Cogs in Time 2 (The Steamworks Series) Page 8

  "Give me your wallet!" the man demanded as he held a pipe with a sharpened tip in his hand threateningly.

  "Go away!" St. Clare groaned.

  The other man struggled with him. "Just give me your money!" St. Clare pushed him into the wall and the other man stabbed with the pipe into his chest.

  St. Clare cried out and fell.

  "Fool! It's only money!" the man said, and ran away into the night.

  Two men who heard the fight rushed over and found St. Clare bleeding. They recognized him and picked him up. They called the doctor and drove straight to the St. Clare's home.

  Tom hurried into the study when he heard what had happened to St. Clare.

  "Oh sir, what have you gone and done to yourself!"

  "Tom?" St. Clare gasped and weakly reached for him.

  "I'm here, sir." Tom grabbed the other man's hand.

  "Eva—she... she wanted you to be free. I'm so sorry, Tom. I've gotten myself killed before I could do it. Please forgive me."

  Tom cried. "Oh sir, there is nothing to forgive. She had a good heart. She got that heart from you, sir."

  St. Clare shook his head. "You're a kind man, but she got that heart from a higher place. Will you pray for me, Tom?"

  "Yes, sir. I'll gladly pray for you." Tom closed his eyes and prayed until St. Clare's hand went limp.

  Marie, when she saw her husband had died, wailed miserably. "How could you, St. Clare! How could you leave me all alone like this?"

  ***

  Miss Ophelia sat with Marie. The heat was unbearable that day. It had been a week since St. Clare's death and everyone seemed mute. Marie scowled as one of the house laborers dropped a plate and startled her.

  Marie scowled. "Stupid laborers. I don't see why my husband or my daughter bothered themselves with such worthless trash." She placed her fingers on her forehead, trying to ease her headache. "I think I will sell all of them off to the first trader I find."

  Miss Ophelia stared at her. "You can't! St. Clare told me he promised Eva he would—"

  Marie glared at her. "I can't be bothered about what he said. I have had it with being out here in the countryside. I'm going to sell everything and move into the city."

  "But he promised Eva!"

  Marie slammed her hand down. "I never heard such a thing! I think it's time you leave, Miss Ophelia."

  She stared at the cold, unfeeling woman before her. Miss Ophelia couldn't understand how such a creature had given birth to a wonderful child like Eva.

  "Oh I'll leave, Marie. I'm going to leave you to the misery you have created yourself. I'll let it be the only comfort you have left in this world." Then without another word, Miss Ophelia got up and resolved herself to never have anything to do with the other woman again. She passed Tom on her way out.

  "Tom?" she said and placed a hand on his arm.

  "Yes, Miss Ophelia?"

  "You're a good man. I'm so sorry about everything. I'm afraid Marie has decided to sell you and everyone else."

  Tom closed his eyes and nodded solemnly. "I had a feeling she would."

  "She's such a cold-hearted wretch. I don't see how Eva could have ever loved that creature!"

  Tom shook his head. "Please excuse me, Miss Ophelia, but you're wrong. Miss Eva saw good in her mother. That's good enough for me. Miss Marie is just hurting. The life she has chosen is going to be a sad one. Don't hate her, miss."

  Miss Ophelia felt her ears burn. "My cousin was right, you're a far better man than many. You and Eva truly are something special."

  "You're too kind, Miss Ophelia. Take care of yourself."

  "You too, Tom."

  ***

  True to her word, Marie St. Clare sold all of the laborers. Most were divided up to other nearby households, but she had special instructions regarding Tom for the trader.

  "I want you to find someone who will teach Tom he was way too familiar with my husband and child. Stupid brute. If anything, he is the reason why my child died!"

  The trader nodded sympathetically. "Oh yes, those laborers forget their place sometimes. Their role is to make the wheels of our society turn. They are nothing like citizens, like us."

  "Exactly! Find someone who knows how to handle such a brute."

  "Of course, Ms. St. Clare."

  Tom was sold to a man at auction named Simon Legree. He was known for miles around as a particularly cruel owner. Rumors flew that he was responsible for many 'accidental' deaths of his laborers, and that the law had never been brought in to hold him accountable.

