Riana shared a speaking look with Ash. In other words, they were already short on farmland and it was just a matter of time until food ran out.
“Troi,” Edvard’s voice was mild, “are you saying we’re at a critical level now?”
“We will be by the end of fall, yes. The only reason why we’re fine for the moment is because we’re not trying to feed people for a whole year and we’re supplementing our diet with the fresh catch from the channel. Without that, we would already be in trouble.”
Ash cleared his throat. “I take it that I need to start clearing land for farmland immediately.”
“I think it would be best if you do, Ash,” Edvard agreed. “I’ll get contracted farmers over there as soon as I can find them.”
“Even if you do, there’s not much you can harvest or plant in the winter months.” Towan did not sound pleased by this conversation. “In fact, isn’t it only vegetables?”
The look on Ash’s face said that he clearly didn’t know. Riana was surprised by this. How could the man not know what food was available? Then she realized that there was dead silence on the other end. They didn’t know either?!
Well. Apparently she did need her voice for this meeting after all. “Ah, begging pardon, but I know the answer?”
“Riana,” Edvard sounded amused, “why am I not surprised by that? Alright, what can we grow in winter?”
“Well, there be several things that you can grow all year. Leeks, chard, spinach, kale, they grow all year long and be no’ fazed by a mild winter. Onions, now, they grow best if planted at the start of the year. Lettuce too. Peas grow best in winter, just plant them as the air gets a cold snap to it.” She ran through a list of what she’d had planted in their home garden, seeing if she had missed anything. “Ah, and potatoes. They can be planted beginning of the year, or thereabouts, and harvested about three months later.”
Ash turned to give her a bemused look. “I’m sorry, what was that last one?”
“A potato?” she responded slowly. What was that look on his face for? Come to think of it, she hadn’t had a single one since coming into Estole. Was it not a food that they grew down here?
Her father must have realized in the same moment what she had, as he drawled, “Well, now, I can see by yer faces ye have no idea what she be talking about. A potato is a tuber, about as big as a man’s hand, brown on the outside, white on the inside. It be easy to grow, easier to eat. Man can fry ’em, boil ’em, mash ’em, mix them in with soups and things. Good eating, it be.”
“Are they a vegetable too?”
“Aye, I suppose they be that. But they be filling, as filling as bread be.”
“And they’re as filling as bread is…” Edvard trailed off, tone thoughtful. “Towan was right, it’s mostly vegetables that we can grow in winter, and not the sort that we can survive on. Winter game will be scarce, and it’ll be hard to fish in the channel as it will likely ice over. Even if we plant things, we’ll not be able to completely offset a lack of filling foods. Potatoes will help significantly, if we can plant enough of them.”
“We can hunt now, store up meats,” Riana pointed out. “Vegetables might be sold as quick as a farmer can put them on the table, but the meats be a different story.”
Captain Bragdon hummed a note of approval. “That is a very good point, Miss Riana. I have a few men in my district that are hunters. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Edvard, perhaps we can employ these men?”
“I don’t see why not. And Riana is right, storing up meat now will help us during the winter. Provosts, start gathering hunters and send them to Riana. She’s no doubt already figured out where the best hunting spots are.”
“Only a few,” she responded modestly.
Ash quirked an eyebrow. “And when did you do that?”
“I been following ye about for hours now in these woods,” she pointed out dryly. “What do ye think I been looking at while ye mutter spells to yerself?”
Her wizard found this funny. His eyes crinkled up in a silent laugh. “Point.”
To the caller, she said, “Ye send them to me, I will point them in the right directions.”
“Good enough for me. Now, about these potatoes. Are you both sure that it’ll be a good source for food?”
“Aye,” Broden said firmly.
“Then let’s clear two fields and plant them as well. Ah, assuming we can find them?”
“They grow wild up here,” Riana assured him. “I can ferret them out.” Perhaps not enough to plant two field’s worth, but cleared land could always be filled with something plantable.
