Chapter 13

I was not too surprised at the information Jón had been able to glean from my memories. I was surprised though that he had felt safe enough to mention it to others. I thought he may feel out certain individuals and explain some facets of my life a bit at a time.

Since I had awoke into this time, I had found that Jón was becoming more level headed in his dealings with others and I had to trust him in some things. I didn't know for a fact, but I was still fairly sure that witch hunts would occur at this time. Burning at the stake or some other form of gristly execution could be our end if we were not careful. The priests in the city were kept in check by Clovis but they could still do something like murdering Clovis' son if the heat of fanaticism hit them.

Having to prove the existence of over a hundred elements while being overseen by a group of bias judges at my inquisition was not a good thought. Jón knew these people better than me but he was still a boy. He had given me a lot of trust when he offered me his body. I had to give him something similar or we would start to fight.

We slept in the compound with two men standing watch. Apparently Clovis had to beat this into his men and Fálki was not going to take a chance on this happening to him. I think that because Jón was here that this was even more important. Jón and I talked. He wanted his turn at watch but I said that I would be the one that stayed awake and I would do it for us. He didn't want this because he wanted to be seen as pulling his own weight. We were able to compromise because I would wake him if anything odd was heard or sensed. The boys all slept in one tent but it was large enough. Jón's head was near the opening to hear better.

The night was not as productive because I was concentrating on sounds instead of thinking. As a child, I had learned that those that goofed off were easy to take. Our group of young survivalists learned this too because of the embarrassment they received and the amount of peer pressure they were exposed to. I had almost been caught just before dawn when blue team attacked our camp. Luckily I was able to give the alarm soon enough that I was not blamed for our defeat.

The Frisians and all hedonistic Germans of this time got up late. The stone cutter and his group were not in this group and got up sooner. They like the farmers and the slaves had to work to feed themselves.

Jón had been told about the military academies of my time, though I had never stayed in one. I had visited the grounds of West Point and Anapolis but they were for children. When I was young, I had not been suddenly yelled at by sergeants to instill instant obedience. I had spent most of the first part of my life being commanded by my father and his group of soldiers. They had done the yelling gradually and from an early start I had not seen it for the conditioning it was. It wasn't much past diaper stage when I was taught to salute and follow simple orders. Yelling then was not required.

I did understand the ideas behind discipline and the chain of command but the three boys had not enlisted. They would have to be helped along as I was without being too harsh. Later or with older recruits I would see what I could do to yell in people's faces.

Jón pulled Forni closer to him and with a kiss woke him up. When Forni stirred, Jón whispered, "We have lots of work to do. We all have to get up."

"Just a bit longer!"

"Get up."

Forni knew who the boss was and how much he could get away with. He pulled the blanket back and shivered. Jón was able to see a small erection before the boy curled into a ball. Jón got up as if the damp cool morning was nothing important and began to get dressed. He stared at his moccasins for a moment and I said, "Our boots should be ready when we get back."

"Will they really be comfortable? They are going to be heavy."

"Yes they are to both questions but you can step on a sharp rock and not get cut. All the soldiers of my time where combat boots and they are even stronger than what we will be wearing. They have a steel shank or sometimes a steel plate in the bottom."

"For those land mines you were talking about?"

"The steel only helps a bit. There were foot traps with sharp wood and poison put on the tips. A man or horse will be hurt and slow down the column and kill a few too."

"I still feel that you are not doing this the right way. A man must confront his enemies and either kill or be killed. The gods like to see bravery."

I said, "That is the way it should be too. We are not facing just one opponent but the Gauls and the Romans. It is brave to stand before ten enemies but you will always die without taking any of the enemy with you. That is not good for the women and children. They will die or be taken as slaves."

"I know. Your way is best but it goes against the way I have been taught."

"It is a cultural thing. Germans and Romans think this way too but they are just too numerous and the Romans are trained. We have to become more trained and then use better weapons or we will suffer."

Jón roughly pushed Forni then slapped his bare bum. Turning to the other two boys he said, "Get up. We have work to do."

Breakfast was hurried and much like any other meal. The deer we were brought didn't go far and hunters were sent out. If we brought back too many then it would have to be dried. We had some salt but not much.

We still had two pickets though everybody knew that they were not needed. Those mobile enough were to look for clay so we could use it inside the kiln and to fill the chinks in the homes we were building.

Either I talked to Fálki with Jón's mouth or Jón did the same thing. The camp was better policed that the Frisians had usually done but I had never seen a Roman encampment to see how well they did things. It would all depend on their officers I guess as to how tidy they were.

