by Simon Archer
“Does it leak?” I asked as I headed over to them.
“It does not appear to, my liege,” the Hobgoblin told me. “But you are welcome to check for yourself.”
I checked the tube and found that, sure enough, I couldn’t spot any water seeping through the Natzo itself.
“I think you’re right. Perfect.” I clapped my hands together. “Now, take the rest of the Natzo I’ve cut and fit it together.” I showed them what I wanted. “We want to pipe this all the way back to the gardens.” I paused a moment. “Just connect the one going to the water last. It’ll be easier to work with that way.”
“Your will shall be done, my liege,” the Hobgoblin said as he and his friends began to fit the pipes together.
I took a few moments to summon One and Two, my first-ever summons, because I hadn’t seen them for a while. I gave each of the ants a quick scratch under the chin before directing them to cut down more Natzo for the Hobgoblins.
Once I’d gotten everything working in a way I wanted, I jogged back over to the gardens where I found Melanie and Nikotan engaged in a conversation about guano that I didn’t feel like interrupting for obvious reasons. Instead, I went to find Thera in the village. I didn’t see her in the square, but thankfully, when I headed toward her hut, I saw Kanil.
“Hey,” I called as I waved to him. “You got a second?”
“Of course, Garrett,” he said with a grin as he came over. “How can I help you?” He looked past me. “My sister said you were working in the gardens.”
“Yeah, about that. I want to try building something.” I looked around. “Can you help me out with that?”
“You wish to build something?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I suppose I can help you with that, but I’m not much of a builder.” He looked over his shoulder like he was trying to find something or someone. “Honestly, Denno would be better suited for that.”
“I don’t need help with the actual building,” I said before grinning at him. “I just need a big space to build my something that is preferably located reasonably close to the village but is also a space that isn’t used for other things.”
“There are many areas around the village,” Kanil said as he puzzled over my request. “But none that have been cleared.”
“If you show them to me, I can clear them myself.” I resisted the urge to flex. “By which I mean, the ants will clear the land.”
“Ah, well, in that case, I know the perfect spot.” Kanil nodded. “I will show you, and then I’ll tell my sister. She shouldn’t have any problem with your request, especially since we can use the wood for huts.” He paused for a second. “Would you mind bringing it to the carver? His hut is very near the one where you’ve been dropping off meat.”
“Of course. That’s not a problem at all.” I looked around the village. “Show me where that is first.”
“I’d be happy too.” He turned and began walking back toward the smokers. “It is this way.”
“Thank you, Kanil.” I smiled at him. “You won’t be sorry.”
Kanil was right, of course. After showing me where the carver lived, which was actually more like a very small lumber yard than a house, he brought me outside the village. The spot he showed me was only a few minutes walk from the village and was on a slightly raised hill that was covered in trees but was otherwise large. So, basically, barring the vegetation, it was perfect.
“Will this work, Garrett?” Kanil asked as I surveyed the site for my newest creation.
“It will be perfect.” I smiled as I looked around. “I know you can’t see what’s in my head, but trust me, you’re going to love it.”
“Well, now, I am very excited.” He grinned back at me. “Do you need anything else, or shall I leave you to your work?”
“I’m good for now,” I said and bid him goodbye before opening my mental link. “Queenie, could you come here? I need you to work on something while I do an entirely unrelated but necessary task.”
“It would be my greatest pleasure, master,” Queenie said, and the words had barely echoed in my brain when she appeared on the horizon and flew toward me, dragonfly wings beating furiously. A moment later, she landed next to me. “What is it you require, master?”
“I need you to have the ants clear this area, then bring the felled trees over by the smokers.” I shot her a mental picture of the carver’s hut. “Can you do that?”
“Absolutely, master.” Queenie nodded furiously. “You can count on me!” Then with that, she began to summon ants to do as I asked. “Is there anything else you need done, master?”
“Yes, actually,” I said as I gestured at the area. “I also want an area dug out.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “That’s why we need the place cleared, actually.” I shot her a mental picture of what I wanted, which was basically a dug out area that was approximately thirty feet by thirty feet to a depth of around fifteen feet, with a set of stairs that led from the surface down into what I planned to be a cistern.
“I’ll take care of it, master.” Queenie tapped her chin a couple of times as she thought. “Is there anything, in particular, you would like done with the dirt?”
“Yeah, I want you to pile it around the edges of the hole you dig out so I can make walls out of it.” I smirked. “Just like we did when we made Jane’s walls.”
“I remember that, master. It was easier for you to work your earth magic on the dirt piles rather than forcing it up from the ground.” She nodded. “I think the work will only take a couple of hours if I summon many ants. Is that okay?”
“That will give me time to work on the last piece of the puzzle.” I smiled. “Just let me know when this is all excavated.”
“I will, master,” Queenie said before turning her attention back to the task at hand. Leaving her to it, I headed back toward where I’d left the Hobgoblins laying pipe.
“This is perfect, guys,” I told them as I approached. They had just about reached the gardens, which was exactly where I’d wanted them to be. “I want you to pipe it here.” I moved to a spot just outside the front of the gardens. I’d picked this spot because it was on the side where the plants that required the most water were. “Also, I need someone to bring me a bunch of rocks.”
