I added a speed walk around the manor last night before I went to bed, and let me tell you, I was sore this morning. On a positive note, I think I was going to have to invent a belt with a buckle on it. Give it a month, and these clothes will be too big for me. This little bit of improvement helped me renew my commitment to eating less carbs. The only problem was that carbs were the main staple here in this backwater.
When I got to my study after breakfast, I found Captain Draves waiting for me. He had a look of deep concern on his face. I had mixed emotions about this. I was glad that he was comfortable enough around me to let down his mask, but the look did not bode well.
“What is wrong, Captain?” I asked, starting to think of all the tragedies that could descend upon us.
”Did you request that we execute Marcus last night?”
That was not what I was expecting. “What? No! Why would I… All I said to Curtis was to lock him up, and then when he came back, I said… Oh, oh no! Did…”
Draves put his hand up, silencing me. That probably was a big no-no, silencing your lord and all, but he could tell I was getting worked up.
“No, we did not. When Curtis told me what you requested, I said there may have been a misunderstanding and that I would speak with you in the morning. To be honest, though, had you said those words the first few days after you woke up, I would have done just that.”
“I never meant…”
“May I give you some council, My Lord.” He said seriously.
I nodded.
“You are a lord. You must be clear in your orders. Say what you mean because most people will not question you, fearing to upset you. An off-handed remark may have dire consequences.”
I nodded again. “He still must leave as soon as we can arrange things. If he hadn't already left, I would have sent him with the messenger. I guess we will have to wait until our bean supply gets back.
"You also removed the guard from the room."
I did, didn't I.
"Yeah, maybe I was hasty on that. I was not really thinking. I figured that she wouldn't go anywhere without her children. Did she actually run?"
"No, she is still in her room, but she could have tried to kill you."
"How? The moment anyone saw her, she would be brought before me. She couldn't get anywhere near my food, and even if she could, she had no poison. We turned their rooms upside down, looking for anything. We burned their clothes and gave them serf outfits.
“What will you do with his mother?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. If she wants to stay with him even though he beats her, it will surprise me. But like she said, a lone serf would be taken advantage of. I will leave it to her. I will go see her after I look through the reports that came in yesterday.”
"You are not going to let her stay here, are you?"
"I…"
I had to admit it. I had been thinking about it. She would be safer here than with Marcus or on her own. She could stay with Carrie
"Ugh. Look, Captain, I don't think she is a bad person; she is just in a bad situation with a bad husband. I am worried about what would happen to her if I sent her away. I'm just not sure."
He didn't argue with me. Maybe he was tired of beating his head against a brick wall. Maybe he felt that since I hadn't said I would definitely let her stay, he would drop it for the moment. Finally, he nodded and then turned to leave, but then he stopped and turned to me. “I almost executed the boy even though I knew that it might not have been your orders. It is what he deserves. Your compassion may make you feel better now but may cause more problems than it is worth. You must be willing to do the hard things to maintain order. What if you sell him, and he causes trouble for another baron? If he treats his mother this way, would he not be willing to harm others.” With that, he left, and I plopped into my chair with a sigh.
He was right? I was pushing the problem off on someone else, but I couldn't kill him for beating someone. The punishment has to fit the crime. I could lash him and put him in prison, but in the end, what should I do? I wanted to rule my barony with justice, but was I setting myself up for failure? Was I being naive? Would I gain the love of my people, or would people not understand and just see me as weak? Should I execute Marcus? What message would the decision send? Would it make me a tyrant or a just ruler? I sighed. Another hearing would have to be held if I decided to execute him.
My table had some petition requests for marriage and land expansion. I wrote letters back saying that their requests would be heard at the fourth bell tomorrow. I think I was figuring out the bell system. We, of course, didn’t have a bell here. A bell tower would have been too expensive. Instead, we had a trumpeter. The first bell was at dawn, and I think the fifth bell was around noon. Water clocks were used for time. A full day would be twenty bells if they were rung every bell, but my guards let the Kayvar sound the first bell, and they did the rest during the day. No need to trumpet all throughout the night. Also, it was done during daylight hours, which varied throughout the year.
