It didn’t take too long to make sure that the basic treatment of others was done as well. Once all the cuts had been bandaged, Feroy stood up and looked around. “Did any of you see that bastard Joric during the fight? He better be dead already, or it won’t end well for him…”
Hyola also looked around but didn’t see him anywhere. “Maybe he ran away? He didn’t seem like a bandit though, and I don’t think I saw him in the fight.”
“Hmm…” The ex-mercenary gazed to the west, where the sun had dipped behind the trees a while ago, and had likely already set by now. “We will need to move soon. It’s already getting dark and we don’t want to be here at night. The smell of so much blood and flesh will attract way too many predators here. We need to get a good distance away from this place before we make a camp for the night.”
Feroy looked around for a moment at the nearly dark surroundings. “We need to hurry now. Tesyb, take two men and start stripping the dead bodies of anything useful. It doesn’t seem like there is anyone else nearby to ambush us again – not humans anyway – but still, look out for any dangers and try to see if you can find Joric amongst the dead. Hyola, you and I will keep an eye on our surroundings until they are done.”
Tesyb nodded and jogged to the first body, and started checking the pockets and removing the leather armors which weren’t too damaged from the bodies. The other guards had also begun picking up the fallen swords from the dead bandits’ hands, some of which still had bits of flesh stuck on them. Hyola grimaced seeing the grisly work, but knew that they couldn’t afford to leave anything valuable here.
Before long, they had gathered whatever they could find from the bodies of the dead bandits – although they didn’t find any coins on any of them – and had started tying the loot on the sides of the wagons, when they heard a loud howl from somewhere in the forest. Hyola had already fought with an adzee once, and wouldn’t ever forget the sound of its howls, and she was pretty sure there was at least one adzee nearby, if not even more, since they usually roamed in packs.
“Hurry up! We need to leave right now!” Feroy barked.
Everyone began rushing to complete their tasks, and soon they all were sitting on the wagons. The two lightly injured guards were ordered to sit on different wagons so that each group would have some fighting capability intact, while the man who had lost his arm was already asleep on one of the wagon beds next to the smoked fish barrels after taking the losuvil powder. Hyola was glad that they had something like that with them, otherwise she wasn’t sure what would have happened to him.
Immediately, Feroy whipped the horses, which began cantering once again, and their small caravan of two wagons started moving towards their home.
As Hyola looked at the passing bodies of the bandits, for a moment she wished they had time to bury them, since that was the only way that people were supposed to get any salvation after dying, but then she remembered what kind of men they were and what they planned to do to her and the others. If the guards hadn’t been able to kill these bastards, then some of the guards would have been killed mercilessly, while others would have been sold into slavery. Her fate would have been even worse, and she didn’t even want to think about it… So maybe it was better that these bastards became the dinner of some wild beasts tonight, since that was exactly what lowlifes like them deserved.
They had only moved a short distance, when one of the guards pointed towards the left of the road and shouted. “There is somebody out there!”
Hyola immediately picked up the crossbow she had already kept loaded, while some of the other guards removed their sword from their scabbards, in case there was another ambush. She squinted towards where the guard had pointed, before she saw a man running towards them.
“Don’t stop moving,” Feroy ordered, while whipping the horses once again to make them move faster, as risky as it was to do it when it was nearly dark by now.
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She quickly brought the crossbow sight in front of her eyes to kill the man, and was about to pull the trigger when somebody shouted, “Wait! Isn’t that Joric?”
Hyola brought the crossbow down and looked carefully, and saw that it was indeed the bastard who had made them stop for the ambush, and he was running with both of his hands raised high instead of holding a sword or another weapon. She looked at the other side of the wagons but there wasn’t anyone else running at them. The guards on the second wagon reported the same.
She gave a loud exhale trying to slow down her heart. At least they didn’t have to deal with another ambush so soon, and with nearly half of them already injured, but she still didn’t like the sight of this bastard. He could only be bad news for them.
“We really should kill him,” she muttered.
The ex-mercenary, who had been looking all around them, focused back towards Joric and gently pulled the reins to slow down the horses. “I might very well do it later, but we need to see what he has to say first.”
By now the running man was close enough that they could hear what he was shouting.
