Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Escaflowne: All you need is Love, Isn't it?

Chapter 53

At the aqueduct camp sight next to the Vinsorii River

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As dawn broke over the forest, Sir Baschan exited his tent. Exhaustion overtook him late into the night and his king ordered him to bed. As he surveyed the area, he spotted his king standing alone down by the river. Without hesitation, he made his way toward the young man.

As he approached he inquired. "Don't tell me you didn't get any sleep last night your Majesty?"

"How could I sleep? The future of my kingdom hangs in the balance." The young king replied without looking away from the roaring river.

Looking down, the minister noticed the papers in the young king's hand. "Are those the reports from the surveyors, my Lord?"

Van extended his hand in the minister's direction, handing him over the papers.

Sir Baschan took them with some trepidation, but once in his own hands he quickly unrolled them and read their contents, one at a time. With each page, his continence fell a bit more. Upon reading the last report, his shoulders, visibly sagging at this point, gave him the appearance of a beaten man. "Damn." He whispered.

Van, who stood tall and erect, nodded his head in agreement with his minister's assessment of the situation. "This entire region is sitting upon a giant iron deposit, as far and wide as the forest itself."

The minister turned and looked at the forest behind him. The towering Fanelus trees were all about him and he wondered aloud. "How is it possible such massive trees can exist upon ground that is but five cubits deep before striking an iron slab?"

It took a minute for his words to sink in but when they did, Van turned and faced his minister with the same inquisitive look that was already on the minister's face. Then he looked past his minister and started walking toward the forest and up to a particularly large tree. Sir Baschan followed close behind. Reaching the tree, the king ran his hand over its rough bark then he turned his attention to the ground around the tree.

"Baschan, assemble the crews. Have them dig out the soil beneath this tree. Make sure it is properly secured so no one gets hurt."

"Yes your majesty." A sense of excitement filled the burly man as he called out to the crew chiefs and relayed the king's orders.

Looking up at the towering timber, Van whispered, "What is your secret? How have you succeeded where we have failed?"

Within moments three crews were assembled and began digging the soil out from around the tree.

After three hours the men had dug about a half a cubit down and ten cubits in radius around the large timber. A large network roots shot out from the tree in all directions and only began to thin out after about eight cubits. With the top of the root system exposed, most of the men were now just standing around waiting further instructions.

"What now your Majesty?" The minister asked.

Looking around the tree as he walked upon its roots, Van studied the complex and intricate manner in which the roots seemed to interweave with each other. Coming to a stop, he walked off the roots and back on the firm ground. Then pointing down at it, he instructed. "Have the men dig a trench here. At least large enough for three men. Have them dig all the way down to the iron ore then back toward the tree. But have them dig carefully. I don't want the roots disturbed."

"Yes Sire." Sir Baschan turned to one of the crew chiefs and instructed him accordingly.

After another two hours, the crew reached the iron slab then they started digging back toward the tree. It didn't take them long before they reached the roots. Using small hand tools they dug out as much of the soil as they could from between the roots that shot down. The workers exited the hole after clearing it as best they could then Lord Van, Sir Baschan and Master Forsim climbed in. The three examined the roots closely, studying exactly how they managed to support such a large tree. What they saw amazed them. The roots seemed to shoot down from the top cluster, interweaving with the each other just like the top ones did. Down at the iron slab, they seemed to bunch up over the ore.

Brushing the soil away from the root and iron, the minister observed, "Look, it appears the iron has actually fractured from force of the root upon it." He pointed to a small crack in the ore.

"Get some tools so we may chisel away at the iron and see if this is really so." The young king commanded.

In a matter of minutes, tools were passed down and Van, himself, worked at chiseling away at the iron. Over the course of another two hours, the three men chiseled out a portion of the ore a quarter of a cubit deep that revealed an incredible array of fine root fibers that weaved their way through the iron without weakening it.

Each man stood back, holding a piece of ore in his hand, examining the fine roots system that wound its way through the hard rock.

"Amazing." Forsim marveled.

"Do you suppose this is what makes the Fanelus so strong?" Wondered Baschan out loud.

"It must." Replied the architect. "It must draw strength through these fibers." He pointed at the ore in his hand.

"If this is so… then the trees I gave Queen Millerna…" Van pondered.

"Will be no stronger then a pine unless they plant them over an iron slap." Forsim finished his king's thought.

A deep frown formed upon the king's face. The other two men fell silent as they observed the deep sorrow in their king's expression. After several minutes, Van turned and climbed out to the hole, his minister and chief architect close behind. Ascending from the hole, he made his way toward his horse.

"What shall we do now my Lord?" Baschan asked.

"I don't know. I need time to think." Van replied as he mounted his horse.

"What of the camp and the men?" Forsim inquired.

"Give the men three days leave with pay. On the fourth day have them fill the holes and trenches that have already been dug. I want not a single sign that work of this nature ever occurred here. The beauty of the forest and the river will not be disturbed." With that he turned his horse about and rode off.

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AN: I must say, I am a little surprised at the overwhelmingly positive response I've received for the two last chapters. I was a little concerned that two chapters as light as those were, back to back might be met with some displeasure. I'm glad to see they were not. ^_^

I hope you like this chapter just as much. I tried to imagine how the roots of the tree would look like before I wrote this. I hope I got the idea across. I also wanted to pull together some to the elements I had mentioned in previous chapters. Hope this all makes sense. :P

Again, thank you all so very much for your wonderful comments. Receiving them all truly warms my heart. ^_^

A. Amishi