Chapter 462: The Determination
Joe fell ill.
He’d been the second weakest before Paper was taken; since then, he’d been the weakest. He was fine the night they came back from the square. By morning, Snaketooth found him motionless on the hay, cheeks flushed dark as coals, breathing in shallow pulls.
“Cold-plague,” Sunflower said, her hand resting on Joe’s forehead. “He’s burning.”
“Will I… die?” The words came out in a thread.
No one answered.
The cold-plague was an honest killer—it didn’t favor the unlucky, it simply finished what hunger and cold had already started. The strong rarely caught it. Everyone who did was already compromised. Among Rats, it was essentially a sentence: you didn’t survive it because you didn’t have the body to survive it.
“I’m going to Kanas,” Snaketooth said.
“For what?”
“To beg him for more food.” He stood up. “If Joe is kept warm and fed, his chances are better.”
Tigerclaw shook his head. “Kanas won’t give you food. You know what he’s like.”
“You might get beaten instead,” Sunflower said quietly, gathering hay around Joe’s feet. “Rats don’t feed dead weight.”
“Joe isn’t dead weight.” The heat in Snaketooth’s voice surprised him. “He can read.”
“A few words. Kanas wants people who can steal, not read.”
He clenched his teeth and turned for the manager’s room. He would try even if he came back limping.
Kanas wasn’t there.
When he returned empty-handed, Tigerclaw grinned. “Lucky for you. Or we might’ve been taking care of another one.”
Sunflower exhaled. “We’ll each give Joe a portion of our bread at distribution. He’ll eat more than usual.”
But Snaketooth couldn’t shake the wrongness of it. Kanas had gone to deliver Snaketooth’s message to Bloody hand the night before—half an hour at most. It was now past noon. Even a long council of war should have finished hours ago. And when one of Kanas’s men opened the door to the manager’s room, Snaketooth had caught a glimpse: no Kanas. No Kanas’s lover either.
When the food distribution came, it was handled by Kanas’s confidant.
Snaketooth received half a slice of brown bread.
Four days later, Joe was losing.
Yesterday he’d been shivering, calling out that he was cold. Today he couldn’t speak at all. The flush had drained from his cheeks and left them the wrong shade of pale. His breathing had gone shallow and slow.
“We’ve done everything we could,” Sunflower said. She was leaning against the wall with her hand pressed to her empty stomach. They had given Joe half their food for four days. Even Tigerclaw, who had always seemed to run on something other than food, was beginning to look hollow.
Kanas had not shown up. The Endless Lane was loud with speculation.
Then the announcement’s deadline arrived: this was the day of the free oatmeal.
“I’m going to the square.” Snaketooth had been sitting with it for a long time. “We need more than bread. If I can get Joe a bowl of hot oatmeal—”
“Are you insane?” Sunflower turned on him. “Kanas made it very clear what would happen. Do you want your lips sewn shut?”
“Kanas isn’t here. We don’t even know if he’s coming back. What if the prince’s campaign has already begun and taken him?”
“His men are still here. They’ll tell him.”
She looked at Tigerclaw, pulling him into it. “Help me talk him out of this.”
“I’ll go with him,” Tigerclaw said.
Sunflower stared.
“The food distribution might have been disrupted by now,” Tigerclaw said. “Or it might be a noble’s trick with nothing behind it. In either case, we’re not technically violating Kanas’s order—we’d just be confirming what’s happening.” He shrugged, the gesture only slightly undermined by the fact that he looked like he might blow away in the wind. “And I’m strong. I can carry Joe and still run. We go, we check, we come back. Kanas’s men are inside by the fire. No one will notice.”
“You stay,” Snaketooth told Sunflower. “If anyone asks, we have diarrhea and needed somewhere private. We won’t be long.”
She hesitated, looked around the room, looked at Joe.
“Go,” she said. “Hurry.”
They ran.
The snow had packed into ridges underfoot, soaking through their trousers at every step. The cold came at their faces like something with an edge to it. Tigerclaw carried Joe on his back without complaint, settling into a steady rhythm that Snaketooth matched beside him.
The square held close to a thousand people.
The oatmeal was real.