“Really,” Edvard said in a tired voice, “I think that’s all we can do. If we plant as much as we can, and store up as much as we can, we’ll be able to scrape through the winter and early spring. Long enough for us to start planting and harvesting summer crops, at least. And surely we won’t be in this situation again come the next winter, not knowing how big our population is and being able to adjust for it.”
Riana personally thought that last bit was wishful thinking. Life was never predictable to plan that far ahead, not in her experience, leastways.
Edvard got his ‘king’ voice on as he directed, “For now, ration the food. Not severely, just enough to where we can keep everyone fed without straining ourselves. Riana, find me these potato plants of yours. Ash, clear more fields. Provosts, find me hunters and farmers and send them to Riana. Ashlynn, find places we can store food and prep it with the right spells so that the food doesn’t spoil.”
“I was wondering if you’d thought of that. I’ll do it, Edvard, but be warned—space is at a premium right now. We’re already going to have to find buildings to use for making the new currency. I’ll need at least three warehouses in order to store enough food to feed a country. Even one as small as ours.”
“Space is not a premium over here,” Ash pointed out. “I’ll have someone start building warehouses.”
Riana counted up the things that Ash was in charge of doing and frowned. The math didn’t add up in her head. He was already supposed to clear more land, and finish putting in a marketplace, and finish the butcher shop, and find gold and silver to mine, and start the mines so that people could work in them, and now he was supposed to build warehouses to store food in?
Did the man plan to sleep in the near future? Eat? Bathe? Breathe?
“I think we have a plan. Any objections? None? Good. Then, move. Ash, before you leave, give me an update on what has been done.”
Ash ran him through the basics of what had been accomplished in the time they’d been there. Riana only listened with half an ear as she laid out a mental timeline. No, no matter how she thought about it, Ash had simply taken on too much at once. He was near exhaustion as it was and he was still taking on more. In Riana’s opinion, he needed Ashlynn, but she couldn’t be spared from Estole right now. It was only her magical influence that kept the city under control.
They really did need to go scouting for other magicians.
Four hunters arrived the next morning on the very first boat they could launch. The sun was barely up; for that matter, Riana was barely up. She was dressed, and sitting in front of her fire, enjoying a hot bowl of porridge when they came off the docks and made a beeline for her.
It no longer surprised her that people now recognized her on sight in Estole. All they had to do was look for a young woman with flaming red hair, and odds were, it was her. She’d seen few redheads in this new country.
The four men coming toward her just had that look of an outdoorsman. They all were in cotton shirts and pants, leather vests and rawhide boots, caps over their heads to combat the morning sun. Two of them had skin as black as pitch, eyes a golden brown. It took her aback as she had rarely seen that color of skin before. The only other person she’d met was Zorich, whose parents were originally from Vian. He bore a striking resemblance to these men. Were these recent newcomers to Estole?
“Riana Ravenscroft?” one of them hazarded.<
br />
“That be me,” she returned, setting her bowl aside.
He held out a hand, what might have been a smile turning up the corners of his moustache. “Carhart’s the name. I greet you.”
The men behind him jostled and greeted her in quick succession. “Roskin,” this was a younger man, with the air of a young husband and father, “I greet you.”
“Weston,” one of the Vianian men said, teeth a blinding white against his skin, “I greet you.”
“Orba,” the other Vianian greeted her with a hand that could make two of hers. Really, in spite of being from the same place and race, the two men didn’t look a thing alike. His face was wider, nose thicker, and more muscular than the other man. “I greet you, Riana Ravenscroft.”
“May harmony find ye,” she returned to all of them, finally getting a word in edgewise. “Well, now. Have ye thought to take breakfast?”
Orba found this question amusing. “We’re ready to go now, Miss Riana. But we’ll let you finish yours.”
