Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 1: The Beginning

C042 How Things Work

I went about my rounds before heading towards Heather where she was teaching the kids about phonetics and to match spoken words after going through some letters of the alphabet. She would use commonly use words against items that would be used for exchange through the token system. Not only that, she also used parts of the body as well as similar sounding items to make a difference on the phonetics such 'hair' and 'air' or 'ham' and 'hemp'. Even myself would have some difficulties when facing such phonetics.

I sat there behind the children and listened on how she conducted the lesson and when she let the children to match the words with wild boar, I called out from behind the children in the squeakiest voice ever, "Sister Heather, I want to eat some more wild boar meat. Today I was doing some projects and some of the people thought I had mad swine disease and Momma Kayla said I must eat more so I won't become a pig... Huu Huu Huu...Oink, Oink, Oink..."

The children heard the funny squeaky voice and looked behind to find me squatting down and making faces with my hands behind my ears and flapped it like a Sir Blackie while sticking my tongue out and crossed my eyes. In fact I really looked like a pure i***t disrupting the class with my silly antics.

The children laughed at my silly antics and Imelda squealed, "Big Brother, you look so funny like a town's idiot... Haa Haa Haa... There you have it, the children has spoken and frankly children do not lie. So I decided to change the subject and asked the children some serious questions instead. "So I want to ask those who came here yesterday. Which is better, this village or your previous town?"

"Of course, this town...!"

"This town...!"

"I like the roast meat last night...!"

"Today's breakfast is very nice...!"

"Our town is very big but my mummy sometimes go hungry but let us eat instead of her..."

The last sentence shocked me and I looked at her emaciated frail body. The old king doesn't allow anyone to go hungry. You are paid daily according to the day's worth. We even conduct census to find out those who were unable to work for some reasons and if there's no vacancy in the Kingdom, the old King would always find some work in the Manor or some Noble's house.

"What's your family name, little girl? And how many of you in the family?" I frowned my eyebrows and asked the girl so that the family's ration would be adjusted accordingly.

"This is my  brother, he's 3 and I am 5. We have a little baby sister and she is just 6 months old. We are 'edwell, Big Brother." she replied as she twiddle her hands anxiously.

"Chadwell... I would put you in my books" I thought to myself.

Seeing her in that situation, Heather immediately approached her and comforted her saying that the Big Brother was only asking some questions and there's no reason to be alarmed.

The little girl smiled at me and I immediately saw her dimpled cheeks. I observed that her face is clean, has no scratches or scabs on her arm and legs which means she is not the rough and tumble type.

I felt like my heart was not within my body but was at a distance far from it and I was somewhat yearning... A kind of loss knowing that you knew where it was but your hands can never grasp it.

"Don't worry little girl. Big Brother here knows what to do. Later on the evening Big Brother would gather some information from your parents because Big Brother needs to write and keep everything on paper. Like what all of you are doing. I can't remember so many names but I am pretty sure can remember family names very well."

"Alright little miss Chadwell, continue with your learning. Learn as much as possible and if anyone of you are not too sure, please check with Sister Heather ok?" I stood up, dusted my butt and went back to the study table and flipped my census records and put a star on the corner of the paper beside Chadwell's.

I then left the study table and went to Jack's." Heya, Jack. What are you doing right now? Would you be free to discuss something?" I saw that Jack had nearly finished hammering pieces of ores and turned them into a pig iron that could either be sold or be forged into something else.

"Take a seat first, I would ready in a short moment. I just need a few more hammering and I'm done." I then took a seat at the long bench at his counter and saw that he had made some blades that looked like a spear head. I held one in my hand and saw that the top was pretty sharp but the rest wasn't.

"That's a throwing knife. It's a special blade to counter enemy at close quarters. It could be held like a dagger but also can be thrown towards the intended target. Here, let me show you how." Jack saw I was looking intently at it and he took it from my hands. He sort of weighed the knife in his hand and he threw it at a tree about 15 feet away.

"THUNK..."

"Perfect every time. Anyone messes with a Blacksmith would have a present right between their eyes." Jack proclaimed as he left the shop and I trailed behind him and saw the throwing knife was embedded in the middle of the trunk.

