The Assassins of Altis

Chapter Thirteen

Mari had tensed, flicking a glance at Alain. He nodded to indicate that he was ready to follow her lead. “Is something wrong?” Mari asked, trying to sound plaintive and worried like the young rustic her identity papers claimed her to be.

“This way,” the second official ordered, the two local police at his back.

Alain took another look around. They were very exposed here on the quay. Anything they did would be seen by many people, including the Mechanics working down at the end of the quay. But allowing the local officials to search their packs would not only reveal Mari’s Mechanics jacket and equipment, but also Alain’s robes, and the two packs of texts which they had brought from Marandur.

Escaping from the local officials would be difficult, but not impossible. However, it would create a huge commotion and brand him and Mari as criminals before they had any chance to look for the tower she sought.

Mari hesitated, giving Alain another glance that this time revealed she had no ideas and needed one from him.

He began to shake his head slightly in response.

The seated customs official began to stand up, frowning, as the two local police stepped closer.

The woman soldier Patila suddenly walked up next to the customs desk, smiling at Mari and Alain. “Is anything wrong, sir?” she asked the customs official, offering her identity papers.

The official turned his frown on Patila, looking down at her papers. His expression cleared. “We’re just acting on a tip, Captain,” he said respectfully.

“About these two?” she asked. “Why would anyone have tipped— Oh, wait.” She leaned close, whispering to the official.

He frowned again, looked at Mari in an appraising way, then inclined his head toward Patila. “I see. Thank you, Captain. If you vouch for them, there is no need to inconvenience anyone.”

The official waved away the police and handed Mari back her and Alain’s identity papers. “Sorry about that. We’re not the Empire here, or Mechanics, giving people trouble just because we can. Enjoy your stay in Altis.”

Patila walked with them as they left the quay. “I saw Jorge talking to one of the customs officials,” she told Mari. “He’s not a bad person, but he’s been on edge a lot lately. Worried about things at home. And he thinks you might make things worse. I thought he might cause some trouble for you.”

“Thank you,” Mari said. “You really saved us back there.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Patila said, looking at Mari. “For the daughter.” As Mari fumbled for a reply, the soldier switched her gaze to Alain. “It took me a while to be sure you were a Mage. When you’re not careful, though, your face goes all expressionless instead of relaxed. You need to work on that still.”

“I will,” Alain said. “What did you tell the official?”

Patila grinned lopsidedly. “I told him that this one guy on the cruise had been hitting on her,” she said with a nod toward Mari. “I said I had heard him threaten to cause trouble for her if she didn’t show him a good time even though she was just this naïve kid from a farm who only wanted to be left alone. And then I’d just seen that guy talking to customs officials and I thought maybe he had made good on his threats. Since I’m an officer in the Western military, and Jorge wouldn’t even give his name, they took my word for it.”

“Captain Patila,” Mari began.

“Look, you don’t owe me anything,” Patila said. “But I wanted to tell you something I couldn’t when others were around. There are a lot of commons like Jorge. They’re scared. Worried about their homes and families and all. They’re unhappy with how things are but frightened of how much worse they could get.”

“They’re not the only ones worried about that,” Mari said.

“Yeah. I could tell. So, you need to know, if the daughter starts raising an army, a lot of commons will want to join, but many of those won’t be able to, because they’ll be trying to keep the lid on things at home, trying to keep their cities from boiling over and protecting their own places and people from whatever the Great Guilds try to do to stop the daughter.” Patila gave Mari a somber look. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Mari said. “I wouldn’t ask anyone to abandon their responsibilities.”

“Are you a Mechanic?”

Mari grimaced. “Yes. And no. I’m not a member of the Guild anymore.”

“Her Guild wants to arrest and kill her,” Alain said.

“Yours, too?” Patila asked. “I thought so. The daughter is poison to them. Are you going to be in Altis long?”

“I don’t think so,” Mari said. “There’s something I need to do and then we’re leaving.”

“That’s good. Altis can be hard to get out of, so it’s not a good place to be trapped if anybody happened to be hunting you. I don’t need to know your business. You shouldn’t have any more trouble in Altis. Not from common folk, anyway. I’m only here for a couple of days myself, then I’m heading back to my unit. I need to pass on word to some people, higher-ups, to let them know it’s real, that she’s for real, and that we had better brace ourselves for the blast when the world learns about it.” She studied Mari again. “You know, if anybody had come strutting around, claiming to be the daughter and telling everybody what to do, I wouldn’t have been happy. Somehow I always thought that the daughter would be about us, not about her, and that’s how I’d know she was real. That’s why I got involved back there, and I think that’s why Jorge tried to trip you up. The people who meet you know that you’re the real deal, and not all of them are going to be happy about that. Good luck, daughter.”

Patila veered off, walking down the street without looking back.

“She did not lie,” Alain told Mari.

“I already knew that,” Mari said. “You and I are going to keep our heads down, talk to as few people as we can, say as little as we can, find that tower, and then get out of Altis.”

“Where will we go?” Alain asked.

“I am really hoping that something we find at the tower will help us decide that,” Mari said. “But at this moment, we need to get out of the low port and up to the city.”

She stopped to ask directions of some commons while Alain kept an eye on the crowds around them. The low port felt as low-key and casual as the customs official they had dealt with, and Alain felt himself relaxing a little as well. He could see numerous taverns lining the waterfront and guessed that come evening there would be plenty of high-pressure activity here as sailors relieved themselves of their money and their worries. But for now the low port just showed the bustle of trade and the movement of cargos and passengers. There was no sign of the betrayer Jorge, and Alain’s foresight offered no warning.

But then it had also offered no warning before their near-conflict with the local officials.