The Romans and thus the Frisians had used a simpler latrine with poles but my idea was liked better. My grandfather would say that all we would need is an old Sears or Eaton's catalogue to use for toilet paper. It would be read for a year in the outhouse. After that time, the paper would be wrinkled to make it less slippery. This was much better from the recycling point of view. I knew that the lingerie section filled many fantasies of his day.

Kareltje and his men were shown the other tools we brought but they were demonstrated one at a time to make sure their function was understood. Again I cringed because there was no safety devices at all.

That night, we made a map of the area with the help of the Frisian hunters. The Franks were not familiar with maps and had to be shown. I explained about topo maps with lines showing elevation of every five or ten metres. The Frisians were interested in this idea once it was explained but I had no sample to show them.

Tonight we discussed how a band of Gauls then how Romans would attack our camp. The Franks were perplexed about this until they saw the point. Fálki split the men into two groups. It was red and white because blue and green had some cultural connotations and could not be used. We would attack each other in a mock battle tomorrow to prove some points.

The Franks just wanted to fight but it was not said to them how the Frisians had took them so easily in the fight in the halls of the castle. There would then be more hard feelings and that was why each group was now mixed.

The two groups now worked separately so they could talk while working on the homes. I thought this more important than the kiln. When winter came, they could be sheltered while still able to do their duties.

Huts could go up quickly but my ideas of houses took a lot longer. Only part of it was because they didn't understand my reasoning and resisted out of spite.

I picked a hill nearby that was upwind of the kiln. There was soil here instead of rock. We used shovels to dig a hole into the dirt and put poles to hold back the soil. Instead of a ladder to get into the house, we had a level access made with a trench. This again was buttressed. It never got too cold here but this was still good. Both the Frisian and the Franks were familiar with this form of construction.

More rooms were built off the first and each had their own entrance. A room was a home to these people. There were only seven families here as some of the grown children had not married yet. We made ten homes though they all bitched at the cost in labour and time.

Some of the sawn lumber was used for furniture and many other manufactured articles. When the lumber dried it could be used for many other projects.

Our original four day sojourn would have to be lengthened but it was a learning experience for everybody. The jobs had been rotated with even the civilians getting a chance to hunt, cut wood or drill rock.

Our boys fit in well with three of the others and they temporarily joined our academy.

The white team defended our camp when it was starting to get dark and they were all tired. Albrecht commanded this team and had to strike his own men to keep them quiet during the attack. The Germans usually yelled and beat their shields to make as much noise as possible to frighten their enemy. Clovis probably had to use a club on his men when he started out.

The next night the red attacked but did no better than the white. Those nursing bruises from the night before gave them back again if possible. Wood swords and blunt spears could still hurt even with armour.

There was a low cliff of sorts that suited my purpose in regards to the kiln. We cleaned out the rocks below and built the base of our kiln as close as possible. The kiln was four metres inside the two metre thick walls. A hole in the front served to admit air and to shovel out the lime. The entire kiln was elevated with a purpose in mind.

The floor of the kiln was highly banked so that it rapidly sloped toward the opening. The lime would drift down the steep sides and collect outside the kiln so it could be gathered up. I had seen old pictures of this sort of operation but I made what I thought were improvements as I want along. One was for an overhang that kept rain off the newly formed lime until it could be cooled and packaged.

The kiln walls went higher and higher each day but it took a lot of time to cut the needed blocks and drag them to the construction site. The horses and the two collars made this much easier than it would have been.

One of the things I had made before this trip was block and tackle. The lathe and the steel allowed me to build big but I didn't have bronze bushings. I had made a crude vice and an even cruder wrench to twist some steel flatbar into a helix. One end was rolled to allow a piece of carved oak to slip through the tube thus formed. The other end was ground so there was a square point in the centre and two sharp cutting edges around it. This was put into our lathe and the length turned to a single diameter. With only calipers we got some good results but all I knew was that some were larger or smaller than others.

We made good holes in hardwood to accept the iron shafts that supported the sheaves. I made the tackle large and went for eight to one ratio with four sheaves in the upper and four in the lower block.

The smith had made much of this including the hooks and the iron bands around the blocks. He didn't understand what he made but when I picked up his anvil by myself, he thought I used magic. I had to make small sheaves and blocks to show him that it was just a type of leaver. It has still taken a long time to reduce the fear of magic so I was going to act differently now.