OK, so the agenda for today is exercise, check, eat, check, get told I almost got Marcus killed, check. So, all that is left to do today is horseback riding, larger frames for books, giving myself a raise for being awesome, adding counting to lessons tonight for students, and addition for those who already know their numbers. The addition would expand their current knowledge to include zero.
I had the guys in the stable saddle my horse, and instead of walking around in the coral, I rode down to the village with Draves. I needed to have him bring a stool along with us so I could get up and down. It was a little embarrassing, but riding to town was better than just riding around in the corral. The sun was shining, and there was a spring breeze blowing across the land. Trees were starting to bud, and the temperature was great. Overall, it was a perfect day for a ride. This time, I had brought a few more pieces of paper for the kids and a stack for Jorb, Mikel, and Samuel.
As I entered Samuel's shop, the normal smell of sawdust tickled my nose. Sam was bent over a workbench. As I knocked on the door frame and called out to him, he stood up abruptly and turned with a smile. “Lord Amos, so good to see you. To what do I owe the honor? Oh wait, I have your abacus. You will have to show me how it works.” He said as he rushed to a corner of the shop where a cloth package sat. He unwrapped the cloth, revealing a beautifully polished and lacquered abacus.
As he presented it to me, I whistled. “This is excellent craftsmanship, Samuel. Nice work.” I said excitedly.
“Thank you, My Lord.” He seemed slightly embarrassed by my praise.
“OK, so let me show you how it works,” I said as I went over to the table with the stack of paper I had brought. “Do you have one of the Bicman pens I can borrow? He opened a small box on the table and pulled out a pen and some ink.
I started writing things down on the paper. Let's say you have 354 crowns. Congratulations, you are rich; you spend 293 but then earn 425.” I quickly did the calculation on the abacus. Now you have 486.”
Samuel looked between the abacus and the paper. “Well, I’ll be, " he said, rubbing his scruffy chin. That was fast. I can see if you were running a barony; it might be helpful.”
“Yes, very helpful, so thank you very much. How is the leaf spring coming?” I asked.
Sam grimaced. “I am not sure they would last long being made of wood. I completed one, and it seems to work, as you asked, but Jorb came by the other day and grabbed it. Then, he told me to get him another one as soon as possible. I thought it was something you asked him to do. He was being all hush about it.”
“Well, that means it is something with a single axel. What is he up to? I would hate to ruin the surprise, so let’s just roll with it.”
“Roll with it?” He asked in confusion.
“Sorry, I mean, let’s let them surprise us. Well, here are a few loaves of bread for all your hard work.” Technically, as a serf, I didn’t have to give him anything for his work, but I loved doing it—especially the looks of gratitude when I did.
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Our trip to Jorbs went well, particularly since I didn’t even bother getting on my horse. Jorb seemed to be working on another plow blade. After he was done hammering, I knocked on the door frame and called out.
“It looks like you are making another plow,” I said probingly. Was this the project? No, he wouldn’t need a leaf spring for a plow, would he.
“Yeah, I wanted to make another in case we had a breakdown of the current ones.”
“Good idea. If we got those horse harnesses made, we could hook up my father and brother's horse to this one, and we would get more done,” I said excitedly.
Jorb rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, a few of your serfs are working with Mikel to get all the woodworking done on this one. They all want to use the plow, so he said if they help him, they could use it. I know it is your plow, but we figured you wouldn’t mind. Forgive us for our presumption.” Jorb said with a grin.
I waved him off. “It’s an excellent idea. I know I put a lot on you two, and if this hurries up the planting, then I am all for it.”
“Actually, we are doing better than expected. From what Harold tells me, they should have enough time to even plow the fields of those who have passed away in the last wave of illnesses.
“I guess I will pass the message along to Mikel to let people know I will be paying in raw grain for those who want to help him with the woodwork. Then the tanner needs to know. Guess I have plenty to do. First, however, I am going to go make some paper airplanes for the kids.”
