"Exactly," the old woman said, refocusing Loch on her. Picking up the vial and inspecting it, she then continued in a lecturing tone. "All Bloodline Formulas require Tainted blood, no matter what grade they are. As the Book of Earth says, the Taint is not a curse but another part of the Soil we haven't understood yet."
The old woman, quoting the Book of Earth, saw Loch's eye roll despite her back being turned. She retorted, "Control your eyes, you little heathen, or they'll become part of my next experiment!" With a witchlike smirk, the old woman returned the vial to her locked cabinet, gazing at the shuddering Loch out of the corner of her eye. Right before she could continue teasing the boy, a bird's squawk from above caught her attention. With a frown directed at the ceiling, the old woman whispered, "I wonder who's visiting me? I have seen no one besides the little hooligan for months."
Loch, also hearing Jack calling from above, glanced at the woman with confusion. "Whose that Granny? Wait, you actually have a boyfriend?" Loch questioned with a cheeky smile.
The old woman looked at the boy and waved her cane at him as she replied, "One of the hundreds. I usually have to beat them away with this cane of mine, as I'm just too busy with my research." Loch gave the woman another eye roll. "Now you just wait here and make sure you clean up properly, and if I find any of my precious instruments dirty when I return, it won't just be your eyeballs that will be in my next experiment." The Old woman commanded as she hobbled over to the floorboard lift and pulled on a rope hanging from the ceiling, sending the platform she was standing on towards the cavern roof.
Loch spun away from the old woman after hearing her threat. His cheerful expression vanished, and he took his tools, cleaning them with equipment near the pond. After fifteen minutes of quiet, only the soft sounds of Loch cleaning the instruments broke the silence of the cavern, until a loud boom from above shattered the peace. It was as if a giant stomped on the Hut above, resulting in a light rain of sediment and stones from the ceiling. Loch, who had just started on the syringe used to extract his tainted blood, couldn't help but drop it on the table as he jumped in fright from the earth-rumbling boom above. Walking towards where the lift comes down, Loch clutched his brewed tincture and stared at the ceiling in worried silence. After waiting several minutes and hearing no follow-up noise, Loch was just about to call out when the sound of the floorboards moving and the rope pulley operated lift came down.
Taking several steps back, Loch sighed in relief at the sight of the unruffled Old woman coming down from above with Jack perched on her shoulder. Even though Jack and Loch couldn't talk, their unique bond allowed something close. From what Loch could see, even though his bird brother appeared to be perched on the old woman's shoulder like normal, he seemed far from calm, with a few of his feathers being ruffled as if he had stood in front of a large gust of wind. His intelligent, beady, black eyes betrayed his fear of the old woman. Without him even calling, once Jack made eye contact with Loch, the bird flew over to land on his left shoulder and placed his beak against the boy's gaunt cheekbone. Giving the Raven a worrying look, Loch soon switched his attention to the old woman walking over towards him with a grave face.
Loch approached the old woman with tense shoulders and asked, "What happened, Granny? Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" The boy's compassionate tone softened the old woman's frown, prompting her to respond with an unusually gentle voice that resembled that of a younger, more motherly figure than the typical old witch she portrayed. "I'm fine, Loch. Thank you for worrying. It was just the shanty of a house next to mine that had finally fallen down. You know what shape they were in; the heavy snow from last night must have just been a little too much for them."
Considering the condition of the houses near the old woman's hut, Loch deemed the explanation acceptable, despite suspecting less snow than claimed, as his confinement prevented accurate observation. 'Plus, why the hell would anyone deliberately knock down the place? The wood was so rotted that they wouldn't even make good for burning.' Loch thought to himself before he could say anything else though; the old woman patted Loch gently on his right shoulder as she urged, "You best get going, Loch; I'm guessing your friend with the Marshes is waiting for her little hero to arrive swiftly."
The thought of his close friend, whom he cherished like family, Lacey's current pain-filled condition lasting for even a second longer, made his heartache. Loch didn't leave straight away though and looked back over at the table. He said, "I still haven't finished washing up, though, and I think some dust from the ceiling has dirtied some others, too..." Before Loch could finish, the old woman tightened her grip on his shoulder and gently but forcefully pushed him towards the floorboard lift as she said, "Don't worry about that. It wasn't your fault, anyway; I'll handle the cleaning from here. You go and heal your friend."