“Wait! Wait! Please stop! Don’t leave me here!” Joric kept shouting as he reached close to them. “I am not a bandit! I swear!”
Feroy had to stop the wagon when Joric stopped right in front of them with a pleading face, before the ex-mercenary immediately jumped down and ran towards the man, with Tesyb following him there.
“Cover me,” Feroy ordered, as he began to check if Joric had any weapons on him. Once he was satisfied, he glared at Joric. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now. You only have a few moments before I leave or we all will become adzee food tonight.”
Joric’s eyes were darting around in fear. “But… But it wasn’t my fault! If I hadn’t done what they asked they would have killed me!” He continued hurriedly, “I really was a merchant before I sold myself into slavery so my family in Kirnos could remain safe. And… and I can tell you about them. I can tell you everything I know about Torhan and his compound!”
“Torhan?” Tesyb repeated in surprise. “I thought that bastard Nokozal had found more lackeys to order around and ambush us. But these were really Torhan’s men?”
Joric nodded quickly.
“That bastard!” Tesyb cursed before looking at Feroy. “He was the one who burned half our village in the autumn. We need to take this man with us so he can tell us more about this Torhan.”
Feroy seemed to be thinking for a moment, before he ordered, “Hop on, Joric. It seems it’s your lucky day today. You didn’t die during the ambush and now you are getting a free ride to Tiranat.”
“Really?” Joric’s eyes were wide in surprise. “I can come with you? Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Feroy quickly took his place on the seat beside her, while he told Joric to sit on the wagon bed behind them next to the barrels. Tesyb ran back to the second wagon, and immediately they started moving again. Just in time, it seemed, since she heard another loud howl of adzee from somewhere behind them.
“Hyola, keep an eye out,” Feroy ordered before handing over the reins to her and turning around on his seat. “Joric, you are only alive because I can tell that you aren’t a bandit and likely haven’t killed anyone in your life.”
“I really haven’t!” Joric protested. “And I am not a bandit! I have never even held a sword in my hands in my life!”
Feroy nodded. “Start speaking now. If I don’t like what you have to say then we might just drop you on our way. And don’t even think about lying. The first hint that you aren’t speaking the complete truth and you won’t get to see another sunrise.”
Joric gulped in unease but didn’t take long to explain his full story. He told them how he used to be a merchant selling clothes in the marketplace of Kirnos until the previous autumn when he had to agree to become a slave of Torhan so he could pay off all the debt for his family. He had been working as a clay miner as a slave of Torhan since then and was only brought here today so he could find out if the caravan was worth looting, since the guards would never have agreed to stop if it was a scarred bandit with mismatched teeth asking for help, since nobody would ever accept them as a farmer asking for help.
While Hyola was still angry at this man, since the guards wouldn’t have gotten injured and one of them wouldn’t have lost his arm if this man hadn’t tried to stop them for the ambush, but she also felt respect for him in a way, since unlike most of the men in this world, he had sold himself as a slave instead of his wife or children. That must have taken a whole lot of courage, which most men just didn’t possess.
Joric explained, “Some of the bandits were still doubtful of attacking you when they saw that there were double the number of guards they had expected – rather than only two guards along with a merchant and a woman – as told to them by an informer in Kirnos, but Nokozal forced them to attack. I’m just glad you killed those bastards!”
“How many men did the bandits have?” Feroy asked. “We counted seven bodies.”
“Then you must have killed all of Torhan’s men, including his deputy who looked after his compound at the clay mine, but I saw Nokozal running away so that giant must still be alive…”
“If I find that anything is a lie in your story,” Feroy warned again, “then it is not going to end well for you.”
“I have no reason to lie!” Joric protested. “Not for these bastards!”
“It better be so, or we can just hand you over to the guards in Kirnos next time. With how much influence Torhan seems to have there, I am sure he will be happy to find a lost slave.”
“No! I can’t go to that compound again…” Joric whimpered. “They’ll kill me immediately when they find out only I remain alive from that ambush group. I can’t even enter Kirnos to find my family, because like you said, Torhan has informers there and will find out immediately. My slave contract is for decades so the baron’s guards won’t stop him either! If the bandits do take me to the clay mine again, they will take my head for one reason or another!”
