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Harry was still angry at them the next day. He glared at them as he assigned their duties. Charlie spent the whole day on refueling duty, which meant balancing on narrow beams of old wood twenty feet off the ground and wrestling the water hose from the storage tank down into steam engines to refill their water reservoirs. It was tiring work, not least of all because she had to constantly stay focused on not falling to her death.
The next day, she was also on refueling duty, but only for the morning. Then he sent Ozzy up to refuel engines and let Charlie replace a broken piston on a steam engine. She spent most of that afternoon underneath or inside the engine. By the end of the day, she was sure she was covered head to toe in a layer of grease.
Ozzy found her in the locker room at the end of their shift.
“Harry wants to talk to us,” he said.
Charlie let out a long sigh and rested her head against the cool metal of the locker. The second he had said it, her stomach had dropped so hard she wanted to gag. “We’re so screwed,” She said.
“It’s fine,” Ozzy said. “Please stop worrying. You’re making me stressed too.”
“You should be,” Charlie growled at him, “this is stressful!”
“You’re just doing it to yourself.”
Charlie could have killed him. She gave it serious thought. But Ozzy was stronger than she was, and she would miss him if he was gone. Also murder was generally frowned on.
She slammed her locker closed. “Let’s not keep Harry waiting.”
Ozzy led the way down the stairs, calm as ever. Charlie could even see a slight grin on his mouth as he descended them.
When they opened the door, Harry had coal dust on his hands. Sweat stained his collar and under his arms. He rinsed his mouth with a swallow of water and spat it into a pot. He poured water over one hand, then the other, rinsing off the dust.
Charlie and Ozzy stood just outside his office, waiting for him to be done.
“You two,” Harry said, his voice rough with the dust. “Come in. No need to shut the door.”
Charlie stepped into the office and squeezed aside so Ozzy could fit inside too.
Harry scrubbed at his face with his palms. When he pulled them down, his skin was streaked with black and muddy gray, like the coal was casting shadows over him in the shape of bars on a jail cell.
“I’m letting both of you go,” He said.
Ozzy stuttered to a stop. His mouth fell open in disbelief.
Charlie’s stomach fell again, but she just sighed. “Okay,” she said. “Can we cash out at the store before we go?”
“Of course you can,” Harry said, “I’ve got your last pay here.” He leaned back and opened the single drawer on his desk, grabbed out two rolls of company dollars. He tossed one to Charlie and the other towards Ozzy. He tried to catch it, but it glanced off the side of his palm and fell to the floor, and he had to stoop down to pick it up.
“Clear out your lockers after you cash out,” Harry said. “Leave your safety helmets behind.”
Charlie had to really try not to roll her eyes. Like hell she was leaving anything behind for the company to use. Harry could send the police to jail her for theft if he wanted to: that would be cheaper than paying for rent. She nodded and said, “Sure. Thanks, Harry.”
For a few seconds, Harry looked genuinely sad. He took a breath to say something, but before he could, Ozzy exploded.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” He yelled.
Charlie ducked away from him, covering her ringing ear.
“What is this crap? We’ve done nothing wrong!”
Harry’s look of sympathy vanished. “Don’t do this, Oswald. This isn’t about you or Charlie. It’s just for the good of—”
“Then don’t let us go,” Ozzy cut over him, “We’ve worked here for six years! Six whole years!”
Underneath the coal dust, Harry’s face started turning red. He stood up from his desk and pointed a finger at Ozzy. “I’ve worked here for two damned lifetimes, you little brat! 80 years of hard labor in this railyard! So when I tell you that we are better off without the two of you, I know I’m right!”
“You’re just scared!” Ozzy’s face was red too, twisted up in rage.
“I’m not scared of you,” Harry almost laughed, disbelief in his voice.
“You’re scared one of us is the Steam-Powered Mage! You’re too chickenshit to trust us not to be traitors, and so you’re going to throw us out just so you don’t look guilty!”
Charlie had pinned herself against the office wall to try and avoid them both, just trying to make herself small, but that was a step too far. “Ozzy!” She said. Her voice sounded very small and shaky to her own ears, even though she wanted to yell as loud as them.
Ozzy glanced at her, and his rage broke. His eyes went wide, like maybe he realized how badly he had just messed up.
Harry said, “Get out. Both of you.”
Ozzy’s eyes squinted up in rage again. “Fine,” he said to Harry, “be a coward.”
He grabbed Charlie by the shoulder and steered her towards the door. It wasn’t until they were out the door that she pulled free of his grip.
“Stop a minute,” she said.
“What are you doing?” He growled at her.
