The Art of Blood and Power (Book 2 in The Gifted Trilogy)

9- The End-of-Summer Harvest

Similar to how the name "The Garner" was a gross oversimplification of the actual event itself, the End-of-Summer Harvest also possessed a blatant slap-in-the-face irony. Rather than gathering and harvesting resources and supplies for the long Winter ahead, each of the non-Gifted villages in Naturian had to send a representative to the Nature Court at the end of Summer where they were meant to present gifts to their kings. The items were meant to be a sort of tax, repayment for the so-called "protection" bestowed upon them by the Gifted kings.

    Simply hearing the people of my old village worry and fret over how they were going to gather enough money or items of worth for the Earth King when there weren't even enough supplies in our stocks to get us all safely through the Winter was enough to cause me to grind my teeth and brandish every curse word in my vocabulary against the Gifted. Actually having to stand under the blazing sun in more decor than most of the non-Gifted standing before me had ever seen, with five of the six kings lounging on thrones behind me, had me using every inch of my willpower to not allow my frustration and anger to show on my face.

    One of the duties of the Garner Champions was to accompany their king to the End-of-Summer Harvest and serve as their ambassador, accepting the gifts from the non-Gifted representatives and delivering them to the feet of their king. Seeing as I was the only Champion, I was given the ever-exclusive honor of acting as ambassador for each king. To say I loathed every single second I stood like an extravagant statue smiling at the desperate people below me would be the understatement of the century.

As the next non-Gifted representative stepped forward from their place in the long line of people, I nodded to them as I had to every person that had gone before them. "And what village are you representing today, sir?" I asked through a forced smile.

"Elissor, ma'am. We're located within the boundaries of the Wind Court." The man stuttered over his answer, holding in his arms a wooden basket filled with silks and delicate cloth. From the way he clutched the basket tightly to his chest, I knew that it had been intended to keep the people of Elissor warm through the brutal Winter and would be dearly missed once the cold hit. I also knew that, as lovely as the material undoubtedly seemed to him and the other people of his village, it didn't even come close to matching the material used by the kings and their Gifted subjects. At best, its material would be cut into washcloths or strips for medics to use on the injured soldiers.

But the point of the Harvest wasn't to actually gain anything of value. The kings of Naturian knew that nothing the non-Gifted villages gave them would be anything of actual worth. It was about maintaining the authority over them, forcing them to give up something dire in order to show their loyalty to their king. To remind them that everything they think is theirs alone can be taken away from them at the snap of a finger.

I nodded again and reached out my arms to take the basket from him. The man eyed the cloth in a mournful manner yet willingly gave them to me. I turned and climbed up the stairs for what must have been the hundredth time that day, heading for Calius's throne and avoiding the stares of the others. Laying the basket in front of Calius's throne beside the rest of the items that had already been given to him, I stood and met the Wind King's eyes. "Does this gift satisfy you, your Majesty?"

Calius glanced towards the basket and nodded serenely. "It does."

I turned back and once again made my way down the set of stairs as the next representative was called forward. I repeated this routine a dozen more times before the first person stepped forward that had nothing in their hands. I felt myself grow queasy yet still managed to say, "what village are you representing today, ma'am?"

"Monroe, madam," the woman squeaked out. "Found within the territories of the Ember Court. Unfortunately, our harvest yield this Summer was far smaller than we were expecting, what with the drought and all, and we barely have enough to feed our people now. We don't know how we're going to make it through an entire Winter... "