The Workshop

Preya returned to Ben's workshop early the following morning, unsure of what else to do. He wasn't there but he returned a short time later, carrying a few sandwiches and a small pie.

'What happened now?' he said, wiping his hands on his oil-stained shirt before taking a bite from his pie.

'I'm worried,' Preya said. 'What if they attack and we're not ready?'

'We've never been ready before,' Ben said. 'What makes this time any different.' Grey whiskers covered his jaw line and his hair looked as though it had escaped the attention of a brush for quite a while.

'Everything is different.'

'Such as?'

'Lisa. They know she was here. They'll think we're harbouring sky lords again. Malkor won't allow that. He'll burn this city to the ground before he lets another sky lord get a foothold on this land.'

Ben nodded. 'That's true.'

'More minotaurs arrive each day. Do you think Malkor won't notice them? Do you think he's not planning to strike us even now?'

'Okay, okay,' Ben said. 'We're all doomed. I get that. What do you want me to do about it?'

'We need to be prepared.'

'I've been working on it. I've only had a few hours but I came up with some ideas and the guys have been helping me out.'

'What do you have so far?'

Ben gestured for her to follow him while he took another bite of his pie. Preya entered his workshop, staring at the bewildering collection of tools and parts that littered the walls. She wanted to pack them all away in boxes but she'd never had much luck getting Ben to tidy them up before. At the back of the workshop was a large wooden table with something hidden beneath a large white cloth.

Ben pulled away the cloth and raised an eyebrow. 'What do you think?'

Preya stared at the strange contraption before her. Was it supposed to be some kind of weapon? 'What does it do?' she said.

'These are the barrels,' Ben said, running his hand along a series of thin metal tubes. 'It has six of them, fastened together in a bundle that rotates.'

'Why?'

'My rifle has one barrel. It can fire one shot before I have to reload. With six spinning barrels, it can fire six shots.'

'Okay.'

'But it's better than that. It doesn't just spin the barrel once. It spins it over and over. It can keep firing for as long as you want - if you have enough bullets of course.'

'That's good,' Preya said. 'How many have you made?'

Ben frowned. 'It's a prototype. It doesn't work yet. I only have this one.'

'It won't be enough,' Preya said, rubbing her face with both hands. 'We need more - a lot more!'

'Okay, okay,' Ben said, raising his hands to forestall her. 'I get the idea. I just need to test it first and refine the design.'

'We don't have time for that. We can test it on the lords.'

Ben twisted his mouth from side to side before folding his arms across his oil-stained shirt. 'And what if it doesn't work? What if it jams and won't fire? You'll wish I'd tested then.'

'You can test it,' Preya said. 'Just don't take too long about it. It doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to work most of the time. If it can kill a few clerics before they can get out of the way then it'll make a real difference. It'll give us a chance to fight back.'

'Are we at war already?'

'I think we are. Two lords died last night. Things will only deteriorate from here.'

'Okay.'

'You need to make a lot of these guns. Install them in the towers at key points around the city. How many can you make?'

'That rather depends,' Ben said, glancing from side to side.

'On what?'

'People, time, materials.'

'People and materials I can get for you. Time we will never have.'

Ben frowned. 'I'll see what I can do.'

'Do you have anything else to show me?' Preya said, breathing heavily. 'Is this our only weapon?'

'It's not like I've been twiddling my thumbs here. You only came last night.'

Preya turned to leave but Ben held her wrist in one strong hand. 'Take it easy, Preya. Kalin might be gone now but you don't have to do all this on your own. A lot of people still live in this city. Let them carry some of the weight too.'

Preya sighed. 'But there's so much to do.'

'There is but we need to keep it together. If we let things get on top of us it won't help anyone.'

Preya pulled her hand away, rubbing her wrist between her fingers. It didn't hurt but she just needed to keep busy with something to stop her mind from worrying even more.

'I'm working on some other things too,' Ben said. 'I'll let you know when I have something worth showing.'

Preya nodded and headed for the open door. She needed to work out where Ben's new weapon could best be used. She hoped he could make at least five of them. Less than that would make no difference at all.