“No,” Ambal said quickly. “Stay here and rest, those are your orders for the day.”
“I want to see how much progress they’ve made,” Khollo said stubbornly. “I want to see if they need further instructions.”
“That can keep until tomorrow,” Sermas replied. “You stay here and rest. I’ll bring food, books, notes, whatever. I’ll bring you sketches of the construction if I must. But you will not move from that bed.”
Khollo sighed. “Food, then. I can’t remember the last time I ate. And have someone check in with the foremen and bring me a report.”
Sermas nodded and hurried away. Khollo lay back, utterly defeated and dejected. Next time, I’ll definitely avoid getting ripped apart by a vertaga, he groused.
Sermas returned quickly with food, fresh bread, sliced meat, even a wedge of yellow cheese. He assembled a plate and brought it to Khollo, gesturing for the others to help themselves.
“Dari said it’s near enough to lunch that we might as well all eat here,” he reported. “I told her there was only four of us, but she still sent enough food to feed an army.”
Khollo frowned. “With the limited stores we have?”
“Not so limited anymore,” Hern said grinning. “Ondus returned this morning with wagons of supplies from the East Bank, and we’ve received word by message pigeon that additional stores are on the way from Ardia and the Heights in the north.”
“The Heights? That’s a long way away,” Khollo muttered. “But I suppose it’s the next nearest stronghold, after Narne of course and they’re busy enough with Ishkabur.” Khollo paused. “Any word from that quarter?”
“None,” Hern reported. “As far as we know, the city still stands.”
“Good,” Khollo muttered around a mouthful of fresh bread. “Maybe our luck is beginning to change finally.”
“I am generally of the opinion that we make our own luck through intelligence and diligence,” Ambal interjected. “What you call luck has nothing to do with our current success. We have fought hard, prepared for every scenario, and are now gathering our strength to turn the tide.” He looked over at Khollo. “And if we are to continue to make our own luck, we need the architects of our plans to heal quickly.”
Khollo scowled. “I understood the first dozen times,” he said sternly.
Ambal remained uncowed. “I am just making sure you realize how crucial you are to the war effort, Khollo.”
“Yeah,” Sermas agreed, stuffing more meat and cheese into his mouth. “If we’d done things Janis’ way the fortress would be empty save for a few dozen wounded men, a nice soft target for the vertaga.”
“This way we have a chance,” Hern agreed. “And the construction is interesting to watch at least. Better than watching the snow pile up at any rate.”
“When another village arrives, we’ll start to make real progress,” Khollo mused. “By then, we ought to be well into the hillside and digging down.”
“Down?” Ambal asked curiously.
“Down,” Khollo confirmed. “We’ll make the underground section a collection of several levels exactly the same in layout. The part we’re working on now will overlook a central shaft that goes all the way down to the first level, which will be roughly at the base of the hill.” He looked around for paper and a writing stick, but none were within his reach. “Pass me some drawing materials, would you Hern?”
“Only because I’m curious about this design,” Hern growled. “This isn’t permission for you to start doing work again.”
“Noted,” Khollo replied, taking the paper and writing stick that Hern offered. “See, what we’re working on now is the top level,” Khollo began, drawing quickly. “We’ll have a circular chamber here. Now, the next level down is different. Rather than opening to the surface, it goes back through the hillside to the cliffs. We’ll have hallways coming off of the circle on this side with living quarters along the hallways, and storerooms and such on the other side of the circle.”
Hern examined the drawing critically. “And how many of these levels are you planning?”
“Four or five,” Khollo replied. “Based on a rough estimate of the elevation from the – ”
“You lost us after four or five,” Sermas interrupted. “That’s a lot of rock to quarry.”
“It is,” Khollo agreed. “Which is why another village or so would be a tremendous help, especially once we have space for more work teams underground.”
A horn shattered the air. Outside, voices were babbling excitedly and Khollo could hear guards shouting for the gates to be opened.
“What’s going on?” Hern asked, running to the entrance to the smithy. He stood there, listening, then returned to Khollo’s rather crowded corner.
“You have impeccable timing,” he announced. “Village number two just arrived, from White Oak.”
Khollo sat back smiling. “Excellent. Sermas, send a message to Janis would you? I need a few more foremen and a lot more tools for the project.”
Sermas grinned. “At once, master builder.” He jogged out of the smithy, headed for the keep.
Our odds of survival are increasing all the time, Khollo thought cheerfully. Another village will mean many more workers to build our new stronghold, and many warriors to defend it once it is complete. This fortress will be nigh impregnable by the time the next wave of vertaga arrives.
Villagers were filing past the smithy now, bundles slung over their shoulders, leading pack animals with more supplies and belongings. They looked haggard, but hopeful. None were wounded, so at least they had not come under attack.
A grimy child darted past, then paused, looking into the smithy. He found Khollo and froze.
Khollo smiled reassuringly, and nodded to the boy. Funny, he seemed to be growing fuzzy around the edges, and the light was fading. Is the weather taking a turn? Am I falling asleep again? If that blasted healer slipped something into my food again, I’ll-
