Chapter 4

We talked for quite a while. Licinia wanted privacy and people stayed away. The two didn't have enough silver to swing much in the way of starting a business.

I said, "Here is the way I see that we can make money. I mentioned that fish is expensive. Is this true here?"

Licinia answered and said, "Yes, hunting is easy but catching enough fish is much more difficult."

"You have made nets before but I can show a trick that will allow you to make nets much quicker. The longer it is a secret the longer you will make money." I went on to show them the simple wood tool that was used to store the spool of twine that was used to make the net. The size of the wood determined the holes in the net. With just a metre of loose cord a net could be made much more quickly.

Iulius said, "We can make boats for the river patrols. You said your tools will make the job much faster. That is if you want to help the Roman army."

"The Roman army keeps the peace and this I want. I just do not like the ways it does things sometimes."

Licinia said, "Cannot we make some of this fortified wine you were talking about. We do not need a lot of copper to start. We can offer it for a high price after we give the customers a taste."

I said, "That is probably the best idea. It will take weeks to make a large net. Then we have to make long tables to clean the fish. Drying and salting is good with the salt so close. The boats would have to be made after we get the mill running. Now we have to use all the wood to just make the mill. Stone has to be quarried then put in place. Some of this has to be done before the harvest requires all available hands."

With a great deal of soul searching I said, "There is something else we can make that will gain us a lot of silver. The Roman army would like steel armour. I have mentioned how it can be made but they are slow to start. We can make a steel cuirass and sell it for ten to twenty aureii."

Both people had their mouths open and finally Licinia said, "Who could afford that? Nobody would pay that amount."

"The army has officers that value their lives highly. They are paid more than the one aureus that the common soldier gets per month. They will pay very quickly too. I will make sure that the German symbol is put over each heart to let them know how I value their lives." I now had a fight on my hands and had to alter this by putting the letters 'SPQR' for "Senatus Populusque Romanus' near the German eagle. All this required wood, charcoal and of course iron ore.

Tertius was called in and he looked at us and I think he shivered.

Licinia said, "Tomorrow you are going to look for iron. Iulius will be in charge. Six of the soldiers will go as will Jón. I can afford to send three dozen men to help you look and refine the iron. You will gather the iron in great quantities. You will not come back for at least three weeks. You will hunt for food and we will send food to you. It is about time you learned what it is to be a soldier."

"Mother, there is so much work I have to do here."

"Your labours will be much more appreciated bringing back iron."

"But why?"

"The most important is that you learn to make the finest armour possible. The second is that you have to make this armour for our army."

"Mother, my horse is ready to foal."

"You will not be here to see it or to assist. This is important to our family."

"Mother..."

"You are going. There is no alternative."

Tertius was upset and turned abruptly and left the room. Licinia said by way of explanation, "Lucius has treated Tertius much too easily because the child before him was a boy and he died one year before Tertius was born. Lucius was afraid I would die too."

We had a busy afternoon organising the expedition. The guards that were the most sympathetic were the ones going. The labourers didn't like it either but knew when to obey. Tools were available but most of them were made completely of wood and they were not efficient.

The women left behind would not be idle because they would be collecting all the wood they could get and making charcoal with it. Lucius had treated his veterans well too and some of them could make pottery. They now were put to use collecting clay for the pots and lids.

The next morning I was up early but I found that Iulius was too. He had my two swords, scabbards, bow, quiver, armour and even my saddle. The clothes that were in my saddle bags smelled musty but they had not deteriorated much. They were the two camo suits. Behind the saddle were my boots. Some small things were missing like the knives, gold and other keepsakes I had been collecting.

He said, "Your horse was one of the many killed. I was not told to give you these and frankly we never thought you would recover. My patron may consider this as part of his booty because he had lead part of the attack."

I said, "This takes a lot of trust on your part. I will let you know again that I have no wish to fight Rome by killing people. I want a strong Rome that can defend itself and even the rest of us if necessary."

"I know that. Take your things but I would put them in a pack so that the soldiers do not get upset."

"I am afraid they will get upset. I am going to teach them to be real soldiers. They are going through what I will call 'boot camp'."

"What is that?"

"It is also called hell."

Some of us had an early breakfast and I made a pig of myself. After this, food would be harder to get.

Tertius was slow though he had been awoken early enough. He was just showing his displeasure.

There were a great deal of pack horses and a lot of carts had been added to carry tents, tools and supplies. The labourers were all walking.

