Engineer's Empire

Engineer's Empire: Aether and Abyss: Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Slade awoke to his entire body hurting. It was dark, the pale orange light from the street lamp flickered in through the window. He turned to see Jeffrey's face, full of concern.

"You're alive!" Jeffrey whispered. Slade turned to see the rest of the orphans sleeping. He was back in the orphanage. Slade laid his head back and groaned.

"Beadle was furious about the clock," Tyler said. Tears streamed down Slade's eyes. He had failed. Worse, he had failed with the whole empire watching. He'd been humiliated in front of his new friends. He could not imagine anything worse, aside from the beating he'd received from Lumen as a result. He was not sure which hurt more, the shame or the beating.

"It was working earlier! It wasn't my fault!" Slade cried. Tyler sat up and shrugged, staring at the floor.

"It doesn't matter though, does it? No matter what we do. Or why it happens. It always falls down on us in the end," Tyler said. Slade wiped his nose on his sleeve. He shook his head, trying to clear all of the anger and sadness from his brain. It didn't work.

"The rest of the night was great," Jeffrey offered, looking for the bright side. Slade smiled despite himself, then winced from his busted lip.

"It really was. It was magic," Slade said, then paused. "I'm sad we'll never get to see them again."

"Maybe we'll see them next year," Jeffrey suggested.

"Assuming they remember three bumpkins like us," Tyler added. Jeffrey frowned at this. Slade felt around on his clothes.

"The key!" he exclaimed.

"Shhh!" came a hiss from a nearby bunk. Tyler gave Slade a sad look.

"Those blokes in the black hats from earlier. They cornered Lumen and demanded the key. He wasn't about to stand up to those creeps," Tyler said. Tears ran down Slade's cheeks.

"Someone like us wasn't going to be allowed to keep a treasure like that for long," Tyler consoled.

"It was important though. I think it connected to that story Runciman told us," Slade said.

"And what if it did? What were we supposed to do with it?" Tyler asked.

"I should have given it to him..." Slade chastised himself. Tyler shook his head.

"Nothing that can be done now. Try to get some rest, okay?" Tyler said. Jeffrey nodded and patted Slade's shoulder before going to bed.

After some time, they all went back to sleep, save for Slade. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling, holding the throbbing welt on the side of his face from Lumen's cane. He thought about Brickton and the endless work there. He thought about White Pine and the poverty. He thought about Lumen and how awful he was to all the orphans. They weren't really even people to Lumen. Slade sat up and wiped his eyes.

"I'm leaving. I'm joining the Engineers," he said to himself.

"How are you going to do that?" Tyler asked. He had apparently not been able to sleep either. Slade thought for a moment.

"I'll take one of them my clock!" Slade said. Tyler shook his head. Then he turned his head to face Slade.

"Lumen already has it, remember?" Tyler said. Slade balled up his fist.

"Then I need to get it," Slade replied.

"You're going to steal it from Lumen? You think that last beating was bad? You're a dead man if you try that. He'll kill you as soon as he sees you," Tyler said.