  Legree glared at Tom. "Well, you're a big one."

  "Yes, Master."

  "Well, you belong to me now. You can forget the cushy life the St. Clare's gave you. Your former mistress had specific instructions that I am to show you the way laborers are treated, and I intend to do just that."

  Tom felt his heart sink. "Yes, Master."

  ***

  Tom looked at the old house as they approached. It had clearly seen better days. Once it might have been a proud Victorian home, the toast of the nearby countryside. But now it resembled little more than a forgotten dream, cast away from precious light until it had starved and twisted into what he saw now.

  "This will be your future," Legree chuckled. He turned to Emmeline, a young fifteen year old girl he had bought just after Tom. "You'll be spending your days and nights here. I'll take good care of you."

  Emmeline flushed and turned away. Legree roared with laughter. "Like a blushing bride on her wedding night. I like that."

  Tom was careful not to let his disgust show. Emmeline was a child, barely fifteen summers. There were laws protecting children, even the young of laborers, but he felt a deep truth that no one would turn Legree in.

  Legree looked over at Tom and curled his lips in distaste. "You have something on your mind, laborer?"

  "No,Master. Just getting my bearings in my new life."

  Legree grunted. "I can see your thoughts as if they were mounted on an advertisement. You watch yourself, laborer. It's not uncommon for men to go missing in these parts, and I would hate to lose my investment."

  "Yes, Master." Tom looked over at Emmeline and tried to smile reassuringly. It was a furtive gesture and they both knew it.

  Legree stopped the steam transport by the gate to the house. He pointed to two men wearing laborer clothes, leaning against a tree. "Those men are my managers. They will tell you what to do." Then he pointed to a paddock where several mean looking sentinels hovered. "Those are my boys. They've been built to run down any laborer who forgets himself and thinks he might be better off someplace else. They don't bring anything back alive. Remember that."

  Tom nodded slowly. He wanted to say he would never run, but Legree would never believe him. He despaired he might never see his children and Chloe again, but he trusted in his faith. No matter what the future brought, he was where he belonged.

  ***

  George recovered from his wound slowly, although he was never able to fully use his shoulder again. With the trader's help they reached the next city. Using the money Tom had given Ezra, they managed to get into the city and with contacts the trader had suggested, George was able to start selling his designs. Henry stayed by his side and helped him, and many were astonished to see the little boy. Several years passed, and George quickly became a person of note and true to his word, he sent money to pay for himself, Ezra and to free them of the debt chains from the Shelby's. Sebastian, who was now in his teens, promptly insisted his father use the money to fulfill a promise he had made.

  ***

  Tom groaned under the heavy weight of the large transformer on his back. Like with the Shelbys, Legree was in the business of collecting used scrap and reselling it for a profit. But unlike them, he was cold and cruel. Every laborer had a daily quota. Any person who couldn't meet it would be tazed or whipped. Tom watched one old man, once perhaps as strong as himself, but now hobbled by age, as he struggled with the weight of the scrap metal. He could tell the other l
aborer was a proud man, but time eventually catches everyone.

  "Let me help you," Tom said.

  The old man shook his head. "No, if they notice it will be bad for both of us."

  "But you can barely walk!"

  "It doesn't matter," the old man said. "I'd rather be punished lightly for failing to meet my quota than see another suffer with me."

  Tim frowned and shook his head. He shifted the transformer on his back and grabbed an edge of the metal sheet the old man was dragging. "No, I will not let a good man suffer alone. My heart wouldn't let me."

  The old man shook his head helplessly. "You're a fool."

  Tom smiled. "Better to be a fool than be anything like our owner."

  Together the two men dragged their burden toward the weigh station where the two foremen waited. They frowned as the struggling pair approached.

  "What the hell are you doing, laborer?" The first man snapped.

  "Doing what my faith in the Lord commands." Tom announced, and dropped the transformer at their feet. "He helps me with my burdens, so will I help others."

  The two men glared at him. One raised his tazer, but another laborer, a woman stopped him. “I doubt the master would want you damaging his new property,” she said.

