Olan Thorensen - Cast Under an Alien Sun

Admiral Morfred Kalcan sat relaxed by the window overlooking the harbor. “Yes, I give those Buldorian scum credit. When it comes to raiding unsuspecting islanders, they’re efficient enough for our purposes. I admit, they surprised me with their discipline. They’re already agitating to move on the next target.”

“Where do you and Hizer plan the next raid?”

“Two raids on the same province within a few days of each other, either Swavebroke or Pewell Provinces. Then two more on the second province. We’ll see how the clans react to a double hit so near each other in time. After that, if things continue to go well, we’ll jump around the island to different provinces.

“As we’ve discussed, we’re saving the three southern provinces for later. If any clans are going to give the Buldorians major problems, it’ll be those, particularly Keelan Province.”

Yozef’s discovery of the guano deposits occupied his mind after returning to Abersford from Clengoth. The next morning, he went straight to the ether shop. He found Filtin Fuller working on a new distillation apparatus. The amiable man smiled and hummed to himself.

Yozef shook his head. Was Filtin ever in a bad mood? Being too cheerful could be just as irritating as being always dour.

“Filtin, are you always happy?”

“Happy?” queried Filtin. “What’s not to be happy about?”

“Never mind. Can you stop for a moment? There’s something I’d like to talk with you about.”

Filtin put down a distillation column he was inspecting, “Sure. What about?”

“Let’s go outside,” said Yozef. “It’s quieter there.”

They left the shop, and Yozef led him to the shade of a tree.

“Filtin, I have two new projects and wanted to ask if you could be in charge of one of them.” Yozef outlined ideas for both his retreat house and guano mining. Filtin listened, then shook his head when Yozef finished.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to get involved, Yozef.”

“Why is that?” asked a surprised Yozef. Where was Filtin’s usual enthusiasm for anything new?

“For one thing, I’m already so busy with the distillation and other equipment projects that I would have to stop working here before taking on other major tasks. Also, anyone who took my place in ongoing projects wouldn’t be familiar with the problems, and progress would slow. You’re also looking for someone more senior. The person in charge needs to have not only authority but also the respect of workers in different crafts. I’m too young for the role.”

Shit. He’s right. Yozef hadn’t thought this through. If not Filtin, then who?

“Do you have any recommendation of who would be appropriate?”

Filtin’s perpetual smile got even wider. “My father, Dyfeld Fuller. He’s one of the most respected craftsman in the district and works with wood and combining wood with glass and metal. He’s worked with glassblowers and metal workers for years, and they all know and respect him. He’s also worked with most of the carpenters in designing and building houses and other structures. His furniture is well known throughout Caedellium. You must have seen some of his pieces in the abbey or in businesses and houses in Abersford.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, Filtin, why don’t you work with your father? That’s normally how things seem to work here on Caedellium.”

“Oh, I’ve worked with Father for as long as I can remember, but I wanted to get some different experience, and glass blowing was the only other trade in Abersford I hadn’t worked at. I expect I’ll go back with Father and someday take over his shop when he can no longer work. Right now, I’m having too much fun working with you.”

“Sounds like he might be the person, Filtin. Can you arrange a meeting with him?”

“I’ll stop by his house tonight and let you know tomorrow.”

When Yozef arrived at the distillation shop the next morning, Filtin waited with another man, who gave an initial impression of being an old and worn lifelong laborer—stocky, heavy shoulders, thick arms, and large hands, gnarled and scarred with decades of heavy work, one finger missing, a lined face, graying hair and beard, a limp, and a noticeable resemblance to Filtin.

“Yozef, this is my father, Dyfeld Fuller.”

They exchanged greetings. Dyfeld’s gravelly voice matched his appearance. However, the initial impressions vanished when Dyfeld spoke. His son had already primed him with the outlines of Yozef’s two projects. He jumped right into asking questions, as if assuming whether he would work for Yozef was his decision alone. It wasn’t arrogance as much as a master craftsman confident in his skills and with enough other work not to need these projects. Within five minutes, the two men were going over Yozef’s maps and rough sketches, with Dyfeld pointing out issues that hadn’t occurred to Yozef and suggesting solutions.

Dyfeld immediately grasped the potential of guano fertilizer, compared to the skepticism of his son and Cadwulf. He also saw it as the simplest task.

“As far as I understand it, Ser Kolsko, at first you will only need a few dozen sacks of the bird shit deposits crushed to a fine powder. Those you intend on using to test out whether the powder can increase crop yields. I wonder, though, if you need that many sacks. From what you describe, two or three sacks would be enough to test.”

Yozef thought it interesting that Dyfeld caught that. No wool on his brain, even if he looked like a common laborer. Yozef didn’t need to tell anyone he’d eventually experiment with extracting potassium nitrate for gunpowder—if he got around to it.

“True, Ser Fuller. However, as long as we’re doing this, I’d like to be sure I have a sufficient supply.”

Dyfeld shrugged. “It’s your coin. If it works as you think it will, then we’d need to expand the work. In that case, I see two issues.” Dyfeld went back to the map of the inlet. “As for the extractions, there’s no reason to pulverize the shit deposits on site. Since it has to be hauled here anyway, all it will take is to break it up the into small-enough pieces to load into sacks for pack-horses to carry and bring it back here, where we can do the crushing. Once it is known that the fertilizer works, and you want to increase extraction, then we can think about more efficient ways to do the crushing, either doing it on site or bringing it here in wagons.

“The second issue is that you’ll need to show use of the land to satisfy the registration of ownership. The registrar did explain the usage provision, didn’t he?”

“Yes. I have to show the land is being used for some purpose.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. You say there’s no proper road or path to this site, so, if necessary, we’ll simply hack out a pack horse trail for now. We should also build a small encampment for workers to sleep and eat, and provide some minimal evidence of land improvement. If major extractions are to occur, we can build a regular road for wagons getting in and out. No point doing that, though, until we see whether it’s worthwhile. If your fertilizer idea doesn’t work, then you’d best just let the land revert to the clan.”

By now, Yozef had forgotten that this was supposed to be an interview to see whether he would consider hiring Dyfeld. Instead, Yozef had been told that Dyfeld would let himself be hired, and they continued with the planning.

“The little house you want is something else. It’s not just a small house you’ll need. I assume you’ll get there by horse, so you’ll need a barn as well, plus an outhouse appropriately distant from the house. The house itself looks like you want one different than most houses, what with so many windows and some of them quite large. There’s no way we can get either lumber or glass there by pack animal, so we’ll need a minimal road. I can have one of my assistants check out possible routes, but we may be able to use beach sections, combined with new roadbeds where necessary. While this will add to the costs, if you expand the fertilizer extraction, we’d only have to improve the existing road for heavier wagons and extend the road on to the mining site.”