A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) by Jamie McFarlane

bedrooms.
    "Be careful tonight and take two sets of the leathers with you," she said, setting down the book she'd been reading.
    "I'll see you at the gate in a few hours."
    "Amon, tell Merrie I hope her furnace works."
    "I will. She'd appreciate knowing you feel that way."
    Amon exited the living space into the smithy, grabbed leather aprons and long sleeved gloves and met Merrie on the darkened, cobblestone street.
    "Who were you talking to?" Merrie asked.
    "Mom."
    "What did you tell her?" Merrie asked.
    "That we were going to the tannery to run a load through your furnace?" Amon said, making it sound like a question.
    "You told her that? What did she say? I thought she hated the idea."
    "She said she hopes it works."
    "So, she doesn't think it'll work?"
    "No, you silly squirmunk. She says the council doesn't like to use the maker-machine for stuff they don't understand. She also thinks you're about the smartest girl she's ever met."
    "Hmm."
    "What are we in for tonight?" Amon asked, looking to change the subject.
    "It isn't very complex. I ground up the hematite boulder you brought back from Ozzie's last trip, sort of a tribute."
    "I like that," Amon said.
    "When we get there, you'll see another pile. It's partially burned coal coke, like you use in your forging fire," she continued. "We'll stack the coke in layers with the hematite in the furnace."
    "Is that it? We just light it up?"
    "No. There's a whole process that I'll explain as we go. We'll be busy the entire time," she explained as they entered the old tannery.
    Along the back wall of the abandoned building, Amon saw the two meter tall brick furnace Merrie had recently constructed. A narrow hearth at the front was covered by a thick iron plate and a tube protruded from one side. As promised, the piles of hematite and coal sat neatly behind the furnace with a ladder between them.
    "It's called a Tatara Furnace. What do you think?"
    "You've been really busy. What's that tube?" Amon asked.
    "Oxygen supply. There's a fan on the end so we can control the temperature."
    "Does Merik know you're doing this?"
    "Yes. He caught me borrowing tools and equipment."
    "What does he think?"
    "He said he was glad I was coming up with my own ideas and chasing them down. However, I'm not sure if he thinks we'll be successful or just wants me out of his hair."
    "Is he really short on work? I thought he had more work than he could get done," Amon said.
    "He does, but he also thinks we're stuck in our ways and that we need to be trying new things."
    "I can see that, but it's hard to explore new ideas when you're busy. I'd think Merik would be really worried about getting things done with Ozzie gone."
    "Ozzie's death shook him up. No matter what's going on, Merik has always insisted I spend at least two days each tenday doing my own projects. But, when I showed him this idea, he gave me take the entire tenday to work on it."
    "That's different. So, what do I need to do?"
    "Scoop hematite ore. The idea is to get carbon out of the coke and into the iron. You'll shovel two scoops hematite, I'll shovel coke on top of that and we'll alternate all the way to the top of the oven. As it heats, it'll slump down and we'll keep adding material in alternating layers until we run out. I think we have four hours of material, but it's my first time so I'm not sure."
     
    ***
     
    "I thought you were going to let me sleep," Amon complained. After a long five and a half hours, they'd just run out of hematite.
    "Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't want to stop while we still had material. You'll thank me later?" Merrie said.
    Amon chuckled, slumping to the ground next to her.
    "When will it be finished?" he asked.
    "I'll monitor the heat until we burn the entire thing out and I'll keep swiping the dross off. I hope Merik won't be too annoyed. I won't be able to help with the gates for at least two more hours."
    "You'll get a chance to find out shortly. If I'm right, that's Mom and Merik coming in the smithy's