  The man spat at her feet and threatened her with the tazer. “I don’t care what you think, Cassy. He needs to be taught a lesson.”

  Cassy hissed at him. “You use that tazer on me and watch what happens.”

  Then Legree walked over. "What's going on here?" he demanded.

  One of the men pointed at Tom. "He's giving us lip and tried to let old Eli be lazy and not do his fair share of the work."

  Legree turned to Tom and sighed. "I just knew you were going to be trouble." He turned to old Eli who could barely stand on his feet, grinned and turned back to Tom.

  "Tom, I've got to maintain order among my laborers. See, debt goes to a man's head, and if I don't enforce order, things will fall apart. That's bad for my business. I'm going to give you one chance to set this right. You take old Eli there and give him a good beating for being lazy. You walk away without a beating, and old Eli remembers to work hard."

  Tom shook his head slowly. "No, sir. I can't do that."

  Legree’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you telling me no? Your owner?"

  Tom bowed his head. "You might be my owner, sir, but you don't own my soul. I'm sorry, but I can't do as you ask."

  Legree's hand flung out and backhanded Tom across the mouth. "Never say no to me, you worthless scum!" he shouted. "Now do what I'm telling you, or I'll take payment from your blood!"

  Tom stood tall and looked down at Legree. "Sir, I'd gladly give you my blood if you asked for it, but I will never betray them. My faith won't let me."

  Legree's face twisted into a cruel visage, almost animalistic, and he spat at Tom's feet. "You're one of those worthless Christian-folk, aren't you?"

  Tom nodded. "I've my faith, sir. No one can take that from me."

  Legree give him a chilling smile. "Oh don't you worry, Tom. I'll take that and more."

  ***

  Tom groaned as he lay on the dirt ground of the hovel where he spent his nights. Legree had his men do his dirty work. They had beaten and tortured him for hours before they had dragged him back to his shack and left him. He listened to their laughter as they walked away and shook his head. Through parched and split lips he said, "Forgive them, Lord. For my sake, but if you happen to let them trip in the dark and fall on their faces, I would be grateful."

  "Better that they don't get up again."

  Tom painfully turned his head and saw the woman from earlier. "Cassy?" he whispered hoarsely.

  "You're a fool, Tom." she said as she stepped out of the darkness. "If you want to keep living, it would be better if you watch out for yourself rather than others." She knelt down, opened up a small first aid kit and began to tend his wounds. She shook her head. "Legree has his eye on you now. He doesn't like people with faith. He's going to break you if it’s the last thing you do, and I mean that— he'll kill you to do it."

  Tom eyed her wearily. "Cassy, why does he look away when you look at him?"

  She paused before pouring more alcohol on his wounds. "I was one of the first laborers Legree claimed for himself years ago. I was seventeen. I won't tell you the things he did to me, but one day, I pulled a kitchen knife on him and stabbed him a good time. I told him if he ever came near me again, I would finish the job. He became obsessed with me after that, but he's afraid of me, too."

  Tom reached over with a large hand and squeezed her arm. "I'm sorry, Cassy."

  She frowned at him. "That's your problem right there, you idiot. Compassion."

  He chuckled lightly, but coughed from the effort. "There was a young girl I knew. Now that girl had real compassion. I'm just a man. Trying to do right by what the Lord has given me."

  "Tom, there... is another way."

  He looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

  Cassy looked at him seriously. "I've seen the way he looks at the new girl, Emmeline. He used to look at me that way. He's going to have his way with her, and he'll break her until there is nothing left. That girl isn't strong like I was. She won't last long. If you... if you were to use your strength and help me, I think we can stop Legree from hurting her, or anyone else ever again."

  A deep frown grew on his face. "Cassy, just what are you asking me to do?"

  "Help me kill him."

  A deep moan reverberated through his body. Tom shook his head. "Never, Miss Cassy. The Lord says we can't kill. I will follow His commandments until the day I die."

  Cassy's hard eyes pleaded with him. "Tom, if we don’t, it is only a matter of time before he kills us!"