The soldiers were very apprehensive when I threw a saddle on a horse and cinched it up. They were even more worried when I put the scabbard and Katana in the area reserved for it. The muttering got very loud and I let Iulius deal with this.

Iulius' voice got very loud and he started to repeat the words he was told by his patron. Since the soldiers served Lucius too they had to obey.

When Iulius called me over I was ready. He said, "I have told the men of our arrangement. They are going to learn of your techniques. You are now formally in charge of these men."

"Thank you, Sir. I am sure my men will obey all orders given them. Lucius did not make a habit of keeping foolish or stupid men."

Some of the soldiers bristled at this and I calmly put my hand on the end of my sword and said, "Do any of you gentlemen have anything to say?" My voice was low and calm but none of them spoke up. "Then that is good. Manlius and Plautius take point. Atrius and Sicinius take the tail. Helvius and Curtius will take left and right flanks. You will shut up and listen for hostiles. Remember it was only a few days ago that we were attacked. Our job is to protect those of our convoy."

All I had to do was look at those riding point and they hurried off. The labourers didn't know what to think but I got them moving quicker than they normally would.

Licinia and her family were nearby to see us off. Two little boys waved very hard and I smiled at them.

We scoured the land owned by Lucius but also continued further from the rivers because this area had not been sold yet by the Roman government that claimed it. Lucius had an area two Roman miles wide along the Rhine and twenty miles long. The small river was entirely on his land. I found quite a few areas suitable for a mill and some were very good.

We stopped often and dug exploratory holes to see what was pushing its way out of the earth. Mostly it was rocks and more dirt but we had to find something once in a while.

The first night I had a stockade built but the labourers helped. I hunted and brought back a stag. While this was being butchered I got the surly soldiers lined up and said, "I am going to talk to you now the way I really am. I am not too nasty except when people do things that are very wrong. Those I usually kill."

The soldiers stood straighter now.

"A man only has to be told once or perhaps twice and he should then know what is right or wrong. You gentlemen are not raw recruits so there is a bit of learning you have to forget before you can start. This may take a bit longer.

"Now I want to say that I do not hate Rome or its soldiers though you may hate me worse than any sore ass you have ever had. I am doing this because it is just a good way of learning. I would be surprised if your superiors didn't yell at you when you were in training.

"My goal is to train you to fight a better trained enemy. Three weeks is not enough to even start this training but you can learn something. I want to see how good each of you are at woodcraft. We will have armed and unarmed training. I am going to get hurt but I am afraid all of you are too.

"We are going to find iron. The iron we get will go to the manufacture of armour. This armour will get sold to the officers of the Roman Army at twenty aurii per cuirass. Each of you will get a set too. That is not bad for three weeks of putting up with me but I am going to teach each of you to make your own armour."

The men's faces smiled then frowned at the last point. "You do not know how to make steel and I will show you. You do not know how to make armour but I will show you. There are many facts to learn and I have some too, even with the gods helping me. They do not make it easy and I have to feel my way like a blind man sometimes.

"Now all of you, take off your armour and weapons. We are going to wrestle like you have never seen before."

We cleaned up the area and those working on the carcass looked at us when they could.

We began by me stating why the Romans had to learn how to fight with their hands. I could see that most of them were smiling so I had to assume they already knew something and were ready to spring it on me. I went over some points in karate and judo but didn't go far and overload them.

On the way here I had taken a piss break and gathered some reeds then wrapped them into small bundles. These would be my swords and knives.

"I want Plautius to come at me. I am an enemy that has just dropped my sword in battle and so has he. You want to subdue me not kill me." Plautius grinned at this and I said, "Are you ready?"

"Yes,"

"That is yes, Sir for a recruit."

He looked a bit flustered and I had to ask again. "Are you ready, recruit?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Then subdue me."

Plautius rushed in and I had him on his back in seconds and I brought the edge of my hand down quickly and stopped it just above his throat. He looked a bit flustered again and I got up. As a way of compensating I offered him my hand. He of course used it to pull me off my feet on the pretext of getting up but I accepted this.

Plautius was asked to do the same move again but do it very slow. This was hard to understand and I talked him through it. I wasn't able to throw him because I was moving too slow and not able to use his momentum.

This was done three times until he knew what to expect. He came at me again and I still managed to throw him to the ground. This time I was not pulled on top of him and he asked, "Why did I fall?"

"You are new to this type of fighting. There are many small movements that will help to throw you easier. Sometimes it may mean I hit you with my hip harder. Or I twist your arm just a bit more. What I am teaching takes a lifetime to learn very well and then takes constant practice as you would with a sword to keep your skills sharp. Now take my place and I am going to be you and you will be me. We will go slow and try to do the same things I did."

