Chapter 721: Their Price, His Answer

Chapter 721: Their Price, His Answer

The strangers had brought more stakes than baskets.

Leon counted the nearest line as his party approached the hollow. It crossed the lower path, continued over a strip of bare ground, and ended beside a stand of closed sun cups that nobody was collecting.

Farther left, six people knelt among the flowers. Guards stood behind them while another pair watched the approach from a flat rock. Rust-colored sashes marked them as one expedition, though their armor varied. Several had narrow copper ornaments fitted along the ridges of their ears.

They watched the Palace party with considerably more interest than they had shown the two local growers leaving by the western path.

Wen Shu stopped beside Leon.

"Twenty-four that I could see. Most of the guards are Golden Core."

"Any movement above us?"

"None. The upper path is clear as far as the fork."

He nodded and let her return to the column.

The ground on their right formed a shallow crescent below the eastern slope. Sun cups grew there in dense clusters, separated from the occupied patch by a dry runnel and a few yards of exposed stone. Nobody had left tools among them. The strangers’ stakes simply reached far enough to claim that ground too.

Edda came to stand beside him.

"That patch will open shortly after theirs," she said. "The lower edge first."

"Does someone tend it?" Leon asked.

"No. These grounds are gathered when the bloom comes. People keep the paths clear, but the plants grow where they grow."

"Would taking that patch damage the next season?"

"Not if your people make the cuts I showed them."

That settled the question he cared about.

A man stepped down from the flat rock. He was thick through the shoulders, with a rust sash tucked beneath a dark breastplate. One copper ornament ran from the upper edge of his left ear to a stud near his jaw.

He stopped a few paces beyond the stakes.

"Which party?" he asked.

"Jade Moon Palace," Leon said.

The name produced no recognition. The man’s attention moved over Seraphine, then the carriers’ cases, before returning to Leon.

"Vard Kesh. We’re holding this hollow."

"I can see where you’re working." Leon indicated the empty crescent. "We’ll gather there."

"Same terms there." Kesh pointed to a row of open crates beneath the rock. "Half the harvest when you leave. Sorted before division."

Behind Leon, Nerin drew a sharp breath. Edda put a hand on his arm without looking away from Kesh.

"Half for what?" Leon asked.

"We reached it first. We’ve secured the approaches."

"From the people who gather here?"

Kesh’s expression cooled. "From anyone who might interrupt us. You can use the ground under the same protection."

Leon looked at the six collectors behind him. One was already carrying a shallow tray toward the crates. A guard took it and bent close to examine the contents.

So they understood that the harvest needed care. They simply preferred to have other people perform part of the work and surrender the result.

He could hardly object to the desire for a larger share. It was the assumption that he would give them his that irritated him.

Half, before we even start.

He had fought for the last harvest, paid for expertise that preserved it, and brought it back to be refined. Edda’s tenth bought knowledge he needed. Kesh’s demand bought permission from a man who had driven stakes into wild ground that morning.

"No," Leon said.

Kesh watched him for a moment, perhaps waiting for an offer.

Leon turned toward Vyra. "Use the eastern patch. Two pairs along the lower edge. The others above them once Edda confirms it’s ready."

"Yes, Young Master."

The collectors did not surge forward. Vyra brought them up in order, each with the carrier assigned to him. Their cases remained closed until they reached the dry strip beside the crescent.

Kesh moved into Leon’s line of sight again.

"You haven’t understood."

"I understood the price," Leon said. "I’m not paying it."

The nearest guard left the rock. Others began turning from the occupied patch, watching their leader for instructions.

Leon checked their positions and the spaces between his own people. The carriers needed somewhere clear to set down their cases. Any fight close to the flowers would make the outing more troublesome than it needed to be.

"Seraphine, the path," he said. "Ira, stay with the upper pair."

Both women moved without discussion. Seraphine stopped between the approaching guard and the collectors. Ira took the side nearest the unworked slope, her lance resting comfortably in one hand.

Kesh noticed. His gaze lingered on Ira’s apparent cultivation, then returned to Leon with renewed impatience.

"An attendant won’t keep this ground for you."

Leon had heard enough variations of that assumption lately. He stepped clear of the collectors so that anyone coming toward him would have to cross the bare runnel.

"Stay on your side," he said. "You have flowers opening."

For the first time, Kesh glanced back.

The nearest patch had brightened. Several cups now stood open, each holding a clear bead at its center. His collectors were working faster, trying to keep their sleeves from brushing the stems.

Leon felt a brief, unreasonable pleasure at the sight. The garden, the early walk, the unfamiliar instructions—all of it had led to something he could finally see for himself.

Then Loriel called softly from the eastern crescent.

"Young Master. Here."

Edda was kneeling beside the lower edge. A yellow cup had opened in front of her. As Leon watched, moisture gathered at its center, thickening into a bright, clear bead. Spiritual energy collected within it strongly enough that he could distinguish its warmth from the current in the soil.

Loriel looked up at him, excited despite the men assembling behind Kesh.

"It’s ready."

The grower had her knife out. Nerin stood beside the empty trays, pale but staying where she had placed him.

Leon glanced at Kesh one last time. The man raised his hand, and four guards started across the bare strip toward Seraphine. Two more turned uphill, trying to reach the carriers from the side.

There was still time for them to stop. Leon doubted they would use it.

He faced his collectors.

"Begin."

Lu Pei lowered his cutting tool beneath the first flower. Across the runnel, Kesh’s guards broke into a run.