The Workings of a Clock

- Chapter 1 -

"You're going to need a bigger incentive if you want me to even touch that thing, let alone fix it." Said the fiery tinker, looking at what looked like pocket watch, absolutely crusted with dirt and grime. The thing was basically in pieces and there was just dirt – everywhere.

The man scowled and grudgingly placed another 5 gold pieces on the table. "That's better, now I'll see what I can do with the junk and I'll get back to you." She smirked. The man scowled yet again and left, grumbling curses to the smug little tinker.

This tinker was known in the Black Market for fixing up stolen or illegal goods, the guards would pay an arm and leg to get hold of her, but no one sold her out. It wasn't because they liked her, but she was too important to the illegal workings of the town for anyone to give her up. You could almost say their greed kept her safe. She was arrogant yet clever, and had a huge talent with machines. But still only few from The Market knew of her.

She had a full head of golden hair that was tied back into a ponytail. She used her goggles that were set just above her forehead, to keep any loose strands from bothering while she worked. Her eyes were what unnerved people the most. One eye slightly more blue than the other green one. It was unnoticeable most of the time, but whenever she got angry, it became clear as day that her eyes were different colours. Her face was always covered in grease and dirt. She was thinner then what could be considered healthy, but still had what would be curves if she had any food to eat.

She wore a simple black shirt and a black pair of trousers, neatly tucked in to her black leather boots. She kept it all black so the grease and oil stains wouldn't stand out too much. Her goggles were a shade of copper with black rims and lenses of one sided glass. She wore a tool belt around her waist of brown leather, which consisted of different tools and bolts that she might need.

Her name was Tarrin.

Tarrin knew that it was dangerous to be working as a part of the Market, but she didn't care as long as she got food on her table. She had set up her workshop in the outskirts of town in a small little building. The only way to get in was all the way through the alley towards the end. The door was hidden there. The buildings around hers stood out, while hers was barely noticeable, the best place for an illegal tinker - Especially with the ongoing war, between the North and the South.

Tarrin's little business was situated in the town of Tersha, which was in the further up north, about three towns away from the ocean, and leagues away from where all the actual fighting was going on. The whole war started 50 years ago because of the workers protesting against the Souths king, he made them pay a lot of taxes, so of course the people rebelled. Blah, blah, blah there was a civil war, which left the country poor and low on resources.

What started the actual war between the North and South, was the fact that after the civil war in the South, the North slowly started absorbing the smaller towns into its territories, and by the time they realized, their land had almost halved. So the war right now, was all about what was left of the South rebelling. Tarrin thought of all the whispers she'd heard about how bad some of the bombings were, and how a lot of people have been hurt by the South. But she didn't have to worry about any of that.

Tarrin sighed, and look towards the pile of junk the man called a pocket watch as she slided the 15 gold pieces she managed to get out of them, and put them in her pocket. It was gonna take a while to clean the thing, and even longer to put it together. She half considered just dumping it now, but there was something about the man that made her scrap that idea, he seemed almost anxious about the watches condition. She wondered where he managed to find it. Cursing herself for accepting such junk so late, she set herself to work on cleaning the dirt. She braced herself for yet another sleepless night.

Tarrin sat up straight and stretched, her back was aching from being hunched over the watch all night. As she began cleaning it last night, she realized why her client was so interested with it. Its design was outstanding. It was covered with intricate designs and twirls upon its bronze surface. On the inside, every little gear and spring was visible but it just added to its uniqueness. The hands and of the clock were black and were twirled and waved. Both the gears of the clock and the hands were crusted with dirt, and it took Tarrin a few hours to painstakingly clean out all the grime, she was not used to working on such delicate objects but she enjoyed the challenge. Once she'd cleaned it, she started looking for replacements for all the broken parts, like a screw for the lid of the watch – which had broken out, and a replacement of the glass which was shattered. Tarrin thanked the gods that none of the intricate gears were missing, because that would have been a lot of work to try replace.

Tarrin stood up and her stiff body protested, she stretched again and yawned as she walked to the sink to wash her face. The water did little to rid her of her fatigue, but it was as close as she was going to get to being awake. Her eyes slid over to where the watch lay, all she had to do was replace the glass and then she was done. Her stomach grumbled as she set to work again, but she wouldn't let herself eat until she finished the job.

After she finally replaced the glass, she allowed herself to relax. All she had to do was send message to the grumpy old man that after hours of work, she'd finished the watch. She walked over to the watch, picked it up and stared at it. It hummed in her hand in reply, just like every machine did when she touched it. She didn't get why, but machines reacted to her, and as time goes on, they get easier to fix. Tarrin never dwelled on it.

A knock at the door knocked Tarrin out of her daze. Her head snapped towards the door. It was way too early for any customers to come by. Tarrin warily walked towards it. She was about 5 paces away when the door was sent flying from its hinges, to display about a dozen of the town's guards. Tarrin swore and walked back slowly as they all entered her garage. "You're surrounded, so don't try anything. I've been hunting you down for the last year, and boy have you been a thorn in my side" Sneered the man, staring death towards Tarrin. She suppressed a smile "I'm glad that you feel like you're relieved from this thorn, but I'm not that easy to get rid of." The man was about to reply when Tarrin smiled, and simply pulled a chain above her head. The men's eyes widened, while Tarrin laughed as she slipped down into the hole that had appeared at her feet.

What the general public did know was that there was only one way to get in, what they didn't know- was that there was multiple ways to get out. She slipped down into the side of a sewage pipe, landing safely away from the dirty water and broke out into a sprint to collect her back up supplies. Who would work illegally without a back-up plan? These damn towns' people must think I'm a joke or something, thought Tarrin still smiling, I'll find whoever rat me out and make them pay, her grin plastered with ill-intent. Tarrin looked down and realised she still had the watch in her hand, she pocketed it and carried on running. Tarrin turned a corner and then slipped into a side passage, which opened up into a little square room. Tarrin walked in and froze, where was all her equipment? Where did it go? Tarrin turned around just in time to see the dark figure before something hard hit her head. Tarrin's knees buckled as she lost consciousness and crumpled to the ground.