Winterfinding by Daniel Casey Page A

to
cannibalism. Or they are so desperate, they’re no better than
animals. They root around in garbage; they’re fortunate if they can
hunt sea birds, pigeons, or rats. My people are so twisted now that
you’d be hard pressed to see them as more than vermin.” Soren’s
voice rose and its timbre stuttered. His anger was choking him.
“Because the Spires coveted our position, coveted our contracts
with you. They want to wipe us out, watch us die and stand over our
corpse with their hand out to you like nothing
happened.”
    Qala placed her hand on her brother’s
shoulder. He shook her off violently but immediately came back to
himself. He reached out and the two held hands for a moment.
    Umma had seen enough. “That cannot be
allowed to happen.” She said flatly.
    “ And what can you do about
it?” Qala demanded. “This fleet no doubt terrifies them. You could
break The Blockade. Help us get back to our feet.”
    Umma shook her head, “We will not provoke
Silvincia.”
    “ They what good are you?
Why are you here? To watch us die and tsk tsk The Spires as you
take their coin and given them what they want?” Soren made no
attempt this time to temper his sister.
    “ We will assist you
through indirect means.”
    “ Such as?” Soren
asked.
    Umma began to peel away the grey cloth
around the object on the table. Both Soren and Qala watched hoping
to have revealed to them some mystical cure-all. But when Umma was
finished, all that sat on the console was a rock. Perhaps the
blackest object either had ever seen, it looked as though it had
the texture of charcoal but you could just make out some kind of
liquid sweating out of the thin lines of the stone.
    “ This is raw bithumin. At
the casual temperature, it appears like this. It is brittle but
profoundly hard. When it is heated, as you may well know, it
becomes more pliable. You Rikonese have done a fine job of
purifying our great resource.”
    “ I’ve never seen it like
that before.” Qala muttered.
    Soren nodded adding, “We only ever get it as
the thick slurry or ground powder.” He stared at the bithumin stone
then looked at Umma, “So this then?”
    “ This fleet is laden with
raw bithumin. We have decided to make a grand gesture and provide
your peoples with enough of our precious resource to last you in
Essia, Cassubia, and Silvincia for the next hundred
years.”
    “ We can’t afford this.”
Qala said. Confusion quickly overtook her anger.
    “ We know.”
    “ Then why bring it to
us?”
    “ They aren’t bringing it
to us.” Soren said quietly.
    “ What?” Qala
demanded.
    “ Quite right, acting Prime
Alder.” Umma continued, “We are presenting this to
Silvincia.”
    “ For what?” Qala shook her
head.
    “ For you.” Rava Din’s deep
voice startled Soren and Qala.
    “ You’re ransoming us?”
Qala looked horrified.
    “ Not exactly.” Umma
replied.
    “ We can’t pay that back.”
Soren shook his head.
    “ Can the Spires even
afford it? Even with The Cathedral backing them?” Qala
asked.
    “ We shall see.” Umma
covered the raw bithumin back up. She then took one of the small
glasses from the other console, submerged it in the milky liquid,
and held it out to Soren. “I have let the admiral know of our
offer. I offer to you, acting Prime Alder, not a truce or an
allegiance, but a promise…”
    Soren took the glass. Umma filled another
and gave it to Qala, and then she filled a third for herself. “A
promise that we shall do all we can to free your city and save your
people. Even though we will not raise arms against Silvincia or
speak ill of your precious faith.” Umma raised the glass and then
downed its contents with a flourish. Soren and Qala did the
same.
    Soren winced in pain and brought his hand to
his mouth to hold back his retching. Qala sworn, throwing the glass
down to the ground where it shattered. “By the Light, what was
that?” Qala spat several times, as Soren closed his eyes trying to
keep himself