'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 2: Here Comes The Witches

Need To Consume More Ale

The next morning was busy as usual as the ladies helped to prepare breakfast c*m lunch for the whole citizens of Gracehaven. It was a fanfare of activities as usual, as there were about 8 cauldrons of pottage to be prepared.

Ever since the citizens had been receiving their remunerations, meal provisions had been cut down to only breakfast and lunch and the citizens didn't mind a bit since they could purchase food from the Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon for its pan-fried flatbread, Gracehaven's Finest Bakery for its pork pies and also Turnovers and other delicacies as well as Gracehaven's General Store for its biscuits and cakes.

Work was generally busy in the first part of the morning as the men helped the rest of the ladies to prepare breakfast c*m dinner. Our newly inducted family member had joined his daughter and was sitting at the courtyard, where they had shifted a table for Firestone to help cut the vegetables up and so on.

From the balcony, I could see smiles all around and this brought another joy in my heart. A Shadow member approached me from the domain's watchtower and informed me that a storm might be approaching.

"Your Majesty, we had erected a lightning arrestor that would be higher than the highest point here in Gracehaven. The erection of such device is to....." the Shadow member explained the lightning arrester 'rod' and its function and we nodded our head as we realised what would the aftermath be if the lightning was to strike any other structures.

As I had visualised before, a metal vertical Granary filled with corn would be turned into popcorn if lightning were to struck on it. It would literally fill the whole courtyard, domain and part of the residential lots full of popcorn goodness... Hahaha.

After I thanked the Shadow member due to his quick thinking of erecting the lightning arrestor, we went down to the courtyard and sat at the bamboo throne with the study table before us. Since there's only a single person to be interviewed and inducted, I requested the domain assistant to summon Firestone forward.

When he approached with his daughter, Farah, he was about to go down on his only knee when he was brought up by the armpit by Farah. "Father, there's no need to do that in your condition. It's alright, Our Majesty won't be offended in any manner at all."

"Yes Your Majesty, your humble servant is here." Firestone said as he sat down rigidly on the bench and I corrected him, "There's no such thing as a servant here, Firestone. There are only citizens of Gracehaven here." Firestone grinned at his mistake and relaxed as he saw his daughter was 'slouching' at the table instead of sitting upright at the bench provided.

"I am here to induce you to become a citizen of Gracehaven. Do you have anything to object?" I inquired and his face lit up at the mention of it. "Yes, Your Majesty, I have no issue on that and I am readily available to serve."

I was elated on hearing it, and I was thinking the whole night on how to utilise Firestone so that he would not be left alone and feel dejected due to his disability.

After getting some information from him, we found that he was suited to be a wagon driver but for him to travel long-distance alone would be greatly not advisable. Right after that, I reassured him that the Ministers would be able to bring him about the grounds to see where he would fit himself comfortably.

After breakfast, there was the usual morning meeting and I announced to the community that we have a new inductee and pointed to Firestone to turn and address the crowd. The moment he stood up and introduced himself, I heard a shout from the back of the community and it belonged to Chadwell.

"Mister Foreman... It is me, Chadwell. I used to be under your hand before." Chadwell hollered and waved his hands as he sauntered forward and shook hands with his previous foreman. Later I had learnt that this was the foreman that Chadwell had worked with before changing hands to work with another.

"Sorry Your Majesty, please continue. Hehe. I will talk to Firestone later on." quipped Chadwell as he suddenly felt all eyes on him as he interrupted the morning meeting.

Chadwell then squeezed with the men in front and sat there waiting for the morning meeting and for Firestone to finish his induction speech. When he finally concluded, everyone clapped their hands and next would be the delegation of work in various stations as discussed the night before.

After the delegation, I called forth Chadwell and Firestone along with some of the miners that had been acquainted with him before at Durham or anywhere else before that.

"So, Firestone, it's a sweet surprise that these miners do recognise you from afar. So Chadwell, is this the foreman that you worked the last time before you worked as a renegade?"

"No, Your Majesty. He is not the one. Please don't mistook him from the one I had related to you before. This foreman before you now is a kinder person, and I regret not following him to work in the coal mines."

"Heh, do you know what happened in Durham? There was an explosion in the coal mines, you know. The one I recommended to you and the rest had decided not to follow me there since you decided to stay back in Cumbria. All of you stayed behind, I remember, and that saved your life...!"

They heard about the coal mine explosion in Durham and was shocked to hear that it was Firestone's assignment. Eagle explained that coal mine explosion was due to the coal particles being ignited by an open heat source like a dropped miner's lamp that created such catastrophe.

Everyone understood why such an explosion occurred because it was rather uncommon and cant help wonder why the coal mines would reap better benefits from others as it pays more as well with higher risks involved.

"Father, are you thinking of going back to the mines again? Look at your condition first and I sincerely hope you would not dream of being a foreman in such peril places even though the money is good. Staying here is just as good too, you know."

