Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

We finished just in time and were fully dressed again when a knock came on the door. Helena seemed a little tired as she cast the unlock spell and opened the door. One of Frank's work crew told us that the tree was outside and wouldn't fit through the door.

“That's fine, thank you.” I said and gave Helena my arm. I knew she would want to be near me when I saw the tree and examined it and she also wanted the support. I had been a bit enthusiastic in my lovemaking and she both loved it and regretted doing it right then. Sharing so much magic to make her tingle all over had made her a little weak and getting off had weakened her knees a lot more than she let on.

“I love you, dearest.” Helena whispered and I led her out of the basement and up the stairs to go outside.

“I love you, too.” I said back without whispering and her face turned red, even redder than when we had made love. The workers we passed gave us various looks, mostly approval and happiness and a few blank stares, with a few thumbs up gestures. One person even clapped twice before his buddy smacked him for it, which made them all laugh.

We went around the back of the house to where the work crew was and the tree inside the cart was nearly fifty feet long, had nice thick branches, and was an even size for nearly the entire length of it and only tapered off for the last ten feet or so. If I only used the tree to make the full size wooden coins for enchantments, I could get about 250 of them from the trunk alone.

If I used my copy technique with number ten potion in large wooden molds, each of those coins would get me 25 square coins of the same size. That was over 6,000 full size enchantments that I could make. If I made them into kracken tube size instead, only 4 inches wide, that was over 56,000 of them without using the branches or scraps from cutting it up.

From a single tree.

I took a shaky breath and let it out, then smiled. “Excuse me for a few minutes, dearest.” I said to Helena and leaned her against the cart to let her hold on. I drew my knife and even in the bright sunlight, the workers around us saw the bright glow. They all stood there and watched as I carefully trimmed off each and every branch and piled them beside the cart.

Some of them were perfect kracken tube size, so I put them in their own piles. I wouldn't even have to prep them and just cut the branches into coins and enchant them. It would make the job so much easier doing it like that. I would still do it the other way, since I wanted our property protected. I would have a rampart built around the property, since it severely lacked any kind of defensive walls, and it would be wide enough for a couple of people to walk on, just like at the garrison.

Barricades disguised with hedges in front of them would be strategically placed, just like they were at the front, to stagger and direct any enemy troops that tried to assault the place. I didn't think I would get away with adding pit traps or spring traps, though. There was no way to protect a random person if they wandered into the wrong spot, so only solid defensive structures would work.

I thought about this while cleaning the tree and then all of the workers gasped when I used my knife to magically peel the intact bark by slicing the side of the tree and popped the whole thing off in one slightly glowing piece. It almost blew their minds when I asked for a cart and started slicing the trunk of the tree into two inch wide coins with my knife that wasn't physically long enough to do so.

I added the coins to the new cart in stacks and kept going until I hit the forty two foot mark and the tree's taper became too thin for a full coin. There was about eight feet left to the trunk, so I used my knife and sliced it into planks, which also shocked the workers, because they usually painstakingly cut the planks they needed by hand and with a hand saw.

I put the stack of different sized planks in the hand cart with the coins and then added the branches that were perfect for kracken tube enchantments. I quickly piled the other branches over beside the house and looked at the basement. It would be too much work to add another doorway to the outside and it would also reduce the amount of security between the outside of the house and my work room, so I didn't even suggest it.

The horse and cart were returned to their normal duties and one of the men took the hand cart around the house for me and the rest of them unloaded it down into the basement and put everything into my work room. I used the planks I had made from the tree to quickly make two large molds, five feet by five feet, just like the ones I had left behind at the new garrison. I also made a bunch of the small ingredient molds that would let me increase the yield of the ingredients I had.

The first potion I made was the fortifying waterproof potion, since I used up the last of it to treat the table, the ingredient mold squares, and one of the pots. There wasn't enough to treat more than that and I needed more. Helena had been waiting for the ingredient mold squares and started quickly making more ingredients from the amount I had prepared previously and had stored in canvas bags.

