The Unknown Alchemist

Chapter 8 - The Laws of Physics

Roedin watched Avery stomp back into the Cabin after filling up the washbasin with hot water. Her limp was less pronounced but she had one arm in a sling as directed and her ribs still made her hunch to one side.

She dropped the empty bucket by the door and looked across the room to him. "So, have you worked up the courage to do this?"

Without waiting for an answer she pulled the rocking chair over to the bed. Roedin kicked off the covers and sat up on his elbows in bed. He wore only his undershorts and a large bandage wrapped around his torso. Over the bed Avery pulled down a wooden bar tied between two ropes. The ropes came together in a point and then ran up to the ceiling and over one of the ceiling joists then back down to the bar. The system connected to another rope that was padded around his legs, so the whole contraption looked like a makeshift hammock.

"Alright. I'm broken, you're broken, so neither one of us is in good shape right now. But if we do this together we can make it work."

She gave him a cheeky grin and Roedin saw a spark in her eye that he had never seen before. She was excited to see if her contraption worked.

"Just hook your left arm through the wooden bar. Then lock it off in your elbow so that the weight is hanging off your skeleton and the not the muscles. That will reduce the strain from being transferred to your back muscles, and thus your wings. I'll pull on the other end and lift you from the bed."

She said it with a confidence Roedin did not share.

"There's no way you can lift me with one arm," he pointed out.

"Well not with that attitude!" Avery laughed.

Roedin shook his head as he reached for the bar.

"Here we go."

She tugged on the loose end of the rope that ran through the rafter.

Nothing happened.

She braced her feet wider and pulled down with more weight behind it as Roedin pushed off the bed. He grunted as his torso lifted off and he reached for the rocking chair. Avery lowered the rope swing slowly as he maneuvered himself to the chair. When his butt touched down she released the rope and helped guide his wings between the spindles on the chair. In this way he could sit up without crushing the delicate appendages.

Roedin was breathing heavily from the effort but was ecstatic to be out of the bed.

"It worked!" he exclaimed. "How did you think to do that?"

"Physics!" Avery answered. "The weight is distributed over the bars multiplying the strength applied to the end of the rope."

Roedin raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I read about it, in a book," she explained with a dismissive wave.

Roedin grinned and looked at the set up in the ceiling. Avery unhooked the ropes with one arm and slowly lowered his leg to the stool she had placed in front of the rocking chair. She then set about stripping the sheets from the bed and carrying them outside. Her wash tub wasn't very big but she could do one sheet at a time.

When the sheets were hanging to dry in the breeze, Avery sat in the doorway with her nose in a book again.

"I find it amazing that after all this time, you still enjoy reading as much as you do," Roedin said to her.

She closed the book on her fingers to keep her spot and looked out at the hanging laundry.

"I suppose. But I do like reading about new ideas and solutions to things. I'm always hopeful that it'll spark an idea on how I might get out. But in the meantime, I just keep reading."