Chapter 27: The Beast Tide Assembly
Eleven days after Seraphina left, Violet stood in the central square of Water City. A massive hide map lay spread before her.
She had spent three sleepless nights drawing it. From the frozen earth of the Ice Wolf Clan in the north to Silver Spring's granary in the south. From the Ironwood Tribe's mines in the east to the Shadow Clan's woodlands in the west. Six trade routes. Four wells. Three mineral veins. Two granaries. All marked. At the center of the map, a red line coiled downward from the wasteland east of Thornveil Gorge like a serpent of blood.
"Beast tide." Violet pointed at the red line. "Within two months, a large-scale beast migration will emerge from the wasteland east of Thornveil Gorge. Heading south. Its inevitable path runs through the gorge east of Water City."
Six people stood in the square.
Hagen wore a hide coat washed pale. In his hand he gripped a salt staff. Frost Claw Tribe custom. Important matters required leaning on a salt staff. Eve had draped a white wolf pelt over her shoulders. Her lips pressed into a thin line. The nails of her left hand dug into the back of her right. The shaman crouched on the ground. Three beast bones laid before him. He muttered under his breath. The blacksmith was the most direct. He pulled a newly forged long blade from his belt, drove the tip into the earth, and rested both hands on the hilt. Astrid stood at the very edge, wearing a new gray hide coat. The silver brooch pinned at her collar.
The last was Ulric. He arrived late by the time it took to brew a cup of tea. Offered no apology. Drove his bone blade into the ground, sat on a stone block, and crossed one leg over the other.
Violet swept her gaze across them. Six people. Six expressions. Hagen serious. Eve nervous. The shaman muttering mysteries. The blacksmith cold and hard. Astrid distant. Ulric dismissive.
She didn't care. She only needed their soldiers.
"The scale of the beast tide?" Hagen spoke first. His salt staff tapped the ground. "How many heads?"
"I don't know. No specific numbers. No less than 'enough to blot out the sky.'"
"How many is enough to blot out the sky?" The blacksmith asked.
"Enough to trample Water City flat three or four times."
Silence. Eve pulled the white wolf pelt tighter around herself.
Ulric let out a short laugh. "You've seen a beast tide? You've fought a war? How many wolves have you killed?"
"One. Thornveil Gorge. One."
"One." Ulric laughed aloud, yellow teeth bared. "I've killed three hundred. Do you know what three hundred looks like?"
Violet looked at him. "You've killed three hundred. Your tribe still lacks water."
Ulric's smile froze on his face. His fingers tapped twice on the bone blade's hilt. His lips moved, but in the end he said nothing more.
"Continue." Violet opened another hide beside her. "The military distribution of each tribe. I've roughly calculated. Frost Claw can field one hundred warriors. Frost Wolf one hundred twenty. Shadow Clan eighty. Ironwood one hundred fifty. Silver Spring two hundred. Ice Wolf Clan one hundred fifty. Combined—"
"Wait." Eve cut her off. "How do you know Frost Wolf can field one hundred twenty?"
"Last autumn during the deer hunt, you counted heads. One hundred twenty-three men. Ages sixteen to fifty."
Eve's mouth opened and closed. "You even kept that count?"
"I kept it."
Astrid walked over from the very edge. She looked down at the map. "My Silver Spring fields two hundred. You've overcounted. Silver Spring only has one hundred eighty who can fight."
"Last time at the Trade Market, you said you were bringing three hundred."
"That was to scare you. Did I scare you?"
Violet glanced at her. "No."
The corner of Astrid's mouth lifted. She stepped back to the edge and said nothing more.
Hagen's salt staff tapped the ground twice more. "You're proposing we combine every tribe's soldiers under your command?"
Violet raised her head and looked at him. "Yes."
The air in the square seemed to drain away. No one spoke. Even the shaman stopped muttering. Eve's nails dug into the back of her hand, leaving red marks. The blacksmith pulled his blade tip from the earth and drove it back down. Three times he repeated this. Astrid looked down and stared at her silver brooch. Ulric uncrossed his legs.
Hagen was silent for a long time. His salt staff traced a circle on the ground. "Frost Claw Tribe can send men. But on one condition. Water City's water must supply Frost Claw first."
Violet nodded. "That can be discussed."
"Not discussed. A condition." Hagen's voice was hard.
Eve followed immediately. "Frost Wolf will send men too. But the profit share from the trade routes must rise from ten percent to twenty."
The shaman finally stood. He pulled a handful of dried herbs from his coat and placed them on the map. "Shadow Clan can contribute. But after the beast tide, Water City's medicine trade. Shadow Clan wants thirty percent."
