I ended up using Emily’s ring finger nail instead of her pinky. I had no idea her hands were so tiny. After I got the measurement etched into wood, I then took another piece of wood and duplicated it 100 times. I took that down to Mikel and told him what I was doing. Needless to say, he was not happy when I told him we were changing how he was going to measure everything.
I explained the importance of universal measurement as we expanded, and even though he understood in principle, he didn’t understand why we had to be the ones to do it first. Let the king do it, he had said. In a very baronly manner, I told him to suck it up and get ready for the age of enlightenment. I had him cut the first piece to the right length and make me ten more. I marked those ones using the first stick and went to go and let Jorb know he had been doing everything wrong.
After the meter was done, I had Mikel make three containers, one centimeter cubed and one decimeter cubed on the inside. This gave me the weight for a gram and kilogram once I filled it with water. Liters were easier. I estimated the size of a liter and then compared it to cubic decimeters. It seemed to be about 1 dm3. That kind of made sense, since the people who invented this all were trying to be precise. I didn’t understand why a meter, liter, and gram were not all based on the same thing. I mean, why not make a gram equal to one cubic meter in weight and a liter equal to one cubic meter in volume?
Why don’t I just use a size they are already familiar with and base everything around that? Like how much grain is in one loaf of bread. Nah, I didn’t need any more work. The rest of the world can adapt. It seemed to work for Earth. It will probably work here. I did find out that I was 188 cm tall. Saying that instead of 6 foot something or other was going to be a pain to get used to. It’s a good thing I didn’t know my conversion tables, or I would probably be constantly switching things around.
I had Jorb make me some weights on the new gram measurements. I thought Jorb was going to give the most pushback on the changes, but after he finished grumbling and let me explain it, he became excited.
I could tell the women were upset when I explained the new length they would be using for their future looms. Oh well, who said revolutionizing the world would be easy? Thinking of looms, however, made me think of my online Java class when I thought for a semester that I may want to become a computer programmer. One of the first modules was on binary code. Whoever made this video must have thought they would sound smarter if they added a section on the first binary machine. It was called the Jacquard Loom. It used binary cards to create patterns in the cloth.
The only reason I remember it was because halfway through the class, I was so fed up with the poor quality of the videos that I redid the first few of them and sent a copy of my videos to the creator with a scathing letter that he should not be creating videos if he wasn’t halfway competent. One thing I did was make a digital working 3D model of the Jacquard Loom. Even if we didn’t use the binary patterns here at Bicman, I could see that the loom was superior to the one the women were using. This would probably have the same effect as the new plow had on the fields. Maybe even greater! I skipped my other projects that evening and started drawing out designs for a non-binary loom. What if I could have a few women producing all the fabric we needed for the entire barony?
I really enjoyed all these projects but the most fun I had was with Aaron. I made some cubic centimeter blocks at one, five, and ten centimeters to show the classes at the school. Aaron was very happy to test them out. No, I’m not stupid. I did not give him one-centimeter cubes. I’m at least a somewhat responsible uncle. Anyway, we had fun stacking and knocking them down. And when he wore out and got cranky I would just hand him back to Amy. I don’t think she felt it was very fair, but hey, that’s what she is paid for. Just wait until I figure out how to make sugar. I will definitely get the Best Uncle of the Year award.
Four days after the age of enlightenment started (maybe I should make a new calendar for this), I was out in the yard still getting beat up by Chris when there was a commotion at the gate. Then I heard a shout, “Captain’s back.”
Everyone dropped what they were doing and jogged to the front of the manor. That’s right, people, I jogged. Admittedly I was still the last one there but it was a marked improvement from where I had started a little over a month ago.
“Captain is present. Attention!”
All forty recruits got into a semblance of order. All of them were young men between the ages of thirteen and their mid-twenties. Not sure how old the oldest was, but we put a restriction that they had to be unmarried for this first recruitment; otherwise, there would be more than the small group of trainers could handle. Yes, thirteen was a little young to be in the main line, but I was looking at this long-term.
Before Captain Draves had left, I explained my desire to have all the men and women, if they wanted, trained in basic spear handling. I wanted enough spears locked up in each village to have the people able to mount a resistance against bandits. I grew up with the concept of home defense thoroughly ingrained in my head. I don’t know if I could’ve ever pulled a trigger on someone, but I had a 9 mm in a secret compartment at my bedside.
