"They may well be. Even Our accounts of such things merely state, 'and the effects twisted both land and beast,' but provide no other detail." The emperor sounded annoyed, and the chill faded from the air. "How so ever that is, Master Aedelbert and Master Caedda, you are both mages, with a new sort of magic. New to this time," he corrected, "not new to the world. Mages who work with water are known in the north."
"Most Imperial Majesty, is there a confraternity that would have mages who work with stone as well as power?" Caedda's question matched Aedelbert's own unspoken thought.
The tall figure smiled. "No, so you will found one. You already train a third, or will resume training. It need not have a set place of training, given how such trades work, but you must form a guild and confraternities. Otherwise, we will be forced to strip you of your magical abilities for the protection of others."
That's not fair! Aedelbert wanted to protest, to challenge the warning. He was not a mage, didn't want to be a mage. Nothing good happened to mages, the little voice in his memory hissed.
Caedda spoke before he could open his mouth. "Most Imperial Majesty, honored Fathers and Priestesses, what is required of guild mages? We," he pointed to Aedelbert, "are not acquainted with their secrets."
The Emperor turned his right hand palm up. "You swear by your patron deity not to abuse your power, to use it within the confines of the law, and to punish anyone who abuses that power or breaks that law."
The emperor's words failed to clarify matters, as far as Aedelbert could discern. And it left open things he preferred stayed firmly shut.
"What His Most Imperial Majesty means is that you will have to familiarize yourselves with the laws governing mages. They are not numerous," the Scavenger's Daughter assured them. "In truth, although if you corner a mage they will obfuscate greatly, the rules are fewer than for the stone-cutters' confraternity. Far fewer than for miners."
"That's because miners spend all their time going to and from the mine arguing rules and trying to devise ways around them," the emperor muttered. "Or so We have been told at painful length."
Wassa, Colar, or Sithulf, Aedelbert wondered? Or a combination of all three? Or had Lord Heinrik collided with Sithulf? All possibilities. Caedda's little half-snort of laughter suggested that he had some ideas.
Yes, the memory hissed again, and no rules saved your cousin, nothing protected your aunt from being driven into the sea for having magic skills and daring to marry without telling her man or his family about her flaw. Aedelbert saw it in his memory, felt his father's hands clenching down on his shoulders, bruising him, his father's rough snarl of fury, "Be glad you are only cursed once, not twice." His aunt had not begged for mercy. Her dead eyes had stared straight ahead as the men tied the body of the child, her tiny head smashed, to Aedelbert's aunt and then drove her into the surf to drown or swim at Donwah's pleasure.
A sharp command brought child Aedelbert back to the present. "What see you, Master Starken?" The emperor's command cracked like breaking rock overhead.
"My father's sister being drowned, her child killed, for being magic users, Most Imperial Majesty. No one knew or my aunt's magic practice, and when her daughter showed signs of having mage power as a toddling child—" Aedelbert swallowed hard, eyes focused on the smooth-worn planks of the council chamber's floor. "The babe's sire killed the little girl and read judgment against my father's sister. The village executed her, gave her to Donwah's mercy or wrath." Aedelbert felt his hands shaking and clenched them. "I beg you, Imperial Majesty, do not name me as a mage or magic user."
Storm clouds filled the chamber, or so it felt, and pain flared in Aedelbert's skull, driving him to one knee. "Stop, Most Imperial Majesty," he faintly heard the Scavenger's Daughter order. "Either draw from those sworn to you alone, or do not draw. That is the bargain."
The pain ceased, but the sense of a looming storm remained. "Where?"
"No, please, Most Imperial Majesty. Those responsible have already died of age or accident. The village is beholden to Platport, but please, Most Imperial Majesty, of your mercy let the dead rest." Why was he asking such a thing, the memory snarled? Justice should be done, even now, tens of years later. Shut up, the pain throbbing in his head snarled back.
