The Medieval Marine - Cauldron Simmering
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 9: Escape
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” – Haruki Murakami
Isfahan, Seljuk Empire. September 1078
Luke finally finished the steam clothes cleaner. It had taken him months, but he finished it, and it was time to test. He carefully built a fire and watched the pressure gauge as the steam pressure built. Once it was at pressure, Luke stripped his filthy clothes off and put them in the rotating drum. The other men were uncomfortable with Luke’s nudity, but he didn’t care. Luke had never been modest and had nothing to be embarrassed about.
The drum’s rotation was driven by a small steam engine. After the steam went through the engine, it was sent into the drum to heat the clothes, sterilizing and cleaning them simultaneously. A little liquid soap and water were added to the load. After half an hour, Luke shut the steam off to the drum and added warm, clear water. Once the water exiting turned clear, the water was turned off, and the drum sped up by shifting the gearing belts. As the drum sped up, water was wrung out of the clothes and went through perforations in the drum, only to be caught by a solid outer drum before it was drained.
Luke disengaged the drums and let them stop after all the extra water had been wrung out. When he took his clothes out, everyone was amazed at how clean they were, and Luke was glad the lice were gone. Soon, everyone wanted their clothes washed, but Luke cautioned them about washing too many at once and washing delicate clothing. Luke’s washing machine was too rough for things like lace or silk.
It didn’t take long for word to reach Malik, who was in conference with Asadullah Hashemi regarding the man’s impending nuptials to Morvarid. The wedding was scheduled for the following day, and it was the social event of the year. There were nobles from across the empire in attendance, and everything had to be perfect.
Hearing about the machine that could wash clothes, Malik and Asadullah went to investigate. When they arrived, they found ten nude people standing around talking while Luke ran the machine. Asadullah immediately assumed the man was gay since several of the people were good-looking females, and Luke hadn’t sprung an erection. If they had come out earlier, they would have found Luke hard as steel and every female swooning over him, much to his delight. He had to admit that being the dirty old man was fun.
Soon, Luke shifted the gearing belts, and the drum sped up. At first, nobody reacted, but after a few minutes, they began hovering near Luke. He shut the machine down once no more water came out of it. When the machine was safe, people opened the lid and began pulling clothes out. Since Malik and Asadullah hadn’t seen the clothing going in, they could not know how well they were cleaned. However, the people knew and marveled at how even old set-in stains had been removed.
Malik turned to Luke and asked.
“Is this all this machine does?”
“Yep. I set out to design a clothes washer, which I built.”
Asadullah followed the conversation since it was in Greek. Most people still hadn’t figured out that Luke could understand them.
“How dare you talk to your sultan in such a fashion!”
“And who the bloody hell are you?” Luke snapped.
“I am Asadullah Hashemi, governor of Balkh and, in a few days, the brother-in-law of Sultan Malik.” He replied in a pompous tone.
Luke looked the man up and down and shrugged. He was too close to his planned escape to get into an argument with the fat man. The last thing Luke wanted was to attract any unnecessary attention. Malik looked at Luke, then at Asadullah, and shook his head. He knew Luke had no respect for him, and Malik was smart enough to realize that if the positions were reversed, he would feel the same way.
Malik had his hand on Asadullah’s shoulder. He suspected that Luke was more dangerous than he seemed, but Malik didn’t realize how accurate that thought was. Luke kept one eye on the retreating sultan and governor. Reading the governor was easy. He was a pompous fool who was entirely out of his depth.
The governor proved this when he broke free of Malik’s grip and charged Luke with his sword drawn. There was no way Luke was going to let himself be killed by this idiot. Luke didn’t give Asadullah the chance to use the sword; he closed the distance between himself and the governor before the governor was ready.
Now inside the sword sweep’s arc, Luke gripped Asadullah’s sword hand with one fist and squeezed, breaking several bones in the man’s hand. That was only the beginning because Luke used his other fist to clock the governor. Luke’s fists were as tough as iron and easily survived the blow; the governor’s nose, not so much. Everyone heard the distinctive crack of bones breaking as several bones in the governor’s nose gave way, and blood started pouring out. To further drive the point home that nobody should mess with him, Luke jammed his knee into the governor’s groin, lifting the governor off the ground.
The pain in Asadullah’s nose, face, and hand was forgotten as a new and far more terrible pain made its way into his brain. While the strike hadn’t ruptured Asadullah’s testicles, he wouldn’t be able to use them for several days until the swelling went down.
Everyone, especially the men watching, cringed as they imagined the governor’s pain. Several men, including Malik, looked like they would be sick. Asadullah lost his breakfast and made sounds that no one had ever heard from a human; they sounded like those of a dying bull.