Feroy kept staring at the man before he nodded. “I believe you. For now. We will take you to Tiranat with us and Lord Kivamus will decide what to do with you.”
Joric bowed his head low enough that it touched the floor of the wagon bed. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Feroy grinned. “We still have a long journey ahead of us. In the meantime, why don’t you tell us everything you know about Torhan and his clay mines. If your information is good enough, I might just be able to ask Lord Kivamus to give you a permanent place in Tiranat. Maybe your family can join you too.”
Hyola glanced back from the corner of her eyes, and saw the tears flowing freely on Joric’s face. Even without all the information he was going to give which would be helpful to Lord Kivamus, this man didn’t seem like a criminal to her. Perhaps it was a good decision to take him on after all.
She turned to the front once again, looking for a suitable place for a camp tonight, before it turned into night completely. With the delay because of the ambush, they wouldn’t be able to reach Tiranat by tomorrow evening as was the earlier plan, but thankfully they did have barrels full of smoked fish that spending another half a day on the road wouldn’t be too much of a problem. The journey might even be tasty!
Still, she couldn’t wait to reach Tiranat. Even though it had only been a few months since she had started living there, it was her home now. Of course, there was an added benefit that after she told Calubo about all the dangers she faced on the journey, he just might find the courage to pop the question in the future. She giggled just thinking about it. There was no time to waste since a person’s life could be cut short at any moment these days, especially for guards like her and Calubo. It was a dangerous world after all!
******
~ Kivamus ~
He was sitting inside the manor hall in the morning after breakfast, while waiting for Hudan to arrive. Duvas was working nearby to maintain the tax ledger, while Gorsazo was teaching Syryne at the moment in another free room.
Earlier in the day, he had been working on more blueprints for things they could build in the spring to generate more revenue. With the snow having started to melt since yesterday, it meant the temperature had already risen above freezing point, and spring wouldn’t be far away now. From what others had told him, he expected it to take around a week for all the snow to melt here and perhaps a few days longer for it to happen on the northern road going to Cinran. That road would finally become traversable once again after that. That meant merchants should hopefully start arriving in Tiranat within two weeks, and the tax collector wouldn’t be far behind them.
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However, Feroy still hadn’t arrived from Kirnos. While unexpected delays were always possible, he still should have been back by yesterday. Kivamus looked at the majordomo who was sitting in an armchair nearby while scribbling something on his ledger. “Any news of Feroy and the caravan?”
Duvas looked up from the ledger. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you heard anything about Feroy,” Kivamus repeated. “He is still not back, you know. I can’t think of any good reasons for him to be delayed this much.”
“You are not wrong,” the majordomo agreed with a sigh, “but we can’t do anything about it. We simply don’t have enough guards right now to send them on the western road to take a look. I just pray the Goddess keeps them safe.”
“Let’s hope so…” Kivamus muttered when the outer door of the manor hall opened. However, instead of Hudan, it was the carpenter Darora.
“Milord, I just completed the twelfth seed drill,” the young carpenter reported with a grin. “I’ve already brought it here so your servants could put it in a storage barn.”
“Well done, Darora. It won’t be long before we need to use them. Well, you know what to do next.”
The carpenter nodded. “Of course! I’ll get started on the fourth crossbow immediately. In the time I spent making the seed drills, Cedoron and my apprentices have already built up a small stockpile of the parts I need to assemble the crossbow. I believe I should be able to make a new one every three or four days until I run out of parts.”
“Oh, that’s excellent! Go on then.”
Darora gave a bow and exited the hall, while the guard captain entered inside not long after.
“We are ready to leave,” Hudan reported.
Kivamus stood up and looked at Duvas. “You sure you don’t want to come and see the dam?”
The majordomo shook his head, before he hesitated, and then eventually put down the ledger he had been working on and closed it. “Actually, I think I will come with you this time. My mind is going numb after working with numbers for so long, and I still haven’t gone to visit the dam site yet.”
“That’s great. Let’s go then. We will take another horse for you.”
