Chapter 4

Liuz whittled as men chopped.

The sound of metal biting into wood filled the air. So, too, grunts, curses, mixed with yelled commands and subdued conversation. Liuz watched, conscious once more of his immaturity. Burly soldiers with bare chests and arms swung large axes into large trees. More distant, the earthen ditch and berm which was to hold all that was left of the Polish people began to take shape. All around him, men worked hard to prepare for the arrival of their countrymen.

Liuz and his sister whittled.

He looked at the pile of stakes beside them. It was stupid. There was no way enough could be made, at least not just by them, to surround the entire encampment. Nor did he think they'd add all that much protection. It was busy work.

"NOW can we build that stake making machine?" Kasia asked. Liuz chuckled as he glanced at her. She sat cross-legged on the grass, dress bunched up a bit but not exposing her indecently. Not that she was old enough to have anything worth covering.

"Too much work," he said. "I am regretting not saving the ones from before."

"There was no place to put them," she grumbled, knife moving swiftly. "I asked."

"Nothing to do but keep at it."

Having said that, Liuz glanced towards the river. It was wide. Far wider than the Warta. Slow moving, though. They'd have that advantage at least when trying to bridge it. His eyes moved to a group of men sitting on logs in a circle. Tymon was among them, his almost bald head shining in the sunlight. Using a long, pointed stick, he drew something in the dirt. Another man picked up some sticks which seemed to have been lashed together, rotating it in his hands.

He returned his attention to the job at hand. It did no good wishing he was over there. They knew what they were doing, he didn't.

Still...

Kasia watched another pair of wagons come through the newly installed gate.

Exactly how all this was organized eluded her. They had arrived only two hours after breaking camp, leaving open the question of why they hadn't just pushed on and come here last night. Then, more soldiers and wagons had been arriving with no real pattern. You'd hear some shouts, and boom, more armed men to dig and cut trees. She suspected this would be the last one for the day. The sun was getting low, the cooking fires coming up. Others on the road would be making camp.

Raising her arms, she stretched her fingers. They hurt. Her hands weren't blistering, Thank Mary, but only because the last couple days had toughened them. The feel of Dad's hands came to her, his large fingers both rough yet worn smooth. She felt her left hand. Not the same.

"I think I'm done for the day." Her brother dropped his knife to the ground, tossing one last stake into the pile. Kasia had considered herself finished for the last ten minutes. She was a hard worker, but there were limits. Especially with something as stupid as this. Were pointed wooden sticks really enough to stop a hulking soldier? Well, maybe if you're an evil Elf. Wooden slivers might be their greatest enemy. Perhaps one reason the stone walls of Nowy Kiev hadn't stopped them.

"If we have to do this again tomorrow," she said, groaning, "I'm going to just swim across that river. It's stupid."

"I know." Liuz let himself fall back onto the grass. She did the same, straightening her legs. A moment later, she raised herself a bit to arrange her dress. Too many men around to be showing things that should be hidden.

"Jesus above," a voice said behind them, "how many stakes did you make?"

"All of them," Kasia groaned. She rolled away from Liuz onto her stomach, looking up. Tymon was looking down on them, expression seemingly impressed. He shook his head.

"I didn't think we gave you that much wood!"

"We got more," Liuz said, sitting up. He rotated his shoulders. "Is it enough?"

"For you two, more than enough."

"Good," Kasia said. She, too, maneuvered herself into a sitting position, hands keeping her dress appropriately placed. "I'm ready to eat, then sleep."

"Aren't we all," Tymon chuckled. "Come on."

They stood and followed. Kasia noticed the looks they got were half friendly, half confused. The latter were probably newcomers, not yet familiar with the two kids. Well, that wasn't her problem. She did note where they were in the camp, vowing to stay away from them if possible. Roda's words about the dangers of all these men still resonated with her. She may not be a woman, but she WAS the only female.

The group Tymon led them to was mostly soldiers. Armor discarded, most wore just stained shirts and pants. On seeing her approach, the few who had been topless quickly covered themselves. Kasia immediately felt more comfortable.

"Men," Tymon said, "This is Liuz and his sister Kasia. They'll be helping with the bridge tomorrow."

