Holger brings his iron shield down on Alfric's dagger hand - which smokes and burns! Holger calls:
"'Jesu Kriste Fili Mariae -'" (p. 55)
The Faeries shriek and flee! Imagine knowing that you were in a realm where the myths and legends were true: garlic should work against vampires etc.
The blade of Alfric's captured dagger seems to be magnesium, which is soft and flammable. In his saddlebag, Holger finds:
"...an extra misericord." (p. 59)
Holger and his friends are besieged by "'Night-gangers...'" (p. 60)
"...he wondered what the safety factor of the camp's charms was. No doubt magicians in this world had their equivalent of the Rubber Handbook, with tables of such data." (ibid.)
Holger's knowledge of engineering helps him to think rationally about an environment with different laws.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And Holger was amused to think that elvish magicians might also use spectroscopes!
Sean
Actually the "Rubber Handbook" is this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics
CRC = Chemical Rubber Company thus "Rubber Handbook"
I see there is an online version.
https://hbcp.chemnetbase.com/faces/contents/ContentsSearch.xhtml
I have a copy.
It includes a table of logarithms, which is of little use since electronic calculators became common.
However, do you remember the scene in "Orion Shall Rise" in which the characters are in a sort of museum kept by the Wolf Lodge which include a *hand copied* table of logarithms, from some time not long after the collapse of our civilization.
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