As the dozen or so men gathered in the Office, Mark hid his impatience behind the mask of the benevolent sage. He knew he was being unfair. In fact, these people had a great sense of time, probably developed due to the absence of measurement devices. Stating the exact hour of the day just by the position of the sun, was something Mark couldn’t do.

But that went only so far. For somebody used to planning out his day in thirty-minute increments the lack of synchronization was unnerving at times.

Once this war was settled, I’ll have to invent clocks, he thought.

His list was getting longer all the time. Items were prioritized mainly based on how much they increased his survival chances first and his personal comfort second. Hygiene was one of his biggest priorities. Since he didn’t have the skills to invent antibiotics, cleanliness, and prudence had to do for now.

Sometimes he wished he’d joined the scouts or read some more history during his childhood. Not that he’d had much of it.

But hey, your Java Script and C knowledge might come in handy any moment now, he thought.

He shook his head. At the time, those had been survival skills and they’d served him well. They’d fed both Anne and himself. Not that that mattered now.

“There are Delios and Jenas,” Elaiadoros said. “Everybody has gathered, master Mar’Doug.”

Mark nodded. “Let’s begin.”

Forming a rough circle in the middle of the room, the men looked expectantly at him.

“I suggest we start with the report from the quarry.” Elaiadoros pointed to a young man in traveling garb.

“Yes!” the young man said, clearly nervous to be called upon first. Elaiadoros followed Mark’s practice of calling on more junior people first unless urgency dictated a different order. It was a way to lessen the negative influence of differences in status on the flow of ideas. A servant or craftsman apprentice like Diadoros was unlikely to speak up to contradict the son of the anax otherwise.

Actually, that one might, Mark thought, glancing at his newest recruit.

“Go ahead,” he said, encouraging the youth Elaiadoros had called upon.

“Ah…I brought the overseer of the quarry your request,” the young man said. “He agreed to put five men on transporting limestone to the worker’s village. He also said that there is more than enough debris in the size you need. We won’t have to use men to break up the rock.”

“Only five men?” Elaiadoros asked frowning.

“He says he’d to send most of his men to the city to join the defends,” the young man said nervously. “These five are older and partially crippled. They’re unfit to fight.”

“That’s fine,” Mark said quickly. “Right now, we want to establish the supply chain and processes. The support of the council will give us the resources to scale it up.”

Elaiadoros had looked like he was about to say something. He tended to take offense on Mark’s behalf whenever they ran into a lack of compliance or follow-through. But since Mark showed satisfaction with the result, he kept quiet.

Mark turned to Siria and the two young men that had helped him with his experiment in the kitchen. Participating for the first time, the three stood a little to the back, glancing around nervously.

“Once we have the support, we will send the three of you to the worker’s village,” Mark said. “You will teach the locals how to burn the limestone.”

“Ahem…” Siria started to say something but quickly looked down when Mark’s gaze fell on her.

“Yes, Siria?”

“I…I think the women…the villagers won’t be happy if we use their ovens,” she said. “I mean, they need them to make bread.”

Mark nodded. “Only use a couple in the beginning but ask them for the hottest ones.”

“We will send you builders to construct ovens more suited for this purpose as soon as possible,” Elaiadoros said. “Master Mar’Doug, the chosen craftsmen will come to see you in the afternoon.”

With a glance to Siria, Delios raised his hand. “Maybe they should specifically teach the women, children, and elderly. Those that cannot be used in transportation or fighting.”

“That is a good idea,” Mark said. “You too, Siria. It was a good point.”

The girl beamed at his praise.

The people in this world often showed such excessive reactions when Mark praised or thanked them. The manners he’d painfully learned during his career had a much stronger impact here than in the corporate world he was used to. I guess here they think, I mean it, he thought. Even Delios seemed to take pleasure in his affirmation, also he hid it better than most.

“Who is next?” Mark asked.

One after another the teams gave their reports, and they discussed the task for the day. Mark’s focus was on planning and preparation. If and when this great council gave the green light for his plan, they needed to be able to implement it as quickly as possible.

He’d shown the shipbuilders how to construct cranes and pulleys so that when the time came, they could produce them quickly and without his supervision. It was the same with Siria’s group and several other teams. They would be the core, able to train others as they became available.

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“…and in that way, we should be able to supply the worker’s village with a constant supply of fuel for the ovens,” Elaiadoros said, summarizing the last topic on their agenda.

Mark nodded to him. “Thank you, Elaiadoros. Before you all get started, I wanted to let you know that our experiment in the kitchen was a success.” He pointed at Siria. “Hand it around please.”

The girl quickly reached into her bag and handed a grey cube to the man to her left.

“It’s heavy,” the man said, carefully holding up the object. “Feels like stone.” Siria had to quickly step aside when other men pushed closer to get a better look.

Mark had intended to give some further explanation when he noticed Delios looking his way. As their eye’s met, the anax’s son nodded to the site, indicating he needed to talk in private. From his expression, Mark could tell that he was concerned about something.

“Elaiadoros”, Mark leaned down to his scribe, “let them all have a look and then send them to work.”

“Yes, master,” the scribe said. He seemed to struggle between his own curiosity and his dignity as Mark’s de facto right-hand man.

Mark led Delios to the back end of the room. He leaned his staff against the wall and took a seat behind his desk, gesturing for Delios to take the chair next to it. “You look worried.”

Delios’ eyes widened a bit. It seemed like he hadn’t intended to be this obvious.

