The keep wasn’t exactly quiet, with the distant sound of quite a few carpenters starting up not long after dawn. But the delightful bundle of warm curves in my arms made it all too easy ignore it and go back to sleep.
When I finally decided I couldn’t sleep any longer Tina happily fetched me breakfast, and followed up with an enthusiastic demonstration of her considerable oral skills. Then she cuddled up against me, still naked, to ‘keep me company’ while I worked on my foot.
That was a complicated job, thanks to all the joints I had to replace. It didn’t help that I was barely half done when I was distracted by a sensation of wet heat down below again. I looked down to find Tina kneeling between my legs with my dick in her mouth.
“What do you think you’re doing, missy?” I asked with a smile.
She popped my tool out of her mouth, and tucked it between her breasts.
“Oh, don’t mind me, milord,” she said innocently. “I just noticed he was getting hard again. We can’t have you getting pent up, now can we?”
“No, we wouldn’t want that. But you do realize it isn’t going to stop happening?”
She smiled playfully. “Then it’s a good thing you gave me such nice boobies, milord. If my mouth gets too tired to suck you off you can just give them a good fucking instead.”
“Oh, would you like that?” I shifted a bit, lifting my knees and reaching down to take her breasts in my hands. I had to admit, they were a spectacular pair. She’d been a bit on the busty side when we first met, but once she found out about my flesh magic the little minx had made sure to ask for bigger ones in the middle of giving me a blowjob. Now she had a rack that would make a porn star jealous, especially since the firm orbs were entirely flesh and blood.
I’d managed to make them pretty damn sensitive, too. I’d made her orgasm just from playing with them once, and I had to admit that the prospect of doing it again sounded like just what the doctor ordered. Hmm. Could I make her cleavage even more sensitive? Maybe dial up the intensity of her orgasms a bit?
By the time I was done experimenting with that Tina was a quivering puddle of bliss, and I was feeling almost relaxed enough to go back to sleep. But I did have things to do today. So instead I focused on the healing, and finished putting my foot back together.
I was tempted to do the arm next, but it occurred to me that having a crippling injury to show off at the Conclave’s meeting might be useful. So instead I took advantage of my restored mobility to bathe and get dressed, with Tina’s happy assistance. Then I went looking for my witches.
I found Avilla in the atrium, overseeing things. A team of carpenters was putting together furniture there, while a constant stream of people came and went. Half of them seemed to stop to talk to her on their way, and as I got closer I realized that Daria of all people was acting as her assistant.
“Daniel!”
Avilla’s whole face lit up when she saw me, and she rushed to envelop me in a warm hug. “How are you feeling today? I see your foot is better. Did you enjoy your present?”
“You mean Tina? Yeah, she’s a sweetie. I’m on the mend, but I’m still going to take it easy until the meeting. What about you? Looks like you’re getting better.”
“I’m still not quite at full strength,” she admitted. “But I think I’ll be back to normal in another day or two as long as I take it easy. Oh, but I had no idea how much work it takes to run a castle. I don’t know what I’d do if we didn’t have Daria here. She’s been telling me all about how they did things when she worked for the Baron.”
I nodded. “Sounds useful. Well, as long as you stick to supervising I suppose that counts as rest. Got anything I need to take care of?”
“Marcus wants to meet with you over lunch to talk about military things. He called it a staff meeting? With all the officers, and maybe Cerise?”
“Alright, we can do that.”
“Great, I’ll send word. Oh, are you up to putting in a few more walls? We’ve made a lot of progress on what to do with all this space, if you have time.”
“That’s my plan for today,” I agreed. “I want to get things squared away here before I get pulled into another big project.”
“Wonderful!”
That led to an hour or so of building interior walls and putting in plumbing lines before lunch, but it was more enjoyable than I would have expected. It was easy work compared to the heavy conjuration I’d been doing, and it gave me a chance to find out where everything was and see how people were settling in.
I was forced to conclude once again that Avilla was a miracle worker.
