Chapter 18

After breakfast, we finished the loading of the stone and lumber then loaded our supplies. We said goodbye to the much larger group of people and headed back to Hildestun. The men were sleepy but still very alert for an ambush. We went as fast as we could push the horses with the loaded wagons. Most of the time we were on the road but we still cut cross country with our heavy load.

I began to think I was wrong in making large wagons. Two smaller wagons would be more manoeuvrable. We climbed a ravine even if we would get stuck to test the horses and our equipment. The bar between the horses could swing up and down only a little bit and a steep ravine would mean that some horses would be pushed upwards with their harnesses.

In some places we had to stop and cut trees but this was done silently with the saws. We had some very tired men when we got back to Hildestun in the middle of the afternoon.

We unloaded our cargo and then put the horses into the stables. When we got back to the forge to see everybody waiting for us. Jón found the tub full of clean hot water and a smiling Geiri. "Welcome home," she said. "We missed you."

Jón kissed the woman then her two little daughters. His clothes came off very quickly and he was in the bath before anybody else. Forni was a close second and he placed himself to the left of Jón so his right hand could wander.

The rest of the children got into the tub then too even if they had not been on the trip. Liberal amounts of soap were used and soon the water became cloudy enough for Forni to do what he wanted to do. The congested tub kept anybody else from seeing.

Jón did the same in return. Forni pulled his knees up to his chest and Jón was allowed to caress the boys cock, balls and anus. Only when Forni started to groan did Jón take his hand away.

Jón began to just clean. He was excited and wanted to not have an erection when he left the tub. When some cadets left, Jón asked Geiri, "You can hand me my two young ladies if you want."

The two children were waiting for this and they were hurriedly undressed and came to the tub. Two year old Sytje slid over the edge but went head first into the water. Jón fished her out and she sputtered at her dunking. Forni helped three year old Letje into the water and the two boys cleaned the children as good as their mother.

When the children were passed out to dry, Forni did Jón's hair and then the favour was returned. Both boys now stood and Geiri poured clean warm water over them.

The boys dried each other and hurried to get dressed. While Geiri dumped the dirty clothes into the bath water to start the cleaning, Jón and Forni hurried to Jón's room ostensibly to change into something cleaner. Once in the room they hurriedly took off their clothes.

Forni got on his knees and sucked Jón into his mouth and his hands went around his lover to make sure he stayed in place. Jón grew quickly and in a moment Jón said, "I'm ready."

Forni pulled off slowly and hurried to the bed and sat before leaning back. His feet came up exposing his genitals and anus. Jón used his tongue to lubricate Forni's opening then stood to slowly work his way in. Lubricant leaked from his cock and it was used to ease the passage.

Forni groaned and wiggled to get Jón to enter and after a small wince he groaned again in contentment. Jón was excited as he always was when having sex but over time he had learned to go slow. Forni wanted things fast and hard but the slow approach gave him more happiness when it was over.

Jón allowed Forni to hold his own cock as he moved slowly back and forth. It was only after Forni started to shake did Jón allow himself to release his seed into his lover.

Jón lowered his chest onto Forni and kissed the boy. "That was a good one. You got me so horny in the tub that it took me a long time to go down."

Forni said, "On the way back to town I wanted to sit in the bottom of the wagon in front of you. We were bouncing around too much and I thought I might bite you if I did."

"Then I would be too sore to do what we just did."

"That is why I didn't do it. Are you ready for more yet?"

Jón was still erect and said, "Anything for you."

After a large supper, Jón sent a messenger to Rudi while he checked on the condition of the granary. It was now over twenty metres high but not quite dry enough to use yet. Charcoal fires had been built in the structure to dry the wood out. The process was slow. Lime and sand had been used in every crack where there was a gap in the stone. When the lower part was dry enough then the top of the stone was done similarly where it met the wood.

The thoughts of a water tank on the top of the granary had been abandoned because of the weight and the chance of a leak effecting the dried grain. The grain itself was waiting in large barrels because the granary was not dry enough itself yet to accept it.

Rudi hurried over when he saw Jón and said casually, "Hello, Jón how are you?"

Jón liked Rudi and as long as they were alone they could act as friends as opposed to heir apparent and commoner. Germans at this time were not as class conscious but it did exist. "Hello, Rudi. We had a problem with the wagons."

"What happened?"

"We tried to climb a steep embankment and the tongue would not follow the contours of the hill. We had to back up and go up at an angle. That was dangerous with the weight we had."

"I can change the opening so the tongue will move more up and down. Have you taken off the wheels to inspect the bushings?"

