Chapter 17

A boat surged from the shore as if it were a predator. I saw that there where two cannons aimed our way from the trees. The seven men in the boat didn't know where to go because we mostly stayed on the large barge but the sides were difficult to climb. This had been done intentionally.

Rufus used his hands and some German to call the boat to him on the ship. He caught the line thrown to him and he tied it to the side. The men has swords in their hands and Rufus was heard to say, "Put your swords away. I was helping you to board. If I was an enemy you would be dead now."

Someone in a Frisian dialect said, "That may not be as easy as it sounds Roman."

I walked to the plank supported wholly by the barge and crossed to the Patricia. I jumped a metre to the deck and went over to the Frisians and assisted them onto the ship. As I was doing so I looked for familiar faces but I had not seen any of these men before.

The biggest here had red hair and a new steel helmet but not one that enclosed the face. It would mean shaving his beard and I knew that many would not do this. He stood proud on the deck with his hand on the pommel of his sheathed sword. "Who are you people?" he almost bellowed at us.

I was the one to talk and said, "My name is Jón of Germania and I am the son of Clovis."

The man was stunned then said, "You lie. I should kill you for saying that."

"My hair is different because the gods chose to change it. I am older too and my body is stronger and larger. Did you not see the pennants? Who else would fly the eagle?"

"Prove your words."

"I have cadets though I lost three to the Gauls. The eagle is our standard and that of Germany as a whole. Fálki is not as large as you. I took him with me the first time to make the powder for the cannons. He left to fight for our king with a few cannon. He came back and took more powder from our stores but I never had a chance to find out how the war was going.

"Clovis sent me some letters but only one made it to me. I have this one in my room. I still have my armour and my swords and I am sure you have heard tales of them."

The man was not sure and said, "You could have taken the armour and the letter."

"That is true but I have been making tools that no man has seen before. Is that true?"

"I have heard that."

"You stand on the largest ship you have ever seen. It is propelled through the water without oars or sail. A whistle was used to attract you to me. Would anybody but me be able to do this?"

"You still do not look like the son of Clovis."

"You are again right. The way to find out the truth is for me to meet somebody I am familiar with. If I know them well enough I can tell them information that only they would know."

The man considered this and finally said, "Minden is a short distance upriver. We can go there."

I smiled, "Father took it back?"

"Yes he did. They did not fight at all this time but Clovis did not throw the Gauls from the city for some reason."

"He did not throw them out because we need all the people we can get. The Picts are not as strong as the Frisians or usually like to fight as much but they are just as smart. The trick is tap them hard enough on their thick skulls to make them listen without killing them."

The man said, "That we all know."

"Clovis had to do the same thing to the Frisians because their heads are even thicker."

The man was angry at this but he did not draw his sword. In a moment he said, "Move the ship forward to Minden."

The man gave me another glare and called to the shore, "We are going to Minden. Follow us."

We continued now as before and charted the river. The Frisians stayed with their hands on their weapons and did not look below but I would do the same thing in their place. Dividing their forces was not a good idea.

We kept the whistle going and even got the Frisian commander to do this for us. He face almost broke into a smile but he had to keep it straight.

Soon we came around a bend and saw Minden in the distance. The walls were all that I really saw of the place though I looked through the telescope. The Frisians were encouraged to look and a few did. They thought it was magic and there was no use telling them the physics of the device now.

The people on the bank were much easier to see and they were much closer. In most areas there were no trees so we could see across the fields and the people could see us. I waved on occasion and only the young uncertainly waved back.

At the city, there were no docks to speak of and nothing that could accommodate us.

Rufus said to the Frisian in command, "We need to use your boat to check the depth."

"Just go close and see."

"I am the captain of this ship and you are not. We have a keel that goes deep into the water. We have to find the depth so we can get our cargo close to the shore."

"What is a keel?"

"A keel is a heavy blade that runs along the bottom of this ship to keep us from tipping over."

The man did not like it but he loaned us his boat and Rufus went up and down the shore and called out depths as he went. I recorded them as the ship matched the speed of the slow river. Some places Rufus stayed at for a while and called out problems or ones that could be.

Rufus came back and took a heavy cast iron barrel forty centimetres long and thirty in diameter. He asked, "Is this going to work. It looks to be five metres long and six wide. It is only a metre down."

"Use this one to check. If it is soil it will go and if it is rock we can move it."

"We better get everybody away from the shore."

"We better move ourselves too."

I turned to our escort and said, "There is an obstruction in the river that we have to move. We are going to lose headway gradually so we go back downriver."

