Cast in Time: Book 1: Baron by Ed Nelson

Author:Ed Nelson [Nelson, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

While my scouts were finding the lay of the land and the best places for military action, there was enough to keep me busy.

The crossbow squad was progressing nicely and included a support group with war hammers. When fighting in the open, you had to clean up the battlefield.

I had learned that lesson the hard way in Argonne Woods. Leaving a cluster of wounded soldiers would be an obstacle that could cause problems later. Better to neutralize them all.

Killing like this would seem harsh to soldiers of the twenty-first century, or at least to the REMFs. They would pull the wounded off the battlefield and provide medical care. For those of us blooded in Europe and Korea, it was common sense to end them.

The ladies that formed the auxiliary force were trained in a lighter crossbow. Their primary mission would be to defend the village and Keep while the army, small but an army nonetheless, was on the move.

Then there was the Keep itself. That name was a joke compared to the Norman Keeps of later years. My Keep consisted of a large thatched roof hall attached to a three-story tower. The tower was fitted block, and no one knew its history.

All other operations were in small outbuildings. The kitchen, forge, armory, and others were haphazardly built and placed around the main hall.

The land the Keep was built on was perfect for my needs. The small complex sat on a flat area on top of a hill, about one hundred yards by two hundred yards in size.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around the new metric system I introduced for standard measurements. I understood it, but in my head, it would always be inches, feet, yards, and miles.

I had to break this habit, or I would be in battle, hesitating to decide while I converted yards to meters. Not good.

It was time to upgrade the keep. I had a rectangle laid out around the perimeter of the flat to outline where the walls would go. It would take months, but we had enough cement stockpiled to make concrete walls.

First, a foundation had to be dug and then poured. A forge was dedicated to making nothing but rebar to reinforce the concrete.

The forested area east of the village had been cut down to make forms for the walls when we were ready to pour. The stumps were being pulled out so we could farm the area.

Stump removal was brutally hard work in the winter. No one went hungry, but we were wet and cold. Experience taught me that people could and would endure hardship if they thought they were working toward the common good.

Spirits were high. Everyone had enough to eat and was getting paid in silver pennies. What was there not to like?

Another project was digging a well inside the new walls.

Once our dowser identified the best spot, I built a shelter over the site, similar to picnic shelters in parks. The roof would keep the area somewhat dry for the workers and prevent the walls of the well from caving in.

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