"That's right, Mister Foreman, there's nothing good over there in the mines. The coal prices had dropped tremendously because firewood and charcoal prices are now greatly discounted. Besides the demand for these precious metals especially for metal ores to aid in making armours had increased though."

"My little precious, don't worry, Father is not going anywhere at all. These are the miners who used to work with me in Cumbria before we moved to Durham. Don't worry, my precious, Father is not going anywhere. Rest assured."

Firestone cooed her daughter and with this, she hugged his arms tightly, as he patted her head gently and looked at me. I sighed and decided to let the matter rest. Besides, some of the miners would be needed to work at building the kiln in the courtyard as well as the 2 cold storage barns.

I dismissed them and old Jack went along with Firestone as he showed the grounds where he would find befitting to contribute. Even though it was too early for him to settle down, but at least he got the time to get used to the environment first.

=*=

Eagle and Marcel stayed on with me as they wanted to express something important that had been in their minds when the miners congregated there with their ex foreman.

"Your Majesty, look behind you. See those lanterns that had been improvised by Farah? Those are safety no-heat incandescent lights that could be used in the mines with no worries at all."

"There's no need for any maintenance, no refills and also zero risk to coal dust explosion due to methane gases," Eagle spoke out and pointed to the lantern that was dangling inside the domain over the conference table.

"Since we are a part of the conglomerates, we have a connection with the Miners Association called the 'Economics of Mining and Metallurgy Department'. This Department controls all the mines all over England, no matter how big or small they are and what I would like to propose is... "

Marcel was cut short by me since all he could think of profiteering from any business opportunities as I continued, "Mass produce and distribute it to the Department for sale, is that what you are intending to say? Hahaha. I can see those gold and silver coins up in your thought bubble there, my dear friend. Hahaha."

I laughed and the duo in front of me laughed out loud too. Well, we introduce safety at a small price and these miner's lamps could be purchased from the Engineering Guild in Corral and Marcel would be the one who would be contacting this ' Economics of Mining and Metallurgy Department'.

"I will get to it and get the price from him first. Would we include in the lantern as well?" Marcel inquired but I simply shook my head.

"Check the price, draft a letter and let us read it first and send it to the so-called 'Economics of Mining and Metallurgy Department' and ask them if any exists along with the price and dimensions plus its long term benefits and safety features. In this way, we save a lot of footwork and let our fingers do the walking instead."

Marcel understood and get to work along with Eagle since he needed to use the carrier pigeon service to relay the message to the Engineering Guild in Corral to find out the price for at least 1,000 unit of those lamps.

Heather and I walked the grounds thereafter and discovered that Farah was at the commode drying area as she was just firing up the place. The drying area was constructed by Earl since it was just a simple single-storey building with a door and a collapsible vent surrounding it that operates with a flip of a handle.

The collapsible vent was to aid in letting the hot air escape when the 2000°F drying area had reached its 2 hour limit for the commode to turn from clay to stoneware. Once the 2-hour limit had reached, Farah would mentally shut off the radiating heat within, and Earl would open up the vents and let the hot air escape naturally for another 2 hours before the commodes were removed and entry inside the drying area was permitted.

In this way, the commodes would be stacked high inside after being air-dried outside. Once the commode project ends in another 3 days or so, Earl would conjure up the drying area back into the ground.

"Earl, you can't do that for the kiln in the courtyard, do you? The one that we planned to make it as a grain drying area?"

I asked and Earl informed me, "This drying area is a simple structure with no shelves et cetera. It's just like a single cabin where the commodes were stacked one on top of the other so it would be fired simultaneously."

"I would be making the similar drying area for the clay bricks as well, Your Majesty since all these clay bricks would be placed inside once it was being air-dried for some time and hard enough to be carried away. Normally it is going to be done in the mornings like the current pit that the men are working on right now."

"I see, so basically you would make this disappear and reappear at the clay baking area then. Good idea, Earl. Your contributions to the community are really remarkable. You too Farah..." Heather praised both Earl and Farah for contributing a great part to the community by making things possible through their special abilities.

"How about the kiln for the grains then, how does it go about?" Heather was intrigued and was later joined by Firestone and old Jack after their rounds.

"Oh, once the kiln for the drying of grains is completed, old Jack here would be designing the surround walls to be fitted with iron racks. These iron racks would be about 3½ feet wide and as long as the walls."

"These racks would be lined with trays to make the process of drying in the kiln faster and I guess the structure would be 15 feet long, 10 feet wide and about 15 feet high."

"The heat radiating for the drying would be constant at 100°F. The heat may be a bit stifling but there would be a ventilation like this one so before anyone gains entry, it would be opened up and left the heat escape and the door open to let the draft in."

"The high ceiling helps to cool the air faster when the vents and door are open. Not to worry your Majesty, the one who operates the drying kiln just needs to have more ale in him or her that's all."

The last sentence made by Farah made us laugh out loud since everyone would love to work at the kiln for grains.