Duvas nodded and wrapped his fur coat around him. Kivamus was also wearing one of them, although he could have gone without it, but he just didn’t want to risk getting sick in this world if he could help it. The path going between the eastern hills could get very windy, and it was still just above freezing. On the other hand, the huge muscles of the guard captain were easily showing where the leather armour wasn’t covering him, since he had decided to forgo wearing a fur coat for the last few days.
Soon, they exited the manor, and walked through the muddy courtyard towards the stables, where Hudan told the groom to bring out one of the last two horses there, with the rest of them already being used by Taniok to build the second watch tower in the south-west, as well as by Pinoto to clear more forested land in the south. Two pairs of horses had also gone east to pull the wagons bringing coal every evening from the mines where most of the labourers of Tiranat were already working.
While the groom was bringing the horse, Kivamus looked at Hudan. “Can we really not afford to send even a single guard to the west? I’m worried about Feroy.”
“It would be difficult, milord. Three hunting groups are already out at the moment, and eight guards have gone with the caravan to Kirnos. I’m also taking three guards other than me to accompany you to the dam site.” Hudan gave a loud exhale while gazing towards the west. “I’m just as worried about him as you are, but it’s really not a good idea to send even more guards out of the village at the moment.”
Kivamus sighed. “You’re right. We have to trust Feroy. I just wish we could recruit more guards soon. Once spring arrives and we start sending caravans to Cinran regularly, we will also need to send guards along with them. I don’t think the danger on that road is as high as it was before winter, but we’ll still need to send three or four guards with a caravan, just to make sure wild beasts or bears don’t mess with them.”
“I don’t think we need to send guards with every merchant that comes here,” Duvas remarked. “They don’t hire such protection anyway when they are travelling north of Cinran, since those roads are always well-patrolled by the Duke’s knights, so there is no danger of bandit attacks there. Even when coming here, they all know that the road connecting Cinran to Tiranat is dangerous, whether because of bandits or wild beasts, so they always make sure to bring enough protection for themselves, usually by hiring mercenaries from Cinran for the trip to our village and back. After that they can simply let go of those mercenaries, and travel further north with only a couple of men.”
“That makes sense,” Kivamus commented when he remembered something. “Then why didn’t Pydaso bring enough guards with him? Even if we include that assassin Levalo, he had brought just two trained men to protect his three wagons.”
“Pydaso is only a small-time merchant,” Duvas explained. “That’s the reason he risked coming to our village even when the threat was so high. Unlike the bigger merchants, who could afford to wait for the winter without coming to our village, Pydaso must have thought it was a good opportunity to make some money by braving the dangerous road, since he would be able to do a lot of business here which he wouldn’t be able to do in normal conditions. Still, he simply couldn’t afford to hire enough mercenaries to protect himself and his goods well enough, which is why we had to send guards to accompany him. Of course, you already know that our village was in a very desperate situation at that time, so we needed that grain at any cost or our people would have starved in the winter, so we also had a good incentive to send guards with him.”
“That’s true enough,” Kivamus agreed, “and we aren’t going to be in a much better situation until we reap our first harvest this autumn. But that is months away, and we will need to buy grain regularly until then, even at the higher prices. Still, I like Pydaso.”
He added with a snort, “Although he does want to make money like any other merchant, we’ve already had dealings with him, and he seems honest enough. So we’ll try to give the bigger and more valuable orders to him, and we’ll also provide him with protection, while the other merchants can take care of themselves. This way we will be assured of having at least one merchant whom we can rely on to get us good deals in Cinran, while also being confident that at least one protected caravan will be coming to our village regularly. Although we still need to recruit more guards soon for that.”
Duvas nodded, “That’s only possible if some immigrants start coming soon.”
“Let’s hope that goes well,” Kivamus agreed.
Before long, the groom had a horse ready and they all mounted their own rides. With that, the small group of Kivamus and Duvas, along with three guards and the guard captain exited the gates of the manor and turned north, so they could exit the village through the northern gate.
Soon, they had reached the northern wall, and Kivamus saw with a lot of satisfaction that an older villager was sitting on top of the watchtower keeping a keen eye outside the walls. One of the guards must have hauled a chair up the watchtower, which meant the older villagers wouldn’t have to stand all day for all their shift, which would keep them rested and their mind alert. Of course, this was only a stop gap measure, and eventually they would have to put trained guards up there, even if those were women. When they had more guards to call on, perhaps they could even post two of them on the tower at the same time, which would make it possible for them to keep an eye on a wider area, with both of them making sure that the other wasn’t getting sleepy, especially in the nights.
