A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"They listened when you said to priotize the gates," Nila said. "Perhaps another week before they're done. Is there anything that you think we're missing in terms of defence, Oliver? I was thinking that this might be a good opportunity to do more than just fulfil what the Guild asked of us?"

"That is true…" Oliver said thoughtfully. It was simple high wooden walls that they'd defended on before. There hadn't been any crenalations in the wood for archers to hide behind or anything of the like. They'd thought that the walls would have served better as deterrences than they would need to show actual overwhelming merit in defence.

"What problems did you find to be most irritating as you defended?"

"Well… the arrow fire," Nila said, her face clouding as she remembered it.

"The bloody fire as well," Greeves said, his own expression falling into misery. "I'll never get rid of all that smoke from my lungs for as long as I live. It was a nightmare. But I don't know what else we could do to stop the likes of fire…"

"They're treating the wood, aren't they?" Oliver said.

"Aye, they're coating it in some sort of resin that'll make it more resistant to fire," Greeves said.

Oliver nodded. "The alchemists will make better versions of that than the herbalists… I wonder what Nebular is up to. Perhaps I could commission something through him? I wonder if there is some alchemical substance that we could throw onto oil fires, to dull the flames before they had a chance to burn. Sand would be something… But Nebular likely knows something else that we could fight around."

"The alchemist that you were making potions with at the Academy?" Greeves recalled. The two had done indirect business together, with Greeves distributing what Nebular had made. "It's worth a shot. But if that's what you're thinking to defend the flames, it doesn't really make use of the builders that we brought here."

"True, I meant something more that the builders could add for us whilst they were here," Nila said. "Though I am sure it would be helpful to have a way of defending against oil fires once they've already begun burning…"

"Do we even need to worry about it at this point?" Greeves said with a shrug. "We've got Ser Patrick defending with us now. If there's an attack, we'd rout it in a day. You've no plans to do battle anytime soon, do you?"

Oliver shook his head, well aware that Nila was eyeing him intensely from the side, seemingly more interested in the answer to that question than Greeves was. "I would like to take time away from the battlefield for a while, if I can. There's much I need to learn."

"Well, I'm sure time off will be good for you," Nila said, keeping her voice light, as if she couldn't care either way. "Sometimes it's better to think about it for a while, rather than do… I suppose."

She didn't sound thoroughly convinced by her own words, but she did seem happy enough with the conclusion that they presented.

"And that's why you're sticking to me, is it?" Greeves said. "You're the type that always needs something to do."

"If there's something to be done, we ought to do it. We never know when we might get busy again. We should improve what we can whilst we can," Oliver said.

"Aye, these walls are a good step as far as that improvement goes…" Greeves said.

"Is there anything more than that? I will think on the matter of defence, and how we might add to it. Crenellations in the wood would be something, but that's about it. Short of just replacing the wood with stone… But even the General's pay I've collected won't be enough for that," Oliver said.

"Well, if you wanted improvements defensively, bit by bit… I don't see how we couldn't manage a keep or something of the sort being built in the village centre," Greeves said.

"You think we've got the coin for that?" Oliver said, frowning. Naturally, a keep was something that caught his interest. There was a reason that most castles employed a sturdy keep, beyond even the sturdy walls. It would be an extra layer of defence where they could keep the vulnerable safe during times of attack.

For as they'd seen, their walls were far from unbreachable, and the battle could very likely come to the village streets themselves.

"It would be a weighty dig into your pursue, might take half of it, but a simple keep of the sort that you're looking for – to protect the women, and the children, and the elderly, aye? – we should be able to manage," Greeves said.

"Would we really be able to build something big enough for that?" Nila said doubtfully. "That would be a few hundred people."

"It ain't as if they need to live in there. They just need to be able to get in. A three-storied keep, why not?" Greeves said. "But stone work is always going to take longer than woodwork. We'd need to ship in the bricks from elsewhere. It won't be done before winter.

But I think, as a symbol, it will serve a certain amount of weight. It makes us look more than just a fort. Almost a castle. Merchants will see that, and they'll trust in it."

"Hm… I do like the sound of a keep," Oliver said. "What do you think, Nila?"

"It would have made our job far easier during the attack if we'd had somewhere defenceable that we could keep the vulnerable in," Nila agreed. "It was a constant worry whether they would find their safe houses before we dealt with them. Luckily, it never came to that… but we likely only survived by the skin of our teeth. If not for Queen Asabel, it would have been a terrible affair."

"So, a keep?" Greeves said. "You ready to throw away half of our earnings already, Ser Patrick?"

"I suppose so…" Oliver said.

"I'll go and ask the gaffer if he knows anyone that might be interested in that type of work, then," Greeves said, before going looking for the same man that they had been speaking to earlier.