Alain followed as Mari led them through the streets of the low port, then up the long slope to Altis proper. “Some older and wiser Mechanics I knew at the academy told me that jewelers in ports are not to be trusted,” she explained to Alain. A few moments later, as if invoked by Mari’s mention, a trio of Mechanics came into view, swaggering down the street alongside each other so that everyone else was forced to move aside. Mari bent her head as if laboring under her pack while the Mechanics passed, unobtrusively putting Alain between herself and them. Alain saw one of the Mechanics give him a disinterested glance, then the group of Mechanics had passed.

Mari straightened, her face sad. “Why do I have to hide from my former comrades? That still hurts. We’ll take pains to avoid the area around the Mechanics Guild Hall, though.”

Alain nodded. “As well as the Mage Guild Hall. There are a good number of Mages here, though I can sense no sign of worry among them.”

“Does worry show up somehow in what you can sense?”

“Not directly,” Alain explained. “I sense what is happening. If Mages are trying to hide themselves, if many are practicing spells, or if there is a strange lack of any spell activity, these would all be signs that something is amiss.”

“Can you tell if there are any Mages you know here at Altis?”

He shook his head. “I cannot feel the presence of anyone I know. That is not too surprising. Altis is a backwater. The harbor is magnificent, but the island itself offers little beyond spectacular scenery.”

“And an ancient tower full of answers, we hope.” They had reached the city after toiling up the rise. As the street leveled out, Mari’s face brightened when she caught sight of a casually elegant storefront. “Aha! Shah Jewelers of Altis. Not too fancy and not too cheap. Just what we need.”

“Should we take time for this?” Alain asked. “After the incident on the quay—”

“Alain,” Mari whispered, her voice intense, “I am running for my life and liable to be killed at any time. I’m expected to save all of Dematr from your chaos storm and overthrow the Great Guilds. I don’t think it’s too much to ask if I take a very little time to get the rings that will show how proud we are to be each other’s partner in life.”

He considered possible responses before replying. “That is wise.”

Mari stared at him, then muffled a laugh. She pulled out some coins and held them up before Alain. “I hadn’t mentioned this before, but do you remember that bag of food my mother gave us?”

“I recall there were some cookies within it which I never saw,” he said.

“Oh, yeah, the cookies. There weren’t very many of them.” She made a pleading gesture begging forgiveness. “It had been so long since I’d had my mother’s cookies.”

“Next time I would like some.”

“You will. I promise. Anyway, Mother stuck a fair amount of money in with the food she gave us. I didn’t realize it until we were out at sea, of course, or I’d have given it back. She knew that, which is why she hid it in the bottom. I’ll pay her back someday, but since we’re stuck with it, I can’t think of a better use for some of it than paying for our rings, can you?”

“I am sure that would bring your parents joy,” Alain agreed. He wondered if Eirene had gotten around to telling Mari’s father that Mari intended to marry a Mage. That news might not have brought all that much joy.

A short time later, Alain made a fist of his left hand and contemplated the bright gold band on the third finger. He felt somehow very different. It seemed such a small thing to be able to make such a big change in his own world.

Mari came beside him and spread her own hand next to his so their rings lay side-by-side. “Like us,” she whispered. “Next to each other. Isn’t this great? This makes it official.”

“I thought the ceremony at Caer Lyn made the marriage official,” Alain said.

“Well, yes, it did, but the rings make it officially official,” Mari explained, hoisting her pack onto her back once more.

“Officially official?” Alain asked.

“Yes. Now let’s find that tower.”

Unfortunately, finding the way to the tower proved frustrating. Mari insisted on going first to a large and neatly laid out map store, where young clerks tossed the question of the tower among themselves, then finally asked a middle-aged supervisor who shook his head. “Our maps show everything that’s there. If it’s not on the map, it’s not there,” he pronounced confidently, pointing to the same motto engraved over the doorway.

Asking passing citizens of Altis was also fruitless. “A big tower? Somewhere in the interior? Never heard of it. There aren’t even any roads into the interior. Nothing’s there.”

Some members of the city guard they asked also had no idea what they meant. “If a tower like that could be found on the island, we’d know about it.”

The clerks at the city records hall expressed total confidence that no such tower could really be on the island. “It’s not on the property tax rolls, so it can’t exist.”

Alain finally suggested that they try another mapmaker. “Not one who makes maps for today only. If this tower is a thing of history, then those who map history might know of it.”

Footsore by this time, and with the day well along, Mari agreed. She did seem skeptical of the place Alain selected, though, a small mapmaker’s establishment which appeared to be as ancient as the city, with maps and documents piled up inside the dusty windows. To Alain, this was just the place for finding memory, but Mari shook her head. “How about we find some place where things are filed and neat and clean?”

“We have tried one such place. I believe that the map which we seek will not be found in a drawer,” Alain replied.

Mari made a defeated gesture and waved him inside.

“The old tower?” The mapmaker’s shop which Alain had chosen proved to be a joint venture between an elderly man and his wife, both of whom had obviously been at their trade for a long time. The old man nodded in instant recognition. “I haven’t been asked about that since…”

“The year of the current Emperor’s inauguration,” his wife finished.

“Yes! But that wasn’t someone asking how to get there…”

“It was someone who had seen it in the distance and wondered what it was,” his wife completed the sentence.

“We couldn’t tell him that…” the man confessed.

“But we could tell where he had seen it,” his wife added.

Mari hid a smile behind her hand, glancing at Alain. “Can you tell us how to get to it?”

The old couple dug through large, shallow drawers and piles of maps, searching for the drawing they needed, before eventually surfacing with a map of a part of the island which was well inland. “This is the best map…” the man assured Mari.

“For anyone seeking the tower,” his wife agreed.

