Release that Witch

The senior knight had selected a person responsible for the steam engine after several test runs . When Nils was selected, he was very pleased with himself, since he had waited a long time for such a good opportunity. After all, he just had to stand in front of the machine! He would no longer have to dig out stones or minerals, and he would never ever need to push a basket. That last mine collapse still left him spooked.

The words the senior knight told him were still in his head.

He said it wasn’t a difficult task.The big guy would do all the work, all he had to do was to pull the green lever first and then the red lever second. The senior knight also said that the green lever was linked to the intake valve, while an exhaust valve was linked with the red lever so that the steam would pass through the pipe into the cylinder. After the basket was pulled to the mine entrance, he would have to do the reverse if he wanted to stop the machine. First, he had to lift the red lever and then the green lever. With, this the steam would be discharged from the side of the boiler. After each cycle, the oven needed be supplemented with water until it was full – although he didn’t understand what a valve and a cylinder were, Nils still promised to do everything step by step.

However, the senior knight stressed two points that were most important. First, the order could not be wrong. To start the engine, the green lever was first before the red lever. To stop, the green had to be closed after the red. If he made a mistake, it could lead to the destruction of the machine. The second point was that when he was discharging the steam he had to constantly remind the miners to step back until the red lever was completely lifted.

The first point Nils had engraved into his head, even with closed eyes he wouldn’t make a mistake. But with the second point he had some problems.

Today, he was shutting down the machine as usual. He noticed that other miners were no longer around. He felt that he would be a fool if he shouted a warning when no one was around, so he was totally absorbed in pulling the red lever. The red lever was a bit hard to pull, and out of exhaustion he had to bare his teeth during the pull.

He hadn’t expected Titus to appear in front of the stove when he pulled the lever – Nils hadn’t seen him due to the steam engine’s big size and because of the loud noise it created, he hadn’t even heard the footsteps. The white steam which was exhausted from the boiler directly rushed into Titus’ face!

Nils was stunned out of fright, he only saw Titus suddenly falling to the ground and rolling around, holding his face and screaming his life out – Titus screams were so heartbreaking for Nils that they directly attacked the core of his being.

Soon, other miners gathered around, opening Titus’ hands by force to take a look at his wounds, only to see that his face only vaguely reminded them of a human face. Blood was oozing from his cooked and raw face and his eyes were turned into white pearls. All the people present were sure that Titus couldn’t be saved.

Nils’ soul slowly came back to his body. Titus had always taken care of him, due to his young age, and the work Nils was assigned was less than that of the other people, but the wages Nils got were never less than that of the others. And now, this accident only happened due to his negligence.

Between his grief and anxiety, Nils suddenly remembered what the senior knight also said. If one of the miners were accidently injured, he should be brought to the safe area near the walls. There was a newly opened medical center therere.

Although Nils knew that such a serious injury was an incurable wound and that the size of the injury was too big, even if herbal medicine could help a little, it couldn’t stop the deterioration of Titus’ health. Then, Titus would get high fever and would soon fall into a coma. But nonetheless Nils still took Titus into his arms, regardless of the confused looks he got from the nearby people, bit his teeth together, and ran.

If he did nothing and Titus died, Nils was afraid that he could never forgive himself for the rest of his life.