Page 33

As I said, I expected to be tortured. I was, but not in a normal way. If you could call any type of torture normal. These were men of magic, not science. In addition to whatever spells they could cast as magic-users, they also had Tyasmoran Air Magic.

The first time they suffocated me, I thought I could handle it. But they were just testing my limits. The longer it went on, the more my brain screamed at me to give them what they wanted. I couldn't do that. And yet, I couldn't let this continue. I suppose all torture has a mental aspect to it, but this seemed especially so. I had to give in. Partially.

Funny that they never considered I might lie to them. Again, magic-users, not scientists. These weren't the saltiest fries in the bunch.

“All right! All right.” I panted, caught my breath, and glared at them. I lied to the spooks; I could lie to these assholes. They didn't know anything about Earth. I could make up whatever the fuck I wanted. Although, it would be easier to use a partial truth.

“They're called lasers.”

Technically, lasers could be used as weapons. I mean, there's no technical about it—they could. But I was going to go the laser gun route, taking it to the sci-fi extreme. What could these morons possibly do with that kind of information? And I didn't know much about lasers anyway. So, I'd be mostly talking out of my ass. It could all be crap.

Damn. Kas was right. We do have a fascination with excrement.

“Lasers?” Valen asked, but all of them drew closer.

“Yeah, lasers. I don't know how they work exactly. I only know that it's something to do with light.”

“Light?” Enor looked at the others, then back at me. “You're saying that humans created weapons from light?”

“It's specific light. Certain types of light can do damage, especially if you tweak it a bit. You know, like how the sun's light can hurt you.”

“No, we don't know that.”

“It hurts humans,” Valen murmured, his stare on me. “If they remain in intense sunlight too long, it reddens their skin.”

“Yup. There you go. Light waves harnessed into tubes.” I motioned at them as if I were pointing a magic wand. “When the light is discharged, it can go straight through a person.”

“Fascinating. What else?”

“What do you mean, what else? That's the weapon everyone uses. There is nothing else. I mean, there are weapons from our past, but I hardly think you'll be interested in catapults.”

“Catapults?”

“It's like a big bar with a weight at one end and a basket at the other. It's balanced on a base. You put something big and heavy in the basket, pull the other end back, and when you let go, the object goes flying.”

“Ah, yes. We have those. They don't work very well against Dragons. Those are more for laying siege to a city.”

“I don't suppose you need to hear about swords, then?”

“No.” Enor rolled his eyes.

“What about the greatest weapon on Earth? The one you mentioned?”

“Lasers, dude. I already told you. It all stems from lasers. Once they invented the first laser, it became the basis for every weapon.”

“Can your lasers kill a dragon?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I mean, I assume so. We don't have Dragons, and I'm not a scientist. I told you—I don't know how this stuff works. But it can kill a planet, so I would think it could kill a Dragon.”

“What other advancements do you know of?”

“Well, there are boxes that project images onto screens. We make moving pictures to entertain people. Again, it's working with light. Pixels or whatever.”

Yeah, it was the truth. Badly explained, but true. I saw no reason to lie about things that couldn't hurt Kaspian.

“This is utter crap,” Enor said.

Oh, shit. He's onto me, I thought as I held Enor's stare.

“No,” Bregar said. “The Duke has been overheard saying this before.”

“That doesn't mean it's the truth.”

“But why lie? He said they were like moving paintings. Humans know how to capture performances on machines and replay a play.”

Damn it! There was my verification. It was my fault. Someone overheard me, then they told someone else, and so on. But no use crying about it now.

“Yup,” I said. “We call them movies. We also sell food in cans to keep them edible for years and drive machines that are like carriages without horses. Uh, let's see. We have buildings ten times as high as the castle.”

“How do you build that high?” Valen pulled over a chair and sat down.

“We use metal for the framework and a substance called cement that is liquid when first mixed, but then hardens to become something like stone. You can pour it into whatever shape you want.”

“Liquid stone?” Valen shared a look with Bregar.

“It's possible. Stone can melt at extreme temperatures,” Bregar said.

