Kai Drakon's Arc

Chapter 20 of 30

The clay bottle fixed the nights, but not the larder. Kai had spent his last gemstone on flour and meat. Now the sack was half gone. He counted the days it would last and did not like the number. He needed coin, and there was one debt still owed. Scarlett had killed Azure's goats a year ago. The tavern court spared her life but ordered her to pay. She never had. Kai walked to the tavern at dusk. Azure came with him, Ren strapped to her chest. She wanted to see the vampire pay her own way, she said. Kai knew the truth. She did not trust him to ask hard enough. Scarlett sat alone in the back corner, a cup of dark liquid in front of her. She had orange curls and red eyes, and she flinched when Kai's shadow fell across her table. His silver spear had turned her arm to stone once. Kael's honey had saved it. She had not forgotten either. "I don't want trouble," Scarlett said. Her voice was soft, careful. "Please." "You owe her." Kai nodded at Azure. "Six goats. You've paid nothing for a year." Scarlett looked at the baby, then at the floor. "I have no coin. I never did. I drink from a cup because I have nothing to hunt with and nowhere to sell." Her hands twisted the cup. "I'm sorry about the goats. I was starving. I don't say it to be forgiven." Kai's jaw tightened. A debt he could not collect was worse than no debt. "Sorry doesn't feed my son." Azure set a hand on his arm. She studied Scarlett a long moment. "You've lived here two hundred years," Azure said. "You know the woods. The caves. Where things grow." Scarlett looked up, wary. "Yes." "My peppers do best in this soil. I want more land cleared, past the pasture, before winter. I can't do it alone with a baby." Azure's voice stayed flat. "Work it off. Season by season. Not coin. Hands." Scarlett's red eyes went wide. No one had offered her work before. Only fear, or the spear. "You'd let me on your farm." "You'll come at night," Azure said. "You burn in the sun anyway. Clear stone, turn earth. I'll count each night against what you owe." Scarlett stood slowly. She held out her thin hand, the one that had almost gone to stone. Kai watched Azure take it. The debt did not turn to coin in the larder. It turned into something else. Walking home, Kai carried the sack of what little food remained. "That won't buy flour tomorrow," he said. "No," Azure said. "But a cleared field grows peppers. Peppers I sell all winter." She shifted Ren higher on her chest. "You married a farmer, Kai. Not a cow." He laughed. The debt was settled his wife's way. The larder was still nearly empty, and winter was coming fast.