Noticing his gaze, Hudan explained, “I have already selected two of the older villagers who wanted to become watchmen on the towers, and they are each putting up a duty of eight hours every day, with the night watch being taken by a trained female guard. I have also been familiarising both of them in using the crossbow, and now they can hit a human sized stationary target outside the walls eight out of ten times. I think within a week they should be able to hit even a moving target.”
“That’s good to hear,” Kivamus said, as the guards on watch duty opened the northern gate for them.
Hudan added, “The crossbow is also kept up there on the watchtower permanently now, so they will have it handy in case it’s needed. But it really would help if we had more of them built.”
“Don’t I know it…” Kivamus muttered. “My mind keeps going back to Feroy, and I wish we could have given more crossbows to them. Hopefully, next time we will be able to do better.”
Their small group exited the gates, but just as they reached the fork in the road to turn east, they saw a group of guards coming towards them from that direction. Two of them were pulling a sledge behind them, with a lot of meat packed with snow kept above it.
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Reaching closer, Nurobo – the fat archer who must be the leader of this group and had some good experience in first aid – gave him a bow. “We are just returning after hunting in the eastern hills, milord. We got a good haul this time!”
However, Kivamus was thinking of something else. “You are just in time.” He looked at Hudan. “I think we should be able to send a scout to look for the caravan now.”
Hudan nodded and looked at the returning hunters. “Nurobo, you guys have been out for a while, so you all can rest for today, but be alert just in case until I come back. One of you run to the manor, and tell Kerel to pick another guard who is off-duty and to send him to ride east to scout on that road. The scout should hopefully be able to spot the caravan today and return back by nightfall, since he will be much faster riding alone on a horse than the caravan, but tell him to pack some supplies for another day in case he is unable to spot the caravan by evening.”
The guard captain ordered, “The scout should keep riding west until he sees them, but he should return back as soon as possible to give us the news and to tell us if the caravan needs any help. Maybe it’s just a simple problem like the wagon wheels getting damaged, so it would be good to find out soon so we can send them whatever help they need.”
Nurobo gave a nod. “As you wish, captain. One of us will take the place of that scout whenever he is due for his next shift.” Then he quickly selected one of the guards who looked young, and sent him to run to the manor with those instructions, before the group of hunters continued towards the village.
With that done, Kivamus and his group started riding to the east again, with his mind more at ease now, since they should hopefully be able to get some news about the caravan by evening.
******
They had been slowly riding the horses between the hills for nearly an hour when Kivamus saw the familiar bend in the path which led to the stream. The snow had started melting here even between the hills, although the tall peaks of the Arakin mountains far in the east still looked just as white as they had throughout the winter.
On their way here, they had passed through the narrow valley where half a dozen former stonecutters were still digging clay, and had also seen the pair of wagons parked outside the coal mines, where the labourers must have been busy mining coal inside the mine shafts, now that all of them had been cleared of all standing water.
As they turned around the bend, he saw the dam not far in the distance to their left. They kept moving towards it, and before long he was standing in front of the biggest man-made structure in the barony of Tiranat. It was way, way too small compared to any modern dam on earth, but for the people of Tiranat, it was still a marvel.
On the left bank of the stream where they were standing, the disassembled parts of the water wheel were kept safely on the side, while many laborers were hard at work on the far side of the dam.
“This is… astonishing…” Duvas muttered from nearby. “I didn’t expect it to be this big… I think that the dam I saw on the Romasi river near Risalis in the north was much bigger than this, but this dam is still eye-opening.”
“That is a big river,” Kivamus remarked as he got off his horse, “from what you told me. We simply can’t build a bigger dam on such a small stream as this.”
Duvas had to take the help of Hudan to dismount, while a pair of guards took their horses to the side. He looked at Kivamus as they started walking towards the dam, “I’ve been to this stream so many times over the past two decades I’ve lived in Tiranat but I never thought I’d ever see the stream blocked like this.”
