[Nogrod]

After they had dealt with the local lords, and Athanar and Thornden had had that not-unobserved incident together, the next day was an odd one. The soldiers felt heightened comradery but there was a rift there as speculation was bubbling as to what the row of their superiors had been about and were there still some issues that were not settled even iof they had re-entered the Hall more or less amiably.

Athanar noticed it and decided to act immediately. So the next day, to a great surprise of all the eorlinga exercising, he rode into the meadow lightly armed like all the other men. After following the various drills for a short while he actually joined them going for the attacking and defending formation-training as one on the line on this or that side – at times advising Coen and Thornden how to lead the exercise, and even taking some time to instruct individual younger soldiers at times to correct the angle of their spear, or to lean differently to the mount when coming near to an impact, or how to anticipate a hit if the opponent’s spear was in a certain angle and so forth.

He was older than the men he commanded and it was clear he was generally not that fast the younger ones were on average, but his positioning and timing made an impression, especially to the former Scarburg men who had not seen him in action before – his own men knew already he had not lost all he was and had as a soldier. And it was easy to see he was enjoying himself.

After they had taken the exercises lord Athanar called everyone to gather in a formation and eyed them with a smile, still breathing heavily after the effort. “Listen men of Scarburg! I hear and see there is some confusion over what happened between me and my seneschal Thornden the day before yesterday. Let me tell you – and Thornden here can confirm what I say”, he glanced at Thornden nodding ever so lightly.

“There is no problem anymore. It was a question of disinformation concerning some events of the day of our arrival. And that has now been cleared. I bear no ill-will for Thornden, or anyone of you…” here he made a pause and eyed the men closely, first narrowing his eyes but then turning to a smile. “A lot of things happened that day – and you all know much of it better than I do. But I say that is now past and behind us, past between you and past with me. We’re the men of Scarburg and we have a lot to do and we must not only live together but to work together and stand for each other if needs be. You’re soldiers and you know that. Hail eorlinga!”

The men answered raising their spears and called “Hail eorlinga”.

With that he turned to Thornden and Coen and nodded to implicate he was done and the day’s drill was over.


~*~


The next month was busy time. The winter was coming. It was pushing it’s advance week by week and everyone worked full steam as there was a lot to accomplish. The loads of building materials and equipment sent by king Eomer proved invaluable, and with the great number of men the Mead Hall now boasted the pace of the work advancing was considerable.

Athanar relied on the resident professionals with overseeing the work done as he had not brought any smiths, masons or carpenters with him having been told by the king there were enough of quality-craftsmen there already. But he did have this and that to say about many general designs. Sometimes his plans were met with approval by Garstan, Stigend and Harreld, but not all of them.

For example he insisted in building another spacious room upstairs to the wing where the rooms he and Wynflaed lived, for any upcoming noble visitors. Garstan and Stigend thought it unnecessary looking at the timetable and their supplies, but Athanar kept his head.

Another thing that raised some controversy was building a second floor also on to the long side of the building. The craftsmen thought all rooms for the soldiers and household should be kept on the ground level to make them more accessible but also here lord Athanar kept his mind – and in the end Garstan and Stigend had to admit at least the fact that the great fireplace on the hall - after it was widened under the orders of lord Athanar – did actually also warm the added rooms upstairs.

So in the end of the month there were two storeys of rooms on the long side of the building: the common soldiers and some of the household living on the ground floor and then officers, older soldiers and craftsmen’s families living on the upper floor. On the upper floor there were a few guestrooms for occasional visitors, and on the lower floor a few more to more common visitors. On the short end of the building there was the kitchen and the apartments of the cooks beside it on the ground level; on the upper floor were the rooms of Athanar and his household, Saeryn, Degas and others of any rank plus the empty room for any really high-end guests.

The most important thing though was that when the first days of freezing came upon them all the Scarburgians were under a roof and in relative warmth – and so were their animals. The stables had been enlargened a bit to hold room for some more horses they had –thus far it had been overcrowded in there. Also they had built a small barnhouse to bring in the pigs, chicken and the few heads of cattle they had, the new ones received from the local lords as part of the payment. The lambs were a problem but even they had a light shed and the plan was they should be accommodated the next into a more convenient structure – maybe moving some or all of the chicken with them to free room from the barn.

The kitchen was also working now having two solid fireplaces and a finished oven instead of the intermediate structures a month ago. And the well had been given a steadier lifting-structure so that one could lift more water with lesser effort… the advantages of more permanent structures.

There was lot to do and to finish, but Scarburg Mead Hall was ready to face the winter.