Chapter 246: Hearth Claim

Black heat came flying out of the shard ember, and the hearth stones lit up with red bid numbers, while the crown clerk took the auction book and held it up for all to see. "Fuel becomes claim. Whoever contributes the most heat gets the warmest hearth. There’s nothing unfair about it."

The hearth stones turned darker at the edges.

Dagny was one of the cart owners in the square, and she stood by her wood, cold and angry, because her cart held more than most households’ fuel, and her red bid number would give her warmth to herself for three nights and put her first on the list for the winter’s fuel delivery, which was true, but it came with a consequence.

"What you’re not telling her is that every supply cart on that route goes to the crown broker," Imra said. "You’d have warmth by robbing everyone else of their route."

Dagny looked at her cart. "My family hauled this wood from the north slope. We need warmth as well."

Orla didn’t tell her what to do, but opened the public ledger next to the bid table. "Your cart was brought to the public hearth, and your family needs warmth. What you’re really being asked is whether the crown should own the roads because you’re cold."

Austin Veyron wanted to step in and tell her she could refuse her lot, or to take her cart and make it public fuel, but either way would serve his own argument by using her as an example.

"Name it," Veyra said, close beside him.

"Deciding what she can give."

"And what would it make?"

"A broker with a better argument."

"Then smaller," Sable said, her shard glowing white around the hearth. "Let the ledger show the price of each option."

Tessa asked the other districts what they could supply, and a message came back through the Lantern County relay.

SOUTHGLASS HAS TWO COAL CARTS. EASTVALE CAN SUPPLY HEAT CLOTH. NORTH RIDGE WILL PROVIDE A SMALL SUPPLY OF EMERGENCY WOOD IF THE CART ROUTES REMAIN OPEN.

Dagny heard what could be supplied, and although her family wouldn’t be comfortable, they could make it through the winter if the district shared its heat and kept its routes open.

"I’ll use the public ledger," Dagny said. "My cart goes to the hearth, and I’ll add my family’s need for warmth to the district’s list."

Orla wrote it down, and the red number above Dagny’s wood cart changed as more people came forward to add their fuel to the public column, a widow placing her coal on the public ledger, a baker adding his dry fuel, and a runner from the clinic adding a bundle for the warm room, every one of them stating what their fuel would be used for before the crown clerk could put a price on it.

The shard ember let out a screech under the hearth stones, and the crown clerk struck the auction table with his palm, and black guards rose from the hearth wearing masks of ledger pages and carrying iron hooks for bid signs.

THE WARMEST HEARTH GOES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER.

A guard lunged at Orla with his hook, and Tamsin parried it with her spear, while Rin ripped the mask from another guard’s face with her claws, and Calder and Seris held the people back as black heat whips lashed from the hearth stones.

Austin Veyron could see what the guards were bidding on, and the hearth didn’t belong to the highest bidder, because it had been made from public fuel, public labor, and public routes, and the shard had only made it look as though whoever contributed the most could claim the hearth and take the fuel from every other fireplace.

"Target," Austin Veyron said. "The warmest-hearth-goes-to-the-highest-bidder claim. Not the hearth, the fuel, or those who need warmth."

"Witnessed," Veyra said.

"Witnessed," Sable answered.

Austin Veyron placed the white root chain on the black bid sign.

DEVOUR opened, and the claim tasted like a public hearth being sold off to the people who had no warmth left.

THE WARMEST HEARTH GOES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER.

He consumed bidder.

The bid signs broke, and the black guards crumbled to ash in the square, while the red numbers vanished from the fuel and fell onto the public ledger as simple amounts, coal, wood, heat cloth, carts, and emergency supplies, shown to everyone on the public ledger, and the hearth burned orange in the center once again, still black at the edges, but no longer taking over.

The crown clerk tried to run to the coal bed, but Imra grabbed him by the arm. "What else did the shard make?"

The crown clerk laughed nervously. "You beat one hearth. At midnight, the Lantern Beacon will display every county’s hearth schedule and make them into one regional lot. All the shard needed was this hearth to learn how much fear the districts hold."