Kivamus pointed at the small trickle of water passing over it on the far side of the dam, even if the stream didn’t have much water on this side. “It’s not completely blocked, as you can see. Come on, let’s move to the top of the dam, and I’ll show you how it works.”
They started walking upwards on the slope that had been built for just this purpose, with Hudan and another guard following behind them. Before long, they had reached the top of the dam structure, but they kept walking until they were close to the other end of it. Reaching there, Kivamus pointed at a small gap in the structure of the dam, where water was passing over it easily. Some water had already started gathering in the new reservoir created upstream of the dam because of the melting snow, but the water level was not nearly high enough for it to flow over the full height of the dam, or even through the sluice gates.
“You see this gap?” Kivamus explained while he gestured at it. “The foreman Yeden and I had decided to keep this small gap of around a foot of width in the dam structure right from the beginning, so that it could be patched up again and again as the water level keeps rising. This way, the flow of the stream wouldn’t be stopped completely, otherwise it’d be disastrous for any fish or wildlife depending on this water downstream of us until the reservoir fills up completely. Even the sluice gates we have made are higher than the current water level, so we can’t use them for this either.”
Duvas nodded after watching it for a while. “That was a good idea, my lord. How long do you think it will take for this reservoir to fill up completely?”
Kivamus looked at the higher than normal flow of the water in the stream north of them. “It’s hard to say for sure, but as more of the snow in these hills melts in the coming week, the water flow will keep increasing. I think maybe two weeks would be quite enough for it to fill up.”
Yeden, who had been scolding an idling labour on the other bank, had noticed them by now, so he started walking upward on the slope on the side of the dam, while ordering the workers to keep working.
Reaching towards them, he gave a bow. “It’s nearly done now, milord! The workers are just finishing up the slope we’d made for the fish ladder. I’ll have to keep a few workers here to keep patching up this small gap we have left as the water level rises, but apart from that we can shift back most of these workers from tomorrow to another place.”
“That’s really good to hear,” Kivamus praised. “Send them to the coal mines from tomorrow. We need them to dig as much coal as they can in the coming week.”
Yeden gave a nod. “As you say, milord.”
Hudan, who had been looking around with curiosity, turned towards them. “Where is that fish ladder anyway? I don’t see any ladder here.”
Kivamus grinned and pointed ahead of them. “It’s not really a ladder, as you can see. You see that staircase-like slope ahead of us where Yeden just climbed up? Just before it is a much gradual slope, which also has steps like a staircase.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Hudan nodded. “I thought it was also for us humans.”
“It’s not,” Kivamus explained while pointing ahead. “There is a similar foot-wide gap at the top of the dam where the fish ladder connects with it, and it will always remain a little lower than the top of the dam.” He continued, “For now the slope of the fish ladder is still dry since the water level is still not close to the top of the dam. However, once the reservoir has filled up, while most of the water will pass through the two sluice gates in the dam, a small amount of water will continue flowing through that small gap at the top of the dam. This way, fish will be able to jump up to each step of the fish-ladder one by one until they reach that gap and swim over to the reservoir, while even being able to rest in the small puddles dug in each step of the fish ladder. This way they will be able to pass the dam without too much difficulty.”
“I think I get what you mean…” the guard captain muttered, “but I’ll have to see it again when the fish are already jumping and uh… climbing on a ladder. That’d be a sight to see!”
Kivamus laughed hearing that. “Of course, we will have to visit here again when the dam is full to check the working of the water wheel.” He looked at Duvas and pointed at the wooden gates installed in the side of the dam. “Come here and take a look. These are the sluice gates.”
As Duvas walked closer to the edge of the top of the dam, Hudan called out, “Watch out! Be careful that you don’t slip or fall over.”
The majordomo snorted. “I’m old, not blind.”
Kivamus chuckled. “Of course. Anyway, as you can see, this is the first gate and the other one is closer to the western bank where we came from. When the water has filled up in the reservoir close to this level, even a single worker will be able to lift the gate to change the water flow using these ropes you see here. We already tested it last time I visited.”
The majordomo nodded. “That will be helpful, since we won’t have to keep too many workers here to manage the dam but shouldn’t we install the water wheel now? It would be difficult to do it when the water is already falling from these sluice gates.”