“The tower is…”

“There,” his wife noted, using her finger to point out a spot.

The man inked a quill and made a small notation. “Yes, there.”

Alain studied the map, trying to understand what it showed. “What do all these lines around the tower mean?”

“Mountains, lad! Very rough terrain there. You see?” The man traced peaks with his fingers.

“The tower sits in a sort of bowl-shaped valley,” his wife said.

“Not well mapped, that area,” the husband added.

“No reason for it,” his wife agreed.

“That’s why so few know of the tower…”

“Because the heights around block any view of it.”

Mari looked at the map as well. “No one climbs these heights?”

“Why would they?” the man said.

“There’s nothing there,” his wife added.

“Except the tower…”

“And the mountains.”

Mari held out a coin for the map. “I don’t suppose you have any idea whether or not anyone still lives in the tower?”

The old couple exchanged surprised looks. “No…” the husband said.

“No idea at all,” the wife conceded. “Why are you interested in it?”

“I like old things,” Mari answered with another smile.

“Except when it comes to men, eh?” the wife replied, pointing to the obviously new rings on Mari’s and Alain’s fingers. “My man is old and comfortable now, but he was as raw and young as this one, once.”

“You were pretty raw and young yourself in those days,” her husband noted. “But mainly pretty. Still are.”

“Men take a while to train,” his wife confided to Mari, “but I found it worth the effort.” She handed Mari back the coin. “Take the map as your promise gift from us. We’ll not have it otherwise.”

“I couldn’t—” Mari started to protest.

“It’ll make us happy, girl,” the woman suggested with a smile.

“You’d not deny us some happiness?” her husband asked.

“Would you?” his wife finished.

“No,” Mari said in a very soft voice. “I would not. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Once outside the mapmakers’ shop, Mari stared upward, toward the peaks rising inland. “Alain, those two were common folk. The sort of people you and I were taught by our Guilds to hold in contempt.”

“That is true,” Alain agreed. “For your Guild. Mine taught me that they did not even exist and so were not even worth contempt.”

“I don’t know what we’ll find at this tower, what answers it might hold, but when I meet people like that I already know in my heart that neither Mechanics nor Mages are some sort of superior beings. They are taught to look down upon the common folk, and I think an unquestioned sense of entitlement and superiority is more likely to make someone inferior in spirit. No one should be certain that they are better than everyone else.”

“Not all commons are good.”

“No. Of course not.” Mari took a look at the map, her lips spreading in a broad smile. “Do you think we’ll ever be like that? Finishing each other’s sentences? As comfortable together as a pair of trees which have grown into each other’s embrace?”

“I hope so,” Alain said.

“Me too. I’m going to keep this map safe all of my life, as a memento to remind me of them.” She looked around. The number of people, horses and wagons on the streets of Altis had diminished, and shadows were filling the streets as the sun fell low. “It’s late, and according to this we’ve got at least a few days’ walk to get to that tower. Tonight we’ll get some food, wine and water for the trip, but there’s no sense in trying to start until morning.”

The mapmaker’s shop was on the edge of town, so they had to backtrack into the city to find some accommodations for the night, then a little farther yet to get something to eat. Mari looked up the street as they finally located an eatery and was startled to see that they had come far too close for comfort to the Mechanics Guild Hall. Several long blocks still separated them from the open plaza around the Guild Hall, but that wasn’t far enough for her peace of mind. “Let’s get something and get out of here,” she muttered to Alain as they walked into the restaurant. She stood checking the list of items on the menu. “Good. They sell things we can wrap up and take on our hike.” Mari looked at Alain. “Do you—? What?”

Alain used one hand to gesture toward a female Mechanic who must have come in behind them and was now alone at a corner table and staring in their direction. Mari felt a momentary stab of panic, then recognized who was sitting there. “Alli! What’s she doing here on Altis? Alain, I know her. She’s my best friend.”

“You have spoken of Alli.”

“Yes.” Mari looked around, running her hands nervously through her hair, grateful to see that no other Mechanics were in the café at the moment. “You’d better keep an eye out while I talk to her.” Mari walked toward Alli’s table.

As she got closer Alli’s eyes widened and she waved Mari over. “Mari?” Alli breathed. “It is you. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you walk in here. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”

Mari sat down, shrugging. “Well, I know there’s an arrest order out on me.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Of course it bothers me. It also bothers me that the Guild intends to kill me after it questions me.”

Alli stared at her. “Who told you that?”

“A very experienced professor, and a Senior Mechanic confirmed it when she thought I was safely under arrest.” Mari smiled apologetically. “But I got away.”

“Mari, you used to be sort of a rebel, but this…” Alli shook her head. “Why? What’s going on?”

“Have you heard from Calu?”

“Yeah. He sent me a letter using a commons courier service instead of the Guild’s postal system. I got the impression he still couldn’t say much, though. I could barely work out between the lines that he’d met you and that there was some kind of big trouble.”

“Really big trouble,” Mari agreed, then gave Alli a curious look. “What are you doing in Altis? Why did you leave Danalee?”

Alli looked cross. “I left because I was ordered to leave. I’ve been internally exiled by the Guild. That’s thanks to a certain Master Mechanic with an arrest order out for her.”

“Oh, no. Alli, are you serious?”

“Not really.” Alli dropped her annoyed look and smiled ruefully. “I mean, I did get sent here under a dark cloud, but it’s not really your fault. Not completely, anyway. I kept digging into old designs. None of them were supposed to be off limits, none of them were restricted, but the Senior Mechanics kept complaining anyway about me trying to build things. None of them were new, but a lot of it hadn’t been worked with for a while. I kept getting told I was innovating! Heavens forbid I should innovate, right? Like those weapons I gave you. I think that was the last straw that got me exiled here. What did you do with them, anyway? The way I got interrogated about them made me think you’d tried to blow up a Guild Hall or something.”

