"Might be easier than inventing a gun from scratch. I've used knives so swords can't be that far off," Bucky says. "And I guess crossbows are point and shoot, yeah?"

If this place only lets him have medieval weapons, he's going to learn how to use medieval weapons. He isn't going to leave himself without protection and he's not going to let anyone else be unprotected either. For all her talk about magic, Merlan might need more than that and he doesn't know who all else is here either.

"I might be muscles but there's a brain here, I promise." Maybe it's Swiss cheese but it's there.