Flashback The Travels of Eanos Swifthand - The Holding Rebuilt

[Eanos]

50 Fall, 509AV

Morning came and as they ate in the kitchen, it seemed that Aurelisa was in a better mood, the darkness which had clouded her yesterday was just a memory. He ventured a question.

“This does not seem the place to get rich. The caravans are few and far between I guess.” She smiled and shook her head.

“You have come at a quiet time and in any case it matters not for I am not restricted to this place any more than I want to be. It gives me space and if I can earn something towards what I need to live, and my needs are small, then it is enough.”

He nodded in return and did not pursue it though it seemed that she had chosen a lonely path. That there was traffic he did not deny for the road told its tale and yet he’d seen no evidence of many caravans. To question her would be to challenge her and he saw no point to it. For him this was a welcome refuge and a chance to be his own man for the first time. It was a test that he would pass or fail but either way it would be his own doing and he would learn from it. In that sense there was no failure or success, merely a question as to whether he was able to improve his standards or fall below them.

“If there is anything you need while you work on the doors, do not hesitate to ask, even if it is just for a hand at need.” He made the offer to fill the silence which had fallen, not because he doubted that she would. Still though it allowed him to cut through the pride which might otherwise have stood between them, either hers for attempting tasks easier for two to do, or for him to attempt to tell her what she should be doing.

“I will and thank you,” she replied, “and on that note it is time I made a start on it for an idle womans hands make no bread.” She gave him a nod as she stood and collected the plates. He made a note to himself that at the end of this day he should make the meal and to that end he would as they had discussed dedicate himself to improving the hearth so that they were no longer forced to treat it like a camp fire. He took himself off to the rapidly reducing store of iron rods and collected what he thought that they would need and then brought in more fuel for the fire since it would be burning bright all day long.

Before he started the first thing that he did was to lift the fire basket out of the hearth and set it aside so that he could make a detailed inspection of the chimney and of the hearth. A closer inspection proved what he had expected and hoped for. Though whoever had cleared this place out of anything which might be remotely useful they had not bothered to get into the chimney, or if they had then they had deemed it not worth the work to remove the hooks and eyes which had been set into the stone. It made his task easier for now all that he needed to do was to replace the missing parts which had set upon those and then they would have a working hearth.

With the fire basket back in place it was time to get back to work, and to start with replacing the bars and hooks into the hearth itself. The work was simple and required no great skill which was fortunate for he was still hampered by the crudeness of his anvil, but it remained a challenge and once he changed his mindset from cursing it to seeing it as a test then it became if not easier at least more interesting, and perhaps more importantly he started to learn from it. He spoke a number of breath prayers as he worked in the hearth putting the fittings back in place for without the blessings which Izurdin had given him and his race it would have been considerably harder. It wasn’t that he had complete immunity from the heat, but he needed only for the fire to die down from the super heating of the bellows work before he could pull the fire basket out and climb into the hearth.

It was as he was doing this for the third time that he realised that Aurelisa was standing in the doorway and staring at him with a partially opened mouth. He looked at her questioningly and raised his hands in invitation for her to speak.

She shook her head and closed her mouth. “I had heard tales of the Isur, but it is one thing to hear of it and another to see it for your own eyes. Does the heat not burn you?”

Realisation dawned in his mind for it was so common place for him that he didn’t think too much of it. Though he offered praise to Izurdin for it, so he did before a meal, it was one of those things for which he was grateful but did deep down in his heart think normal since he’d never known the lack of it.

“No, well yes, sometimes. If the fire is too hot then it will burn and I am perhaps more careful of it than it appears. I learned long ago while working in the forge where my limits lay. Pain is one of the best teachers and when I burn then no doubt it hurts me as much as it does you.”

“Perhaps,” she acknowledged, “and the races all have something to call their own. Whilst it amazes me I would not give up the gift of friendship we have been given for that.”

Eanos smiled and ducked his head, though he did not truly appreciate what she meant. Friends he had had yes, of course, but always he had stood on his own two feet and once he was no longer a child had never taken anything unless he could have given back in full measure. He failed to understand that she would not have agreed with that in full measure, though perhaps one day he might, if ever he developed a real friendship with someone.

By the end of the day the kitchen once more had a workable hearth. An adjustable chain hung down on which pans could be hung at different heights and also two hooks which could be swing in and out were suitable for smaller pans completed the picture. The work would win no prizes but it worked and in any case iron which was subjected to constant heat and soot would soon enough get dirty that much of the worst of it would be hidden from view.

He’d already put the smaller hooks to the test in keeping a pan of water on the boil as he worked and they got the chance to experiment with the main chain when it came time to cook the main meal of the day, and it worked well enough that they were both happy. With his work done, he had gone to spend some time with his host and found that she had been busy with sewing leather to form a cover for the doorway. She had intended to stretch it over a wooden frame but when he probed a little deeper it became clear that neither of them would find making the frame easy and so he added another task to his list which was to make a lightweight frame. The door, he decided would be no more elegant than his work in the kitchen which made him feel a little better about that, but at this stage, so long as it worked then it was enough. If she made a success of it then she could get a carpenter up here to do the job properly.

His first job was to create the outside of the frame to match as far as possible the doorway. There would be some ill fitting, it was inevitable but some of that could be taken care of in the leather, but at that he needed to allow space for the leather too. It irked him to make something this makeshift but he could see no choice in it for it really needed a frame better than the weathered one it had at the moment. He worked quickly, taking more time in beating the metal pins thinner than he did in joining them together. It was a lengthy procedure and a somewhat awkward one that caused a good deal of smoke to collect in the kitchen when he was forced to pull the firebox and bellows out of the hearth so that he could start welding the parts together. He realised quickly enough that he’d actually need to do the final assembly out in the main hall because he’d never get the partially finished frame out of the kitchen for all that it had a large door. That necessitated a second shifting around but by the end of the day he’d got the framework for one door done with bracing in the corners to keep it reasonably rigid. It would allow Aurelisa the next day to start fitting the hides she was working on, and which were currently soaking in a large tub so that they would fit wet like drumskins and dry taught. He could only hope that his frames would hold up to the pressure though he was largely concerned about warping not breakage. When he explained his concerns she did not brush him off but reassured him that it was all a matter of getting the right tension and that simply drying would stiffen the hides; they would not need to be pulled taught enough to be a problem.

In the end they worked together on the doors the next day because it was difficult to work with hides and get the tension right. It seemed to him also that it was a skill that he needed to know more of. It seemed simple enough as he watched her, as these things always do, but the practice was harder for the hides needed to be punched with the holes, which had to be in the right place and then sewn into place with sinew. It took several hides to cover the door and there was a degree of skill in deciding where and how to cut them to fit. In this he deferred to her experience and skill though he was on hand to sharpen her knife for her so that the blade sliced through the stiff skin easily.

With the door made and pushed in place there was a decision as to how best to make it stay there. He could have created a locking mechanism by welding stays in place but then it would have been impossible to open the doors from the outside. In the end he made some wedges and they determined that the other door would be the one to open while this one would only open at need. It seemed the best decision to Eanos since on the second door they could learn from the mistakes of the first one. Already though with just the one door in place, it seemed warmer and more attractive inside the hall than it had been before, though the hides let a certain amount of light in. It was still darker than it had been a fact which did not bother the Isur but he knew that it would add to the cost of lighting the place when guests did arrive, and he knew from the lighting along the Highway by which he’d left the fortress that such would be necessary.

It took them the best of ten days to finish up the work which needed to be done and which they could do without the supplies which the incoming caravan would be carrying. Aurelisa left him there to continue as he would while she started to bring in the fresh supplies which she was sure would make this place successful, or at least successful enough for her needs. Her reasons for being here continued to be hidden from him behind a wall which he had never managed to breach and which he had given up the attempt on once he saw how it disturbed her to have him attempting to work his way around it.

[Eanos]

Her departure left him with no specific tasks to do and the time allowed him to realise that though he was comfortable here, he was not making progress towards his goals. The thought was disturbing and for a short while he considered abandoning the place and returning to the road. It was a thought which he only shook off after a good deal of consideration into his motivations and what it was that he truly valued. There was a dichotomy between the pressure to achieve his goals and the need for excellence, or perfectionism. It was a conflict as perhaps as old as the Isur for surely it afflicted most of his race, at least whilst they were young. It amused him to a degree once he’d taken the time to appreciate the conflict and it made him feel old and wise to have come to a resolution, though that was merely to stay with the decision that he’d made before.

With nothing urgent to deal with he turned his attention outdoors and to the water supply which had irked him ever since his arrival here for it seemed out of place for there to be merely reliance upon a stream which tumbled down the mountainside nearby. He’d not seen any evidence of any other working to the contrary so perhaps it had always been this way or perhaps there had been a rockfall which had taken away the original design. It was a mystery without an answer and he consciously released it so that it no longer concerned him and instead worked to resolve it.

