Chapter 49: The Clock Tower

Master Euclid crinkled his eyes as he looked up at the tall Duke and his Mate.

The Duke had hair the color of bright molten gold and his Lady had that deep dark raven blue black hair that was reminiscent of the night sky. The two of them were the perfectly balanced halves of a perfect whole.

They looked like good stewards of Primrose valley and all that it held.

"If you don't mind accompanying me to the clock tower, I will show you why I cannot turn it off."

The Duke glanced over at his Mate and nodded.

"Lead the way."

Master Euclid gave a signal.

"York and Fonz, come with me and bring your shovels. We're going to need to keep that path between our home and the inn cleared of snow enough so we can move back and forth easily."

"Yes, Master Euclid." Both nodded and ran to grab their shovels.

"This way, Your Grace." He indicated at the door.

Back outside, the morning had barely started and it already looked as if the sun was getting ready to go back to bed. The sky was grey and dreary and the snow had continued falling unabated.

Snow flakes drifted and caught in all the corners of the windowpanes and around unsheltered nooks and crannies, building up higher and higher mounds of what looked like powdery confectionery sugar.

The freshly shoveled path between the inn and the dwarven cottage was white again, all signs of footsteps completely obliterated.

York and Fonz moved ahead of the group like speedy squirrels, shoveling the worst of the snow out of their way as they slowly made it back to the inn.

Master Euclid looked up at the sky.

"We've been trying to maintain this little path across to the cottage but if the snow gets much worse, it might cut us off for a short while until the snow lessens enough for us to dig back over again."

Talia grimaced. "It's too bad there's no way to dig under the ground and connect that way so you don't have to expend this much effort."

Master Euclid said nothing. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Here we are, finally at the front door." He sighed with relief as he saw the front porch area still cleared of most of the snow and opened the door.

"Master Euclid. You're back!" A tall lean front desk clerk with gold wire-frame glasses called out.

"Hey Tommy. I need to go show the new inn owners around a bit. I'll be back to talk to you."

Tommy waved a hand and went back to helping a guest at the desk while Master Euclid and his two side kicks led Cedric and Talia through the main hallway towards the grand staircase.

They climbed up to the third story and walked through the hallway towards the connecting passageway that led them to the clock tower.

The clock tower was a tall grey sentinel, rising up another six stories worth of stairs which wound around the inside walls of the dark tower, spiraling upward.

Even from the third floor staircase where they had entered through from the side, the tic toc of the clock could be heard quite clearly, echoing around the empty clock tower.

It was quite dark within. The slits that opened up at regular intervals to let in the light weren't working so well. There wasn't much light available from outside.

Master Euclid pulled an oil lamp hanging from the side of the entry wall and lit it with a lighter.

Instantly, the warm glow from the torch revealed a rather dingy grey interior coated with the grime of distant ages. There were large spider webs along the walls, and hairy looking stuff stuck to the webs themselves.

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She grimaced as she looked around the place. If this was hers, she would have to come back here with a broom and clear out the place a bit.

It was a good thing Talia was an animal nurse or she would have been seriously creeped out. The men on the other hand, didn't look bothered at all by the dusty spider-infested place.

As they continued to climb up the steps, the lantern in Master Euclid's hand cast tall dark shadows that bounced along the circular walls of the tower and stretched upwards.

"It doesn't look that large from the outside, but it's the tallest structure in our village." Master Euclid chattered along as he and his minions led the way up the tower.

"That's interesting that an inn would have both a watchtower AND a clock tower." Talia mused as she held onto Cedric's hand and climbed the steps with him.

"The inn was once a castle keep, Milady, which is why there is also a corresponding watchtower on the other side of the building." Master Euclid responded, sprinting ahead of the couple.

"The clock tower faces into the valley so the rest of the community can keep synchronized activity. The watchtower faces both inward and outward to watch for any hostile actions." He explained as they continued their climb.

"Only the church has a belfry that approaches the height of the watchtower, and it's a skinny thing at best."

Talia smiled. "I saw the church at the center of the village. It looks quite pretty."

Master Euclid grimaced. "It's empty at the moment."

"Oh? Why is that?" Cedric wanted to know.

"The most recent self-proclaimed priest went into the building and began using it as a place to store contraband."

Cedric laughed. "What sort of contraband?"

"He was storing illegal alcohol!" York cackled. "Here in Primrose Valley, anything higher than 100 proof is considered illegal. The man was holding 180 proof alcohol!"

"Yea, and not just a bottle or two for personal consumption, which nobody here would blink an eye at." Fonz added with zeal. "He had HUNDREDS of cases of the stuff, filling up the entire basement of the church."

Cedric turned to Talia, his amber eyes crinkled with laughter.

In New Orleans, his wine cellar was also filled with cases of whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and cognac.

They had cleared everything out and packed it up into two whole train cars to be transported back to the palace in Faria. All were high proof and would be considered illegal here in Primrose Valley.

"So what did you all do with the stuff?" Cedric asked.

"Nothing. We didn't know what to do with it since it was all illegal so it's still inside the church basement. Nobody wants to touch it with a ten foot pole because they don't want to get in trouble."

Master Euclid harrumphed. "Since you two are the new owners, it's up to you what you want to do with the contraband. Sorry to be dumping all of this in your hands but it comes with the territory."

Cedric grinned. "Don't worry. We'll take care of it."

The dwarves did not respond as they had finally reached the top of the staircase.

It didn't go all the way to the top of the rafters where the roofline was, but there was no need. It merely needed to reach the turret clock area where the clock's mechanics were located.

"And there, you see why we cannot turn off the clock." Master Euclid pointed to the back end of the clock.

The front end of the clock faced outward, dutifully counting out the minutes and the hours as the days raced by.

But the back of the clock within the tower was showing a different face. It was COUNTING DOWN towards a point in time!

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