Artemis and Caspian: The Spy

Chapter Seventeen

Lord Aileron did his best to lead a convoy through Calatan's throne room doors. The journey had been horrendously arduous on his old bones, and the elderly Lord wished for nothing more than a hot bath and a comfortable bed. But that would have to wait. Determination drove him on. The feeling was a combination of the need to be useful and a desire to pummel the Guilamontian Lord into the ground. Either way, it was his pleasure to help the Lord and Lady of Calatan.

Lady Kendra from her throne wearily eyed the newcomers. She hated strangers, and these foreigners made her feel inferior, which only added more coal to the tempered fire boiling hotly in her veins. The group of engineers clamoring behind Lord Aileron wore copper colored coats that covered their whole bodies with shiny buttons running down the side. Kendra noticed the heavy working boots on their feet, pristinely sparkling like new with gloves to match. The only skin they showed was their mouths. Over their eyes perched gold rimmed glasses with smoked over lenses, gleaming black under the early morning light. Despite their gritty work, these engineers were oddly clean which unsettled the Lady. She crunched a bit of dirt under her heel and eyed her court decked in dented, bloody armor. The Lady had always known Heliatrians to be particularly prudish, but this seemed unnatural. What kind of engineer remained unstained? Turning her frustration into anger, Kendra tried to ignore the fact that it looked like she'd just crawled out from the pits of the underworld. These engineers were probably scared of dirt. Sensing her unease, Lord Terrowin placed a loving hand over hers before she could growl or bare her invisible fangs.

A man dressed identically to the gathered group of engineers then strode into the throne room, bowing before the Lord and Lady of Calatan first before doing the same to his Lord.

"Are we ready Gage?" Lord Aileron inquired when the man straightened himself back out. Gage brushed a large hand over his tousled, light brown hair peeking out in chunks over the band of the goggles wrapped around his head.

"The weapons are out back Sir."

Lord Aileron signaled for the realm's Lord and Lady to follow him onto their northern balcony. Outside, five newly built catapults lay at the ready to fire into the blood soaked field below. Lord Aileron ran his hand proudly over his realm's craftsmanship, tracing the owl insignia printed on a side of the massive machine. Every catapult stood a story high, made from Heliatra's finest steel and durable oak wood, plated with gold. Each one could fire a deadly shot with the simple pull of a lever. The Lord fondly lay his ear against the base of a machine, listening to the whirr of the gears humming in the hollow foundation. This was the work of a true Heliatrian genius, the first hassle free catapult of its time. Sitting in each basket was a massive ball of finely welded steel, forged together tightly to create maximum destruction on impact. There were seventy balls per catapult weighing in at ten tons each, sitting neatly in pyramid formations, each with the power to take out a hundred people or more. Lord Aileron grinned like a gleeful teenager once more and patted the owl engraved on the side.

"Is this good enough for you?" he grinned at the shocked Lord and Lady trailing behind him.

"You've outdone yourself this time," Lady Kendra gawked, still reeling with surprise. Lord Terrowin speechless, said nothing and gazed up at the tops of the massive catapults, squinting against the sun. "Wait until Lord Cerberus gets a taste of this."

Lord Aileron nodded, a bit more serious and gestured to the Calatainian guardsmen who all looked out of sorts inspecting the rather large machines.

"Bring your guards, I'll show you how it works."

The Lady of Calatan smiled politely and gave a guardsman permission to go who then skittered off in search of soldiers. Aileron's group of engineers came forward at the Lord's command as Lady Kendra gripped her husband's sleeve, dragging him to a further off spot. She needed them out of earshot.