A black-gloved hand, strong but not large, gripped his shoulder and the pain eased. The Scavenger's Daughter repeated her words, "The bargain, Most Imperial Majesty."
"The bargain, Honored Daughter," the emperor's voice grumbled. He did not sound pleased, but the pain remained bearable. The hand lifted. "A lesser bargain, Master Aedelbert Starken. You found the confraternity and lead it, you and Master Caedda Quaedel. We make note of the crime but do not seek justice beyond what the gods have already passed."
"Done and done," Aedelbert agreed. "Ah, Most Imperial majesty," he added quickly.
"Done and done," Caedda echoed. He sounded as if his head ached too, and a glance around the room revealed more unhappy magic workers. And where was Ehric? Shouldn't the boy be here as well? Or was he still under age enough that he'd not been afflicted by the Emperor's actions?
Beside him, the Scavenger's Daughter inclined her hood toward him. "Before you ask," she murmured, "yes, your apprentice is included, or will be once he recovers. He remains in bed, as sick now as you felt yester even'. The greater the store of unused ability, the greater the weakness." She sounded disgusted. "As someone should remember."
Someone's large feline associate looked up from his snit with an expression suggesting that someone would be reminded of that fact. Or was he imagining things? Cats didn't scold people, they just howled, begged, and acted as arrogant as a miner with a full purse. Aedelbert decided that he preferred not to know. He had more than enough to worry about. How did you found a confraternity? Where did he find a copy of the rules? And most importantly, how were they going to get that smelter built while founding a guild at the same time.
The emperor dismissed everyone but the clergy, and Caedda staggered a little down the steps. "I'm not cutting stone today," he announced, voice hoarse.
"No." Aedelbert declared, "We're getting something to eat, a beer or two, and sleeping. In that order. Then we are dragging Ehric up the mountain and finishing that smelter, or else we'll be sleeping rough all winter."
Caedda snorted. "Not so bad. The masons finally paid."
"Rough most of winter then." Aedelbert reminded his partner, "Ehric is growing again and shirts don't appear on trees."
Mistress Godgifu saw them as they crossed her threshold and pointed to the table. "Sit. Now. Before you fall over and people say I mistook night-spice for sweet-leaf or over-brewed the beer." She planted her fists on her hips. Cowardice was the better part of survival, and Aedelbert slunk to the table. The seat of his trousers had barely touched wood when a basket of hot buns, a slab of cheese, and their mugs appeared. Caedda set to work on the cheese, then tossed a bun from hand to hand.
"Fresh?"
"No, I'm taking up a new skill. What do you think?"
Aedelbert took a bun and almost dropped it. "Fresh."
They laid the last stone on the third smelter the day before the first snow sifted and danced down from the clouds. "...No you are not," they heard Turold stating. "Not for two winters more. That's my final word, and those boys can put that in their tool-kits and live with it."
"Yes, Father," a relieved-sounding Mildthryd replied.
Caedda and Ehric steadied the scaffolding as Aedelbert climbed down. "What now?" Aedelbert asked. He raised his voice and called, "And if anyone fires the smelter before three sunrises pass, we are not doing the repairs gratis, Scavenger mark my words."
"Heard and witnessed," his associates, and two passing smelter men, replied.
"Both Dunstan and Boernrad have been asking about Mildthryd's dower and if she is available for marriage yet." Caedda shook his head, frowning. "She's at least two years from the age of marriage."
Scavenger have mercy, that meant she'd been no more than twelve when he'd hired h
er and her great-hauler to move the clay! Aedelbert blinked and recovered before he said words about her birth sire that ought not be spoken around proper women. She looked like a honorable man's daughter now, her skirts and jacket no longer patched beyond recognition, and with proper boots or clogs on her feet. Mildthryd stood straight, too, and had not scuttled or ducked away from anyone the entire time they'd been finishing the third smelter.
