The idea of the people on the other side of the mountain was both exciting and nerve-wracking. We didn't need another hostile force right now. But if someone was living over there, it could be another source of trade.

  "Why do you think they have shown up?" I asked.

  "Probably due to the forest fire. It was massive. We had to evacuate the fort until it died down," Draves said.

  "Well, not much we can do about it. Which village was the campsite closest to?"

  "Melnon, my lord. And we have informed the Headman and doubled the patrols near there." the soldier said.

  "Have a BDF member from Kar who knows the language travel with each group. If we can establish a dialogue with them, we can figure out what resources we can trade with them," I said.

  "As you wish, my lord."

  "Excellent, let's take a tour."

  The first thing I noticed about this place was that food would have to be imported. The large shelf on which the fort was located on was very rocky. The sparse grass that grew there might work for goats, but nothing else would work here. It was worse than Melnon.

  Before entering the fort, we went up to the water wheels that were being built. The river that made its way down from higher up in the mountains was excellent for building water wheels in a tier system. They were building them in a row fed by a concrete canal that diverted some of the water from further up the mountain. The water that ran through the first water wheel and then would drop onto a second. The half timber frames of the Workshops were being built around the shafts that extended from the wheels. I could tell that they could extend up the mountain to make even more forges.

  "I'm impressed. You all must have started working on these as soon as I left," I said

  "Yes, my lord," the soldier said. "We have paused for now to build the paper workshop. And homes for Emily's paper workers."

  "Will Lady Emily have a home?"

  The soldiers smiled. "Forgive me, Lady Emily Paper. The messenger brought news of your elevated status, but it will be hard to address you as a lady. I have known you since you were in diapers."

  Emily blushed, "Uncle Tarrence, stop trying to embarrass me."

  "Yes, my lady."

  "And don't call me lady. It's weird," she said with an exasperated sigh.

  "I am sorry, my lady, but Count Bicman would have me whipped if I did not address you properly," he said with a straight face.

  "I certainly would," I said. Not even trying to hold back a grin.

  Emily's cheeks puffed up in frustration but said nothing.

  "So, Tarrence, are you in charge here," I asked.

  "When the general is not around."

  Having people call him general was a bit confusing. He was General of the BDF, but he was still the captain of my guard. I was going to still call him captain.

  As we entered the palisade through the large gate, I was shocked by the neat and orderly manner of the place. I shouldn't have been, though. It was layed out the same way as all the other new villages.

  "Most of the hidden projects are in the back, My lord," Tarrence said.

  "By that, I assume you mean the weavers' hut and paper-making workshop."

  "It is not much of a hut now, my lord," he said with a grin as he pointed to a large building in the back.

  I excitedly walked back there. When we arrived, we ran into Gentleman Sanders, the engineer, coming out. He looked surprised but then immediately bowed. "My lord, it is good to see you."

  "You as well, Sanders. What have you been up to?" I said.

  He smiled. "It would be easier to ask what I have not been up to. Mainly, I have been busy with the water wheels, but I have been giving input on the new loom."

  "They aren't building it the same way as the other two?" I asked in confusion.

  "Oh, I-," he said in an embarrassed tone.

  Tarrence sighed. "It was supposed to be a surprise. Edward gave us the designs you had for the loom you wanted to build."

  "You mean the Jacquard Loom?" I asked in surprise. "But why? Wouldn't it be best to get another loom up and running and just pump out a bunch of high-quality plain cloth?"

  "I looked at the patterns and notes you had. I don't think you have a clear understanding of the price for which you could sell this cloth. Any cloth with as intricate of a design as you propose would sell for three times the price of plain cloth if not more."

  "Yes, but we can't sell it yet. We need ships that can take our cloth to Carok."

  "Wouldn't it be simpler to just build docks here and get traders to come here?" Sanders asked

  "That would be true if we wanted people to know that we were the ones creating the cloth. It is best if we don't bring too much attention to ourselves right now. We are still weak and can be easily crushed. So, as everyone knows, we will acquire the clothes from the Karr."

  "My lord, I am confused. What does the Karr have to do with this?" He said in confusion.

  "The Karr originally came from across the sea. We will just pretend we got it from them."

  "So you will have ships going out to sea pretending they are going somewhere and then come back with shipments."

  "Something like that."

  "Won't their ships try and follow ours," he said.

  I laughed. "They can try. Trust me, I have some things I am planning."

  My ship would be so much better than the clunkers they have now. That and with the Bermuda sails, they would be able to tact into the wind. A few other things to help misdirect people, and not only would I be able to take eyes off myself, but I may even be able to protect my people.

  "You know what, though. This should be good anyways. The jacquard loom doesn't have to use patterns, and it is, in fact, probably faster than the other looms, so all is well. Thank you for your efforts. Let's go take a look."

  We went into the factory where ten spinning wheels and two looms were set up. Women were busy, causing a pile of material to disappear and reappear as thread. Others were working with the looms churning out cloth. There was one more group of women that were moving the cloth out the back door?"