“I heard that the expedition ran into the Assanaten,” Delios said. “I don’t know any details yet, but it seems they sent patrols into the mountains.”

“I hadn’t heard,” Mark said.

Delios readjusted his position on the chair. “The anax kept the news from spreading. I will go and see what I can find out later.”

There is something you aren’t telling me, Mark thought. For the son of a politician, if you could call Memnostis that, Delios was surprisingly bad at hiding his feelings sometimes.

“Good,” Mark said. “Some of the men we sent to talk to the villagers at the foot of the mountain came back last night. According to the reports Elaiadoros received, there are two trails around the location where we plan to build the wall. One leads along a narrow ledge above a cliff and the other is much further north. You basically have to climb one of the peaks. If this is accurate, we might be ok if we block the first and send a couple of scouts to the other.”

Delios nodded. “That is good news.”

Mark could tell that the young man had more bad news for him. He picked up a clay tablet from his desk and looked it over, giving Delios time to order his thoughts.

Patience wasn’t his strength. Patience with people, anyway. It had been a problem in dealing with Anne. Somehow dealing with Atissa seemed to be much easier. It can’t be me, he thought. I didn’t change.

“The anax told me that the great council will come together tomorrow,” Delios said.

That got Mark’s attention. “Does he want us to present the plan to him today?”

“No,” Delios said. “We are to present it to the council directly.”

That was bad. A CEO didn’t let a consultant present a strategy to the board, he hadn’t signed off on beforehand. It meant they didn’t have Memnostis’ backing. Is it too late to get on a ship with Bel’Sara? He thought. “Will the anax support us?”

“I…I am not sure.” Delios shook his head. “He is not convinced this war can be won. Building a defense in the mountains in such a short time. A wall strong enough to withstand continuous attacks of Assanaten warriors.” He shrugged, helplessly.

“That is why I wanted to present it to him first,” Mark said, gesturing in the general direction of the room. “We have accomplished a lot in the preparation.”

Delios nodded, clearly agreeing with Mark’s assessment. He’d been here, working side by side with everybody.

Should I have shared more of my plan earlier? It had started with a vague idea. There had been too many variables. Too many pieces that had to come together. “Tell me about the council. Who do we need to convince?”

Delios looked relieved. “There are different factions. First, there are the basileis from the villages around Riadnos. They depend on the city and will side with the anax. Memnostis has more or less direct control over their warriors. Then there are the coastal villages. During the war against Saggab, they had to pack up everything and flee behind the seawall. Now that the threat comes from the other side, they might be reluctant to send all their men to fight. It would leave their villages exposed to attacks from the sea. Especially if we cannot afford to send out our ships to patrol the coast.”

“Can they afford to deny their support?” Mark asked.

Delios shook his head. “Not if they think that we can win. They owe my father fealty. But they might be reluctant to adventures. In a siege battle for the city, we need warriors, but we also don’t want to have too many mouths to feed.”

“They might calculate that it is cheaper to lose one battle instead of two?”

“Yes,” Delios said. “The coastal villages cannot afford to offend Riadnos but they might try to keep their commitment as small as possible.”

“What about the ships that have been arriving the last couple of days?” Mark asked.

“Those come from the closest islands between here and Helcenaea. Our allies on the mainland are sure to send a couple of ships but it will take longer for most of them to arrive. How many”, Delios shrugged, “that depends on who is fighting who over there right now. The Helcenaean cities are always at each other’s throats. But whoever comes, they will probably be the most open for adventures.”

“Patriotic young men out to proof themselves against the Assanaten?” Mark asked.

“Yes,” Delios said. “Depending on the culture of the city they are from, they might also turn around and leave if they don’t like our plan. Our people can be very…egocentric.”

“What about the islands?”

“I cannot say,” Delios said, looking concerned. “We are in a loose alliance with some of them. But there are conflicts all the time. Memnostis sent Ajaxos and Dorios to intervene in a succession war only last year. There is always somebody who wants to unify the islands and claim the title of anax. Riadnos has stopped such attempts multiple times by supporting the weaker side.”

“So, there might still be resentments?”

“That, and some of the basileis are jealous of Riadnos’ position as the last trade port between the northern and southern continent. Depending on which ruler is dominant right now, they might rather see us destroyed than help us.”

Mark rubbed his chin. This was getting more and more complicated. Maybe he should just get out of the city. Take Atissa and leave. Not for Saggab, but maybe for one of those cities on the Helcenaean mainland.

But she isn’t going to leave, he thought, glancing in the direction of the training ground. Not with Tatros’ fate uncertain. Had her uncle died, Atissa might have been willing to follow Bel’Sara to Saggab.

And why do you care? He thought.

He pushed the thought aside. He did. That was it. Maybe it had something to do with his memories of Anne, but diving into deep psychological considerations was something for people with nothing productive to do. Mark had a civilization to build.

He just had to draw a line. He would do what he could but without putting his life and well-being in jeopardy. Nobody here was family. If things became too dangerous, he would step aside.

His sigh caught Delios attention. The young man was looking at him expectantly, probably waiting for his wisdom.

I wish more clients were like that back home, Mark thought. On the other hand, he didn’t have to work for known child molesters then. Everything had its pros and cons.

“We will have to put together a very convincing pitch,” he said. “We need to anticipate the arguments and questions, we are likely to get and prepare for them. If we must win it in the room, we need to have a presentation, as close to perfect as possible.”

Listening to his words, Delios nodded eagerly.

“Good,” Mark said. “Let’s get to work.”

“Yes,” the younger man said. “Just…what is a pitch?”