| |
This wasn’t Amelia’s first time in prison. And no, the first time hadn’t been a real prison. It was made from cardboard and part of a Cowboy theme for school. Her mom and dad had paid five whole dollars to put her in there.
Where they were now was not the same.
Amelia, Dave, and Luther sat in the corner of a medium room. The building they were in was larger though, with several more rooms they had come through to get to this one. The walls were made of clay bricks, but different from the ones Amelia had seen back home. These were large and rough, with bits crumbling off of them and pieces of straw and animal fur sticking out. They looked more like something that should have been in one of the museum exhibits than in an actual building. There was a small fire in the corner that lit up the room and some shelves along the wall that the sundial and the book were now on.
It had been fully night by the time they arrived at the building. The girl and several other guards tied them up with rough, yellow ropes and left in a hurry, talking about trouble and ships that had landed that day. Amelia wondered if they were talking about King Piggy.
A black-haired guard with olive skin who was so young Amelia thought he may only be two or three years older than she was stayed behind. He sat on the far side of the table in the middle of the room, a spear leaning nearby against the corner. He’d not stopped scowling at the three of them, but every time his eyes drifted to Dave they would widen with fear and he would look away. His helmet was polished so bright that Amelia could see her tiny face reflected in it from where she sat.
Dave cleared his throat. “Um, excuse me.”
Everyone in the room looked at him and Dave sat up a little straighter. “I have a question for you.”
The guard’s face twisted in disgust and he stood, taking a step back, as he shook his head.
“Sorry,” Dave continued, his turban starting to slip from his head. “I wanted to know. Where’d you get your helmet? It’s so authentic, and in perfect condition.”
Amelia stared at Dave. She could see her own look of surprise that this was the question he was asking mirrored in Luther’s face.
The guard looked hard at Dave, his eyes narrowing, before he relaxed a little.
Dave didn’t seem to notice any of this and kept talking to the guard. “I just can’t believe you have such a good replica! Did someone around here do the work or is it just a really good reproduction from Asia or something? I mean, I just want to know. I'd love to get one. How much did it cost?”
Amelia closed her eyes and let out a breath. When Dave got excited about something, it was almost impossible to get him to stop talking.
The guard let out a little huff of annoyance. “I don’t know what this Asia is. Queen Elissa traded a bath of oil each for all of our helmets to one of the smiths.”
“And no one wants to know why this Queen Elissa’s taking baths in oil?” Luther muttered under his breath.
But Amelia wasn’t paying attention to Luther. She was looking at Dave, who sat frozen, his eyes as wide as saucers. His mouth started working, but no words were coming out. Dave shook himself and tried to say something, but it just came out in a little squeak.
He coughed and cleared his throat, his face more pale than usual. “And, um, where did the bronze come from?”
The guard gave a little shrug. “The copper came from Cyprus. We traded some of Queen Elissa’s gold for it when we harbored there for winter. We got the tin there too, but I think it came from Anatolia before then. I wish we had iron, but the bronze was all we could get.”
“Guys,” Dave said in a breathless whisper. “I–I think I know what’s going on.”
“It’s about time someone figured it out,” Luther said. “Because I have no idea who Ana Tolia is.”
Dave took a deep breath and began. “Anatolia is ancient Turkey. Listen, we’re near the sea. Everyone’s dressed in robes and tunics. I haven’t seen a single light, phone, or anything like that. And this guy just described the iron age barter system.”
“Fascinating...” Luther muttered.
Dave’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Guys. I think we’re in the past!”