"...Are you doing a new chemical experiment with baked sugar?"

"No!" Louis yelled, "My family is here! My mother, Queen Ermentrude, and my younger brothers and sisters just arrived at the docks! They crossed the ocean in a small boat to escape Louis the Germanic!"

Gyda wondered how a single woman and four children had managed to hire a smuggler, navigate the English Channel, and survive a dangerous journey over rough saltwater.

It was very difficult to believe.

"That is wonderful news, Louis!" Gyda shouted down to the dirt street, smiling broadly. "We will come to see them immediately!"

Louis waved his hand and continued sprinting toward the bakery.

Gyda closed the window and latched it shut. She turned around and walked across the floor. In the center of the room, there was a large bed.

Ragnar was laying in the bed. He had spent the entire day riding a horse from the town of Wessex, fighting a group of sixty wild Viking raiders on the dirt road, and securing heavy boxes of raw copper and tin.

Sleeping directly on Ragnar’s broad chest was Magnus. The toddler was snoring softly.

Gyda smiled warmly at the sight. She walked over to the bed and placed her hand on Ragnar’s shoulder.

"Ragnar~" Gyda said. "You need to wake up."

"Louis just ran past our window. His family has arrived in City Titan. Queen Ermentrude and the four royal children are waiting in the guest house right now."

Ragnar sat up in the bed. He carefully lifted Magnus and moved the sleeping toddler onto the blanket.

"Queen Ermentrude is here?" Ragnar asked, entirely awake now. "In our city?"

"Yes." Gyda confirmed.

Ragnar stood up from the bed. He grabbed a thick tunic and pulled it over his head.

"Louis the Germanic just lost his strongest political power. We need to go see Louis’s family." Ragnar stated clearly.

Gyda nodded. She grabbed a cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders.

They walked out of the room, leaving Magnus sleeping safely in the bed. Two heavily armored guards standing outside the door.

Ragnar and Gyda walked out of the house and into the street. They walked quickly toward the royal guest house.

Queen Ermentrude, Charles the Younger, Carloman, Rotrude, and Princess Gisela were sitting on the chairs.

Louis the Stammerer was standing next to the table, holding a large tray filled with twenty sweet honey cakes.

Ragnar walked fully into the bright light of the room. The royal family of Francia stopped eating.

Ragnar stopped walking, stood straight, and bowed his head respectfully to Queen Ermentrude.

"Welcome to City Titan, Your Majesty," Ragnar said, "I am Ragnar Ulfsson. This is my wife, Gyda. We are honored to have you in our city. Your son Louis is the most important builder in my entire kingdom. Because he is my loyal friend, his family is my family. You are safe here."

Queen Ermentrude stood up from her chair and bowed gracefully.

"Thank you, King Ragnar," Ermentrude replied, "We have traveled a very long way. We were terrified that Louis the Germanic would capture us. But seeing the high stone walls of your city and the iron weapons of your guards, I know he can never reach us here."

Gyda stepped forward and smiled. She placed her hands over her pregnant stomach. "You must be exhausted from the saltwater journey. Please, sit down and eat your food. Louis talks about you every single day."

Louis placed the tray of honey cakes directly on the table. Princess Gisela, who was twelve years old, immediately grabbed a honey cake and took a large bite.

She smiled happily, getting sticky honey all over her fingers.

"King Ragnar!" Charles said. "I saw your giant guard, Hakon. I asked him to teach me how to shoot an iron musket. I want to fight the Emperor’s knights if they ever try to hurt my mother!"

Ragnar laughed, "You will learn, first, you must eat your roasted pork and build your muscles."

Carloman, the fourteen-year-old boy with glasses, adjusted his spectacles. "King Ragnar, what will Emperor Louis do when he finds out we are here?"

Ragnar looked at the young boy. "Emperor Louis will be furious, but he will not attack City Titan. If he tries to sail here, we will sink his ships before they even see the coast."

Queen Ermentrude let out a long sigh.

...

The Royal City of Paris, Kingdom of West Francia

"Shadow" Sven sat on a small stool. Sitting on this stool was the most profitable job in the entire world.

He was getting paid by both empires to do nothing.

In the exact center of the hot room, exactly fifty master blacksmiths and thirty educated scholars were gathered around three large tables.

They were attempting to copy the stolen iron musket and the leather powder horn that Emperor Louis the Germanic had acquired from the battlefield.

Sven was sitting in the room as a Frankish employee. Minister Hugo had placed him there to observe the progress so Sven could write fake letters to City Titan to deceive King Ragnar Ulfsson.

Sven did not have to sneak through dark windows or pick iron locks anymore. The Frankish Empire had placed their most dangerous enemy directly inside their most top-secret military facility.

"If the pressure from the explosion exceeds our estimated limits, this welded seam will instantly split open." Gerard stated.

Master Alchemist Bernard adjusted his robes. He looked at the iron barrel confidently.

"I have successfully reverse-engineered the black powder. I have mixed the yellow sulfur, the crushed black charcoal, and the white saltpeter."

Sven looked at Bernard’s ceramic mixing bowls on the table. "What is your exact chemical ratio, Master Bernard?" Sven asked.

"I used a perfectly equal ratio," Bernard stated. "I mixed 33% percent saltpeter, 33% charcoal, and 33% sulfur."

Sven did not laugh out loud, but inside his head, he was laughing aggressively.

It would burn incredibly hot, burn very slowly, and create massive amounts of thick smoke, but it lacked the focused kinetic energy required to shoot a projectile.

Furthermore, the massive excess of sulfur would rapidly corrode the iron barrel.

"This looks perfect from a mathematical standpoint~" Sven stated.