There were lengths of twine laid out all over the keep, showing where walls needed to go. The few bits of furniture the carpenters had already finished were carefully arranged with the future layout in mind, and rarely got in my way as I turned the open expanses of the balcony levels into actual rooms. Barracks for the soldiers, dormitories for the unmarried civilians, tiny private rooms and communal living spaces for the families. Kitchens and dining rooms and bathrooms, and other spaces whose purpose wasn’t immediately obvious to me.
I was relieved to find that my people seemed to be in good spirits, and recovering well from the ordeal of the journey to Kozalin. Most everyone had decent clothes now, and they were all busy.
The division of labor was about what I would have expected. The women washed, cleaned, cooked, organized and took care of the few children who’d survived the trip, while the men did the heavy lifting and pretty much anything that involved leaving the keep. Even indoors they all kept a weapon of some sort at hand, men and women both. But I heard more than one relieved comment about the stoutness of the fortification, and I must have been stopped half a dozen times by grateful civilians wanting to thank me for letting them live here.
I also noticed that my livery was spreading. There was a workroom set up on the second floor where a group of women were diligently sewing new clothes under the supervision of a couple of refugee seamstresses Avilla had managed to recruit. There were half a dozen maids running around trying to keep the public areas of the keep clean, and a group of craftsmen laying out a smithy and forge area down on the vehicle park level. That last project called for some work on my part, since they needed a chimney and a lot more airflow than would normally be possible in such an enclosed location.
“Actually, it would probably make more sense to set this up on the top floor,” I pointed out. “That way I can give you enough open air to have a normal chimney and bellows arrangement instead of trying to invent something we can bury down here without suffocating you.”
The leader of the group, one of Oskar’s sons, scratched his beard thoughtfully.
“I see yer point, milord,” he admitted. “But haulin charcoal and bar stock up all them stairs don’t seem too practical.”
“That’s what the elevator is for,” I pointed out. “It can lift a cartload of goods all at once. I know no one wants to ride on it right now, but I’m planning to put walls around the sides so you don’t have to worry about falling out of it.”
“That’d be a relief, milord,” he agreed. “Well, then we can plan on that. Should I get with Miss Avilla about setting aside the space?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she’s managing that for me.”
I was interrupted once by the Harbormaster, who came by to make inquiries about the results of my expedition. He was surprisingly sanguine about the loss of his pilot, but as I’d noted before life was pretty cheap in Varmland even before Fimbulwinter. The sea serpent concerned him, but after hearing the story his worry cleared.
“Sounds like you sent it packing, milord,” he said. “Even if it lives somehow, it isn’t likely to be lurking about looking for ships to prey on with that sort of injury. But with the goblins about any ships that set sail will need guards, and I pity the fisherman who tries to make that trip.”
“Yeah, that would be a bad idea,” I agreed. “The channel is narrow enough that the goblins can easily cover it with their bows. Maybe the garrison
can arrange to patrol it, or put a squad of archers on each merchant ship?”
“I’ll have to consult with the Mayor, and see what we can come up with. I take it the work on the rest of the harbor will be delayed?” He asked, eying my missing arm.
“Not for long,” I assured him. “I’ll be able to start work on it again tomorrow.”
“Ah, well, you should be careful with an injury like that. I’m sure supervising your work crews here in the keep must eat into your time as well. Maybe just do three or four docks a day?”
I chuckled. “The prince will get impatient if I take too long. But I can give you a few days of that, before I finish the job.”
“Fair enough, milord. Good recovery, then. I’ll come around tomorrow to show you around. Say, midmorning?”
We shook on it, and then it was back to plumbing construction until the staff meeting. That ended up happening in my private dining room upstairs, since it was one of the few rooms in the keep that was actually fully furnished. Avilla bustled about in the kitchen next door, preparing sandwiches and soup for lunch, and Cerise conspicuously claimed the seat immediately to my right. Captain Rain, Oskar and Gronir all took seats further down, leaving the one to my left empty.
