Free Daughters of the Dagger 04 - Amethyst by Elizabeth Rose

as if nothing had happened.
    “Amethyst, I really need to go with them and show them the progress,” said her uncle nervously.
    “Go on,” she said, resting her hand on his arm.
    “Will you be alright, sweetheart?”
    She swallowed deeply, wanting to cry. How could this be happening to her? She only wanted to come here in the first place to be close to her uncle and to experience the thrill of being included in building a castle. If she knew coming here was going to result in her having to marry an ogre of a man with a father who was twice as bad, dictating every one of his son’s movements, she would have stayed in Canterbury instead and enjoyed spending time with her sisters.
    She felt so alone. And if it wasn’t for having her uncle at her side, she didn’t know what she’d do.
    “I’ll be fine,” she said and forced a smile. “After all, it could be worse.” She didn’t know how, but thought if she said it aloud, then mayhap she’d believe it.
    “Did you want to come with on the tour with the earl?” he asked. “After all, you are my assistant and the one to come up with the new plans.”
    “I’ve been instructed to keep my mouth shut,” she said. “Lord Marcus doesn’t want me to tell his father I came up with the plans. He gave me this room in trade. But now, I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? If we’re to be married, then the room will be his again as well.”
    “It’s your choice, Amethyst. But I really wouldn’t want you to do anything to anger Lord Marcus or his father.”
    “Too late for that,” she said, picking up her skirt s and heading for the door. “Come on, Uncle, as I have work to do.”

Chapter 6
     
    Amethyst stood atop the battlements, directing the men down below. From her position, she could see all the workers and the progress of the day.
    “You there,” she said, pointing to a man with a wheelbarrow, coming up the ramp. “We need more fill between the walls. Find more rubble and fill it to the top befo re you put the final mortar on to harden.”
    “Aye, my lady, at once.”
    The walls of the castle were very thick for protection against a siege. The curtain wall was actually two walls running one in front of the other with fill in between and solidified with mortar to hold it together as one thick fortress.
    “And Master Carpenter,” she called to the man atop the roof. “Make certain your men finish the hoardings today. Leave enough holes in the wooden overhangs so that if we’re attacked, plenty of rocks can be dropped through. And add some extra arrow loops in the sides as well.”
    “I will, my lady.”
    The hoardings were wooden platforms covered by a roof that hung out over the edge of the castle, providing more means to conquer an enemy down below.
    She looked over the side and could see that her uncle was not below, but rather with Marcus and the earl. They were short on help with not enough masons to split the stones, so she hurried down there to do it herself.
    “Let me help,” she said to the masons, grabbing a hammer and chisel. She put the chisel into the holes already burrowed into the large stone. Then she hit it hard with the hammer until the stone split apart. Now the masons would be able to make the large stone into smaller cubes that they could handle to stack one atop the other into the walls that would be constructed to build the new gatehouse.
    She felt herself warming from the work and pulled a strip of cloth from her side and used it to tie back her hair. Though the day was still early, she felt sweat upon her brow, and the winds had died and made the air very humid.
    She looked across the cour tyard and saw a young boy mixing mortar. She rushed over to his side. “You need more water in the mortar. And stir it well with the sand and lime,” she told him, grabbing the handle of the paddle to mix it. “If it’s too thick, it’ll start to harden before you even get it up to the top of the wall.”
    “You’re right, my lady,”