I Built This City Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Read chapter 30 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Mason Ellen “Are you sure this is what you were looking for?” Hunter Ellen’s voice was skeptical, her arms tugging at the last of the overgrowth. Vines and creepers covered the arched opening in the slope, requiring a lot of yanking to get everything cleared out. The stones forming the arch were aged and weathered, yet still showed signs of the soot from when the kiln had been used. “Absolutely,” Ellen answered with a firm nod. “Now that I can see it, I know this is it. The man in the village described something like this and I can’t imagine it would be anything else.” “AHHHHH! GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF!!” Ellen and Hunter Ellen both paused the messy work of clearing out the access arch to look up at the top of the mound. Several jackdaws were fluttering around Apprentice Ellen, whose screams and flailing arms didn’t help the irritable birds protesting their eviction. She’d volunteered to clear out the chimney, probably not realizing that it wasn’t like a house’s chimney. Apprentice’s vaunted ‘magic’ didn’t help when she couldn’t focus at all, so she was quickly driven back up the hillside, screaming and ducking assaults from the aggressive birds. While the birds were distracted, Healer Ellen calmly bent over the opening and went about digging out the nests. Hunter Ellen looked at Ellen. “… anyway. That’s the last of them I think. You can handle the rest yourself?” She tossed some of the thick vegetation down the hillside, then dusted off her hands. Unlike most of the Ellens, Hunter had managed to acquire a sturdy pair of gloves. Much better to let her do the clearance in case one of the vines or plants had some kind of irritant in the sap or something. Ellen clapped her hands together. “I’m pretty sure. Some of the other Ellens offered to carry materials for me, but I guess if Merchant Ellen isn’t out of town we can use Melissa to haul the limestone. The river’s just down there so that has everything else I need. Except maybe a cloth for my eyes, I’d better tell Merchant to get one for me. I’d rather not go blind. Or find out if my duplicates end up blind if I die that way.” “Don’t talk like that,” Hunter Ellen grumbled. “I think that’s part of why we’re dying so often. You just get used to the idea so you get reckless and careless. Just look at Apprentice.” She gestured up the hill, where a distant screeching just out of sight could still be heard. “If you just assume you’ll die, it’s more likely. Try to keep yourself in one piece.” “I’m not going to get careless handling this stuff! It burns!” Ellen frowned. “I understand what you’re saying, I’m just not sure that’s what’s going on. Maybe we’re cursed or something…” Hunter Ellen tugged her gloves off and tucked them into her satchel… only to rub her temples with her fingers. “I’m pretty sure it’s not a curse. I mean it is a little odd that three of those were accidents, and one was pretty preventable with a little more care. But I’ll point out that aside from going into the dungeon and adventuring—which I did a little of once—I have the most dangerous job here and I’m somehow the oldest. Stop rushing everything and learn patience.” “IT POOPED ON MY HAND!” Apprentice Ellen screamed from somewhere nearby. “Not like her,” Hunter finished. Ellen squatted down next to the entrance and slid her hand along the scarred surface of the inside. Just like Builder Ellen before her, she’d taken the Material Sense Perk when she reached Level 6, and what it told her was reassuring. She nodded to herself and stood up again. “Well, we need to be patient anyway. Except we also have to hurry and get this started.” Ellen gestured to the kiln. “It still needs some cleaning, but everything is intact. No repairs needed. Now all we need is a lot of wood, so we can toss it in the charcoal pit. We’re going to need a lot of fuel even for a small kiln like this.” Hunter Ellen frowned and crossed her arms, staring at the open mouth of the kiln where the fuel would be fed. “How long until this is ready?