“We’re on it, my liege,” the lead Hobgoblin said as he went to work directing some of his crew to lay pipe while others broke off to collect the stones.
“Actually… I have an idea.” I summoned Hercules, and as the massive Erymanthian Boar appeared before me, I directed him to help the rock gatherers carry the stones back.
While they did that, I summoned a few ants of my own and directed them to dig out an area around three feet deep, two feet wide, and three feet long, and then line it with the various stones the hobgoblins brought. Thankfully, it sort of worked out because we had all the stones we could ever want by the time the ants finished digging, which was nice.
Once it was lined with stones, I called upon my magic. I touched the ground and reached out with the earth power granted to me by my title. It took a bit of doing, but I managed to fuse the stone together so that it turned into a relatively waterproof liner of stone in my hole while leaving three openings in the structure itself for pipes, one in the front and one on either side. Then I had the Hobgoblins fit the pipes into the holes and used a bit more magic to fuse it together.
I know it sounds like this all happened quickly, but truth be told, I expended my Aura six times just doing the rock because I wasn’t that good at using earth magic yet, and this shit was hard work. Still, when it was done, and I looked at it, I couldn’t help but smile.
“What have you got there, dude?” Nikotan asked as the Hobgoblins moved to pipe the other side all the way to where Queenie was.
“This is what I call a flood irrigation system.” I nodded at it. “See, I’m going to have the ants dig from here,” I pointed at my rudimentary three-way valve, “to each of the plots.” I picked up the sluice gate I’d made from stone. “We’ll place one of
these in front of each of the branches, so you can adjust the water going to them as needed.”
“Okay, dude…” Nikotan peered at me. “It sounds great and all, but how do you get water in it?”
“Just wait.” I grinned. “It’s gonna work great when it’s done, and it will make perfect sense.”
“Righteous.” He nodded several times. “I look forward to seeing it, dude.” He looked like he was going to say more, but before he could, Melanie waved him over to her. “Gotta go, dude. Your friend has a lot of questions.” He dropped into a whisper. “But between you and me, it’s kind of nice that someone is interested in my work for once.”
“I hear that,” I said as he turned to go. “Have fun.”
“Will do, dude.” As he trotted over to Melanie, I got a ping from Queenie, letting me know the hole was dug, and I made my way over there as quickly as I could because it was time to build a cistern.
To be honest, it was basically a larger version of the three-way valve I’d made earlier. I directed the ants to line it with rocks and used my magic to “seal” it together so that it didn’t leak. The thing was just a lot larger.
And yeah.
It took fucking forever. But at least I wasn’t laying a billion miles of pipe like the Hobgoblins.
26
“Behold!” I said as I spread my arms wide. We were standing in front of the three-way valve I’d built outside of the gardens. Well, everyone but Melanie, since she had already returned to the Halls of Research for the day. “Prepare to be amazed.”
“I’m ready to be amazed,” Thera said with a laugh as she glanced toward the sky. “Though you better hurry. Night will be upon us soon.”
“Well, then, I better get to it.” I shot a mental command to the Hobgoblins by the river and told them to connect it up. Then I smiled at the crowd. “Wait for it.”
“What are we supposed to see?” Kanil inquired as he peered at my strange contraption. Currently, I had both the sluice gate for the cistern and the one for the gardens closed. I also had all of the mini gates I’d installed at each plot closed, so while water would flow to them once I opened the garden gate, it wouldn’t go into the plots unnecessarily.
When I’d informed Nikotan of what would happen earlier, he’d recommended this course of action so he could adjust them accordingly.
“Water,” I said as the sound of rushing water filled the air. “You’ll see water.”
“Water? How? Did you send out your minions for water?” Thera inquired an instant before water burst from the Natzo pipe coming from the river and began to fill my valve. “Oh, wow! How did you do that?” Thera gaped at me. “This is truly amazing.”
“Aww, thanks, but it was just a little bit of skill and ingenuity,” I said with a shrug. “Still, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“I haven’t?” Thera boggled at me. “Because this is pretty great already. We won’t have to trek all the way to the river now. We can just go here to fill our buckets.” She pointed at the valve which was nearly to the top.
“You don’t have to do that either.” Then I pulled the sluice gate for the gardens and watched triumphantly as water began to flow out of the valve and into the irrigation trenches my ants had dug. Unlike the valve which I had made of fused stone, these trenches were just that: trenches filled with Natzo pipe. Originally, I’d been inclined to leave them open, but I worried about mud and whatnot, so I’d decided to pipe them.
“You’re on, Nikotan,” I called, and as I waved to him, he pulled the first of the mini gates on the far side of the gardens. Water burst forth from the pipe in a torrent, quickly filling the plot. Then he shut the gate, and the water ceased.
“I thought it couldn’t get any better.” Thera shook her head in amazement as Nikotan repeated the procedure on a different mini gate, and more water flowed out. “But now we can drastically increase our farming and agriculture.”
“I thought it might please you,” I said with a smirk as I moved back to the valve and shut off the flow to the garden. Then I opened the one leading to my cistern. “I have another thing to show you.” I offered Thera my hand.