"Just hurry. I have lots of duties to do." The way he said it sounded false and he looked interested.

Rufus drove a pole into the obstruction. This was not easy from the boat but he got it firmly attached. He turned to the shore which was only five metres away and said, "The power of the gods is with us. Get away from the river. Thor's hammer is about to descend."

Only a few moved and he waited just long enough then yelled, "Get your god forsaken bodies away from here or you will die. If I have to come ashore I will carve every one of you up into small pieces."

Most moved but not far. I went below and took out my bow and brought it on deck. I had no arrows so the Frisians were not worried. The commander of the troop even held the bow as I went below again and brought out one of my special projectiles.

Apparently one arrow was not seen as very dangerous. I pulled a small pin that kept the rod from moving and put the arrow to the bow. The shore extended into the river fifty metres ahead. It too should go. Nobody was around it and I called out to Rufus, "The small point."

He nodded his head and he and his men moved closer to us. Some of the population started to come back and I drew the bow the full amount and the arrow shot forward. It hit just above the water. A roar much different from the cannon or the black powder charges rented the air. Dirt flew into the air and some came as far as we were. Mud, stone and water were scattered everywhere and a few of the Gauls and Frisians on the shore were pelted with small portions of debris. They had stopped immediately and in seconds they were scampering away very quickly.

Rufus yelled after them, "I told you."

From beside me I heard with awe in his voice, "What was that?"

"The same things I used before but these are more powerful. They are good in open country or against ships. They will open the gates to a town or a make a hole through their walls."

"You must be Jón."

I let us drift much further back now. Rufus surged forward to his old position and made a loop with a short length of rope and attached that to the barrel and the wooden pole in the river.

I closed the shutters that protected the fragile glass. Nobody but me knew of the power Rufus was controlling. Rufus turned the timer then struck the plunger. The barrel was immediately thrown overboard and the boat backed away very quickly. "What did he do?"

"There is a rock or maybe just soil in the river. We have to get rid of it."

"How?"

"Watch."

The metal barrel was too heavy to float and water did not effect it. I did not want a depth charge but I wanted something that would not be effected by water. A few metres of water should not effect this.

Rufus was back beside us when fifteen of my large grams of high explosive detonated. A giant hole formed in the river showing the bottom for metres around. Mud was flung far and wide but more importantly a giant wave spread out form the centre. It raced toward us. The Patricia rocked violently and poor Rufus and his men rode a giant wave when their boat rose and fell in the water.

When the crap finished coming down, I saw that Rufus was stunned. He had no idea just what would happen. He was coated with mud and some of it was washed off with the water that had washed into his boat.

It took a few moments for Rufus to get underway again and he went back to checking the depth. He called out to me, "We moved it." He did a bit more checking and then got out of the boat and onto the muddy shore. The boat went upriver now and Rufus guided me forward.

He caught the lines and pulled heavier lines to him and put them on trees that now looked to be both dirty and partly denuded of leaves. More of the crew came ashore and drove iron bars into the ground with sledge hammers and more lines were attached to the bars.

The lines were cast off and the Patricia was now free. I manoeuvred her into the river and tied up on the other side of the barge. The fireman was informed that we didn't need steam but to be on the safe side and keep the boilers warm for a few hours.

The Frisians and I climbed on the barge and then down the gangway to the wet shore. I was busy now thinking of how to improve this dock for later.

With people still frightened we had lots of room to work. Soon we had soldiers from the city charging toward us. Our own escort was not worried so neither was I. When they got close I looked at each trying to find a familiar face. They all had the new saddles and lances. The steel looked good but not the same design I had made.

One older man with a cleanly shaved face was vaguely familiar but last I had seen him he had a full beard.

This man yelled out, "What is going on here?"

"Hello Naddoddr. Last I saw you in my father's library we were listening to Fleinn argue with me about my camouflage clothing."

Naddoddr looked close then said after some consideration, "Is that you Jón?"

"It sure is. I thought the noise of my arrival would get you to think of something like that."

"It did for a second. You have changed."

"The enemy captured me and I almost died. The gods chose to save me. I grew larger and my hair colour changed. I think this was to show that I was going into a new phase in my life. I hardly do anything exciting anymore."

"I do not believe that. Tell me what you have been doing."

"Well get off that horse and I will show you."

Whispers went around now and people took me for Clovis' son. I introduced Rufus and each of his crew by name and made sure all here heard that they were my friends. I was introduced to some of the officers. Hands were shaken easier now and this too was a confirmation of who I was.

