The Assassins of Altis

Chapter Fifteen

Mari swung herself back inside with haste borne of panic and slammed the door shut, locking it. “Mechanics!” she hissed at Alain.

Alain had his pack on and tossed hers to Mari. She was backing toward the window, her pistol pointed at the door, as Alain threw the shutters open wide.

Thunder sounded in the hall outside and holes appeared in the door. If she had been standing at the door, those holes would be in her now. Mari stumbled back, hitting the window sill with her thighs and falling backwards out the window. She bumped into Alain, who had reached the fire escape ladder and grabbed at her to keep Mari from falling to the alley below.

The door to their room crashed open. “Go!” Mari yelled, getting her feet under her and pushing Alain. He jumped, grasping at the ladder as he fell, but missed a hold and dropped too far too fast, hitting hard and lying unmoving on the floor of the alley.

Mari, feeling tears of rage starting, stood in the window and emptied her pistol, firing as fast as possible into the figures crowding through the door. Some fell and others scuttled backwards under the furious barrage. Mari ejected the spent clip, her mind numb, and loaded another. She jumped to the ladder and dropped down it so fast her stomach knotted.

She landed near Alain and scrambled to his side, kneeling to check him with her heart in her mouth. He was breathing but seemed to have been knocked out by the fall.

A bullet snapped by so close that the wind of its passage ruffled her hair. Snarling, Mari spun and fired back, holding her ground with Alain lying helpless beside her.

Bullets kept coming at her. The crates and boxes at the entrance to the alley were masking several Mechanics with rifles, and those Mechanics were far better fighters than the usual Mechanic who had been handed a weapon and pushed into using it. These Mechanics used cover well, constantly popping up to snap dismayingly well-aimed shots at her.

Mari knelt on one knee next to Alain, using both hands to steady her pistol, aiming carefully despite her growing fear, aiming and firing at an arm behind that crate, aiming and firing at a flicker of clothing behind that wall, aiming and firing at a muzzle flash as a rifle fired. A shot struck the wall near her, spraying her with fragments of brick dust, and Mari felt a thrill of pure terror. She had only a few shots left in this clip, and she knew with ugly certainty that the instant she stopped firing those Mechanics at the end of the alley would rise up and aim carefully and she would feel their bullets slamming into her and all of her running and planning would be over and the daughter would have failed and the world would fall into chaos. But Alain was lying there helpless so there was nothing else she could do, absolutely nothing else she would do, and so Mari knelt and aimed and fired and waited for that last bullet which was surely only one or two away now.

Her latest shot knocked splinters from a crate. She heard a howl of pain from someone hidden behind it, then the slide on Mari’s pistol stayed back, signaling the clip was empty. Everything felt as if it were happening in very slow motion as Mari began to scramble up and backwards, trying to draw fire away from Alain and fumbling for a new clip as she saw Mechanics standing up and raising their rifles toward her.

The crates between Mari and the Mechanics exploded into flame, dazzling her sight and that of the attacking Mechanics, and Alain was standing up beside her and pulling her to one side and through a hole where a solid wall had been.

Mari lay in the semi-darkness of a large room, quivering with reaction, unable to move. Her mind kept insisting that she had to be dead now, even though she could hear the muffled sound of shots on the other side of the wall as the Mechanics at the end of the alley blindly fired into the area where she had been only a moment before.

Alain, staggering with exhaustion from the effort of deploying the two spells close together, was trying to pull her up. “Mari! We have to run!”

Mari stared blankly up at him for a moment as she slowly absorbed the fact that Alain had recovered in time to save both of them. Her mind suddenly kicked into gear and she got her feet under her, wavering under the weight of her pack for a moment and wishing for the umpteenth time that she could just dump the thing but knowing that she couldn’t. “I love you,” she gasped. “Remind me to tell my mother how nice it is to have a husband who can hurl fire and walk through walls.”

Alain urged her forward, stumbling as he went. “I need time to recover from that and from whatever knocked me out.”

“You’ll get it,” Mari vowed, ramming another clip into her pistol and letting the slide rock forward to load a round. “I don’t care what happens to me. They don’t get you.”

“You should have run and left me. I would be angry, except for the fact that I know you are even more stubborn than I am.”

Mari fought down a wave of giddiness born of her unexpected survival. “You’re only allowed to be stubborn when I say so, Mage. Remember that.”

“Is this another rule of marriage?” Alain reached a doorway and leaning against it while he peered into the darkened room ahead, his Mage knife ready in one hand.

“Yes. I’ll try to keep you informed as I come up with them. You pulled me to the right, didn’t you? We must be in the building across the alley from the hostel.” Mari crouched and went past Alain into the room, holding her pistol at ready. The room stretched a short distance, ending in large windows facing the street. Shelves packed with clothing and other goods could be dimly seen. “It’s a store of some kind.” She paused. “All right. We’re fighting Mechanics. They don’t believe Mages can actually walk through solid walls, and they would have been temporarily blinded when you set fire to those crates. So they’ve got to believe that we somehow made it down the alley and over the fence at the back end. They’ll be searching for us in that direction. If my orientation is right, those windows we see face on a street to the front, the opposite from that.”

Alain nodded heavily, his tiredness showing in his movements. “Can you get us out to the street?”