“Generous of ye,” she drawled, which made him chuckle. “Alright. Let me find me wizard.” Sidestepping the fire, she poked her head into Ash’s tent. No, wasn’t there. She hadn’t thought he was, as it was dead quiet in there, but when exactly had he disappeared on her? Heavens, come to think of it, what time did the man rise that he was up before she was?
Shaking her head, she drew back out and scooped up her bowl. “Never mind. Sit yerselves, gentlemen, and tell me what game ye like to hunt best.”
They sat and talked, and she got a feel for what areas they needed to be in. The youngest of the bunch, Roskin, was more of a snare man. Rabbit was his game, and squirrel, and things of that ilk. He cheerfully admitted that he couldn’t reliably hit the broad side of a barn but there wasn’t a creature he couldn’t trap.
The other three were more traditional in that—they liked to ambush their prey and take in larger game. So after she finished her breakfast, and gave the bowl a quick rinse, she led them out of the encampment and through the settlement.
As they walked, the men looked about them with open admiration, sometimes letting out a low whistle.
“You’ve been busy,” Carhart observed, turning and walking backwards a few steps so as to get a better look at something. “I knew there were streets in, and some buildings, but this is more than I expected. It almost looks like a proper town. How many streets?”
“Five streets laid.”
Roskin pointed off to the far right. “The new city will go that direction?”
“No,” she corrected with a shake of the head, “that be cleared for farmland. We be dreadful short of cleared land in Estole, and if we do no’ plant now, there be no’ enough to eat in a month or three. So that over there be for planting. If we need more room for people, it be straight ahead we go.”
“Is that right.” Roskin frowned in that direction. “I knew we were short on food, that was explained to us, but is it really going to happen that soon?”
“Aye, at the rate people be coming in. So gentlemen, look sharp and if ye know of any others that be huntsmen, and want to work here, then tell me. We need all hands.”
“We’ll do so,” Orba promised from behind her. She glanced back and the expression on his face made her think that he already had someone in mind. Mayhap several someones.
“Also, be on the lookout for bandits or any signs of them,” she cautioned.
“Sheriff warned us of it,” Roskin assured her. “At the first sign, we’ll come running back to warn you. Don’t you worry.”
They still had no sign of the bandits returning, so it was safe enough today, but Riana hoped they kept their wits about them as they went off. She had crops to worry about. Reminded of the fields that still needed to be planted, she brought them over to a crop of wild potatoes that she had found the night before. It was within throwing distance of the last street, and all she had to do was take ten steps away from the game trail to show them exactly what they were looking for. “Now, as ye be hunting, keep an eye out for these.” Kneeling, she lifted one of the stalks with a gentle hand. The dark green, wide leaves were easily discernable in the brush. It didn’t look like any other frond or plant in this forest, which was why it had been so easy for her to spot. “These be potatoes.”
Carhart and Roskin both looked clueless but Weston and Orba perked up with interest.
“Come again?” Roskin asked, puzzled.
“Potatoes,” Weston repeated, already kneeling next to her and working at the soil. “They’re a vegetable, and a good one. You can add it into soups, bake it, fry it, or even eat it raw. It’s good for filling a man’s stomach. I didn’t know they grow up here.”
“No surprise,” Riana observed as much to herself as anyone else, “as no one here knows a thing about them. Now, these be the ticket to feeding people in the early spring, if we can find enough to plant. So keep a sharp eye out for ’em. Dig ’em up careful-like and bring back what ye can find.”
Weston and Orba seemed content with a look, but then, they were familiar with the plant already. Carhart and Roskin both broke off a part of the stalk to take with them so that they had something to compare it to.
Satisfied that part of her job was done, she pushed her way up to her feet and turned back toward the forest. “Now. Follow me and I will show ye what places seem the best for game.”
Chapter Ten
Broden had a thief’s arm bent behind his back, face smashed up against an unyielding wall, when heard Tant excitedly calling, “BRODEN! SHERIFF!”
