h.i.+ny output' as he called it.

Not even Mira came to the halfling's defense. Initially, she had thoughts of stopping the cat's oppression, but the amount of tributes coming from Coalfell had tripled ever since J-Mart was established. She eventually even personally thanked the cat for 'properly managing her territory'.

"Meow, Bring me the current paper," said Jurrath as he lay in his ordinate office dressed in a snazzy blue suit. He had gotten even fatter with no one to watch over him.

"Yes, cat lord," said Alura with gusto. Alura had learned much about the cat lord's way of life over the past few years. She was the cat lord's apprentice and most fevered supporter.

'Meow, I should buy a boat,' thought Jurrath as he looked over the newspaper. He was thinking about the expansion of his business empire. He had done all he could in the small city of Coalfell. The only way he could increase his s.h.i.+ny production was to expand the J-Mart brand to other cities.

Coalfell was a naval city, if he expanded his business to the seas there were even more s.h.i.+nies he could get his hands on. His paws would be filled with more and more s.h.i.+nies. J-Mart would be known across the seven seas!

"Meow, the entire Empire, no the entire Xertzul Abyss will shop at my J-mart," said Jurrath. The cat had bold plans in store for his J-Mart conglomerate.

"Meow, Alura, jot this down. To expand into other territories, we must first have customer focused advertising campaigns."

"Meow, Second off, we must have a focus on pricing controls, mainly by purchasing and selling low-cost goods."

"Meow, and thirdly we must build warehouses that are close to our stores, thereby making it easy and cheap to distribute our wears," said the cat.

"Meow, Did you get everything my young apprentice?."

"Yes, cat lord. I have noted everything down," said Alura.

"Meow, as for J-Mart culture, there are several things you must remember. All employees must be paid little to nothing. Overtime is required, but never accompanied by extra wages. Our managers are the core proprietors of our shops culture. They must know how to pinch s.h.i.+nies wherever possible," said the cat.

���Meow, Our number one goal is to keep prices for the consumers as low as possible, we make up for this low price by sheer volume. When everyone buys at J-Mart all the s.h.i.+nies belong to me. It didn't take long to turn Coalfell into a J-Mart city. J-Mart will soon break and tame every city we make a move on."

"Meow, bring in Osmin."

"Yes, cat lord," said Alura as she went off to grab the halfling manager from his tiny office.

'd.a.m.ned Soulless how could you leave such a malevolent beast here in our small city,' thought Osmin as he headed to the belly of the beast, the cat lord's office which used to belong to him. He could only imagine the order that would come down from the cat lord today. This cat was a true menace, much worse than Soulless on his best day.

Soulless simply came for their firstborn, but this beast wanted their entire society to serve at his beck and call. Osmin was furious that the halfling way of life would end in his hands. He had let down his entire society, but not even his dark mistress would protect him from the cat.

"Meow, Osmin I will purchase your Sea Merchant Empire. J-Mart must expand past Coalfell, into other cities," said the cat as he brought out many s.h.i.+nies.

"Absolutely not, the seas are the last bastion of halfling freedom. If we give up our s.h.i.+ps all of us will have no choice but to work tirelessly to serve you!" said Osmin. He would be defiant to his last breath. He could not let the halflings become the playthings of this cat.

"Meow, I don't negotiate with dogs," said Jurrath as he starred at Osmin coldly.

Sweat crept along Osmin's back. He remembered vividly the last time he had become a dog. That was the worse experience of his life. It was beyond degrading, to parade around as a dog in front of his fellow halflings. No more would he be subject to such brutality. He had an image to keep up!

"Yes, yes, we can discuss the sale of my Sea Merchant Empire. But you must give us halflings a way to prosper cat lord," said Osmin, as he quickly become subservient to the cat menace. It was his last chance to fish for benefits for the halflings. If their way of life was ending, at least they should have some type of a.s.surance with this new regime.

"Meow, As long as you are under this cat lord you will prosper. If you follow me wholeheartedly, I promise a halfling will have a manager posting in all the new J-Mart branches we erect in new towns for the next few years," said the cat as he pushed forward the s.h.i.+nies.

"Yes, cat lord. Your wisdom is unending and your greed knows no bounds," said Osmin as he took the s.h.i.+nies and ran.

"Meow, I bought a boat!" said Jurrath as he looked over the t.i.tle's of his new s.h.i.+ps.