We went aboard the barge and I showed them the stove. It was still warm and it took little time to start a meal. The men marvelled at the frypans and the surface of the stove.

Naddoddr asked, "How did you make this?"

"I have to make iron so hot that it is like water. We pour this into a hollow shape made out of sand. When it cools we break away the sand and have the things we want. We made machines that turn around and hard pieces of metal cut away small amounts of metal from where we do not want. We get a smooth surface or a hole if that is what we want."

"This is amazing."

"This is only some. Have you sent word to my father?"

"Not yet."

"Will you do so. Tell him that I could come faster than it was to get the letter delivered. Also tell him that I have some heavy gifts that he will really like."

"What are they."

I smiled and used my hands and said, "Cannon this big."

Naddoddr's eyes bugged out a bit and he too smiled. He turned to one of his officers and sent them off with the message for Clovis.

The hold was dark and I left it alone even if Naddoddr wanted to see the large guns. They all did see the sleeping arrangements for the passengers. They were just as good as what the king enjoyed. I added, "I charge a lot of silver for a chance to ride in comfort this way and people pay it. Think how fast I can transport men and horses. I may not be as fast as when they gallop but I can stay at the same speed hour after hour and day after day."

"We could strike deep into Roman territory."

Rufus heard this, I was sure, so I said, "That is true but why? They are not attacking us now. They will not come if you have cannon. They have lots of men and you will not attack unless forced and they will not want to face us. We are not a minor military power now but we are not a mature country either. We had to train our people to fight and only do so when the need arises. We should not go looking for a fight that could drag in all of our people into a war."

"We need to fight to prove ourselves."

"You can do this without war. If you got into a machine that would propel you and it down a road very quickly and then into the air, would this make you a man."

"Would this be dangerous?"

"At first the answer is yes, very dangerous. Here experience and fast reflexes may be the only thing that keeps you alive. Sadly many times even if you are the best you are doomed to die or be crippled."

"I have heard of your talk about this. Do you have such a machine?"

"I am working on it. Would you like to see my ship that can pull this barge day after day and require no oars or sails?"

"That I would like to see."

We crossed over to the ship and I had the head of the patrol that found us show the telescope first. They scanned far and wide and then moved the scope toward the city. Naddoddr said incredulously, "I can see the men on the walls."

I said, "One day you will need a similar device to look straight down so you can count an enemy. I need brave men that think first before doing something. This is what my father has been trying to do for years."

Rufus was called forward and I said, "This man has helped build this ship and helped again to build the engine. He is a Roman and an honourable man. Let him tell you about how this machine works."

Rufus was unsure but after he got talking he was in his field and confident. "Steam has power." He went on to talk about it and his own opinions. He talked for ten minutes and saw the stunned look and said, "I will show you the power of steam."

I only said, "Make it deep."

He handed the shovel to an officer and said, "We made a bomb and you are familiar with explosions. Dig a hole," he used his hands, "this wide and this deep. Put the soil around the hole. I am going to build a fire in it."

The man looked at Naddoddr and he nodded his head and said, "Put it where it will not hurt anybody."

Rufus went to our stock of wrought iron pipe. They had been made for this. The walls were thick and we had screw fittings for the end. The men were very interested in the pipe and the fittings. They spent a lot of time just putting on and taking off the heavy cap.

The hole was dug with our shovels but this was nothing really new though few had a chance to use them. Dry wood from our bunker was used and the fire was fairly hot. Rufus used two one metre pipe wrenches to tighten the fitting on the pipe that was just a half filled with water. He poked the burning wood to where he wanted it and threw the pipe into the fire. The poker now was used to get it into position with a few coals on top of it.

We all walked away and where the soldiers wanted to stop, Rufus continued. "I was told that water expands over eight hundred times when it is heated to a gas. The gas too expands proportionally to the amount of heat applied to it."

Naddoddr said, "How is water or steam going to explode? Water puts fires out and I was told that explosions are just something burning very fast."

"You are right but in this case the steam grows and grows as it gets hotter. It pushes harder on the sides of the pipe and cannot get out. At some time the push of the steam will match the strength of the pipe. You saw how thick our pipe was. The amount of push had to be very great to make it burst. Just some of that push is used in our engine."

Rufus used only a little mathematics that dealt with Bernoulli's Theorem which was now called the third formula of thermodynamics. As I ran into applications I would make more formulae.

In the middle of one sentence the day was shattered with an explosion. Embers, dirt and burning wood were scattered from the hole as if it were the mouth of a cannon. Debris came down for a long time and people huddled under their helmets as dirt rained on us from this distance.