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“You’re right, but like I said, it will take a couple of weeks for the reservoir to fill up, and the Sluice gates won’t work before that anyway. That’s why I told Darora to work on making more crossbows for now, since that is a much higher priority for us right now with the snow already melting.” Kivamus continued, “Anyway, when the water level has reached high enough, I will come here again with the carpenter so he can install it properly, which should only take a single day. Of course, we have already planned to dig the foundation for the water wheel stand before that.” He looked at Yeden. “Make sure that the holes for that foundation are aligned properly ahead of the sluice gates. We don’t want any mistakes in that.”
“Don’t worry about it, milord,” Yeden assured him. “We’ve already marked the places where we have to dig based on the measurements which Darora had pointed out to me the last time he visited. The labourers who will stay here to keep patching the gap will be able to dig the foundations by tomorrow.”
“Good, good.” Kivamus looked at the surrounding hills on the other side of the reservoir where water was already gathering slowly. “You know what, hold back the workers here for a few more days. We already have a good amount of fire clay in stock with the diggers who are still working. Bring a few wagon loads of it here, and line the sides of the reservoir up to the height of the dam with that clay. That will make the sides of the reservoir more impervious and will slow down water seeping through it.”
Yeden squinted looking at the reservoir. “We just need to slap the clay over the sides?”
“Basically, yeah. Just make sure to cover the full height of the reservoir.”
“That should be easy enough. We’ll bring a few wagon loads of clay tomorrow morning, and will get to it right after.” Yeden gazed at the reservoir for a moment. “If I use all the workers which are working here, I think it should be done in two or three days.”
“That’s good enough. Once it is done, send them to the coal mines like we planned.”
“Of course,” Yeden nodded while taking a look towards the labourers on the other bank, some of whom were talking to each other with their shovels idling in their hands. “These lazy idiots… I’ll take my leave now, milord, or these slackers will never finish the dam.”
Kivamus waved off the bald foreman, who quickly marched towards the workers. “The moment I take my eyes away from you lot, you find a way to start slacking. Get to work right now!” The labourers immediately returned to what they were doing, with Yeden standing right next to them with his arms crossed.
Grinning at the enthusiasm of the foreman, Kivamus turned around. “Let’s return now.”
Duvas nodded and started walking next to him, while Hudan led ahead of them.
“I am glad that you decided to make more crossbows first,” the guard captain commented. “I can’t tell you how important those are right now for the village. With just three of them in total, we couldn’t even afford to bring it with us here, so I can’t wait until we have more of them. I think Darora may be able to make two or even three new crossbows before he has to work on the water wheel.”
“That’s assuming he has enough parts already stocked for that many of them, but you are right.” Kivamus added, “I want to equip every hunting group with at least a single crossbow as well. I’m not sure how long it will take for us to have enough of them, but they are certainly one of the highest priority items for us right now.”
As they walked down the slope on the western bank of the stream, Duvas asked, “I know that you said there would be clay under the hills since there were coal mines here, but how long will they even last at the rate we are using them? I know that there are enough coal seams in these hills that it will easily last for decades, but is there really enough clay as well?”
“Of course not, we were lucky to find as much clay as we did. If we look around in the nearby hills of where the clay diggers are working, we should still be able to find enough of it to last us a few more months at the current rate of usage, or maybe even a year, since we aren’t going to make a new dam every day which needs hell of a lot of clay. That should be enough for the few projects I have in my mind to build this summer, but the clay deposits will still be exhausted soon enough, that’s for sure. From what I know, this kind of clay is only found in a very thin bed under the ground near coal seams, so these fire clay deposits simply aren’t deep enough to last very long. Eventually we will have to find another source of it if we want to continue using clay.”
“Shouldn’t we try to conserve it then?” the majordomo asked.
“We don’t really have an option to do that,” Kivamus replied with a shrug as they reached the ground after walking down the western slope of the dam. “It’s not like we will get another chance to line the sides of the reservoir with clay once the water has already filled up.”
“Well, that’s true enough,” Duvas muttered.
Kivamus gestured to the guards who had been keeping an eye on the horses to bring the beasts closer, when he noticed a small crowd of people coming out from around the bend which went towards the village. “Who are they?”
