The rest of the oven was covered with dirt as an insulator, except for a doorway for extracting the coke. The coal was leveled with long rakes through the doorway to the depth of a yard and a half. Then a fire was started on top of the coal and the supply of air was restricted.
Soon the whole bed of coal was smoldering, and the dome of the oven reflected the heat downward. This eventually melted the coal, and volatile material -sulfur, ammonia, hydrocarbons -was vaporized to rise to the surface and be burned. It stank abominably.
The operator peeked through the small hole at the top of the doorway. When he saw that the volatiles had been burned off, the coal was again a solid, and the top of the bed was glowing, he inserted a brass spraying-apparatus through the top hole -and fed enough water through it to quench the fire without unduly cooling the oven.
The coke, which was by then almost pure carbon, was shoveled out with very long-handed shovels. The doorway was bricked over again and new coal was loaded from the top.
If the process was done properly, the oven was hot enough to restart the new batch of coal by itself, saving a good deal of fuel. Once we got the oven working properly, we ran about one batch a day through. By spring, we had eight ovens going.
The masons could build the new ones through the coldest weather, since each was built next to a functioning oven, which kept the ground thawed, and the domes were built of dry laid sandstone. Mortar would never have stood the heat.
Chapter Nineteen
But now it was a week before Christmas, and my stay of execution was over. I had to go and fight and kill or maybe be killed to see if a hundred forty-two children had the right to live normal lives.
My orders were to bring the children to Okoitz, and there wasn’t any way around it. But I wasn’t going to bring them in chained neck to neck as I’d found them. I was going to bring them as what they had become. The Christian children of Polish Christian people.
If the kids had to go to Okoitz, then their adoptive parents would go with them. That meant just about everybody at Three Walls, so we pretty much shut down the whole town, except for a skeleton crew who kept the chickens fed, the fires going, and the pipes from freezing.
But it meant that if I lost the fight, the Crossmen would have to take Christian children from Christian families, and I didn’t think that even they could get away with that. Or maybe they could. But it was worth a try.
It meant a long, two-day walk for eight hundred people, but we were well fed and in good shape. It was cold, but we were well clothed and had plenty of blankets.
We had a long string of pack mules for our baggage and Sir Miesko was expecting us.
My new armor was done, and I’d made Ilya polish it like a mirror. If I had to go out and defend truth, justice, and the purity of childhood, I was damn well going to go as a knight in shining armor.
I had him polish my old helmet as well and was wearing it instead of the new one, which was hard to take off. My new chest and back piece had a circular hole on top for my head. At this hole the metal collar flanged up and then out. The new helmet was a clamshell affair that hinged on top, and it had a ring around the bottom that fit into the collar flange on the suit below. Two hand-filed bolts held the sides of the helmet together.
Once the new helmet was on, I could turn my head from side to side, but I couldn’t tilt it. More importantly, it couldn’t be tilted. With my old helmet, a heavy sword blow could break my neck, With the new one, a blow to the head was transmitted through the flange to my upper body.
But the damned thing was a nuisance to put on and take off. You needed a wrench and a helper.
Anna wore some armor as well. A face plate and a lobstertail guard for the top of her neck were all she would accept, and I only got her to wear that by telling her it was pretty.
The hooks to hold the lance for her were built into both sides of her face plate, in the hopes that their use wouldn’t be obvious on something strange to people. We had them on both sides in case they threw a lefty at us.
Having a hook on the saddle was fine when we only had to hit the hole on a quintain. Hitting a knight required something sturdier.
I had a notch cut into the saddlebow of my warkak. I could set my lance in it with the handguard, or vamplate, ahead of the notch. That put the force of the blow on the saddle and thus on Anna, without my smaller muscles having to get involved. We had continued practicing every day and I figured that we were as ready as we would ever be.
Besides the armor, which covered me from crown to fingertip to toe, the only other thing I wore was a, huge wolfskin cloak. Anna and I must have looked pretty awesome. We got a lot of stares, anyway.
Sir Miesko was ready for us, and had a barn set up for the workers to sleep in. The booty taken from the Cross men was already at Okoitz, cooking facilities and supplies of food were arranged. Good neighbors are wonderful.
Sir Vladimir, Sir Miesko, and myself, along with all our ladies, were sitting at supper.
But Sir Miesko and his wife were still convinced that I was soon to die, fancy armor or not. When everybody who knows anything is of the same opinion, you can’t help but start to believe them. For five months, everybody I met was certain that I was going to get killed. It was getting to me, and it was hard to stay cheerful. “Okay,” I said. “I admit that there is some danger. I could die in a few days. So what do we do about it?” ,
“Have you given thought to your projects and your plans?” Sir Miesko asked.
“Well, everything goes back to Count Lambert, doesn’t it?”
“It does if you make no other provisions for it.”
“You’re suggesting that I make out a will?”
“A will may or may not be honored. Tell me, is Count Lambert the man you would want to run your estate at Three Walls?” Sir Miesko asked.
“He might do a better job than most. Actually, I think that Sir Vladimir here would be about the best person for it. Can I make him my heir?”
Sir Vladimir looked shocked. “Me? But I’m no master of the technical arts!”
“No, you’re not. But you have brains enough to listen to those who know more than you. You’re a natural leader, and you care about people. Furthermore, you’re an unimpeachable member of the old nobility. I couldn’t leave it to Yashoo, for example. The nobles would never stand for it. No, Sir Vladimir, I think you’re stuck with it.”
Sir Vladimir started to say something, but Sir Miesko cut him off. “Now that that’s agreed upon, the question is how best to accomplish it. I’ve mentioned that a will may or may not stand up. It depends on the duke’s mood, which is, in truth, a fickle thing. Still, we should try it, for it costs us only a sheet of parchment…”
“But I think that neither the duke nor any other of the nobility would dare to interfere with, say, your daughter’s inheritance. After all, their own wealth and position depend on this point of law.”
“But I don’t have a daughter!” I said.
“But you could. It’s obvious that Sir Vladimir and Annastashia have been in love for quite a long time. Even an old man like me can see that. They want to get married but they can’t, because Baron Jan would never stand for one of his sons marrying a peasant. His wife is worse.”
Vladimir rose in indignation, but Sir Miesko shut him down. “Sit down, Sir Vladimir. I’ve known your folks for twenty years. They wouldn’t even come to my wedding, despite the fact that I’d been knighted only weeks before, because my lady was still a commoner.”
“Sir Miesko, you are talking about my father and my liege lord!” Sir Vladimir said.
“I’m talking about an old acquaintance, and every word of it is true. You want to marry the girl, don’t you?”
“Yes! Of course.”
“And you, Annastashia. You want to marry this impetuous young knight, don’t you?”