7)A Matter of Clockworks and Time (Tick)

The underground covey the orphans had set aside for their abode was a flurry of business, every resource and supply had been inventoried by Sister and The Empress. The children were each given their assignments and were busy about their preparations.

​Ouihan was tinkering with a bunch of gears and sundry items which were in a discard box in the room he awoke in not long before.

​Sister looked at him and said, “Whatcha doing there Ouihan?”

​“These are still usable. I think I can gadget a few tools whichwe may need out of this.”

​“They are all tweaked and buggered. Nothing can be done with em.”

​Ouihan reached into his school bag and took out Gidget., set her down and said, “Gidge, fetch me the Dwayne Spanner from over on the bench in the other room.”

​Gidget sprung to life and scurried through the hatch to the other room. Ouihan smiled and said, “I made Gidget from tweaked and buggered parts such as this.”

​There was a cacophony of shouts and shrieks from the other room then in a minute Gidget came skittering back into the room carrying the heavy looking spanner followed immediately by Scrapper yelling, “Hey I was using that! What the hell is that thing?”

​Sister just smirked and said, “You were probably just using it for a hammer as usual Scrapper. Leave it be.”

​Scrapper looked at Ouihan with a poisonous look but didn't make eye contact with Sister. He then shook his head and turned around and went back into the other room grumbling under his breath.

​Empress Victoria II who was working on a project of her own was watching this whole thing play out with interest said, “I would keep an eye on that young man if I were you.”

​“Oh, Scrapper is harmless. He acts like a tough like the rest of us instead of opening hisself up to get hurt. In the end he always does right by the rest of us.”

​“None the less, I think he bears watching.” Victoria said judiciously.

​“Respects ma'am but I always do. Only one I trust unconditionally is Brother. So, I keep an eye on him but also I do so with you as well your M'nence.”

​“We understand. You and I are the same believe it or not. I rule The Civilization whereas you rule this under street kingdom. We both have had little reason to trust others, you and me. However, you and I also have in common we have one person we trust implicitly. You trust Brother, I have someone I trust. The more I think about it, we could use his help now. I suspect he's out there right now looking for me. Perhaps we should have your people out there looking for him.”

​Sister looked thoughtful for a moment then called out, “Mousy, can you come here please?”

​A couple of seconds later a smallish scrap of a girl dressed in rags and smudged face came running into the room. She looked to be no more than seven or eight years old. Her hair was brown, long and matted looking.

​Sister said, “Your M'nence, please describe your man and Mousy here will spread the word to look out for him.”

​After Victoria II described Cooper, Mousy nodded and went running off to the street. Victoria II watched her leave thoughtfully. She looked at Sister and said, “Perhaps we should also employ your network of eyes and ears on the street to get more information on what our enemies are doing?”

​“Already ahead of ya, your M'nence. I had Mousy head out earlier to get a feel from the street. I made sure she didn't mention you were with us, you understand.”

​“Of course. How very wise of you.”

​Ouihan looked from the Empress to Sister, shrugged and went back to work.

​Victoria II looked at him and said, “Let us discuss your part in all this my friend...”

​Next to the Royal Palace stands a huge pyramidal structure. Within this structure is a large apparatus with moving globes, gears, winding screws and other clockworks. No one alive knows how it works but it seems to gather power from within the pyramid itself. The pyramid gathers the essence and energies from the surrounding world by some very arcane means.

​Inside the maze of gears and other devices are several winding staircases and catwalks which lead from the entrance of the pyramid up to the very heart of the machine. This heart is the Glass Darkly.

​The Glass Darkly is a piece of meteoric crystal which some accomplished mage, some 500 years ago, built the pyramid around in order to see the future. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending upon your perspective, the Glass Darkly only works for certain individuals such as Empress Victoria II. The Glass Darkly not only communicates with visions of the future but also conveys feelings as well. Things given are rarely clear and certain but there is usually enough meaning conveyed, given enough wisdom, to help the user understand the future.

​About five years ago, Victoria II had stood before the Glass Darkly and received a foretelling of a time of turmoil and possible ruin of The Civilization which can only be undone by a boy who is a descendant of Wingdama Aling who was the very clockworks mage who built the Sentinels for the royal family. Wingdama Aling, who appeared to be from the Eastern Continent was actually from a whole other world and reality. No one alive knew his real name or from what world or reality he came from. All that was really knownof him was he had a talent for clockwork unlike any have seen before or since. He had lived in this world for some 300 or more years before he disappeared one day. It is said he simply went home.

​Like Cal, Wingdama was immortal. Legends had it in the 300 plus years he lived in this reality he only had one child. Although long lived, none of his descendants were reported to have inherited his immortality.

