12 Strokes of Midnight

Chapter 10

CopyrightⒸ 2019 by B. R. Bailey All Rights Reserved

"You could help assemble some parts in here," Archimedes hedges, looking up at me through the open window. "Come on."

Running, I go through the open doorway and race into his office, pinching my arm to see if this is real or a dream.

"Alright, this one is more complicated," he admits. "I've been trying to figure out the second attack against the enemies naval fleets. I've made more aerodynamic containers for the liquid fire."

He lifts small, round containers that fit into the palm of his hand, like over-sized ceramic tennis balls.

"You have steady hands. Can you hold these still while a soldier pours the exact amount of liquid fire into the container?"

Gulping down my fear, I nod my head. "Yes, I can."

He hands the soldier trained for use with the weaponry a funnel and then points to some crates he wants us to fill inside, where there are very few people.

Holding the funnel and sphere upright, keeping my breath steady so that my hands don't shake. The soldier is used to dealing with this and fills each one quickly, corking each one before handing them off to another soldier who carefully sets them down in another crate covered in images and laden down with straw padding around each sphere, ensuring none will break in transport.

"Wash with lots of soap to make sure nothing is on your hands."

I don't need to be told twice. History made it clear that all of the fires of war were incredible, no more than Greek Fire. If this was Greek Fire, I would have refused point blank. That stuff was terrifying.

By the time lunch rolls around, I'm ravenous, hungry for food and knowledge. With the danger of the fire, I couldn't let my mind wander, but now...

Those two tolls. Just like the first night. "Those bells were pretty loud last night," I ask Fedele, the soldier who just dealt with liquid fire.

"What bells?" He asks, looking confused. "I didn't hear anything on my shift last night."

After a few minutes, I realize that no one heard it.

Which means...only I heard it. Maybe it was a dream...Except I know that I heard that toll before I landed in the ocean.

Before long we're back to work, filling containers. By the time dinner comes, my back is sore from sitting at the workbench so long.

"Get lots of sleep tonight," Archimedes informs me over dinner. "We'll be in town tomorrow, dropping these orders off. I also have to drop off a letter of inquiry about your family. So far none of the soldiers found anyone on the island expecting guests, but we may have missed someone. Make sure you dress lightly. The weather is warm and the work will be much."

"Okay," I mumble, feeling disheartened to know my time with him will be ending soon. When he realizes that I lied...I don't know where I'll go. Looking up, I reassess the situation, feeling my tension ease as I realize that it isn't very important. Right now, I'm with one of the greatest minds in history.

Mathematician, inventor, astronomer.

Archimedes discovered so many things and constantly moved forward, no matter what. If I could learn to be half as great as he...there's no telling how many people I could save.

That night, as I have a nightmare of a clock chasing me with flaming grenades, a toll wakes me up.

Three times the room shakes.