We started brewing potions soon after everything was treated with the fortifying waterproof potion, with ten batches of number ten potion and one batch of the general health potion. If Lannin was any indication, none of the people around here had taken it before, and Helena encouraged my generosity and my care for the workers. Happy workers were the best workers.

While we waited for the potions to simmer, Helena and I started prepping the wooden coins to ensure that they weren't wasted. If left untreated, their inherent magic capability would eventually wane, like ingredients did when left too long. I had made so many of them previously that I was doing the simple versions almost automatically and without having to think about them.

Helena was about half as fast as I was at carving the simple movement enchantments, which made her quite happy, because she would giggle occasionally like the little girl named Gloria back at Ester's Village.

We had over a hundred of them done by the time the potions were finished. With lots of number ten potion available now, I added an uncut coin to the two large molds and poured in some of the number ten potion to make a five foot by five foot wood square.

After that, Helena and I divided up the general health potion into vials and filled two crates of them. I wasn't sure if that was enough for everyone, so I started another batch and Helena nodded approval. We filled two more crates of vials with number ten potion and started a batch of Healing potion. I knew for a fact that we would need them with all of the people working on the estate, and I didn't have many vials left in my bandoleer.

Helena led the way as I carried the two crates of general health potion out of the basement. Rather than make a huge announcement that would disturb everyone all at once, we instead walked around to each work crew and handed them ten potions. Like Lannin, they drank them without even asking what they were or what they did. Every single person reacted in the same way, with a shiver, a deep breath, and surprise on their faces.

“We take care of our people.” Helena said to the leader of each group and told them we would be back with a healing potion for them, in case of accidents. When we talked to the third crew's leader, he pointed to a man sitting off to the side.

“He dropped one of the larger stones onto his toes. I gave him ten minutes to suck it up and get back to work.” The gruff man said.

“He'll be back in two.” I said and the man didn't look surprised. Helena and I went to the man, who looked slightly afraid as we approached.

“We heard about your accident.” Helena said in a soothing tone. “How is your foot?”

“I'm fine.” The man said and started to stand, winced, and sat back down.

“Relax, we're not here to berate or punish you.” Helena said and held a hand out to me, so I gave her one of my healing potions. “This is a strong potion, so don't worry.” She said and then explained what he was supposed to do with it.

The man looked surprised and took off his thick work boot and his sock, to show an indent on three of his toes and the top of his foot. He accepted the vial and poured a bit out onto his hand and rubbed it all over the damaged area. He winced and hissed at first, then the potion did its work and the cuts and scrapes closed up.

“Now drink the rest.” Helena reminded him and he did so.

A minute later, the happy man wiggled his previously broken toes and laughed. “Thank you my lady, my lord.” He said and slipped on his sock and boot. “I need to get back to work. Please, excuse me.” He bowed slightly and went back over to the crew's leader. He received a pat on the back and they both went back to work.

Helena and I visited everyone and there were six crews of ten men, so we had just enough general health potions for them, with four left over. We gave one to Gerald, Lannin's son, who was the gofer for the workmen. Whatever little thing they needed or messages to give to someone on the site, he did it.

The two work crews from the docks hadn't been sent over yet, so we went back down into the basement and I picked up the two crates of number ten potion.

“I'll crate up the next batch of general health potions when it's done, dearest.” Helena said. “You can go and have fun with Frank and his men now.”

I nodded and gave her a kiss for several seconds, then left the basement to help Frank and his crew become the fastest workers on the site. I couldn't say in the kingdom, because the construction crews at the new garrison had a lot more practice and experience with number ten potion. They would get to that level eventually, though. We had an entire mansion to restore and it wasn't going to do it by itself.

