Chapter 20

New character introduced in this chapter:

Craig Robinson

Ensign, 5’-8” tall, 135 pounds, 18 years old, black hair, blue eyes

After a fine dinner prepared by our Sisters and Cousins, the enlisted men were excused while we had our planning meeting. I did notice that even the large dining room here was a bit strained with the thirty people now here to eat.

“We will start with the things that must be accomplished in the next day, as they are the most pressing. After that, we will continue with those repetitive items that must be accomplished on a daily or regular basis. Lastly we will discuss those other things that need to be accomplished so that we can begin our normal job of patrolling,” I told them.

“Under the heading of things that must be immediately done are:

1. I will need to return to Fort Jefferson tonight to meet with Captain Moore of the Ranger Training School to discuss their move. I’ll take Seamus with me. Sererena will be in charge until we return.

2. In the morning at say 9:00, Seamus and two pairs of twins will need to transfer to Fort Jefferson to collect Sergeant O’Flannagain and his family to transfer them and their possessions here. They may have whichever of the small houses that they think will suit their family.

3. Also in the morning, someone will need to go to the Bell farm to collect the milk and butter. This will be a daily requirement since milk doesn’t keep well here, although we can use a preservation spell to keep it fresh if necessary. Also tomorrow, two of the Mages need to go with whoever collects the milk to inspect the cows and the rest of their operation to ensure that everything is operating correctly and that we receive clean healthy milk and butter. This visit will need to be repeated every couple of months,” I told them.

“Has anyone inspected the spring house or creamery that we have?” Seamus injected when I paused.

“I can inspect the spring house, sir,” the young Ensign volunteered. “My family has a large creamery, and we children spent much time there, so I know what to look for,” he told us.

“Very good, Ensign...?” I trailed off.

“Robinson, sir. Craig Robinson,” he told me.

“Take with you which ever pair of our Mage Sisters that doesn’t go to the Bell farm,” I told him.

“Yes sir?” he replied somewhat confused.

“We’ll go with him,” Dymphna volunteered with a smile, as she and Coleen were both sitting near the young man.

“That would leave Cessair and Dealla to go to the Bell farm to inspect the cows and the Bell’s operation,” Seamus said before asking, “Who will they be going with?”

“That does present a certain problem, as the only ones who have been there are Gwyn, myself, and O’Callaghan. However, I don’t believe that for this first visit that they should just transfer to there. We don’t want to frighten the Bells, who aren’t used to Magic. Transferring there can be done later when they are more used to us. They will therefore need to ride over there. It is only two miles or so from here. Since Gwyn and I expect to be busy, that would leave O’Callaghan with the wagon. He can return with the milk while Cessair and Dealla inspect the cows and the Bell’s operation,” I agreed.

“Lastly, there is the new Administrative NCO, Sergeant O’Faolain, who will need to be picked up tomorrow afternoon,” I brought up.

“We’ll pick him up, since we were the ones that recommended him,” M & M told me.

“Fine. That should get all of our people here and things started. Now to move on to other things that need to be done.

“First: Lieutenant Lister, tomorrow take one of the other new Lieutenants with you and inventory the third floor and the cabins to determine what furniture is required to finish outfitting them.

“Second: Wolf, take one of the new Lieutenants and the remaining enlisted men to clean out the stable. This will be an ongoing requirement in this age. We may need to acquire some people to take care of this on a continuing basis, but for now, we will take care of it internally. Once we are operational, some of the horses will be going with us,” I told them.

“That brings up another problem,” Gwyn injected into the meeting. “We will need horses for at least the new Officers and some for the enlisted men if they need to go places.”

“Probably another eight horses at least,” Glanda added when her Sister had finished.

“All right, but you will need some of the Mages to go with you for that, and they are a bit busy tomorrow. Later this week will be all right for that,” I agreed. “Plus there will be the furniture that we will need to acquire,” I reminded them.

“We’ll need to start the school soon, also,” Sererena added after that.

“We will schedule that for the day after tomorrow,” I told her. “What time do you want to start each day?”

“Considering the various chores that need to be taken of, I would think 10:00 in the morning would be a good time. That should give everyone time to clean up after their chores,” Sererena told us.

“That seems all right. Where do you plan to hold the classes?” I asked next.

“I was thinking of the large parlor, which is why I wanted everyone cleaned up. Once we see where everyone is with their studies, we may change the time to suit the various levels of accomplishment and move to the small parlor, but we will need to see where everyone is first,” she told us.

“We will also need to start acquiring things for the winter like firewood and other stores to assist those who will need help after the raids,” Gwyn again contributed to the discussion.

“I would think that some of that could wait for a week or more, even the firewood,” Seamus told her.

“Yes, but it is something that we need to plan for in addition to where we are going to store everything. We don’t have warehouses like the Army does,” Glanda reminded us.

“True, but we can use defensive shells to hold various types of supplies. We would also need logs for repairing stockade walls and lumber for repairing houses and other buildings,”I reminded them.

“The Portals!” both Seamus and Carl said at the same time. “We will need an area to create the Portals in, to move supplies to our various far flung outposts,” Seamus continued. The new Officers were looking at us with questioning expressions. Seamus explained the concept of the Portal to them. They were amazed to say the least. It was by now rather late and I still needed to see Captain Moore.

“If you all wish to continue these discussions, go ahead, but I need to see Captain Moore and determine when he will be able to relocate his training school to Gilmore’s Station. That is another thing that will require our attention as well as Fort Washington and the new fort at Mount Sterling,” I reminded them before turning to Seamus. “If you would like to stay and lead the discussions, I can go by myself,” I added.