And that is what I did. I interrupted the game of tag the little ones were playing and spent a couple of hours showing them all how to make their own paper airplanes and just messing around with them. It was relaxing playing with the kids, and we even found a hoop that we could set up to fly them through. Then I told them all a story about two brothers named Orville and Wilber that made a machine that could fly. They all loved it, and by the end, they were all bragging to each other that they were going to be the first to fly.
As we led our horses away from the children, Draves turned to me. “How much of that story was fiction?” He said probingly.
“Less than you might think,” I said while trying not to smirk.
“And do you plan on making one?”
I laughed, “I wish I could tell you I was some brainiac who could push our kingdom into the Industrial Revolution, but such knowledge is beyond me. I would need to know much more about chemistry and engineering to do anything truly magnificent. The most I can do is draw pictures of things I have seen and have people smarter than me figure out how it all works.”
Just then, a young man came trotting up to me. “My Lord,” He said with a deep bow. When he straightened, he handed me a letter. “The head man of Melnon asked me to give this to you.”
“Thank you, young man,” I said as I opened the wax seal. After reading it, I turned to Draves. "Well, it looks like the first batch of coke was successful. Their smith will be bragging to Jorb within the next few days, I imagine, and then he will be hounding me to make them give him some.”
“We need to build a blast furnace, but we just do not have the manpower and supplies,” I said sadly.
“What do you need besides manpower?”
“Well, if we skip the earlier versions of the blast furnace and go straight to the one they used in the Victorian era, we will need a lot of bricks, a lot of stone, a lot of mortar, a lot of wood, a lot of lime, a lot of coke. A large bellow and a waterwheel to pump it. That will get us cast iron. This would be a great export product in and of itself, but if we built another furnace to reheat the iron and pump oxygen into it to further extract impurities, I think we could make it even more pure. I think that means we need to reintroduce carbon. We would then put it back in a blast furnace with the exact amount of carbon we want in order to make steel. This may sound simple, but for all I know, it could take us years to build everything correctly and get the right mixtures. That isn't even including the fact that we need all the men we have right now just to provide enough food to feed the people we have.”
“OK, so why don't you get the masons together and use my men to help build it all? Those in rotation who come here could do that. We couldn’t spare many at a time, but it may help. But does it really matter if it takes a year or so? What would the process be?”
“Well, we would probably want to do it closer to Melnon to reduce transportation time of coke and iron once everything is up and running. First, we need to find a place for a waterwheel to be placed. Then we can build the furnace with bricks and the building around it, maybe. I think it would be best if I drew out what we wanted and then gathered masons, the tanner, Mikel, and Jorb together and came up with a plan. Young man, if you wouldn’t mind joining us at the manor for a bit, I would like to get you fed and send back a letter to Melnon.”
“My Lord, if you are feeding me, I will go wherever you want.”
“Excellent. What is your name, young man?”
“Charles, My Lord.”
That is a great name, don't you agree, Captain?" Without pausing, I said, "Well, Charles, Have you ever ridden a horse?”
Charles's eyes went wide. “No, My Lord.”
“Well, I want to walk back to the manor, so why don’t we let you up on my horse, and I will lead it back to the manor?” The boy couldn’t have been more than twelve, so of course, he accepted. It would certainly give him bragging rights in Melnon. I didn’t bother to mention that I didn’t want to embarrass myself by trying to get up on the horse in the middle of town.”
As we approached the manor, I noticed another person I didn't recognize speaking with Ben, the stable master. He was about my age or a little older. The young man was gesticulating animatedly. As we approached, Ben saw us and pointed toward me. The young man turned toward me, and his attitude changed to one of a very nervous young man. He fell to his knees and prostrated himself in the dirt. I sighed at this. Hopefully, he didn’t think I was some sort of cruel dictator.