​Since Victoria had seen Ouihan survive the normally un-survivable Arc Light hit was intended for her it confirmed in her mind he was indeed a descendant of Wingdama and he had inherited Wingdama's immortality. She wasn't sure that that would be the case. Suspected but was unsure.

​

One of the reasons the Arc Light was used by the Shadow Men so extensively was because it was almost always fatal. The only reported previous cases of someone surviving an Arc Light hit were because of the immortality of the individual. Specifically, Captain Calvin Cooper for case in point. Of course, as Victoria was explaining this to Ouihan and Sister she omitted this fact keeping Cal's immortality secret.

​After listening to the Empress' explanation, Ouihan looked on in stunned silence. Sister on the other hand looked on with keen interest. After Victoria finished her explanation of Ouihan’simportance Sister asked, “Meaning no disrespect, Your M'nence but why have you included me into this revelation?”

​“Because child I also have reason to believe you are also part of the prophesy. As always with the Glass Darkly, the visions are seldom clear, however, I saw an army of street children being part of Ouihan's rise to power. Weather for good or ill will depend upon Ouihan and his free will.” she then turned to Ouihan and said, “So it is up to you son. Will you help me save The Civilization?”

​

​Ehawee was another street orphan who belonged to the 'club' of orphans who were currently allied to the Empress. Ehawee was a descendent of people who came from the Western Continent in search of better ways of life which The Civilization had offered. Ehawee meant 'Laughing Maiden' in her ancestral language but her name was the antithesis of who she was. Rarely could one find anyone more serious and somber. She was tasked by Mousy to not only gather information on what was happening on the street but also to find one Captain Cooper on behalf of their club's guest.

​At thirteen she was very sharp and street wise. Her dark almond shape eyes missed very little. Her hearing was better than most, so she was able to discern details of speech even among a crowd. Her bronze colored skin gave her an exotic look which was her only detriment to street life. It was always best to be not noticed. So, she also learned to dress in such a way to conceal her exotic looks. Looking at her one would think she was a boy from the Eastern Continent which were more common here in Grandeur City.

​She sat in one of her usual spots to haunt and beg just outside of Little East district of Grandeur City. She was just on the end of Empress Victoria I Plaza which was always crowded with Yeoman, Gentry and occasional Noble types doing their shopping. She knew the limits of how far she could go into the plaza which was 'Acceptable' to the shop keepers, enforcers and clientele. About thirty feet away from her she saw a man who looked like the man described to her by Mousy, so she focused to listen to what he was saying to a shop keeper.

​She made out he was saying, “...any word on my lady?”

​The shopkeeper said, “No Cap... um Cal. So far all we have heard is she is dead in the Imperial Carriage.”

​“We both know this to not be true. Alright...” he seemed to distractedly look in Ehawee's direction.

​She realized she was staring too intently at him, so she pretended to look away as if she were just looking at the crowd for someone to beg from.

​He looked at her for a few seconds more then said to the shopkeeper, “I'll check back with you later. You know how to pass the word if you hear anything.” He then turned and walked away from the shopkeeper and Ehawee.

​Ehawee got up and followed at a discreet distance. She could see he appeared to be keeping an awareness of what was going on around him, so she faded back further away from him trying to keep cover from other members in the crowd.

​At one point when she was trying to cover herself from observation she looked up and saw he had disappeared. She looked around trying to find a clue as to where he had gone but couldn't tell. She then turned back and headed back to her regular territory. She turned down an alley to take a short cut when she turned right into him. Before she could turn and run his hand shot out lightning fast and grabbed her on her collar and he yanked her around the corner into a small recessed area which was out of sight of both the street and most of the alleyway as well.

​She yelled, “Hey now lemme go!” and she kicked him in the right shin.

​He got a look in his eyes which made her go still. She had seen this cold hard look before. She knew this man was very dangerous,so she froze in real fear.

​“What do we have here? You are good at tailing. I've seen few better. Unfortunately for you I'm good at picking out details in a crowd. So, unless you can give me good reason for not breaking your neck and leaving you in my wake...”

​She was told what to say once she found him even though it meant nothing to her, she said, “Vicky is looking for you!” she said with real fear in her voice because she believed he wasn't bluffing her. The look in his eyes was the same look her father had in his eyes when he killed her mother and brother. Sheer cold killer. She only hoped he was indeed the one she was looking for.

​His eyes shifted from cold, hard and deadly to having real concern in them and he asked, “Where is she?!” and he shook her collar to punctuate his urgency. When he did her Peaky Blinders,hat fell off revealing her long black hair. Strangely he didn't appear to be surprised she was indeed a she but he did change his stance a little as if distracted by her hair, then he softened his look even more and let go of her collar and he bent over and picked up her cap and handed it to her. Looked around to make sure no one was watching and said, “I'll tell you what little lady, lemme buy you some food and we can find a quiet place and talk.”