“I would love to see it,” she said as she took my head, and we, along with Kanil, Denno, and a few other tribe members made our way to the cistern.
To be fair, it didn’t look like much. Just a big swimming pool, really, with a dome of rock over the top, but at the same time, it was also currently being filled with river water. Originally, I hadn’t been going to put a roof over it, but then I’d worried about contamination, evaporation, and all sorts of other things and decided it needed to be covered, which meant I’d spent a lot more time on it than I’d thought I would, which was why it was nearly dusk now.
“How did you make this?” Kanil asked as he moved closer to my cistern and peered down the stairs that led down into its depths.
“Honestly, it’s just a hole in the ground that I’m filling with water,” I smirked, “but it’s a lot closer to your village, and therefore a lot less dangerous.” I clapped my hands. “And the best part is shorter trips.”
“While that is truly helpful,” Kanil hedged, “this will be even better during the dry season when the water doesn’t run and the river is gone. We will be able to collect water here for use during that time.” He grinned broadly. “You have no idea what this means to us to be able to store water.”
“I didn’t know your river dried up,” I said as I stared at the cistern. “Is this enough? Do we need to make it bigger? Or make another one?”
“That I am unsure of. The dry season is only a few cycles, so it does not need to last long,” Kanil mused. “However, this is a simple matter to figure out.” He turned his gaze from the cistern to me. “If Thera instructs the tribe to stop collecting river water for a few days, we can see how much the water level drops. Then we can extrapolate from that data how much water we will need.” He smiled. “We can build more if we need them.”
“That is an excellent idea, Kanil,” Thera said as she hugged her brother. “I will do as you say.” She nodded. “I am not sure how to repay you, Garrett.” She looked at the cistern and the piping. “You have done truly great things. Our tribe is in debt to you.”
It seemed like she was about to say more when my stomach groaned audibly, and everyone turned to look at me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled as I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. “It’s been a long day, and I’ve used kind of a lot of energy.”
“Oh, no!” Queenie cried as she rushed over to me. “Master is starving!” She spun to face Thera. “You must appease his hunger. Now!” Then she fixed the bird lady with a bug-eyed glare that would have sent me scurrying to comply.
“This does indeed sound serious,” Thera acknowledged as she shot me a wry grin which made me smile back. “We must get our great builder fed.” She glanced at Denno. “Can you tell them to begin the feast and prepare a plate for our savior?” She was laying it on thick, but to be honest, I kind of liked it.
“It would be my pleasure,” Denno said with a laugh before he clapped Kanil on the back. “Let’s go.”
“Actually,” Kanil said as he slipped out of the bigger man’s grasp, “I’d like to stay here and document these designs for a bit.” He gestured at the cistern and piping. “I know you build some of it with your powerful earth magic, but the rest seems like something we might be able to manage on our own.” He glanced at Nikotan, who seemed to be listening to the conversation with extra interest. “Besides, I need to document the planting with Nikotan. He can’t be expected to do it all on his own while we feast…”
“No, you should both come along,” I said as I glanced at the two of them. “There’s no hurry, I’ll be happy to share the details of how to do it with you--”
My stomach grumbled unhappily, and everyone laughed. Well, everyone except Queenie because she pulled out a whip I’d never seen before and cracked it through the air while looking at Denno.
“Move it! Master is hungry
!” She cracked the whip again, and this time, Denno took off at a very serious sprint back toward camp. Then Queenie ran after him, cracking the whip every so often.
“Do not worry, Garrett! Soon, you will have more Samlon than you can shake a stick at,” Denno cried over his shoulder right before Queenie snapped the whip at him.
“Kanil,” Thera said after Denno disappeared from view, “I know you mean well, but surely, your work can wait until tomorrow. It will be dark soon, and I do not relish the idea of you out here alone with Nikotan.” Kanil got a weird look at that, and Thera flushed. “You know that is not what I mean at all.” She looked at the ground, nodded once, and then turned her gaze on her brother. “He cannot protect you if something happens.” She raised her hands like she was making a peace offering. “You both should come and leave work until morning.”
“Perhaps…” Kanil hedged as he glanced at Nikotan, who just shrugged.
“Sounds good to me, brah,” Nikotan said, and before anyone could say anything, he threw his arm around Kanil’s shoulder and began walking him toward the village. As I watched them, I realized that the two of them seemed quite… close.
“So, I didn’t know about that,” I said when I realized that Thera and I were all alone outside the gardens.
“Is it a problem for you?” Thera asked, and I could tell she was equal parts concerned and annoyed.
“Not at all.” I shrugged. “But had I known, I’d have had Kanil show me the gardens. Maybe I’d have gotten more work out of Nikotan. That was like pulling teeth.”
“I think you would have gotten significantly less work done had you brought him,” Thera replied as she took my hand in hers and began to escort me back to camp. As we went, she leaned her head against my shoulder. It was actually pretty nice. “You have done a lot of work that we can never repay, all without asking.” She looked at me then. “But I would like to try.” She swallowed. “The great rock that you stabbed with your sword seems like it should belong to you.”
