Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 71 - Reunited!

"Whoo... Hoo... Hoo... At last, my smelter and my toolkit. At least this is going to be something that would be used to enhance our folk's readiness in times of troubles. Let me see what we have here... Teeheehee..." Jack was wringing his hands in excitement as he rummaged through the weapons that had been brought back in.

"Hmm... Could I be of your assistance Jack? I just came to see my son and to get checked up. In a few days, I should be able to walk normally and then once the works here are done, I would probably be back to mining soon." replied Chadwell as he hobbled close to the blacksmith shop.

"Tell me, what kind of weapons would suit you most?" Jack eyed the young man before as he arranges the range of weapons on the counter.

"Since I wield a pickaxe for mining, I'd prefer something with the same actions. A two-handed axe should suit me just fine, Jack."

"Alright, I would reserve this for you unless our young master has some ideas on your future as a miner or being one of the guards in the towers," replied Jack nonchalantly because of the confrontation meeting held during the night of the confession, Jack realises I had mentioned about the condition of Chadwell.

"So once that bandage is off, I am sure His Lordship would have plans for this bloke." Jack thought to himself as he set the axe to one side of the wall in the store.

"All right, you may help me by setting aside swords into one group, as well as other groups as well. I may need young master to evaluate what is not needed so I could smelt them and make the metal door that I'm supposed to do."

Jack explained as Chadwell helped to sort swords into one group, axes into another group, halberd into another, spears and pikes head into another and maces into another.

Soon everything was piled according to their groups and Chadwell went to see his son as Jack thanked him for his assistance. He can't help but shook his head thinking how a man would be so down in his luck, lost all his money by gambling it away, unable to see his family for two months due to him paying back the dues and then not ever seeing his little baby girl.

On top of that, a few feet of shadow's length before reaching this village, he was unfortunate enough to be bitten by a wolf and now his only son is lying unconscious in his house and won't know how the situation would be like if his son never wakes up and regain consciousness.

"Sigh... I hope he realises that the heavens are giving him the last chance in life. If he still did not repent, I think I have no answer to his future at all. Sigh..." Jack shook his head as he watched the back of Chadwell as he went inside Jack's house to tend to his son who was lying in bed.

"Enough of these toys, I'd better get down to see how the children are. It seems that clay bricks were mighty sturdy, I might say. With the added clay as it's covering, that baking oven would surely last for many years to come.

=*=

"Grandpapa Jack, where were you? We are about to finish the set of 20's here. Could we clear the ground around here and make a few more sets?" asked one of the boys in the group of clay bricks production area.

"Where are the rest of the children?" Jack was looking around as he had only seen 4 boys around his age were the only ones there.

"Oh, one of the engineers were saying that using the spade to do these mud pies and filling the mould is much faster and we found that what he said was true."

"It only takes 4 people to do this job and while these clay bricks had been air-dried, the rest would come in and help to carry to the firing place."

"The rest of them are learning to weave. It looked quite fun since they could make almost anything...!"

After observing, he finds that what the older boy said was true and be started firing the clay bricks that were left to sun-baked the night before and was arranged earlier before midday. Now what is left is firing them to bisque dry.

He quickly gathered kindling and some bamboo shavings and firewood to start a roaring fire going. In no time, the moisture inside these 240 clay bricks would slowly evaporate and baked until by end of the evening.

The last firing would be done before leaving the place and then left for tomorrow to be hauled to the collection shed in the courtyard.

Jack then helped the boy earlier by clearing a patch on the ground from being 5 by 4 sets to become 6 by 5. If the speed of the clay process is faster, then he might need to make it wider to be 7 by 6 sets instead.

At the meantime, by this evening, there would be 30 sets of 16 so it would amount to 480 clay bricks to be fired daily from morning till dusk. Its a blessing indeed to have these engineers and children around.

At least they gave an idea on how to improve productivity. "Heh... Why did I never think about that before?" chuckled Jack as he stoked wood slightly so that the fires would not die off easily.

=*=

"Waah...you children really has improved tremendously. From clay bricks to weaving. So, I will teach you properly okay? To make a weave in this 2' by 5' mat and the art of weaving is to make one go through the top and bottom of each strip.

See... You just hold one and then move up and down and repeat till you reach to the end. Make it tight and not loose OK? We do not rush our work but as you go along, the speed of completing one gets faster."

"Auntie Edinburgh, this is easy and more fun. So one strip goes on top and bottom and repeat and the next strip will be bottom and top so it makes these cute design, right?"

"Ooh... That's right. Clever girl..." she replied as she patted one of the Kensington.

