Chapter 28

The next cycle with Derwen and Mercedes brought numerous changes into our lives. Derwen's normal smirk and Mercedes' equally endearing grin made me laugh as they had me measure their growing bellies with my hands. The two women examining me for any sign of disapproval of their figure.

I surveyed them from top to bottom and said, "You are both so beautiful. Nothing makes me more excited than looking at our shared love."

They rushed me for hugs and Mercedes said, "You are just proud of yourself for fathering two sets of twins."

While I am sure they felt their swollen breasts and ebony bellies filled the room, all I saw was perfection. Derwen's gift had linked her to the feelings of her babies. The surprise about us having twins only grew when she linked to Mercedes' babies too. Our celebratory kisses and cuddles swamped all of us with tears and renewed joy. Our news particularly pleased the Earth Mother High Priestess who said she dreamed of twins for us but had not the courage to make such a prediction. Lady Katsu's youngest sisters, the temple guards were pregnant but not far enough along to know if they had twins too.

My further contribution to the temple children tradition pleased the High Priestess but I wondered how Lord Atum's wife would take it. While this society was more developed than the marsh, they are more reserved in their relationships. I found it strange how all the ebony women openly deferred to my judgment and will. It was like any casual contact with them shifted their behaviors. Now as much as possible, when out of the manor, I latched on to the presence of the estate or village men. Afraid of women who might lose control, I avoided public houses now.

The buckboard wagon versions for hauling, using the improved springs, proved to be as successful as the carriage version. I insisted they be used only locally unless escorted by guards; their novelty and uniqueness made them a ready target for bandits on the open road, and until I returned to Juniper, the carts were resources for my projects rather than for general estate use. We had made arrangements for the creation of large metal hammers in Port City, twice the size of regular blacksmith anvils.

Derwen had paid for the framework of a water wheel to be constructed―but not assembled in the city. When we picked up these items, we revealed our new carts to the large populous and merchants. Hajin sent a squad of mule marines and wagon crews who didn't disclose any details about them, which disturbed the city fathers and powerful merchants. A set of riders followed the carts to Lone Tree, and then returned to the city to report their origin.

The wagons unloaded the goods at the construction site of my first waterwheel and returned to the estate. The wagons' absence from Lone Tree was a surprise to the merchant delegation that followed. The men acted rudely and with anger at the lack of interest in their arrival by the village. They were finally referred to Derwen's estate but the estate guards turned them away. Neither Derwen nor I were interested in talking with the men. These merchants were aligned with a competing faction within the ruling council, and additionally, we felt they were responsible for the attack on us and for my previous injury.

A group of tradesmen Derwen allied with approached us a few days later, wanting to discuss the new wagon designs. We entertained them and we explained they were prototype designs, which were in a period of testing and not yet available for sale. We did promise to deal with them once production could be arranged in the spring.

Derwen's ability to plan, organize and execute were evident by the materials in place at the building sites by the river. Seeing the lumber, timbers, and bricks needed to finalize the building projects had pleased me. A brick structure in a remote village was unheard of in Convey. Yet, we wanted the building to be productive for many years and that required bricks and mortar. Derwen had spent a large sum gathering the materials and the skilled workers required for a faster construction schedule. We housed the masons in a guest house on the estate and had arranged servants for them, which made their stay a pleasant one. One of Derwen's guiding principles was to keep people who worked for her happy.

She had told me, "I get more work out of them and more work equals more profits. More profits then means more work for them, so we all get what we want." Fortunately the three local villages had the manpower to deal with the wood portion of the project.

The plans for the projects that I had finalized on my last visit to the estate were in the hands of the estate manager and he knew both water-powered projects would eventually bring in real coin to the estate. Once I'd convinced Derwen of the leap in economic improvement for the area, she'd set things in motion. The fastest construction project would be the wood building for the saw mill. The whipsaw, a narrow blade held rigid by a frame guided by gears, would move the blade back-and-forth, powered by the waterwheel. This small mill would be able to produce about 3,000-5,000 cut boards a day. There was no doubt in my mind this would seem like a miracle device. However, this simple mechanical water-powered device wasn't as effective as a circular saw, but they didn't have the technology to put that in place yet. The forest upriver was going to fuel an economic boom in Lone Tree.

The brick building for the forge was an innovative step, but even with a number of masons, the building would take the best part of a year to finish. My plan was to build a small, improved forge quickly and teach the estate blacksmith how to use it, then the estate crew could work with the masons on the larger, more efficient forge while I was back in Juniper Hills. My babies would be born by then and these developments would be the beginning of an economic renaissance, which they could enjoy when they became adults.

I was careful to teach the estate craftsmen how the waterwheel gears worked the saw. Someone needed to know how to repair them, as normal wear on the wooden gears would lead to breakages. Since the building site foundation and frames were in place before I returned, the entire saw mill was completed by the end of the month. By having the water wheel built in modular sections in Port City, the assembly went fast on the construction site. Derwen began selling cut boards in Port City with our new buckboard wagons carrying the loads of wood. It was my hope that the estate would quickly recoup its building costs for the saw mill.

The small forge was built in a month because it wasn't a building, but rather an open-air compound with a couple of stone, square chimneys, two miniature waterwheels, a clay-lined catch basin and a few brick walls tall enough so people couldn't see inside. One waterwheel ran a double-acting piston bellows, which blew a more constant, stronger blast of air then the simple bellows used in a blacksmith shop. The increased air flow allowed us to maintain a hotter forge and increase the production of iron. The second miniature waterwheel ran the hammer that removed the impurities from the red hot iron bloom. I calculated the forge could produce about 350 pounds of iron in a short work-day.

The soft iron made from this simple forge was perfect for producing iron bars, nails, horseshoes and plows. We could make a limited amount of wrought iron, which is expensive and used to make hand tools. Also, I taught the iron workers how to make small sections of metal tubes for one of my future projects. All the tubes would be shipped to Juniper Hills and the process was not all that new to the workers. After heating the bar red-hot, we flattened it, hammered it around a forming rod to make the tube and then welded the seam shut, again by heating and hammering.

Just this small open air forge was going to bring considerable wealth to the estate. A source of cheap nails would bring building costs down and make better products. The increased availability of horseshoes would lower the costs for Derwen's mule business, and we would sell the iron bars to local blacksmiths and Port City and make easy money. With a reasonable supply of processed iron we could start making an improved plow to increase productivity for the local farmers.

The wrought iron would ensure the estate had excellent tools for our projects and allow us to expand the number of workers in our workshops or sell tools for coin. The iron workers would make high wages and become valuable craftsmen, so the estate and local freeholds would experience a dramatic increase in productivity while lowering costs, and raising wages. I also expected a large inflow of people moving to the nearby freeholds.

Since this bloomery forge would yield malleable iron of excellent quality, I expected the local weapon makers to turn out superior carbide tipped swords that would be the envy of Convey, too, and it would give Hajin's troops another edge in battle. It was fortunate Derwen had a small stockpile of iron ore and sea coal available for the forge, which allowed for a quick start up. Juniper Hills would benefit because I intended this forge to supply our needs at cost, and with both cheap tools and supplies, we could start our own blacksmith shop in Juniper Hills. Given a chance to talk to the senior apprentices in the villages around Lone Tree, I knew they would fear this local change and would want an opportunity to work in my homestead.