To resolve it was to tame it and to create some way of making the water more usable or at the least more easily collected. The stone here was not of the hardest sorts; that he knew from his previous working on his anvil stone and that had given him ideas. He started then by carefully digging away at the mountain side, not to remove anything which might start a land slip but merely to remove the collected soil and debris and so allow him to see the bones of the land that he might make a decision as to how to proceed with the work. It was work that he did with care as it sometimes loosened rocks which then needed to be shifted across the road and off the edge but eventually he was done. It was while he was doing this and taking a break from a form of labour to which he was unused that he spent more time than he had before in exploring the area. It had occurred to him that with a caravan stopped outside the place then there was no room for another caravan to pass safely or even for that caravan to manoeuvre itself. He’d seen passing places on his walk; places which he’d not really understood the function of until he’d now considered the issue and so it was without too much surprise that when he walked down the road and around the next bend that he found a mustering area built into what was once a gulley cutting back into the mountain side. He explored it curiously for it held answers to the questions which he’d had in his mind about the front area and it also meant that some of the things he’d been considering did not need to be done at all for they were adequately catered for here.

For all that he won on some task; he could see that he’d simply inherited some new ones. Caravans over the years had kept this place reasonably clear and the marks of old camp fires were clear to be seen, but no one treated it as home. One thing that he’d learned over the years was that if a place was messy then that was how people treated it. Mess seemed to accumulate and it was only cleared when it was necessary. There was a mess of debris here once he started looking, some of which made him frown in distaste that people could be so careless. Some people of course would make a mess anywhere for they cared nothing for others, but he reckoned that if the place appeared smart and well kept then at least some of those who stayed here would respect that. It certainly wasn’t in keeping as far as he could see that a place which was run by a respectable woman would be anything other than well kept. Like as not it wasn’t a detail which had concerned her to date, but certainly it would have done sooner or later once the immediate concerns had been dealt with. It was easier for him to make a start on it now and deal with the heavy work and leave her with the minor clearing up which might follow once the caravans started to use the place with a more specific intent than they did now. Much of the work was as he’d done at the front of the entrance, but here it was harder because not only was there more to do, but the distance over which the rubble needed to be carried was greater too. After spending a day on it he decided that he needed to divide his attention between tasks and alternate them so that he had relief from one while working on the other.

What he wanted to create was a stone sink to set into the stream to make it easier to collect water when it was needed. He wasn’t entirely sure that it would work because he could see some potential drawbacks in keeping it clean, but he thought that he might be able to do something about that in the creation of it. Mostly though he wanted to try his hand at something new for that was one of the things which had attracted him most to this trip even though he had other more important things to achieve.

Amongst the rubble which had accumulated in the camp area were some rocks which were too large for him to move unaided so he chose one to be his new sink. He spent a while visualising the stone and imagining how the sink would sit inside it to make sure that he made the first cuts in the right places. He knew that the stone would not work exactly as he wanted to it, but that didn’t worry him for he lacked the expertise to correct it, but he could at the least attempt to avoid some of the more obvious mistakes.

Once he’d made the decision as to where the top and bottom would lie it was time to create the first flat surface which he would make by splitting off one side. As it was the boulder was lying fairly flat what was now the top was also reasonably smooth so it wasn’t necessary to create a surface on which to work. He knew this part would be hard for he’d spent time watching stone masons at work. When he’d been learning Auristics he had needed people that he could study and use as the basis for understanding just what it was that he was seeing once he’d managed to open up his Auristic vision. It had turned out that stone masons were an ideal target for such things since they could spend all day just doing the same thing in the same place. His knowledge of their skills, while rudimentary was the accidental by product of that observation and one which he’d never imagined that he’d ever put into use. However Auristics was not something that could be done easily at first nor for long periods so he’d had plenty of time to simply sit and watch what was happening while he meditated to bring himself into a suitable state of mind, or afterwards to recover from the attempt.

The process was simple enough if more than a little tedious. It was something though which bore some resemblance to parts of smithing work so he had a little skill in what he attempted even though he quickly learned that he lacked the endurance of the men whom he’d watched.

The process involved boring holes about a fingers depth deep using the cold chisel that he’d made before, and he soon made several as the first one blunted so that he could continue to work and then sharpen again the tools while recovering from the effort of the hammering. Each chisel was hit hard on the place the hole was to be bored then turned a part turn and hit again. This was familiar work because it was just what a smith did and the hammer raised high and hit cleanly for each stroke. Smiths though generally only did that for a short while before either returning the iron to the fire or moving on to another job. The mason though just continued that one repetitive thing all the day long. His hands soon became numb from the vibration and even his strong arms ached. It was a relief to go and do something different and he wasn’t at all sure that it was something that he’d want to do all day.

Gradually thought the holes were bored across the top of the stone along the line he wanted and then down the sides. This part proved even harder than the top and he almost regretted starting the job. Failure though rankled and despite the blisters now starting on his hands, toughened though they were he pushed himself onwards. When they were done it was time to place small iron bars into each hole to act as guides and then an iron wedge into the centre. Between the forging and the stone cutting, time was starting to fly by, but as ever with the work, once the tools were made then they did not need to be made again and when left here would be available whenever they were needed.

The stone split with a sharp bang once the crack had spread between each of the holes and he examined the newly revealed and quite smooth side with some pride. It would need a lot of work simply to remove the marks of his holes and to smooth it off, but it was a good start. It was only a start though for he had to repeat the process on each of the remaining sides and on what would be the bottom. Of course in compensation with each cut the block became smaller and so the next cut was shorter and easier to make. Cutting off the bottom revealed that the boulder had in fact been deliberately formed for he found the edges of holes where it had been split off the rock wall. It gave him a new perspective on the camp ground and now he realised that it had not just been enlarged for this purpose but in fact had been a quarry for at least some stone work.

Now though the harder work started. Not harder in the sense that it was any more physical than the previous work, for it was not but now there was nothing much to see in the way of change for now he needed to hollow out the centre and for that there was nothing to do but use hammer and chisel. Slowly, flake by flake of stone he created a slight dish to the middle of the stone and then he deepened it, staying away from the edges at first then as the dish became deeper he worked back towards the edge. The edges were the critical part for the outside was still unfinished and one careless blow or a random crack and the edge might become too thin or damaged. That would mean starting again and to guard against that risk he would leave the whole work heavier than it needed to be, but then he was not even an apprentice, much less a master craftsman at this.

He was still working away at it when Aurelisa returned for the first time, her mount laden with bags. He helped her with them and then she was gone again and didn’t return until the next evening and they shared the evening meal while each told of what had been happening.

“I had to fly further than I’d hoped,” she was saying as they ate. “The village I’d planned on using had the blight in their fields which meant that their harvest was not as good as we’d hoped. They have enough, but the prices they wanted were higher than I was willing to meet and so I had to go further afield. As you’d know if you ever attempted it, the wilderness is still very much that and I wouldn’t want to cross it afoot. But the blight seemed localised and there were merchants I found on the road who were intending to capitalise upon that which was fortunate. Their prices were still higher than I wanted but there came a point where it was too far to go.”

Eanos nodded at this for he was coming to understand the vast distances which were involved. Distances on a map held little meaning except on a theoretical level. It was easy to look and even to know that a journey might take a certain time, but it was another to appreciate the difference between knowing and doing. Knowing did not take into account the hard work and it did not take into account that things might not be as they were expected. Sometimes that worked in your favour such as a river being lower than expected so that the crossing was easier, but sometimes that river might be higher and crossing impossible. And then what? Wait for it to come down? That might take tens of days and what of the food supply in that time? Or try to go around when the country was not known and who knew if another crossing might be found. No indeed, travel was not as simple as it appeared in the security of your home.

“What of storage?” He raised the question for they were feasting on things which would not keep until the caravan came and she felt it worth the celebration of the work which had been done so far. “With the wood arriving perhaps we will be lucky enough that we can find another room or two deeper into the mountain where the temperature will be more constant.”

It went without saying that even deeper would also mean warmer in winter which was not the effect that they wanted. She nodded in return. “I’ve considered that but I think we will just have to wait and see. I don’t want to build any plans on hopes and dreams of what might be, not yet at any rate. The mountains round here have ice and snow on all year round so I think it will be simple enough to bring it in and to use it. I was thinking of the room next to yours for it, though you might want to move if we do that. There are cracks in the floor which will help with the drainage as the ice melts and it’s about as far in as we could hope for.”

He considered it for a moment and nodded. “It will serve well enough and I hadn’t considered that ice would be easy enough for you to get.” It made certain things much clearer for him now that he had that information to hand. It certainly explained how she intended to have fresh food on hand when the caravans arrived, food which would be worth a premium perhaps. He still had some doubts but they were partly grounded on his lack of understand of how the caravans were supplied so he kept them to himself so that he didn’t appear foolish.

