Chapter 15 - 1299
Waiting for the next batch of heavy stones to be loaded for the rebuilding of the crenellations, Nicholas leaned over the parapet, looking around him at the fortress of Nephin. A great moat had been cut, all the way across the peninsula, for more than a hundred yards, through the living rock, leaving only a small spur in the center to support the drawbridge. The thick walls and the sea-swept battlements of the citadel offered additional protection against attack. The fortress was quasi-impregnable.
When the stones were loaded onto the pallet, the footman inside the treadwheel began to walk laboriously. As he did, the rope attached to a pulley turned on a spindle, hoisting the pallet. Nicholas and Poitou, his slightly-built new friend, shivered but willed the chilly bree
