The next problem was how the swivels would be used in field operations and not just in fixed defense. They had to be mobile. In his overconfidence that they would succeed in producing 12-pounder cannon, Yozef had assigned a crew of carpenters and blacksmiths to make carriages and limbers with two and four spoked wheels, respectively. The two-wheeled carriage mounted the barrel on a crosspiece with bronze nubs, trunnions, on each side of the barrel, allowing the barrel to tilt up and down using a screw assembly between the barrel and the trail piece protruding back to the ground. The limbers would hold shot, powder, and an attachment for the gun carriage trail, and a team of six horses would pull the assembly.
A single swivel gun mounted on a carriage meant for a 12-pounder looked both ridiculous and of dubious impact in a field battle. Yozef had the workers mount three swivels to a single carriage after widening the cross piece between the wheels. An obvious problem glared with the first tests. The guns had to be reloaded and fired rapidly to be useful. Yozef was chagrined that he hadn’t considered the reloading procedure when mounting three swivels to a single carriage. It simply wasn’t possible for all three swivels to be simultaneously reloaded; there wasn’t enough space in front of the muzzles. The two outer barrels could be reloaded at the same time, but the middle barrel had to wait for the two outer guns to be reloaded.
Disgusted, Yozef stood with Yawnfol and shook his head. “We’ll have to stick to two barrels.”
“What do we do with the two other carriages already built for three swivels?”
“It’s too late to change those. We have seven barrels finished, so go ahead with two more,” Yozef replied after a moment of thought. “Those nine swivels can finish the three carriages already built. Further carriages will just have two swivels. Make four of those, then go back to trying to figure out why we can’t cast the 6-pounder barrels.”
It wasn’t as if he had any more advice to give on casting. At this point, the workers knew as much as he did.
Yozef switched his attention to what the swivels would fire. He had envisioned 12-pounders firing round shot at Narthani artillery batteries and canister at infantry. Using the swivels as counterbattery fire was out of the question, since whatever size and caliber the Narthani cannon, he couldn’t imagine them not outranging the swivels. Against infantry, the swivels might have utility, but a single swivel canister charge fired only thirty musket balls. Given that the cone of balls coming out of the gun would result in many balls going over the heads of any targets or into the ground, only ten balls might actually hit infantry formations. Yozef had Yawnfol try balls smaller than the standard musket size. They would have less range and impact but more projectiles. He settled on a powder charge and a ball size that allowed eighty balls in a 2-inch bore canister round. The resulting weapon had a shorter effective range than Yozef had planned and penetrated less, but it was a compromise.
For maximum firing rates, the powder charges and the canister had to be pre-made. The first designs on Earth used cloth bags for the charge. The bag was rammed in, followed by the round shot. For canister, a container with the projectiles followed the charge bag, the container made of cloth, wood, or metal, depending on the type of shot and the level of technology. Wooden or metal cylinders were more efficient, but Yozef didn’t want to wait for the development of cylinder production and settled on heavy cloth bags for both canister and grapeshot.
To produce the bags, Yozef thought of Buna Keller’s clothing shop and her seamstresses. He had had a brief affair with Buna a few months earlier, broken off by her, to his relief, because she considered him too different from Caedelli men. For the task of making cannon power and shot bags, she was perfect—hard working, meticulous, and venal. She’d do it, if paid well.
With everything assembled, the finished product might have looked pathetic to Yozef, although the Caedelli were suitably impressed with the results at the nearby test range. Ten man-sized straw dummies were placed at one hundred yards and covered with paper on the side facing the cannon to count canister hits. The dummies represented the distance covered by a line of fifty infantry standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Their three complete triple swivel carriages fired an initial salvo of 720 canister balls. All ten dummies showed at least one hit—most had three or more.
During the next sixday, they ran a series of test firings to determine effective ranges and optimal charges. A hundred and fifty yards seemed the maximum range to get enough hits to be effective, and they adjusted the charges to allow the musket balls to penetrate thick leather, simulating leather protection that Preddi escapees reported was worn by Narthani soldiers.