“When do you expect the caravan to arrive?” He asked in the sure knowledge that this was something on which she would have information. He doubted that she would have bought what she had unless she had already talked to the caravan master and could be sure of his expected arrival.

“Five days time I think, all things being equal,” she replied positively. He considered the information and shrugged.

“It will be good for them to be here so that we can start getting on with things. It’s all very well what we have done but there are some basics which need to be finished too.” He would feel more comfortable when things were back in order.

“Of course,” she smiled. “It’s been good having you here, I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

He smiled but he answered lightly, “thank you, but I have every confidence that you would have managed well enough. I’m sure that you could have bartered with the caravan for much of what I have done here.”

She ducked her head in acknowledgement but returned his smile. “Yes, that is true, but it would have taken a good deal longer and like as not there would have been things which I would not have thought of until too late. It’s been good to have a second head to run things through with. Sometimes it helps when you have the problem in front of you to have a second opinion.”

“True enough,” he responded. I have learnt much from you and much of what I learned were lessons I would not have gone looking for. Easier to learn from your example than to have been forced to learn the hard way.”

They finished the meal quickly and retired to their bedrooms for the days now were frantic and they had little time for thoughts of anything else. Man and woman they might be but for Eanos there were still racial barriers which were strong in his mind and neither mere desire nor curiosity were going to break them down that easily. Perhaps she sensed that or perhaps she was happy with the situation for if the thought occurred to her then she never pursued it overtly.

When Eanos woke, dawn was just a hint in the sky outside yet Aurelisa had already gone for this was the last rush to get in the more perishable goods and to arrange for those which needed to be brought in on the very day of the caravans arrival. He took the time to do some work on the room which would be the cool store, sweeping it clean and then constructing a door for it as they had for the main entrance. This one he made double thickness and stuffed the inside with a couple of old blankets which had been used for packing the goods which she had brought in over the past week. It was a welcome break from his stone cutting but that could not be delayed entirely and it wasn’t long before he was at it again.

Now the stone bowl was taking form and it was clear what it was that he intended in the making. He had however changed his mind about the positioning of it because it was all too obvious to him that he could not achieve the finish that he wanted and so he had already relegated it in his mind to be a water trough for the animals of the caravan. The decision caused a little heartache for him but it was something that he was over very quickly for there were too many things to do and too many things to learn to be overly concerned about one small failure. Those were something he was all too familiar with from his attempts to learn the skills of smith and djed worker which is why he persisted with the bowl even though he had not the control to make the lines crisp and clean. Experience told him that it was a matter of practice and that it would become easier and the results more skilled for all that he disliked what he was producing. That too though was part of the process and the motivator to do better.

All too quickly the day of the caravans’ arrival approached as the two worked with Eanos mostly focussed on making the place appear as lived in and finished as he could. He spent some time exploring with an aim to get down to the valley but in the end he gave it up as pointless for the cliffs and slopes within a short walk were all precipitous and even if he got down it would not be easy to get back up again. That would have to wait until she had the time to ferry him down there and back should it come to that but it irked him to have a source of firewood and charcoal so close and not be able to get to it.

[Eanos]

When the day came they were prepared, for one of them was always on watch. It was not long as they stood outside before the advance scout appeared in the distance and they moved to welcome him, Eanos being careful to remain behind her and trying not to glower at this sudden immersion into a world where he was the only Isur and the one out of place.

“Welcome,” she called with a smile and a wave then stepped forward to greet the man once he came close.

“Thank you,” he replied with a glance at Eanos which bore the mark of a professional who saw what he expected but remained curious all the same for this was as much part of his job as anything else. “It is a pleasure to find you here, the caravan will be here in about an hour I should judge.”

She nodded and waved back at Eanos. “This is Eanos, who has been helping me prepare for your arrival.” He stepped forward and shook hands with the scout, their eyes measuring each other as they exchanged greetings.

“Come, let me show you what we have,” Aurelisa said, drawing the scout to her side and walking back towards the holding. Eanos let them go and sorted through his impressions of the man whose eyes had been brighter and more perceptive than his rough appearance would have indicated. It seemed likely to him that the caravan was more cautious than he’d expected and hadn’t taken her word entirely on trust. He guessed, and it was a guess confirmed by the scouts actions that the caravan would not arrive unless and until the scout confirmed to them that this was indeed as expected and not some elaborate trap by bandits. He thought it unlikely the scout really believed that for bandits merely needed to wait, they didn’t need to prime the trap since the caravan had no choice of route, but then he considered that perhaps he was naive about it. If the bandits could be moved by her at will and this was certainly possible then her visits to the caravan could have been to assess whether or not it was worth attacking. He was glad suddenly that he carried only his belt knife on him and that the scout would find nothing untoward. Out here, both he and Aurelisa could disappear very easily if the caravan thought that less risky than leaving them as a threat behind them.

His musings were interrupted by the scout taking his leave on the pretext of helping with the arrival of the caravan, but he said nothing to Aurelisa of his concerns for there was little that could be done about it now. He could trust only that the caravan saw more benefit in them being here than risk that they might talk. It was an uncomfortable thought for it had not occurred to him until now and suddenly he was glad that he would be leaving here soon. Surely it was something that she must have considered and perhaps she too would be pleased that he would be leaving so that he did not pose a threat to her.

“We will be busy soon,” he said to her as she stood next to him as they watched the scout slowly disappear around the bend in the road. Further down the valley the road was sometimes visible and surely the caravan ought to be there by now, but this day the distance was shrouded by a low mist of cloud and the details too blurred to be sure of anything.

“Yes, and I’m glad of it.” Her words sounded pleased and he was pleased for her. He would miss being here he realised with a jolt. There was much to be done in the long term and a man could be happy here with her ability to come and go as needed. Here he could forge and develop his craft without the pressure of others around him. Supplies would be an issue but with the caravans coming by he could get all that he needed. Perhaps one day he might come back he decided and nodded to himself. But not yet for there was much that he needed to do and much that he needed to learn before he was ready for that. His studies in magecraft were still fledgling and there were goals still unfulfilled.

“Come, let’s get the water boiling for their arrival and get the wine ready for serving.” He turned with her and they made their way back to be ready for the arrival so that they could meet the men as they arrived and make them welcome. The wagons would need to be unhitched and the beasts sorted, but that could be done with a welcoming drink already served and certainly the caravan master and his officers would not wait for that routine to be completed before they came inside and made their own judgements.

The caravan brought with it noise and activity which changed it seemed forever the place that they both knew. It seemed that a city had arrived as the wagons were turned into the camp area and there was bustle and activity as men, beasts and dogs hurried around. Eanos allowed Aurelisa to greet the caravan master as he moved to offer what help he could to the new arrivals. Of course they knew the place almost as well as he and did not need any help in setting up camp in a place they had done so many times before. He pointed out the new stone sink, though now it seemed impossibly small to be of any use to so many and realised anew that some solution needed to be reached to supply water not only into the holding but also to the camp site. It might help too with the hygiene of the place and he quickly retreated out of the way once he’d offered hot tea to all who wished it, knowing that this would be welcome as it would take them a while to be ready to prepare their own. He remained close though and watched with interest as the well practised routines were put in place.

Fire’s were lit even as the wagons were being led in and he noted the covered pails in which coals had been kept alight, providing he was sure warmth for the wagon drivers since they were lifted out of the foot wells by their feet as well as an easy source of fire. He realised too that his offers of tea had not been as necessary as he’d thought, but still it had appeared to have been appreciated.

Feeling that he was being too much an observer he headed back to the main entrance to find wagons parked outside that and supplies being off loaded. He hurried forward and lent a hand to the proceedings, knowing where they were to be stored and also being more than capable of carrying some things that were taken two of the Waggoner’s to carry.

He admired the stores as they came in and marvelled anew that she had been able to afford this. Heavy though seasoned timbers for the ceiling props were the bulk of it though too there were the tools he’d asked for and he inspected the metal work of them with a critical eye. They were not he judged the work of an Isur and some of the finishing seemed sloppy to his critical eye, but there was nothing that he could not correct. What took his interest far more were those things which had proved too hard to attempt to make on his own and so he quickly took charge of the files and saws. These he took directly to his own quarters where they would be safe. With them he could make more. It hadn’t been impossible for him to have done it alone, but the process would have been slow and painful and required repeating the process a number of times, each time improving the quality of the tools until they were good enough for actual use.

With the unloading done it was time for him to be introduced to the caravan master and they eyed each other curiously for a moment after the introduction. Eanos refused the wine which was offered for he had no head for it and instead satisfied himself with his usual tea. They stood in the kitchen for it was the warmest place and the main entrance hall had been busy with the unloading.