Needless to say, the idea of arming serfs and peasants did not go over well with the captain. I had a feeling we were going to have a few more arguments on it. I mean I know he was worried about peasant uprising, but I argued that we should be able to build trust in my people. If we were going to grow, we were going to need more guards anyway. I may be putting the cart before the horse a little bit here, but I wanted my people to feel safe and that I had faith in them. Captain Draves thought it was just another way people could kill me. I didn’t care. I was going to form the Bicman Militia whether he liked it or not.
When Draves met my eyes, he immediately strode over to me. “My Lord, what happened to you.” I didn’t have to guess what he was talking about. I was bruised on my face, and I was covered in the grime of the training yard.
“It’s the new Bicman exercise routine. You’re guaranteed to lose 10 kg in only two weeks. Order now, and you’ll get a personal trainer that beats you black and blue.”
Draves kept a straight face, but I could see he wasn’t happy.
“Why don’t we go to my office, Captain, and we can discuss what’s been going on the last few days for both of us?”
“Of course, My Lord.” He turned to his men. “Everyone knows their orders. You are all dismissed.”
We walked back to my study in silence. I had questions I wanted to ask but was afraid to. No villagers had returned with him. Did that mean they decided to stay or that the captain was too late? Also, none of my group returned with them. Had they all been killed, as I thought? In the back of my mind, I had still held out hope that we would find them alive.
As soon as we closed the door of the study I turned and gave the captain a big bear hug. After his initial shock wore off, he gave me an awkward hug back. Releasing him, I said, “I am so glad you all returned safely. Did…” I was having trouble saying the words. I was afraid of the answers I would receive.
Instead, I was cut off by the captain. ”I am also glad to see you are safe. Let me explain what happened to put your mind at ease. When we arrived the people were preparing the best they could for the attack that would come. We convinced them to at least send the women and children with us. Most of the men wanted to stay and fight. Just as we were preparing to leave in order to escort the people, my scouts reported spotting seven men approaching the village. We devised an ambush and used the villagers as bait. We killed a few and captured the rest. Only one of the men spoke common. The rest of the men spoke Rabiss. That, of course, gave me an idea of what they were doing here, and after interrogating the man who spoke common, I confirmed that they were slavers. They had been exploring the coast for a northern port that they could either raid or trade with. Their ship was destroyed on the reef entering the bay. Only fifteen men survived, and by the time we found them, there were only eleven left. They were looking for a road south when they discovered your group. They tortured our men and found out that there was a village to the east. The day before we arrived, they had scouted it out and then returned with the seven men to raid the village for food and supplies so they could make their way south. I had the man who spoke Common lead us back to their camp, and we surprised and overwhelmed their men. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, only Hyrum was alive.”
“Hyrum is alive?!”
Draves put his hand up. “He may not survive. Their method of torture was extreme, and he had many open wounds when we got there. His body had been burned in many places. His mind also seems to have been broken. He is with Maggie now, but I don’t know if he will live. Even if he does, he may never recover his mind. I will be honest with you. I know you may not agree, but I have had to put men down whose minds were broken because they were a danger to themselves and others. This isn’t something that can be determined anytime soon. I will do everything I can to make sure he recovers.”
“He saved my life, captain. I will go to hell and back to make sure he recovers,” I said with steel in my voice. Hell didn’t translate, by the way, but I think he got the jist.
He nodded.
“I can’t believe this was all just such bad luck. I never should have asked to go to the beach.”
“It may seem like something awful to you, but what do you think the people in the village are saying? Without you pushing to get us there, I don’t know if they would have survived. Seven against a whole village may sound like a bad bet, but those slavers had good weapons, and the villagers had sticks, clubs, and a few farming tools. People would have died, and the women might have been raped. Did our people die, yes, but you may have saved a lot more.”
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“The slavers may have just traveled through the swamp rather than go down the coast.” I knew the argument was weak, but I still wanted to blame myself.
“Not likely, and even if you had, then they might have used the ford near Barim. The few people in Barim would have been easy pickings. So no, any way you look at it, people would have died. This was probably the lowest casualties we could expect in this situation.”
I didn’t know if he was just trying to make me feel better, but I appreciated it all the same.
“Now, if your Lordship would please let me know what has been happening here, I would be most appreciative.”