I did this three times in slow motion and on the forth I found that I was on the ground. Plautius had a big smile and extended his hand. I tried to pull him down but it was like trying to move a tree. He smiled even wider.

The other five were treated the same but I used different throws. I then had to go into why I chose them. Each of the men were thrown to the ground twice and I stayed with them until they managed to get me there once.

With my reed knife I came on Curtius as if I was new to fighting. He was fair at disarming me. When we traded places he thought I was easy meat but found the knife driven into his sternum. It hurt a little but it took the cockiness from him very quickly.

"You were too sure of yourself and this lead to your defeat. You also can't think that every opponent is going to be the equal of your most difficult adversary."

We did the attack in slow motion again and he saw how I got control of his knife and used it against him. When we broke for our meal, Curtius was the only one to be stabbed because the rest were very wary.

While eating I said, "Tomorrow at noon I am going to show you a few moves using a sword. Your short sword is great when you use the turtle to get in close but a longer sword is good from horseback. I am going to change the Roman army. Your fat butts will ride horses now like the rich Romans." They didn't mind the slur and even smiled at this prospect.

Tertius had been watching all this intently but I had not called on him yet.

We had camped near water so I cleaned myself and demanded that my troops did the same thing. They had used soap before but were used to the olive oil and they were hardly dirty enough to warrant a real cleaning yet in their minds.

Over the fire I talked of camp hygiene. They were familiar with this but I explained why it was so with much more detail. This brought me to medicine in general and I talked into the night about what each of our organs did in the detail I knew which wasn't that much.

The next morning I thought of introducing reveille. In its place I had the men stand at attention then had to say, "Tertius, you are one of us. Come stand beside the men." He didn't like this but did as I asked. I then went through the duties of each man and put Tertius on point so he could be taught.

We stopped many times to dig and four of the men took sentry duties while the rest of us dug into the soil. I did my share while Iulius and I added detail to the charts we were making. A very long running mineralogy course was started but that meant that I had to talk about elements first. As usual most thought everything was made of earth, air, fire or water.

I said to Tertius, "I want you to dress up in a suit to show the rest of us how valuable camouflage is."

"I don't want to do it."

"Well, you are in my army now whether you like it or not. You are a new recruit and I will give you a chance. The penalties for disobedience can be flogging or worse." The boy's face fell. "I am not joking with you. You will remember a flogging for the rest of your life. You will hate me with a passion but you will learn to obey.

"Now I want you to take your clothes off and put this odd looking suit on. We will go into the trees and you will hide. The men will come looking for you and then you can have fun with them."

With no more words Tertius removed his clothes and I helped him get into his new duds. I showed the troops, Iulius and the labourers what it looked like. They were not impressed.

Tertius and I walked through the trees and I said, "You may think this is silly but it is important. Your life and those of your team mates may depend on how well you blend into your surroundings."

I got no reply. In a few more minutes I found a good place for him to stand and I left to cut branches from other areas and brought them back. Tertius was dressed in some small branches and leaves then he lay on the ground and I added a few more.

"If you move you will be seen. I have some pebbles. If you think it wise you can flick a pebble with your finger to distract the team sent to find you. You may be even able to hit one of them. Your arm moving will be seen if you are not careful." Again there was no reply so I ignored him.

In moments the troops were scouring a wide area looking for their prey. Stones were heard falling and the troops shifted. Two of the men found that they were hit by pebbles and it took nearly five more minutes to find Tertius.

Tertius on the ground was much harder to see than Tertius standing. I got the boy to talk and he mentioned how they walked right by him. He seemed to think better of this since he came out on top.

Tertius was taken by Iulius and two of the men to hide and four were sent to find him. This way they learned from both sides of the coin. The old doctor had to have his turn finding and he was not as good probably with his limited eyesight.

The next day, we found the iron Licinia had mentioned. The area was an open pit. We set up camp again with the usual palisade. More trees were cut down for conversion to charcoal. This was the first of six days of hard work. The soldiers worked too and sentry duty was a preferred duty.

We stockpiled the iron ore while the charcoal was being produced. The soldiers and a few of the others went out to hunt to bring back meat and hides. We were brought supplies and eventually word came that there were a group of tribesman wanting to see me.

I put Atrius in charge of the men but Iulius was still in overall command. I hurried back to the house to see what I could do with the new arrivals.

