Chapter 43: Stockpiling
The day after Astrid left, Violet began stockpiling on a massive scale.
Not buying. Trading. She used the next three months' water rights as collateral. Traded with the Frost Claw Tribe for thirty sacks of salt. With the Frost Wolf Clan for two hundred hides. With the Ironwood Tribe for fifty iron long blades. Every transaction was recorded on a debt note. The notes stated clearly: repaid after the beast tide. If unable to repay, equivalent value in grain or trade route shares would compensate.
When Hagen delivered the salt, he stood at the granary door and stared for a long time. "You're piling up all this stuff. When the beast tide comes, you won't be able to take it with you."
"What can't be taken, others can't take either. Burned. Smashed. Gnawed by wolves. All the same. But if we don't stockpile, when the beast tide comes, we won't even have anything to burn."
Hagen didn't ask further. After he left, Eve arrived. She brought three carts of pelts. Not to trade for water. A gift.
"A gift for me?" Violet asked.
"Last time you drew the boundary between Frost Claw and Frost Wolf. That crossed-out account—I remember it." Eve unloaded the pelts from the carts and stacked them beside the salt store. "These pelts are enough to make five hundred leather armor pieces. Fifty for the Self-Defense Force. One for each. And extra."
Violet crouched down and felt the pelts. Thick. Hard. Resistant to biting. Thorn Wolf fangs couldn't pierce through.
"Where did you get so many?"
"The Ice Wolf Clan gave them. Ulric said his wolves shed their winter coats. Fur everywhere. Mixed into the pelts during tanning. Sturdier than pure hide."
Violet stood and looked at the three carts of pelts. "Thank Ulric for me."
"Thank him yourself. He won't take messages from me."
Eve left.
Night. Violet sat on the steps outside her small house. The ledger spread before her. The expenditure column was filled to the brim. The income column held only a few entries. Money from selling water. Rent from trade routes. Tribute from each tribe. The deficit was like a snowball, rolling larger and larger.
Gray Ear lay at her feet. Moon Silver lay in her palm. Moon Silver's eyes still hadn't opened, but it could crawl now. Crawled fast. From her left hand to her right hand. From her right hand to her shoulder. From her shoulder to the top of her head. Violet took it down from her head and placed it back in her palm.
"You crawl so fast and your eyes aren't even open. Not afraid of falling to your death?" Moon Silver ignored her and kept crawling.
Leon walked over and sat beside her. He held a newly forged short blade in his hand. Made by the blacksmith. The hilt was wrapped with anti-slip hemp cord. The sheath was Gray Rock Tribe leather.
"For you." He placed the blade on her knee.
"I have a blade."
"The one you use is borrowed from Gray Bone. This one is yours."
Violet drew the blade. The edge gleamed cold in the moonlight. The sharpened bevel was honed very fine. She could see her own eyes in it.
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"Because your old blade chipped. When you killed wolves yesterday, you stabbed three. The third one didn't go through. The edge jammed in bone."
Violet sheathed the blade and placed it beside her. "Thank you."
"No need for thanks."
The two of them sat watching the moon. The moon was curved, like a blade not yet sharpened. In the distance, patrols moved on the city wall. Torchlight flickered across the stones.
"Astrid came today." Violet said.
"I know."
"She said Water City won't last two months."
"Do you believe her?"
"I do."
"Then you're still stockpiling?"
"Stockpiling. If I don't, we won't last one month."
Leon said nothing. He picked up the short blade, then set it back down.
"Tomorrow I'm going to Silver Spring." Violet said.
"To do what?"
"Find Astrid. Make her move the grain stores from Silver Spring's granary here."
"Will she agree?"
"She will. She doesn't want to lose."
The next day, Violet rode to Silver Spring. She didn't enter through the main gate. She took the drainage ditch beneath the eastern wall. The stones were still loose. She moved them aside and crawled in. Crept a dozen steps through the dark ditch. Emerged from the other end. Behind Silver Spring's granary.
Astrid was checking the ledgers. When she saw Violet emerge from behind the granary, the brush in her hand nearly dropped.
"Where did you crawl out from?"
"The drainage ditch."
"That ditch is still open?"
"Still open."
Astrid set down her brush and crossed her hands on the desk. "What are you here for?"
"Borrow grain."
"Borrow how much?"
"Thirty percent. Thirty percent of the stored grain in your granary."
Astrid stared at her. "Do you know how much thirty percent is?"
"I do. Enough for Water City to eat for two months."
"And after two months?"
"The beast tide will have come. If it comes, no need to repay. If it doesn't, I'll repay you."
Astrid was silent for a moment. She stood and walked to the granary door. Opened it. Inside, grain sacks were piled high, from the floor all the way to the rafters.
"Thirty percent. Move it yourself. When you're done, seal up the drainage ditch. I don't want anyone else crawling in from there."
Violet stood and walked to the granary door. Looked at the pile of grain sacks. "Aren't you afraid I won't repay?"
"I am. But if you don't repay, Water City is gone. If Water City is gone, Silver Spring is gone too. And I won't be able to repay what I owe you."
"You don't owe me."
"I owe you a life. When you pushed me off the cliff—no. When I pushed you off the cliff, I owed you a life. When I let you go, I owed you a life. Two accounts. Can't settle them anymore."
Violet said nothing. She walked into the granary and began moving the grain sacks.
Night. Violet returned to Water City with three carts of grain. Gray Bone led men to unload the sacks and stack them in the granary. Astrid's grain, Hagen's salt, Eve's pelts, the blacksmith's blades, Shadow Clan's medicine. All piled together. The granary was full. The salt store was full. The warehouses were full. But the deficit in the ledger was higher than the grain piles.
Violet stood at the granary door and looked at all the heaped supplies. Gray Ear lay at her feet. Moon Silver lay in her palm.
"Enough?" Leon's voice came from behind.
"Not enough. When the beast tide comes, all this won't even fill the gaps between teeth."
"Then what?"
"Keep stockpiling."
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End of Chapter Forty-Three
She borrowed Astrid's grain and filled Water City's warehouses. Salt. Pelts. Blades. Medicine. Everything needed. But the deficit in the ledger is higher than the grain piles. Astrid said they wouldn't last two months. She said, then last two months. When the beast tide comes, no need to last anymore. Moon Silver's eyes still haven't opened, but it crawls faster and faster. From her palm to her shoulder. From her shoulder to the top of her head. Gray Ear lies in the doorway. His ears swivel. The northern sky flashes again. The beast tide is coming soon.