Newblood - A fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo 2018; CHAPTER- 25: Effects

Spring, Year 22 of Koram

Gwen Meer was 40 years old. Most of her life she had worked in the elven warehouse. Her job and that of nine others was to sort whatever fruits come into Harden. The best were to be kept for the Keep and if the quantity was less, which was often, all the good fruit went to the Keep. This morning she had lost her job because there was no Keep. The Supervisor invited her to buy some fruit at very cheap prices, he was selling it all. The fruit would spoil in a few days "Might as well earn some coppers, you Gwen get a discount. Go ahead pick the best for yourself." Gwen had seven coppers with her. She spent two coppers for a basket full of the best apples, cherries and grapes. When she was carrying the basket out she realized how much she had wanted to this for all these years. She cried all the way home- finally her children will get to eat the good fruit.

Somer was there when the huge pile of myrtle was burning away in Ashvale. He had seen his father cry and beat his face sitting on the steps of their small house after he was forced to lead his wife, Somer's mother, by his own hand to the elven soldiers. His father had run away before Somer's mother returned the next day- half dead. Somer had himself killed two soldiers that day. It had felt good. That night he and five of his friends had armed themselves and vowed to kill as many soldiers as they could. In the following days they had targeted the soldiers traveling in small groups. With a couple of victories the number of his group rose to twelve. They named themselves Ashvale Brigands.

Meran worked in the coal mines five leagues away from Shamarank. They came to know about the fall of Harden Keep eight days after it happened. There were also stories about The Heir being superhuman or the Heir was actually the Reaper- his body had never been found. The Elven supervisors did not like the gossip and when they caught two miners talking about The Heir of Grendale- Meran and Thork, they beat them with their truncheons and Thork got hit on the nose and died wanting for air as blood filled his lungs. This time the surviving miner- Meran, jumped at one of the supervisors. The elf caught unawares tumbled to the ground. The other supervisors started to laugh at the spectacle. They noticed after a few moments that more than a hundred miners had crowded around to have a look and they could not see the elf who had fallen. By the time they reached him it was too late. For the first time in decades an elf supervisor was murdered at the mines.

In Harpair the all the people had barricaded themselves in the council hall. The only stone building in Harpair. That morning the elders had refused to sell grain to the soldiers from the nearby camp, they pleaded that what they had was very less and they would not be able to sow new crop if they sold any more. The soldiers had killed one man and sent the rest to get the grain. The towns people had decided nor to give in. In the evening the elven commander led the soldiers into Harpair and ordered them to make a ram and break down the door. By nightfall seven people were executed while everybody watched. The soldier doing the killing was a mixblood. After killing the five men and two women he beheaded the commander and before the soldiers could catch him, stabbed himself in the heart.

Takhsila considered itself a city state. Everyday the news filtering from other cities and regions emboldened both the humans and the mixblood. Not only civilians, even soldiers started to look at elven superiors with a cold gaze. Two days after the Harpair story reached Takhsila the military- many of which were already in the pay of the Takhsila underground burned their vests in front of the Governor House. The civilians not to be left behind added woos rags and fuel to the fire. some versions of the story say that by midnight ten thousand people had gathered along the main roads of the city chanting. "Freedom. Freedom." and the fire had become huge enough to be seen from a league outside Takhsila. Other versions say it was the soldiers who somehow gave the elven lords an ultimatum- Leave or Die. All stories concur that while a few elf families chose Takhsila , an elven caravan with twenty carriages and a hundred horses left Takhsila as the crowds cheered.

They met twenty days after the fall of Harden Keep. Renee was the first to speak. "After Five days of confusion The Guild Masters of Harden City met and announced that temporarily they would be managing the city. Mace Ironsmith was selected as the person in charge. By the next day a thousand soldiers were recruited to police the city and guard against bandits. Norem Frother a mixblood and former captain was nominated as sheriff. The merchant taxes were reduced by half and another guild master was put in charge. Harden is recovering and the people are upbeat in general. But there was little money compared to what the elven lords were spending. The five thousand gold which Pinnet had given in my custody I put to use. Two seemingly rival lending houses were set up. One giving loans to the merchants and another to the farmers. Both at low rates. When I left Harden three thousand four hundred golds were given on loan and the farmers had deposited one hundred and fifty golds at nominal discounts on the rates. A new market has sprung up, selling the recovered items of value from Harden Keep. I have recruited three new people to the Grendale Army."

Captain Shan went next. "I was with Deniel and Master Myanse as we went from village to village in the highlands. We gave money where it was urgently needed but mainly what we did was spread the word about the Heir of Grendale and ow it would affect their lives. Highland people are very pragmatic, most of them don't care what the cities do and those who do want to stay away from political turmoil. We recruited one village elder to the Grendale Army and I may add we will have a safe place to retreat to in-case.. we need it."

Pinnet stood up to speak. " We were in village cut away from all the going- ons outside, for most of the time. Once we had some news from Chamik, about Takhsila showing the door to all the elven who wanted to rule and not share." A cheer went up around the table. "We passed by Takhsila on our way back and the news was true. We could not determine who was in charge, but the city was peaceful enough. We have one more good news to share. In the village where we were guests for six days, we met Iram Blackearth. Mahon had stayed in the same village for a few days and he and Iram had.. become close." Aasia interrupted. "Iram is pregnant. It is Mahon's child. His legacy." Amid smiles and cheers a multiple of questions were fired. "Wow." "Mahon got lucky!" "Who is Iram?" "You are sure?" Pinnet banged his palm on the table twice, the tumult died down. "Please let us finish with Jinden's reports. Then you can dump all your questions in Aasia's lap."

Jinden reported. "The cocoa farms needed money, the crop was harvested but they could not go to market it as Harpair was closed. Going to Shamarank meant a three day journey at-least and animal carts would have to be purchased. So I purchased carts and as much cocoa I could and took it into Shamarank. Sold it at a great profit- I bought fertilizer and some ponies when coming back and gave them to the farmers, for a share of the crop. Shamarank is locked down, all the people in and out are identified and registered and checked with the details while leaving the city. All the markets and pubs have to close down by two hours after dusk. The central bridge has continuous patrols of soldiers. Elven guards who can detect magic are searching every corner of the city- any person or anything suspect is taken to the High Commander. The Tiger of Yillend - He is the High Commander." He turned to Renee. "The children are fine. They are learning to read and write. Then Jinden stopped for a moment before continuing. "Life, for humans and mixblood is much bleaker today than I have ever seen. Everyday there are bodies in the streets. The people of Shamarank are living in fear."

Myanse ended for him. "And WE are responsible for it."