“not impossible” to pick the lock, that didn’t mean it was likely.
“I think we need to go back to busting out the window,” Dak said. “But it’ll take a while, and I don’t know how we’ll do it with the guards dropping in on us.”
“We need to wait and see when they come back,” Riq said. “Once we figure out their pattern, we’ll know when we stand the best chance.”
“That still doesn’t solve the problem of leaving Abi behind,” Sera said.
Oh, right
. Dak turned to look at the scholar.
Abi shook his head. “Young Hystorians, you must fix the Break. Do not worry about me.”
That didn’t sit well with Dak, but right now, they didn’t seem to have any other options. So they settled in to wait for the guards to return. While they waited, Sera tried to put the pieces back into the SQuare, but all the lock-picking attempts had apparently taken their toll.
“I can’t get them back in,” Sera said.
“So what does that mean?” Riq’s voice had an edge of panic.
“Maybe nothing,” Sera said. “They were just brackets holding things in place. It will still work. For a while.”
“For a while?” Riq asked.
“Probably for as long as we need it to,” Sera said. “Things are just a little loose inside.”
Dak watched Riq’s reaction, and started trying to put things together. The guy was really worried about the SQuare breaking. But Dak didn’t get that, because they had to go back to get a new one, anyway. But now that Dak thought about it, he realized Riq had been acting weird ever since they’d gotten that message from Brint and Mari. Was Riq worried about going back to the present? Why? The only thing Dak could come up with was that it had something to do with his Remnants.
Remnants
. It had all started with Aristotle’s Remnants, and it always seemed to come back to Remnants. Even though Dak wished he knew what they were like for Sera, he was mostly grateful he didn’t have Remnants. They didn’t seem to bring anyone anything but pain. And fear.
But having actual parents missing in time was worse. Dak hadn’t yet seen a sign of his parents in this era. He’d been trying really hard not to think about it, but he couldn’t help wonder if that meant something. Maybe Dak, Sera, and Riq had fixed enough Breaks that his parents had gone home. Would they be there in the future when he went back for a new SQuare?
His heart started beating faster at that thought. It filled him with hope, even as the sounds of battle raged on outside.
The guards came back that evening with a second meal that consisted of the same stuff as the first meal. They dropped off the food and water, took away the empty bowls from earlier, and left.
“I don’t think they’ll be back until morning,” Riq said. “Now is probably our best chance if we’re going to try and chip our way out of here.”
He took out the knife and went over to the window. Dak watched as Riq ran the blade along the edges of the mud bricks and scraped at their seams. He tried to drive the knife in between them, putting all his weight behind it.
“They’re harder than they look,” he said. “This is going to take a long time. Too long.” But he went back to it, and soon he’d worked up a sweat, even though the sun had set and the room was getting colder as it got darker.
The third day of siege had come to an end. They were running out of time. Dak’s thoughts went to the unstoppable Mongol army, and facts started bubbling in his head. Normally, each fact just kind of popped and went away, replaced by the next, but right now, one of them was staying around.
The Mongols did something cool with their armor. They wore silk underneath it, against their skin. When an arrow pierced their armor, the arrowhead got caught in the silk, and even if it then pierced the warrior’s skin, the silk made the arrow easy to pull out, and kept the injury cleaner and less deadly.
Dak kept thinking and thinking about this fact. There
“I think we need to go back to busting out the window,” Dak said. “But it’ll take a while, and I don’t know how we’ll do it with the guards dropping in on us.”
“We need to wait and see when they come back,” Riq said. “Once we figure out their pattern, we’ll know when we stand the best chance.”
“That still doesn’t solve the problem of leaving Abi behind,” Sera said.
Oh, right
. Dak turned to look at the scholar.
Abi shook his head. “Young Hystorians, you must fix the Break. Do not worry about me.”
That didn’t sit well with Dak, but right now, they didn’t seem to have any other options. So they settled in to wait for the guards to return. While they waited, Sera tried to put the pieces back into the SQuare, but all the lock-picking attempts had apparently taken their toll.
“I can’t get them back in,” Sera said.
“So what does that mean?” Riq’s voice had an edge of panic.
“Maybe nothing,” Sera said. “They were just brackets holding things in place. It will still work. For a while.”
“For a while?” Riq asked.
“Probably for as long as we need it to,” Sera said. “Things are just a little loose inside.”
Dak watched Riq’s reaction, and started trying to put things together. The guy was really worried about the SQuare breaking. But Dak didn’t get that, because they had to go back to get a new one, anyway. But now that Dak thought about it, he realized Riq had been acting weird ever since they’d gotten that message from Brint and Mari. Was Riq worried about going back to the present? Why? The only thing Dak could come up with was that it had something to do with his Remnants.
Remnants
. It had all started with Aristotle’s Remnants, and it always seemed to come back to Remnants. Even though Dak wished he knew what they were like for Sera, he was mostly grateful he didn’t have Remnants. They didn’t seem to bring anyone anything but pain. And fear.
But having actual parents missing in time was worse. Dak hadn’t yet seen a sign of his parents in this era. He’d been trying really hard not to think about it, but he couldn’t help wonder if that meant something. Maybe Dak, Sera, and Riq had fixed enough Breaks that his parents had gone home. Would they be there in the future when he went back for a new SQuare?
His heart started beating faster at that thought. It filled him with hope, even as the sounds of battle raged on outside.
The guards came back that evening with a second meal that consisted of the same stuff as the first meal. They dropped off the food and water, took away the empty bowls from earlier, and left.
“I don’t think they’ll be back until morning,” Riq said. “Now is probably our best chance if we’re going to try and chip our way out of here.”
He took out the knife and went over to the window. Dak watched as Riq ran the blade along the edges of the mud bricks and scraped at their seams. He tried to drive the knife in between them, putting all his weight behind it.
“They’re harder than they look,” he said. “This is going to take a long time. Too long.” But he went back to it, and soon he’d worked up a sweat, even though the sun had set and the room was getting colder as it got darker.
The third day of siege had come to an end. They were running out of time. Dak’s thoughts went to the unstoppable Mongol army, and facts started bubbling in his head. Normally, each fact just kind of popped and went away, replaced by the next, but right now, one of them was staying around.
The Mongols did something cool with their armor. They wore silk underneath it, against their skin. When an arrow pierced their armor, the arrowhead got caught in the silk, and even if it then pierced the warrior’s skin, the silk made the arrow easy to pull out, and kept the injury cleaner and less deadly.
Dak kept thinking and thinking about this fact. There
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