"Not yet. I figured you would want to see. Our axles are large and so are the hubs on the wheels. We should have no problems but once we leave, I don't want to find out too late about a worn bearing."

The two went toward the stable and put shoring under the two axles of one of the wagons. Men with shovels dug under the wheels and in a few moments all four wheels were off. The axle was straight and flat on the bottom. A taper was cut at the end but it was the top surface of it that sloped. Flat wheels put on would be much closer where they met the ground than at the top. Dished wheels were made to have the spokes directly under the axle to be vertical while the top flared out. All the wheels even those of the cannon were of the same size. A minimum number of spares were needed this way.

The taper on the axle was covered with a steel cone that was cut and ground on a lathe as accurately as possible. After it was hardened, it was sanded with sand to make it as smooth as possible. Instead of bronze bushings, babbitt was used. This was used in many areas in the future that needed a tough but soft support. The steel taper had been coated with soot and layed with the small end up. A form was put around it and the molten babbitt poured around it. The babbitt was then placed securely in the hub with steel plates.

The fat was wiped off the metal and both parts were inspected for wear. There was some but it could be corrected by just tightening the wheel more so the hub would slide further up the taper. The wheels were very heavy and a bit awkward to get on and off.

Rudi inspected the connection as some men raised and lowered tongue and with a few noncommital grunts said, "It's easy to fix."

The rest of the wagons were similarly checked and then with Fálki's men present the cannon were checked. This was little changed because the carriages had been over a considerable number of Roman miles since they were built. I was not positive but the Roman mile was only about ninety percent of the English mile. The English went and changed the old Roman system to accommodate eight furlongs which at one time was an important measure.

We loaded the wagons back up but this time with more food and equipment needed to make the black powder. This was going to be the real trip. The men and the academy went to bed early. The men were tired from the lose of sleep the previous night.

Astrid wanted another last night in her cambers. She had learned to take a bath first and said, "I am clean. Would you like to come to see me later?"

Jón had been there last night but this was the actual last night in the city for a while. I could feel his hormones surging but I could feel his weariness. "Ok, but I want to go to sleep earlier. I want to leave early."

She looked around and when she saw that nobody would see, she bent over and kissed the young man. "I will be waiting."

That night Jón slept with Astrid and was rewarded the next morning by her awakening him with her mouth. When his release came he pulled the woman to him and kissed her lips. "You make it hard for me to leave."

"You can stay with me."

"I have too much to do. Now lay on your back and spread you legs. I want to fill you again." She hurried to comply.

The same people were on the expedition as before. We had studied the maps one more time. Jón made his preferences known. Sulphur was in one area and bats were a common sight in the region too. At this time of year they would be hibernating. Finding where they lived was not going to be easy without the ability to follow the bats to their roost.

The area had been extensively farmed at one time and the trees had not grown that large yet, Fálki mentioned. The farmers had moved in a group so there would be few if any to see or hear of the experiments if they were successful in finding the raw ingredients.

The area had been scouted but so had other areas to keep the importance of this region hidden.

This time there was no agenda other than to get to the area as soon as possible. In the process, roads had to be made, the guards also had to be road builders. They made good time and got to the area of the farm the old man mentioned and they immediately looked for the sulphur. Not much had been asked of the old man so as to not arouse his suspicions.

The sulphur was found in less than two hours. The men though had to continue their search for a possible bat cave and any of the other resources that were needed.

A large steel pot was brought. It had a pipe at the bottom edge that extended a metre from the vessel. Rocks were found and a small kiln was constructed with the pot on top. The sulphur bearing material was shovelled into the container and a fire started under it. In thirty minutes liquid sulphur started to run out the pipe and fall into a water filled tub. The sulphur immediately solidified. The seam of sulphur looked fairly clean and most of what went into the pot was able to melt and flow out.

Everybody hated the smell but nobody complained. The solidified sulphur was taken out of the water and stacked on a clean rock. The fire continued day and night without stopping. The riders before going to sleep took the sulphur and ground it as fine as possible. It was then stored in one of the large barrels.

The majority of the troop set up their own camp far from the sulphur site because it just took too long to come back each night and the smell was bad.

It was six days later that a rider raced to the camp. "We found two caves. They are not big but there is a lot of white crystals."

We stopped production after the batch we had was done. The sulphur not ground was put into another barrel for processing later.

It was almost nine hours later that the procession stopped in some low hills. A cave was readily seen because men had used shovels to open the entrance as wide as they needed to walk in and out. It was too dark to see far so a fire was put in front of the entrance and a bronze mirror brought for this purpose reflected the light inside.