They broke into a run—and were stopped by two guards in brown uniforms before they reached the fence. “Walk. No pushing. No cutting. Anyone who breaks the rules loses their ration.”
Snaketooth noticed the layout: a wooden fence encircling the distribution area, the crowd moving through it in a folded line like a slow river finding its way to the sea. Guards at regular intervals. Order enforced by the quiet authority of men who clearly weren’t there to be bribed.
“Please—” Snaketooth dropped to his knees in the snow. “My friend is sick. He needs food urgently.”
Tigerclaw knelt beside him without being asked.
“What illness?”
“Cold-plague.”
One of the guards reached out and lifted Joe from Tigerclaw’s back without ceremony, settling the boy against his shoulder. “Get in line. Both of you.”
“Where are you—”
“He’ll know the way back,” the second guard said. “And if he doesn’t, you can find him here.”
The guard carried Joe away through the crowd. They watched him go.
“What do we do?” Tigerclaw asked.
Snaketooth considered it. Getting through the line would take at least half an hour—long enough for Kanas’s men to notice them gone, long enough for something to go wrong. Joe was already with the guards. No oatmeal was going to help him more in the next thirty minutes than professional care might.
“We go back.”
“Without oatmeal?” Tigerclaw’s voice cracked on the last word, his eyes fixed on the steaming barrel at the wooden table.
“We come back tonight and get Joe. We can queue then.” Snaketooth turned away before he could talk himself out of it.
There was something he didn’t say: the grain announcement had been real. The oatmeal announcement had been real. That left one more announcement unaccounted for.
He did not let himself think too hard about what that meant. Not yet.
Chapter 462: The Determination
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Joe fell ill.
He was the second weakest in the group before Paper was kidnapped, and since then he had become the weakest. Joe was fine the night he came back from the square. But the next day, Snaketooth found him lying motionless on the hay, moaning vaguely and with bright red cheeks.
“He was infected by the cold plague,” Sunflower said while touching Joe’s head, “and his head is burning hot.”
“Will I… die?”
Joe, squinting his eyes, asked softly.
No one answered.
The cold plague was an extremely stubborn disease, and once contracted, you can only rely on the body to resist the infection. However, people who were physically fit seldom suffered from the cold—those who were infected were generally weak, so very few patients could survive it. It was essentially a death sentence for Rats.
“I’ll go and look for Kanas,” said Snaketooth, breaking the silence.
“What do you want him for?”
“To beg him to give Joe more food.” He stood up. “I’ve heard that the chance of survival is greater if the patient is kept warm and adequately fed.”
“He won’t give you any food,” Tigerclaw shook his head and said. “We all know what kind of person he is.”
“Exactly, you may even get beaten up by him,” Sunflower said while gathering hay. “Rats never feed any useless person.”
“Joe isn’t useless.” Snaketooth retorted. “He can read!”
“Just a few words, and of what use is that to Kanas? He wants people who can steal and rob others.”
“…” Snaketooth clenched his teeth, turned around and walked towards the manager’s room in the Endless Lane. He had to try even if he would be beaten up by Kanas with a stick.
Surprisingly, Kanas was not back yet.
“You’re lucky.” When he brought the message back to his companions, Tigerclaw grinned. “Or we may have to take care of another one.”
Sunflower sighed. “Each of us will give a portion of our bread to Joe later when it’s time for the bread distribution so that he can eat more.”
However, Snaketooth did not feel lucky at all. He could feel something was not right.
“It’d only take half an hour to send the message to Bloodyhand. It’s understandable that Bloodyhand didn’t come back last night due to the discussion of countermeasures—but it’s already noon, the discussion should have been finished by now.” Furthermore, when his men opened the door, he took a peek and realized Kanas and his lover were both missing.
The gang started to distribute food not long after, and Snaketooth realized that it was distributed by Kanas’ confidant.
What he received was nothing but half a slice of brown bread.
…
After four days, Joe’s condition was still deteriorating.
He was yelling that he felt cold yesterday, but he couldn’t speak a word today. His once pink cheeks started to turn pale and his breathing was getting weaker.
“We’ve tried our best,” Sunflower said languidly with her hand on her stomach.