Though he was reluctant to leave the old woman, his desire to help Lacey outweighed his reservations. Taking swift steps, Loch stood on the lift with Jack upon his shoulders and pulled the handle; while the lift was slowly raised, he called out, "I'll come by tomorrow Granny; if anything is too hard to clean for today, just leave it for me to do."
As one would look at a real grandson, the old woman gazed at the slowly rising boy and called out with a soft shake of her head. "Don't come tomorrow, I'll be busy..." As if thinking over something before Loch finally disappeared through the opening in the ceiling, she called out, "Come by the day after Earth Day." Even though Loch was confused about what she would be busy with, considering she rarely ever left her house, he still called out in agreement before he left.
As Loch had entered the Hut above, he was unable to witness a scene that would have shocked him to his core. The old hunched granny he had been visiting and, in his mind, caring for over the last two years, straightened and even seemed to elongate, rising to well above six feet in height. She now held herself with poise, looking less like someone who taunted children and brewed potions in a dimly lit cavern and more like a woman used to dancing across a ballroom floor. The transformation hadn't stopped there, though. Her old wrinkled features loosened and smoothed out, her white hair regaining a slight auburn color. The cowl she wore over her head shadowed most of the changes on her face, but even the gnarled branch of her cane seemed to have changed as dramatically as she had. It appeared to stretch out until it stood even above the now tall, graceful woman. Intricately carved silver lines now ran across the smooth haft, where once knotted and bumpy wood had been. The cane-turned staff's head now resembled a glowing, brushless tree, with a softly shining crystal rock nestled securely in its center.
As the stately woman gripped the now smooth haft of her staff, her eyes took in the surrounding cavern. They went over to the dusty table, her fingers running over it, as her sharp eyes looked lost in memory for several moments before clearing up. With a flick of her hand, the woman received an envelope from what appeared to be thin air and placed it on the table. The top of the sealed envelope only had one word, "Loch." With a gentle sigh, the woman's now smooth, mature voice said out loud, "What will be, will be. I don't know if this is doing him a favor or an injustice, but I will let him decide. This is all I can do for now, my sweet sister; I have to return to Evernight; it can not go any longer without their Monarch. Loch's fate is now his own."
The graceful woman took one more look across the silent cavern, and with a gentle swing of her unburdened hand, several items around the cavern flew towards her and entered her sleeve, regardless of the size. After lowering her hand, she glided over to the pond and stepped straight into the cold water that was only a couple of feet deep. With a determined gaze and back straight, the woman lifted her now shining staff, the branches on the top looking as if they were blowing against an invisible wind, and slammed the staff into the middle of the pond. The water below her began to rise, taking on a brightly covered hue as if covered in moonlight, covering her form like a set of water curtains, before splashing back down soundlessly after only a moment, with the woman standing there previously wholly disappeared.
Any of the sights that were previously revealed in the silent cavern workshop would have blown Loch's mind, the last part especially as they resembled powers of people who were even rarer in his world than the revered Hunters he was obsessed with; they were the powers of a Sorcerer. Loch, safe in his naivety, was actually in a state of shock for an entirely different reason. He was standing in front of the neighboring house, where the old woman said had fallen down because of heavy snow. "Heavy snow, my soiled ass." The house hadn't just fallen down; it had been wiped from the face of the world. Only clumps of what could be sawdust and upturned earth were left where a dilapidated building stood only a few hours ago.
Loch was standing to the side of a crowd that had gathered in front of the plot of nothing. Many of the residents of the street mumbled about the odd sight while coming up with one wild theory or another about the reason and explaining how they felt the earth shake from halfway down the street and even further. A couple of the more level-headed residents didn't get sucked into the theorizing, with one person even swearing they saw an arm the size of a house made of snow rising from the air and hurling a man covered in stone at the building. Instead, they asked a couple of kids around Loch's age to head to the closest guard post and report the situation.
Hearing the word "guard," Loch soon lost interest in the odd sight and made a beeline towards the end of the street with quick steps. Before he had left the old woman's house, Loch had reclaimed his tattered blanket, its squirrel occupant nestled beside a more tightly bound potion. Almost as if he was floating, Loch felt as if he flew through the return trip back to the Orphanage. He passed through the now heavily congested commercial streets, dodging people shopping and running errands. The closer-to-lunchtime hour, compared to his earlier morning trip, made the area genuinely crowded.