Jón went in alone because there was not much room. There were nitrate crystals already formed and we picked perhaps a kilogram before leaving. Fálki went in next and gathered some while the sulphur pot was used one more time. Eventually we would take everything here and process it for the nitrate.

The crystals went into the pot and water added. Fálki added part of his load until the mixture would dissolve no more. As the liquid cooled scum rose to the surface and had to be skimmed off. Common salt started to precipitate and this too was scraped out. When cool, the water was drained through the pipe and into a tub to cool. More tubs were found and then a flat steel pan. Everything was left to cool for the night.

Albrecht asked, "Tell me again what we are waiting for."

Jón said, "Some things dissolve in water like salt does. Hot water makes more disappear than cold. When the water cools the salt wants to come out again. We have different chemicals in the crystals we took from the cave. Some dissolve in the water better than another. The one that wants to come out more will make crystals while the other stays in the water. We simply let them come out. The other type of salt will appear when the water is boiled away. Both salts are useful. Blood was added to collect the undissolved particles in the liquid and this was skimmed off." The men thought this magical and Jón had a lot of work to explain what was done. We could have used glue too but that meant more processing.

We made charcoal and ground it fine and stored some of it. The extract of wood ashes was added to the mixture to convert the sodium nitrate into the potassium variety but this meant that more salt was produced. It took days for a single batch of saltpetre to be made and then purified. There were a lot of steps and this was one of the reasons I went into chemistry in the first place.

When the sample was dried in a pot over hot rocks and no fire it was weighted. Eleven percent was the figure I had been told and this figure everyone was familiar with especially how it was in the Arabic/Indian numerals I had been teaching.

The sulphur was weighted out exactly on our scales and then the charcoal was added. We used a mortar and pestle most of the time but would eventually have to move to larger machines.

Jón took a pinch and threw it into the fire. The men jumped back at the whoosh that was made. They were back in a fraction of a second to see what more would happen. A clay container that would contain only four millilitres was filled and capped. With everybody warned to get back it was tossed in the fire. The small hole ensured a spark got in and the clay jar blew up sending the sparks and burning fuel everywhere.

The mortar was chosen first and now a weighted charge of the powder was put in. Fálki had the honours of doing this. They knew about this from all the times they had done it in practice. Standing well back they watched a giant cloud of black smoke come from the gun but the cannon ball was not seen because it travelled too fast.

The mortar was nearly vertical and in a while a thump was heard. Everybody including Jón went to find the iron ball. The ball had to be dug from the earth. Jón said, "The amount of powder made the ball climb a half mile into the air then fall for a half mile."

Fálki had been coached on what to say and Jón used simple algebra with the gravitational constant and the ability to say, "two thousand," between each second he counted off. The man had to learn mathematics and now they had even more incentive.

The cannon was used next. The men had built a wall of tree trunks a Roman mile away. It was paced off as part of the ranging they all had to learn. Again Fálki loaded the cannon but it was done as if it was just another exercise. The ball was rammed home with a piece of cloth behind it. Some loose powder was poured down the touch hole and a bit more in the pan above. The cannon was as level as we could get it and Fálki used a stick to hold a smouldering rope and touched the hot end to the pan.

The men really jumped this time for much more of the powder had burnt in the longer barrel.

We actually hit the target but the ball had bounced twice to get to the wall. When it hit it was not spectacular at all. It simply split a forty centimetre tree trunk in two and continued on.

There was a mad scramble for the ball. It took a while but it was lodged deep in a large tree four hundred metres behind out target wall.

The cannon was cold by now but it was swabbed out as per orders as if it was just seconds after the last shot. The same amount of powder was used and a similar ball but there was now a slight elevation. In fifteen minutes we had no more powder left but we had some men that were even more eager to make more.

We kept pickets all the time but now the rest worked as prospectors. We needed iron and lots of it. The only way to speed up the drying was to use larger pans and many more of them. This also meant a building to house all this.

The cadets as they were now called, made the saltpetre with me. They were promised a chance to fire the cannons later and this was enough for any boy or even a girl.

It was days later that one man came hurrying back with a bag filled with grey black ore that looked like iron to him but different. Jón opened the bag and felt something odd. When he pulled the piece out it wanted to stick to the rest. Another piece proved that the material was magnetite.

"Is this iron? I was afraid to touch it for it stuck to my shovel. You said to look for something like this."

Jón smiled and said, "You did wonderful. This is magnetite. It is one of the ores I have been looking for. There is an element called vanadium in it that will be very important to us. You did very well in finding it. Why don't you fire the cannon to tell everybody that you were successful?"