"5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet. This is the way to hold it and this is the angle where it would be." Jack explained as he held his arm in front of him at an angle for 5 feet, above his head for 10 feet and slightly behind his head for 15 feet. "Do you fancy? It could be yours if you want it."

I shook my head and told him that I would like to have a fast action hunting bow. "Gwen is able to shoot 8 arrows in quick succession. But I'm not sure I could even handle an amateur bow since I had never tried one before."

"I saw some crossbow action before... They took the lives of my family. I would want one but I think you could improvised it to reload as fast as a hunting bow, could you?" I replied and Jack's face turned slightly off colour as he asked if I wanted to take revenge.

"Don't think too far like that. I don't even know who shot my family down and even if I take revenge, do I have 10,000 conscripts with me? 10,000 grains of rice I do have but not men." I clasped Jack's shoulder and went back to his shop.

"I am here not because of having any killing intent. I was thinking if you could come up with an idea on how to make a long oven. This long oven would be spaced 2 feet apart, double layered with a metal door on its front."

"I was intending to have a 10' by 3' by 4' oven, holes underneath the furnace and vents at the back of the oven. In this way cool draft could travel from beneath the oven and heated ones escape out from the vent behind it."

" What do you think? Are you up for the challenge? We would be using clay bricks instead. And the construction would definitely be up and running within 3 to 5 days time."

Jack rubbed his chin and told me a door would just be a metal square piece fixed with 2 hinges and latch in the center. He would need to produce some nails where he would need to secure the hinges to the clay bricks.

"Hmm, if I could make a throwing knife, large metal door shouldn't be a problem. Then how about the internal shelf?"

"Then I would need you to produce metal rods. 3 rods per oven and one across like this."i began to scratch on the ground to show him what I had in mind but he stopped me."Your idea is good, but mine is better since I deal with a lot of metals."

He then drew a front view of a diagram, then a side view and a top view. It's better to be 3" by 4" by 3'. "This inverted 'U' shaped metal rack would be movable. There no need for hacking or making holes into the clay bricks internally."

"With this kind of rack, the baking tray that is made of clay would be able to fit in albeit leaving just an inch clearance on both sides. It would be able to slide in and out and there's only a need for lesser number of rods."

"The rods could even be removed to clean the oven or make some minor patch up for cracks et cetera what do you think? All you need is clay bricks and the base to start with. Remember who built the oven back then?"

Jack reminded that the oven was his idea while Frank and Ben assisted to set it up by mixing soil, mud, crushed rocks (rough grain sand) and some dry grass." Jack then explained about setting up a clay table top which the oven would be constructed on its surface.

"A wooden mold would be required as you suggested, a 10' by 4' by 3' surface. The legs of the clay table top would be made using clay bricks and layered with clay for added strength. Then the table would be carried and placed on top of the legs. There you have it, an oven surface for the furnace area."

"You're a genius Jack... Thank you so much... My goodness. You really surprise me at your vast knowledge." I praised Jack as he was of the same age as my father, the old king.

"No, it is me that should be thanking you instead. You gave me a second life after we had left Darlington. You are, after all, my son..."

Me "..."

"I mean I regard you as my son, even though Kayla and I do not our very own offspring to carry our family name." Jack explained and he then slapped my back. Go on your rounds, my young master. Do what you need to do. This old man is going to make more pig iron. There's a metal door to be made, right?"

I laughed and clasped his forearm as I excused myself and made my way to check the progress of the windmill. I wonder how it would be like to be living in a home where one would not have the pitter-patter sounds of little feet and the wails and cries of a young one. I am pretty sure that it would be a lonesome when one never gets to hear those at all.

The state of unable to have an offspring would be hard to describe. Only those who experiences it would find the yearning to be unbearable both as a husband or a wife.

"Good morrow gentlemen. How are things for today? Could anyone care to explain how this windmill works? I was hoping for wind blades to rotate around by itself to catch the wind. Does wind travel only in 1 direction? " I greeted them and saw that they were building the windmill from ground up and asked about some fundamentals that I didn't know.

"Things are good, young master. So you are interested on how does a windmill work eh? Alright, let's go outside and watch the tiny red triangular flag that we hang using a few pieces of reed tied together. See where the wind is coming?" one of the engineers ushered me outside as I went out with him to a clearing just a few feet from the windmill structure.

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