“I hear that you’ve been helping Aurelisa here,” the man said, to which Eanos nodded, suddenly more taciturn than usual.

“Yes, she was kind enough to offer me a place to stay in exchange for helping her.”

“He has been very good,” she interrupted perhaps feeling the awkwardness of the situation and quickly guided the caravan master to the better rooms in the middle corridor to show him that perhaps on his return journey from Sultros he would have a place to stay if he wished it. Eanos was pleased to see them go but there departure revealed a large crate which had stood beside the fire behind them and he moved forward to investigate, prying the top off. The contents made him gasp and he lifted out the contents with a convulsive jerk which would have made any of the caravan team stare. He held a small anvil which he hugged to himself for all that it was heavy. He dropped it carefully onto the stone block he’d been using and grinned. She hadn’t mentioned this to him and for all that his back muscles now protested at the exertion he could not restrain his pleasure. For this he could kiss her. Well perhaps. It was a gift that he most greatly appreciated, though it wasn’t a gift to him, but for his use. Now things could really start to happen!

The place was busy, but only for that evening. For the caravan time was money at least on the journey itself. He got the impression that the caravan was interested in other services that Aurelisa could offer and wondered if in fact that might prove a more lucrative future than being here in the middle of nowhere, but from her answers and evasions he suspected that she valued her independence more than she did the money. Then too this was just one caravan, though there were not too many others. Still though it seemed that her future was secure which pleased him greatly.

They ate in the main entrance hall for it was the only place which was large enough to hold them all and lanterns and torches danced along the walls while the door screen kept out the worst of the draughts from the cold night mountain air. The caravan had pitched in with the main cooking but the fresh supplies of meat, vegetables and milk were very much in evidence so it seemed that was working well. He still kept himself to himself as much as he could and avoided the drink which soon was offered around. The caravan master however kept a tight control over it and the bottles were put away nearly as quickly as they had appeared. A toast was one thing but drunken or hang over men was clearly something that the caravan did not wish for here out in the mountains where the mistake of one could cost many.

[Eanos]

The caravan was gone as soon as it had arrived, heading out as soon as it was light enough for them to see their way and evidently keen to make as much ground as they could. They left the place empty and quiet which only served to emphasise those qualities much more than they had seemed before they had arrived.

Eanos however paid little attention to this for he was far too busy playing with his new toys and working on the mine props. This for him was the main priority now, to see to the safety of the rooms and corridors so that he could leave here and now that she would be safe at least from this threat. He started in the entrance hall, keen for the replacement of the one prop which had started to sag. The hardest part was in getting the replacement in place on his own, and it had to be largely on his own for the wood was far too heavy for her to be able to help him much. Cutting it to length was tricky but required no great skill. Fortunately she could help him out with the lighter timbers which served as a scaffold to slowly lift the ceiling timber into place and then to hold it there on wedges until the main support prop could be levered into place and wedged securely.

With the hall now safe and a pattern established for working to prop the ends of the corridors he used another of the new toys; a wooden barrow to shift the remaining rubble from the hall so that it was now clear, a product of a craft unlike his own which served to highlight to Eanos how narrow his skill base was out here away from a city.

They started work together on the main corridor and the fall of rock at its end. It was something of a mystery why two of the corridors should have suffered like this but perhaps it was a fault in the rock itself and perhaps that was a main factor in why the place had been abandoned in the first place. The Isurian clan which appeared to have built this were not famed for their stoneworking abilities but even so he would have been surprised if they were not more than competent at this part of the craft, essential as it was to the survival of the clan.

First they shifted some of the looser rubble which he had ignored before and put in place a prop close to the last doorway. It perhaps should not be necessary since the passageway seemed sound there, but it seemed a good insurance policy should their work make the tunnel more unstable. With it in place they cleared more of the loose material and built a new scaffold over the rubble so that they could inspect the roof more closely. They debated over whether they should board over this section to prevent any small rubble falling down later but decided it was better to be able to see if the roof were producing more faults and to suffer some rubble than to have a dangerous fault develop and be unaware of it.

With that decided they set the second set of props in place and cleared away the scaffold poles. Now they could attack the rubble directly and now they had an argument over the danger of it. He would not consider her being there with him and her heated arguments about this being her place did not carry any weight to him. Eventually he won her over by pointing out that she was the only one who could summon help quickly enough for it to be of any use. It meant that she glared stubbornly from a little way down the corridor while he got to work clearing the rubble further. It was heavy and dangerous work, which he appreciated all the more as he gained bruises and cuts on his legs from a small rock fall which had him scrambling and tumbling back out of the way, but eventually he made enough progress that it seemed the time to put another prop in place.

This was not really work which they should have been doing given that neither really knew what they were doing and never had Eanos seen props put this close together, but they did what people had done from time immemorial and did what was necessary while keeping the risks to a minimum.

As they worked Eanos kept a careful eye on what was happening with the rock around them. It was clear that indeed the corridor continued for the walls were still as carefully worked as they had been. This was not conclusive entirely to him as in the first corridor which had no rockfall the same was true up to and including the end of the corridor itself. This one though extended past the doorway much further than happened in the first. Some extension was normal in order for long items to be manoeuvred in and out of the doorway without hitting the end of the corridor but the extension they had uncovered was too long for that by far and so he hoped that they would uncover at least one more room.

“You will need to dress this wood at some point.” He commented to her during a break in the work as he slapped the upright prop with the palm of his hand. She nodded in agreement for this was the best corridor with the well finished walls against which the rough woodwork stood out like a sore thumb.

“Perhaps the carpenter I get for the main entrance and other work can do that,” she replied at length. It seemed a good idea to him and so he merely returned her nod, feeling no need to continue what was obvious. One day if she had the money or the inclination she might have it done in stone so that it matched properly and no longer looked like the mine shaft it now resembled.

He continued with the work, and as he did so, finally the rubble came clear of the top of the tunnel. A wash of foul air emerged sending him back choking. He rushed her back and out of the way.

“Foul air, “ he explained once they stood outside. “It can kill, though I don’t know how or why.” She nodded and brushed herself off.

“Then we should do no more for today.” He accepted her decision and was glad of it because the work had been heavy. In any case the day was starting to come to a close. There remained in his mind a question as to whether or not they should go back in but really there was not much choice and in any case he could not see why it should be a problem so long as they stayed away from the middle corridor.

“Very well,” he said at length, “but we need to be careful and sleep tonight by the entrance where the air is fresh. Except for the cooking we should remain there too and be careful of how we feel. Best if only one stays in a time and the other checks on them.” It seemed overkill to him but better that than to risk their lives to an unseen killer.

The night was cold this close to the door, but they suffered it, sleeping only fitfully. Then next day they explored the second corridor cautiously and with him well in the lead, hoping that she had the strength to drag him to safety if it were needed. All seemed well though and there was no smell, nor did he feel at all queasy. He made her stay at the end of the corridor though at first as he started work. But eventually when he was still well she came closer and insisted on helping out.

“The roof will not cave in now,” she pointed out, and he could not argue with her. In any case a second pair of hands was welcome. Then too he was as keen as she to see what would lie revealed behind the blockage. They dug swiftly but carefully and soon found themselves restricted by only having the one barrow to clear away the rocks and rubble. She argued for climbing over the mound and exploring but he would hear none of it for all that he was as eager as she was. He insisted that they put a final prop in place before even considering stepping foot down the short length of corridor which was revealed.

“We don’t know how stable that roof is,” he pointed out. “If the vibration of putting the prop in doesn’t bring it down then we can go on and find out what that room is.” He’d hoped and he was sure that she had too that there would be revealed a long corridor with many interesting rooms to be explored but all that had been revealed was a final stub of tunnel with a single door off it.

It was tantalising to work so close to an unrevealed mystery but Eanos was firm enough on the issue that she didn’t argue for too long, and even that stopped when he pointed out that he wasn’t going to let her go and that it would be done quicker if they worked together and stopped arguing. At the least they now had practice with what needed to be done though they did not bother using the barrow to move all the rubble outside but simply left a clear escape route if need be and shovelled the rest to the sides to be dealt with later.

He allowed her the privilege of exploring the room and after the anticipation the reality failed to live up to their expectations. It was another room, much like the ones before, though this one was the largest and if anything more well finished than the others. They stared at it for a while and then Eanos laughed to himself and merely shook his head at her quizzical eyebrow.

“It was nothing,” he said, but inside he knew that he’d hoped for something exciting and that so had she. This fall though would appear to have happened after the place was abandoned for the there were no more clues here about the builders and occupiers than there had been elsewhere.