“We have about forty young men in the first recruitment of the Bicman Militia. Chris says they are doing well even with their complete lack of experience, and in a few months, he thinks a few of us might be able to tell which end is the pointy one.”
“I am glad you have been training, but why are you so bruised.”
“Because I told Chris I would dock his pay if he continued to just defend himself.”
“So you asked him to hit you in the face?”
“Well, no, but- Wait! Are you making fun of me?”
“Trying to make you feel better, My Lord.” He said in a flat tone.
“I appreciate it, Captain. Well, other than training, I have been trying to keep up on production in each village. Writing down knowledge that may help people, you will have to look at my loom design.”
“I’m sure it’s fascinating, My Lord. May I ask, have you been shaving your own face?”
“What?” I said, my hand automatically going to my face. “Oh, you don’t like my goatee and mustache? Dude, I was never able to grow anything before, and now that I have awesome facial hair, I’m going to rock it. Just you wait, this combo is going to be all the rage by next year.”
“You do realize that I have to parse together half the words you say to make any sort of sense, My Lord.”
“Well, you will just have to roll with it,” I said with a grin.
“On my way back, Melnon was in chaos.”
“Chaos?” I said, concerned.
“Something about you offering a billie-mar.” He said questioningly. “They were all talking about capturing ash.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, when you mix ash with cement, it becomes hydrophobic. At least, I think it does. All I know is the Romans used it for something.”
“What is this Hydrophobic?”
“Don’t worry, I was just trying to sound smart; it means it repels water better.”
“I recommend not using those words around other nobles. Using words in other languages does not make you appear smarter.”
“Yeah, probably not.”
“So it is like adding wax and oil to cloth.”
“To be honest, I have no idea. I sometimes used online history courses to fall asleep. They were interesting but didn’t keep me awake like watching action flicks.”
“Again, I don’t understand what you are saying other than you don’t know, but I will… Ah, roll with it,” he said hesitantly. “My Lord, may I ask how you brought the boy back to life. Most of the women in Melnon believe you are touched by the Endless One now, but I know that you were brought to us from a place with great knowledge. I was wondering if anyone can be brought back to life and if others can do it.” I saw the hope in his eyes.
“It is called CPR. It stands for Cardio, something that starts with a P, and Respiration, I think. I guess it is not really important since the words and letters don't really translate. Anyways, yes, anyone can learn it. It has to do with inflating the lungs with air and forcing the heart to pump blood. In the boy's case, he got water in his lungs, which stopped him from breathing. I basically breathed for him to help start the process again. If the trauma is severe enough or the body has been dead for too long, then it won’t work.”
“How long is too long?”
“I don't know. Maybe five minutes. I will take some time today to give some instructions to you and your men. I would like to have it taught to everybody now that I think about it. Sorry, I have been a little frazzled. The last few days, I haven’t really been very focused. Do you think I could visit Hyrum?”
“You may have to argue with Maggie, but you can try.”
“Ok, tell them to saddle a horse, not Blaze. I will go grab some wine.”
“A bribe might help.” He said with a nod.
“The wine is not for her.” Then I thought for a moment, “Maybe I will grab a second bottle.”
By the time I grabbed what I needed, the horse was ready. Mother's horse was a gentle mare, so I wouldn’t have to fight her head like my brother’s horse. I moved as fast as I could without breaking the bottles on my way down to Maggie’s. Knocking on the door, I entered without waiting for permission. It appeared that Maggie had just stood up and was heading to the door when I barged in. She glared at me, but instead of letting her give me a tongue lashing, I quickly said, “I apologize for my rudeness. I brought wine to clean Hyrum’s wounds and honey and pickled onions. I couldn’t find raw onions in storage. Oh, here is some wine for you as well.”
There was a pause, and then, still, in a miffed voice, she said, “Thank you for the wine and honey. That should help, but what am I supposed to do with pickled onions?”
“Raw onions have antibacterial properties and are good for burns. They can be used in a poultice of honey and onion. I am not sure if pickled onions will work, but it was all Cookie had.”
“You are forgiven. You can keep your other wine. I don’t drink the stuff. Now, let me get to work. And while I am doing that, you can explain to me why you didn’t tell me earlier that you had brought a boy back from the dead.”
“Oh, you, ah, heard about that.”
“Of course, I heard about it,” she snapped. "The guards who brought this boy in asked if I had heard. Child out of my way. I have to apply this to your boy's wounds.”
