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Authors: Brian Rathbone
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free. These men climbed on wooden rungs inserted in the boreholes. Martik had insisted the rock shafts be kept safe behind the new shelter. Leaving Adger in charge at the base, Martik climbed to join the workers above. Clearing the debris had not revealed much about the mechanism. Martik knew the wheel could possibly come free with devastating effect, and he wanted to keep his eyes on the situation. Though he thought the stone shafts were a key to starting this monumental machine, he couldn't be certain, and he did not want to risk lives unnecessarily.
Clearing the debris caused the rest to crack, move, and be generally unstable, making the process even more difficult. If only the loose sediment packed around the larger rocks hadn't set up like liquid stone. Not for the first time, he cursed whomever had done this. No matter what their reasons, they had now endangered his workers. Shouts rang out as debris suddenly broke free. The sound was like dragons fighting, and Martik truly wished he didn't know what that sounded like. It still haunted his dreams. It was among a small number of reasons he'd been happy to have been caught. Dragons could not fly through stone, so at least he was safe from the ferals. Curiosity about this wheel and the opportunity to redeem himself helped make the incarceration and humiliation bearable. He leaned heavily on those things whenever his thoughts turned to Strom and Osbourne. The two should be past the plateau where Catrin had released the floodwaters onto the Zjhon army. It had always struck him as an excellent demonstration water's power.
Water.
The debris was fused together, and doing that would take water, lots of water. Walking along the top of the wheel, Martik ignored everything, searching for what he knew must be there.
"Careful, sir," Bradley said, despite the fact that Martik had been telling him to stop calling him "sir" every day for more than a year. "Don't go too far in that direction; it gets steep and slippery."
"Walk with me," Martik said. "Where would you say the halfway point is between the sides of the wheel?" It was a point of contention, since the debris prevented them from seeing just how far back the wheel continued. Most of the wheel was enclosed in the mountain itself, leaving only the strip along the edge where the debris had been cleared visible.
"I think it's as wide as it is tall," Bradley said.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, sir, when you cut a tree, you cut it down into manageable pieces, and those tend to be about as tall as they are big around. I know that must sound silly, but it just makes sense to me."
"It actually doesn't sound silly at all," Martik said. "You have an intuitive sense, and I think you are correct. No matter how skilled the people who made this, they would have had to move it, and the size you suggest would be less likely to crack in transport. And the ancients loved symmetry, which means if they wanted to place another key shaft up here, then it would be right about there." He pointed to a place above them lost in shadow.
Bradley turned back to the crew he managed. "We need some help over here," he said. "We need to get Martik up there so he can see."
Martik smiled at Bradley's crew's competence. They had worked under him for some time and had grown into the most capable crew he'd ever worked with. They were among the things keeping him from despair. Quickly they used the materials they had at hand to erect a structure Martik could easily scale. A torch was passed to Bradley, and he handed it to Martik.
"I hope I'm right about this," Martik said under his breath.
"Even if you're wrong," Bradley said, "you'll be the most brilliant fool I've ever known."
Martik had to smile. The climb was awkward but not unsafe, and the scaffolding was surprisingly stable given its haphazard construction. His heart jumped a bit when he saw a familiar-looking circular opening a short distance from where he and Bradley had estimated.
"There's an
Clearing the debris caused the rest to crack, move, and be generally unstable, making the process even more difficult. If only the loose sediment packed around the larger rocks hadn't set up like liquid stone. Not for the first time, he cursed whomever had done this. No matter what their reasons, they had now endangered his workers. Shouts rang out as debris suddenly broke free. The sound was like dragons fighting, and Martik truly wished he didn't know what that sounded like. It still haunted his dreams. It was among a small number of reasons he'd been happy to have been caught. Dragons could not fly through stone, so at least he was safe from the ferals. Curiosity about this wheel and the opportunity to redeem himself helped make the incarceration and humiliation bearable. He leaned heavily on those things whenever his thoughts turned to Strom and Osbourne. The two should be past the plateau where Catrin had released the floodwaters onto the Zjhon army. It had always struck him as an excellent demonstration water's power.
Water.
The debris was fused together, and doing that would take water, lots of water. Walking along the top of the wheel, Martik ignored everything, searching for what he knew must be there.
"Careful, sir," Bradley said, despite the fact that Martik had been telling him to stop calling him "sir" every day for more than a year. "Don't go too far in that direction; it gets steep and slippery."
"Walk with me," Martik said. "Where would you say the halfway point is between the sides of the wheel?" It was a point of contention, since the debris prevented them from seeing just how far back the wheel continued. Most of the wheel was enclosed in the mountain itself, leaving only the strip along the edge where the debris had been cleared visible.
"I think it's as wide as it is tall," Bradley said.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, sir, when you cut a tree, you cut it down into manageable pieces, and those tend to be about as tall as they are big around. I know that must sound silly, but it just makes sense to me."
"It actually doesn't sound silly at all," Martik said. "You have an intuitive sense, and I think you are correct. No matter how skilled the people who made this, they would have had to move it, and the size you suggest would be less likely to crack in transport. And the ancients loved symmetry, which means if they wanted to place another key shaft up here, then it would be right about there." He pointed to a place above them lost in shadow.
Bradley turned back to the crew he managed. "We need some help over here," he said. "We need to get Martik up there so he can see."
Martik smiled at Bradley's crew's competence. They had worked under him for some time and had grown into the most capable crew he'd ever worked with. They were among the things keeping him from despair. Quickly they used the materials they had at hand to erect a structure Martik could easily scale. A torch was passed to Bradley, and he handed it to Martik.
"I hope I'm right about this," Martik said under his breath.
"Even if you're wrong," Bradley said, "you'll be the most brilliant fool I've ever known."
Martik had to smile. The climb was awkward but not unsafe, and the scaffolding was surprisingly stable given its haphazard construction. His heart jumped a bit when he saw a familiar-looking circular opening a short distance from where he and Bradley had estimated.
"There's an
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