CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jason, Pete, Antja, Elayna and the weapons maker, Jackson, had dragged themselves up on land to join the landsmen for a good old fish fry. The fillets of mackerel had been wrapped in seaweed and left to cook on the coals while they feasted on lobster tails, sliced into cutlets and spitted over the fire. This was the group’s share, and maybe a bit more, from the bags the girls had returned with.
“The question is,” Jason said, around a mouthful of hot lobster, “can we do this without the dragons?”
“If the baitball is nearer the town,” Herzer replied, juggling one of the cutlets from hand to hand to cool it. “If you can’t swim out fast enough yourself, you can ride on the backs of the delphinos.”
“The problem was always getting enough back to town,” Jackson said. He was a short, burly mer-man with black hair and tail and the only one that Herzer had seen with a beard. “With nets that’s fixed.”
“Nets fix a lot of things,” Pete said. “Nets, lobster pots, grouper traps, long lines. We can use them all.”
“Only if we can get Bruce to go along,” Jason pointed out. “He’s death on commercial harvesting.”
“He’s going to find slow going fighting that battle,” Antja said, popping a cutlet into her mouth. “This is the first time we’ve been well fed since the Fall. And while picking lobsters out one by one is fun when it’s a game, I’d much rather go pick up filled traps. These tails took most of the day to round up.”
“You can trade for all of those things,” Edmund pointed out. “You might even be able to find a source for stainless steel. I doubt you’ll find one for the bronze. But it’s going to be slow going without some sort of support.”
“We hear you,” Jason said. “We’ve got the picture. The problem is that if we ally with you, we’re New Destiny’s enemies. And we have to consider that, carefully.”
“You’re already their enemies,” Herzer replied. “They hate Change. They may have allied with the orcas, but that’s a marriage of convenience. If they win, you can bet that their first action will be to round up their so-called allies and put them through a Change of their making.”
“The ocean is big,” Antja said.
“But places where you can birth your young are not so widely found,” Daneh interjected.
“What?” Herzer asked.
“What?” the mer-folk all said at once.
“Who told you that?” Jason snapped.
“Someone who needed a diagnosis,” Daneh replied mildly. “One that, if they hadn’t gotten it, would have led inevitably to the death of the child in question.”
“The yellow baby,” Antja said.
“Correct,” Daneh replied. “A simple case of jaundice that was easily corrected. But there are damned few trained doctors left in the world, and for sure you won’t have access to them. That is something else that we can give you no one else can. And there’s more.”
“Oh?” Jason said. “What?”
“You know how bloody vulnerable you are,” Edmund replied. He had obviously been talking to his wife. “We can provide the guards that can ensure your security.”
“So we’re just supposed to hand over the care of our children to you?” Jackson said. “That’s a pretty huge leap of trust.”
“It’s not like you have a lot of choice,” Edmund replied. “We’re not going to be the last people to find out about it. You have to get guards somewhere.”
“Why should we trust you?” Jason asked. “Why you as opposed to someone else?”
“Would you trust me?” Herzer asked.
Jason thought about it for a moment then nodded. “Yeah, you I’d trust.”
“How about someone that I said could be trusted even more unreservedly than me?” Herzer asked. “Someone to train and command the guard force? We’d draw them from our best soldiers, each of them with experience.”
“Gunny?” Edmund asked.
“He’s getting a little long in the tooth even for the Academy,” Herzer said. “But he’d be just the person to guard whatever you’re talking about. And I can’t imagine a better retirement spot than down here. We could cycle the Lords through on rotation. I think that most of them would scramble for the spot.”
“Station a group of dragon-riders down here as well,” Jerry said. “We’ve got the wyverns for it, but they’ll have to be moved east and brought down on carriers. And we need more trained riders.”
“If you ally with us, we’ll establish a base,” Edmund said. “A permanent station. There will be a permanent guard force that can watch over your birthing caverns. Hell, build something less makeshift; from what Daneh told me that place is a deathtrap. Probably not here, I’d prefer someplace more accessible. But we can do it.”
“Why?” Jason said. “What is worth all that trouble and expense?”
“We need you, the delphinos even more, against the New Destiny forces,” Edmund said. “And, hell, Herzer’s right. Guards will give their eyeteeth for the posting. Especially in winter.”
“Bimi’s not the greatest place in winter,” Pete pointed out. “Winds from the north turn it into an icebox from time to time.”
“It’s a hell of a lot better than Raven’s Mill,” Rachel replied with a grin.
“Would you have to trust us?” Edmund asked. “Yes. But we will be trusting you, in turn, to give us good information on the Destiny forces. And to be willing to attack them if it comes to it.”
“Well, I have to admit, you’ve convinced me,” Jason said. “But it’s Bruce you have to convince.”
“No,” Edmund replied. “I just have to convince enough of the mer that I’m right and he’s wrong.”
“I don’t know that I want to go there,” Jackson interjected. “Bruce has a lot of supporters who are going to follow him even if it’s the wrong idea and they know it. But we’ve survived by sticking together.”
“That’s what the mackerel said,” Edmund replied, scooping out one of the fish and unwrapping it from its seaweed. “Right up until they got eaten.”
When Bruce, inevitably, found out, he was furious.
“I cannot believe that someone showed you the birthing cavern!”
“I’m a doctor,” Daneh said, coldly. “There was a sick baby. He’s probably going to get well now. He wouldn’t have if they hadn’t shown me.”
“So to save one life they’ve threatened us all!”
“What threat?” Edmund said. “Seriously. You go on and on about all the history that you’ve studied, but I guarantee that I know it better than you. I know exactly what hostages those women and children make, but they’re hostages already!”
“What?” several in the group said.
The discussion was taking place in the middle of the square. For once, thanks to the net full of mackerel and grouper dropped onto the town by returning dragons, there was enough to eat and leisure to gather and discuss the latest crisis.
“Your birthing problems are always going to be your greatest weakness,” Edmund said. “A weakness you can’t control without allies on the surface, allies you can trust unreservedly. There’s no way, for example, to change out hostages. Humans, without breath masks, cannot survive underwater. Babies certainly cannot. So you can’t force anyone who guards you to give you hostages in return. So, sooner or later, you’re going to have to find allies to guard your babies, allies that you trust. Let me ask you this, would you ever, in your wildest dreams, trust New Destiny to guard them?”