  "Where are they taking it?" I asked

  "It will be loaded up into a cart and sent to New Hope, where the fullers have been dying the cloth and preparing it for making armor for your men."

  "Ok, that works for now. What else have you been up to? Your wife says the reaper is coming along well."

  "Ah yes, the model we have now should work. I am surprised that you didn't see it while you were at the manor."

  "To tell you the truth, it completely slipped my mind. I was more concerned with things that could help with the war. I rushed up here as soon as I could to see how things were going."

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Well then, would you like to take a look at the crossbow?"

  "Yes, That would be best. I heard there were quite a few changes that needed to be made."

  "Not necessarily changes but more trying to figure out the best way to make it work. It is an incredible invention, and a person with proficiency could take a man at 200 meters. The bow can be shot much faster, so that reduces its effectiveness, but on the other hand, it can be learned easily. At close range, it can easily punch through metal."

  We made our way over to a range where a few of the BDF were practicing with the crossbow. When they saw me, they all came over and bowed deeply.

  "So tell me what you think of the crossbow."

  "It is an incredible device, my lord," one of the men said with enthusiasm. "I tried the bow while in training, and they rejected me. But with this, I am able to hit the target most of the time."

  The others gave similar praise. I hoped it was all sincere. I saw one man who would not meet my eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't muster the courage to do so. I had seen this many times before. These people had an ingrained belief that they were not to question or criticize their lord. Doing so in a noble's presence might even cause their own death. I agreed about not criticizing a lord to his face. Disrespecting a lord shouldn't be done, but having a question or expressing a concern could only help.

  "Soldier, you seem to have some insight but are nervous to share it. Please let me know what concerns you. Maybe we can fix it."

  After a pause to decide whether or not he should risk upsetting me, he finally said. "My lord, there was one version of the crossbow I thought was better. It was not as powerful as this one, but it loaded faster because the arm was wood, not iron. These are impressive because they travel farther, and I have seen them punch through metal, but will the enemy be wearing metal armor? I could hit three people with the other crossbow in the time it takes to load this one once."

  There was a long pregnant pause where nobody said anything. Finally, I realized everyone was waiting for me to respond. "Draves, what do you think the raiders will be wearing?"

  Draves thought for a moment. “Fitting more than just the higher officers with metal armor would be expensive. The last time the Rabiss showed up at the cove, only two of the men wore leather armor. The rest wore none. But that could just mean their armor was lost at sea.”

  “Let's see what we have got then.”

  The practice shots I saw confirmed their praise. This could easily pierce through the thin metal plates on armor. However, they also proved that the crossbows were not fast to use, even with the cranking device. I tried a couple of shots myself, and it took me almost ninety seconds to reload. Maybe with practice, I could get it down, but if the other crossbow was more effective for lightly armored people, maybe we should use it.

  "Which of the bows is easier to make?"

  "Believe it or not, this one is faster if you don't include the crank system. The trip hammer makes the difference. The other ones are made using a composite bow, which takes a while to cure but is easier to pull back and doesn't require a crank."

  "What if we did a mix of both? We have the winter to cure the bows, so I think we should lean heavily on the ones that are easier to draw. At the same time, we can make some of these metal ones. If we had a few of them in each city, they could help with more heavily armored opponents. We also have limited quantities of metal.”

  We discussed how to shift the laborers around a bit so that we could get a good mix of both. I also reiterated the fact that I expected improvements to be made. After about an hour of discussion I decided it was time to introduce Tumlus.

  News had already spread about the strange "Southerner" with darker skin, but Sanders had been giving Tumlus sideways glances since we came. Unlike the people here who had mostly lived in isolation Sanders had probably seen plenty of Rabiss down at the Vespar port.

  “Sanders may I introduce Tumlus, a glassmaker of Kimton. He will be assisting us with some experiments I have in mind,” I said with enthusiasm.

  “A boy from Rabiss for your glassmaker is an interesting choice,.” Sanders said in surprise.

  “Rabiss!” Tarrence exclaimed in surprise. A few of the soldiers took a step back. Tumlus’ head sunk into his shoulders.

  I ignored the reason for the people's shock and acted as if it were for a totally different reason. “I know; I was shocked, too, when I found out. I had no idea that the Rabiss were such capable craftsmen in glass making. Tumlus and I have been talking on the way back, and I think we may have figured out a new way to make glass. I am really excited to see what he can do.”

  Sanders realized his mistake and hurried to correct it. He walked up to Tumlus and greeted him with a smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you, young man. With how excited the count is, I expect great things from you.”

  “Thank you,” Tumlus muttered.

  “Oh, Tarrence. He will be staying here so he will be under your care. We have spent the trip back coming up with plans on the best way to build a kiln for our new glass. We will need to have that built after the paper workshop is complete,” I said.

  “Of course, my lord. Thank you for the honor of entrusting the young man to me. However, we do not currently have a home for him. With your permission, I would like him to stay at my home until one can be arranged,” Tarrence said with a gentle expression. It seems he, too, understood his mistake.