Rufus had a big smile. "Do any of you still believe that steam is not powerful?"

Nobody answered so he said, "Good."

We ate on the barge and Naddoddr called for his wife to come and so did some of the other officers. There was lots of room and I offered some of the fortified wine and a bit of talk. I also insisted that I learn about what had happened in my absence.

The cadets had stayed together but were not very effective in training new people. They fought for the Gauls that I wanted settled though they thought I was dead. Later they heard more and wished I had died.

The transition from a young prince with some great ideas to a messenger of the gods was easy after the Picts got Jón and me. I described in detail what had happened to the body that I now owned to what I was now. I talked of the books I had made after supposedly going to Asgard. Again I used the excuse that the gods had just allowed me to remember what they had hidden before.

I brought some books from my cabin but they were in Latin or the Latinised German that I had developed.

"It was after I got to the city of Lutetia in Gaul that I found that the healing of my body could be carried on to others."

Naddoddr said, "What does that mean?"

"The power of the gods flows through me just as the words and ideas of the gods do. I have held persons almost dead and made them whole. The blind were able to see and the lame were able to walk."

"Nobody can do that."

"Tell me Naddoddr. How many men could have done what I did?"

There was a long pause and I had to ask again. I finally got, "None that I know of."

"It is dark now but I still want to prove my point. Find me four children with something obviously wrong with their bodies. Healing sometimes takes over a month but minor problems can be seen in a week and cured in two or three."

"Are you serious?"

"Never more so. If the children are strong then the healing will be quicker because I need their strength to heal them. Those very near death may be too far gone for me to save.

One woman said, "My daughter cannot speak right. A piece of skin is missing from her mouth."

"That is easy to repair. It does take time to build the skin but it can be done."

"Oh, thank you. You don't know how happy you have made me."

"I do actually because I have healed many children and you would be as happy as I am to do this."

Rufus was with us and he was now asked questions but he was bias and they knew it. He did give a lot of detail that I would not have given. He did not stop with my weekly sermons and healings but this led to the pirates in Britain.

It was a lot later that Naddoddr said, "I knew that Jón was not sitting idle someplace doing the gods work." He looked at me now and said, "You had thousands of slaves and just freed them all?"

"Slaves are just like you and me. I didn't just release them. They had no way of making a living. They got jobs at reduced wages until I was paid off. After that they get the same wages as free men. The get fed, clothed, educated and entertained but this cost silver too. This comes out of their wages."

Naddoddr asked Rufus how much I pay and when he heard he just smiled at me for trying to appear hard and heartless.

I got off the subject by trying to find out about King Celyddon. I learned how I had killed his two sons and wounded him severely. This had to be with the cannon or the explosion at the end.

Three days after my capture, Clovis and Fálki had returned and the Gauls had to run for their lives. The cadets were working with Fálki and out for blood. The Romans had fled and left a few bodies but the Gauls had lost a lot more.

Clovis had thought me dead and sought vengeance but then had to turn around and chase the Romans when he heard that they had me.

"Lucius the Roman that I had spared was the one that saved me. I was taken to his home because he thought that I was beyond healing. My mind had gone because of the pain. On the way I was fed and cared for by Iulius. With the gods help I was able to heal myself. This took months because there was a lot of damage and I did not know as much about healing as I do now."

Naddoddr said, "Your father was going to chase you even if he had to go to Rome but the priests talked him out of it."

"What did they say?"

"I do not know."

"How has father been treating the Gauls he captured?"

"That is surprising. He killed a lot then just started to settle them on land as you had done. The city of Minden was almost all Gauls but now have some Frisians and others. Your father treats them like they were born Frisian."

"He boxes their ears?"

"Yes but he does it to the Frisians at the same time. They see themselves as citizens now."

"Then it looks like he and I did the right thing." There was no reply to this and I assumed that the Frisians were not as willing to let bygones be bygones.

One of Naddoddr's officers said, "We heard how you and twelve children destroyed a legion by your selves and with no wounds of deaths. We did not believe this until Grímkell comes marching in with the survivors. Clovis was not here then but Grímkell made sure they were treated with respect. We were all even more surprised to see Gnaeus Scipio Magnus as one of the prisoners. How come you said nothing of this when you returned to Hildestun?"

"I am not proud of slaughter. They were killed like sheep. I would do it again to protect us but I do not have to like it." The man looked at me oddly because he could not see my point.

The next morning I had an anxious mother and father at my door bright and early with their ten-year-old daughter. It was hard to get them to sit but they did. I made my own breakfast and a little for them too.

