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larders, people went out and hunted; even a winter-thin groundhog could keep a family from starving. More animals died of hunger, unable to find food under the snow and ice. Wolves that had grown fat on escaped livestock and battlefield dead suddenly found themselves going hungry.
    It was inevitable the wolves would turn on the hunters, then on travelers, then on isolated farms and even small villages. Men who might risk a blizzard and death from exposure wouldn't face being dragged down and eaten alive by starving wolves.
    He knew that for this winter, the main enemy wasn't Styphon's House. It was the wolves, which were going to gnaw his Kingdom out from under him if they weren't stopped. That was what had brought him to swear a public oath two days ago that he would bring an end to the wolves' reign of terror. Hunting parties would go out everywhere the wolves were a problem. Which also meant leading one himself, to set an example, which was why he was out here tonight, slowly freezing in his saddle and doing a cavalry lieutenant's work.
    "We took seven wolves as the price of your heifer," Kalvan told the farmers. "You may have the skins, and the bounty for them."
    Wolf-bounty was five ounces of silver, or five talos—a silver coin about the size of a silver dollar, with a stamped image of a young King Kaiphranos on the face and a two-headed battleaxe on the obverse. Kalvan had recently added an official gold coinage, a one-ounce gold piece called a Hostigos crown, minted from the loot taken from Styphon's temples.
    Maybe the silver from the bounty would keep the farmers alive until spring, maybe not. "Also, I will have soldiers come and rebuild your barn. In the spring," he added; there was no hope of finding fresh thatch in the dead of winter.
    "Dralm Bless you, Your Majesty!" the father said. He bowed his head. "It has not been easy this winter, Sire. We have prayed to Dralm and Yirtta Allmother..." His voice trailed off as the baby started crying again.
    "Go on praying," Kalvan said. "When you can spare a prayer for someone else, pray for Queen Rylla—she's with child, too."
    The three men managed a smile at that news, which lasted until the ridgepole of the barn cracked and fell into the fire. Sparks flew up again, geese squawked and they dashed madly for the buckets and sacks they'd left to greet Kalvan.
    He thought of writing out his promise and leaving it with the farmers, and then he remembered they most likely couldn't read. Only nobles, priests, scribes and clerks read here-and now; like the Middle Ages back home. Also, parchment was scarce and expensive. Which reminded him to stop off at the paper mill on the way back to Hostigos Town to give those poor bastards some encouragement! They were working hard with what little knowledge of papermaking he'd been able to dredge up out of his memory. Unfortunately, to date, all their results were still various grades of foul-smelling mush.
    That too would eventually change; there were already quite a few people learning their way around Kalvan's new world: Rylla, of course. Ptosphes, First Prince of the new Great Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos. Count Harmakros, Captain-General of the new Royal Army. Trader Verkan the Grefftscharrer. Master Ermut, here-and-now's first experimental scientist. Count Phrames. Chancellor Xentos, also Highpriest of Dralm. Brother Mytron, the healer priest who had listened with great interest to the lecture on antiseptic techniques Kalvan delivered the day after he learned Rylla was pregnant.
    There would doubtless be more. And the child who would be born in late summer, he or she would grow up with all these changes, learning to ride the runaway horse from the cradle. Now that he had a real stake in the future here-and-now, Kalvan was determined to be even more careful about what changes he introduced. After all, he didn't want to start a stampede, just save Hostigos from Styphon's House and Great King Kaiphranos of Hos-Harphax. Kalvan's own history