Even though Lux could use magic and Ashe was highly skilled at the work, it still took the two of them nearly half a month to build an oversized hide raft capable of crossing the Sea of Frost.
During that time, Lux felled more than twenty birch and oak trees. She carefully stripped the bark from the birches and cut it into pieces, while the oaks had to be scored with rings around their trunks to guide the sap. Once they had collected enough resin, they cut the trees into sections.
Meanwhile, after finishing the Ice worm hide, Ashe hunted no fewer than twenty-one mountain goats. She put every one of them to good use, skinning them and removing their bones.
The hides were stripped off and left to dry briefly, then joined with birch bark and resin to form the middle layer wrapped around the hull.
The legs were tied together and pickled in seawater. The cold, highly salted water would make the outer layer of the meat inedible, but after soaking in the Sea of Frost for ten days, the insides would undergo a process similar to curing ham. Later, they would only need to remove the outer layer to eat it.
Even the goat bones Ashe removed were frozen and smashed into powder. She mixed the powder with forage and lichen they had found nearby, making feed for Yukal for the coming days.
Once the initial preparations were complete and all the materials were ready, the two of them worked like they were putting together building blocks. Using boards of various lengths, they assembled a small wooden boat, joining the pieces with mortise-and-tenon joints and filling the gaps with oak resin.
When the hull was finished, Ashe began covering it.
First, they wrapped the hull in goat