The soldiers and guards were near the group when I arrived. I think the villagers were very happy to see me. When I dismounted I wore a smile and extended my right hand. Holti, the leader, was quick to shake my hand. He said, "I am glad to see you, milord."

"I am glad to see you to, Holti. It takes a lot of courage to come here and I want to tell you that will not be for nothing. Will you introduce me to the men and then have them introduce me to everyone down to the infants."

He gave me a funny look and I gladhanded everybody that would take my hand. I felt like a politician fishing for votes but in a way I guess I was.

When everybody was comfortable, I introduced the soldiers and guards as if they were friends. Licinia and her family had come out and now they were introduced.

"This is the lady that will be sheltering you. We are starting something new here. Each of you will learn something very valuable to do. It will make you wealthy." I had to translate that into Latin for those that didn't understand German.

The soldiers faded back and we got a small settlement made to temporarily house the newcomers. Over a meal where we all ate with the farmhands, I got the newcomers to talk about themselves. Most of the people present understood German but I still had to translate for Licinia and some of her family. This helped my grasp of Latin.

After the meal Licinia took the women and their children to her stockpile of used but serviceable clothes and gave them out as a gift. She had known that they were coming and had them all mended by the time they had arrived.

The men were given jobs of clearing the land and harvesting the trees and separating the stone. Usually we dug around a tree and cut the roots. A boy would climb the tree and tie a rope up high. Horses were then used to pull the tree out by the roots.

We could cut the tree low then dig around it so we could have a fire that would burn some of the stump but this was not a good idea if we were going to plough.

With Licinia happy with the way they were settled in, I talked to Holti. "I am gathering iron to make my steel. Some of your men say that they can fashion iron. If they can then they will be rich. We are making armour for sale. We can charge a lot of money just because it is so strong. Some of your men are good at fashioning wood. I will show them how to become wealthy too."

"I think they will like that. They also like the new huts we will be getting."

"We are forming a partnership. Your people have to learn some new tasks then they get to make silver for them and your patron. They will take care of you and you will take care of them. This is the same as what was here before but now I am making everybody richer so everybody can have better homes, food and health."

I left for the mine with three of the younger men so they could see what was happening. It was only seven Roman miles away but the route was winding.

On the way to the mine I chatted with the three young men and told them more about our operation. They were a little rough around the edges and didn't know how to treat me. They had probably been told by Holti but he would have reason to minimise his own embarrassment at being taken captive.

When we got close to the mine the three young men were very surprised to be threatened by two Roman soldiers and Tertius. I hid my smile and so did the Romans and I officially introduced the three newcomers.

The supplies we brought and the three men were taken away. There was not much work we could do today. The men had built a crude forge and it now had a large bellows with some cured leather. Tomorrow they would be putting a roof on it to keep out the rain but more importantly to keep out the light so that the temperature of the metal could be judged by the colour it produced when heated. It would be years until we made devices to monitor the temperature.

Two days later we had enough supplies to start making iron. When I saw how things were going, I could construct a cupola to produce pig iron but I was not sure if the amount of iron here warranted this construction. In the mean time I could do a half measure and make a device that would make a large bloom provided that there was enough air and fuel used to keep it hot enough.

We shifted our focus now to making fuel. With the threat of rain I just harvested more trees. Clay had been found and some of this was already in jar form but I also had clay pipes constructed for a test.

Two weeks after we started out, a fire was constructed in my mini cupola with wood for fuel. The clay lining had already been fired but I was not sure how well it would stand up to the heat. When the fuel was stacked as high as it would go we waited until it was burning well then threw in charcoal and iron ore. The bellows were worked hard and I had to have more people put on them. It took eight hours of work and I showed everybody the molten iron that had ran out of the bottom of the cupola. A clay mould was put in place to collect some. This was just a gear but it was easier to cast than to machine from steel. We cast hammer heads because they were small enough and if the cupola were bigger I would cast anvils that would get clad in steel eventually.

At a guess, I had to cupola opened and everything came pouring out including the slag. Our tools were not good for moving this because they would just burn. We did have a large mass of iron though and this was cut up and work begun on it to knock out the slag. The shovels had been soaked in water and were now used to shovel away the rest of the hot material. As soon as possible a new hatch was put in place and the cupola recharged.

We did not stop for darkness and some people had to work through the night. We now had three shifts and I made sure I had the night shift because men tended to ignore their jobs if there was no supervision.

