Lady Maribelle hugged her wool coat tighter around her chest. At the beginning of spring, she matched the color to her favorite roses. The autumn fog dulled it to mauve.
Twigs stood waist-high and as thick as her thumb. The tips shorn to points, gardeners had painted the ends with rusty tincture. They said it protected them from the frost.
She watched her white-clad engineers dig deep into the mulch of the flowerbed. Walking around the hole, she picked out the glint of pewter in the shadow. Two men held each side of a wrench and did not speak as they slid the angled hole around the screw holding the water system in place.
Water spewed and hissed from the gap, bursting itself open. The pipe-fitter painted lead onto the threaded screw, shielding it with his body. Lady Maribelle heard her daughter’s cry over the din, and turned to see Cora and Riley jump away from the cold spray.
Riley looked sideways to Cora and said, “This is a huge infrastructure investment just for plants.”
“It’s a prototype agricultural tool,” Cora sounded like Maribelle at the podium as she continued, “You should see the carrots a few towns east of here.”
Those fields are fallow now. I hope you can rebuild. Lady Maribelle thought to herself, but aloud she said, “This is one of your finest ideas yet, my dear.” The wind whistled away her words and drifts of sparkling spray danced between them.
Riley stood up and smacked the dust from her hands. “Do we need to supervise?” She looked around herself and grabbed Cora’s shoulder. “I really wanted to get a look at that problem you were talking about.”
Cora pouted like a child and Maribelle’s heart clenched in her chest. “You don’t want to be here when they move onto the next step? It’s terribly dangerous.”
Lady Maribelle’s eyes flew open and she threw her hands in the air and shouted at her daughter. “Riley’s time is precious and that problem needs to be solved, my dearest pet. Both of you, I am sure, can work together to come up with a practical and tangible solution.” She did not wait for a reply, and started leading them to the castle with a firm grasp on each.
Noises turned from hisses to gushing and screeching metal behind them. Cora turned to look back, with a scowl. “They need to be told to replace the bushes to look entirely undisturbed.”
“Our people know their work.” Lady Maribelle twisted her lips into a smile. “It inspires the best of our friends, for them to feel trusted.”
Riley looked ahead. “I have been thinking about the issue for the last few weeks. I may have a solution.”
The girls fell behind her and Lady Maribelle drifted in and out of their conversation as she ascended. When did I last sleep more than a breath? Her footfalls fell heavy and numb against the stone.
Cora’s voice called her back once she reached the top of the tower. “We have tried something like that once before, but the projectiles lose momentum when there are so many of them. They won’t penetrate armor at a thousand paces.”
There it was. The pride of Terndowns. The secret pride of Terndowns.
Maribelle loved the men and women who had designed these things, and she hated the need for them. It stood in the center of the roof, surrounded by five engineers. A long black cylinder, glistening with oil stood poised over the parapet. A rack bolted to the wall held matte iron spheres. Heavy oilcloth draped over barrels of powder. Her head swam with the smell of saltpeter. She wiped her eyes quickly. There is an air of cruelty about these devices, and yet we strive to enhance them.
She turned and saw Riley grinning. The girl can hardly contain herself. Is that reverence in her eyes?
Riley walked toward the cannon with her hand half-raised. “I haven’t seen it in action yet.”
“The force of the impact is quite impressive.” Cora walked to the parapet opposite, examining a broken span of stone. “The fact remains that the force is contained in a comparatively narrow face, providing limited casualties.”
Leave no survivors. Maribelle pulled her cloak tighter. Those casualties are your own flesh and blood.
Riley’s smile broadened. “Like a rapier!” She drew her sword and held the blade out from her eye, and stabbed into the air. “You need a claymore.” Riley turned her wrist, and the sword brandished broad-faced.
“Increasing the size of the shot is impractical, we have done the testing. Each breadth size increase lessens the impact velocity. Reduces the impact profile of the projectile. The powder produces consistent force, which, on a higher mass, makes for less acceleration.”
Riley put her left hand around the tip of her sword. “Then you need double the force. Two explosions, two accelerations.” She thrust both hands forward.
Every face on the roof turned toward Riley. The girl’s eyes filled with innovation and everyone began speaking at once.
“Syncing up the shots would be a matter of…”
“The math involved wouldn’t be much more complex than…”
“The material for the connecting chain…”
“Where did I set my notebook!”
The last was Cora’s voice. Maribelle backed away, towards the stairs. She felt Dottie’s hand on her shoulder and more pricking tears at her eyes.
Dottie asked, “Would you like a few minutes in the dark before we meet with Stefan about the guest lodging and then Jacque?”
“Bring me straight to Stefan.” She dabbed at her eyes again. “I’ll find time to rest after I meet with Jacque.”