Chapter 2041: White Fire – Part 9
He grinned, and shot them a thumbs up. “Perfect size, gentlen.”
The two of them nodded, apparently dumbfounded.
Another man was quick with a comnt. “Wouldn’t say it’s perfect if he can’t lift it up and down, though,” he said to the man next to him, who grunted in agreent.
A good number of eyes were settled on Oliver’s back, and he grasped the rope for the first pull. He didn’t realize the tension that he’d built up for them, in taking it slow. He’d simply taken his ti to make sure that his positioning was right, and that he wouldn’t be wasting any undue exertion, but they took it to an an excessive respect for the weight that he was about to shift.
The first pull put those doubts to rest, and then the second shattered them. Full to the top, covering as much distance as before, Oliver dragged it all the way to the top, and then left it sitting there on the lip of the stone well, as n ca rushing to fill their buckets.
“Who talked about wash buckets earlier on?” Oliver said, as he waited for the n to get their water from the cauldron. “We’ve a use for them now. See them fetched, and I’ll see them filled. You fellows can see them all filled up from there.”
“Right!” The man who’d ntioned it earlier went dashing off. He knew exactly where there were a couple outside of the front of nearby houses. He’d been eyeing them, wondering just how quickly they would burn when the fire spread.
Talk spread of Oliver using the heavy cauldrons to see the well water drawn, and soon enough Nila requested one for herself to do the sa. They gave it to her even more hesitantly than they had Oliver, but though she struggled a little more than he, she did not make a fool of herself. At least not when the rope was tied.
And quickly, did she admit her weakness on it. “I have trouble pulling it over the lip. I’ll need help there if I am to do a lot of runs of this.”
Help was given wordlessly from n knowing full well that they couldn’t hope to imitate her in that regard. Nila hid her smile. She always got the slightest bit of pleasure when those that were ignorant to the Boundaries witnessed the strength of a woman that had gone beyond them.
By the ti Blackthorn returned with his horses, the firefighting efforts had intensified by a large degree, simply from the amount of water that was being supplied. Greeves found other suitable Boundary Broken n from the Blackthorn soldiers that had found themselves assisting with fire fighting efforts, and soon enough the bucket drawing process didn’t seem quite so sluggish.
Even those civilians that had been watching with vacant looks on their faces, thinking that there was no way their help would serve to achieve anything began to join in.
Oliver wiped the sweat from his brow, as two n tipped his cauldron into a washbasin for him – like Nila, he’d supposed that it would be wiser to accept help where he was able to receive it, for the sake of preserving energy. He saw with satisfaction the flas nearest them beginning to be fought sowhat, and noticeably weakened. To the point where, even if the wind were to howl at its highest, it didn’t seem so likely to close the gap anymore.
“They’re here,” Blackthorn shouted to Oliver, with a hundred harnessed horses, and two individuals – one a grown man, and another a teenage boy – helping to drive them.
Oliver raised his hand in acknowledgent. “Take two hundred of the soldiers, and see this street flattened the whole way along,” Oliver told her. “And Master of Horse! Thank you to you and your apprentice for your efforts in seeing our horses saved! I would not have forgiven myself should they have burned alive for my negligence.”
The Master of Horse raised his chin slightly, hearing that. It was a shout given to the wind, for how busy Oliver was in his other tasks, but there was honestly there, true honesty. Though he’d never spoken to the man personally before, the Master of Horse found himself believing that.
He rembered seeing his apprentice tend to the King’s horse. The braids that had been thoughtfully woven into the white stallion’s hair. A King that would spend that amount of personal attention on his horse. A King too that would weep just as much when the horses were slain as his n. He found, after all, he was beginning to rather like the man.
“Boy,” he told his apprentice. “We’re going to make sure we do a good job of this, you hear ?”
“I hear you, Master.”
“What of the stone buildings?” Greeves asked Oliver as he worked. “Are you wanting to flatten them as well?”
“Storm them for everything flammable. Every bit of furniture. But otherwise leave them,” Oliver said, unable to turn round to answer Greeves’ question as he pulled on the rope.
“You think that’ll be sufficient?” Greeves said.
“It’ll be sufficient,” Oliver replied.
Half of it, he was beginning to realize, was simply the confidence to make the decision. To dispel his own doubt and fear so that he could serve to dispel the doubt and fear of those around them.
The people nearest Oliver, as those that stood and watched and did naught, continued to do the sa, simply watching and observing the newest King. Then those that were busy fighting the fire ca again and again to see their buckets filled at his well. They saw those n of rank, who had been in charge of the situation before, and who they themselves had listened to, all co to Oliver with all sorts of questions, seeking answers, seeking reassurance. And they saw a young man who was both willing to take on the physical exertion, and the filth of it himself, but so too commanded enough respect that those n would take his decisions as the strongest of pronouncents, and follow through on them.
One of them, an older man, an armour smith, who’d spent the entire duration cursing all that had happened, and wishing he was anywhere else, tried his look at a question for the King, during a mont of quiet work.
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