There were murmured greetings. Liuz plopped himself on an empty log, Kasia taking the space beside him. Her brother accepted two mugs from one of the soldiers, looking up at Tymon.

"The bridge starts tomorrow?"

Tymon nodded as Kasia took her drink from Liuz.

"We have enough workers to work on the wall, trees, and bridge at once, and enough logs to start. We have two days to get this finished before the column and the King get here."

The King. The King would be using something she had helped build. Not even knowing anything about their new sovereign, she felt a shiver go through her. Liuz leaned forward, mug cupped between his knees.

"What will we be doing?"

Tymon pulled a piece of wood from a pouch on his belt. He handed it to her brother.

"This. Bigger, naturally." Kasia leaned over. It was half a log, two notches cut out of the rounded side at either end. "It's the deck of the bridge. We're just cutting the logs in half and putting them on top, with notches to hold them in place. We'll need enough for the entire length. You'll be measuring where to put the notches. They have to be uniform."

"Are you notching the bottom piece to match?" Liuz asked, rotating the wood in his hand. Tymon shook his head.

"No time. We're burning the bridge as soon as we're across, so we can't waste effort making things perfect. We're just cutting one long notch in the support beams, letting the pressure of the planks on either side hold them in place."

Kasia nodded. That made sense. Taking the model plank from her brother, she ran her hands over it.

"We can do this."

"How the hell do we do this?"

Liuz chuckled at his sister's question. It was a good one. There obviously was a slow way to mark the half logs now being piled beside the siblings. What had to be discovered was if there was an easier method.

"We can't measure from each side," he said, starting by stating the obvious. Father had taught him that: Start with the obvious, and see if anyone disagrees. If they do, you can save a lot of time and effort by discovering that before you've done anything. "The logs aren't all even. It's the distance between the two notches that has to be constant."

"Hmm." Kasia dropped down onto one knee. The log before them had been flipped over, flat side against the ground. She placed her hand about six inches from the end. "So, if we mark it here..." Using his marking tool, Liuz scored the log. Kasia measured the width needed, Liuz again marking where needed. The two paused.

"Make a template?" he suggested. Kasia nodded.

"One the size of the notch." Grabbing the measuring string, she had him hold the end flush with the mark while she stretched it out along the log. The planks were to be at least twelve feet long. He saw her frown once the string was taut.

"Problem?"

"Yeah. Lots of extra room on this end. We need to center things more."

"How?"

"A twelve foot long template?"

Their eyes met, Liuz seeing Kasia realizing the brilliance of her idea even as he did. He stood, smiling.

"Let's do it!"

The half hour spent building and perfecting their marking guide was more than made up for by the speed they were able to plow through the planks. Liuz held the long branch in place, while Kasia adjusted its position and made the marks. By mid-day, they moved on to helping chisel out the notches, although given their lack of strength it was mostly make-work as they waited for more logs to be split.

Taking a break, Kasia took in the entire building process. Felled trees were turned into logs of various standard sizes. The logs were pulled to where they were needed, notched, positioned, and lashed. Where all the rope had come from, she had no idea. Someone had been thinking ahead. One raft was already in the water, its crew poling it across the river. Several small boats, canoes really, helped keep it from drifting downstream.

"What are they doing?" she asked. A man near her spoke.

"They're extending the bridge out from both banks to meet in the middle. Plus, the soldiers will stay over there to fortify that side."

Huh. She wouldn't have thought of that. Her attention was caught by another raft entering the water, this one with three horses on it, men holding tight to their reins. She'd hate to have that job.

"Kasia."

Liuz's voice brought her back to the job at hand. More planks were now piled near them. Time to measure.

"I need a bath."

Liuz looked at his sister, eyebrow raised. There was no disagreeing with her statement. Her skin was as smudged with dirt as her dress was stained. He saw wood chips in her hair, his own probably similarly tangled. Still, one did not state the obvious to a girl.

"You're still pretty."

She stuck her tongue out at him, the men around them laughing. They seemed to be sitting closer to the kids than the night before, whether to include them in their group or for some other reason he wasn't sure. The man on Kasia's right seemed to be a little too close, his sister pressing against Liuz as if to create more space. He subtly shifted over to give her more room.