"It’s leaving," Nyra said, holding the heart shard to the coal bed.

A black shard of the core lifted from under the public hearth and flew up into the air, traveling east over the snow-capped roofs toward the Lantern Beacon.

As Orla read out the amount of fuel the district had, the hearth calmed. "We can keep the district warm for three nights at a medium heat. Our emergency supply is still open, and Dagny’s family will get heat cloth first. Our routes will stay open to the public."

No one cheered, because they were still cold and the shard was still on its way somewhere, but the hearth was no longer something to be won, while above them the shard flew on toward the Beacon, where at midnight every county’s hearth would be up for bid.

Tessa sent a message out on the Lantern County relay while the shard was still in the air.

NORTHGLASS HEARTH CLAIM HAS BEEN DEFEATED. PUBLIC SUPPLY LEDGER IS OPEN. SHARD IS TRAVELING TO THE LANTERN BEACON. MIDNIGHT WILL CREATE A BID FOR ALL COUNTIES.

Each county answered her message.

"Our hearth schedule is still open to the public," Southglass replied. "But there are private bids on the Beacon."

"We have red bid numbers on our fuel out on the roads," Eastvale said.

"Someone has offered to buy our entire supply of emergency wood," North Ridge reported.

The shard had learned from Northglass that it didn’t need to blacken a hearth to offer a bid, because it could use the Beacon to learn how cold each county was and bid exactly that much fear.

"We can’t send all of our fuel to the Beacon," Orla said, keeping the public ledger open. "We need to know what our own fire has."

"No one is asking you to," Imra replied. "The county needs to know what you have, and if the Beacon knows what you have before the shard knows what to bid, it has less fear to sell."

Northglass decided to tell the Beacon what it had and how it would supply the other districts, offering no more than it had and hiding none of the families that needed heat cloth, and the other districts began to do the same.

Austin Veyron watched every district’s fuel come over the relay, some with too much wood and not enough road to move it down, others with enough heat for their clinic but not enough food to last the winter, and some with coal but not enough people to carry it to the hearth, and while it wasn’t as efficient as Austin Veyron could have made it, it was better than black numbers over everything, though he still wanted to use DEVOUR to see what every route needed and supply it himself.

"Name it," Veyra said, seeing the look on his face.

"An efficient map."

"And what would it make?"

"Somebody who knows what’s needed and believes he should be the one to supply it."

"Then smaller," Sable said, pointing her shard at the relay. "Let the map show them their options."

Calder built a board for the county that displayed each district’s supply of fuel and heat and who could supply what, and it didn’t create any winners, but let the districts ask for what they needed and offer what they had.

"The Beacon is on the hill above Southglass," Seris said, watching the black trail in the sky. "It will take us three hours if we go straight up the mountain, and we have five hours until midnight."

"The crown will know we beat Northglass," Calder said. "There could be something waiting on the hill."

Rin climbed down from her lantern pole and stood next to Veyra on her good side, and when Veyra shivered, Rin took her cloak and put it over them both, and Veyra allowed it.

Sable looked at Austin Veyron and then down at his hands, and she took one and tucked it into her sleeve to keep it warm while Tessa finished counting the routes.

"A message from Elena," Tessa said softly. "Five hours until midnight, and she’ll be watching every board. She said she’ll be by the window."

Austin Veyron placed his free hand over the slip on his heart, and Veyra saw the gesture and nodded at him from under Rin’s cloak, as if to say she would see him back to that window.

They all thought of Tova’s rules from Cinderhold, no private deals, no private routes, and no private fuel, and Austin Veyron looked at how far east the black trail had traveled.

"We’re going to the Beacon," he said. "Keep the county board open and tell everyone which routes are open. No hearth or emergency supply gets moved unless the deal is read aloud."

Orla closed the public ledger after copying it for the runners to take to each district, and Northglass’s hearth burned orange, while above them the shard drew closer to midnight.