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He spooned up another mouthful of an entirely forgettable catfish stew and took a bite from a lump of equally uninteresting corn bread laced with soy meal, his attention focused on the map, a topographic one from a journal of the ancient world called National Geographic. Ignatius and Mathilda were there too; the priest paused to turn up one of the lanterns and the blue flame brightened across the aging, fragile paper glued to a backing of new linen cloth. ?The roads are pretty rough, especially past about here,? Ingolf went on.
The Readstowner?s thick finger came down near his birth home, on the Kickapoo River. ?They already were when I left… and hell, that was a while ago, and there?s been plenty of frost and heave and floods since. Richland isn?t Iowa, and they weren?t kept up the same, or the railroads. But once the snow?s down hard, you can use sleighs, and skis. A man can go twice, three times as far in a day on skis as he can walking, and carry more of a pack, too, or pull a small sled. We?d make up the time. Stick to the rivers and lakes as much as we could.?
Rudi used his spoon as a pointer.?Right east, then?? ?As far as the Great Lakes. Big chunks of?em freeze hard, especially around the edges, and from what I hear the St. Lawrence freezes solid all the way down to the ocean. We could go that way-less chance of ru
Ignatius traced the line of the Mississippi southwards from Dubuque. ?And somewhere southward here are what is left of the Cutters, waiting.? ?Well south, Father,? Mathilda said.?Kate told me that the Iowan river navy patrols well beyond their border, either way, and she and Abel Heuisink will have them looking hard. The Cutters will have to hide; probably they?ll have to run their ship up a tributary and abandon it, unless they go so far south they?re out of the picture.? ?Probably they?ll go at least this far,? Rudi said, tapping the place where the Ohio joined the Father of Waters.?They?d know that we were thinking of taking the Ohio route.?
Everyone nodded. Ingolf shrugged. ?Yah hey, they?d have heard. Tancredo owes me favors and he hid Mary and Ritva and Fred and Virginia. On the other hand, he is a pimp. A man who can?t be bought doesn?t go into that line of work, in my experience.? ?They lost about thirty men in Dubuque, killed and left badly wounded,? Rudi said thoughtfully.?They?d have eighty left-and a few of their local followers fled with them, to be sure. More than I?d care to meet, if it can be avoided. We were lucky once, but Nike is a fickle Goddess.? ?And there is their High Seeker, their adept,? Ignatius said.?He has… resources. I would not care to meet him again either, except at great need.?
Silence fell for a moment. Then Ingolf stretched his thick arms, rubbed one hand across his short-cropped brown beard and spoke: ?The Ohio route?s got its problems anyway. Lots of dams and bridges. And then the Appalachians.?
Ignatius raised a brow.?I had heard that more survived there than anywhere else in the east.? ?Yah, that?s the problem, Father. Mostly in the lowlands near the dead cities they?re barely human. But there aren?t very many of them either. Eaters who got through the first year, well, a lot still died before they could learn how to catch rabbits or deer when people got scarce. Not a lot of their kids lived, either, between starving and the way most of their parents were insane by then. Mind you, with a wi
Rudi tapped a thumb on his lips.?Living in the wilds is a thing which requires much skill,? he said.?Look at our poor Southsiders and how pig-ignorant they were… and they were farther west, and they were clean, as they put it.?
Ingolf?s hand covered what had been West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio and western Pe
Ingolf nodded:?I?ve talked to a few salvagers who went that way. They grow corn and truck, raise a little stock, and they were mostly hunters before the Change. A few even know how to make cloth or do some smith ing. Some of them are decent enough, even if they?re mighty standoffish. But then right in the next holler there?s maybe a little clot of families that got through the dying time by eating outsiders if not each other, and still like a little BBQ stranger with their grits when they can get it. Or they may kill you for your gear, which means you?re just as dead, even if they leave the bodies alone.? ?There would be far more of them than there are close to the dead cities, too,? Rudi said thoughtfully.?If they farm, and are skillful hunters.?
How much food a land produced was always of concern to a warrior; food supplies set the limit on the number of people, hence of fighters. ?A lot more, and they?ve got better weapons and tools, and from what I hear they?re… not as crazy. You can?t just bull through with a troop, the way you can in the lowlands. Parts of northern Wisconsin are pretty much like that too, I?m afraid.? ?A choice between evils, so,? Rudi said, as his mouth quirked. ?It?s a wonder and a bemusement to me, so it is, that you find so many who want power. If you get it what goes with it? Late nights peering at maps and listening to reports, hard work and harder decisions.?
Father Ignatius smiled.?My son, that you feel so makes it much more likely you will use power well.? ?And if you don?t get the power, other people make the decisions and you just have to put up with them,? Mathilda pointed out. ?To be sure,? Rudi said.?And now, my friend, how will we be received at your brother?s steading? For it would be the most convenient place to prepare for the next stage if we take that way. And if we?re welcome.?
Ingolf scowled, and his strong worn hands knotted together. ?I?m not sure,? he said bluntly.?At worst… well, Ed always liked money. Not that he?d lie or cheat for it, but he?s… tight, and loves a bargain. He?d sell us what we need even if he can?t stand the sight of me. Or someone in the neighborhood would. Beyond that I can?t say. We were barely speaking to each other when I left, and he?d have stayed up to check that the sun rose in the East if I said it did, but that?s a long time ago.?
Rudi propped his elbows on either side of the empty bowl, his chin on his thumbs and his lips on his knuckles; red-gold hair fell across his eyes, but he?d memorized the map anyway. Decision jelled. ?We?ll go up the Wisconsin, and then the Kickapoo,? he said firmly.?We need a base to prepare for the next leg. If your brother?s holding is open to us, good; if not him, then another. We?ve gold enough, but there are preparations we must make. Not least, the Southsiders need every sort of instruction, useful as they are.?
Ritva Havel looked over to where Virginia Kane was cold-shoeing a horse, with half a dozen Southsiders looking on, and Edain holding the beast?s head and soothing it. ?I wish we were on the ship,? she said, beneath the tap… tap
… tap… of the hammer.
Mary shrugged.?We hailed Rudi as High King,? she pointed out.?A King consults who he wants to. Besides, you get a meeting much bigger than four and a leader and you waste too much time talking. Ingolf?s smart and so are the others.?