The girl's name was Celia and it was hard to get her to talk. I did get her to sit on the table and I was able to look into her mouth and saw the cleft palate. This was not even very bad. A surgeon could have sewed up this or I could.

I said to the parents and the patient, "Celia is lucky. Most of the skin is already there. I am also a physician now and teach medicine at one of my schools. You have the option of me working hard on Celia and the skin will become unbroken in fifteen days. I can also do this so it is less mental work for me and the skin will be whole in four or five days."

The child looked imploringly at her parents and I waited. The father said, "Quicker is better for us and if it is easier for you then that is the way I would like it. What do we have to do?"

"I am demonstrating many ideas here to the people of Minden. I want them so see that I am a surgeon. If your city is lucky you could send some children to the school on the Rhine and come back physicians and dentists." I then had to explain dentistry.

"You can repair teeth too?"

"Yes but I do not have all the tools with me. This is better if somebody else does this."

They didn't understand and I had to talk about the demands on my time.

"I also have to have witnesses see what Celia's mouth is like now and later to prove my point."

"Any and all can look in her mouth."

"I do not want this to be a circus." I had to explain the Roman circus and how it related here. "Ten men and women will do the examining. Half will be drawn at random. Those same people will look when she is healed and tell everybody that asks about the healing."

Celia was put off and I sent her with her mother to tour the ship. I said to the father, "There is a payment I demand for my work."

The man must have expected this and said, "What is it that you want?"

"Celia will learn to read one of the books written in German. She will then teach twelve more children or adults."

"Is that all?"

"That is it, but she must learn to read within half of a year and teach others within two more years."

"Why my daughter? She is just a girl."

"I want all the children and all the adults to read. I have to start somewhere. I usually feed the children and treat them as my own. They have to try. Very few are expelled but most of them are boys that are acting like boys."

"Where will she learn this?"

"I will hire women to learn to read and get them to teach the children. I have to open schools, and besides learning to read, the children learn to count in the new way. You will get an educated daughter when she graduates."

"Why not just teach boys? Girls are only fit to be mothers."

"Think of my cadets. Will you fight them? Will you fight the girls?"

"They are different."

"How?"

"Well, because you trained them." He saw the flaw then and said, "I will be glad that my daughter is educated. Will she learn the art of the cannon?"

"Only a little. She will learn new ideas. You must know that she will not be your sweet little daughter in a few years but a young woman that will fight you for what she thinks is right."

"What about my other children?"

"I want everybody to learn."

In a few hours I had hundreds of children here and most came with one or both of their parents. From the roof of the building on the barge I spoke to them. They all knew my name by now and explained in ten minutes what I had done since I was captured.

The portion about the gods though took half of an hour and nobody seemed to even fidget.

I came down then walked to the land. I took ten white stones and threw them over my shoulders. The adults found them or were given them came forward.

"We need witnesses that will see the child before and after they are treated. They have to tell everybody that asks what the results were. If I fail you must say so. All I want is the truth. Is there anybody here that does not want to do this?"

This was a circus anyway and nobody turned me down. Celia was brought forward and they all looked into her mouth. Ten people were not as frightening as the whole crowd.

A table from the barge was brought out and Rufus brought my tools. I sat on the table with Celia and I found the way to defeat the pain that would soon be in her mouth. The girl now lay on the table holding her mother's hand as I used the haemostat to put six sutures into her palate.

Rufus was my scrub nurse and took the instruments away and I now worked on Celia's body to close the much smaller gap in the roof of her mouth. Celia was happy to show her sutures and I told everybody how long it would take to heal. She left with the injunction that she only eat the softest foods for the next few days.

The adults with the stones passed them to somebody else and those people viewed the next case. Soon I would have all of the adults here as witnesses. In many cases I had to use what I knew of the Pict tongue because most knew little of the German.

Three cripples needed their legs rebroken and reset. Six arms were the same way. I cured many of the usual boils, or sores. Rashes were usually cured in an hour. After each healing I gave thanks to Woden and Aldúlfr. This way I would avoid the term 'magic'.

One girl was brought up and she complained of a rash and an itch between her legs. There were no witnesses now but the girl had VD. There was no sense asking either because men dominated anyone they could and sometimes for revenge like a husband fucking the ass of a man caught fucking his wife.

One deaf girl was brought forward and before a half hour was up she was able to hear again.

When noon came I had the crew cook up the fish we had caught. It was just a fish stew but there was a lot of it. I had lots of bowls and spoons and actually got all of them back even if three bowls were broken. Everybody got something to eat even if they had to use the same bowl that somebody else ate from.