Frank and his men had time to adjust to the miraculous bonding power of the number ten potion since seeing the workbench being made. When they started layering the new stone wall over the old crumbling stone on the house's retaining walls, they left a two inch gap between the new and old walls as instructed and used drops of number ten potion to hold the stones in place instead of mixing up mortar.

They didn't even question it, because they knew that their new lord would show them why. They weren't disappointed when I showed up with a full pot of number ten potion, divided off an appropriate sized section, then poured the whole pot inside. They were amazed when it was filled perfectly to the top of the two inch gap.

After ten minutes, the entire thing was solid stone and had become a reinforced wall that even a top mage would have a difficult time breaking with spells. A good sledgehammer and a lot of muscle might put a dent in it as well. Might.

“Men, follow that example.” Frank said and pointed to the divided area I had made. “Each pot can fill exactly that amount. We'll have this entire wall done in three hours, thanks to this potion.”

“It's like a fortification wall.” One of the men said and looked at me. “You really were out on the new front?”

“I built every defensive structure they have there.” I said, without boasting, and the men nodded. “I want this place just as secure. Six inch thick wooden walls on the inside, ten inch thick stone walls on the outside and covered in wood to hide it, and barricades and even a defensive wall around the main house and eventually the entire property.”

The men stared at me and didn't know what to say.

“I had three construction crews and we had the entire defensive front prepped and built in a month. It covered a huge area, several miles across with over a dozen large defensive structures, twice that in smaller buildings that were inside and outside the new garrison, and defense bunkers for civilians to hide in.” I said. “What do you think we can do in a week with six crews, possibly eight if the shipwright gets off his ass and sends them over?”

Frank laughed, as did the other men. “Sir, we'll change this whole place into the most easily defensible building in the capital.”

“Then let's get to it.” I said, and we did.

The retaining wall was completed exactly when Frank said it would be and I kept making potions and helping where I could while waiting for them to brew. Helena watched them and came to get me when they needed to be infused.

Selena came back, significantly later than she was supposed to, with the excuse that the stone shipment had been 'lost' and sent somewhere else, so she had to wait for another load to be made and brought it back with her. She had made her displeasure known to the man, who just laughed and told her to come back later with her brother or her husband if she had a problem.

I gave Helena a look and she sighed, then agreed that we would have to talk to her brother Marcus to set a few things straight with him, then we would have to visit the place ourselves. That wouldn't happen until supper that night, so we all worked the rest of the afternoon and partway into the evening.

I checked the potions in the basement one more time to ensure they were simmering properly on reduced heat, secured the door with both magic and number ten potion, then left two Henrietta guards on the door to the basement. One grumbled that he wasn't paid enough to work all night, so I dismissed him and asked for another guard to take his place. One offered immediately and took the other guard's place.

“Now that I have two trustworthy people, this is your schedule. One of you rests for three hours and the other watches for three hours. You switch when it's time and you'll only be awake for six hours tonight. If you do well, you'll get the day off tomorrow to get some proper sleep. If you like the job, you'll only do that and nothing else.”

“Sir!” The two men saluted and looked happy that they wouldn't have to stay up all night in one shot, while the other guard cursed under his breath, probably for missing out on such an easy job.

“No one is allowed in. Not Marcus, not his mother, and not his father. This is my estate now and you are my guards. You will guard it properly or you won't live past tomorrow.”

Both men looked nervous as they nodded.

“I'll have supper sent over for you as well.” I said and left them there to head back to the Henrietta Family mansion. I had a pleased Helena on my arm and a slightly grumpy Selena beside me as we walked to the waiting coach that had just arrived. The six work crews waved and bid us a good evening as we climbed into the coach.

Now all we had to do was confront Helena's petty and annoying brother and then face another formal family meal. I knew what to expect now, so it wasn't going to be like it had been previously. I would check with the kitchen staff to make sure that they weren't going to pull another trick like last time, arrange for the food for the two guards, then I could go into the dining room fully prepared and without worry.