With a supply of ammunition on hand, they worked out a firing cycle. The powder bag was shoved into the open end of the barrel and rammed home with a wooden dowel, followed by the canister bag and a second application of the dowel. The carriage was faced toward the target, the barrels’ elevations adjusted by screws, and gunpowder from a powder horn tapped into the firing vents. A thin wooden rod was used to ignite the powder in the vent; its end was kept glowing in an ember chamber carried by one of the crew. The barrels were fired sequentially and the carriage quickly repositioned after each recoil. After firing, a rod with a wet cloth on the end was run down each bore to quench any embers, preparing the barrels for the next firing cycle.
As soon as the first triple-gunned carriage was ready, Denes selected eight men as potential gun crew leaders. While trials had shown that a six-man crew was the minimum necessary for an optimal rate of firing, Yozef insisted on an eight-man crew. He didn’t elaborate that in battles, inevitable casualties meant crews needed enough men to ensure the guns were manned and fired as long as possible.
The original eight men drilled for days until they could operate the guns blindfolded and fire the outer barrels every thirty seconds. Denes appointed the original eight men as gun crew leaders and they, in turn, trained other men, half from the Abersford area and the other half brought in from Clengoth. Within another two sixdays, eighty gun crewmembers were trained, hopefully well enough not kill to themselves or others on their side, if forced into a battle.
Gunpowder
Successful development of the swivel gun carriages led to unanticipated discoveries, as Yozef had found with many projects. This time, it was Denes who broke the news after witnessing another test firing.
“I can see how these ‘swivel’ guns, as you call them, might be useful in some circumstances, but they must use a lot of gunpowder, which is in short supply.”
“Short—!” Yozef turned to Denes with dumbfounded look. “I guess I hadn’t thought where the gunpowder is coming from. Yawnfol! Come here.”
The young foundry supervisor trotted over. “Yes, Yozef, a good test. Every Narthani dummy was hit at least once.”
“Yawnfol, where do you get the gunpowder for the tests?”
“Oh, yes, that’s been a problem. We ask around for anyone willing to part with a few spoonfuls, and traders as far as Hewell Province know to look for any sources. The cost is more coin than we expected, but you told us not to worry about that.”
“Well, Jesus Christ! Can’t anything go easy?” a red-faced Yozef yelled.
Denes and Yawnfol both stepped back, startled, neither man knowing what Yozef said, because he’d used English, and they’d never witnessed such a display from him.
Yozef stomped away forty feet and stared at the eastern peaks, fuming to himself. I’ve got to stay sharper. I’m getting too involved in the details of my brilliant ideas and ignoring obvious issues. With the cannon, first I was oblivious to the loading problem with three barrels, and I’m just now learning about the gunpowder shortage. Such mistakes will get me or others killed.
With a cooler head, he walked back to the puzzled Denes and Yawnfol, hearing the former tell the latter, “Don’t worry, he’s not mad at you, he’s just Yozef Kolsko and acts odd at times.”
“I’m sorry, I was only surprised to hear we’re short of gunpowder. Isn’t it made here on Caedellium?”<
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“Of course,” said Denes, “many know how to make it. It’s just that the crystal ingredient is scarce. No one likes to dig around voiding pits or animal manure piles, and even that source is becoming harder find. Much of the gunpowder was imported by traders to Preddi City until the Narthani took control.”
Potassium nitrate. Those were the crystals Denes referred to. The other two ingredients, carbon and sulfur, were easier to find, but the islanders didn’t seem to know about mineral deposits or guano. Here was where Yozef’s fertilizer project would pay off.
He had discovered deep guano deposits covering the cliffs of an inlet and offshore rock formations a two-hour hike west of Abersford along the unpopulated coast toward Gwillamer Province. Although the islanders used manure as fertilizer, the use of guano had been unknown. Cadwulf had been correctly dubious that Keelan farmers would be interested, because they already had trouble selling excess crops now that the Narthani had blocked off island trade. However, Yozef persisted, asserting that the time would come for increased yields, either for restarted trade or unforeseen needs for food.
