Michael Manning - The Line of Illeniel

Another five minutes and it finally shattered. The resulting explosion deafened me and shook the ground. I’m pretty sure the boulder saved my life. When I peeked over the top to look at the result I was shocked. The ground for ten feet around the center was gone, leaving a deep depression. Beyond that the grass and soil had been scoured clean for another fifteen feet. The side of the boulder facing the explosion was blackened and pocked with holes where debris had struck it.

Penny ran up and seemed to be yelling something at me, but I couldn’t hear her over the constant ringing in my head, “What?!” I shouted back. I couldn’t hear myself either. Eventually she gave up and led me back to the castle where she found some paper to write on.

“Are you stupid?” she wrote in her barely legible script.

“Maybe,” I wrote back, and then I added, “I’m definitely deaf.”

She began writing again, “I’m not deaf. You don’t have to write your answers down for me… idiot.”

Our conversation got more colorful after that, but honestly I was enjoying it. I suspect she was too, although she was definitely worried I would kill myself by accident. In the end she convinced me to stop for the day, at least until my hearing returned. I made a mental note to use a sound block on my ears before doing any more experiments.

My hearing returned slowly that afternoon. I had checked my eardrums, thinking they might be ruptured but they were still intact luckily. About the time I began to make out voices again Cecil Draper came running to inform us that Dorian had returned with the duchess. We hastily went down to meet her.

Penny and I greeted her just outside the door to the main keep, “It’s a pleasure to see you again Genevieve!” I said.

She answered but I couldn’t quite make out what she said. Her voice was muted and unclear. Penny saw my confusion and stepped in to help, “She says she came as soon as she got word!” Then she turned to face Genevieve, “I’m sorry your grace, he’s half deaf at the moment, you’ll have to shout to make yourself heard!”

The duchess flinched at the volume of Penny’s voice; she wasn’t used to being shouted at herself. She recovered quickly though and replied, “I can tell there’s a story here you’ll have to share with me!”

I laughed at the picture of the two of them shouting back and forth for my benefit. “Let’s go inside, there are some things I need to discuss with you.”

A short while later we were sitting in the antechamber to my rooms. Penny had found some wine so we could offer the duchess a bit of refreshment, but Genevieve waved her away, “No thank you dear. It’s too early in the day for me. If you have tea that would do nicely, the road left me quite thirsty.”

I wasted no time and while Penny was off searching for tea I informed the duchess of our plans. It took a bit of time to relate them all, but thankfully she wasn’t hard of hearing, as I was. “I know this puts you in an awkward position your grace, since James hasn’t returned yet, but I need your help.”

She leaned forward to shout at me, “James wouldn’t desert you Mordecai. We haven’t forgotten what you did last year; none of us would be here otherwise. This dam of yours reminds me of something you asked me to do back then.”

“What would that be?” I asked.

“You want me to help you draw a line again,” she replied. She was referring to the line she drew to help create a spell I used to kill the cultists that had attacked us. It was a touching way to remind me of how we had worked together then.

“Exactly,” I said.

“What do you need?” she added.

“Men,” I said simply. “Every able bodied man and woman you can spare. We have to build that dam as quickly as possible and what we sorely lack is strong backs and sure hands.”

“What you ask is difficult. This is mid-autumn, every man I have is busy with the fall harvest. I can spare most of the guardsmen to help you, though they’ll grumble at doing menial labor,” she pursed her lips as she thought.

I had been thinking on that subject already, “I need them all. I’m planning to buy up all the food and grain I can get my hands on before winter sets in. I believe I can afford enough to keep us from starving before the first spring crop.” It had been an exceptional year for farming so I had plans already moving to have Rose purchase as much food as possible before the roads closed in the winter.

Genevieve Lancaster frowned as she considered my idea, “Do you know how much that will cost? You’ll have more than a thousand mouths to feed till the first harvest next year.”

“More than that,” I informed her. “I’m also recruiting as many men as I can get, so I plan on buying enough to manage at least two thousand.”

“That would cost several thousand marks. Even with as much as James and I have saved we would be penniless if we did such a thing, and that’s assuming the king doesn’t take offense at your buying up valuable supplies right at a time when he needs them himself,” she frowned.

“Frankly I don’t give a damn. King Edward and I are not on the best of terms right now anyway. If we don’t survive this war it won’t matter anyway.”

Penny returned with a tray laden with tea and a selection of sweet biscuits. I couldn’t help but wonder where she had gotten them. The cook never had sweets around when I came hunting. She set the tray down and offered a cup to Genevieve who took it gratefully. Penny moved to sit down beside me but yelped and almost jumped off of the divan instead. I had stealthily placed my hand under her bottom before she sat down. She glared at me and sat down a bit further away without saying anything. Very likely she didn’t want to offend the duchess.

Genevieve raised an eyebrow as she glanced at me over the rim of her cup. I thought I could detect the hint of a smile on her face but she declined to comment on my antics. “Very well Mordecai, I will help you ‘draw the line’ again. You shall have every able bodied man I have to spare. The women of Lancaster won’t be idle either; we’ll harvest what we can while their husbands are working on your dam.”

“We won’t disappoint you, your grace,” I said gratefully.

“You never have Mordecai. You’ve always been my favorite nephew. Whether we succeed or fail I will always be proud of you,” her eyes misted a bit as she said it. She took another quick sip of her tea before setting the cup down and rising. “I’d better be going.”

Penny rose hastily, “But you haven’t even finished your tea!”

“The one thing we have is time, but I don’t think we can afford to squander it. I’ll start making arrangements this evening after I get home.” Genevieve leaned forward to give Penelope a quick embrace, whispering in her ear as she did so, “Good luck my dear, I think you have your hands full with this one.”

I was confused as Penny and the duchess both glanced at me. I couldn’t hear a word for they had spoken too softly. “What?” I said.

Penny gave the duchess a knowing look, “You have no idea!” she said, and they both laughed at that.

I had thought I would have time to resume my experiments the next morning but as fate would have it the baron saw fit to show up early that day. I had already changed into my working clothes, plain linen with a leather smith’s apron, so I was poorly dressed to greet him. Not that that bothered me in the slightest.

I saw him ride through the gate with two retainers close behind and headed over to greet him before he got to the main keep. “Pleased to meet you my lord!” I said loudly, moving forward to offer him my hand.