Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 41 - Sore After An Aylsebury Duck

A slab of the back spine of the wild boar was removed and was placed inside the clay oven to further roasted. 4 trotters that were chopped off a few inches above it was also been placed inside the oven as these parts our normally takes some time to be coked.

Sir Blackie knew that these food were for it and were sitting on its haunches and periodically barked at the roasting meat as if telling the oven to cook the meat faster.

It was basically barking and then lay on all fours before sitting up. Even Sir Blackie cannot contain its patience on how slow the food was being prepared for it.

As soon as Sir Blackie's share was done roasting, the 5 pieces were set on the table for it to be cooled as two children were fanning on it and were commenting that the meat was good enough for the children to eat too.

Slabs of meat were being cut away and then sliced into a thickness of a forefinger and the size of a palm and were set aside in a heap on the platter. 3 sets of platters were being used and sides were provided with steamed sweet potatoes, tapioca and corn on the cob.

An equal number of meat for the new families, the engineers along with the Ashworths and Burns as well as the pioneers were set aside and there seems to be a large portion left.

Gwen and the rest decided to keep the portion to make seasoned minced meat with potatoes, celery and other vegetables. this would be turned into steam buns for tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

Everyone was thankful as each piece was given to them. normally a piece of that size would be for 2 to 3 persons but due to the sacrifice made by the wild boar to welcome the new families and engineers, it was considered as a blessing for everyone.

"Since the wild boars had come out from their hibernation, it would be time to hunt them. Don't be surprised that deer, elk as well as wild bears would appear from time to time on our dinner table."

"I would like to propose to Crystal to open up another enclosure to rear brown long-eared hares. it would provide us with meat and pelt and they are easy to manage as they would hibernate during winter and their feed would be grass and other edible plants"

I would second that, at least the children would be able to tend to them as well and hares multiply very quickly and also would be turned into pets too." I replied and everyone agreed.

"Ah...one more thing, could someone volunteer to take out 4 kegs of ale from the shed? i almost forgot someone had personally requested to have some ale to accompany this feast."

After I mentioned the kegs of ale, several ministers went to the shed to retrieve 4 kegs of ale where it was immediately distributed. A few more bamboo cups were made on the spot and after being cleaned, it soon handed out.

i can't help but wonder when everyone was having tea, there weren't many cups around and the cups had to be share. However, when comes to ale, cups were immediately fashioned and produced from bamboo...!!!

i simply can't resist imagining how ale alone could drive one's ambitions and d.e.s.i.r.e. Hahaha...

During the hearty meal of roasted wild boar meat between cups of ale, the new faces overcame their weariness and forget about their travels from their old home town to GraceHaven. Even when they had learnt about not getting compensation through silvers and coopers, they soon realised that these coins were practically useless in GraceHaven.

Using these tokens instead brought more benefits than using coins since each token would represent individually marked words for an exchange of foods. There would be no fear of losing them as each had their family names on them and the exchange would be recorded accordingly.

After supper, everyone chipped in to help clear the dishes as a proper welcome made by the second in command, Domestic Affairs Minister Jack. After a round of introduction by the ministers, stating their roles and responsibilities, it was my turn to perform the closing speech.

"First and foremost, I, Young Master Audemars would like to welcome the new families even though it was an uneventful start before reaching here due to the darn wolf that fancy chunk of Chadwell earlier. Nevertheless, the arrival of the new families also had brought a windfall to GraceHaven."

"Your accommodation had already been prepared and after breakfast, please gather around so that the ministers would deploy the areas of work accordingly. All the children would follow Sister Heather here and as for the two young mothers, you won't be expected to handle heavy work and this follows Momma Kayla here."

"The first order of tomorrow would be setting up the defences on 4 corners of this village. We need bamboo and reeds so a group of you would be deployed in gathering these two kinds of wood. Take things slow one at a time and once the defences are up, the rest of the tasks follows. Would there be any questions?"

I concluded the conference as there were no other questions at the moment. I and Heather excused ourselves and went back to our home and was followed by Sir Blackie as he held a piece of bones in his maw and sat at his usual spot near our doorway.

The citizens of GraceHaven didn't leave after the conference ended as they were discussing and making things clear and understandable. Their chatter goes on throughout the night as both Heather and I were discussing the matters mentioned way back earlier.

So we let nature takes its own course. Both of us were naive and inexperienced while after a few fumblings about in the semi-darkness, a pair of bodies came together as one laid on top of the other as m.o.a.ns of pain sounded within at first and soon became m.o.a.ns of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.

