The supervillain tossed the captured superhero a lump of coal. Restrained by specially designed chains, he barely caught it.
“Press this into a diamond,” the villain said. “And I won’t kill any of your friends today.”
It took about eight hours for the hero to complete the task. As he handed back the uncut gem, it scraped lighting against his manacles. The villain didn’t notice.
It took the hero about a week to break the shackles and rescue everyone.
“How?” the supervillain asked, his lair in flames around him.
“The trick isn’t just asserting pressure, but where you apply it.”

The Mountain’s Shadow is now available from Amazon and Smashwords!