“I guess this just leaves us the third corridor,” she said, but he knew by the tone of her voice that she held no more hope of it than he did. It would have been nice to have found something from before the evacuation of the place, perhaps even a clue as to why it had happened, but it seemed to Eanos that the builders could have easily cleared the tunnels as the two of them had, and likely a good deal more skilfully so there was little reason for there to be anything left here considering how cleanly the rest of the place had been picked clean. A glimmer of hope remained in him for the final tunnel for the clearance might have been done by caravans scavenging for what could be got, so there was still some hope, however small. First though they needed to return to the job which they had skimped and finish clearing out the tunnel then sweeping up and making good. At the end of it, neither of them had the energy or motivation to even consider starting on the other tunnel. That would wait in another day.

In fact it was nearer ten days before either of them brought up the subject of the third tunnel and even then it was only because Eanos wanted to be sure about the stability of that tunnel did he bring it up at all. It would have been easy to leave it alone for now they had more rooms than they actually could use and indeed they had not used the rooms in the second tunnel at all. He didn’t however like to leave a job half done and the irritation niggled in the back of his mind until it was easier to let it out than to push it to the back of his mind.

“I’m going to start on the third tunnel,” he announced to her in the kitchen that evening as she served up the meal. “If you are around I’d appreciate the help as before for the scaffolding. I’ll handle all of the clearance work.” It was fair to say that all the heavy work he’d undertaken since arriving had filled out his frame notably. Whilst he had not been skinny even by Isur standards when he had left Sultros, there had been many muscles which had not been used even with the strict physical regime that the Pitreus clan demanded and with the smithing work.

“Alight, I can give you tomorrow,” she replied, “but then I must be off to arrange the details for the next caravan.” They left it at that and Eanos knew that they could not do it in one day, so the work would have to wait on her return before it was completed.

As it was they got the initial prop in and the first one where the rubble had started on that next day because it was slower with just him working, but he was satisfied with it for there was less hurry now. Now his time here was growing short and he felt no urge to counter that since it would be with regret that he left here and her behind.

On the next day with her gone he started work for the rubble still needed to be cleared and he worked steadily at it through the morning. Eventually there was a movement in the rocks as he moved them. This was normal enough in a loose pile of rubble and it had happened often enough that he’d learned by now to skip back to the safety of the last set of props to avoid bouncing rocks and the risk of it being the start of the roof coming in. When it settled though he could see at the top of the pile of rubble that there was a dark line where the roof line was clear. Remembering the last time and the bad air he cleared back out of there and left it for the rest of the day though it was inconvenient since the kitchen was at the start of the tunnel.

He made a few careful investigations after an hour or two had passed and everything seemed OK, so he made use of the kitchen to make tea then retreated back outside again. It was supremely annoying to be so cautious but he did not know when she would return and she was his only rescuer out here if it came to that.

Eventually though the temptation was too great and despite the words of caution he had used to Aurelisa when he was alone and did not have her there to be an example to, caution went to the winds. He justified it to himself with the theory that if he were here on his own then the risk would need to be taken and in any case she would be back before long should anything actually go wrong.

Having made the decision to continue and with the expectation of providing her with a surprise, he remained aware of the dangers, for the surprise he desired did not include injuries to himself for her to have to deal with. Before he started on further clearing of the rubble he made himself take a closer inspection of the roof which was exposed and braced so far. As with the centre corridor, in this section the original finish had been necessarily lost in the destruction. Closer inspection, and for this he now remade the scaffolding revealed that the damage was not all accidental for there were tool marks in the stone cutting through the careful smoothing of the roof. He’d seen no sign of this in the rubble, but on reflection that did not surprise him as he hadn’t been looking for it. Recently though he had been spending many days with a hammer and chisel in hand learning how rock was cut and shaped, so marks which before he would have overlooked because he was oblivious to the meaning of them now became clear.

The markings however did not reveal why they had been made, but it was clear that something had been in the process of being done when the collapse happened. Whether the collapse had actually been engineered or if it were an accident resulting from the work wasn’t obvious and he realised that the only way to be sure was to find out what lay beyond the blockage. Even then he might not know for sure, but if the collapse was deliberate then it was likely that there might be clues as to why.

Happier now that he could see no signs of imminent collapse in the roof he started again to clear away the rocks and rubble. Slowly the pile reduced in height as he dug away at the side of it, giving glimpses of what lay behind. This corridor did not end just behind the blockage as had the one they had dug out but the tunnel curved so he could only guess what lay beyond that. Given the utilitarian nature of this corridor he doubted that whatever lay hidden would be of great importance, but curiosity was ever one of his faults.

Still that day she did not return so his secret remained hidden and neither contrary to his darker imaginings did disaster happen as he continued with the clearance of the rubble. This time there was no skimpy and half finished job for he cleared and swept the corridor clean. He did not however go down and investigate however much it tempted him to do it. That was the surprise which he held in store for her, and it was the pleasure of that gift which he used to offset the urge to explore. To go down that corridor and know what lay beyond would sully the gift in his mind though he knew that it might make no difference to her.

There remained one job to be done though and that was to place the last brace in place. Working together they had placed all the ones before it, but with that practice he reckoned that it should be possible to put this last one in place himself. There were dangers involved in placing a heavy timber overhead, but then he reckoned that danger was what made life worth living. With that in mind he carefully built the scaffolding on which he would stand and on which the ceiling joist would be placed before he raised it over head and braced it with the poles which they had cut to shape for the purpose. This was the tricky part for it meant holding it in place and at the same time placing the poles. This was where he had needed her help before for more hands made it a safer job.

He braced his feet carefully and checked that the poles were all within reach. It would require a different method this time, of that he knew since he could not simply use the pure brawn approach they had used before where he’d lift it into place and she would place the temporary props. This time he lifted one end and braced it as close as he could into the corner and propped it there. Carefully then he lifted the other end up towards the ceiling. All went well until he was nearly there and reaching out with his left hand for the prop to hold that side in place. Suddenly the beam shifted and as it did so one of the props on the other end slipped out of place and bounced to the ground. He grabbed frantically for the beam, but it was pointless for the beam was falling away from the ceiling at the other end, the end which he did not hold. It slammed into the scaffold and scattered it away as though it were mere twigs. As it did so it twisted out of his hands and as the scaffold bucked under the impact the weight came down awkwardly on his arms and brushed him off the scaffold. The rock floor slammed into his shoulder and his head banged into the floor, turning off the lights so that he knew no more.

[Eanos]

How long he lay in the tunnel he didn’t know. Eventually he found himself returning to a world in which pain was making a star appearance. He was confused at first as to what had happened but slowly the memories returned and he groaned.

The action brought a realisation that the reason he could not see was that a cloth was draped over his eyes and he reached up to remove it. A hand gripped his wrist and he paused. A familiar voice spoke softly in his ears. “Hold a moment while I dim the light,” Aurelisa voice was clearly recognisable, though the tone was concerned. A moment later the cloth was removed and he blinked into the candle light.

“I will not chide you,” she said, “though you gave me a fright. But I think your bruises will be penalty enough to remind you of taking on too much and not waiting for those who would help you.” Her tone was severe and he guessed that she had been frightened of what might have happened to him.

“How long?” His voice croaked and he worked his mouth to clear it. She brought him a mug of water and he carefully sat up though the movement was painful and it brought a sharp pain in the back of his skull.

“Only a few hours since I arrived,” she replied, “but I can’t guess how long you were lying there before that. Not long though I’d guess for the blood was still fresh and only starting to dry at the edges.”

He groaned again and lay back, irritated by his stupidity. His surprise had gone badly after all and likely fate mocked him for it given that it was the last thing which had gone wrong. Pride indeed in his case had come before a fall.

“I was waiting for you to come back,” he said softly enough that she leant over closer to catch the words. “I wanted to surprise you and thought that I could get the beam in place so that we could see what lay around the corner.” He paused and glanced at her. “Did you...?”

She shook her head, lips pursed. “No, and it can wait until you are ready to help me put that support in properly.” Colour flashed to her cheeks and she bit at her lips, shaking her head. “No, I promised myself that I would not berate you. I will leave you to rest. I could find nothing broken, just some cuts and bruises. Your god was watching over you I think and he must like you to have saved you from what could have happened.” She stood and gripped his hand once in a squeeze and left him to himself.

Pain flowered softly now that he had the leisure to feel it and he slowly worked himself over with his hands to check what she had said. Bandages were on his left hand and wrist where the beam had skinned them and this stung perhaps most of all. The fingers on his left hand were swollen such that he could move them only with difficulty but they did not seem broken and for this he sighed in relief. Tiredness overcame him and he fell back into a restless sleep.

[Eanos]

There followed a period of some ten days where he was effectively confined to bed or the nearby rooms of the holding whilst the bruises and the aches became manageable for it seemed that he had pulled muscles in his back and heavy work was impossible. He spent the time at first in a mood of gloom but once he started to accept it and once he realised that the more he concentrated on the pains the more he was aware of them he started to seek something else to attract his attention. That came in the end with some revision of the arts of metal working and most especially the ones which had come at the end of his training period when he had been set tests of skill and ones which had come as a surprise to him.

