Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (9 page)

Riana sat at Ash’s side, listening to the meeting. So far,
she hadn’t a comment to make that someone else didn’t voice, and she was
content to just listen as things played out. The money issue had been settled
far faster than she’d expected it to be. But then, there were people who had
seen the warning signs and were already planning ahead.

Pity of it was, no amount of forethought or research could
solve a shortage of food.

“Someone run me through the numbers exactly. How short
are we going to be?”
Edvard requested.

It was Troi, Master of Spies and Fount of All Knowledge,
that answered.
“I’ve made a prediction based on the number of people we’re
getting every week. It takes, roughly, an acre to feed one person for a year.
Right now we have a population of twelve thousand, one hundred, and
twenty-two.”

“That number exactly?”
Tierone asked in surprise.

“That was the count I had three days ago, when I checked
our logs. It’s probably gone up by then. If I may continue? Supporting that
number is not quite four thousand acres of developed farmland.”

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.

“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.”