4 years later, Mansfield Castle was finished construction. It was a simple stone castle with a motte and bailey. They even added a moat and drawbridge for it. It was not as glamorous as the castle in Hereford was, but this was a commissioned castle practically. I did not fault the king for focusing on efficiency over beauty. He would not be ruling from there. Like we had asked for, Mansfield Castle was a motte and bailey setup. A stone keep towered over the settlement on an artificial hill. That was the motte part. It was easy to defend. It was connected to the bailey by another bridge. The moat around the entire thing was 21 feet deep with the water being 10 feet deep. We did not want flooding. In the bailey, the people lived. There were plenty of houses and workshops. They were quickly and cheaply made. Nobles probably would not rush to live here. Commoners definitely would. Around them was a stone palisade. It was 20 feet tall, but only 3 feet thick. It would probably not survive any siege warfare. We would have to reinforce it all on our own. All in all, it was a nice place to call our home.
Mansfield Castle
Hereford Castle
A look around me showed that my children were growing up nicely. Leonardo, Lenard and Lennox were 7 years old. The twins were 8. Johna is the eldest and she was almost 11 years old. We had long discussed what would happen when the castle was ready. Count Jeffery Swifthunt and his wife would go there to establish the county seat. Fabien was older, so he would stay behind in the manor as the de facto mayor of the town. Anthony was the youngest, so he would go with his parents to support them. I was Anthony's attendant knight. It was my full time job to support him. Due to that, my family would be following him to Mansfield. Alard and his wife did not fancy having another move. They had been settled here for over a decade. They were going to stay in Huntston. Yon was young with a wife. He was able to move with his sister and our family. That meant Yon was coming too. Ottie and Raolin were both assigned as attendant knights to Fabien, so they were staying. The tribe of centaurs were ready to move. It was part of their big tradition. They wanted to see new lands.