He had expected when the time of his training drew to an end that he would be tested on the sorts of things that he had been used to making towards the end but it seemed that the smith who was his trainer had other ideas. Eanos could recall the conversation vividly.

“You want me to make toys!” His voice had been shrill now that he recalled it, a combination of youth and surprise. The smith had laughed and there was no hint of retreat in his position for all the outrage which Eanos could muster.

“I would not call them toys. I would call them models. Any fool can hit metal with a hammer and produce something for which his mother would praise him no matter what the quality. But with a model there is no room for error or for poor quality. Your tolerances must be exacting and your fingers nimble. You will not succeed on your first attempts, of that you must be sure.”

Still though Eanos has not been impressed for it seemed that the work was more suitable for those who made those toys, not for real smiths. It was impossible for him to say that though because to do so would be to so accuse the smith who stood in front of him and who had a reputation for such gadgets which brought so much praise from the ladies at feast times.

“Very well,” he spat out, powerless to argue further though he would dearly liked to have done. He knew that it was not just a test but also a compliment for the smith was right. Toys aside the work that the Masters produced was every bit as exacting in terms of fit and quality of finish. They produced that as a matter of course, indeed it what was sometimes what marked out a Masters work from those of others. A compliment it might be, but it made the test all the harder and he could not help but wonder if the test was deliberately set so that he would fail it, of if he did manage to pass it then there would be none who could challenge that passing and accuse him of just getting by. He sighed to himself, aware as ever that his chosen path in training in something outside of his clans specialty sometimes carried a price he was forced to pay.

Looking back now he was amused by the stratagems of the clans and his teachers or whoever it was that had set up that particular challenge. Certainly none of his fellows had been presented with anything like it which only reinforced in hindsight the probability that the test had been engineered for him alone, though he still even now could not decide if they had wanted him to fail or if they had wanted him to pass so well that it could not be challenged. He suspected that for his teacher both were true. He thought it likely that the clans had wanted him to fail so that clan pride could be maintained but such would have reflected badly upon his teacher. His theory now was that his teacher had engineered the test knowing that Eanos would pass, after all he knew very well what skills Eanos possessed. Thus his reputation was maintained and the clans were forced to applaud one who could overcome such obstacles and excel. It had however not improved his situation for those forced to admit things against their will tended to be surly about the whole thing and sought ways of proving that they had been right after all.

Those worries now could be put aside, at least until he returned to Sultros and when he did he wanted to walk back with skills and knowledge which would thrust him firmly back into the bosom of Clan Pitreus and all memory of the past cast aside. Of course he knew that it would never be quite that easy given the long memory of an Isur, but still once he was able to prove that he could stand on his own two feet then he would likely be left alone, and he didn’t have any plans to climb the treacherous tree of power within the Clan, so past mistakes could remain in the past and not be brought out and waved in his face every time he wanted to take the next step up in power, or to defend it against those who also sought to climb.

What had been most surprising about the tests were that they very much focussed on the use of the lesser metals and iron barely featured at all except where it was needed because nothing else had the strength. That relegated the metal he’d most aimed at working in to mostly use as tools, fasteners and pivots and there had not been a single blade or weapon of any sort involved, not at any rate in the items which he produced.

It had started with being asked to replicate a mechanism, which wasn’t complicated as such but there were certain issues involved as it was made with brass and held together with small iron screws. He considered the possibility of simply brazing the brass instead of using the screws but that obviously wasn’t even worth considering seriously. Some of the questions in his mind was where to start and so he’d raised the question with his teacher.

“There is no right place,” the smith had answered. “I set you this as the first task because if often falls to me to repair what has been made before. Making something to match what was there before, sometimes the part you need to make is broken or missing, that can be harder than making from scratch when you have the freedom to do what you like and where if something is made not as you planned then you can change the rest of the design to fit. With this you must produce it so that it is exactly the same, in every detail.”

It was the answer he’d known that he was going to get and in some ways he regretted having asked it, but it had seemed worthwhile to ensure that he understood exactly what the test was, and in that he was now sure. He was going to be marked on the end result by comparing it to the original. If it wasn’t exactly the same then he would fail. Simple but difficult all the same.

One of the biggest difficulties he faced was the size because he was getting eye strain merely trying to make out the details and so was forced to go and get the toolmakers kit out of the store and set it up on his bench, moving away as he did the tools which now seemed huge and clumsy compared to the work he would be doing for even the head of his favourite hammer was larger than the finished model itself.

With the eyepiece mounted over his right eye he got to work at examining the piece. The brass was beautifully finished and even the exposed heads of the iron screws had been polished to a mirror shine. Not only that he realised but what he’d taken for paint showed that some of the screws had been heat treated or simply polished black. The more he looked the more he realised that it would not be as simple as he’d first assumed.

Toolmaking was of course something which had featured heavily in the training, for a smith needed to be able to make all of his own tools. Then too he was also expected to make many of the tools of the other tradesmen, some of which were as heavy and coarse as those of the blacksmith, but many were fine and delicate too. Not all were able to master such things and looking back it seemed to Eanos that it had been a providential step for he was sure that in this work was the answer that he sought in order to merge the skills of mage and smith in a way that transcended the mere power broking of enchanted weapons.

He started by taking the mechanism apart then put it back together. The second time he took it apart he was more aware of a number of things, not the least of which was the damage caused by the tools in the process of taking apart and putting back together the first time. The tools themselves bore some marks and these transferred themselves to the work to its detriment. It was certainly something to consider when he came to his own piece and he knew that it would entail making more than he needed just so that the final assembly could be done with perfect pieces. He was grateful then that no time limit had been set, though even then time would be part of the measurement, so perhaps that wasn’t such a bonus after all since he had nothing against which to pace himself.

With the mechanism apart for the second time now he could appreciate in fine detail how it worked. What appeared to be a solid base at first glance was not and inside the base ran a series of wheels which transferred the movement from the start to the finish. It appeared to the user that they turned the wheel at the top of the plate and by magic the wheel at the other end turned though there seemed to be no connection. Whilst he could appreciate now the detail and understand how it worked, making his own version was going to be far from easy.

He started with the base since that was the part which was key to everything and he left the model in parts, sure now that he had taken it apart twice that he could put it back together again. He did however group all the related parts and fixings together just in case and to help to ensure that they did not get lost.

The base was made out of a solid blank of brass, hollowed out on the bottom and fitted with a very tight fitting plate of brass. It wasn’t quite that simple though as all of the wheels inside the box this created all had separate bridges on which they ran which were also concealed inside the base by the cover plate.

Working with brass had its advantages and disadvantages and he was mindful especially of the problems which would be involved. Because the metal was soft it would mar easily which meant that he had to be careful in all the handling of it. He couldn’t simply put it into a vice and clamp it up because the vice jaws were harder than the brass and so the rough edges would dig deeply into the softer metal. He realised after some consideration and whilst in the midst of making careful sketches of the work to be done that regardless of how careful he was there was far too much to be done involving the base to avoid some damage so it would be best if he kept the outside oversize and then brought it back to the correct dimensions in the final stages of assembly. He suspected that even the external dimensions of the base would be measured and used as part of the test. He could easily imagine a scenario where a critical judge presented with a fully working and carefully detailed model dismissed it without checking because after all if the outside was not correct, how could the rest be so?

At least the base itself did not need to be cast since there was bar stock in the store that he could cut down to size and so he set out to do that as his first task. The bar was sawn carefully so that it was as much oversize as he’d planned and then he filed out the saw marks and then switched to a finer file to give him a better finish for the working piece. He also in that stage made sure that everything was flat and square but he paid especial attention to one of the wider sides and the narrow edge next to it. These would be keys from which all of his measurements were taken and so it needed to be as accurately flat and square as he could manage otherwise everything else measured out from it would be wrong no matter how careful he was.

He scribed into the flat of what would be the base the edges of the cut out section, and then ran the marks deeper with a cut off chisel. He was faced at this point with alternatives as to how to remove the brass and wondered at this point whether it would have been easier to cast it. He didn’t know for sure that the original hadn’t been cast, just that he hadn’t seen any casting marks. But that proved little and he took a moment to consider, unwilling to push ahead without considering the options because it was a reasonable amount of brass that needed to be removed. He would need to make a mould in wood accurately then cast it. He shook his head, that would be pointless for he had the original, but if he used that then the cast work would be very close in size to the original and he’d not have room for correcting flaws which always happened with casting. If he were making more than one then he would certainly go the casting route. He considered wax since that was more traditional for brass. It brought his thoughts back to sizing for with casting he could get the inside close to what was needed, and that otherwise might be a tricky job. He examined the base again, this time with his glass and smiled. One of the corners, just under where a bridge fitted and where the metal had been left thicker to accept the screw there was a slight roughness. It wouldn’t be visible with the bridge in place, let alone with the base plate in place, but it had the distinctive texture of a casting and with that he changed his plans.