After a noon meal I called Fálki to assist me. With a rope over a tree limb he tried to pick Forni off the ground. The difficulty I attributed to the rope rubbing on the bark of the limb. A single sheave was hung from the limb and allowed Forni to be hoisted into the air.

"Does anybody here see magic in any of this or just nature?" With no answer I showed a pole and rock used as a leaver and fulcrum, and this was understood too.

A rope tied to the limb and then going through a second block before going up again and through the first block was shown. Picking up Forni was now much easier. I taught this physics class in detail and used both a slate and mathematics to teach the boys. This way the adults would understand.

Eventually the very heavy tackle was secured to the limb and then little Forni was allowed to pick up Fálki instead. This was a surprise to all of them but not as much as it would be if I had not made my presentation.

I was quite sure that the Romans knew of this. It was just not in any of the literature I had ever read. Its most likely presence would be in the navy but multiple blocks might not be used yet.

The kiln grew in height and the tackle was used to get the large blocks to the top. In ten days we had finished with the basic construction. Two other stone cutters had come from Hildestun and just stared at what we had done. Against Kareltje's wishes they were allowed to use our tools for cutting stones. I wanted my ideas to spread out and help more people.

Clay had been found only a mile away and we used the wagon and a barrel to gather some of it. The women and the children stepped in a depression filled with clay, water and dried grass to kneed it much like what was done to crush grapes for wine.

The insides of the kiln were covered thickly in this and we had to make lots of trips. Scaffolding had to be put in place to do the entire height of eight metres. This was two metres above the nearby cliff. Two of our thick oak planks spanned the gap from the cliff to the kiln. A ledge had been built out from the kiln to keep the end of the wood from getting too hot. The wall went up a metre above the wood while the rest of the kiln went up one more metre. This would make a good barrier to keep people from falling in. It would be fatal if a good fire were burning. I had plans of a different way of charging so that nobody would have to eat smoke or fall in. This would be a simple chute on an incline.

The scaffolding was not taken down but we salvaged most of the leather and rope bindings. A slow fire was set that would last for a day with little feeding of the blaze to harden the clay.

Later that afternoon I went out with Forni and the boys. Forni though was wearing his camo outfit and the men were allowed to see its construction. We went a short distance from camp and hid close to one of the pickets. He would get to laugh at his friends we hoped.

When the spot was selected I cut branches and put them through the loops to break the image of a boy dressed in coloured rags. We all viewed it from many angles and the picket was asked to make his opinion.

"I know there is a boy in there but he is hard to see."

Forni said, "Hurry up. It is hot in this."

The boys took up positions with the picket and told not to look at Forni. I worked with Jón to clean up the site and hide where we had disturbed the leaves.

White and red teams got a chance and were only told that Forni was within eyesight of the picket.

The site was searched by fourteen men and it took half an hour to find the boy. Almost everybody had walked right by him at least once. Albrecht said, "This is amazing. You only added some branches leaves and some mud. I knew all this and I still could not find your friend."

"The human brain knows what it wants to find and searches until it finds the shape that fits. It just didn't find that shape."

"Is this really a proper way to fight? A man must face his enemy."

"You have never hid behind a tree to count the enemy?"

"I have done that," he said with a frown.

"Forni is doing the same thing as you but from behind a bush that he can carry with him. He can get closer to the enemy than you can so he can see more. He is not fighting at this time but neither were you from behind a tree."

"It still seems wrong."

"Is it because he is so much better hid?"

"That may be it."

"We are fighting the Gauls and the Romans. If all the Franks wanted glory, they would attack our enemies for us. They are not cowards so it has to be a decision to save their own people. We are doing the same thing and it requires us to hide better. You Franks have greater numbers than we do. You can fight for valour and perhaps lose but I intend to fight for my people and live. If I have to use an arrow from behind a tree to kill all the Romans I will. Let me be judged by my accomplishments and valour instead of my bravery and foolishness."

"You are only a boy of twelve summers. You have not grown enough."

"You are right but a while ago I killed two Romans with two little knives. Tell me what that makes me?"

"You would be a man in our eyes."

"I am a young man then. One who has shown skill and courage. A good hunter knows how to wait for the game to come to him. You Franks are too sure of yourselves because there are so many of you. Your point of view will change later when the Romans come after you with more of the German people as auxiliaries. Don't think that you are stronger than the Gauls? They are more numerous than your people."

After our talk, red team took Klaasje to hide him. He was found much quicker and I think it was because red team was looking at him more.

Tiebout was hid by white team but he was not put in an area where he matched his surroundings. When he was found I told white team what they had done wrong and that both teams had looked at their player and helped the opposing side.