What he hadn’t told Cadwulf or anyone else was that guano was a source of potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate, both of which could be used to make black powder. He had kept that use in the back of his mind and now used it to salve his self-castigation.
“I think we can solve the gunpowder shortage problem. I believe I know how to prepare a substance to replace the crystals.”
“How would you—” blurted Yawnfol, before Denes elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
“If Yozef says he knows how, it’s best to just stand back and watch what happens. His ideas don’t always work, but enough do to reserve judgment.”
“All right,” said the Preddi worker, rubbing the impact point. “No reason to beat on me.”
Yozef had ignored the interchange. Lost in thought, he spoke aloud. “Let’s see, charcoal’s the easy ingredient, and the people here know of sulfur, so there must be deposits. Nitrates are the limiting factor. They’re the main component of gunpowder and provide rapid oxidation for the reaction. Here come my guano deposits at Birdshit Bay.”
The aforementioned locale was descriptive of large guano deposits from Anyarian murvors, the local flying creatures filling the niche of terrestrial birds. After he had stumbled on these guano deposits, he had registered ownership of the area. Tests of the guano as fertilizer and elementary chemical tests had confirmed high levels of nitrates, in both the sodium and the potassium forms. Both could be used to make gunpowder, although the sodium version absorbed moisture, and the resulting gunpowder needed to be used within weeks or stabilized by coating the gunpowder grains with graphite, a natural mineral he knew existed on the island, because it was commonly used as a lubricant on wheel axles.
“I’ll need to get a staff to work on this,” Yozef continued in a mix of English and Caedelli, the meaning equally obscure to the two listeners. “Probably apothecaries or their apprentices. They’re used to mixing stuff and weighing specific amounts. I can give them clues on how to purify nitrates from the guano and convert the sodium form to potassium, if necessary. I don’t know the exact composition of the guano, so they’ll have to experiment with various precipitations and leachings.”
Part of his mind knew he was rambling, but the free flow continued, with Denes bemused and Yawnfol confused.
“Is he talking to us?” queried the Preddi worker.
“No. To himself. I think. Although . . . ” Denes didn’t continue, having given no credence to rumors of Yozef communicating with the unseen. While the militiaman wasn’t religious, one could never be sure.
“Once we have the gunpowder source licked, we can experiment with rockets, grenades, mines, and who knows what else?” Yozef’s voice radiated excitement.
Within two sixdays, one more shop was added to Yozef’s cluster. The gunpowder facility was located several hundred yards distant from the others and within a circle of large boulders, supplemented with masonry walls in gaps. If the experiments went well, he figured to set up a larger production facility far enough distant that a catastrophic accident would be confined to a single facility.
Yozef hired four apprentices, two from Caernford and two from a Hewell Province abbey whose scholasticum specialized in apothecary knowledge. Yozef wrote out everything he could remember about gunpowder production, provided the staff with connections to sources of materials, drilled them to distraction on safety, and turned them loose. Two months later, after one rebuilding of the shop structure, several minor burns, one broken arm, one worker replaced when he decided the work was too dangerous, and only occasional peeks on progress by Yozef, the shop produced the first functional gunpowder using murvor guano as the nitrate source.
Yozef put aside dreams of rockets, grenades, and mines when he decided that more development of fuses was needed before handing such products to the islanders. He ordered a larger facility built a mile from Abersford and focused on gunpowder for muskets and cannon; then he moved on to his second objective in being better prepared for the Narthani: himself.
Chapter 4: Self-Defense
Life in Abersford and St. Sidryn’s returned to a semblance of normal, yet only a semblance. Tradesman worked in their shops, farmers farmed, mothers mothered, and smithies smithed. Yet confidence in what was normal didn’t recover. Faces were sterner, arguments erupted faster, Godsday services were more heavily attended, and the three pubs in Abersford did a booming business.