“I never used them against the Guild,” Mari denied. “I only used one, actually, and that was because I had to kill a dragon.”

“What?” Taken aback, Alli peered at Mari. “You had to kill a what?”

“A dragon. And Alli, it worked great. It was a huge dragon and it never stood a chance. Your weapon nailed it with one hit.”

Alli smiled proudly, then remembered what they were talking about. “You’re serious? Please tell me you’re not joking. Or crazy. There’s been some talk about… you know.”

“No.” Mari shook her head. “I don’t know. Do you mean that I’m supposedly irrational because I got hit on the head in Ringhmon?”

“Partly, yeah. The Senior Mechanics are oh-so-worried about poor Mari,” Alli said with broad sarcasm.

“I told you about Ringhmon, but I’ve found out a little more since the last time we talked. I was set up by the Guild. Nice, huh? The Senior Mechanics wanted me dead, and they wanted to be able to pin it on commons.”

“Who told you this?” Alli demanded.

“Mechanics who knew it for a fact.”

“Why didn’t Calu say something about that?”

“Are you kidding?” Mari asked. “How could he hide something that explosive in a letter without some snoop spotting it? Besides, I didn’t find out the details until after I’d seen him.”

Alli exhaled heavily, looking at the tabletop. “That’s just sick. I’ve been more and more unhappy with the Senior Mechanics, but this… Mari, I can tell you’re not whacked out. But there’s another reason being given for why you need help. There’s supposed to be some guy that you’re traveling with,” she paused and looked to where Alain was standing against a wall some distance from them, “who’s controlling you with drugs or something.”

Mari couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, yeah. I’ve heard that, too. Don’t they think I can behave badly on my own?”

Alli grinned. “They certainly ought to know that by now. But I think they’re trying to get your friends to help catch you by making us think that we’re helping you.”

“Well, it’s ridiculous. Nobody’s controlling me.”

“Nobody ever could,” Alli agreed. “But then what’s going on? Who is he?” Alli rested her chin on the palm of one hand, gazing at Alain. “He’s not half-bad looking…”

“Hey, back off! He’s mine.”

“Yours?” Alli raised both of her eyebrows and smiled slyly. “That sounds interesting. What’s up with you two? Just working partners, or… ?”

“Or,” Mari said, smiling back.

“Where’s he from? What’s his specialty? Where did he apprentice?” Alli demanded.

“He’s not a Mechanic, Alli.”

“He’s not? But the Guild thinks…” Alli studied Alain again. “You took up with a common?”

“No…”

“Mari, if he’s not a Mechanic and he’s not a common, what is he? He’s not a Mage.”

Mari hesitated for only a moment. “Um, yes, he is.”

Alli gave Mari a startled and skeptical look, then gazed at Alain again. “Stop messing with me. He’s not a Mage.”

“Yes, he is.”

“No, he’s not. They all look like their faces are dead.”

“I’ve been working on him,” Mari explained.

“But why? Why work on him if he’s a Mage?” Alli must have seen something in her face. “You said you two weren’t just working partners. Oh, Mari, tell me you haven’t.”

“Haven’t what?”

“A Mage. Mari, that is so… you promised me that you’d only get with the right guy. You promised me, Mari!” Alli shook her finger at Mari.

“I know,” Mari said. “And I did. He really is the right one.”

Alli shook her head again, looking very worried now. “A Mage, Mari. How could he be right? Wait. Is this the guy Calu talked about? He was trying to tell me something about him, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.” Alli stared at Alain. “He said you were in really good hands, and the other hints… yeah, he knew this guy was a Mage. No wonder I couldn’t figure it out. That was the one answer I didn’t try to fit to Calu’s vague clues. Calu said he liked— What’s his name?”

“Alain,” Mari said. “Yes, Calu did like him. Alli, I swear to you that Alain is the greatest. He respects me and he believes in me and he’s risked his life for me more times than I can count.” Mari raised her hands in a pleading position. “Please, Alli. You know me. You can see I’m still myself. Can you still believe me?”

Alli hesitated. “That’s a big thing, Mari, but—” Her eyes suddenly focused on Mari’s hands. “Oh. My. Stars.”

“What?”

“Is that a promise ring?”

“Uh… this?” Mari held up her hand, spreading the fingers a bit. “Yes.”

“You married him?” Alli just sat staring at Mari, then shook her head with a dazed expression. “If Calu hadn’t already told me that this Alain was all right, I’d… Who proposed?”

“He did, first. Then later, I did.”

“You got a Mage to propose to you? Wow.” Alli’s eyes were on Alain again. “He looks all right, and I can tell he’s worried about you by the way he’s watching us.”

“Do you remember when I told you about the guy who saved me in the desert, and from the dungeon in Ringhmon and later in Dorcastle? That was Alain.”

Alli made a helpless gesture. “All right, Mari. It’s your heart, and you know it better than anyone else. I know Mages aren’t frauds like the Guild told us. I’ve seen what they can do, too. I was told never to talk to anyone about it.”

“That’s what happened to me.”

“But Mari, how do they do it?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mari admitted. “I mean, Alain has tried to explain it to me in Mage terms, but it doesn’t make any sense in Mechanic terms. Though Calu gave me some ideas, based on some kind of physics he was taught. I was wondering if I’d find some more clues in Marandur but—”

“Marandur?”

“Yes.” Mari leaned forward, delighted at the chance to finally share with another Mechanic. “You won’t believe the stuff I found there. Things from the vaults inside the old Guild Headquarters.”

