Chương 136: Chapter 133: The First Shipment.

I had given simple orders. I wanted word sent out to every newspaper in the entire city. There were forty-three of them, if one counted the ones that were truly small. The representatives of forty-three newspapers made for a small crowd. Naturally, I had assumed the crowd would end up a little larger than that. It was much larger. I stepped out of the tent and saw a sea of people stretching almost as far as the eye could see.

They crowded the open street in every direction, held back by Veyne guards and the city's four-armed Karr besides. It wasn't just humans either. I saw plenty of beastkin and even the occasional dwarf. That told me that this announcement had spread far wider than I had intended. So many gazes settled on me in that instant that they felt like a physical weight. It seemed that no matter what I did now, it would always draw a crowd. For a moment, I just stood there.

It was a silly thing to falter over, when I had wanted to make this a spectacle in the first place. Still, this did not come naturally to me, and perhaps it never would. Before, I had always braced myself for the crowd. At my core, I was still a girl who had spent one lifetime in one cramped little room.

"What the hell are you spacing out for?" Violet demanded. She stood near the edge of the raised podium, eyeing the crowd. She looked back at me and frowned. Violet was wearing armor. Literal armor. It was all red and black stripes, and when she moved, it moved with her. When or where she had gotten such a thing, I could only guess. She stepped toward me and pitched her voice low. Though, perhaps her voice only sounded quieter over the humming of the crowd.

"Don't see that snake bastard anywhere," Violet muttered.

"So... you ready?" I nodded.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Violet looked back at the crowd, then to me.

"Don't know how you do this shit," she murmured.

"Gives me the fucking creeps."

"I don't know either," I said. Then I smiled, just faintly.

"Besides, you should get used to it. They're your people, after all." And that part was true. We were not in the Veyne District. We were in Violet's. Specifically, we stood in a massive square that held one of the most important structures in the entire city. One of Aelheim's only two Farstep Circles. Currently, the Farstep Circle glowed a dim blue. That meant it was almost time. Estovan was not here on the raised stand. He would be standing at the edge of the Farstep Circle, waiting for the right signal.

Sere was nowhere to be seen, though I was sure she would be close. If I did not like these stares, then I could only imagine what she thought of them. Damian stood near the end of the podium, watching the crowd. He glanced at me once, nodded, and then turned back to it. I stepped forward to the podium, and the dull humming of the crowd dimmed. A thousand eyes stared at me and waited. The front two rows were all reporters with their Scrylens. I felt their prickling on my skin.

Dorothy was among them, near the center. That was good. She must have come very early indeed to claim that spot. Come to think of it, if there was any place for an invisible Sere to be, it was probably right next to her. I couldn't see my father. Wherever he was, he had kept himself well hidden. I couldn't see the Princess either, which was a relief. I looked out at the crowd one last time. At the faces near the front, and at the ones so far back they were little more than shapes.

Then I let mana flow into my voice, and I began.

"Citizens of Aelheim," I said.

"I wish to talk to you today. And I wish to do it plainly, because I dislike lying." The last of the humming died. There was only the wind now, and the faint blue thrum of the circle at my back.

"We live in one city with five minds." I raised my hand, fingers spread.

"We have House Thalos, in charge of the administrative affairs of all Aelheim." I folded one finger down.

"We have House Wardell, charged with policing one of the largest cities on this continent. Even now, their men stand among us, keeping the peace. I thank them for it." I folded a second finger. Somewhere along the barricades, I saw a few of the Watch stand a little straighter.

"We have House Indri, responsible for this city's Magical Engineering, and for its arcane research." I glanced back at Violet. She stood with her arms folded. I turned back before she could notice me noticing. I folded a third finger.

"We have House Greenward, responsible for seeing this city fed. For making certain that no man, woman, or child goes to sleep hungry." I put down a fourth finger.

"And then there is House Veyne." I gestured toward the distant grey line of the Great Wall.

"Responsible for protecting this city from the horrors that lie beyond its walls. I brought one of those horrors before you, not so long ago. You saw for yourselves that they are real." I lowered the last finger, and now I held up only a fist. There were more murmurs and mutters at that, as well they might. I had dragged back a literal dragon head after all. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"One city. Five minds." I lowered my hand.

"It is a difficult arrangement, and a far messier one than I have just described. I am sure everyone standing here today has their own experiences with it." Many of the people in the crowds nodded. Of course they did. Half the people in this square probably lived in one district and worked in another, and everyone knew what a particular nightmare that could be. Five minds, and every one of them wanted its due.

"It is a tenuous arrangement," I went on.

"Anywhere else -anywhere but Aelheim- a city built this way would have collapsed long ago. And yet Aelheim has stood for a hundred years." I paused.

"But an arrangement like ours can only succeed while the five minds think as one. And until recently... they did." I let the words hang. I counted three heartbeats, the way I had watched a certain snake do it.

"Two months ago, House Greenward enacted a trade restriction upon the Veyne District. Food prices shot up within hours. For the first time since Aelheim's founding, an entire district was left to fend for itself." I looked out across them all.