The iron was baked in charcoal and then hammered to mix the carbon. As with the apprentices the men made small knives. I made chisels and other tools for the forge and for drilling rock. The anvil we had was small and I used it to make a much larger one. This allowed me to make larger ones in turn. With a lot of men eventually working on iron and steel we would need a lot of them.

Tertius made a knife of his own then a larger one for his father. I stayed with him as he made these two projects. I wanted them to be made as good as possible. Tertius also went with me when I went hunting. He did take a deer but he was not a good shot and we had to chase the animal a few miles until it bled to death.

I was helping him drag the carcass back on some poles when he said, "Why are you helping me? I did not ask this."

"I want your father to be proud of you. In my opinion you were sheltered too much. You are more suited to studying. You just need to get both to make you a well rounded person. A curious mind with nothing to read is a waste. Though you do not need to read to learn, it is necessary to understand other people's work and then add to it.

"This is very good for your father. You will preside over the farm or one just like it. What you are learning with me will help you survive when times get rough."

"Rough?"

"Rome keeps the peace even if it is their peace. Eventually one German, Pict or some other people's tribe will come through this area and destroy everything you have made. You are going to stand up to them with your neighbours and protect your farms."

"You are German."

"Yes I am. I like law and order but I want it fair. The Romans need to be steered to do what is right. In the process, I hope to give them a new way of looking at the world. They would then be like a new race as they were when Rome was new."

We made axes and saws that helped clear land. The good trees were left standing for later harvesting. The chisels were used to make files which in turn were used to make sharper saws.

More than seven weeks had gone by since we started. We did not go back and Tertius didn't seem as adamant to go. We made two more large bellows and extended the cupola half again as high. We got a lot more iron to cast which went into plough shears. Everybody had a chance to build candlesticks but wax to burn now was expensive.

The soldiers got calvary swords which they were inordinately proud of. When enough steel was made we started on making armour. I was not going for a full set but just the cuirass which would only cover the chest and back.

Sicinius trusted me the most and I had him put his new sword point through his old armour. I could see the pain in his face and so could the rest of us. When he tried the same thing in a sample piece of steel the face changed remarkably. Others tried to make a hole in the steel with their old swords and the new but it didn't happen.

I was going to repair his bronze armour when he said, "Leave it. They can see my old armour and then my new."

Armour was a time consuming thing to make but with some leather templates it was made much quicker. The finish though was much better and this would take a very long time to complete. In the meantime, it could still be worn while on patrol.

Tertius made armour too but I knew that soon he would outgrow it. I was satisfied with my own and worked only to repair the damage to the helmet and the backplate from the exploding caisson.

There was a lot of very minor damage to the armour and I didn't even attempt to clean this up. The people seeing me wearing this would know I was in a scrap or two and perhaps not want to try me.

My boots and saddle were inspected on the first day but nobody attempted to copy them. There was just too many other things to do. The molten iron had allowed me to make various sizes of shoe lasts. When people did decide to make boots then somebody would be far ahead of the competition with these.

Those men that thought themselves smiths made hand saws and then two-man saws of various lengths. I had a rough idea what was needed for the mill but it was best to wait and make the correct size.

We got some additional help one day when five of Holti's people came. Three were men and two were women. They were escaped slaves and could not be at the house where somebody might notice. The two women though were married but the rest of the men had been without for too long and I had to get them out of the camp.

Half of our men went home for five days leave and when they would come back then the other half would get their chance. I found that I was not immune to the effects of women. My equipment was growing and my interest was strictly mental at the moment. I still had dreams of Nora as well as Dagmar and Astrid. I hope all of them were doing well. I knew that with the cannon in Hildestun, the Picts or the Romans would not get too close.

The way I was pushing to get my body back to the way it was I figured it would be six weeks for my genitals and perhaps only a week more for my muscles. My teeth didn't grow as fast but they were growing. My hair was cut so that it was now all platinum blonde. It grew at a fantastic rate so it still looked good. Through some mechanism I did not understand, I was able to increase my reflexes to where they were better than when I won in the Olympics.

I wanted new bodies and minds at the mine/foundry because there was still much to learn. Some of the men were just as interested in showing off their ploughs and other tools as they were to see their wives.

When we were at half strength we found we had visitors one morning. A band of Alemmani was coming through a trail that cut across the property. I counted sixty eight men but more must have been guarding the flanks. They had their families with them and the usual family was of ten members.

Our men were all within our walls and ready to fight. They had armour and swords that they wanted to test out. With this many men in armour I did not close the gates but everybody was ready for battle.