“Mite busy here, Tant!” Broden called back, not looking away from the thief in his grasp. This was a wily one. He had already spent three hours chasing the man down and he was not going to repeat that helter-skelter experience, thank ye very much.
Ashlynn was the one that had her hands free, although they were currently pressed up against her heart as she struggled to catch her breath. “What is it, Tant?”
Tant skidded to a stop, face flushed from his mad sprinting. “I have good news and why aren’t you responding to your caller, Sheriff?”
“Didn’t hear it,” she replied.
Broden snorted. The callers were not that loud to begin with, and if you were chasing after a criminal, the noise of the chase would cover the caller completely. The twins had been tinkering with the callers for weeks now and had figured out how to extend their reach, but not how to increase the volume. Hopefully they hit a breakthrough soon.
“Good news?” Ashlynn prompted.
“A priest has arrived.”
Broden’s and Ashlynn’s head snapped up and they demanded in unison, “What?!”
“A priest arrived, not ten minutes ago, at North Gate. He said he’s here to be the priest for Estole if we need one.”
There was no ‘if’ about it. Broden turned his head enough to command, “Tant, come take this fool and do something about him.”
Tant immediately laid hands on the man even as he asked, “Crime?”
“Theft. We be reporting the details later, but for now, lock him up.”
“Understood, sir. Come on, you.” With a firm grip on him, Tant marched the thief away.
Ashlynn was already striding for North Gate as fast as she could, considering she was still winded and had a stitch in her side. “Why would we suddenly get a priest now?”
“Mayhap one developed a conscience?” Broden offered, keeping pace with her easily. What with all of the chasing after criminals they’d done in the past several months, Ashlynn’s stamina had improved, but he was able to boast that his was still better. He took pride in that, considering he was almost twice her age. “Edvard always said if we could find a priest that revered their god more than their king, we would have one for Estole.”
“And we all agreed, but we’ve been searching for months without any luck and suddenly one arrives on our doorstep? I’m dying to hear the story on this one.”
Broden had to agree.
They were not far from North G
ate so it took them barely ten minutes to get there. When they arrived, Marissa Allen was standing off to the side speaking to a man in the pure grey-blue robes of the Goddess Regina, mother of healing, crafting, and motherhood. Broden blew out a secret breath upon seeing that color. If there was any god’s blessings that he felt Estole needed most, it was Regina’s. Either that or Macha, the god of sovereignty and war.
Ashlynn slowed down to a more sedate walk, partially to avoid looking like she had hurried over here. It gave Broden a few moments to study the priest openly without being caught staring. Looks-wise, there was not much to him. Hawkish nose, thinning hair, small frame, he looked more like a money exchanger than a priest.
Marissa spotted them and waved a hand before speaking to the priest. Broden was just close enough to catch part of her words. “—Sheriff of Estole and her partner, Broden Ravenscroft. We have to report to them when anyone comes in, you see.”
“In these troubled times, daughter, I quite understand.” The priest turned and gave them a slight bow and genteel smile. “Greetings and blessings upon you.”
Ashlynn extended a hand, which he took in a gentle grip. “I greet you. I’m Ashlynn Fallbright, Sheriff of Estole.”
“My name is Anthony Graff, and I am a priest of Regina. May harmony find you, Sheriff.”
Broden also extended a hand, which the man reciprocated with a firmer grip. “Broden Ravenscroft, yon lass’s partner.”
Graff’s smile lifted the corners of his eyes into crinkles. “A wizard-partner is a rare thing to have. You are blessed indeed, Sheriff.”
“On days like today I especially am thankful,” she told him.
Broden, knowing she was referring to that three-hour chase, grinned at her. Of course Marissa and Graff had no idea what she meant so gave her slightly confused smiles.
“Well, Priest Graff, I am very surprised to see you here.” Ashlynn offered him a chance to go into the guard house, which he took, and followed her into seats next to a cold brazier. “We’ve been sending out letters and requests for a priest for a month without any response whatsoever.”
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