“That might be best, Mark. I’ll fill you in, in the morning, on what we discuss,” he told me. “And I’ll fill the new people in on the various locations,” he volunteered as I prepared to leave. I transferred to Fort Jefferson and arrived outside of the Officers’ Mess in the growing dark.

Inside, I ordered a mug of ale to sip while waiting for Captain Moore, as he hadn’t arrived yet. He appeared in a clean uniform about twenty minutes later. I signaled him to join me.

“How is it going?” I asked as he joined me. “Did you receive the movement orders?”

“Yes, they arrived this morning. We still have a week or so before this class finishes, and I was planning on moving after that. We will have a two week break in the training then. The orders also indicated that I would keep the present class to help with the move. They are to be assigned to you after that,” he told me.

“How large is this class?” I asked.

“There are about twenty men who will finish. One of them is a Lieutenant who is presently the class leader, as that is how they are organized,” he told me.

“That sounds good. It will give them some cohesion. We haven’t been able to get out to Gilmore’s Station yet. We are still getting set up at Hickory Hill. I never realized all that was involved,” I confessed.

“Yes, I can just imagine,” he said with a chuckle, as his meal arrived. We sat there and discussed minor details while he ate.

“I will see you here in a week or so, and we will decide when to transfer you to Gilmore’s Station. I’ll take you there to look at it before we transfer the rest of your people,” I told him when he had finished eating. He appeared surprised at this.

“I know that you said that you would help us move, but do you mean that we won’t need to make the journey overland?” he asked.

“Certainly not! That would consume too much time. We can transfer you, your men, and whatever else that you have directly to Gilmore’s Station once we have been there,” I assured a very surprised Ranger Captain.

“I won’t tell the others,” he told me after a little thought. “I spent much of the day preparing them to make the move overland and will continue with that. It will be good practice for them, and they will appreciate it more when you do this transfer thing,” he told me with a large grin. We shook hands and slapped each other on the back before leaving. This also caused raised eyebrows from some of those still present, but we could have cared less. Leaving Captain Moore outside the Officers’ Mess, I transported back to Hickory Hill and went to find my bed and some sleep.

We were all up early the next morning. There was no bugle sounding ‘reveille’, but Sererena and Saraid knocked on all of our doors to rouse us and sent James to rouse those on the third floor. Breakfast wasn’t until later when the initial chores had been completed. We would definitely need to hire some cooks soon, as our Sisters would have much more important work to do shortly.

I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do today. There was a lot going on, but it was being handled by others. I could go to Fort Jefferson to help move Sergeant O’Flannagain and his family, but I had already assigned that to Seamus and several others, all of whom were more than capable of carrying it out without my help.

There were still a lot of things that needed doing, and I decided that as the Commander, I should start on some of them, so that I would know in what direction to set our efforts in the near future. After some further consideration, I decided that visiting the various locations in Ohio and Indiana held the highest priority and that it could be easily accomplished by one person.

Following breakfast, as the others prepared for their various chores, I took Sererena and Gwyn aside.

“I’m going with the milk crew as far as the Bell farm. From there I intend to check on some of the sites in Ohio to give me a good idea of what will be required there. I shouldn’t be too long,” I told them. They were not happy with my decision.

“That could be dangerous, Mark!” both women warned me.

“You should take someone with you,” Sererena continued.

“I will be perfectly fine. I will set my wards and I have my power rings. What more could anyone else do?” I asked.

“You don’t have eyes in the back of your head,” Gwyn warned.

“No, I don’t, but this is only a scouting trip to get the lay of the land as it were,” I finished. They still didn’t looked convinced of the wisdom of this, but didn’t complain any further either.

I rode out with C & D. Egan was driving the wagon. They turned off at the Bell’s Farm and I dismounted to calm my horse before casting the transfer spell to take me to the area where our book store was located in Cincinnati. It was located on Vine Street, a short distance from the Zoo and the Botanical Garden in our Reality. In this Reality, the area was mostly open grass land with clumps of trees. I headed south and made fairly good time arriving at a small town and what could only be Fort Washington in an hour or so of traveling. It had been something over four miles.

Founded in 1788 by Mathais Denman, Colonel Robert Patterson, and Israel Ludlow, Cincinnati actually began as three settlements between the Little Miami and the Great Miami Rivers on the north shore of the Ohio River. Columbia was the settlement on the Little Miami River; North Bend was on the Great Miami River. Losantiville, named by its original surveyor, John Filson, was the center settlement and was located opposite the mouth of the Licking River, which was across the Ohio River in Kentucky.

Fort Washington was constructed in 1789 by General Josiah Harmar who named it in honor of General George Washington. It was built to protect the early settlers in the Ohio Country.

Fort Washington was a short distance outside the small town that had grown up there. What I found was a solid substantial wooden fort. Its stockade appeared to be about two hundred feet square with the walls being about two stories tall, and there were blockhouses located at the four corners. The fort was set back about one thousand feet from the bank of the Ohio River. There were sentinels at the south facing main gate, and at least two more men that I could see pacing along the wallwalks.

I could see the roofs of a number of buildings inside the fort, but it didn’t seem to have a substantial garrison at this point. I spent some time observing the fort but didn’t see any other indications of great activity. I did not however approach the fort too closely at this time. There would be time for that later when Seamus and I came here to set up one of our Ranger Companies.