Ehric nodded, then bounced a little. "Oh, and one of the teamsters told Turold that he'd heard from Mistress Godgifu that a priest of Valdher would be returning to the mountains. At least, that's what he thought he heard her say."
"Interesting," Aedelbert replied. Caedda's eyebrows rose but he kept his thoughts to himself as they started dismantling the scaffolding. It would be safer to take it down and store it before the men tested the smelter. If they needed it again, they'd have it, and it wouldn't catch fire if the chimney failed or sparks escaped. After that? Aedelbert didn't think that far. If they had to repair the chimney in snow because of someone else's impatience or poor planning, the guilty party'd pay him double at least, rats as his witnesses.
Three days later, as they walked down the mountain, Caedda cleared his throat. "Have you looked at the books yet?"
Aedelbert had been dreading the question. "Just enough to be certain I could read them." He'd hoped that he'd find them to be in temple script, but alas, simple letters and common shapes covered the pages. "The priest suggested waiting until we could concentrate on the books." The two blue-bound volumes made his fingers feel cold when he touched them. The smaller, black-covered book liked his hands better.
Caedda ducked under a drooping branch. "That's new," he said, stopping. "Ehric, do you have the—Thank you." The boy handed him the smaller tool roll from his bag. Caedda opened it and removed a thin-bladed knife. Aedelbert lifted the end of the branch and Caedda followed it to the trunk. "Broken three-quarters through. In fact, ah," he wiggled the butt of the branch. "Push up a little more." Aedelbert complied. Creakrip. Caedda helped steady the branch. "Over to the side here," Caedda nodded. Ehric joined the effort and they moved the broken branch clear of the track.
As Caedda replaced the knife in its roll and returned to roll to Ehric, Aedelbert found a bit of dried fruit in his tool bag. He left it at the base of the tree, although for Korvaal, the zwurge, or the tree he couldn't say.
"Ah, um," Ehric began, glancing from Caedda to Aedelbert. "Do I need to read the books?"
"Eventually," Caedda said. "Not tomorrow. The day after tomorrow we sign the formal apprentice contract. Tomorrow is Eighth-Day, and we rest."
And after that? Aedelbert had heard some rumors about work to the south, a new stone bridge over one of the rivers that fed the Moahne. He needed to talk to a trader, see if the story was anything more than a story.
Caedda's voice penetrated his speculations. "There's a late-season trade caravan leaving a few days after that. We need to be on our way, and the road's safer in a group, even if the Emperor is back."
"Yes sir!" Ehric's relief made Aedelbert smile. "Some of the traders said that road thieves don't ask about patrons, they just rob and run."
That was something else they'd have to teach him, Aedelbert groaned inside. Not all places welcomed Scavenger Born.
But that came later. Now he wanted a bath, a good beer, and sleep. Man, mage, or Emperor, no one could work without food and rest.
"Aedelbert?" Caedda had stopped and was staring up the track. Aedelbert turned and gulped. A large rat, as long from nose to tail as Caedda stood tall and as black as night without stars, nibbled the dried fruit. It gave Aedelbert a sideways look and flicked its tail at him, then resumed eating.
Aedelbert swallowed again, just to get water into his mouth. "Let's leave him to his meal, shall we?" He bowed toward the rat and eased down the track, not relaxing until several bends later.
He'd start on the books after services tomorrow.
Afterword
Author's Note
The genesis of this story was a two hour tour of the Rammelsberg Mine near Goslar, Germany. The mine has been worked since at least the late AD 900s CE, and copper from the ore body was used a thousand years and more before that. That visit led me into the world of early medieval mining techniques and technology, starting with a technical monograph about three of the smelters that served the Rammelsberg.
I have used and abused a few terms such as "adit." "Virtiole" [vit-ree-OH-luh] is the German term for vitriol, the family of chemicals found in the mine's ores and waste that were used in tanning and etching. Vitriols range from toxic to very toxic, but were an important byproduct of the metal processing done in the past.