“No, it's not stone. I said it becomes something like stone.” I shook my head at them. So eager to learn and then they don't fucking listen. “I don't know exactly what's in cement, but it's a powder at first. Then you mix it with water and it becomes a thick liquid. After several hours, the water evaporates, and it all hardens to become like stone. Like. Stone.”

“The water makes it liquid, then the water evaporates, and the powder becomes stone-like.” Valen fetched a book from one of the work tables and wrote in it. “That's very interesting.”

“What else?” Enor demanded.

“I don't know,” I huffed. “We power our homes with electricity. It's like lightning that we direct along wires.”

Enor burst out laughing. “This is utter nonsense.”

I snorted. “Don't believe me. What do I care? Frankly, I'd rather you think I was lying.”

I found it supremely satisfying that they believed my lie but doubted me when I told the truth.

“Fuck, it's true.” Enor looked at the others. “If humans can create such wonders, we should be able to exceed them.”

I burst out laughing.

“What's so amusing?” Enor's wings extended in a whoosh.

“You! You fucking hypocrites!” I laughed more.

“What is he talking about?” Enor once again looked at his friends.

It was Valen—obviously the smartest of the bunch—who caught on. “You just implied that we are better than humans.”

“We are.”

I pointed and laughed harder.

“Our entire entreaty was based upon equality!” Valen smacked Enor in the chest, sending him stumbling back. “He's a human! And you just insulted his people. You destroyed the foundation of our position by making us out to be like the Dragons.”

“What does that matter? We're forcing him to help. He's not doing so because he believes in our plight.”

“What plight?” I finally stopped laughing. “I haven't been here long, but you admitted to me that King Kaspian is a good ruler. You said you don't want him dead. And I've seen happy people in the streets of this city. No one looked abused or even impoverished. Where I come from, every city has homeless people begging for money or food. People down on their luck, we call them. I saw none of that here.”

“Don't let a few glimpses deceive you, Your Grace,” Valen said. “Not all prosper here. But you're right. It's not the King's fault. He does what he can for the people of his kingdom. It is simply the way of things that some shall have more than others. We are not trying to change that. All we want is to be seen as equals to Dragons.”

“And yet, you can't view humans as equals.” I held up my hand before they could argue. “My people have a saying—what you hate in others is usually what you hate most in yourself.”

The men stared at me.

“Great Gods, he's right,” Valen whispered.

“Fuck, that!” Enor slashed his hand through the air. “I don't hate Dragons. I'm just tired of being looked down on by them. So what if I do it to humans? All the races see humans as lesser.”

“Well, that's okay then,” I said brightly. “If everyone does it, it must be fine.”

Enor bared his teeth at me.

“Duke Demetrius is pointing out harsh truths.” Valen set a hand on Enor's shoulder. “But truths they are. We should accept them. They will make us stronger.”

I nodded. “Know thyself.” I snorted. “Sometimes the hardest person to face is our true self.”

“You act like a man with little value for philosophy and yet, you spout wisdom that I find to be profound,” Valen said.

“I'm only repeating what someone else said. I'm not a philosopher or a scientist. I'm not even all that smart. I told you—I'm a firefighter. And I'm damn proud of that, no matter how foolish people on this planet think it is. I've saved lives. And saving a single life can change the course of history. That person could go on to invent something incredible or do something incredible. Even if they don't, every life is precious. So, yeah, I see my job as worthwhile as the scientist who develops a cure for cancer.”

Valen leaned in. “What is cancer?”

“I assume you have diseases here. Cancer is a disease.”

“We do. But it's mainly—”

“In humans?” I cut him off. “So it doesn't concern you?”

“Yes. Immortals heal too fast for disease to take hold.”

I shook my head, over being their dancing monkey. “All right, guys. I've given you what you wanted. How about putting the whammy on me and dumping me in the street, huh? No bad feelings.”

“Duke Demetrius, you've given us some interesting descriptions,” Valen said. “But I hardly believe that those items are all that your world has to offer. We have a week, and I intend to make the most of it.” He motioned at the other men to pull up chairs as he had. “Continue, if you please.”

I sighed and started talking about fast-food restaurants.