Alli’s eyes had widened. “Banned technology?”

“Oh, yeah. Alli, this stuff is so great. The things we could build with it!”

Alli’s face lit up. “Really? I can’t begin to imagine—”

“No! You really can’t! It’s astonishing.”

“But, Mari, the penalty if you’re caught with it—” Her expression sifted to shock. “Marandur? You got it from Marandur? If the Empire gets its hands on you it’ll kill you.”

“The Empire has already tried,” Mari admitted. “Alli, don’t tell anyone else about Marandur or what I found there. Not yet.”

“Sure. I promise. As long as I get to see it someday.” Alli frowned at Mari. “Have you heard some of what the commons are saying? About this young female Mechanic who’s the daughter of Jules and traveling with a Mage? I thought it was crazy common talk, but you really are with Alain. You might get mistaken for the one the commons are talking about.”

Mari sighed and spread her hands apologetically. “The commons are talking about me.”

“You’re telling people that you’re the daughter of Jules? Mari, that’s suicidal! If the Guild gets its hands on you now—”

“Alli… I…” Mari didn’t know how to say it, so she finally just blurted it out. “I am the daughter.”

“What?” If Alli had looked dazed before, it was nothing compared to now.

“The Mages have seen it. They say I’m the woman who will fulfill the prophecy. If I live that long.”

“Oh my stars.” Alli blinked, then stared at Mari. “If the Mages believe that you’re her, why haven’t they killed you?”

“They’re trying,” Mari said.

“And so are our Guild and the Empire.”

“Well… yeah. A lot of people want to kill me.”

Alli looked away, then mimicked Mari’s spread-hand gesture. “All right. So, to summarize, everybody is trying to kill you, and you’re married. To a Mage.” She leaned forward and whispered. “Is it true what they say about Mages?”

Mari knew that she looked puzzled. “Is what true about Mages?”

“You know. Those things they know. In bed.”

“Things?” Mari asked.

“Come on, Mari! Everybody’s heard about that!”

Mari gave Alli a bewildered look. “I haven’t. What are you talking about?”

“Like you don’t know!” Alli said with a laugh. “Oh, wow. Mari of Caer Lyn, married.” Alli shook her head suddenly, sobering. “We need to talk about the Guild. How much do you know about what’s going on?”

“Not a lot. I haven’t been able to talk to anyone since I saw Calu in Umburan and someone else in Severun. Well, I was talked at by a Senior Mechanic on the ship that captured me, but she didn’t seem to be interested in giving me any information.”

“Calu isn’t at Umburan anymore.” Alli saw Mari’s expression. “It’s not that bad. I’m sure he wasn’t sent to Longfalls. But he was transferred somewhere else. There’s a lot of that going on—Mechanics being sent to different Guild Halls, often a long way from their original Halls. Officially, it’s all routine, which everyone knows is ridiculous because of how many transfers are being ordered right now. Unofficially, the Guild is trying to break up gangs.”

“Gangs?” Mari asked.

“Uh-huh. The Senior Mechanics think that there is a traitor behind every tree. That’s one reason they want you so badly. It’s an open secret that they’ve been trying to find you for months with no luck, and after what you did to the Queen of the Seas—” -

“Was that the ship that captured me?” Mari asked. “You’ve heard about that?”

“A report came in on our far-talker a few days ago. You didn’t quite sink the ship, you know,” Alli confided. “Which I guess means you weren’t trying to sink it, because the Mari I know would have done that if she’d wanted to.” Her face lit up with understanding. “The rumor mill was trying to figure out how you escaped. Was Alain with you? And the Guild doesn’t know he’s a Mage?”

“Right, and right,” Mari confirmed.

“Cool. I want all the details someday. What the Guild thinks happened is that some of the Mechanics aboard must have helped you escape, so the whole crew is under suspicion. Anyway, everything you’re doing is making you a symbol for disaffected Mechanics. And after word got around about the mess in Emdin, what the Senior Mechanics were doing to the apprentices there and how the Guild leadership had been covering it up, there are a lot more disaffected Mechanics. And they look at Mari and see someone who is thumbing her nose at the Senior Mechanics and getting away with it.” Alli bent a mock disapproving look on her. “You’re encouraging rebellion by commons and Mechanics.”

“Mages, too.”

“Really?” Alli asked.

“Well, one other Mage besides Alain, at least.” Mari sat back, deciding to tell Alli the rest. “There’s a storm coming.”

“No, the weather’s supposed to be fine for a few days.”

“Not that kind of storm, Alli.” Mari mimed steam escaping from a valve. “Pressure has been building up in the commons for a long, long time. They’re about to blow.”

She nodded, eyes intent. “How bad?”

“Extremely bad. Think Tiae. Only worse, and everywhere.”

“Are you serious?” Alli asked. “How… what’s the relief valve? There has to be a relief valve.”

Mari pointed to herself.

“Oh my stars.” Alli twisted her mouth. “And with the Guild maybe about to blow up, too.”

“What?” Mari demanded. “The Guild is about to blow?”

“Yeah.” Alli leaned toward Mari. “I don’t think this is the first time that’s happened, but the other times the commons weren’t about to blow as well. I have a friend who tried to go through the official Guild records, and he said there were strange gaps, places where lots of stuff had just been yanked out. Like about a century ago. The rosters of the Guild Mechanics suddenly disappear, and when they show up again years later they’re a lot smaller, as though hundreds of Mechanics just vanished.”

It was Mari’s turn to stare at Alli. “Just like that Mechanic who disappeared from the Guild Hall in Caer Lyn when we were apprentices. Remember him? I wonder just how big the prison at Longfalls is?”