"Piak... Piak... Piak... Piak... Piak..."

Sir Blackie who normally stationed outside for his rest soon was unable to rest properly as it used its paws to cover its snout and eyes. The pioneers saw what Sir Blackie was doing, they let out a chuckle and guessed immediately that their young Prince had finally done it.

=*=

The next day Heather was slightly late to attend breakfast and it was sent over by one of the pioneers and she only appeared midway during the meeting as she felt a bit sore from last night.

Then she looked me sitting at the 'throne' while she walked with slight difficulty like some kind of shuffle but tinier steps than her usual strides. I looked over and waved her to come and sit beside me as I continued the morning meeting.

When I awoke during the early rooster crow, I discovered that the new families had camped themselves at the courtyard rather than settling at their new houses. They explained that it would be better to move during daylight as they would not be disturbing the spirits that occupy the empty houses.

I didn't expect them to be so superstitious...!

After Frank allocated the row of 6 houses along with the hobbling man as he drew a diagram on the ground and called out the family names and pointed to the diagram. Frank reminded that since the house had a woven mat, all footwear was not advised to be worn indoors and to wash their feet first before entering.

The new families were surprised at this new practice but decided to abide anyway. Pretty soon they realised the reason why since the floor was also their resting and dining area. The woven mat felt cooling under their feet and it was cleaner compared to sleeping in a cruck house walled with mud, manure and other whatnot.

The feeling was much cleaner and the size was bigger than their cruck houses albeit without windows. They quickly settled their belongings and returned to the courtyard while the hobbling man was told to take a rest instead in the house and do nothing for at least 3 days.

This was Kayla's advice to restrict as much movement as possible and to inspect the wound after 3 days. Refreshment and other meals would be brought in by his spouse so it would not be a worry at all.

Frank then deployed their main task for the first part of the day and Kayla would be leading Sir Hope and one of the dragans. The newly acquired dragans were named as Sir Resolute and Sir Justice. The Engineers had excused themselves as they were tasked to perform their works right after breakfast and would only congregate after dinner.

Kayla then leads some people to gather 2 wagon loads of bamboo and take the opportunity to scourge the area to find other edible plants to replant them back. Another patch of wheat was located and was quickly harvested.

She discovered a few peach trees and she was able to pick those that were in the ground and marked the area for harvesting. Pretty soon she sent one dragan backfilled with bamboo while another assistant followed her, firstly was to harvest the wheat and harvest the peach thereafter. Kayla and her assistant picked the dropped peaches as well as use bamboo poles to shake the fruits down.

They scouted the area around and found some edible plants, more sweet potatoes and tapioca and everything was totally harvested. Fallen branches were picked along the way and were loaded into the wagon as well.

Soon after they had not found any more edibles except for some ripe pineapples, they returned to GraceHaven. The earlier wagon that returned to GraceHaven was ridden back to clear the bamboo area followed by another.

Sir Hope rested for a while but before heading out to collect the soil from the pit that they had been digging and returned back to the clay bricks production area and was deposited there.

Frank had left the area a bit to inspect the forest and was marking the trees that would soon be chopped down to make planks and firewood. After a round of inspection, he used his axe to chop a small incision near the base of the tree and estimated its height and fall radius.

He estimated that the area had plentiful of trees that could be turned into lumber for the production of planks and the branches and leftover wood could be turned into firewood.

He noticed that the ground from the courtyard that leads to the farmlands was b.a.r.e and he proposed to have the ground to be covered just like the path in between the residential lots. At least when any of the dragans were to drag a log, it won't create shallow trenches in the ground.

These so-called trenches or drag marks would turn the ground soggy as it would be harder for a horse to properly perform its task. By pulling a log after it was sawn off at every 6 feet, on a bamboo laid path, it creates friction.

After he had spent an hour surveying the area, he discovered that this part of the forest had not been ventured yet as he noticed there were no hoofs or wagon trails. He returned and met Ben and agrees on his idea and would bring the matter up in the evening.

Ben and the others offloaded the bamboo in the middle of the courtyard and began to look for the right bamboo for the production of hunting bows. Frank had learnt this from his wife so he was also able to distinguish the types of bamboo that were best made into one.

Several bamboos were separated from the rest and set aside to be turned into hunting bows. He was glad that his wife was able to contribute to the economy and wished that more would be able to learn from her thus making it more productive.