Carefully he built up the outside of the box to give him the thickness that he wanted to allow for refinishing the outside. Having the model as thing to be cast forced him away from the lost wax method though he could have created a cast then created a new wax version, but he didn’t see the point and stayed instead with something more commonly used in the casting of iron where there was a two piece cast and the base was carefully dusted and the sand packed tightly before the cast was separated the base removed and the cast put together again. Given the stakes involved he did not just make the one cast but took the time to make three for one at least was sure to come out with some bubbles or other flaws in a place which would be inconvenient. It was a process in which he was experienced and it wasn’t long before he had three gleaming base units stood on his bench ready for inspection and removal of moulding flash.

With three to choose from, he chose the one that had the worst flaws and used it as his test bed on which to work. It would mean duplication of effort but it would also mean that any mistakes would not mean throwing away the finished work, and mistakes were more likely as he experimented with finding the right way of doing something than in replicating something he’d done already.

Quickly he worked on the test unit to make the important working surfaces flat but without spending time to make it look good. The next stage was to make the first of the bridges which would hold the wheels which transferred the power from one end to the other. He examined the one from the model carefully and drew it out carefully at full size to ensure that he wasn’t overlooking something and so that he had something against which he could more easily take measurements if need be.

Whilst it was flat on the top, or rather technically the bottom when it was in place and the model was standing upright, the other side was curved just like the bridge it was named after, rising up from where it stood on the ledge in the base, rising across the gap to give clearance for the wheel below and then dropping back down so that the other end sat on the ledge the other side. Using the bridge as template he scribed it onto the block of brass he’d originally intended to use a the base and cut a square of the right size. To create the arch underneath he scribed it once he’d carefully filed the sides flat and square and then made a series of saw cuts down to almost the depth of the arch. In theory he didn’t need to do that, but the stop cuts wouldn’t hurt. Then he worked carefully with a jewellers saw and followed just outside the line of the arch and cut through the stop cuts, pieces of brass falling free as he did so. For the next bridge he decided not to bother with the stop cuts as it seemed simply enough not to need them. Then it was a matter of careful work with the file to bring the curve of the arch down to the scribed file marks, all the while carefully checking the dimensions against the original.

Having the actual model to hand for dimensions made the work simpler in some ways. With the bridge now cleaned up with the file and sized properly such that it was just that little bit oversize where it could be to allow for the finishing and polishing he could use the model bridge to mark it up for drilling. This he did by ever so carefully matching the two up and then slipping the drill down the screw hole of the model so that the point of it cut the smallest of countersinks into his bridge. With that to keep the drill centred he drilled out the holes and then counter bored them to accept the screw heads so that they would lie flush as in the model. This finished the bridge and so he could turn his attention to the next task which was to make the screws and for this he needed to turn his attention back to his more favoured iron.

Never before had he made a screw so small that he could only see it properly with the glass. It meant as a start that even measuring it properly was a task in itself, though it needed to be done only the once as he’d already made sure that all of the screws were the same size. With the information in hand and with his measuring callipers in hand he sat down at the toolmakers lathe and gripped the bow with his left hand. He test spun it experimentally to get the feel of the pressure needed and then placed in the chuck the piece of broken drill which he intended to use. First though he needed to get the feel of the lathe when there was work in the chuck. Resting the graver against the T piece he pulled back with the bow and spun the work. The hard steel ran silently against the old drill which had been annealed so that it was soft enough to cut. At first nothing happened and he pulled it back as he pushed the bow away and the spin of the piece reversed. On the next pull he applied more pressure and the graver chattered and bounced whilst he cursed the need to be doing two different things with his hands at once. It was just a question of getting his hand in though and soon enough tiny shavings were being removed whilst he stared closely though the glass.

Putting the graver down he picked up the callipers and let them rest on the piece which was roughly flattened. It still needed more metal to be cut away for the calliper to slip over, at which point he’d be at the right thickness and needed to stop otherwise the work would be too thin. He tried again, this time concentrating on the finish of the work as well as the cutting and the result improved as the skills he had so long practiced came back to him. This time the calliper just slipped over so he put them down and started cutting again at the end, to create a step down. The higher surface would be the edges of the screw head whilst now he wanted the shaft of the screw itself into which the thread would be cut.

It was harder than it should have been considering that he had used a lathe before, but the tiny scale in which he now worked meant that the margins for error were much smaller and it was so easy just to cut a little bit too deep for it required just the smallest amount of additional pressure. It was his third attempt before he got the step cut down as he wanted it to the right length and he was mindful on this one to ensure that the corner was sharp. If it wasn’t then when the head of the screw was tightened down then that round corner came into contact first before the head of the screw. This could give a false impression that the screw was tight and because the contact area was so small it was then easy for the screw to slacken off. Of if the screw were tightened down into place then the pressure in that area could damage the top of the hole.

The screw thread was overly long because it would also act as a tap for the hole into which it was to be driven. Given that he was cutting the threads by hand, each might be slightly different in many ways so this ensured that every hole had it’s own perfectly mated set of threads. First though he actually had to cut the thread into this screw.

For this he first had to select the correct size in the screw plate. Fortunately he knew this already because he had used the screw plate to measure the original screw that he was copying and from that determine the correct diameter of the outer thread. He double checked that with the callipers and confirmed it against the original screw before proceeding. With the screw blank still in the lathe chuck he applied a little lubricant and held the screw plate in the fingers and thumb of his right hand. Slowly he worked the screw into the plate by turning the headstock of the lathe with his left hand. A quarter turn in and then a half turn back out so clear out all of the tiny chips of metal and so prevent them from damaging the delicate threads. He cursed as he pushed his luck and did more than the prescribed quarter turn in with the result that the screw caught in the plate and snapped clean off. It was time to leave this job alone he realised and take a break. Fortunately he had that at least because he needed to clear the screw plate, something which was simple enough by cutting off the remains of the screw which protruded out of the side of the plate and then threading the saw blade into the slot and cutting through the hole in the plate. He had no concern about damaging the plate since he knew that it was hardened more than the saw blade and so there was no risk there. With that done he left the lathe alone and went to make himself a cup of tea from the can which sat beside the forge.

Back at the lathe the work proceeded more smoothly this time for the practice meant that he was getting a proper feel for what he was doing and he was starting to get a gauge as to what was possible and what not. It was this lack of feel rather than a lack of skill which had been hindering him, but now he was able to allow the skills which had been trained into his hands and eyes take over. He cut a small undercut into the corner of the step this time and this time also the threading proceeded without a hitch until the screw plate came up to the step and the thread ended in the undercut. He removed the screwplate and cleaned the thread with a cork to remove any remaining metal shavings.

With the thread in place he filed the front end into a triangular section to act as cutter in the softer brass then all that was left from this stage was to cut the screw from the blank leaving just enough length for the grinding and polishing. He carefully set the screw into a pinvise which he then mounted in a small bench vise for the screw slot now needed to be cut. He didn’t have a suitable saw and so needed to improvise, and because he had been properly trained he knew how to do it. He took an iron razor blade and carefully set it on a file then with a sharp tap hammered it home so that the edge of the blade was bent into the grooves of the file creating a set of teeth. Cutting the slot without the blade skipping was a test of patience as much as skill, but he took the time to breathe and then took his time. It didn’t go as well as he’d hoped and yet another screw went into the scrap pile. He took the error philosophically and ignored the looks amongst the other apprentices for he cared little for their opinions and started again.

With the first screws made it remained only to finish off the top surfaces so that they would be polished when viewed on end, as the originals had been. The screws had already been hardened and blued so that they were ready for use, but that wasn’t enough for this. He had on hand the tool which the Master had used for this task, though he would never have guessed at its use before, which saved him from having to make it. One by one he slipped the screws into the chuck of the device which held the heads down against the plate glass on which first the grinding paste and then the polish was applied until the screw heads gleamed a dull black. He rechecked them after the polishing to be sure that they were correct in all dimensions and that included the screw slot still being deep enough to be used without the screwdriver slipping and marring the work.

Screws and bridges were now made so the work was progressing nicely but he didn’t attempt to fit them yet because that was best done at a more final stage when the wheels had been built. Though he was now a long way into the project the hardest and longest part still remained which was making the geared wheels which would shift the power. A word with the smith in charge of this test had revealed what he would not have known if he had not asked and that was there was credit in improving on the design whilst still reproducing it otherwise identically. He wasn’t sure if that were entirely possible, but he had things in mind if it could be done.