Even the mud-filled bumpy road now saw some traffic, with carts going up and down the center, pulled along by sickly looking donkeys and oxen with the wooden cartwheels splashing mud mixed with half-melted snow onto the already dirty cobblestone sidewalks. A troop of city guards also marched along the road, making many of the seedier elements still loitering around the area flee into the darkness of the alleyways. Despite their inferior equipment compared to city guards in other districts, the Shambles guards still projected an intimidating presence. They had a wheellock musket with bayonet resting on their thick, duster-covered shoulders, and a heavy, spiked club strapped to their belt. It was sufficient to guarantee both their safety and maintain order in the Shambles. Loch, like the other residents, cleared a path for the patrolling guards before he continued to dodge around the eclectic mix of people busy with their everyday tasks. In a bit of a puff, he soon arrived at the back wall of the Orphanage.
Crouching his four feet tall frame so he couldn't be seen from within the compound, Loch placed his back against the crumbling wall and looked over at Jack, who was perched on his left shoulder. Once he made eye contact with the bird, he asked, "Can you check the area for me buddy and make sure that demoness isn't outback?" Jack cawed in agreement, and with a flap of his wings, he took off straight away. After only a brief wait while Jack circled above, the Raven returned to Loch and shook his beak left and right, denoting the sight was clear. Loch gave the bird a grateful scratch before he went to a part of the wall further down that was missing and squeezed himself through the gap, entering the backfield just to the left of the shed/prison he was living in earlier that morning. Loch saw a couple of children of different ages roaming outside, looking to be doing different chores or just lazing about. Without either party acknowledging the existence of the other besides a brief look at each other or a soft nod, Loch made his way past the kids and to the back entrance of the Orphanage shaped like a large double-story elongated barn.
Poking his head through the back doorway, he looked left and right down the hallway, the right leading to a large but empty kitchen and prep area and the left leading to an open hallway filled with long benches and stools running on either side. There were a couple of older kids, looking as if in their mid-teens, seated on the stools. Both appeared concentrated, reading over several open books in front of them, while they scribbled furiously on blank pieces of paper. The one person Loch was trying his best to avoid was walking alongside the benches and looking over the teens' shoulders, inspecting what they were writing. Loch, trying to remain unseen, waited for the perfect moment to cross the hall. Suddenly, Jack, perched on his shoulder, spotted the middle-aged, stately woman in her plain brown Earth Nunnery dress and heavy wooden staff; he let out a frightened caw and flew away. Heading straight back through the door, they just entered and out into the open air.
Standing shocked for a moment at his fleeing companion, Loch turned his neck as if he were a rusty robot towards where he had just heard a loud sniff come from. Now standing with one hand on her staff and the other on her hip, Mother Leanne, also known as Mother Superior. The head nun and current boss of the Orphanage, Mother Leanne, locked her deep brown eyes onto Loch's slightly trembling form. Mother Leanne could almost be called a beauty, with her tall, shapely form, deep brown eyes, sandy colored hair, and full lips. However, her no-nonsense frowning face ruined it somewhat, along with a set of odd scars that made her scowling face terrifying. She had a set of thin, long claw marks that went from her upper lip straight down, passing her lips. The places they touched paled, and to the tip of her fair-skinned chin.
The children of the Orphanage often made up theories on how she got those scars, Loch's favorite story being that her sharp, scathing words got her in trouble with a Hunter who had the power of Cave fairy, a notoriously aggressive tainted creature found in the deep mines, renowned for their elongated and serrated claws, that were sharp and strong enough to slice the hardest rocks. The kids only whispered these stories in secret, though, as none of them had the courage to ask Mother Leanne themselves.
Loch was sweating on the spot and wondering if he should just bolt for the back door and come back at night, just in case Mother Leanne noticed the wrapped blanket under his arm and wanted to look at its contents. Instead, much to the boy's relief, she reprimanded, "I thought I told Chester to tell you to get washed up. We have important guests coming tomorrow, and I want this place and you little gremlins to look the best they can. Get up to your room and help clean it with the others; considering Lacey is still bedridden, I charge you with picking up her portion of chores or no dinner. Understood?"
With a belly full of relief, Loch couldn't keep the smile from his face and tone, so he shouted, "Yes, Mother Superior! I'll do it right now." Before he took off running, leaving the pondering and quizzical head nun and her students behind. He ran across the hall, which was used for meal time and praying on Earth Day, and out the entrance, which led to another hallway, this one leading to the front entrance and an open foyer with a set of stairs leading to the second floor. Taking the stairs two at a time, Lock ran down the right side hallway and past several doors that had plaques saying D7 and D8 before arriving at the last door on the right side, all that read D9. Someone had also written the word Tainted in charcoal on the door above the plaque. One of the other Orphanage kids wrote it, but the occupants of D9 never removed it. Instead, they took it as a point of pride, as this room was theirs and theirs alone—their own little sanctuary.