Rather than miner's furlong, the term Hoover uses to translate Agricola's measure, I used the Saxon "lachter" for the same distance. Miners had a very specialized technical vocabulary even in the early Middle Ages, and still do. In some cases I found it easier to use the Saxon terms in order to prevent reader confusion.
"Slag" is the English word that takes in a dozen more precise German terms for the products of the first and second processings of ore. Medieval metal workers would re-smelt some ores three or four times to remove different minerals, and while the results were "slag" in the sense of waste material, the men of the time did not see them as pure waste.
Some women did work in metal processing, notably sorting ore from gangue and in grinding the ores. They did not mine or work the smelters, at least not according to the sources I have access to.
Literacy among skilled trades and businessmen tended to be higher than in the population at large. It has been estimated that roughly twenty percent of the men involved in mining and the building trades in Saxony during the High Middle Ages could read and at least sign their name, if not write proficiently.
Sources for this book:
Agricola, Georgius. De Re Metallica Hoover and Hoover Trans. (Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing 2014 reprint of New York: Dover Publications, 1950; 1912, 1556). This is the best edition in English, because it includes the illustrations. Although Renaissance, some things had not changed that much, including mining law in Saxony.
Asmus, Bastian. Medieval Copper Smelting in the Harz Mountains, Germany. (Bochum: Duetsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, 2012) This is a technical dissertation about the archaeological finds and chemistry of the three smelters that served the Rammelsberg in the 1100s. The meat of the book is in English, but the German abstract and summery are very useful as well. I don't know if this book is available outside Germany. Most of the volumes in the series of academic papers are in German, and prices range from thirty to over fifty Euros per volume.
Hoffman, Richard. An Environmental History of Medieval Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2014. E-book. An excellent case-study-based overview of the changing physical environment of Medieval Europe, including a discussion of disputes between farmers and miners over water use, timber use, and water quality.
Rehder, J. E. The Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity. (Montreal: McGill and Queen's University Press, 2000) A very technical description of the different stages of fire use from open-hearth glass making and pottery baking through basic iron working, charcoal manufacture, and fuel analyses. Good diagrams.
Squatriti, Paolo. Landscape and Change in Early Medieval Italy: Chestnuts, Economy, and Culture. Cambridge University press, 2017. E-book. An intriguing monograph about the role of chestnuts in society and how they changed from being nearly a "trash tree" to becoming a highly-valued commodity.
Tylecote, R. F. A History of Metallurgy 2nd Edition. (CRC Publications, 2002, 1976) A wonderful, accessible, well written book about prehistoric and early historic metal working. Alas, used copies begin at over $700 US for the paperback, so I recommend Inter-Library Loan. This really needs to be reprinted again. Some things are a little dated, but the technical information is fantastic. Read this, then Rehder, then Agricola.
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully thanks her blog-readers who offe
red technical comments on early chapters of this book.
The Inter-Library-Loan staff of the Southwest Branch Library once more rose to the occasion and found obscure academic tomes in dusty archives.
A hearty thanks also go to the beta readers, including M.T., J.L.C., and J.H. for their observations, critiques, and catches.
All failures and errors remain sole property of the author!
About the Author
Alma T. C. Boykin lives on the shortgrass plains of North America, in a topographic setting as far from that of this book as one can imagine. An academic historian and pilot by training, she has discovered that she is unable to keep history from seeping into her fiction. When not working, writing, or singing, she waits tail-and-paw on a cranky calico cat.
For more information about the author and her other works, please visit her blog, Cat Rotator’s Quarterly: www.almatcboykin.wordpress.com
Also by Alma T. C. Boykin
Merchant and Magic Tycho Rhonarida just wants to do his business and get home safely. The gods have other plans.
The Scavenger’s Gift Those not born for the Scavenger should think carefully before entering His lands.
Merchant and Empire Tycho finds himself traveling with the Great Northern Emperor. Sometimes not having a gift is the greatest gift possible.
Miners and Empire Page 20