“No,” he answered immediately, and Isaw that Ivomagus had not only heard, he was as concerned as I wasby the answer. Before I could say anything, however, Acisculusexplained, “Which is why we’re not going to bring her up onto thedock.” He walked to the far edge, then pointed at the spot directlynext to it, saying, “We need to set her down here, on theriverbank.”
There was only one problem; there was abuilding already there. I say building; if I am being honest, itwas more of a shack, but it apparently was where the ropes, cables,and other equipment for the Parisii version of a boatyard werestored. When I turned to address Ivomagus, I saw that he hadimmediately understood the problem.
“You need us to tear down thisbuilding,” he said, although it was impossible to tell his feelingson the matter.
“I wouldn’t say ‘tear down’,” I triedto be tactful. “We need to…disassemble it in order to bring theship up out of the water so that we can repair the hole in thehull.”
He did not say anything immediately, butsimply stared at the shack.
“You will be able to do that?” heasked finally, and I did not begrudge his doubtful tone, because Ihad just said it without thinking.
Rather than make an assurance, I asked himto wait, went to Acisculus, who had his back turned to us, andasked him quietly if it was possible.
He did not hesitate, saying almostindignantly, “Pilus Prior, you should have more faith in oldAcisculus! Of course I can knock it back together. In fact,” hesniffed, “I can put it back better made than it is now!”
“That,” I clapped him on the back, “iswonderful to hear, and yes, do that.”
I returned to Ivomagus and assured him thiswas possible, which left us with the most important, and mostdifficult part of the repair. The first challenge came when I toldIvomagus the length of the mast, and all I received in return was ablank stare. Fairly quickly, we realized why; the Britons do notuse our system of measurement, so instead, I had Acisculus pace outthe thirty-five feet, of which almost ten of it is below decksince, as I learned, it is crucial to providing ballast, and mostimportantly, making it more difficult for a ship to capsize sincehaving a mast that is only attached to the upper deck increases thetop-heaviness.
Even before Acisculus stopped at the properspot on the dock, I saw trouble in the way in which Ivomagus wasshifting about, but he asked, “And how big around must it be?”
In answer, to my surprise and milddiscomfort, Acisculus pointed down and indicated my thigh, saying,“It should be as big around as the Pilus Prior’s thigh, butideally, it will taper some towards the top. Not,” he added, “much.But some. And it should be pine, but it doesn’t have to be. As longas it isn’t too heavy a wood, like oak.”
Ivomagus said nothing for a long span, whichprompted me to ask, somewhat impatiently, “Is this going to be aproblem, Ivomagus?”
“No,” he answered, albeit obviouslyreluctantly. “There is a forest where such trees exist in ourlands. But,” he took a breath before finishing, “it is more thanthree days’ ride from here.”
“Pluto’s cock,” I groaned as, not for the first time, thethought entered my mind that perhaps the gods did not want us toreturn home. Then, the deeper meaning of his words hit me. “Whenyou say three days’ ride, Ivomagus, are you talking about onhorseback?”
“Yes.” He sounded surprised, which Icould understand. “I mean, a man on horseback must ride for thebetter part of three days.”
“Which means that it will take longerwith a wagon.” I said this aloud, which prompted Acisculus to clearhis throat in a manner that alerted me.
“Pilus Prior, as we’ve been walkingaround town, I’ve been looking around, and I noticedsomething.”
“Oh?” I knew I was not going to likethis. “And what did you notice?”
Instead of addressing me, he turned toIvomagus and asked, “Lord, the wagons I see here in Petuar, arethey the standard size used by your people?”
“Standard size?” Ivomagus frowned. “Ido not understand.”
I did, which was why it was me who said,“What he’s asking is whether you have wagons larger than the oneswe’ve seen.”
“Ah.” His face cleared, but then thefrown returned. “I am afraid not. At least,” he held up a hand,“not significantly larger. Why do you ask this?”
By the time Ivomagus asked this question, mymind had caught up, and I was recalling how we had transported thetrees that became the masts for our part of the fleet. Essentially,we used two wagons, which were fastened together with long plankson either side, so that in appearance, it looked as if the wagonswere separated, while the tail end of the second wagon had theboards removed so the end of the trees could protrude a few feet. Iknow other methods are used; when there is a short distance tocover, they are put on a sledge and simply dragged to where theyneed to go, but our return from the forest where we found theappropriate lumber had been a two-day return march. And now I wasbeing told that while we might be able to reach this forest inthree days, there was no way that we could haul that mast back inthe same amount of time. I also recalled how cumbersome an affairsuch an arrangement is; not only does it require at least doublethe number of animals, but such seemingly simple things liketurning because of an obstacle or sharp bend in the road tookplanning. In short, it was a fucking nightmare, and that would havebeen even if the Parisii had wagons sturdy enough for the job. Now,as we were learning, that was not the case.
It was with this in mind that I asked, moreout of a need to say something than any hope, “And this forest youspeak of, that’s the nearest spot where we can find what weneed?”
Ivomagus hesitated again, but he answered,“No, it is not.”
Then why in Hades did you talk aboutthis fucking forest three daysaway?...was what