The young man wore the simple clothes of a laborer, most likely a farmer. I assumed he came with a request. Hopefully, it was one I could handle, not something like, “Can you train your Kayvers to be less noisy in the morning?”
“Rise, young man. How may I assist you?” I said in my most noble tone. It probably didn’t fool Draves, but it worked for the boy. He got up but kept his eyes on the ground. Who taught this kid how to act in front of nobles?
“My Lord, I- um… you can, no can you…”
This was going to take forever. “Spit it out, man. I won’t bite your head off.” I sighed in exasperation.
Unfortunately, my comment made him fall to his knees, and I groaned.
Patience, Amos, you can do this.
Ben spoke up. “My Lord, he was just telling me that he and a few of his friends want to move to the abandoned town of Barim and start working the fields there. They have only been fallow for a few years, so there shouldn’t be too much work to get them up and running again.
I was stunned. This was not what I expected, but it was great, though. I didn’t know how many acres they could get done, but it would be great for the barony if we could get extra food. “I like your initiative, young man. What is your name?"
“Joshua, My Lord,” He said with more confidence. Although he still was on his knees.
“Joshua, I've named you Steward of Barim until we get a Headman to run it. Do you know how to read, write, and count?"
Joshua, who was looking more excited by the minute, suddenly became glum. “No, My Lord.”
"Are you a serf, peasant, or freeman?”
“I am the son of Fredrick of Kerisi. A peasant farmer on your lands.”
“Excellent. After the spring planting is done, I will probably need to put one of your friends in charge for a while, and we can teach you up here. If you do well in your studies and the harvest is done properly, I will elevate you to headman.”
The look on the boy’s face was priceless. “Truly, my lord?”
“Of course. I need go-getters. People who take initiative and want to take control of their fate. If you prove yourself worthy, you will have the position. However, are you aware of the two illnesses that have struck the town?”
"Yes, my lord, but I want my own land, and two times may just be a coincidence. Forgive my boldness."
"You may be right, but I won't risk a bunch of people because of it. I want you to check with the survivors and report on what they remember about everything prior to the incident, including what the illness was like. You are to report any sort of illness at the first sign of it. It would be a great boon to have another village that has already been plowed before. Make ure the water is clean that you are drinking. That is usually the first cause of illness."
"Thank you, my lord."
Ben cut in. “Josh, don’t forget your other request.” He said with a sly grin.
I frowned, and Joshua grimaced. “What do you need, Joshua?”
“Um… Well, we have heard of your new plow, and my friends and I were wondering if we could borrow it.” He said, almost moving into a prostration again.
I pondered this for a moment. “You shall have it on two conditions. One, stand up and look me in the eye while asking. You are not some lowly dog. You are a man. You are the Steward of Barim. You will bow but not kneel. You will always look me in the eye when making a request. And secondly, I will loan you a plow and a team of oxen or horses when one is available. The loan will be for 50% of the profit of the fields. To put it more simply. You take out the amount you need for living and the amount you need for reseeding the next year. Whatever is left over, you will divide in half and give half to me, and the rest is for you to sell or trade. We can negotiate next year, but remember that part of that 50% is your taxes.”
I was proud of him for pondering for a moment before answering. Looking into my eyes he said, “I agree to your terms.”
“Excellent,” I said while clapping him on the shoulder. “I will write up a contract for the use of my plow. I will also write up a letter showing you accept the title of Steward of Barim and the responsibilities of the title. I will sign at the bottom of each and send them on to Kerisi. I will have the headman read them to you, and if you accept, just bring them back here on your way to Barim.
“Thank you very much, myy lord.”
Finally, I was back in the manor and was able to get all the things done on my list I had compiled throughout the day. That evening, I noticed that Jacklyn was progressing faster than everyone else in the class. It must have been because she was spending time teaching Mathew as well. After the hour lesson, I asked her to help teach some of the students that came in later. I started to have thoughts about making her a school teacher within the next year if she did well. Overall, I felt it had been a productive day. I was just really wondering what Jorb and Mikel were cooking up.