Chapter 18
Eighteen
James
Right. Time to make waves.
Well, really, time to prevent waves. Today I’d take the first step in rebuilding the seawalls and preventing one of the major disasters that had wiped out a third of the city. Namely, a Retazo’s Wrath caused by an earthquake at sea.
Helena, Edwin, and I rode from the very top of the cliff side, where the palace resided, down to the docks on the lower side of the city, which sat at sea level.
Necessary, of course, for all the ships, but it did have its problems. The sea was not a gentle thing.
Every once in a while, it chose to remind us puny mortals.
Helena took advantage of the open carriage to look about, beaming.
She didn’t get out of the palace often, unless she was part of some event.
Being able to ride about like this with a bare minimum of knights was something of a rarity for her.
I’d chosen to ride in the carriage so I could begin her training.
Her smile infectious, she prodded me, eager to get started. “So, what’s the first thing I should know about prepping for a disaster?”
“Listen to your experts. That’s the best advice I can give you for any project you take on—listen to your experts. The lords and ladies will all have opinions, but the average workman will have a better grasp of what’s going on, and it’s to their words you should pay attention.”
Helena’s eyes narrowed as she studied me carefully. “You do that.”
“All the time. I’ve learned the hard way to listen.”
“Okay, what’s the second thing?”
“Next, always leave room in your budget for things going wrong. My rule of thumb is to leave twenty percent of the budget for contingencies. Something always goes wrong in a building project, it’s almost par for the course, and you don’t want to be caught out with no money to spare.
If by some miracle you reach the end of the project with money left over, then funnel it to another. ”
“I feel like I should be taking notes,” she said rhetorically to the air. “I’ll bring a notebook next time. Third thing?”
“Don’t put fixes or projects off to the last minute or give them impossibly tight deadlines, as that’s just inviting bad luck.
The seawalls around the docks, for instance, are incredibly past due for repairs.
That’s part of why I’m determined to get this fixed, even if we’re sliding into monsoon season.
Helena, do you know how long this topic has been languishing? ”
When she shook her head, Edwin supplied quietly, “Five years.”
He sat across from us in the carriage, which was not where I wanted him. I preferred having him right next to me, but he’d given way to Helena, and I couldn’t argue the point without looking strange. I was still a little pouty, though.
Helena looked aghast. “Has it really been five years?”
“I’m afraid so.”
She groaned and rolled her eyes. “Once. Just once, I want Victor to actually do something worthy of a prince. This was one of the first projects given to him to manage, so he could gain experience and prove himself, and instead it’s been kicked about in council for five years? Gah.”
Gah about covered it. “It’s why I’m taking over. I’m not risking everyone in this city because he can’t stop gambling long enough to focus.”
We reached the bottom of the very steep hill, and the road smoothed out into the large, open-square market. A statue of the first king raising a sword above his head stood in the center. Several birds perched on his shoulders, sunbathing.
At this midmorning hour, everyone was out and about.
Street vendors hawked wares behind their carts, people ran errands, and several new ships were off-loading huge crates.
The city bustled with life, the salty brine of the air sweeping over us all and making me glad for my coat. The sea air was a touch chilly.
Our driver took the left fork once we passed through the square, heading for the docks themselves. The scent of the sea became stronger as we got closer. I belatedly realized I knew the road we were on. I half turned in my seat and… Ha, I was right. “Edwin, isn’t that your house there?”
His head came up sharply, a suspicious look in his eye. “Ah, yes. It is.”
Godsdamn it. I got so confused on whether I’d spoken with Edwin about things in the first lifetime or this one.
At first it was easy because he hadn’t told me anything.
But now? After a month together with many a late-night conversation, he’d opened up quite a bit.
It made it harder for me to remember, and currently that wasn’t a good thing.
I tried to cover my tracks. “You mentioned your house was on this road.”
“Did I?” Edwin’s eyes were still on me, but his mind had turned inward.
“You may not remember, as our eyes were crossed with fatigue at that point,” I said in a teasing tone.
There was a fifty-fifty chance of that working. Honestly, my Edwin was one of the sharpest men I’d ever known, his memory a vault. I’d relied upon him then and now because he just didn’t forget things. But acting blasé and blaming fatigue might work in my favor and convince him.