“We need to cash out. Give me your pay.”
“Screw that. I’m getting out of here.”
Charlie raised her eyebrows at him, “You’re choosing to waste your money to spite Harry? He won’t care, you know.”
Ozzy sneered at her, but he handed over his roll of cash before he stomped off into the city.
Charlie went into the company store and converted their last paychecks into common coins at a ratio of two company dollars for one common dollar, and ended up with a grand total of $16. $8 for her, and $8 for Ozzy, if he wanted it. Watching half of their money vanish on the spot wasn’t fun, but she didn’t have much choice. After today, they wouldn’t be able to get into the company store.
She cleaned out their lockers next. There wasn’t much in either of them though. Nobody stored anything there they didn’t want to get stolen. She ended up leaving both their protective hats on the top shelves and leaving the doors hanging open, just in case any of the other laborers cared to grab them.
When she left the station, Ozzy was gone. Charlie sighed to herself. She went back to her tenement, took a quick bath to get the worst of the grease off, and went to bed.
One of her roommates, Samira, woke Charlie hours later. The room was almost pure black, since there wasn’t a window. Even if Samira hadn’t just gotten back from a shift washing laundry in nearly boiling water, she would have been covered in sweat from the thick sticky air in the tenement.
“Your man is looking for you,” She told Charlie. She worked up just enough energy to say it sourly, as if Charlie owed her for the inconvenience of even encountering Ozzy’s existence.
“Thanks Samira,” Charlie crawled from her bed and reached for a jacket to pull over her threadbare shift.
“Yeah. Tip me if you really appreciate it.” Samira said. “Or hurry up and marry him.” and get out of my room. That was what she meant.
“Yeah, we’ll both be gone in a couple weeks anyway,” Charlie said. “And then you can rent my bed too.” Samira didn’t make anywhere near enough money to afford two beds at the same time, of course. It was just Charlie’s way of reminding her that even if Charlie were gone, she would still be sharing a room with two other people.
Ozzy was at the bottom of the stairs, holding the door open. Outside it was pitch black except for the glow of the railyard in the distance.
“What time is it?” Charlie asked with a yawn.
“I’m not sure,” Ozzy said. “Late. Really late.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter,” Charlie said. “There’s no reason to get up early tomorrow.”
Ozzy nodded. He was looking down at the ground, not at her.
“I have your pay,” Charlie said, digging it out of her jacket pocket.
Ozzy took it. “Thanks.”
Charlie nodded and just stood there. Waiting for him to say something.
“Charlie,” Ozzy said finally, and he reached a hand toward her.
Charlie wrapped her arms around him. Ozzy squeezed her tight, so tight he squeezed air out of her lungs.
“It’s alright,” Charlie said to him.
“I’m sorry for running off,” Ozzy mumbled into her hair.
“I just said it’s alright.” She gave him a squeeze. “Do you feel better now?”
“No.”
Charlie didn’t know what to say to that. She let go of Ozzy, but he didn’t let go of her.
“Still angry?” She asked.
“Of course. Screw Harry.”
“He’s scared, honey,” Charlie said. “He’s not trying to hurt us.”
“He’s failing,” Ozzy let her go and stepped back. “He’s just making himself look guiltier.”
“Maybe.”
“Let’s walk out to the bridge.” Ozzy said. “I need it.”
“Let me put something else on besides a night shirt,” Charlie said.
“You don’t have to.”
“I’ll freeze.”
“I’ll keep you warm.”
Her heart melted a little, but she glared at him. “Right… I’m putting clothes on. I’ll be back.”
Ozzy groaned dramatically. He let her go and dutifully held the door open to let cool air in while Charlie ran up to put pants on.
Samira shot her a glare when she came back to the room. “Remember,” She said, “no men allowed in the tenement.”
“I know,” Charlie pulled her boots on, “I won’t bring him up here.”
Samira huffed.
Charlie headed back down to meet Ozzy. He looped an arm around her as they walked to the bridge over the railroad tracks. They leaned against the railing there. It was pitch black except for the light of the stars and the rare flicker of a gas light in the buildings and the train station.
“Charlie,” Ozzy said, “I’m sorry I didn’t take you seriously about Harry firing us.”
Of course he was: she had turned out to be right.
Charlie hummed. “This is only the beginning,” she said, “I don’t think we’re going to a party on our Remembrance day.”
He was quiet for a few seconds, then said, “You might be right, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Charlie nodded. She shuffled sideways until Ozzy put an arm around her and hugged her.
“I know you’re scared,” Ozzy said. “But it will be okay. We’ll get through it.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Yes you are. It’s okay.”