They had given half of their food to Joe in the past few days. If it was not for them, he might not have lived this long. Tigerclaw, who used to be very energetic, was starting to look feeble as well.
Kanas had not shown up these past few days.
More than a hundred Rats gathered in the room and started to discuss this matter. But it was just a discussion—after all, they were still getting food as usual. However, it was especially noisy today.
It was the day of free food distribution, as announced.
“I’ll go to the square,” after a long contemplation, Snaketooth clenched his teeth and said. “We need to eat more than just bread. Joe might be able to last if I could get a bowl of hot oatmeal for him.”
“Are you crazy?” Sunflower stared at him and said, “Don’t forget how Kanas warned us. Do you really want to get stitches on your lips?”
“That’s if he knows I snuck out. We don’t even know where Kanas is now. What if the lord of the city is really going to attack them?”
“But his men are still here. Do you think they’ll let you off if they find out?” Sunflower looked at Tigerclaw. “Don’t just stand there. Help me to talk him out of this.”
“I’ll go with you,” the latter said suddenly.
“Both of you…”
“This food distribution may have already been ruined. Or perhaps there’s no food at all, and it’s simply the noble’s act of disguising it. I suppose it shouldn’t be considered disobeying Kanas’ warnings in this case?” Tigerclaw twitched his lips and said, “I’m strong—I can run there and back while carrying Joe on my back, and it won’t take us too long. Kanas isn’t around now and his confidants are hiding in his room roasting themselves in front of the fire. No one will notice us.”
“Um…” Sunflower hesitated.
“You just stay here,” Snaketooth said, “so you can cover for us in case anyone asks. Just say we have diarrhea and had to go to find a sheltered place to relieve ourselves. No worries. We won’t need long to rush back from there.”
“Well, then,” she looked around and said, “hurry up!”
…
Snaketooth and Tigerclaw snuck out of the log cabin, running all the way down the alley. The elevated snow under their feet drenched their trousers. Even though the cold wind that blew into their face felt as sharp as a knife, it couldn’t stop them. Panting while arriving at the square, they found that there were almost a thousand people surrounding the podium.
Oatmeal really was being distributed!
Both of them ran over quickly, but were stopped by two guards in brown uniforms. “Walk slowly, no pushing, and no cutting in line—otherwise you’ll be prohibited from receiving any free food.”
Snaketooth noticed that there was a wooden fence set up around the center of the podium. The crowd was moving along the fence in a line like a folded dragon. Guards armed with strange iron bars could be seen at every short interval. They looked like the defenders of order, because people were expelled from the line from time to time.
“My friend is sick… Can you help us, please? I’m begging you!” Snaketooth knelt down on the snowy ground.
“He’s been starving for days. He’s in need of food urgently!” Tigerclaw knelt down beside him.
“What kind of illness?”
“It’s… the cold plague.”
One of them reached out to Joe who was unconscious and said, “Leave him with me. Both of you get in line.”
“Erm…”
“He knows the way back, doesn’t he?” the other guard said, “Even if he doesn’t know, you can always come back here to look for him.”
While saying this, the guard walked away with Joe on his shoulders.
“What should we do?” Both of them stared at each other. No one expected it to turn out like this—according to their plans, the other party would either be totally indifferent or let them bypass the fence to get the oatmeal in advance.
“Let’s go back first.” Snaketooth decided after some short contemplation.
“What… Go back?” Tigerclaw asked with surprise, “No oatmeal?”
“It’ll take us at least half an hour to get there with this line. There might be trouble if we take too long,” he nodded and said. “We can sneak out again in the evening to bring Joe back.”
Tigerclaw looked at the oatmeal on the wooden table and said reluctantly, “Okay… then.”
There was something that Snaketooth kept to himself—since the announcement of the free food distribution had come true, did it mean that the other two rumors would eventually pan out as well?
He vaguely felt that an upheaval might be coming towards the Black Street.
Back at the Endless Lane, both of them tiptoed into the house but were caught by surprise.
Sunflower was hung in front of the entrance with both her hands tied behind her back, standing on a shaky wooden bench. Bruises could be seen on her face. All the while, Kanas’ men were standing by her side, sneering at both of them.
“You, finally back with a well-fed stomach?”