  "No, Miss Cassy. I can't do what you ask." Tom ran a hand through his short hair. "But I don't want anything to happen to you and Emmeline. Run, Cassy. You run hard and fast, and take that girl with you."

  She stared at him. "Tom, he'll never let us go."

  "Yes he will." Tom promised her. "The Lord will protect you."

  She shook her head. "Your faith might carry you, but it hasn't done a thing for me! It would be the death of me."

  "No, Miss Cassy. I promise everything will be fine.”

  "Then come with us, Tom!"

  He shook his head. "No. I've been brought here for a reason. I trust in my faith. Here is where I'll stay. I won't break my word to my owner, even if he is a monster."

  Cassy shook her head as she cried. "Tom..."

  He smiled at her. "Yes, Miss Cassy. Now you head back and get yourself ready. Wait until you know you have a chance and then don't stop running."

  ***

  Cassy waited until Legree was out watching the laborers before she went quietly to Emmeline.

  "Emmeline?"

  "Yes, Cassy?"

  "I'm going to run. Do you want to come with me?"

  Emmeline's eyes widened. "But if Legree finds out—"

  Cassy scowled. "Would you rather stay here and let his hands do as they will? How long do you think he will be satisfied before he does to you what he did to me?”

  The young girl pressed her hands to her face. "I don't know, Cassy!"

  "Come on, girl," Cassy said. "Even Tom wants us to run."

  "Tom?" she whispered. "He wants us to go? Will he come with us?"

  Cassy shook her head. "No, stubborn fool wants to stay here and give us a chance. But we have to go now or you'll be his forever, Emmeline. Make your mind up but do it now!"

  Emmeline glanced at her surroundings and nodded slowly. "I'd rather run and be caught and die than be near that man another day."

  Cassy grinned. "That's the spirit! Here's what we'll do..."

  The two women leaned their heads together and planned for their escape late into the night.

  ***

  Legree roared. "Where is she?"

  The two laborers who served him stumbled out of the way as Legree swung a metal rod at them. "Who do you me
an, sir?" they pleaded.

  "Cassy and that other girl, the new one!" he yelled. "They're both gone! Find them now, or you'll be back working the scrap yards."

  They began to scramble away before he called them back. "Wait!" He scratched his head, a nagging feeling forming in his mind. "Find me that laborer, Tom. I just know he had something to do with this!"

  The two laborers ran to find Tom and brought him back. Legree paced impatiently until the large man stood before him. "I know that you know where they are, Tom," he growled. "Tell me now, and I'll give them your punishment."

  Tom straightened his back. "I won't be a Judas, sir."

  Legree tightened his grip on the metal rod in his hands. "Don't test me, laborer. Where is my property?"

  Tom looked him straight in the eyes. "You may own our debts, sir, but you don't own our souls. There is nothing you can do to my soul."

  Legree swung the rod and hit Tom in the head, dropping him to the ground with a cry. "Take him to the barn!" Legree snapped at the two men. "Make him bleed until the ground runs red."

  ***

  Legree watched as the two laborers beat Tom. He smiled at the sound of metal hitting bone and the smell of sizzled flesh from the tazers. Finally, he stopped them and grabbed Tom's chin.

  "You were crying some woman's name," he sneered at Tom. "Eva? She your woman?"

  Tom stared at him stubbornly through one eye, since the other had been bruised shut. "No, she is a sweet girl, far away from here."

  Legree laughed. "Maybe I'll go visit her. Tell her you send your regards."

  For a moment, Tom considered trying to break his bonds and reach for Legree's throat. But then the thought vanished, and he said a silent prayer for forgiveness. "She is far from here in heaven, a place you will never see."

  Legree's sneer disappeared and rage filled his eyes. "You telling me I'm not good enough for your heaven?"

  Tom smiled. "You're not good enough to wipe the shoes of those who will go there."

  Legree let his fists fly again and again into Tom's body. "You stupid laborer!" he roared. "I'm better than you or any other trash."

  Tom gasped and shook his head. "No sir, you're no better than us. You're nothing, and I pray He forgives you for being so."