by Candy Rae
Back at the settlement and under Jim, Larya and Afanasei’s direction, the defences were being put in place. The colonists began to practise fighting at the palisades. Warned by the Lind as to how the convicts had managed to overcome the southern fort so easily, the palisades themselves were coated with a fire-resistant substance and the ditch around the palisades was growing deeper (and wider) with each passing day as the colonists attacked it vigorously with mattock and shovel. Inside, the palisades were being strengthened and buttressed within an inch of their lives.
A massive programme had begun to arm the northern armies, for armies they were learning to become. Unfortunately the Argyll had settled deeply into the marshy ground where she had landed. The settlers, short of metal with which to make weapons and armour, ventured (gingerly) back out into the marsh and removed every scrap of salvageable metal within reach. Now only parts of the higher superstructure remained above the water level. The ship would soon disappear completely with nary a sign of her passing.
Arthur Knott, the smith, made good use of the materials on offer. It was decided that the Vada (the name for the Lind-human cavalry) should be armed with long thin sabre-like swords, similar to those used by the light horse cavalry regiments of early modern Earth.
The sabre was a strong weapon and perfectly suited to what Francis McAllister had in mind for his vadeln-pairs. The metal hilt had a cantle-shaped pommel, with a back strap, knuckle-bow and three curved quillons. The curved blade was double-edged like all cavalry swords. He and his assistants made four hundred of them, as well as some light armour for the riders. Relays of Lind permitted loads of these items to be tied to their backs and sped back to the Zanatei domta with them where Francis received them with many thanks and a great deal of relief. The Vada had made their base at the foot of the hill on which Zanatei domta was situated.
Once the sabres had been despatched, Arthur turned his attention to outfitting the defenders of the settlement, and to his pet project of making as many crossbows as possible. These had a fairly plain, straight stock, a sinew bridle binding the lath to the stock and a cylindrical latch nut with a long iron trigger. They were held in the same manner as a firearm, some defenders rested them on top of their shoulder and manipulated the trigger with their thumb. The bolt's point was used as the front sight when aiming. Crossbow training began as soon as there were enough to go round. They proved to be a rather wicked and accurate weapon although it took a long time to wind up the wires.
The settlement rang to the sound of smithies and metal shops in action; people went to their beds each night with the ringing tones of hammer on anvil sounding in their ears but the piles of swords, knives, helmets, armour and shields grew daily larger as winter progressed.
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