A Roll of the Die - 1. Inception
Copyright© 2026 by Michael Loucks
Chapter 19: Day 24
After three days of searching to no avail, Matthias authorized Jorah to break through the walls, and they finally discovered Kranos' hoard. As Kranos had stated, he had sufficient wealth that Matthias could never have bought Miri's freedom. They also located the secret door and how it operated. The smashed wall could be repaired, and the room would be put to use as a vault for Newtown.
"Count everything and send twenty percent to the King as Kranos' death taxes," Matthias commanded.
"Were you not granted title to all property and possessions of the traitor?" Jorah inquired.
"Yes, but I am positive neither the Lord Mayor, nor the King, nor the tax assessors, nor the Bailiff, were aware of his wealth. It will be a gesture of loyalty to the Kingdom. There is certainly more than enough here to sustain Newtown until my great-grandson is Count!"
"As you command, my Lord," Jorah replied.
"Get started on all the improvements immediately and fill out the full complement of servants and guards. Please also provide my Lady wife with a sum to redecorate the house. I would also like you to arrange for a feast for all the residents of Newtown here in the main garden."
"Right away, my Lord. The tinker will be here shortly to discuss the plans you drew. He is a bit confused about the operation of the machinery."
"I'll explain everything to him and the carpenter."
"Excellent, my Lord."
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"How are you feeling, Lucas?" Milos inquired.
"I am ready to resume my training," Lucas said firmly.
"Your shoulder will be weak, so we'll need to work on that. Be careful as you go about your work, as your shoulder might give out unexpectedly."
"Can you tell me what it was that I did wrong?"
"Combat is chaotic and often random," Milos counseled. "You can do nothing wrong and still be injured or killed. What you do is train to minimize your vulnerabilities. If there was an error, it was mine in allowing you to go out without sufficient training. That said, had it only been wolves, there wouldn't have been a problem. The ambush was absolutely unexpected by all of us.
"The lesson to learn is that knowledge is key. The ambush was only possible because we had no knowledge of the true situation. Missing or erroneous knowledge is the bane of every military commander. Next time, you'll ask more questions and be even more cautious. You learned an important lesson, and now you need to put that new knowledge to use."
"One could make no mistakes and still die?" Lucas asked.
"Yes. Just as one could be trampled by a spooked horse, or a roof could fall in, or any other random thing. We train to avoid that fate, but we cannot prevent it. That training allows us to fight back, rather than passively await death, which eventually comes for all men. Now, go about your strength training."
"Yes, my Lord."
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"Think of the vanes as the oxen, only driven by wind," Matthias said to John the Tinker. "Normally, the ox is yoked to the grindstone by a simple bar. Here, the vanes turn a shaft, which uses a gear to transfer power to a perpendicular shaft, which turns the grindstone. For the waterwheel, another gear transfers it to a shaft perpendicular to that second shaft, thereby turning the wheel.
"The other set of gears and pulleys allows a man to adjust the vanes to face properly into the wind. The winds here are fairly consistently on-shore, but vary about twenty degrees under normal conditions. The upper part of the mill can rotate about twenty degrees off the centerline to accommodate all but the rarest of wind conditions. All of this, except using gears to change both the speed and direction of the generated force, is known to many craftsmen; they simply haven't put all the ideas together."
"So the vanes catch the wind like the sails of a ship."
"Exactly; they are even called 'sails'. The difference is they drive a shaft rather than propel a ship."
"Genius, my Lord Count!" John the Tinker exclaimed.
"How many men do you need to construct the windmills?"
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