Kivamus pointed to the notes. "The clay diggers found another medium-sized fire-clay deposit near the coal mines. The earlier one was nearly exhausted, so that was lucky. For now the same group will keep digging a small amount each day, and a wagon will transport it to the eastern bank at the dam site. The potters will clean out roots, stones, and anything else that should not be in the clay. Then they will knead it with crushed old pots and broken fired scraps. If they need a little more grit, they can even use material from the streambed."
Syrene tilted her head. "Not sand?"
"If we had good sand easily available, yes," Kivamus said. "But we use what we have. Small gritty material from the stream should be good enough for experiments."
Duvas looked over the rough drawing. "And the molds for them?"
"Just simple wooden molds on flat boards," Kivamus shrugged. "The clay will be pressed into them and smoothed while still on the boards. They'll just have to remember not to try to lift the soft slabs too early. They have to let them stiffen first."
"How long?" Syrene asked.
"About a week of slow drying under a roofed, airy shed," Kivamus said. "Not direct harsh sun. If they dry too quickly, they’ll crack."
Syrene nodded and made a note.
Kivamus continued, "After that, the slabs go into the kiln. Not packed directly into fuel like we did for making steel. The fuel burns below in the firebox. The tiles sit above on supports made from stone, broken pottery, or rough fired-clay bars. The heat rises and bakes them."
Duvas frowned a little. "How long will the firing take?"
"Two days at most," Kivamus said. "Then we leave the kiln to cool until the next day before opening it."
Syrene looked up. "So the first usable tiles will take more than a week even if everything goes well."
"Yes. Which is fine, because the carpenter will spend that time starting the wooden frame anyway. The chimney comes later, and the tiles will be ready by the time the first tenement is getting close to completion, and when Taniok returns."
Duvas rested both hands on the edge of the table. "It does add another whole line of work."
"It does," Kivamus said. "But we need it. I don’t want open braziers in those rooms. It is fine in the longhouse blocks because there are hundreds of people in the hall to keep an eye on it, but the tenement will have private rooms. One careless child, one tipped brazier, and a whole wooden building could turn into a blaze. The central chimney is a much safer method, but only if we make it properly."
Syrene looked at the tenement blueprint again. "So the rooms will be heated by the stone and clay becoming warm, not by smoke moving through them."
"Right," Kivamus said. "The smoke stays inside the sealed flue and goes upward. The heat spreads through the chimney mass. Simple in idea, but we need the building work to be careful."
Duvas gave him a dry look. "Whenever you say something is simple in idea, it usually means a dozen workers will be confused for a week."
Kivamus laughed. "Probably. But after the first one, the next will be easier."
Syrene smiled and began scribbling something again, though Kivamus believed she wasn't recording Duvas’s complaint. Probably.
By the time they finished discussing the tile kiln, the hall had grown darker. One of the servants had lit candles along the long dining table. Duvas opened another ledger and began checking figures in the wavering light, his mouth moving silently now and then as he counted.
Kivamus stayed at the table, going over the tenement drawing again while Syrene sat nearby with her notebook.
The door opened a short while later, and Hudan walked in with dust on his boots and irritation on his face.
"These new recruits are useless," he grumbled.
Kivamus looked up. "That bad?"
"Not hopeless," Hudan said, dropping onto a bench. "Just useless right now. Half of them still hold a spear like it might bite them. Good thing Nesser is there. He’ll beat some sense into their bodies before long."
Duvas did not look up from his ledger. "Try not to let him break them before they become useful."
Hudan snorted. "I told him that."
The captain looked toward the doorway again and frowned. "I thought Feroy would be back by today. I wonder where he is now."
"He has been gone for nearly two weeks," Kivamus said. "If nothing delayed him, he should return any day now."
Hudan nodded, though he still looked restless. "I want to hear how the two guards with him performed. If they learned enough, we can start sending out more teams."
Before Kivamus could answer, Lucem came in through the side door and immediately dropped onto a rug near the wall.
Clarisa followed him with a tray of cups and gave him a scornful look. "Lazybones."
"I’m tired..." Lucem whined, lying back on the rug. "I ran around all afternoon, and Teacher Gorsazo’s lessons made my head hurt!"
"You say that every day," Clarisa snorted, setting the cups on the table.
"Because lessons happen every day!"
Syrene looked at her brother. "Lucem, stop being a brat. Go and help Clarisa."
He lifted one hand weakly. "I am helping—by staying out of the way."
Clarisa rolled her eyes. "That is the only kind of help he knows."
Kivamus chuckled. Lucem was not actually lazy, but he had a talent for becoming tired exactly when work appeared. Clarisa, despite being the same age, had already learned how to move around the hall like a proper maid, even if everyone knew Madam Helga treated her more like an adopted daughter than a servant.
A few moments later, Gorsazo entered as well. He looked tired from teaching in the longhouse blocks, but his face eased when he saw the children.
"Lucem," he said, "did you use the same excuse again that your head hurts because of studying?"
"Uh... How did you..."