“Not that big, Mari,” Alli said. “I was wondering whether my worst suspicions about what happened to all of those Mechanics who disappeared could actually be true, but with what you just told me about what the Guild tried to do to you at Ringhmon, now I think I know.”

Mari found herself looking down at the table, studying the marks in it as if they held great meaning. “Alain told me that the elders in the Mage Guild, who are like their Senior Mechanics, are ruthless in dealing with anyone they think is an enemy of their Guild. I remember thinking, how horrible to just decide to kill people, to kill other Mages just because they are suspected of being disloyal. Maybe the Mage Guild isn’t all that different from the Mechanics Guild that way, though.”

“Maybe not,” Alli agreed. “The Senior Mechanics control what little we learned about history, so it looks like they told us whatever they wanted and left out a lot of other stuff.”

“I wonder…” Mari gave Alli a curious look. “The Guild’s technology has been regressing for a long time. I wonder of purges like that are part of the reason. You can’t kill that many trained people and not have some impact. Think of all the stuff that never got passed down from one generation to the next.”

“I bet it is part of the problem. Remember how we used to complain about short-term solutions to long-term problems?” Alli leaned forward again, her elbows on the table. “So, speaking of long-term solutions, when do we start the revolution, o daughter of Jules?”

“We? Alli—”

“I’m in, Mari. Do you think I want to sit around pretending to be a good little girl until I disappear in some Guild loyalty sweep?” Alli looked to the side, frowning in thought. “Speaking of which, I heard late today that some special Mechanics are arriving here in about a week. The word came in just this afternoon to the Guild Hall by high-priority far-talker message.”

“Special Mechanics? What’s their specialty?” Mari asked, feeling uneasy.

“I don’t know. Officially, they don’t even exist, but the Guild had to make room for them at the Hall, so of course lots of us have heard that they’re coming, and we were told not to talk about it, so of course everybody is talking about it. But no one who knows who they are will say why they’re coming, or what the rush is about.”

Mari took a deep breath. “Maybe you should get out now.”

“No. If I hang in there a little longer I may be able to find out something about them.”

“Alli—”

“You’d better not be getting ready to lecture me on careful behavior, Lady subject-of-arrest-order daughter of Jules who went to Marandur and married a Mage.”

Mari couldn’t help laughing. “You’ve got me there. Alli, I still don’t know exactly what comes next. I’m here in Altis because I think there’s a place that holds some answers I need before I can figure out what to do. The less I tell you about that, the better.” Blinking back grateful tears, Mari reached over and grasped Alli’s hands. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that we’re still on the same team. I’m going to be out of the city for several days at least, but when I get back I’ll get in touch with you again.”

“You’d better.” Alli nodded toward Alain. “Now do I finally get to meet your promised husband?”

“Sure, but if you try to steal him from me you’re a dead woman.” Mari turned to gesture Alain over to them. He came quickly, yet without moving so fast it attracted attention. “Alain, this is Alli.”

Alain bowed to her. “I have heard much of you. You are the Lady Mechanic who makes the dragon-killer weapons.”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” Alli grinned. “I love that title. Someday when I have my own weapons workshop I’ll put Maker of Dragon-Killer Weapons over the front entrance. So, Alain, what attracted you to Mari?”

“Alli!”

Alain eyed Alli for a moment, then Mari saw his small smile. “I was attracted to Mari by her intelligence, her spirit, and her excellent taste in friends.”

Alli stared at him for a moment, then covered her mouth to stifle laughter. “You are the right one for Mari,” she finally said. “No wonder Calu liked you. Does he know about the marriage?”

“Not yet,” Mari replied.

“Good. I would have killed him if he’d known and not told me.” Alli stopped smiling, looking around. “You two had better get what you came for and get out of here. How do we meet again? You said several days. I’ll wait five days and then come back here in the evening. After that I’ll try to come every other day or so, as often as I can without arousing suspicion. Deal?”

“Deal.” Mari reached to clasp Alli’s hand again. “I am incredibly lucky when it comes to friends.”

“You make that luck, Mari. There were a few times when we were apprentices when I had nowhere else to turn, but I knew Mari would be there for me, and you always were.”

“Mari never leaves anyone behind,” Alain said.

“Exactly!” Alli winked at Alain. “Nice meeting you. I always wondered who Mari’s Mister Right would be.”

Alain bowed toward her. “I am fortunate, though I believe that since Mechanic Calu is favored in your eyes he considers himself more fortunate than I am.”

“He’d better,” Alli said with a laugh.

Mari grinned. “Thanks, Alli.”

“No problem. See you at the revolution.” Alli gestured them away. “Stay safe.”

“I’ll try,” Mari promised as she and Alain walked away.

They quickly bought enough food for dinner and for the trail, then left just as a batch of Mechanics came in and called greetings to Alli, who smiled back as if nothing unusual had happened recently. As Mari and Alain slipped out the door, Alli was focusing the attention of the other Mechanics on herself by asking some loud questions about contracts.

Mari trusted Alli but still felt extra nervous until they left the city early the next day. There had been too many cases where the Mechanics Guild had managed to locate Mari without any obvious slip-up on her part or Alain’s. Until she figured out what was betraying them, any period of time in one spot left her jumpy.

The first part of their travel wasn’t too difficult: through the city of Altis, then through the outlying portions lying up against the slopes of the mountains rising behind the city. Mari was surprised at how rapidly the city dwindled as they moved inland, the road very quickly changing from a paved street lined with buildings to a dirt lane bordered by sheds and storage huts and then a narrow path lined only by a couple of small orchards before it vanished completely where it met the skirts of a mountain. As Mari and Alain climbed higher into the interior through territory unmarked by human artifacts, she looked back at the city beneath them. “If this tower does exist inland, it’s no wonder nobody but those old mapmakers know about it. Everything on this island seems to be focused toward the sea.”