That night, after a warning and demonstration, Jón donned the black outfit worn by ninjas and commandos. Out of sight he put charcoal on his face and hands as well as his moccasins though that was not that necessary.

With my sight and hearing we got close enough to a sentry to poke him with a blunt stick. He jumped around with a cry but we had already retreated. He was a Frank but the Frisian sentry was tapped too. He didn't jump and call out but he didn't seemed pleased. When the next watch came, they too were tapped.

Jón slept hung from a limb of a tree. If there were real enemies following they would not usually look up. They would not look in a trench either especially if it were in a hard to get at area that could still be seen. Leaves didn't have to be attached to the body to make a man invisible.

Just before dawn the third watch proved to be the most difficult but a bit of distraction allowed each to be marked as dead. One was Albrecht and he had been alert the entire time.

Breakfast time was not very sociable. Men were arguing. Some figured the sentries were sleeping. Jón was sleepy but he still managed to smile even when people were angry with him. When he said nothing, this seemed to infuriate them even more.

The kiln was third filled with fuel and then with fuel and limestone. We tried to use stone the size of a closed fist though I knew that smaller sizes were better. The horses pulled the wagons to the top of the hill and the women threw baskets of fuel and stone over the one metre wall.

Smoke billowed out the top and even flames were seen above the rim. This made me want more rock instead so the flames were contained.

The men now turned their efforts to building a large storage area for the lime. The three barrels would be used for transport mainly. Smaller ones could be used too and would make handling easier. The storage area was higher to keep water well away but also to make loading into a wagon easier.

The three boys and the three new members worked as teams to try to hide one of their members. After each success or failure the reasons were discussed out loud. This way they all learned.

Jón was slowly regaining his strength. Partly it was because I had him exercising as much as I could. He was also eating a lot too. He took his turn at hunting and I used my old skills as well as my new ones to ensure that we found something.

Lugging the deer back to camp was difficult. Jón worked alone except for me but we still had only one pair of weak arms. The deer was hung with great difficulty and bled. Getting people to come and help carry the meat was not difficult.

Jón and I were always successful. We sent the six boys off after a good talk on finding their way in the forest. Jón now wore the camo outfit and got four deer until the wind changed and the deer avoided this area.

All the boys were called in and they worked to process the carcasses. Men soon arrived and gave Jón some appreciative looks for his skill. He still had his camo outfit on to ensure that they knew where part of the success came from.

Wood racks were made and the meat hung over the kiln and other fires that were made. The idea was to preserve some of it for later use.

Kareltje's people had been contracted to build this installation and make a test. With the project done, homes built and even food being stored for the winter, the prospect of staying here should not look so bad.

Jón paid Kareltje the sum he was owed and then I said with Jón's voice, "You have worked hard to get this built. Our agreement is over but I need people to run this operation. I was thinking of paying you four pennies for each barrel of lime that you fill for me. The houses and the furniture in them are for you to use. I will leave some saws, files, axes, chisels and a variety of hammers to assist you. I will also leave you with one of the horse collars and you can make more of them.

"You will have to make at least a hundred barrels of lime for me but you can sell to others if you want. Just keep two barrels for me for when I come. My need for the lime is not that great now but I do have need of other things."

Kareltje said, "I get to use the tools and the buildings and then you pay me four cents for every barrel I fill? That is it?"

"That is it. Remember you have to sell me a hundred barrels at least and two have to be kept on hand for my use. I will even pay for the first barrel I take when I go."

"Why would you do that? You, and your people did most of the work. You even did what I was supposed to provide."

"I need to get all this done and I cannot expect a man to do this for just silver. You get very good homes and a good kiln. I want you to stay here and think of this place as yours. More stone will be needed and if you have spare time, you can provide for what I need and for the stone cutters that come here from the city.

"I wanted more though and I am prepared to pay for it. Would you like to hear of them too."

"What are they?"

"I want you to cut a lot of stone." I showed him the slate I had with the arched roof, doors at both ends and the large chimney. "The stone can be a profitable article to sell. I want you to cut wood into lumber. This goes into this long stone building. With the doors closed, you can make a small fire that will slowly dry out the wood."

"That is the job of a carpenter. I know nothing of that."

"Can you cut down trees and then cut them up?"

"Yes."

"The carpenter does not dry his wood. You will be the first. When the wood is done, you have to store it in a large barn so that you can dry more. All the waste goes into the kiln."

"Who will buy this wood? Few will want the lime I would make."