Without knocking, Loch opened the door and revealed a decent-sized room that was quite bare, besides six identical beds, with a similar bedside table next to each one, that all had an assortment of different things on top. Besides Loch, their dorm was also occupied by four other kids, all close to the same age. Three of them were all standing around one of the beds, occupied by what looked like a sleeping girl around the age of ten. The other three standing were all boys, and they turned to the doorway at the sound of it opening. All the boys had an eager look on their faces when they saw Loch and his smiling face.
Without letting the other boys get a word in, Loch shouted in excitement, "I've got it!" His words caused the crowd of kids to cheer. With the smallest of the group, a boy who appeared so thin, he looked like he was nothing but pale skin stretched over a set of bones, he still somehow exuded untamed energy, with his bright green eyes and a mop of short, curly blonde hair bouncing around his head as he ran over to Loch on his matchstick legs. As the curly blonde-haired boy arrived in front of Loch, he excitedly made hand gestures before pointing to both sides of his cheeks, where someone with a little more meat on their bones would have dimples. Even though the boy appeared unable to say anything, the hand actions appeared like words to Loch, who nodded in agreement and replied, "I'm happy to Squirt." After Loch replied, the skinny boy, Squirt, made more frantic hand gestures that were starting to be hard to follow, as he was changing them so fast.
A somewhat scratchy voice sounded out from behind Squirt's figure, causing the skinny boy to pause, which was followed by the sound of something wooden tapping along the floorboards towards them. "I know you're excited, Squirt, but let Loch in and close the door. We don't want any of the other kids to hear we have something that makes us happy. They'll get the wrong idea and try to take it." Loch, realizing he was still standing in the doorway, took a couple of steps further into the room, while Squirt ran behind him and quickly closed the door.
Without Squirt taking his attention, Loch could see the figure who had just warned them about approaching him. This boy appeared to be the oldest and most mature out of the group of children; it was not just in his general look, like his six-foot-tall frame and robust arms, but mainly his overall calm temperament. His eyes showed that he had already experienced many difficulties and weathered through them. The sound of tapping that followed the boy came from a wooden crutch the older boy wielded with ease. If one looked at the approaching boy's legs, one would find one of his legs working perfectly fine, appearing healthy and strong, while the other dragged behind him. Much like Loch's arm, it appeared like a forgotten dead weight.
"Sorry about that, Jonesy; I was a little eager myself. I almost got caught by Mother Leanne below because of rushing and a very unhelpful and traitorous bird." Loch replied with a sheepish frown. The approaching crutch-wielding boy, Jonesy, answered with a calming smile, "It's okay, Loch. Don't worry. I was going to get Randall to keep a lookout at the back for you to help sneak you in, but Mother Superior appears far too focused on tomorrow's guests and getting the place looking as clean as possible. So we decided to just wait for you up here."
Loch smiled in return before his face took on a picture of confusion as he asked, "I find it a bit odd, to be honest. We always get a few people coming around on Earth Day for adoptions; it's nothing new. I wonder what's different about the guests tomorrow. Chesty also told us there were going to be a lot more people than usual, too." Squirt, now standing to Loch's right, also looked confused and made a wavy hand gesture while pointing toward the floorboards with a shrug. Loch smirked at the gesture while Jonesy frowned and scolded with no real heat, "Mother Superior is not losing her mind, Squirt. She is far sharper than any of us kids give her credit for. What have I said about showing her resp..."
"Give it a rest, Jonesy. Squirt meant nothing by it, and can we please talk about this nonsense later? Lacey is in pain for Soil's sake, Jonesy! or have you stopped caring about her now that you'll be moving up in the world!?" Randall's accusatory voice cut Jonesy off and caused the other three boys to look over at his tight-lipped, hairless face as he stood by the sleeping girl's bed. Loch's face flushed red momentarily as he retorted, "Don't be a stupid git, Randall. Why would you say that about Jonesy!? He's done more for Lacey than you ever have!" Randall's face took on a hurt look, after Loch's rebuke, that morphed into anger as he also raised his voice in response to the scolding, "What does it matter what he has done in the past!? Look at his bed, Loch!" Following Randall's trembling finger, Loch looked over to Jonesy's bed and only now realized that it was missing its pillow and cover, along with a rough-looking brown duffel bag sitting atop it.