The blacksmith pulled his long blade from the earth. The tip pointed toward Violet. "I want nothing. I want you to prove you can fight first. You've fought a war, I'll follow. You haven't, my soldiers won't be handed to you."
Ulric stood from his stone block. He walked to the front of the map and looked down at the red line. "I want nothing either. I only want one thing. Overall command. I'll take it."
Violet looked at him. "You'll take it?"
"You, a woman, how many battles have you fought? I've fought twenty years. You can keep accounts. You can't fight."
"You've fought twenty years. Your tribe still lacks water."
Ulric's face darkened. This was the second time she had shut him down. The veins on his fingers bulged where he gripped the bone blade's hilt. "Say that again."
"Say it however many times, it's the same. You lack water. I have water. You want to be overall commander, first ask your own men if they agree. Your men drink my water in the east of the city. You pound the table in front of me. Who do you think they'll stand with?"
Ulric stared at her. He was two heads taller than Violet. His shoulders twice as broad. He took one step forward. The sound of the bone blade pulled from the earth was loud. Gray Bone's hand went to his blade hilt. Leon stepped out from behind the crowd and stood at Violet's back. Ulric glanced at Leon. Glanced at Violet.
"You've got nerve." He drove the bone blade back into the ground, turned, and walked back to his stone block. Crossed his legs. "Fine. You tell me. Who takes overall command?"
"I do."
For the third time, the square fell silent.
Hagen's salt staff stopped tracing circles. Eve's nails stopped digging. The blacksmith's blade sat still in the earth. Astrid raised her head and looked at her.
"You?" Ulric snorted through his nose.
"Those who don't accept can leave now." Violet's voice wasn't loud, but every person heard it. "After you leave, Water City's water stops. Trade routes do not open. When the beast tide comes, defend your own territory yourselves. Those who can't hold—don't come looking for me."
No one left.
Hagen's salt staff tapped the ground once. "You as overall commander. Fine. But Water City's allocation rights. Frost Claw wants thirty percent."
"Twenty percent."
"Twenty-five."
"Twenty percent. No more than that."
Hagen stared at her. He put away his salt staff and leaned it behind him. "Twenty percent. Agreed."
Eve took half a step forward. "The trade route share—"
"Ten percent. No increase. You think it's too little, Frost Wolf doesn't have to participate. Guard your hunting grounds yourself. I'll guard Water City. When the beast tide comes and you can't hold, don't blame me for not giving you a chance."
Eve's lips pressed tight. She pulled the white wolf pelt off her shoulders. Then put it back on. "Ten percent. Agreed."
"Medicine. Thirty percent." The shaman said.
"Twenty percent."
"Twenty-five."
"Twenty percent. Eighty percent of Shadow Clan has never fought a war. What I need is your sorcery, not your soldiers. Twenty percent is enough to buy ten years of herb seeds."
The shaman gathered the beast bones from the ground and tucked them into his coat. "Twenty percent. Agreed."
The blacksmith pulled his long blade from the earth. The tip pointed at Violet. "I'll say it again. Prove you can fight. Then I'll follow."
"When the beast tide comes, you'll know whether I can."
"When the beast tide comes, it'll be too late. Dead men can't come back to life."
Violet stared at the blacksmith. "Your dead men can't come back either. So I'll make sure they live."
The blacksmith said nothing. He sheathed his long blade back at his waist.
Ulric was the last to stand. He walked to the map and tapped the red line with his finger. "You know why the Ice Wolf Clan's territory is called the Ice Wolf Plains?"
"Because you raise ice wolves."
"Correct. I have one hundred fifty warriors. And thirty ice wolves." Ulric's index finger thumped against his own chest. "The wolves answer to me. Your people answer to you. Your people plus my wolves—who do they answer to?"
"They answer to me. Your wolves answer to you. You answer to me."
Ulric smiled. Not the yellow-toothed, mocking smile. A smile Violet hadn't seen before. Teeth showed, but no sound came. "You've got real nerve."
"Do enough business, your nerve grows."
Ulric traced the red line again on the map. Red pigment stained his fingertip. He didn't wipe it off. With that red finger, he walked back to his stone block. "Overall command, you take it. Deputy command, I take."
"Accepted."
"Water City's water. The ice wolves get an extra one hundred barrels a day."
"Fifty."
"Eighty."
"Sixty. No more."
Ulric glanced at Hagen. Hagen turned his face away.
"Sixty. Agreed."
---
End of Chapter Twenty-Seven
Six people. Five voices. Four conditions. Thirty percent, twenty, ten, five. She calculated every piece. On the ledger, every stroke was signed and witnessed. But what she didn't calculate was this. The blacksmith didn't want proof. He wanted to be convinced. Ulric didn't want water. He wanted face. And the one who stood behind her never spoke a single word. The cracks aren't on the table. They're underneath it.