He spent quite some time on the existing wheels, measuring them and drawing them until he was sure that he understood how it was that they had been made. He slipped them down through holes first in parchment to sketch the outlines then when that seemed not accurate enough he made holes in brass plate and scribed the outlines. The first task he saw was to make templates for he could not risk damage to the originals. The templates did not have to be fully round for so long as they had the centre then a partial circle of perhaps a dozen teeth would work well enough. He started work on some heavy brass plate and marked it carefully to create a circle which he then cut out and then the centre which he drilled with the same diameter as the wheels but with just a little more freedom so that it was not tight on the shaft. Then it was a question of carefully cutting slots to depth then carefully using the original wheel as a template filed the gears to shape to the scribed marks, checking back often to the original. With the template made he could then start repeating the process with the lighter brass plate and by using the heavy brass template could first properly round the wheels then cut the teeth using a round file for the base and a thin triangular file which only had teeth on the bottom to shape the edges. Designing such a wheel was beyond his skills, of that he knew quite clearly, but copying merely required skill in working metal.

The process was repeated with the smaller pinion wheels which mounted next to the larger wheels, though it was a trickier process because everything was so much smaller. It was hard for him to believe that he was perhaps coming towards the end of the task and he knew already that he had learnt much, especially from the numerous mistakes. He knew now which he hadn’t at the start that this was indeed a test of skill which would not have been the case if he had carried on making knives where his own assumptions of competence would have seen him fail.

The final part of this stage was to machine the shafts. It was careful work, but because it was much the same in principle as he had done with the screws he did so successfully this time. In large part this was because he worked in a careful and assured manner, the manner indeed of a professional. He did not hurry, nor did he allow himself to become complacent. It was complex work to make the shafts to the correct sizes and then to mount the wheels upon them in just the right places, driving the wheels onto the careful tapers which made a tight friction fit. With the wheels in place he was able to finish the polishing with a very fine abrasive in the lathe which removed all of the final marks from the brass. It was time too to dress the ends of the shafts into the finer pivots which would mount in the base and bridges, allowing the wheels to spin in just a small amount of oil which was held in the tiny cup counter sunk into the mounting hole.

Now he could finally drill the holes into the base and bridges using the model as a guide and start to assemble each part in turn. Despite his care in doing so there were some problems with fit which needed to be corrected, and even some remanufacture because despite all his care it was a complex build, at least to him and there were mistakes. This was still his test base though so it did not concern him still. He knew that he’d have to remake some in order to make it all fit on the final piece but now he could experiment with making things work as he would like them to. Next though with the mechanism in place was to make the top so that it looked like the original. This was a work of casting for at one end was a small circular disk such as children used to spin round on and at the other end was a bear whose head spun when the disk was spun. These were cast in silver on the original but he cast them in brass for this test using as ever the originals for the base.

Now that he knew what he was doing, he worked swiftly to replicate what he had done on this test piece, only now at every stage he worked to be sure that everything was completed to the highest of standards. Each piece was carefully made, polished and the rechecked against the original so that it was exactly the same to the smallest possible unit of measurement. When it was done he put it aside, to the bemusement of some of his fellows who seemed to think that good enough was indeed good enough.

For the third attempt he repeated most of it once again, this time his skills proving much more adaptable with the practice but he introduced some changes into the last two shafts. He made a second wheel for the next to last shaft one which he was forced to design from scratch for it was a smaller size than the others which were all the same. This change forced also the pinion to be of a different size so that it could reach out and match. The change was not huge but it allowed him to add another shaft to the last one. This one was hollow which was a challenge to make all of itself but which slipped over the existing shaft giving him two shafts rising through the base. The inner one as before would spin the head, but the new one would spin the upper body which he had now cast in two pieces, a slightly fiddly process but one which given the level of detail at which he’d been working seemed trivial in comparison.

[Eanos]

He woke with a jerk from his musings into the past and realised that once more he was still in the mountain holding and that his bruises still pained him. Today though was the day when he’d no longer be confined to merely light duties. He would have gone back to work before but had not deemed it worthwhile to argue with Aurelisa who still seemed somewhat shocked that he had been injured at all. Today they would finally get the beam into place and would be able to explore the tunnel.

He came out of his bedroom to find that she had been busy and that all the broken poles from the old scaffold had been removed and replaced with new ones. He found her watching him as he realised this and nodded to her.

“I’ve checked the roof,” she said, “as far as I could without the scaffold in place but it seems still sound enough.” He nodded in acceptance.

“We can check again when the scaffold is up, but I see no reason as to why there should be a problem,” he agreed with her.

Though his muscles were stiff and there was more pain than he was willing to admit to her, still they erected the scaffold quickly. He allowed her to do more than he had before and in large part that was because he knew that he needed to take it carefully if he were to warm up properly for the heavy lifting ahead. His experience with exercise at least gave him that but for once he began to get a glimmer of what it meant to have a partner and a team player, someone to support and not to compete against.

The beam was heavy and it pushed her to the limits of her strength such that he quickly moved to give her a hand, ignoring now the pains and aches.

“Not so quickly,” he grinned, “you’ll do yourself an injury and then where will we be?” Allowing her to take some of the weight he climbed up into the scaffold and pulled it up. Now it was just him again and he quickly changed grip and pushed the beam into the ceiling. From below she pushed the props into place and he relaxed once he was sure that it was firmly wedged into place. That was the heaviest of the work and the most dangerous out of the way so it did not take long to put the side posts in and then to remove the temporary props and scaffold. They did this in silence and even took the posts back to the storeroom before they met each others eyes.

“Shall we?” His voice was low and for the first time he felt a real affection for her, which later he would put down to his not being entirely recovered and emotional from the stresses of what had happened to him.

She smiled and ducked her head, taking hold of a lantern from the store and lighting it by way of answer. He spread his arm towards the door indicating that she should proceed him, something he thought caused the smile to quirk a little but her head was turned before she was sure.

“I don’t imagine it will be much,” he said to her as they walked, and she nodded.

“I expect you are right,” she replied and it was clear to him that they were both attempting to keep their hopes down so that there would be no disappointment this time. It took but moments to reach the area of what had been the blockage in the third tunnel and then they were at the corner. The light from the tunnel prevented his normal vision from operating so he could see no more than she, which was the area illuminated by the lantern, but it was clear that this was no stub of a tunnel for it led off into the mountain.

“Looks like a mine shaft,” she said, but Eanos wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t been expecting this because he had already discounted this being a mine in his mind. Who in his right mind would have sited the kitchen on the end of a mine? That should have been in the larger and rougher first tunnel.

“Perhaps,” he answered, unwilling to disagree with her too openly when he wasn’t sure himself. She turned to him, her face happy now and excited.

“We shall have to explore!” She laughed and carefully putting the lantern down reached up and pulled him down into a kiss. He bent willingly enough expecting just a peck and to hug her back, but the feel of her in his arms ignited something and the peck turned into something else. Passion suddenly ignited in him and he forgot for a moment where he was then she pulled away and he let her go. She avoided his gaze and he felt a sudden shame for this was forbidden and should it be leaned of back in Sultros he would never live it down.

They backed away and she turned to pick up her lantern. “Later, perhaps. I have something I should do.” She left him in the darkness, the tap of her boots quickly fading around the corner, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

He stood alone for a while in the dark whilst his thoughts were many and random. He was tempted to continue on down this shaft and to see where it led, but it was not his place to do so as he saw it and so eventually he turned and headed back to the kitchen to make tea which was always his distraction.

He found her there sitting at the table, and thought to say something and didn’t. Silence reined as he shifted the kettle back on to the heat from its simmer so that it could boil afresh. As it did so she spoke as his back was turned.

“I think that it’s time that I fulfilled my end of our bargain. I’ve delayed you long enough here.” He glanced back at her but her face was turned. Silence hung heavy for a moment and he didn’t know what to say, so eventually he agreed.

“As you wish. Tomorrow then for we are already well into this day and there are things I should put in order.” He saw her nod and pulled the kettle back off the heat for suddenly his taste for tea had vanished. For a man who called the underground home, he suddenly felt the weight of rock overhead and longed for fresher air. No words came to mind and so he turned and left.

[Caelum]

Thread Award

Eanos

Skills
Blacksmithing +1
Bodybuilding +3
Carpentry +3
Climbing +1
Construction +4
Intelligence +3
Investigation +4
Masonry +2
Metalsmithing +2
Observation +4
Planning +4
Wilderness Survival +1

Lores
Carpentry: Framing a Door
Blacksmithing: Fixing a Hearth
Masonry: Creating a Water Basin
Campsite Irrigation
Reinforcing Mining Shafts
Toxic Fumes in Mines
Construction: Scaffolding
Metalsmithing: Repair

Notes

Excellent as ever. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Please edit your post in the request thread to reflect grade.