"For the first time, a district put its own interests above the interests of Aelheim." The muttering that rose now was angry. There were shouted curses in it, from more corners than one. It was no wonder. No matter how the newspapers had tried to spin it back then, Greenward had blocked food, and a man on an empty stomach did not care what a newspaper said.

"Perhaps Lord Julian Greenward was in the right," I said.

"Perhaps he was in the wrong. I am not a God, and so I cannot say." I paused.

"What I can say is this. Leaving the whole of Aelheim dependent on a single House for something as basic as food... cannot continue." I put my weight on those last two words. That was the signal. Somewhere far beyond the crowd, at the edge of that great dark loop, Estovan would be moving. I waited a few moments, and let the crowd's noise swell.

"And so, today, I am here to announce a partnership. An alliance between House Veyne and House Solair." I heard the name ripple backward through the square, passed from mouth to mouth.

"For those of you who do not know it: House Solair is the breadbasket of Arian. What House Greenward is to Aelheim, they are to this entire Kingdom. And from this day forward, we will offer our own food. To any man, woman, or child who will have it." The murmuring died, and what replaced it were cheers and shouted questions. I had just declared war on House Greenward in front of the entire city. Perhaps not everyone below me fully understood that. But they could feel it.

Julian's little ploy with Alexander Bulwark had been a show put on for the noble families of Aelheim, performed in a hall most of these people would never be allowed to enter. What I was doing now was the same show. I had simply invited everyone. I extended my hand. Vaelin materialized in my grip, and crimson washed over the podium. The blade glowed crimson, but its light did not overpower the square. That was good. It would be inconvenient if my sword half blinded me every time I took it out.

The cheering that followed might have taken the roof off, if there had been a roof.

"And so, today, I bring you the first shipment of that grain," I said, once the noise allowed it.

"I will not pretend everything will be as you are used to. Some of it will be unfamiliar to you. Some of it, at first, may even cost more. I could have hidden that from you," I said.

"I told you at the start. I dislike lying." There was just silence at this. And I understood it. I had just told them that I bought more expensive food for the good of Aelheim, and I was asking them to eat it.

"For a strong Aelheim," I said.

"For a united Aelheim. I believe it is worth it." The people looked at each other. I saw them looking. Some nodded, some shrugged. I hoped there were more nods than shrugs. I turned, and pointed Vaelin at the Farstep Circle. The circle answered. Its dim glow flared into a brilliant, blazing blue, bright enough to paint the whole square in it, and the great arch thrummed loud enough that I felt it in my teeth. And then the wagons began to roll out, one by one, through the Farstep Circle.

And each of the wagons was enormous, with wheels taller than most of the men walking beside them. Each one was almost too wide for the platform. That... I probably should have confirmed the wagons would actually fit before today. Oh well. Click. Click. The world sharpened, and the far side of the square leapt toward me. The wagons were still coming. I counted ten and the circle showed no sign of dimming. Just how much grain had Duke Solair sent?! This was supposed to be the first shipment, not a full fleet.

Estovan walked at the head of the column. He did not walk alone, which wasn't a surprise. Doubtless he would be walking with the representative Duke Solair had- The figure was small, with green hair. She wore clothes finer than any merchant could have ever hoped to wear. I blinked. Was that Liora Solair? It was. What in the world was she doing here, of all places? I shook my head. Now wasn't the time.

"From this day forward," I said, and I raised Vaelin high above my head, "I declare a new dawn for Aelheim." And this time, I let the crimson through. The light poured out of the blade and bathed the world in red. The crowd answered it with a howling cheer that almost deafened me. I held the blade aloft for a moment longer. Then I let it fade, and stepped back from the podium's edge. Below, the guards were straining to hold their lines, and the Karr had linked arms in places to keep the barricades standing.

I felt the prickling on my skin. A dozen, two dozen Scrylens all taking their pictures at the same time. That was definitely not something I would ever get used to.

"Looks like it went well?" Damian said beside me.

"I think so," I said.

"About as well as it could have, given everything." I saw movement in the crowd. I might not have noticed at all, if my sight wasn't still enhanced. There were boys and girls, slipping between the legs of grown men and women with bundles tucked under their arms, pressing papers into every hand that would take one. Something cold settled in my stomach. I had seen this before. I had done this before. People were beginning to read. People were beginning to murmur.

And their eyes were going from the pages in their hands, up to the golden wagons, and back down again.

"Violet," I said.

"Get me one of those damn papers." Violet was moving before I finished the sentence. She had one boot on the podium's edge when something pressed lightly into my hand from the empty air beside me. Sere. Of course. I closed my fingers around the newspaper and lifted it. I read the front page once. Then my fist crumpled around it.

"What?" Violet was back at my side, glaring at the ruined paper.

"What the hell is it?"

"That bastard," I said, "has made his move." I smoothed the page back out, just enough for the headline to show. The Headline was very simple. HOUSE GREENWARD SLASHES FOOD PRICES ACROSS ITS DISTRICT BY 30%!