Mirik the Lean was the avaricious brother-in-law of Gurthark the Stout
who lived in the Northlands. He owned a shop called "Mirik's" in
Accardi-by-the-Sea (which may only have been one of many such outlets).
He hired employees to run the shop in his stead. Although Mirik's
opinion of Gurthark was distastefully low, he was merciful enough to
grant him a lowly position in his merchantile firm.
Gurthark's
last venure of work for Mirik involved delivering a wagon-load of silk
coverlets to Mirik's Accardi merchantile store in the south (c. 957-966
GUE). Although Gurthark was lost to the currents of the Borphee River
and all but two of the quilts were burnt to ashes by one of Radnor's
curses, Ryker (who had been hired to guard the shipment), was able to
deliver the shipment to Accardi. Unfortunately, Mirik was already
furious that the shipments had been long overdue, and was even more
angered that most of them had been destroyed.