Chapter 10: Gray Bone's Task
Gray Bone found Violet by the fire.
"You want me to go to Silver Spring and draw maps," he said. "When do I leave?"
"Tomorrow."
"I'll be back in ten days." Gray Bone stood.
"Gray Bone." Violet stopped him. "If you're discovered, don't fight. Maps can be redrawn."
Gray Bone looked at her. "I owe you."
"You can pay me back when you return."
Gray Bone left.
Leon walked over. "You trust him?"
"No. But he needs me to find his brother's grave. He won't get that location until he comes back."
Leon's slit pupils narrowed. "You're using his brother's grave as leverage?"
"I'm making sure he comes back alive."
---
Day seven. Gray Bone had not returned.
Day nine. Still no sign.
Leon stood at the camp's edge, watching the southern horizon. "He could be captured."
"Give him one more day."
"If he's captured, Silver Spring will force your plan out of him."
Violet's fingers paused on the hide. "He won't talk."
"How do you know?"
"Because he wants his brother's grave."
---
Day ten. Dusk.
A horse burst out of the south. Gray Bone lay slumped over the saddle. An arrow was buried in his left arm. Blood dripped onto the sand.
Violet ran to him. Finn helped Gray Bone down from the horse. The arrow had punched through his left forearm, just past the bone.
"Silver Spring spotted me." Gray Bone's voice was raw. "But they didn't catch me."
He pulled a bloodstained hide from his chest and handed it to Violet.
"It's done."
Violet took the hide. Lines covered it. Walls. Streets. Granaries. Barracks. Drainage ditches.
"Guard rotations?"
"Around sunset. Fifteen seconds."
"Hidden passages?"
"A drainage ditch under the east wall. Big enough for one person to crawl through."
Gray Bone looked at her. "You promised me."
"Treat your wound first."
"Tell me first."
Violet looked at the arrow in his arm. Blood had soaked his entire sleeve.
"South. Stone pile. Third circle from the east."
Gray Bone's eyes closed. He nodded. His body went limp.
Finn caught him. "Darryl! Bring the medicine!"
Violet stood aside, watching them treat Gray Bone's wound. Her hands did not shake. She folded the bloodstained hide and placed it inside her coat.
Leon walked to her side. "You really didn't know which grave was his brother's?"
"I knew."
"Then why wait ten days to tell him?"
Violet watched Gray Bone being carried into the tent.
"Because he took ten days to return. If he had known the grave's location, he would have rushed back on day three. Silver Spring would have intercepted him. The map would be lost."
Leon stared at her. "You used him as bait."
"I treated the map as my life." Violet said. "He's not dead. The map is here. His brother's grave is found. His debt to me is paid."
She turned and walked back to the fire. She spread the bloodstained hide across her knees and studied the lines.
---
Late night. The arrow had been removed. Darryl said the bone wasn't hit.
Violet sat by the fire, drawing. Leon sat across from her, watching.
"When did you know the great drought was coming?" he asked.
"Before I came here."
"How did you know?"
"I read it. In a book."
Leon's slit pupils tightened. "What book?"
Violet didn't answer.
"Who are you really?" Leon's voice was low.
"Your mapmaker. Your partner." She looked up at him. "Isn't that enough?"
Leon stared at her. A long time.
Hoofbeats sounded in the distance.
Leon's ears twitched. "One horse. From the south."
Not Gray Bone's footsteps. A different horse. Fast.
A rider burst from the dark. Gray cloak. Hood hiding half his face. He reined in at the camp's edge and looked at Violet by the fire.
"Cecilia Winter."
"That's me."
The stranger pulled something from his cloak and threw it to the ground. A broken arrow. A lock of hair wrapped around the head. Golden hair.
"Astrid says—your hunting dog runs too fast. Next time, he comes back with two broken legs."
He rode into the dark.
Violet bent and picked up the broken arrow. The golden hair glinted in the firelight. Gray Bone's arrow. Gray Bone's arm.
Leon stood. "I'll go after him."
"No."
"Cecilia—"
"She wants me afraid." Violet tossed the broken arrow into the fire. "She wants me to think she can kill my people whenever she wants. Cut my paths. Take everything."
She stared into the flames.
"She's wrong."
She stood and walked into the tent. Leon followed.
"What are you doing?"
"Writing a letter."
"To whom?"
"The captain of the Silver Spring granary guard." Violet's voice was calm. "Gray Bone's map has his name. The hunting records say he sells old grain from the stores every month to buy wine."
She picked up the charcoal and wrote on a hide.
"What does the letter say?" Leon asked.
"I'm telling him—during the three-month Trade Market, Gray Rock Tribe will buy all his old grain. Triple the market price. One condition. On the first day of the Market, the granary's east door opens for fifteen seconds."
Leon's slit pupils tightened. "You're going to buy grain from her own granary? On her own land?"
"Not buy. Take over." Violet set down the charcoal. "He's been stealing grain for ten years. I'm helping him sell it. He gets the money. I get the grain. Astrid—she'll know nothing."
She rolled up the hide.
"Find someone to deliver this into Silver Spring. No one can know it came from Gray Rock."
Leon took the hide. "What exactly are you planning?"
"The great drought is coming. Grain will be worth more than water. Water will be worth more than life. Astrid waits for me at the Trade Market. I'm going to make her watch. In front of everyone. Her own grain becomes my grain. Her own people become my people. Her own land becomes my land."
She looked at Leon.
"She thinks she's hunting. I'm doing business."
Leon stared at her. A long time.
"You're insane."
"I'm not insane." Violet said. "I'm more clear-headed than anyone you've ever met."
She turned and walked out of the tent. The fire crackled in the night wind.
Far off in the gorge, a Thorn Wolf howled.
She pulled the coat tighter. Leon's coat. Warm.
Three months. Enough.
---
End of Chapter Ten
The map is in hand. The counterattack begins. Astrid sends a broken arrow as a warning. Violet sets her sights on the granary. The Trade Market in three months won't be decided by whose blade is faster. It will be decided by whose pieces move first.