Sir Aldric Graves's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The squatters were gone, but the chapel still lay in ruins. Aldric stood in the nave at first light. The roof had fallen years ago. Half the walls leaned like tired men. He picked up a stone from the rubble and it broke in his hand. Rotten. He tried another. The same. Every block he touched crumbled to grit. He could not cut new blocks from stone that fell apart. Gareth came in behind him. The old mason had stayed when the others left, trading his tools for a place at the work. He crouched and scraped a wall joint with his thumb. Dust ran out. He said nothing for a long moment. "This stone is dead," Gareth said. "Frost got in. It will not hold a chisel. Build with this and the roof falls again in a year." "Then where do we find sound stone?" Aldric asked. Gareth stood and looked past the broken arch. "There is an old watchtower. West of here, on the high ground. I passed it walking in. The masonry cracked, but the core blocks are good. Cut deep, laid tight." He wiped his hands. "Better stone than we could quarry in a month." They walked out to it together. The tower stood alone, moss on its old face, one whole side split open. Aldric climbed through the gap. Inside, the fallen blocks lay in a heap. He set his palm against one. It held firm. He struck it with the flat of his knife. It rang. "This one is sound," he said. Gareth ran a hand along the edge. "All of these are. Enough to raise your walls twice over." He looked at Aldric. "But we cannot carry them. Each block is heavier than a man. We have no cart. No beast." Aldric knelt by the largest stone and pushed. It did not shift. He pushed harder and his boots slid on the floor. The block held like it was rooted. He sat back, breathing hard. Gareth watched without offering false comfort. "You cannot drag these on your back," Gareth said. "Not a hundred paces. Not one." Aldric looked up at the tower's broken teeth against the sky. He had found what he came for. The stone was here, good and true, more than enough. And it lay dead weight on the ground, a full day's walk from the chapel, with no way to move it. He stood and set his hand flat on the block. It was cold and solid under his palm. Real. The first real thing since he came back. "Then we need something that can pull," Aldric said. "A beast strong enough to haul stone this size." Gareth nodded slowly. "You will not tame that yourself. And a beast like that costs coin, or a debt owed." He looked at the heavy blocks. "We have neither."