Edwin shrugged, meaning he wasn’t interested in arguing the point. Whether he believed me or not, I couldn’t guess, but at least he was letting it go.
Me, we’ve got to be more careful. Maybe I should keep a list of what he’d told me in this lifetime. Yeah. Since my memory was clearly for shit.
Thankfully, we arrived at the docks. I’d set up a meeting beforehand with a construction company and the mayor of the city. I wanted both of their opinions when we walked through what should be done.
I must remember I didn’t know these men. Not yet, anyway. In actuality, I knew the mayor well, having worked with him often in my first life. Jethro Bates was the contractor I’d used to fix the seawalls in my previous life as well, and he’d done an amazing job.
And there they were, standing just inside the seawall and talking to each other.
Bates was as swarthy as any pirate in looks, with his extremely sunned-golden skin, black hair buzzed short against his head, and bulbous nose.
He’d dressed up nicer in neat pants, along with a shirt and vest, but his boots still looked like they should have been replaced ten years ago.
Mayor Overton looked sharp in a pin-striped suit, red tie, and white vest. His comb-over was in danger of being completely undone by the sea wind, but so far, his wax was holding. He turned, spotted our arrival, and practically beamed, revealing aging teeth.
“Your Highnesses, I’m delighted you’ve come.”
“We’re delighted as well,” I said.
I opened the short door to the carriage before either Captain Rowan or Sir Osbourne could do so and hopped lithely to the ground before offering a hand to Helena. She accepted the courtesy with a dimpled smile, using my hand for balance as she maneuvered her skirts through the narrow opening.
I tried giving Edwin a hand down as well, but for some reason I was met with a Look.
“Your Highness, do stop teasing me.”
I reeled, hand to heart, and tried to play it off. The gesture had been genuine, though, and I was a little hurt. “Edwin. How dare.”
He made it to the ground without issue, even clutching his ever-present black portfolio, then gave me the Look again. “You may tease me later, Your Highness. Do focus for now.”
That was his warning: Don’t start none, won’t be none. He was right though. This was not the moment to tease. More’s the pity.
I let out a sad little huff of breath and focused, as he’d requested.
Giving Helena my arm, I escorted her to the two men. Edwin, Sir Osbourne, and Captain Rowan all followed on my heels. “I don’t think any of you have met. Helena, this is Mayor Patrick Overton and our lead foreman, Jethro Bates.”
We passed polite how do you dos all around.
“First, let me get clarification before we speak. Mayor, the blueprints you submitted initially to show what construction needs to be done on the walls, I assume they’re no longer accurate?”
“No.” Overton sighed, equal parts resigned and upset. “No, that level of work won’t fix the issue anymore. After five years of minor quakes, sun, wind, and tides, the walls are in much worse condition. Frankly, they’re past the point of fixing. We’re looking at a total replacement right now.”
Ouch. Well, they were due to fail in about four to five months, so that didn’t surprise me.
Bates dared to ask, “Your Highnesses are truly taking over this project from Prince Victor?”
Helena answered him bluntly. “He’s had five years to get his act together and get this done. I do not prize his ego over people’s lives. We’re taking over, and we’ll ride herd until it’s completely finished.”
The relief on both men’s faces was palpable. Then again, they knew how much danger the city was in.
“I’m very glad to hear it, Your Highness.” Bates gestured toward the seawall. “May I show you how bad it is, and my thoughts on how to go about correcting it?”
“Of course. It’s why I’m here. Lead on.”
A rather wide stone walkway lined the seawalls, so we had an easy route to take to look over the situation.
The walls were indeed in poor condition, with obvious cracks in the foundation, the grout holding the stones together little better than powder, with whole sections of the walls sliding slowly off toward the sea.
The problem was obvious, the solution equally so.
The walls should also be built taller, to my mind, as they were barely thirty feet above sea level.
When originally built, the sea level had been lower, but now the walls would only fend off waves and, if a windstorm swept in, not even that.
“Mr. Bates, do explain how you’d go about fixing this.” Helena pointed to the sea, not twelve feet from where she walked. “The water even now is so high, dismantling any part of this would flood the lower street.”