“What other advancements do you know of?”
“Well, there are boxes that project images onto screens. We make moving pictures to entertain people. Again, it's working with light. Pixels or whatever.”
Yeah, it was the truth. Badly explained, but true. I saw no reason to lie about things that couldn't hurt Kaspian.
“This is utter crap,” Enor said.
Oh, shit. He's onto me,I thought as I held Enor's stare.
“No,” Bregar said. “The Duke has been overheard saying this before.”
“That doesn't mean it's the truth.”
“But why lie? He said they were like moving paintings. Humans know how to capture performances on machines and replay a play.”
Damn it! There was my verification. It was my fault. Someone overheard me, then they told someone else, and so on. But no use crying about it now.
“Yup,” I said. “We call them movies. We also sell food in cans to keep them edible for years and drive machines that are like carriages without horses. Uh, let's see. We have buildings ten times as high as the castle.”
“How do you build that high?” Valen pulled over a chair and sat down.
“We use metal for the framework and a substance called cement that is liquid when first mixed, but then hardens to become something like stone. You can pour it into whatever shape you want.”
“Liquid stone?” Valen shared a look with Bregar.
“It's possible. Stone can melt at extreme temperatures,” Bregar said.
“No, it's not stone. I said it becomes somethinglikestone.” I shook my head at them. So eager to learn and then they don't fucking listen. “I don't know exactly what's in cement, but it's a powder at first. Then you mix it with water and it becomes a thick liquid. After several hours, the water evaporates, and it all hardens to become like stone. Like. Stone.”
“The water makes it liquid, then the water evaporates, and the powder becomes stone-like.” Valen fetched a book from one of the work tables and wrote in it. “That's very interesting.”
“What else?” Enor demanded.
“I don't know,” I huffed. “We power our homes with electricity. It's like lightning that we direct along wires.”
Enor burst out laughing. “This is utter nonsense.”
I snorted. “Don't believe me. What do I care? Frankly, I'd rather you think I was lying.”
I found it supremely satisfying that they believed my lie but doubted me when I told the truth.
“Fuck, it's true.” Enor looked at the others. “If humans can create such wonders, we should be able to exceed them.”
I burst out laughing.
“What's so amusing?” Enor's wings extended in a whoosh.
“You! You fucking hypocrites!” I laughed more.
“What is he talking about?” Enor once again looked at his friends.
It was Valen—obviously the smartest of the bunch—who caught on. “You just implied that we are better than humans.”
“We are.”
I pointed and laughed harder.
“Our entire entreaty was based upon equality!” Valen smacked Enor in the chest, sending him stumbling back. “He's a human! And you just insulted his people. You destroyed the foundation of our position by making us out to be like the Dragons.”