“I’ve found two experienced sergeants willing to sign on with us, in exchange for quartering their families in the keep,” Captain Rain reported. “They had a few contacts, of course, and I’ve lined up five veteran soldiers as well. Two of them have injuries that will need healing before they’re fit for duty, if you have time for that?”
I nodded. “Sure. Have you made any progress on the training program?”
He grimaced. “Some. Gods know there are plenty of refugees in this city, so we won’t be hurting for prospects. I’m thinking we set up a recruiting station down at the end of the dock, and tell people we’re taking only the best candidates. Big men in good health, with experience in a militia.”
“Hunters, too,” Gronir suggested. “Some woodscraft will be handy if you get sent out on a mission without my pack.”
“I suppose,” Marcus conceded. “But the actual training will be a problem. There isn’t enough space in the keep to do mass drills with more than a couple of squads, and the city is too crowded. We’d have to use the killing ground outside the walls, and then we’d end up losing half the men to monsters and pneumonia. Unless you’re somehow going to make enough warmth cloaks for everyone, sir?”
I shook my head. “Not for a couple of weeks, at least. I need to finish the keep and upgrade our weapons first, and then probably build an expansion.”
Avilla and a couple of the new maids emerged from the kitchen at that point to lay out lunch. I caught her wrist when she started to leave again.
“Have a seat, Avilla. You’re part of the staff here.”
“I am? But I don’t know anything about fighting.”
“An army marches on its stomach, and you’re an expert on those. You’ve been doing an amazing job organizing the keep, so I’m officially appointing you castellan.”
“Castellan?!” She squeaked. “But I’m a woman!”
I shrugged. “I don’t care. Leave the military affairs to the officers, of course. But assigning space, managing provisions and making good use of our civilians is your responsibility. If you find that you really can’t keep up with it all let me know, and I’ll figure something out. But so far I think you’ve been doing an excellent job.”
“Thank you,” she said breathlessly.
“You’re welcome. So, I’m thinking we’re going to have to outfit our new recruits, since refugees mostly won’t have weapons or even decent clothes. Ideally I’d like to provide each man with a uniform suitable for cold weather, good boots, some kind of light armor, and a sword and dagger to supplement the magical weapons I’m going to be making. Comments?”
Marcus shook his head. “It takes months to learn any real swordsmanship, even with intensive training. Short spears would be a better choice, or maybe clubs.”
“What about shorts swords?” Oskar suggested. “One edge, no point, basically just a big meat cleaver. Not so good against a man with a broadsword, but it’ll get the job done against goblins or wolves.”
“Yeah, keep in mind this is just a backup weapon,” I pointed out. “The real killing is all going to be done with magical weapons, like the flamers. I just want the men to have something to fall back on if something gets in close.”
“I suppose that will work, then,” Marcus admitted.
“What about tents?” Gronir asked. “If you want them to be able to march anywhere the cold is going to be as big a threat as the monsters.”
“The vehicles should work for that,” I said. “Each squad is going to have an armored vehicle, like a transport but made of iron, and probably floating like the barge we escaped Lanrest on. Put a heavy flamer on top, mounted so it can swivel in any direction, and big doors in the back so the men can load or unload quickly. So they can travel fast, and always have shelter and a little fort to fall back on if they run into trouble.”
“Sounds like fun,” Cerise commented.
“Effective,” Marcus agreed. “That will let us carry a lot of supplies without loading the men down. Can we afford proper chain mail for armor?”
“We’ll see. Avilla, are there any problems with moving the forge up to the top level of the keep instead of hiding it in the basement?”
She frowned. “There’s room, but the noise will be a problem. I was hoping we could use that area as guest quarters, so we can invite nobles or wizards to visit. We’re hoping to recruit some people like that, right?”
“You’re going to be doing some more construction anyway, right Daniel?” Cerise put in. “Maybe you should go ahead and raise a small island in the river, and put up a building that’s actually designed as a place for craftsmen to work? We’ll want a tannery too at some point, and you sure don’t want that in the keep.”