He didn't have to be asked twice and he fired more than the usual charge but with no ball. In a moment he did it again in a different direction. He cleaned up any mess he made and put the leather bag over the muzzle and drew it tight. His smile was so big I thought he would split his face.

He got back on his horse and rode to the location after pointing to its location on a map.

Fálki and the men had not come back to the camp but I was not worried. If they found the iron then they were going to extract it. That meant making a forge, a bellows, a roof and walls and then make some charcoal. This time they would use our small stone structure for this. All the cracks were plugged with clay and air entering was well regulated.

Fálki and half of the men came back to the camp just after dusk. They looked weary and dirty. He said, "We were trying to get this iron of yours but it is difficult. It refuses to leave our tools. Anyway I came to ask you to tidy up here and just complete what we already have. I can't have a secure camp with half my people away."

"It will be a few days yet but we can cover the pans. When we come back with the iron we can start up again."

"I am glad. We won't make it tonight though so you may as well continue until we get some light."

We pulled up stakes and took the wagons and the artillery to the new site. There was a wide hill though it was only a few metres high. We took shovels and dug holes to find the extent of it and it was very large. Its depth was unknown though.

We hunted for food and for leather. The green leather was used for the bellows until it had to be changed. We were at this site for nearly seven weeks. Part of the troop had gone back for more grain and other supplies and carried some of our iron to Sander so he could continue with his steelmaking.

We made literally tonnes of iron. Some was forged into anvils and then large anvils. More iron was formed into a large sheet and more sections welded to it. The sides were turned up and we had the first large tray. I convinced Jón that we needed stone to support the trays and to cover everything. A fire then could be much more efficient at evaporating the water.

Some of the men were sick of the ironwork and were happy to quarry. It was good that the stone was between the two bat caves. It was spring when we returned to the cave but the production of saltpetre was many times faster.

Gunpowder was made again at a much faster rate. The cannon, the two sizes of mortars and the bombs were tested. The men were tested too with mathematics, knowledge and safety.

Shells were made from the iron we produced and filled with powder. A wooden wedge filled the hole and a wick was made. This was the hard part because the powder would settle out. Some shells had a metal fuse where a hole was punched in thin metal and the fire of the initial push was enough to start the powder to burn towards the charge. The was similar to the way a wick of black powder was used to carry the flame of a match to a firecracker.

Here everybody had a say in the manufacture and men were proud when their ideas were tried. The shells fragmented based on time but we could govern the time with elevation, range and the amount of powder we used. When the shells worked, they were devastating. They didn't always work though.

Most of the later shells were cylindrical so that more powder and small metal fragments could be added. On another theme, we used some of the cotton rags to hold the powder so they would not have to be weighted. We had too little of this to really work a system out. In fact we had to resort to dried reeds to cushion the projectile and give a tighter seal.

Men being men needed release. Jón was able to find this with Forni but that didn't help the others. The girls were constantly watched and then so was Dolf. Sword practice had been stressed then and the story of the last group of children rescued was repeated. The cadets were probably safe but the men still watched.

I got Jón to make a wood lathe and hollow out a piece of wood. A straight rod went down the middle and powder was rammed around it to make it very firm. An iron nozzle was rammed in the end and secured with three pins.

Aagt had the honour of lighting a wick and running hard for cover. The rocket didn't even explode but shot into the sky trailing a red flame and black smoke until the back of the rocket got too hot and the metal separated.

We had thirty four big little boys building rockets now when they were not perfecting their skill at hitting a target at a mile with no bounce in between. They had knocked down a lot of trees from a distance but they were retrieved with the balls when they could. We always needed fuel or charcoal.

We had not had a single cannon breach because they were made strong and the charges kept to a small amount even with the chain. A hole had been cast into the back of the cannon and a crude sight was used. Accuracy was not bad considering how many simple things had not been done yet.

We had some bronze and everybody including the men were asked to make a small shallow cup. We had all made iron and then steel so it was easy to make a small steel arrow with a pin sticking out of the middle and at right angles. Jón stroked a piece of lodestone along the arrow only in one direction perhaps two dozen times. The short pin was pushed into a small block of wood and then this was put into the small bronze container.

When everybody had copied his movements he got some water and poured it into the cup until the wood floated. In a moment it oriented itself but not north. This was already known from the setting and the rising sun.

"The steel is now like the lodestone and has a magnetic field. If you touch it to a small piece of steel it will be attracted. When we are away from this hill of iron it will point north."

Aagt said, "How does it do that?"

