Flowing Stonework

{Excerpt}

The Strega being one of the longest rivers in Udoris is the most important waterway in the kingdom of Algrim. Cutting a slightly winding path through the kingdom, it originates at an estimated elevation of only about 300 metres in the Treilleauzo territory of the Aiga mountain range, with the southeast borders of the Kingdom of Quilton, discharging another 5,645 km away into the Ignis basin, south of the Morgan channel.

Even though the river freezes for most of its length for nearly a month each year, the Strega is still of great importance to Algrim's inland transport and is essential to ensure the fluidity of trade with its neighbour across the border, Quilton. Its diverse ecosystem also heavily supports the few towns and communities nestled along its banks by fertilising and systematically generating arable land while also providing easily accessible marine food for both trade and consumption.

…

Excerpt from Milburga Leah's Speculum universale - 'The Voltulian Philosophica', located on the coordinates 00.03.45.157; Udoris/Diyias/Geography/Great rivers, lakes, streams and tributaries.

{END}

22.13.1623 S.T.

Redwater

…

“I still do not understand why we need so much silt, My Liege," Lancelot asked, turning a puzzled glance towards the young earl crouched on the floor beside him. The acting ruler of Greenfields calmly fiddled with a shard of stone as he stared vacantly at the Strega flowing lethargically in the distance.

“It’s not the silt we are here for,” Levi replied blandly as he tossed the tiny rock shard he had been fiddling with in Lancelot’s direction.

“And this is?” Lancelot asked, reflexively raising his hand to allow the object to fall into his open palm. He pinched the light grey, unremarkable rock between his fingers.

“It’s called calcite,” Levi replied. “I need it as a key ingredient in an alchemical product that might prove invaluable to us soon.”

Lancelot frowned, momentarily glancing at Sir Justin who stood behind silently accompanying them. Still frowning, he turned his gaze back to the group of peasants in the distance scouring the riverbank to gather individual shards by hand into large woven baskets. As per normal, the entire riverbank was littered with these strange, but utterly useless rocks. So understandably, it was quite baffling at the very least that these normally inconsequential objects had somehow managed to snare the young lord’s attention, especially at a time as dire as this. But, Lancelot did not believe Lord Levi to be a person of irresponsible practice. Even with his recently heightened brashness and aggression, the earl is still quite a level-headed person.

Armed with this line of logic, Lancelot decided to wait and watch rather than continue to pester Levi for answers. Soon, the peasants had gathered a sizable amount of the ‘calcite’ the earl requested and were instructed to carry it to a clearing beside the town. They soon arrived and were greeted by the sight of two freshly constructed structures. The bloomery kilns the earl ordered built a few days ago had long hardened, but without any iron-ore or bog-iron in sight, Lancelot highly doubted they intended to smelt metals with them.

Almost predictably, the earl instructed that the ‘calcite’ was to be placed into the bloomery’s roasting pits, but only after it was processed. The serfs separated the 'useful' shards from the small pebbles and dirt. Larger stones were picked out by hand and soon all that was left was a fairly clean pile of white shards which was later grounded into a fine powder. The end product was split into two. One portion was simply poured into the roasting pit and sealed after the charcoal had been lit while the other was first mixed with water before being heated unsealed.

“What now?” Lancelot asked, baffled as Levi simply dismissed most of the peasants, leaving only a pair behind to supervise the kilns before silently leading them towards the captured Keep.

“We will have to wait a few hours for the calcite to cook,” the earl said as he smilingly nodded to a peasant who greeted him. “Once we are done, we will mix the two powders, add some sand and water and we will have lime mortar.”

“Lime mortar?” Lancelot was confused. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

Earl Levi slowed his steps momentarily as if just realising Lancelot's confusion. “Uhn? It's a construction material. Think of it as a special kind of mud,” he said with a hint of uncertainty after a moment of thought, “one that turned as hard as stone when left to dry.”

‘Mud? Stone?’ Lancelot thought to himself.

'That makes absolutely no sense at all...'