It was only then that I bothered to look at the bed where Hyrum was lying. He had bandages all over him. His breathing was labored. Carrie knelt next to him, weeping silently while holding his limp hand. She moved out of the way as Maggie approached with a basin of water.
“Pay attention, girl. As I said earlier, I boiled the water to remove the spirits that could have made the water bad. Now that it is cool, I will soak his bandages in water to make them easier to remove. Normally, if I had done the bandaging myself, I would not remove the bandages but just soak them in the wine so that I wouldn’t reopen the wounds every time I removed them. However, I do not know how well the guards cleaned the wounds and prepared the bandages. Now, My Lord, if you will, please let me know how you brought a drowned boy back to life.”
Is that the first time she has addressed me by title? I can’t remember. As she worked, I explained what I knew about CPR. I made it clear I was not an expert on everything by I had taken a course in it.
The wounds were ghastly. Some were open and weeping, and many were red and showing signs of infection. Sitting back and looking over her patient she said, “I’ve seen worse, if the honey works then we may not even need to remove limbs in order to make sure he lives.”
She continued to discuss treatment with Carrie, completely ignoring me. Finally, I interrupted her, “He saved my life, Maggie. If there is anything you need to help him recover, then let me know, and if it is in my power, I will get it.”
“I have what I need. What he needs is time.”
“I see. Please send for me if you need something. I will get out of your way.”
There was no response as I left. Why did I always feel like talking to her was like walking through a minefield? I was the regent to a baron, dang it. I shouldn’t have to feel this way about my medicine woman. As I traveled back toward the manor I decided to stop by Jorbs and see how he was doing.
Knocking on the door frame, I looked inside. It looked like he was working with copper or brass. “So what are you up to?”
He turned around, blocking my view of what was on the table. “Ah, My Lord, it is good to see you. Why don’t we step outside? It is hot in here, and the day is pleasant.”
“Sure,” I said, “great idea. Now, what were you working on?”
“Oh, just a little project I’ve been thinking about,” he said evasively.
“Well, if it’s just a little project, then what’s the harm in telling me about it?”
“Because it will ruin the surprise,” he said without thinking. He groaned after he realized what he had said.
“Jorb,” I said sternly.
“I’m not saying,” he said stubbornly.
“You know, Jorb, I appreciate all you do,” I said as we reached my horse. Pulling out the wine, I said, “This is for you.”
“Thank you, My Lord,” he said while reaching for the bottle.
I pulled my hand back quickly and said with a grin, “What’s on the table?”
The shock on his face made this all worth it. “Lord Amos, that is just evil. I thought better of you.”
“And you see the trouble thinking gets you into.”
After a moment, he grumbled out, “Fine, it is a leaf spring.”
“A leaf spring? Out of copper? Would that work?” I rattled off. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?
“Well, it isn’t just any copper. It is flex copper.”
“Never heard of it,” I said in surprise. Not that I knew much about copper.
“Some traveling merchant had a mineral among other goods he transported. He spun a tale to your father about making bows that could shoot twice as far if he made an alloy of copper and the mystery metal. He must have been really trying to dump the stuff because your father didn’t like to buy anything. Well, the man gave the instructions on how to make it, but your father died before I got a chance to experiment. When I saw how the leaf springs worked I wondered if this would do. It seems to flex properly. I know you wanted to use iron, but it may be a while before we can make the quality of iron you are looking for. Oh, I have also changed the design slightly. I think it will work better.
“This is brilliant, Jorb. Sorry, I ruined the surprise. I was just trying to tease you.”
“It is fine, My Lord. It is off my chest now, and I am glad you approve.” He beamed.
“Well, I guess we’ll open this when we test these on the carriage,” I said while putting the wine back in the bag.
“My Lord,” Jorb said with pleading in his voice.
“I’m just kidding. Here you are, and again, thanks for all you do. I could not do this without you. How is Mathew doing on making the Bicman pens?”
“Excellent, he has a box full of them. And is making more.”
“Great, I can’t wait to see if his pens or the paper sells for more profit when we bring them to town. Your kids will have more money than you by the time the trip is over.
Jorb just shook his head in disbelief at the thought, “Thank you, My Lord, for making it possible.”
I waved him off, “Tell your family hi for me.” With that, I got back up on the horse. I was almost flexible enough to do it myself.