Another difference in daily life was that most men and some women now bore one or more weapons. They could have gone armed before the raid, but there had been no sense of imminent danger. No longer. The people felt safer having a weapon at hand, although the comfort was tempered by not forgetting why they carried a pistol, a sword, or a knife.
Another change was increased formal martial training. The existing three Thirds, the local levy of fighting men, expanded to add farmers and miners farther distant than before and required them to take part in training and minimal drills. In addition, the population of the Abersford area continued to grow to fill Yozef’s need for workers. Eighty men now composed each Third, compared to the previous fifty. Also organized was a reserve militia of younger and older men, plus weapons training for able women, the latter eliciting controversy among some men until the majority of women made it clear they, too, were defenders of family and clan.
Neither was Yozef immune from a changed attitude. He understood that luck had carried him through the courtyard fight with only the leg scar. If he’d faced one of the Buldorians by himself for even a few seconds, he would have died in the courtyard. Yozef had helped protect Carnigan’s flank, yet he was only slightly more effective than bales of hay.
This wasn’t Berkeley or San Diego, his previous home and where he grew up, respectively. It was hard enough accepting what had happened and finding a new life, but more was needed. While he prayed that the raid was the last real fight he would experience, he needed to be better prepared for even an elementary defense of himself.
On yet another morning he woke to the nightmares and cold sweat dampening the bed, as he remembered those abbey courtyard minutes that had seemed to last hours: the yells, the screams, the firearms, the whistling of musket and pistol balls passing nearby, the clash of metal, the “sssst” of blades swinging and missing, and, worse, the sound of blades meeting flesh.
He got out bed naked and looked at himself in a mirror, not for the first time. The man in the mirror only resembled Joseph Colsco. In his previous life, he had never been an active person and had told himself muscles weren’t needed in a tech society. Then, his only concern was keeping an eye on an incipient pot belly. That wasn’t who looked back at him now. This body had clearly defined musculature. He made the classic poise to display biceps. The knotted muscle existed where it hadn’t on Earth. Harlie had said that the changes the Watchers made to him would help compensate for Anyar’s higher gravity. Was that what he saw?
H
e looked harder at the face in the mirror, by now accustomed to seeing and caring for the beard, but the color had changed. His mousy light brown hair had turned a darker brown in the first months on Anyar, the original shade existing only in a few lighter streaks.
He kept staring. Hair, beard, physique. This wasn’t who he had been, it was who he was. He needed to discard lingering past images.
Standing there in the early morning, with light coming through the windows, he decided to survive on Anyar to as old an age as possible, and to pass on as much knowledge as he could, he needed be better physically prepared, both in body and in minimal weapons training.
The first objective was the easiest. On Caedellium, physical condition counted more than it did on Earth. He needed to be as fit as he could make himself, including both basic strength and endurance, the latter having the additional benefit of being able to run away farther and faster.
Setting up a “weight room” contributed to the wild stories circulating about Yozef Kolsko.
“You want what?” asked a puzzled Brak Faughn.
“A room about fifteen-feet square added to the house off my bedroom. It should connect to the bedroom and have a door to the outside.”
“That’s easy ’nough, but why do you need another room?”
Yozef had prepared an answer for this expected question. “My people believe that to remain healthy, especially men, the body needs to be used and used vigorously. Most people get this through their everyday work.”
Brak nodded approvingly. “Yes, the Word sez God blesses those who toil by the sweat of their brow.”
“Very true,” said Yozef. “As you know, I spend most of my days meeting with workers and overseeing shops and seldom do hard work. Since it is impractical for me to spend enough hours at honest hard work to stay healthy, the only solution is to spend shorter times in vigorous activity. By spending a few minutes several times a sixday lifting heavy weights by methods my people have developed, I can maintain better health and come closer to what the Word says.”
The Pen and the Sword (Destiny's Crucible Book 2) Page 3