"Auntie Burns, then why are these boys making different ones? There's a stick at the end of it. It looks the same but all the strips were glued together at this end, see?"

"Hahaha... These are for the walls of the house. When these are ready, they could be fixed to the sides and back of the houses."

"Oh...no wonder its different from what we are doing. It's simpler than making the one for the walls because only longer hands could reach one of the ends." said another young girl of Hereford.

Soon, 8 children learnt how to produce 2' by 5' mats that would be used mainly for a sine individual that would be spending most of their time outdoors these could be rolled and carried on their backs to sit and lie down after a long hike.

Those who were making the 2' by 5' earlier 'upgraded' their stations to produce the larger 5' by 5' mats. This way, production for the medium and larger mats could be much faster as each of the 8 children was working on the smallest mats.

=*=

"You two men better listen to me well. No dodging and swerving (C.o.c.kney for being a pervert) with the ladies out here, eh? I would readily chop off your Davina's (C.o.c.kney for balls) innit mate?"

"No forms of gambling too. No ch.i.p.s, dices or cards. Anyone found by the Justice Minister would receive 100 lashes as a reward."

"You three might have guessed who that young master is. So, until I say it's official, you... Especially Michelle PottyMouth Ramsgate, better keep this on the down-low. If citizens here asked about the little stunt you had pulled earlier, just say it was a theatrical skit back in school."

"If anyone pesters you, what are you going to say?" Eagle asked to make things straight with these guardsmen.

"I don't have any idea, Teacher," replied Michelle.

"Just say 'To believe or not to believe is, for me to know and for you to find out' and act like this on Hamlet by Shakespeare."Eagle stretches his arm and the other arm placed in his forehead using the back of his palm.

The other engineers snickered since they had never seen their leader acting this way and didn't know that he was literate in literature as well. "Alright, I'm Levingstone by public address and Eagle in times like this. Understand?"

"Do we get callsigns as well?" asked Nolan but was rebutted by Eagle, saying all the names of flight birds had been taken except for donkey, mule and camel. Hearing their leader's answer, the engineers laughed since it was meant for baggage animals and the donkey was aimed precisely at Michelle as she can't stop braying from time to time...!

"Alright, I understand. After all, I am the potty mouth and now being referred to as donkey by my highly respected teacher." Michelle muttered under her breath with a smug face.

"Don't call me teacher anymore from now on. We rest for a while but and then we can move around and observe the improvements that had been done around this village. You would be surprised at how developed this village is while having under 100 citizens...!"

"You three take the upper level to rest while my men and I on the lower here. We take about 2 foot of shadow's length to rest. And once done we move around a bit, say hello to the rest of the citizens, show a bit of public relations and observe any gaps in security so we could inform of the changes that need to be done."

"Wow, there sure is a lot of pigeons up here in the rafters. Won't they shat on us when we sleep here? It seems cosy here and we could see the whole village from here too."

"Don't worry about the pigeons unless you snore and open your mouths while sleeping and these pigeons would start making target practices when you disturb them too much..."

Eagle warned them as he settled down on a spot away from the droppings from the pigeons, which were under the platform of the second level...!

=*=

"Mars, what's inside these sacks? May I see it? And I do remember these crest and longsword. This is your family's crest and this sword is used for knighting."

"These sacks, open one by one and spread them on the floor here. Be careful, Eagle said it contained some of my parents and sisters belongings." I advised as I opened up one sack and it was a dress, last worn by my mother with bloodstains that were almost black that pockmarked the front of the dress.

I held it close to my c.h.e.s.t as I buried the dress to my face. My mother's scent was still lingering on the dress even though it had been close to 3 months since their demise. "Mother... I miss you so much. I wish I could be there to defend you but..." I spoke softly as my tears streamed down and fell on my mother's dress.

I laid the dress carefully on the floor, then I removed her rings, amulets and bracelets and lastly her coronet. I placed them as if she was lying on the floor as I arranged the rest of my family member's clothes, father's crown and Tanya's tiara.

Another sack need not be mentioned at all to Heather as she knew it contained a lot of coins and an unknown pouch as she sets it aside at the corner of the house.

Three pairs of clothing, each equipped with the proper set of amulets and accessories and crown, coronet and tiara. I sat there before them as if they were lying there physically as I can't control my overwhelming feelings as waves of sorrow and grief made me bawl and bawl I did without care if anyone hears me or not.

Heather, moved to the side near the doorway and when the pioneers heard the bawling, she just waved her hands off and the pioneers knew what had happened.

The royal family had finally reunited and it would be soon departed after the mourning had been completed and the last rites would be performed.