The Rainbow River Crossing Toll Schedule

The Rainbow River Crossing Toll Schedule governs passage across the Rainbow River into Unauwen, charging travelers according to how many times they have crossed. The tariff applies whether they use the bridge, a boat, or the water itself; inability to pay does not remove the obligation, though labor and an appeal to the toll lord offer other routes forward. In Tiuri and Piak’s case, an attempt to cross without paying leads to imprisonment, while a later negotiation secures passage without surrendering Edwinem’s ring. The schedule is therefore more than a list of prices: it is a system of access, enforcement, and royal authority at the river boundary.

Rates and Scope

At the crossing, a guard tells Tiuri and Piak that a first crossing costs three gold pieces each. The charge is not limited to the bridge: anyone going across by bridge, boat, or swimming owes toll. The river’s strong current makes swimming a dangerous alternative, but not a means of avoiding the fee. In this way, the rule follows travelers across the available routes rather than attaching only to a particular structure.

The price declines with repeated use. The first crossing costs three gold pieces, the second two, and the third one. The toll lord explains that a traveler who has crossed more than three times need not pay again. The schedule thus distinguishes newcomers from people who have made repeated journeys, reducing the charge over time and eventually ending it. The guards identify Tiuri and Piak as strangers and say they owe the first-crossing rate.

The bridge gives the policy a visible and guarded point of passage. One guard draws attention to its seven stone arches, spanning a powerful current, while two armed men patrol it. Toll servants also watch those who appear unable or unwilling to pay; the guards warn that surveillance will tighten if travelers try to evade the charge. The toll therefore operates through both a defined tariff and active control of the routes across the river.

Authority and Ways to Pay

The toll is collected by the toll lord with the permission of King Unauwen. The toll lord, rather than an individual guard, decides whether a traveler may cross without paying immediately. The guards direct Tiuri and Piak to him when they explain that they have only one small coin and must reach the other side. A traveler with a valid urgent reason can ask for permission to pass without payment; the guards recall a woman who was allowed through because her son was gravely ill across the river. That example establishes an appeal, not an automatic exemption: the decision belongs to the toll lord.

For travelers who cannot pay, work provides another means of meeting the charge. The toll lord’s land offers one gold piece for each week of labor, so three weeks of work would earn the amount due for a first crossing. The guards direct Tiuri and Piak to a nearby farm, where work is available. This arrangement presents the toll as payable through service as well as money, and the guards insist that poor travelers are not barred from Unauwen merely because they lack gold. Access remains conditional, however: without payment, work, or the toll lord’s permission, the travelers cannot cross.

Evasion, Detention, and Debt

Tiuri and Piak initially seek to avoid the fee. After accepting the prospect of farm work, they wait until midnight and make their way back toward the river in darkness. Their effort does not put them beyond the toll system. They are caught and imprisoned, and the resulting charge compounds the cost of crossing: the jailer says that three gold pieces must be paid to secure each friend’s release, with another three apiece still due for passage. Detention therefore creates a separate debt rather than satisfying or replacing the toll.

The toll lord later confirms that he does not cancel the penalty for attempting to cross without payment. He calculates that Tiuri and Piak owe six gold pieces for their crossings and another six for their release. The schedule’s enforcement can thus turn a failure to pay into a larger obligation, particularly for travelers who have no money at hand. Its formal alternatives—earning the fee through labor or seeking the toll lord’s decision—stand in contrast to the consequences of trying to bypass the crossing controls.

Edwinem’s Ring and the Granted Passage

To settle the charge and secure Piak’s release, Tiuri offers a valuable object in place of gold. The ring he presents belonged to Edwinem; its stone gives light in the dark. Tiuri had regarded it as something entrusted to his care, not as personal property to spend, but the importance of the message he carries makes him willing to offer it as payment. The toll lord recognizes the ring and challenges Tiuri’s right to give it away.

Tiuri cannot fully explain his mission, but he tells the toll lord that he encountered Edwinem and recounts what Ristridin told him about Edwinem’s flight from Eviellan. The toll lord returns the ring, reasoning that only the king should receive it. He nevertheless allows Tiuri to cross, on the condition that Tiuri promises to come back and pay what is owed. The outcome preserves the charge and the debt while making an exception to immediate payment: passage is granted through personal judgment and a promise, not by treating the toll as waived.

Historical Purpose and Political Meaning

The toll lord explains that the bridges were built to connect Unauwen with the outside world. In earlier times the Rainbow River marked the kingdom’s boundary, and people from the east crossed in hopes of reaching the far bank, willing to pay for passage. The river also served as a defensive line during dangerous periods, when invasions came from the north, east, and south. Toll lords then acted as guardians of the river and defenders of the heart of Unauwen.

Later, Unauwen’s rule extended to the Great Mountain Range, but the practice of charging those who crossed the river continued. The king appoints the toll lords, and the payment is presented as due to the king. The toll lord describes the tradition as likely to endure, even though he hopes the toll lords will not again need to become the strict defenders that earlier dangers required. The schedule consequently preserves an older border institution in a changed political geography: the river is no longer the kingdom’s outer limit, yet its bridges remain places where royal authority regulates movement. Tiuri and Piak’s passage shows both the force of that system and the discretion it leaves to the official empowered to administer it.