"The planet we are on has a magnetic field. It will line up with that one. Since this one here is so close it will have more influence. The device is called a compass."

The men wandered around now while looking at their arrow and they seemed to be amazed that it always returned to one spot.

One more invention was made. Flint and steel were old methods of making a fire but the Germans never had steel. Arrowheads and spear points were still made of hard flint when metal was scarce. Small leather bags were made with a drawstring. Dry moss was soaked in a saltpetre solution. When it dried it would burn very well. Only a pinch of moss was needed to start some other tinder but it made our lives a lot easier.

It was mid April in my Gregorian calendar when we had finished this phase of the project. We had a lot of mineral byproducts that were not saltpetre but still valuable. We made wood boxes and put them into the bat caves. One had been cleaned up of all the shit and the other had only twenty percent of what it originally had. The pans were hidden inside and we used wood to bring the caves back to the way they were. We even did some transplanting of small trees to hide our stone drying shed because we could be back to recover our property some day.

Anthracite had been found but it looked to be only a few tonnes but more had to be close by. We burnt some and I talked about what I could do with it. Like a teacher I would ask the men again what I had said.

On the way back we recovered more sulphur. A team had come back three times to get more because we had used tonnes of the explosives in experiments.

Fálki and Jón used all their persuasive skills and any psychological data I had to keep our secret. It would get out in time but I wanted that to be years off.

We had been gone almost five months. Our clothes were a mess and we had resorted to animal skins again. The armour and swords were always in excellent shape. The man had lost weight but had gained muscle mass. The cadets had little fat to loose but had grown considerably. They were all good with a bow and only fair with a sword. The knife had been stressed and all of the cadets could hit a target fairly accurately.

In all the time we were out we only heard of a dozen people but none came close. If they heard the cannons they ran quickly the other way.

We were all eager to get back and the men more so for they had to find some ladies and quickly to unload what their hands had not taken.

Fálki took possession of all of the powder. The majority was actually stored in a hidden spot out of town. We had buried it in a low hill. It was just too dangerous to keep in the city. The ammunition carts were full and so were a few small barrels that totalled no more than a hundred kilos. These were stored in different places. Everything had to be protected from moisture but by now all of the troop was very familiar with this.

When we got back to town we immediately headed for the forge. Jón had just slid into the large tub with Aagt, Guinevere, Oriana, Dolf and Forni when Astrid rushed in. "Why didn't you come back sooner? Your father is in trouble and called on all available men. You had thirty four with you."

Jón was still filthy but stood and said, "Where is he?"

"He is outside Gunlar. The Romans and their auxiliaries want to take the city."

"When did you send a massager?"

"Three days ago."

"He never found us. Has anybody left yet?"

"Yes, almost all of the Franks and fifty of our own men. Grímkell won't let anybody else go."

I convinced Jón to sit back down and clean himself. Forni worked quickly to clean his friend's long hair and with a rinse he was out of the tub. He turned to the rest and said, "Stay and get clean. I have to do some thinking."

After getting dressed he went to the kitchen and gorged on Helga's cooking that he had missed so much. At the table he just ate and thought. I didn't interrupt him because I had my own thinking to do.

Fálki came running in followed by Albrecht. They were hard to recognise because they too were cleaner than they had been in months. They hurried to the table and Fálki said, "We want to go to your father as soon as possible."

Jón said, "A messenger was sent but we didn't see him. He may have got lost or killed by some Gauls but I think it was done to keep him from warning anybody else including us."

"Do you think we should go?"

"That is what I was thinking of. Grímkell will not want you to leave once you are here."

"We can do more than what a thousand men can do."

"I know that. Gunlar is five hundred miles from here with the roads you would have to use. We haven't talked to the messenger yet and there may be more information he would know."

"He went back with the men from here."

"Did they take supplies?"

"Only what they could carry."

"Fools. Bring five of the wagons around. The bearings are still good on the ones we used. Load them up with food. You better take more of the steel weapons and the shield and armour made for father. We were ambushed once. I think you better make a few iron spheres. The small ones will fit the small mortar and they can be tossed by hand. Keep them with the fuses up and in a covered box in the wagons. Keep the shields up on the sides too. They like to shoot you just as you pass."

Fálki said, "We will need one of the large barrels." He meant of black powder.

"Take it but make sure it is kept far back from the rest of the wagons." The men said nothing more but hurried from the room. There was a lot to do and little time to do it.

Jón called Helga and he found that a lot more refugees had come. They at least had brought some of their own food and we still had lots, thanks to the granary. The priests had been a thorn in the side of Grímkell because they wanted everybody to leave and attack their enemies.