บท 60: A Spoonful of Sugar
Alexander was not done yet.
Because it was time to reveal his masterpiece.
He drew Cambyses's attention, as he put the piece on the table, "This might look like your father's drinking pot, but it's not."
This surprised the girl and she squinted in the low light to see better.
And Alexander was right. Because she could see that her father's one had one hole at the top of the hand, but this had two.
"Let me show you," Alexander offered a demonstration, "I will pour some of the poison water through the lower hole, and I will pour some cold, normal drinking water, through the upper hole."
Hence after he theatrically said, "Now look at the magic! When I cover the upper hole with my finger, warm, poisoned water comes out. Touch it but don't drink it." Alexander passed the mug he poured the poison in, towards Cambyses to judge for herself.
"But if I close the lower hole, now only the cool, normal drink comes out. Here," Then Alexander gulped down the water he poured and said, "See?"
This little demonstration astounded Cambyses.
She was both absolutely amazed and properly scared.
Amazed that Alexander had thought of such a magical way to deliver the poison and avoid security.
Scared because she understood this plan did not manifest in just a few days or weeks.
Alexander had made and gifted the very similar-looking drinking pot so long ago that she could not even remember it.
But it only hit her now that maybe he had been planning this even before she started properly putting on clothes.
Monster!
For a child to come up with such a plan, years in the making, only that word could describe him.
She suddenly felt the man in front of her might not be human.
But still, gathering up all her courage, she glanced at Alexander like a prey would submissively stare at a predator, and meekly asked, "How many years have you been planning this?"
Alexander certainly did not miss the shift in tone and simply smiled, "Hehe, why ask questions you don't want the answers to? But if you are so curious, I had it specially made without anyone's knowledge three years ago."
His voice then turned jovial, as he asked, "So you want to know how it works right?" Alexander seemed like a child showing off his new toy to Cambyses.
This was something called the "Assassin's teapot" and Alexander in his previous life had an antic replica of it as a party piece.
The teapot was supposedly invented in China and was rumored to have been used for assassinations.
He started explaining, "It's inside is compartmentalized into two, one for each of the holes near the handle."
"When the upper hole is covered, air pressure prevents the liquid in the top compartment from flowing."
"When the lower hole is covered, air pressure prevents the liquid in the bottom compartment from flowing."
"When both holes are covered, nothing flows, and when no hole is covered both liquids flow simultaneously."
Cambyses really did not understand the concept of air pressure but she did understand the gist of how the mechanism worked.
Finished explaining his new toy, Alexander afterward took out an ornate silk cloth and lightly wrapped it around the handle and the small hole, hiding it, and cautioned, "Always remember to keep your finger on the bottom hole. Think the holes are like doors. When the bottom hole is covered, the door for the bottom liquid, i.e- poison is closed. And when the upper hole is covered, the door for the upper liquid, i.e- normal drink is closed. Remember to always keep your finger on either of the holes at all times."
Then he offered, "Here, you practice for a bit. There will be food and drink testers for Damious's and you will need to keep your finger on the lower hole and serve them normal sugar water.
But when serving Damious, Aristotle, and Pallidus, you will need to seamlessly move your finger from the lower to the upper hole, and serve them the poisoned sweet water from the bottom."
"Here you practice a bit." Alexander offered.
Cambyses thus took the small drinking pot and spent a few minutes practicing the fluid motion she would need to make it appear as natural as she could as she slid her fingers from one opening to the other.
The technique she figured out was one where she would use her right hand to hold the handle and place the left hand on top of it, thus obscuring anyone's vision from detecting her finger's movement.
Satisfied with how the silk cloth hid the lower opening, and how her overlapping hands obscured her finger movements, Alexander urged, "Well let's go give Damious his dinner. He must be getting restless."
Saying so, he emptied the upper part of the drinking pot and refilled the lower poisoned part, placed it on a wooden tray along with some cups and hardtacks, and gave it to Cambyses to hold.
"We are not gonna fill the upper part?" Cambyses asked confused.
If the drinking pot only had the poison, there would be little point in such an elaborate setup.
"In time dear," Alexander said with a light smile.
After that, he informed, "You see outside the tent, there's one of Damious's lackeys who came with me to ensure that I don't do anything funny with his leader's to-be bride. He is called Gratz and Theocles is currently keeping him busy. We will refill the upper part in front of him from the sweet water in the medical camp. That should somewhat throw off the suspicion off of us."
Cambyses soundlessly nodded she said, "Well, here to hoping it all works. And if it doesn't..*cling*" She determinedly put her hand on a short sword, with a look of martyrdom on her face.
"Easy tiger." Alexander soothed.
In times of war, Alexander made everyone wear full armor and carry their weapons even in camp because he felt that in such a tense situation a sneak attack by the enemy or even a greedy ally was always a possibility.
But this had the negative effect of some trying to solve all problems by steel and not words.
Some hotheads like Cambyses and Mean.
"Everything will work out just like I planned," Alexander tried to cool her.
"Now take the tray and let's go. I have lots of things to do after they die."
Alexander's casual attitude of thinking of things to do after the assassination and thus belittling the dangerous endeavor worked to soothe the frayed nerves of the young girl and she silently picked up the wooden tray with a firm look.
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