“We’ll need to buy the armor in town either way,” Oskar pointed out. “We don’t have a real armorer, and even if we did making a hundred suits of mail would take months. I was just thinking a smithy would let us do our own repairs. But, ah, you can conjure up iron now? Real iron?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s real. It’s actually a nickel-iron alloy, basically the same stuff as meteoric iron. But I imagine you could make decent steel out of it.”
“In that case I think I can solve the armor problem. There’s a big arsenal over at the east end of town that equips the royal army, and normally supplies most of the arms merchants in town. They’re not selling anything right now because they’ve just about run out of bar stock, but if we can supply them with a few tons of iron I expect they’ll be fine with turning some of it into arms and armor for us.”
“Excellent. I can turn out a cartload of iron bars in a few minutes. In that case I think your answer is we can go as heavy on the armor as you like, Marcus.”
He smiled. “Good to hear. Let’s go with full helms and chain hauberks, then.”
“I, um, uniforms will take some time,” Avilla offered, a little nervously. “I need to find another four or five good seamstresses first, and we’ve got some urgent needs to take care of for our people. But if you give me, say, another two days to set things up, I think I can provide five or six complete outfits a day. The real problem will be boots. We don’t have any cobblers, and I can’t do them all myself.”
“At that rate it would take a month to outfit the unit,” I pointed out. “Take an extra day to set it up, and hire twice as many people.”
“Alright, Daniel. But I’m a little worried about our provisions. Food prices in Kozalin are already outrageous, and we only have so much coin.”
“That shouldn’t be a big issue,” I told her. “We can make money. For starters, I’m sure we could sell extra iron to the arsenal for cash. Someone would buy the old transports, too, and we won’t need them for much longer. Hmm. Maybe there’s a nervous grain merchant who’d like to live in a climate-c
ontrolled fortress?”
“I’ll take that angle,” Cerise offered. “I’m trying to make contacts in town anyway, and I’ve got some ideas on how to lure in rich guys.”
That was a surprise. Cerise has always been pretty outgoing, though, and no one else was likely to have time.
“Go for it,” I agreed. “As for the boots, I’m sure a city this size has a cobbler’s guild. We’ll just have to buy them.”
There were a lot of other issues to discuss, but most of them were easily solved. Oscar wanted the battlements finished, so he could start working out how to drive off an attacking force instead of just closing the gates and waiting for me to fix things. All three officers had long lists of minor equipment and supply issues that needed addressing, and Gronir wanted to start sending out scouting parties to keep an eye on the local monsters.
I pointed out that Kozalin’s defenders were likely already doing that, since they had wizards and a company of griffon riders available. We just needed to get plugged in to whatever system they had for distributing intel, so I put that on my own to-do list.
After the meeting wound down I still had most of the afternoon to kill, since the Red Conclave made a point of starting their meetings at sunset. They were wizards, after all, not mere ordinary folk forced to retire to bed by the fading of the light…
Yeah, I got a laugh out of that the first time I heard it. To think that having artificial lights was a major status symbol.
At any rate, it gave me time to finish up more of the detail work on the keep. I made the battlements a fairly complex design, with a fully enclosed inner walkway and a more exposed outer one that had plenty of arrow slits and murder holes. The roof got a similar enclosed walkway around the edge, with a sloped roof and gutters laid out to ensure most of the snow that landed on it ended up in the cistern. Keeping that filled was a bit of a project, so I also installed a small winch in one corner that the men could use to haul up buckets of ice and snow.
When I went to dress for my trip to the Conclave I was surprised to find Avilla waiting for me, with a new outfit she’d somehow found time to assemble for the occasion. A black shirt and pants of much finer material than I was used to seeing here, embroidered with gold lightning bolts at the cuffs and collar. There was a leather belt with a sheath for Grinder, new boots, and a heavy furred cloak that I was pretty sure had come from one of the felwolves we’d killed on our journey.
Black Coven (Daniel Black Book 2) Page 12