  “Excellent. In fact, you are going to have to find a place to put your count up for the night.”

  There were chuckles all around. “Fear not, my lord. Your home was the first to be built in… what is the new name?”

  “Pine Ridge,” Draves said.

  “Thank you, General. Count Bicman, would you like to view your manor.”

  I was shocked. They built me a manor. What I had mistaken for a town hall when we first came in was actually a small manor. There was a great hall that was about half the size of the one in Bicman, three bedrooms, and a kitchen. Tarrence tried to apologize for it being so small, but I thought it was perfect.

  My party stayed the night in the manor. All of us but Tumlus that is. Tarrence was true to his word and brought Tumlus into his home. Tarrence's wife latched onto Tumlus like he was some long-lost son who had finally come home. Emily explained to me that her aunt had had three miscarriages, and the two children that were actually born did not live past the age of five.

  When the party left in the morning, Tumlus stayed behind. The last I saw of him, he was walking around with Tarrence, who was doing inspections.

  In the words of the great John “Hannibal” Smith, "I love it when a plan comes together."

  Our first stop was the black powder workshop, and then to the blast site of the black powder. What didn't make sense to me was how it exploded in the world without pressure. My thought was someone walked and opened the barrel to see what was inside, and it lit on fire. But without pressure, how did it explode? I really was just guessing, as I hadn't dealt with the stuff enough. Especially since they said, it was a couple of small barrels.

  The small workshop where they kept the supplies for the making of black powder was about a kilometer away from Pine Ridge. The place where they stored the black powder was five kilometers higher up the mountainside. This was all to prevent accidents.

  There was a timber fence about nine feet high around the perimeter of the place where they made the black powder. The yard is where they would make the black powder because no fire was allowed beyond the fence except for the drying of the saltpeter after leaching. The small shed had stored all the equipment. After the explosion, everyone stopped working on the black powder, so they brought everything back to Pine Ridge to hide it from people who might be snooping.

  We then went further up the mountain to where they stored it. As we traveled east, the trees turned into burnt sticks jutting in the sky, and the wet ash was everywhere. Could we use all this for charcoal? For my plan to work, we would need a lot of black powder. We reached the site where the shed used to be, and I whistled. All that was left was a small divot in the earth and a whole lot of ash. I needed to get to Fort Cove and figure out how Kylie had made it.

  From the crater, we left to see where they were rerouting the river. I recognized about ten of the original inhabitants of Cove Village working on the canal, and the others wore the BDF's Black uniform. One of the men was Johnathan?, one of the original founders of Cove Village.

  To my surprise, he was one of the men wearing a BDF uniform. He had either made it through the training program very fast or already had some military experience. I only spent a little time discussing the project with them and thanking them for their hard work. Really, there wasn't much to see. They were making excellent progress on the project, and I was sure they would be done by the end of the month. Then, we could work on my plan to ensure the raiders don't discover the road to Melnon.

  We made it to Fort Cove just before dark, and I have to admit I was very impressed. The walls were four meters high and made completely of logs. Two BDF soldiers met us out front and escorted us to meet with Lieutenant Griff of Fort Cove. After introductions were made, we got down to business.

  "Lieutenant, the fort looks good. I understand you have thirty men here currently."

  "Yes, my lord. Technically, I have a full platoon of fifty, but twenty are constantly rotated out for the work detail of building the canal. So we have thirty in the fort."

  "You really have done an amazing job with this fort, but we are definitely going to need some more workers up here to expand it," I said.

  This surprised everyone. "My lord. The fort can currently hold 200 men. Do you really think we will be able to fill out our ranks enough to need more room?" the lieutenant asked.

  "Oh, it's not for us," I said solemnly. "We are going to turn it into a death trap for our enemies.”

  I looked around sadly.

  This would be a great spot for the city of North Cove. But if what I plan actually works the blood of too many dead Rabiss would make the place haunted.

  Nibilum of the Rabiss Raiders

  "Captain, I have received the last part of the coded message. Somehow, there was a leak, and the Barony of Bicman knows we are coming," my second said.

  I swore. I was promised an easy raid. It was already a far distance to travel. If we hadn't been paid a ridiculous amount to do it, I would never have bothered. "They are probably building fortifications then and will hire mercenaries. No, from what I hear, they are too poor to hire mercenaries. How many men can we expect to be facing?"

  "The report said they are training four hundred peasants."

  An equal number compared to what we were planning on bringing, and they will have fortifications. "We are canceling the contract. We are raiders, not mercenaries."

  "There is more. The one who hired us said they would double the amount they were going to pay, and they guaranteed that they would be able to get rid of a majority of the force the barony is building by the time we get there. Also, the king sent additional presents to the barony. They think there will be an additional four hundred to eight hundred people for us to take."

  This gave me pause. "Perhaps if we brought in additional companies, we could make this work. Get ahold of your cousin and let him know I have a proposal for his captain."