I stepped out into the snow and pulled the door shut behind me. I shivered, even under my heavy hat and coat, and plodded slowly towards the general store. Sari waved to me from the window before disappearing, no doubt to curl up by the fire I had dumped a fresh log on before leaving. There was no way she was coming outside in this weather, and I didn't blame her.

Winter had hit Lyn'knoll hard and completely by surprise. The snow lay a foot deep in places, six in others, and had been like that for almost a month now. The winter vegetables were flourishing, but they were having trouble harvesting them, and I'd been helping to clear the snow from the fields. We hadn't seen supplies in a couple of weeks, and they were beginning to get rationed.

"Rhyn!" the shopkeeper, a man by the name of Thomas, beamed as I dragged a flurry of snow into his store, "How nice to see you. What can I do for you?"

"I need steak, Thomas, as juicy and as large as you can," I put on as good a face as I could, and expected I knew what his answer would be.

His expression dropped, "I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help there. You know how things are at the moment, Rhyn, my store is running low on stock, I'm not sure how much longer it's going to be worth even staying open.

"Come on, Tom, you must have something put to one side surely? If I go back empty handed you know it's my rump that's going to end up on one of your hooks back there..." He chuckled and smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry, Rhyn, there's nothing I can do for you."

"It's not for me, Thomas, it's for Sari. She needs fresh meat. She's getting a little undernourished and it's not safe in her condition. You know I'll make it worth your while."

Thomas nodded and sighed, "Well, perhaps there might be something," he replied, "but it's going to cost you."

"Go on."

"One of my suppliers has put together a cart down in Azura, but doesn't have any horses capable of making it up here. Perhaps if you could find a way to get it here for me, I might not have to close up shop?"

I considered this for a moment. It would be a tough journey to make, most of the tiger Keidran would be holed up for winter, but the ones that would be out would be the most fierce. Azura wasn't too far a journey, we could be there and back within two or three days, and I might be able to persuade Fergus to make the journey with me. I thought about Sari back home and instantly made my decision.

"What have you got?" I asked. Thomas waved his finger and retreated into the back room. When he returned he was carrying an inch thick sirloin steak, no less than twelve inches across, in paper that was stained bright red and had almost completely disintegrated. "You've outdone yourself, Thomas," I said as he wrapped it up, "you'll have those supplies before the weekend."

"I'd better. When Victoria finds out this is gone, there's going to be hell to pay."

I clutched the package under my coat as I hurried home, beginning to formulate my plan. I would leave today, but there was no way anything was going force me out of my house tonight. It had been some time since Sari had had anything fresh to eat, and once her carnivorous cravings had been satisfied, she was going to be incredibly thankful.