Malik remembered where he was and snapped his head to look at Luke. He found Luke’s icy blue eyes staring at him. More concerning was the look on the rest of Luke’s face as he had a terrifying predatory smile that told of unknown amounts of pain for anyone who attacked him. Malik involuntarily swallowed hard and stepped back, signaling to everyone which man was really dominant. Only then did he realize they had been lucky to have contained Luke for so long and that they had severely underestimated him.
The intelligent choice would be to release Luke and allow him a small bag of gold to return home. However, Malik couldn’t bring himself to follow through. The steam-powered clothes cleaner was brilliant, and Malik could see where such a device would save the servants countless hours of labor while getting better results. The saved labor hours could be put to use somewhere else or used to reduce the number of needed servants.
Malik glanced at the machine and realized that with some modifications, the possible uses would be endless. Luke could help in that quest, but only if he was kept comfortable and happy. Malik knew that if he tried to force Luke, he would dig his heels in and not provide any help.
“Guards. Please escort our guest back to his room.”
The guards looked at Malik like he was crazy before they surrounded Luke to escort him to his room. Before the guards left, Malik caught the officer in charge.
“Triple the guards on his door. We can’t afford him escaping. I also want his room searched from top to bottom.”
“My Sultan, I will need extra men for that. If the prisoner decides to cause trouble while some of my men are searching, we may be unable to contain him.” Malik didn’t need to think about it.
“Done. Pull every man you need, then double the number. No, wait, triple the number. I want you to take no chances with this man.”
The officer saluted and returned to lead the group, plus Luke back to his room. None of them realized Luke had heard every word and wondered how to distract the guards from his stolen toys. The most important ones were already very well hidden behind a loose stone just above the floor. Still, there were enough stolen goodies to cause the Seljuks to think twice about where Luke was housed if they found them.
Once they reached the room, the officer had Luke sit on his bed and kept four soldiers around him with their weapons pointed at him. As other men searched the room, the officer watched Luke to see if he would reveal the locations of any stolen goods.
Luke rested on his bed and closed his eyes while the guards searched high and low. While Luke wasn’t watching them, he knew where every one of them was based on the noise they were making. After searching the small room for over an hour, they still hadn’t found anything worth fussing over. Eventually, the guards left to report.
When the door closed, Luke opened an eye to look around. The search made a mess, and it would take time to put everything back in its place. As Luke worked, he smiled; he hadn’t expected all his hiding places to work, but they had. Luke reasoned that the first place they would look was just over his head since he was taller than most, so he hid most stuff almost on the floor.
After leaving Luke’s quarters, the officer went to Malik and reported. The report put Malik at ease since Luke’s escape would be much more difficult if he didn’t have tools. Believing the threat of Luke’s escape was gone, Malik turned his attention back to his sister’s wedding.
Preparations for Morvarid’s wedding were done; the only things left were the pre-wedding parties and the wedding. The only wrinkle was Asadullah’s injuries. It took the doctors almost an hour to completely stop the bleeding from his nose, and the entire time Asadullah cursed Luke and Malik. If Malik were a proper ruler, he would have executed Luke when he attacked Asadullah. Asadullah ignored the fact that he attacked Luke or that Luke wasn’t an enemy combatant but was kidnapped and smuggled back to the Seljuk capital.
While Asadullah was having his nose, wrist, and testicles worked on, Morvarid hoped her wedding would be postponed; canceled would be better. When she first heard the news, she had hoped that Luke had killed him, but she wasn’t so lucky. When Guzal and Tuija heard the news, they broke down into giggles. Morvarid tried to be angry with them, but soon, she also giggled, especially after hearing that Asadullah’s little friend wouldn’t be operational for some time.
Finally, they finished giggling and continued working on the last-minute wedding preparations. Like large weddings throughout history, there were always last-minute problems that threatened to upend everything. All day, servants came and went as they carried messages and supplies.
By the end of the day, Morvarid, Guzal, and Tuija were exhausted, but everything was set for the wedding the following day. Morvarid sat heavily in her favorite chair and sighed. It had been a long day, and tomorrow promised to be longer. Guzal brought her a glass of wine, and after Morvarid drank it, she felt better. Leaning back, she sighed and closed her eyes.
“How did it come to this, Guzal? Why must I marry that fat fool?”
“You know why. You chased away all your other suitors, so now you are left with the scum.”
“Tuija, do you think that too?”
“Think? Think? Morvarid, we have been telling you that for years. I’m afraid there’s nothing left for you.” Everyone had forgotten one man.
Morvarid bowed her head as a tear ran down her face. All she had wanted was a worthy man; now, nobody was left because of her foolish youth. Morvarid grabbed the bottle of wine and started working on finishing it. Guzal and Tuija looked at her and shook their heads. They would have a long fight to keep Morvarid from drinking every bottle of wine in the palace.
Morvarid wasn’t the only one drinking; Asadullah used wine to numb the throbbing in his head, wrist, and groin. After he married Morvarid, Asadullah would insist that Malik hand Luke over to him. Once Asadullah had Luke, he would torture him until the British general died.