Alain paused beside her, breathing deeply but evenly from their climb so far. “I thought the same from my study of the map. There are towns and villages elsewhere on the island, but all lie along the coast. The roads follow the coastline, but often end where cliffs going down to the water block their passage.”

Mari looked upward, where the mountains rose amid steep slopes and deep chasms. “The interior of this island is the perfect place to hide something, isn’t it? Even a long time ago people could have figured that out. How the blazes did anyone build a big tower in terrain like this, though?”

Their progress became slower and slower as they struggled through the rough landscape, and when night fell they had to sit wedged on a small shelf overlooking a sharp drop, taking turns sleeping while the one who was awake made sure neither of them slipped off. About midnight a sudden late-winter squall sent freezing rain to lash the mountains, further adding to the misery of the day.

In the morning the sun rose on a rough countryside glittering with an icy glaze. They had to wait for the ice to melt enough for their footing to be safe. Mari consulted the map often in search of landmarks as they went steadily higher and deeper into the island. Difficult climbs alternated with perilous descents, each complicated by scrub brush which all too often bore thorns instead of leaves. Measuring their apparent progress against the map, she felt despair. “It will take us a month at this rate.”

“Perhaps it will get easier,” Alain said.

“Right now I just wish one of those Mage Rocs would appear so we could fly to that blasted tower.”

This time, darkness descended while they were halfway up a scree-covered slope. Unable to keep going in the uncertain footing and poor visibility, they found a patch of bushes they could lie against, hoping the roots would hold until morning. Neither got much rest that night, either.

Mari blinked at the sun as it finally rose over the rocky peaks around them on the third day. “I hate this island. If that tower is empty I’m going to be one unhappy Mechanic, let me tell you. This little hike better prove to have been worth it.”

“We have had worse,” Alain pointed out, looking as worn out as Mari felt.

“Thanks. That makes me feel so much better.” Mari pulled out her far-seer and studied the ground around them, checking all directions. “Bad that way. That way’s worse. Wow. A lot worse. Hey.” She thought she saw something and blinked to clear her eyes, then took another look. “There’s somebody moving over there.”

“Where?” Alain asked, shading his eyes with one hand as he looked in the same direction.

“Along the side of that ridge there. He’s gone now. No, wait, there he is again, on the side of that mountain. All I can see is his head and a bit of his shoulder. How is he moving so fast? There’s got to be a path there even though we can’t see it.”

Alain shook his head. “Without your Mechanic device, I cannot see any sign of this traveler you are watching.”

“Looks like he’s disappeared for good.” Mari lowered her far-seer, thinking. “Suppose the tower does exist, and suppose there are people living there, and those people need to get to the outside world every once in a while.”

“They would need a path,” Alain agreed.

“But since practically nobody knows about this tower, whoever lives there must be keeping it secret, so…”

“Their path would be secret as well.” Alain looked at the ground ahead. “It will be difficult to reach wherever you saw this traveler, but it will be difficult to go in any other direction as well.”

Mari grinned fiercely, coming carefully to her feet on the slope. “Let’s go find us a path, my Mage. Down that way, up that slope, over that ridge and hope what’s on the other side isn’t too bad.”

The other side wasn’t great, but it wasn’t impassable, either. Not quite impassable, anyway. Mari had determined certain landmarks on the way to where she had caught brief glimpses of the traveler: a large rock with an odd shape, a cluster of evil-looking scrub bushes, and a nearly vertical ravine in one cliff face as if a huge knife had sliced into the rock. She was able to stay headed in the direction of what was hopefully a hidden trail while they toiled down, up and around numerous obstacles. About noon, as Mari was struggling up another steep slope, she suddenly found herself stepping onto a very low ridge and looking down at a path heading inland. Stumbling down onto the surface of the path and resisting an urge to kneel and kiss it, she helped Alain step down as well. “That ridge is almost like a wall running alongside this path, completely hiding it.” She looked up at an almost sheer cliff face. “You couldn’t see the path except from overhead, and nobody is going to be walking up there. If I hadn’t spotted that person, which I couldn’t have without my far-seer, we would have never known this was here.”

Alain sat down, relieved enough for the emotion to be obvious. “This is not a heavily used way, but it has clearly been here a long time.”

“Like part of the landscape,” Mari agreed. She studied what she could see of the path, puzzled. “It looks artificial, as if the path was cut through here, but I can’t tell what did the cutting through so much rock and left such smooth surfaces.” They took a break to eat, Mari hauling out the map and studying it again. “We haven’t even come halfway, but on this path we can move a lot faster. I think we should push on today until sunset, get a decent night’s sleep, then try to reach the tower tomorrow.”

Alain nodded, standing up with a heavy sigh. “I miss the White Wing.”

“I bet. Are you sure what you really miss isn’t being in bed with me?”

“That, too.” He looked back and forth along the path. “Perhaps tonight, on a level surface like this…”

“Do men ever stop thinking about that? And in any case, forget it. That’s rock and gravel. I will not engage in any vigorous activity on that kind of surface.”

Despite their weariness, the easier road lent Mari and Alain extra energy, and they covered a lot of ground before it grew too dark to travel. They slept on a level surface, hemmed in by the path’s concealing barrier and the slope rising on the other side, so that even though they alternated watches through the night both got a decent amount of rest for the first time in days.

Mari felt a curious mix of elation and dread as they started off the next morning. What if the tower was not there? What if the “records of all things” it once held had long since crumbled to dust? What if the current inhabitants had no idea the tower had been a place to keep important information safe and could tell her nothing?

But what if the tower was there and the people in it could answer her questions? The possibility lent wings to her feet as they walked.