Gorsazo tilted his head. "If lessons hurt your head that much, perhaps I should give you extra lessons so your head becomes stronger."
Lucem sat up at once. "No, teacher! I think my head is strong enough."
Clarisa laughed, and Lucem got to his feet to help her.
Syrene smiled and returned to her notes. Gorsazo had once taught her directly, but these days he openly admitted she had learned everything he could teach. Now she spent more of her study time with Kivamus, learning about Earth, science, and whatever else he thought she could use later at the encampment. Gorsazo still stayed close to their family, though. He and Madam Helga often spoke together, both of them widowed and in their forties, and he had become something like a steady older presence for Syrene, Lucem, and Clarisa.
Madam Helga arrived next, carrying the first large pot with the help of another maid. Clarisa hurried to help arrange the bowls. Lucem looked as if he might lie down again until Syrene pointed at him, and then he dragged himself to help the others with exaggerated misery.
"You are cruel." Lucem glared at his older sister.
"Good to hear," Syrene grinned. "Now carry those bowls."
The hall slowly settled into its usual evening atmosphere. Candles on the table, bowls being set out, Duvas closing his ledger with care, Hudan stretching his shoulders, Gorsazo speaking quietly with Madam Helga near the hearth.
Kivamus had just started telling Syrene more about the science involved in the drying and firing of clay tiles when the main door opened again.
Feroy stepped in.
He looked dusty, tired, and hungry. The two guards who had gone with him were not there—probably having left to get some rest in the servants' hall.
Hudan stood at once and clasped arms with him. "There you are."
Feroy gave him a tired nod, then looked toward the food on the table. "Everything went well, but I want food before I give a full report."
Kivamus smiled. "You can give the short version for now."
Feroy sighed as if that was a great burden, and took a seat at the table. "We covered half a dozen villages this time. We roamed around for 11 days spreading rumors about slaves having a better life in the south, excluding the time taken to travel to Cinran from here and then coming back. Both the guards performed well. One man, one woman, and they each were steady enough. They still need more experience, but they can learn everything as well as the care they need to take for this kind of work in another trip or two."
Hudan nodded. "Good. We'll plan to send out a second team parallel to you within a month then. The new recruits should be good enough by then to take the watch duties here and we will send the experienced guards for the rumor spreading operation."
"You do that." Feroy rubbed the side of his neck. "Good thing we didn't take Hyola this time. She is too much of a hothead for quiet rumor spreading, you know? She is much better leading a charge against bandits."
Hudan laughed. "She would have challenged someone by the second village."
"First," Feroy said. "Or maybe before we even got there."
That drew a few laughs around the table, but they all knew that Hyola had her own speciality, and no one had a better score in target practice rounds with crossbows than her.
Madam Helga pointed sharply toward the benches, as she finished laying down the pots. "Sit down before the food gets cold."
Feroy obeyed at once.
They had only just begun eating when the howls came.
They rolled through the evening from somewhere beyond the walls, low at first, then rising until the sound carried clearly into the manor hall.
Everyone froze.
Lucem’s spoon stopped halfway to his mouth. Clarisa moved closer to Madam Helga without seeming to notice she had done it. Syrene’s hand tightened around the edge of her notebook which she never let out of her sight.
A second howl answered the first.
This one sounded closer.
Kivamus looked toward the dark windows.
For all the progress they had made, for all the new buildings, new wage system, new weapons, and new plans, the myriad of dangers surrounding Tiranat had not gone away. They only waited beyond the walls—which was the only thing separating the villagers from all the threats found at the frontier of civilization.
At least two of the new scorpions were already mounted on the watchtowers now. He only hoped that would be enough if the adzees came tonight.
The second howl had barely faded when a horn sounded from the north.
The long note cut through the manor hall and made everyone freeze.
A moment later, another horn answered from the south.
Kivamus pushed back from the table and stood.
For a few breaths, nobody moved. Then the manor hall came alive all at once. Hudan was already on his feet, running to the outer door. Feroy stood a moment later, the tiredness gone from his face.
Chairs scraped against the floor. Someone dropped a cup, and it broke near the table. Clarisa flinched at the sound, then moved closer to Madam Helga before she seemed to realize she had done it.
Kivamus followed the guards outside, when another howl rose from beyond the walls.
This one sounded closer.
"Guards to the gates!" Hudan shouted as he saw a few other guards running toward him for orders. "Everyone armed and ready!"
Feroy did not wait to plan the village defense with the captain. He just gave the captain a nod and ran out into the already dark yard, already heading for the manor gate. He had only returned not long ago, and he had to be tired from the road, but none of that showed in the way he moved.
Kivamus was glad the former mercenary was here. With horns sounding from both north and south, Hudan and Feroy would have to split the defense. There was no telling yet whether this was only the adzees circling the walls or the start of a real attack.
Kivamus hoped it was only the first. He hoped the beasts would see the palisade, hear the guards moving on the walls, and decide the village was not worth the effort.
But hope was not a defense.