While everyone else was partying or drinking, Luke finished his preparations. His biggest challenge was to get out of his room. He planned to get out by luring his guard in. To do that, Luke made himself sound sick. In order to be convincing, Luke used his finger to force himself to vomit.
Thankfully for Luke, the guard on his door was new and green. All the regular guards were preparing for the wedding or on patrol; they would have never opened his door since they had an idea of how intelligent Luke was. There had been some intelligence regarding the surge in bandit activity, and the guards were stretched thin as most were out trying to exterminate the bandits who had preyed on nobles traveling to the wedding. Hearing Luke vomit, the new guard became nervous, knowing the sultan had a particular interest in this prisoner, and unlocked the door to check on him.
Luke heard the door open and watched out of the corner of his eye. He observed the guard approach and waited until the last moment before striking. Luke’s strike was so quick the guard had no time to defend himself, and before he knew what was happening, a shiv was jammed in his throat.
The guard didn’t make a sound as he fell to the floor; Luke caught him to keep the noise down. Once the guard was on the floor, Luke took his sword, knives, and purse. There wasn’t much in the purse, but there was no reason not to take it.
Luke carefully stepped out, closed the door behind him, and locked it. The longer he kept people from discovering he was gone, the more time he would have to see his plans to fruition. Luke had a few places to stop before flying the coop.
Thanks to his sandals, Luke ran silently down the hallways until he came to a thick door with two guards. With everyone prepping for the wedding, nobody moved around in most of the palace. The hall was dark, so Luke took a small coin and tossed it past the guards. When it hit the ground, both guards looked toward the noise, which was a fatal mistake. Luke came up behind them and broke their necks; he didn’t want any blood to show what happened. The first guard was easy to handle, but the second had a moment to react. He turned but not fast enough, and Luke snapped his neck with a quick twist of the wrist.
It only took a moment to find the keys and open the door. Luke dragged the bodies inside the room and closed the door so he could light a torch. When Luke lit the torch, he found several locked chests before him. However, Luke was prepared and pulled out his lockpick tools. It only took a few seconds to unlock the chests, and he idly wondered why they even bothered with a lock.
Opening the lid, Luke smiled; he was looking at bags of coins. The hardest part was not getting greedy. Take too much, and the weight would slow him down. If he didn’t take enough, he would run out of money before reaching home. After weighing the bags, Luke decided to take a bag of gold and four bags of silver. Out of curiosity, Luke checked the rest of the chests. In the last one, Luke found the motherlode of gems. He quickly selected the most attractive ones to make jewelry for his women once he got home.
Looking at the rest of the room, Luke was annoyed at the wealth stored there. He had suffered for almost two years, so it was time for revenge. Thankfully, Luke was ready, and using some of his tools and stolen chemicals, he made a primitive timed firebomb. Setting the palace ablaze would help distract his unwanted host. After ensuring the bomb would go off when he wanted, Luke left the room, locking the door behind him.
Morvarid woke with a start. Her mouth felt dry, like she had tried to eat cotton, and her throat was scratchy. She stumbled out of bed and went to a side table where a water pitcher was kept. Instead of pouring a drink, she tipped the whole pitcher back and drank everything that didn’t miss her mouth.
All the commotion woke the twins up, and they looked at Morvarid.
“Are you alright?” asked Tuija.
“I will be. I need to head to the kitchen to refill the pitcher and see if I can get some fruit and bread.”
“One of us can do that,” said Guzal.
“You can come along and get something to nibble on. I know neither of you could eat yesterday since you were dealing with my stupidity.”
“Thank you,” the sisters said as they climbed out of bed and straightened their clothing before putting robes on.
Once the three were dressed correctly, they exited and headed for the kitchen. Since Luke’s room was in the other direction, they didn’t see his guard missing. It only took them about five minutes to reach the kitchens, where Morvarid found some dates, and the twins found some leftover meat, cheese, and bread.
After eating their fill, the three left, where they literally ran into Luke. Morvarid squealed, but Luke had his hand across her mouth before much came out. He was scary-looking, his face blacked out by soot from the fireplace.
“What are you doing out?” demanded Maryam.
“Do you expect me to stay here for the rest of my life? I’m breaking out and headed home.”
“Luke! You can’t do that! What about me? My brother will kill me when he finds out you are missing.” Morvarid said once Luke took his hand away from her mouth.
“I doubt that. He’s going to have much bigger problems than me leaving. Speaking of your brother, where did he hide the gear I came here with?” Morvarid was confused but answered anyway.
“He keeps it in his quarters.”
“Excellent,” Luke was excited since that was where he wanted to go anyway. “Where’s that? How do I get there from here?”
“You’ll never get in and out without being spotted,” said Guzal. “Why is that gear so important?”
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