She hated that he was right. It wasn’t even about the trip to Freetown. Charlie just didn’t know what she was going to do for the next week. The Railyard and Ozzy: that was her life. Without them, the world lost its spark.
“I just don’t want to lose you,”Charlie whispered.
“You won’t,” Ozzy squeezed her. “We promised we’d stay together.”
Charlie turned in his arms and stretched up to hug his neck. Ozzy cradled her face in one hand.
Charlie kissed him. He melted into her with a sigh and kissed her back.
A train horn blared into the night, and they both jumped
An engine churned through the darkness towards them from the railyard. The headlight swung over them as someone adjusted it, blinding Charlie momentarily.
The smell of winter filled her nose. Mint and pine and spice.
Charlie pulled free of Ozzy and ran to the other side of the bridge. The arcane engine was already growing distant. The glow of its headlight was the only point of reference, and it was smaller and fainter by the second.
“It goes so fast!” Charlie exclaimed.
Ozzy leaned over the railing beside her. He took a deep breath of the lingering smoke. “It must have a special engine for that. There’s no way it’s powered by coal.”
“It’s magic,” Charlie said. “It runs on souls.”
Ozzy made a disgusted face, “it must use a lot of blood.”
“Maybe?” Charlie said slowly. “I don’t know how much it would take. Maybe it only needs a few drops a day.”
“No way,” Ozzy argued. “That engine was doing some serious speed. Even magic isn’t that efficient.”
“We should have tried to examine it up close while it was here. Then we would know for sure,” Charlie sighed.
Ozzy swept her into a hug again. “It went into the kingdom. When it comes out again, maybe we’ll get a chance to look at it.”
“If we’re even here by then. We might be stuck up in Freetown.”
Ozzy made a huffing noise and just hugged her. “It’s weird that they let a foreign arcane engine in at all.”
Charlie hummed, but she didn’t reply. She was thinking about the trains that left Regalis every day, both foreign and local.
“Ozzy,” she said, looking up at him and fluttering her eyelashes. “Do you want to jump a train with me?”
He opened his mouth slightly in shock, but then his eyes narrowed. “You mean a literal train, don’t you?”
Charlie blinked at him, “What did you think I meant?”
Ozzy looked away. In the dark it was hard to tell, but it looked like he was blushing. “Nothing.”
“Your mind is in the gutter today,” Charlie snuggled into him further.
“I can’t help it. You’re so beautiful.”
Charlie reached up and pulled him down for a kiss. He melted against her all over again. “So you’ll run away with me?” She asked him.
Ozzy hesitated, “Yes.”
“Yes?!” Charlie repeated.
“Yes,” he said more firmly. “I love you. If you’re leaving Regalis, I will go with you.”
He had never looked more beautiful than he did at that moment, even in the darkness. She could sense the outline of him: every familiar curve and plane of his face next to hers. She had spent so long looking at him in the day that she could picture his exact expression.
She kissed him again, closing her eyes. Ozzy kissed her back, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to pull away from her. Still, after a minute, he did.
“Come on,” he said, “my roommates won’t care if you sleep with me.”
Charlie wrinkled her nose. The men’s tenement buildings were, if anything, worse than the women’s. Louder and smellier for certain. But she wanted to be with Ozzy more than anything right then, and they couldn’t afford to rent a room for the night.
“Are they going to keep their hands to themselves?” She asked.
Ozzy nodded, “Yeah. I got new roommates. They’re both past their remembrances, so they’re a lot more relaxed than the other ones were.”
“Good,” She found his hand in the darkness and linked their fingers together.
Ozzy’s two roommates were already asleep when they made it to his tenement. Charlie glanced over at them and confirmed they were both older men. They were probably seasonal workers for the lumber yards, and would go back to their families in the small outlying communities around Precipice soon when the weather turned colder. Ozzy had one of the beds along the wall, so he let Charlie lay closest to the wall. He laid facing her. Charlie thought about rolling over to face him, but she didn’t want to get carried away in a room with two other people in it, as fun as it normally was.
Instead, she snuggled back into Ozzy’s chest, her head pillowed on his shoulder.
He kissed her neck. “Goodnight,” he whispered, “only 11 days until we can do this every night.”
“Eleven days,” Charlie repeated. They had eleven days until their Remembrance day, and only one week until they would be expected to board a train headed to Freetown.
That thought banished sleep from her completely. Ozzy soon nodded off, but Charlie laid there for hours, thinking. It was one thing to ask Ozzy to jump a train with her and get out of Regalis. It was another to actually try and leave a kingdom that would be actively hunting them down.