Loch's face paled as a feeling of loss built in the pit of his stomach at the sight of the packed bag; "What's going on?" Before Jonesy could respond to Loch's question, Randall's softer but still heated voice rang out, "Can't you see!? Jonesy's abandoning us! If we hadn't been released earlier than Chester had planned, I bet he would have slunk off without even telling us. Some big brother he is, leaving us like the trash we are, just like they did..." Randall's tirade lost a lot of the heat by its end and took on a more saddened and hurt tone.
Jonesy's usual composure momentarily wavered, but rather than lashing out, he approached Randall with unexpected gentleness. The older boy limped over to Randall, who was now staring at the floor, as a soft trail of tears began to leak down his cheeks. Without replying, Jonesy lent his crutch against Lacey's bed and pulled the younger boy into a firm hug. Randall looked as if he would resist for a moment, but soon, his hands wrapped around the taller boy's back and squeezed as if he wasn't ever planning to let go. Loch felt his eyes get misty at the sight as he walked over to the two boys, catching only a few words Jonesy was whispering into Randall's ear, "I'll never abandon my little brother, not even if a whole Orcan nest overran this place."
Loch didn't join the hug and just stood a few feet from them, giving the two a moment. Even though the news of Jonesy leaving appeared sudden, Loch had guessed this moment was coming for the last year. Jonesy, even with his handicap, managed to get a job as an apprentice in a Tinker shop, where he worked on repairing all sorts of machines for the residents of the Shamble. He was lucky enough to once or twice assist his master on the rare Clockwork contraptions that came in from the more wealthy business owners on Sweet Street.
One night, Jonesy, who was usually unflappable when hearing any type of news, couldn't sleep as if something was on his mind. Loch, who on most nights had trouble sleeping, asked the older boy who also couldn't sleep what was bothering him. Although he appeared reluctant to spill, Jonesy eventually had confided in Loch that his Boss at the Tinker workshop was so impressed with his work and skill he was going to recommend him to a friend of his who taught at the Academy of Gears in the Inner city ring. It was a dream for any inspiring Tinkerer.
While looking at Jonesy and Randall, who were now in a three-way hug, as Squirt had wedged himself between the two with his signature full-lipped smile and shiny eyes, Loch thought, 'Well, at least one of our dreams came true.' Unbidden, Loch's mind conjured the image of the Silver-badged Hunter he had seen that morning and his elongating arm stretching towards him, not as if he was attacking but more like he was beckoning Loch. Loch's eyes glazed over, as his surroundings began to twist and blur before fading away.
The new image before his eyes was dominated by the Hunter who looked to be standing only a few feet away from Loch. Surrounding the Hunter was nothing but a twisting darkness that began to coalesce, as if someone was painting the background to the image before Loch's eyes. Soon, a building's shape emerged from the darkness, and details quickly appeared, revealing a sight familiar to Loch. Now the Hunter appeared to be standing right in front of the Butcher's shop on Sweet Street. This time, however, the insides appeared to be lit up, with the door wide open, even though the closed sign was still hanging from the window.
Loch began to feel a little light-headed, as if summoning this picture before him took much of his own energy. Just as Loch thought the twisted shadows had produced everything they needed, they came together once more. A shadowy silhouette materialized behind the beckoning Hunter within seconds. However, shadows still obscured most details of the newly conjured figures, and before they could become clear, the image vanished like smoke, revealing the dorm room's normal surroundings. Loch held his head for a moment, as a fierce headache came upon him. 'What in all the Soil was that?' He began to think over the image he conjured, while his forehead creased in thought. The sound of Jonesy explaining what he had already known had happened to him broke Loch from his introspection and brought his attention back to his odd family.
"As long as I can attain a spot in the top ten of my classes, I won't have to pay a thing, and I'll be a fully qualified Clocksmith within four years. Then we will never have to worry about food or anything ever again. I'll buy a house for all of us in the Stem quarter. My Boss even told me that if I got enlisted in the Clockers Battalion, I'd have a chance to go to Bastion. I'll get us all some Blessed Mud, too."
Hearing the most stable member of their little handicapped family start spouting all the dreams and aspirations he usually kept locked away, Loch couldn't stop a sad grin from forming. Putting the wrapped bundle still in his arms at the end of the sleeping Lacey's bed, Loch joined the hugging trio by patting the larger boy's back and saying, "I'm happy for you, Big Brother."