Mari’s prediction from the map proved accurate. The sun was still just short of noon when they rounded a mountainous curve and found themselves gazing down into a pocket valley. It was bigger than Mari had expected from the map and greener, too. Meadows and cultivated fields covered a wide area beneath them, with stands of trees here and there as well as on the slopes of the valley. They could see the shapes of farm animals moving in some of the fields.

Rising against the back wall of the valley was the tower. Even though it was dwarfed by the mountains rising around them, Mari couldn’t hold back a gasp of surprise at the tower’s size. It soared upward for what she guessed must be a hundred lances, its surface some sort of smooth, shiny stone with no sign of break or seams except for windows and a large entry. On the tower’s top, an unbroken expanse of dull black material not only roofed the structure but created the odd impression in Mari that the stuff was actually soaking up the sunlight. “Did they carve it out of the living rock?” Mari wondered out loud as she studied the tower through her far-seer.

She moved her head slowly, using the far-seer to view more of the valley. Near the base of the tremendous tower other, much smaller, buildings were clustered. Some of those looked as if they had been fashioned from the same mysterious substance as the tower, but most appeared to have been built of stone and timber in ways Mari was familiar with. “Looks like communal living areas, barns and structures like that. There are plenty of people down there. I’d guess maybe a hundred within view right now. It looks like they’re all wearing plain robes of some kind.”

“Robes?” Alain asked.

“Yeah, not like Mage robes, though,” Mari said. “As far as I can tell, they’re tending to animals, working the fields and doing other work. Wait.” Mari spotted some smaller figures who weren’t wearing robes. “Children. There are families down there.”

Mari lowered her far-seer, glancing at Alain. “Families with children. And the children are playing. That’s a good sign.”

“It may be,” he agreed cautiously. “If children are among them, and playing, they are definitely not Mages, despite the robes.”

She raised the far-seer again. At the base of the tower, great doors stood open, with robed figures passing in and out. “The tower’s definitely still occupied. I see no sign of defenses or weapons, unless you count the staves being carried by the people herding the flocks. No sentries, no guards.”

Alain nodded. “These people depend for safety on not being known. They raise their own food, and must require little contact with the rest of the world.”

“Yeah. But this path proves they send people in and out for something. I wonder what? Medicine? Mechanic devices? Do you want a look?”

Alain shook his head, eying the far-seers warily. “No. I would see nothing that you did not, and I do not know how to safely use that.”

“They’re just far-seers, Alain. They can’t explode.”

“Then they are unlike the other Mechanic devices I have experience with,” Alain said firmly.

Reminding herself that Alain’s Mage arts still seemed as perplexing to her as Mechanic devices were to a Mage, Mari put away her far-seer and looked to Alain. “What do you think? Sneak around and see what we can spy out? Or just walk down, introduce ourselves and see what they do?”

“If I lived as these people do,” Alain suggested, “I would be highly suspicious of anyone acting suspicious.”

“You mean someone sneaking around and spying, I take it.”

“Yes. I think we would be best served by acting open and unthreatening.”

Mari drew her pistol and checked it, then replaced it in her shoulder holster. “All right. I agree. But let’s be ready in case they turn out to be a bunch of maniacs who consider outsiders to be the spawn of demons.” She paused, thinking some more. “Yeah, let’s be open and honest for once.” Pulling off her coat, she stuffed it into her pack and drew out her Mechanics jacket, putting it on and settling it into place with a small smile. “I’ve missed wearing this, you know,” she confessed to Alain.

“I could tell, every time you were able to put it on and every time you saw another Mechanic.” Alain also bent to his pack, removing the Mage robes inside and donning them. “Here we are, once again openly the Mage and Mechanic, just as when we first met.”

“That seems so long ago.” Mari glanced at the ring on her hand. This was the first time she had worn her Mechanics jacket and the ring at the same time. “You know, back when I was single.”

“As I was.”

Mari bit her lip, staring outward. “Your vision of us fighting in a battle at Dorcastle someday. We’re obviously on the path to that. We’re married now, just like in the vision. You have no idea who we were fighting?”

“No. Only you and I were clear.”

“It looks more and more like we’re going to be fighting the Great Guilds.” Mari looked over at him, feeling somber. “Have you seen anything else? Anything that would tell whether or not we both survive that battle?”

Alain regarded her gravely. “No. I have seen nothing of us, together or alone, in any period after the battle.”

“At least you haven’t seen either of us dead.” Mari swallowed, put her doubts and fears aside, then straightened her jacket and smiled at him. “Come on. Let’s go visit the tower of Altis.”

The path they were on switched back and forth twice as it descended into the valley, the obscuring barrier on its outside edge dwindling away to nothing so that there was no obstruction hiding their approach from everyone in the valley. “They have no need of sentries,” Alain observed.

The path followed the rise and fall of gentle slopes as it headed for a stream cutting through the valley. Mari and Alain walked at an easy pace, approaching a bridge spanning the stream. As they got closer to the bridge, Mari could see that it was made of the same seamless rocklike material as the tower.

Alain pointed. “There is a small group coming this way. A dozen, I think.”

Mari squinted, making out the figures. “Do we have a cover story this time, or do we just tell the truth?”

“You are asking a Mage about truth?”

“Yes, you clown.” Mari couldn’t help smiling, though. “I think we should try the truth. We’re fighting people who lie. Let’s be on the side of honesty regarding what we want and why we came.”

“I agree with your wisdom,” Alain said.

“And once again you affirm one of the many reasons I love you.” She grasped his hand as they walked, using her free hand to check her pistol again. “But they could be hiding all kinds of weapons under those robes. You’re still ready for trouble, right?”

“Of course.”