Engineer's Empire

Engineer's Empire: Aether and Abyss: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

At the tower, Slade crept carefully up the ladder, opening the small portal and peering in first. He saw the sinister men searching through the inside of the clock tower, spilling Slade's tools and knocking over his supplies.

"It ain't here."

"The magister says it's here, than it's got to be here. You want to go back to him and just say we couldn't find it?"

The other man paused.

"No."

Slade crept into the tower and crawled up one of the beams to peer down on them from above. One man knelt over the edge of the landing.

"It's down there. I see it glowing."

"Great. How're we supposed to get it way down there?"

"We'll need to go get a tool. Or hire one of the brats in town to go fetch it for us."

"Let's try the tool first. Don't want any other eyes on this."

"Right."

Slade ducked into the shadows as the two men crawled out. He waited until they were at the bottom of the ladder, then slid a metal rod into the latch to keep it from being opened. The last thing Slade wanted was them coming back while he was trapped at the bottom of the clock tower. Next he tied a rope off around a metal support beam and lowered himself down. He could hear the scurrying rats, but held the flick-switch out to scare them away. He lowered himself below the wooden planks he had caught himself on the other night.

Deeper into the bowels of the clock he went until he touched another landing. There was a solid floor here. He turned up the flame on the flick-switch to see. Several rats darted into holes within the wall nearby. Slade shivered. He looked down to see the floor here was littered with gears, an old wrench, and some burnt cigarettes. No one had probably been down here since the clock was built.

Slade peered about for the source of the glow. He turned and saw a few planks that looked like they had been gnawed at and burrowed through by the rats over the years. The glow was coming from under the floorboards. Slade turned, swinging the flick-switch to scare off any nearby rats before reaching inside. He snatched the object quickly and stood up straight, scared of being swarmed by the creatures he could still hear squeaking and scurrying in the walls all around him. The noise made his skin crawl. He stepped back to examine his prize.

It was a brass key roughly the size of his palm with a blue gem crafted into the center of the head. The metal work surrounding the top was intricate, encasing the gem in a cage of strong golden wires that ran from bow to blade along the key. The gem glowed softly. Slade felt a pulsing coming from it. It seemed to reverberate off his own heartbeat. He felt a warmth in his chest as he held the key in his hand. After a few moments he realized it was not his heart, but the stone he always wore around his neck that pulsed alongside the key. Slade stared in silent wonder when the bell of the clock chimed.

It was 9th bell, signifying night shift was half over. Slade climbed back up and hid the rope in case the men came back. He left the rest the way they had left it so they would not know anyone else had been here. He peered through the portal to make sure the men were not waiting outside before descending and running back to Tyler and Jeffrey. Slade grabbed his shovel and started moving stones. Tyler stared at him.

"Well?"

"I'll tell you later," Slade replied.

"What? That's it?" Tyler argued.

Slade was thinking of how to reply when they heard a gasp. Slade spun around, half expecting the wicked looking men to be right behind him. They looked over to see Sandra Barret pointing. Although not one of the orphans, her parents were poor enough that Sandra had to work to help them get by. Other children that were gathering trash or cleaning chimneys turned to look. Off in the distance was a flash of blue lightning that crackled amidst the endless darkness. One child screamed. Lumen came stomping out of his office, cane raised in the air.