“Not at all, as long as you sell them to anyone with money,” Talbot agreed with an unusual grin. “We’re just a small little outpost of civilization in world that’s turning to barbarism. Historically, the barbarians tend to win. Not as long as I’m in charge.”
“Okay, we’ll build you your arms and armor. Just use it right,” Suwisa said.
“Hey,” Phil interjected. “You can get a superior bend to the bow with beryllium bronze! That means you can get nearly as good a loft out of a light crossbow as from a longbow! And nearly the firepower.”
“Do you know how to cast beryllium bronze?” Edmund asked.
“No.”
“Well, I do. But I’m not going to spend all my time doing casts for crossbows. Okay?”
“Okay,” Phil said with a laugh.
“Speaking of casts,” he added. “There’s somebody you need to meet.”
“I didn’t know you were friends with any AI’s,” Suwisa said, mopping her face at the heat from the forge. “Hello, Carborundum.”
“Well, there’s a lot about me you don’t know,” Edmund replied. “How goes it, soulless fiend?”
“It’s bloody cold is how it goes,” Carborundum said. “And the Net is well and truly screwed. Your friend Sheida and Paul between them have put up blocks bloody everywhere.”
“We’re a bit short on carbon at the moment, old fiend,” Edmund said, then scooped up a generous helping nonetheless and tossed it onto the red glowing coals. He wiped the black soot from his hands and shrugged. “We’re cooking some charcoal now, but it’s a slow business and the wet isn’t helping.”
“Lystra says only another couple of days in this region,” Carb added. “And I’m sorry, but I’m still not finding anything on Rachel and Daneh. The fairies are circulating back word on people moving in the wilderness, but of course they don’t know one human from another. They were definitely at the house, both of them, at the Fall. And the house-hob said they left. But that’s all I’ve got. Some of the AI’s are being really uncommunicative, some of them are on Paul’s side, mostly because they think he’s going to win, and direct access to the Net is generally cut off between Sheida and Paul’s blocks.”
“Thank you, Carb. I’ve got Tom out looking as well.”
“Well, I’ll tell you if anything comes up.”
“Thank you, again. But I’m introducing you to Suwisa for a reason. I’m going to have to be more and more connected to this mayor business and she’s going to be taking over the smithing and armoring. So I’m probably not going to be seeing you much.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Carb said. “Honestly. I know you’re busy but don’t be a stranger.”
“I won’t. I hope you and Suwisa get along, though.”
“Oh, I’m an old hand at breaking in new smiths,” Carb said with a laugh like a couple of plates of iron striking.
“And I’m an old hand at old hands,” Suwisa said. “You were mentioning a need for charcoal I believe?”
“Arrrrgh! Edmund, come back!”
“You two have fun,” Edmund said, turning to the door. “And, Suwisa, you need to come meet your class soon.”
“I’ll do that, after I get done discussing things with Carborundum here.”
“When do you think Tom will get back?” Phil asked as the two of them stepped back into the rain.
“In a day or two I’d suppose.”
“And then you’ll know?”
“Phil, I may never know,” Edmund replied softly.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Herzer stopped and shook his head at the sight before him. The area had apparently sustained a forest fire sometime in the recent past. No more than a year to a year and a half ago from the looks of the few visible trees. And the area that had burned was now covered, for several acres at least and stretching across the trail, in thick vines that were just starting to come out of winter hibernation. The overall color was brown but it was shot through with green leaves. And it choked the path from side to side.
“What the hell is that?” Herzer muttered as Rachel stepped past his bulk.
“Kudzi!” she shouted, running forward. She darted to one of the greening areas and rummaged into the vines. “Yes! And it’s already fruiting!” she shouted, pulling out a small, bluish ovoid and thrusting it in her mouth.
Herzer walked into the patch and found another then, after a moment’s hesitation, took a tentative bite. Then he stuffed the whole thing in his mouth and searched for another. The fruit was an absolute taste explosion, something between a grape and a strawberry. It was blue, so he knew it had to be genegineered and he thanked whatever soul had in some distant past time created it. As he pulled out a handful of the fruit he thought better of stuffing them in his mouth and carried them over to Daneh instead.
“Here, you need this more than I do,” he said. A large, mature chestnut tree had fallen either just before or during the forest fire and its root bole held the trunk up off the ground. The combination had created a perfect little one-person shelter. Herzer steered the doctor under the tree and found a dry bit of bark for her to sit on. They had been traveling for nearly a day after the incident at the bridge and the doctor was looking more and more wan. He was afraid that something internal might have been damaged, but if so he couldn’t imagine what to do for her. The fruit would at least provide some sugars and liquid.
“Thank you, Herzer,” Daneh said tonelessly, taking a bite out of the fruit and settling in the shelter.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine,” she snapped then shook her head. Really, I’m fine, Herzer. How are you? Any shakes?”
“Just from hunger,” he joked. “And these are helping. What is this stuff?”
“It was derived from a noxious weed called kudzu,” Daneh said, taking another bite. “It used to be spread all over eastern Norau; it grew wherever there was a disturbance in the ecosystem, which in those days was everywhere. Sometime in the late twenty-first century a researcher released a controlled retrovirus that modified it to kudzi. The fruit was a gene cross of kiwi fruit and plum; kiwi meat and plum skin. Anyway, that’s where it comes from. And just like kudzu, it grows up anywhere there has been a disturbance like a fire or tree-clearing; it’s a right pain in farming.”
“Well, I was thinking,” Herzer said. “With all this food here we might think about stopping. I’m pretty sure they’re well behind us.”
“No, we need to keep going,” Daneh said, lifting her chin with a “t’cht.” “We need to make it up to the road.”
“Okay, if you insist. But we’re going to stop and get some of this fruit. It will give us enough food to make it the rest of the way.”
“All right.” She nodded, taking another bite and wiping the juice off her chin. The fruit seemed to bring some color back into her cheeks and she smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages. “You go pick fruit. If you don’t mind I’ll just sit here and let you young folk do all the work.”
“Ummm, this is good,” Rachel said as he walked up. She had a bunch of the fruits in a makeshift cradle of her shirt and was biting into another. “Thanks for taking some to Mom.”
“She’s looking better for it, but she insists on keeping going,” Herzer said.
“We need to find some meat,” Rachel said stubbornly. “This is fine for us, it will keep us going at least, but Azure has to have some meat.”
“He looks thin, but…” Herzer said, looking over at the cat, which was rummaging in the vines as well.