"Rudi is the man I have making wagons for me. He went out and cut trees down just as you would but he didn't have the tools you now have. I have to make more for him. For him to work faster he need to find a source of already cut and dried wood."

"How much will you pay me for this wood?"

"Many people would want your wood besides me. Sell it for all that you can get. The people buying will either buy yours or cut their own. If you want to sell then you have to come to some sort of agreement."

"I like this idea but I will not have the time to do all this."

"You have people here that are helping you. Find more. You now have silver and some very valuable tools. This should set you up very nicely."

"Would you help me make the building for drying wood?"

"If I had time but you would have to pay me for the labour. I would take it off in lime, wood or ashes though."

"Ashes?"

"I only require small amounts of lime to start but the need will grow. The same is true for dried lumber. Hardwood ashes are important to me and this will be perhaps your biggest business. You can collect ashes now but eventually you will have to do things with them for me."

"What are they good for?"

"You make soap with them for one. I need grease or fat set aside too so a great deal of soap can be made."

"Why?"

"Soap helps saves lives. You may not believe it. Our bodies are being constantly attacked by armies of tiny animals so small you cannot see them. Our bodies fight back with our own armies. If we use soap we wash away some of the enemy forces. With less enemies to fight, our own forces will be victorious more often."

"Will you draw more pictures and talk to my people?"

"Of course."

Kareltje's people now thought of the homes as theirs, though they had only partially assisted in the building. I wanted them to know that they were getting the homes from me and hopefully they would repay in some sort of loyalty. I made the list of tools I would give along with the homes and furniture. They seemed to be a bit miffed at being given things that they had been using for the last few days.

They loved the idea of getting paid for the work they had done and even more for future deliveries of lime. The price was high but not overly so. It was just used to convince them to stay.

When I talked about even more money from the sale of seasoned wood they perked up considerably. I went over the construction of the wood kiln four times from different points of view. There was a lot of setup in this and the people here had to do all of it unassisted. Markets were not considered but that was because they were not sophisticated to understand much of this. I brought up Rudi's name and also that of the coopers that would be looking for good white oak for me.

I thought to mention the economies of scale but decided to not do it. This had to be learned a bit at a time. Some of the men, including Kareltje, agreed to my terms. They could sell my tools and leave but the Germans tended to be ethical at least to their way of thinking.

The idea of selling rough stone was easy for them to understand but the gathering of ashes was much more difficult. Soap they could understand but not the amount I wanted. I threw in the fact that they could use the wood to cook foods for sale but they didn't think much of this idea.

When the rest made their decision, I saw the beginnings of a capitalist society. Kareltje was talking of hiring others to cut the trees down then saw the logs for him. They would find out that it was not quite as easy as it seemed.

With the lime not ready yet we had to wait for it to be produced and then collected. Removable iron bars were across the lower opening to keep the fuel in while allowing the air to enter. When the fire burnt down far enough a shovel could fit under the lower bar to help remove the lime that would naturally flow down the incline and out of the kiln.

With nothing to do, I got Fálki to give me a few men and we took all six boys fishing. Hooks had been used before this but they were bone but rarely iron. Never were they steel or barbed.

We spent some time collecting worms and stored them in damp moss. The trip to the river was short and the boys were very eager. I used my large k-bar to cut long saplings with one stroke. The three men gave it a try and commented favourably on my knife. Soon I drew my sword to show them how it could be done but didn't do so. That was not the way to treat a weapon like this.

We had a large collection of horse hair and tied the lengths together into a longer piece. I even used small pieces of wood with a slit in them for a float. The men stood guard while I assisted six boys to fish for the first time. There were a lot of missed fish as the boys did things wrong but it got serious when the first half kilo fish was pulled ashore.

I got no chance to wet a line myself and Jón was a little miffed at it. We went home three hours later with a respectable string of fish, but none larger than a kilo.

All six boys ran to show the adults what they had caught and the men that had come with us went back to try their hand at fishing. We had left our equipment there for them.

The next day, we rough filtered the lime and threw the rest back into the kiln. One barrel was near being full and a second would be ready about mid afternoon. We decided to wait for this and then head back to Hildestun. Even if we dawdled we would make it back in time for supper.

While some of the men fished, hunted or took it easy, I got one of the three wagons loaded. I would have to send the wagons back from the city with more of the barrels that the coopers had promised me. The tools that I was keeping went into a wagon while Kareltje gladly accepted the remainder.

He was given the last set of three awls and a few needles. We used some of them to make a sack with the raw deer hides because I wanted to pick up some potash on the way back.