“Probably.” They scuttled through the store, keeping below the level of the shelves, until they were close enough for Mari to see through the windows. She crawled carefully forward, peering out. “Lots of lights to our left. That’d be at the hostel. People out there, some obviously city guard. I see some Mechanics jackets moving through the crowd. Most of the people seem to be bystanders, though, commons attracted by the noise.”

Alain came up next to her. “Can we get out without being spotted?”

“If we’re lucky.” Mari edged her way to the main door. As she expected, it was locked, but the lock wasn’t keyed from this side. Breathing a silent prayer of thanks, Mari slowly turned the latch until it clicked open with a sound that seemed to fill the silent store. The noise outside had probably covered the sound from being heard by anyone out there. Mari pushed down on the lever. “We walk out smooth and calm, like everything’s normal and we’ve every right to be here. Clerks working late or something. Got it?”

“Got it,” Alain agreed.

Mari put her pistol into the shoulder holster under her coat, closed the coat to hide the weapon and holster, then stood up, pushed open the door and stepped out onto the street, Alain right behind her. Some of the nearest bystanders gave them curious looks, but Mari calmly closed the door, then turned to Alain and pointed away from the hostel. They started walking steadily through the crowd, trying not to seem fearful or in a special hurry.

Mari caught a glimpse of a Mechanics jacket to one side, but the owner was fighting his way through the crowd toward the hostel, yelling insults at the commons who were too caught up in trying to find out what was happening to be aware that an exalted Mechanic was demanding they make way for him.

They reached the end of the street and crossed quickly, heading up into the city and walking into the relative sanctuary of a quieter cross street, where they could still hear echoes of Mechanic rifle shots bouncing from building to building. Behind them the sound of fire bells was resounding, and a faint flickering against low clouds told of a spreading fire. The fire in the crates must have spread to the surrounding buildings.

Mari realized that her hands were shaking again and hastily gripped Alain’s arm. “That was too close.”

Alain nodded. “How do you suppose they found us?”

“I can’t imagine. I haven’t talked to anyone since we got back to the city. No one knew we were there. We didn’t even know we’d be there until we picked the place. Could Mages somehow be helping my Guild and detecting you?”

He shook his head. “Had Mages been present, they would have attacked us as well. They would not have any confidence in the ability of Mechanics to kill me.”

“I guess you’re right.” Mari felt a prickling of alarm as she realized something. “Hey, the shots have stopped. They’ve already figured out where we aren’t.”

Alain just nodded and began walking faster. They dodged from corner to corner, crossing streets and changing direction as they put more distance between themselves and the hostel. The crowds had long since been left behind; they saw only an occasional other person on the darkened streets. Finally Mari pointed to a small bar on a street corner, still open this late in the evening. “Let’s go in there, rest a little and figure out what to do next.”

The dimly lit bar had only a few patrons, all of them drinking with the grim efficiency of those for whom alcohol was not a diversion but a constant companion. Mari and Alain took a table against one wall, gazing at each other and catching their breath. Before she could say anything, Alain frowned. “I have tried to sense the amount of power available here. It is very small. There is not enough power to support even a single spell, even if I put all of my own strength into it as well.”

“Then we’d better get the blazes—” Mari broke off in mid-sentence as she turned, staring at the small window next to the door. A shadow had flickered across it, as if someone had moved quickly and stealthily there.

Alain caught Mari’s worried look and turned to stare that way. “There is danger,” he announced. “Darkness lies that way.”

Alain’s foresight had kicked in again, but perhaps too late. Mari turned toward the back of the bar, getting out of her chair only to have Alain grab her arm. “That way as well.”

“Alain,” Mari hissed, “you can’t get us through a wall here, can you?” He shook his head. “That means front and back are the only directions we’ve got!”

“Both are deadly,” Alain repeated, his face worried.

Mari looked around. Aside from the flimsy tables, the only cover in the place was offered by the actual bar itself, a fairly substantial-looking piece of furniture anchored to the outside wall and with a sturdy load-bearing brick interior wall behind it, extending most of the way across the room. The brick of the wall next to them, which must be shared with the next building over, went all of the way up to the ceiling. Opposite them, the outside wall was made of brick up to about waist high, but above that were thick wood planking and beams, hinting that this place had once had a far grander occupant. It also had no windows at all except the small one near the front door, no way of getting out through.

With nowhere else to go, Mari tugged Alain toward the bar, coming around the end to confront the bartender, a wiry elderly woman who would have looked grandmotherly if not for the aura she carried of having spent a good portion of her life in prisons. The woman scowled at Mari. “No one behind the bar but me.”

Mari whipped out her pistol and pointed it at the woman. “Can’t you make an exception in my case?”

The old woman stared, then rolled over the top of the bar with surprising agility, dropping off the other side to the floor. Before the bartender could scramble to her feet, the front door exploded open, fragments spraying the room. Mari brought her pistol around, squeezing off a couple of shots as dark-jacketed figures burst into the room, themselves firing rifles into the gloom of the bar. The few patrons hurled themselves to the floor.

Mari tried to aim at one of the attackers, but a volley of shots shattered bottles and glasses behind her, spraying fragments of glass in all directions. She dropped behind the bar, shoving Alain down against the outside wall and crouching between him and the opening at the end of the bar. More bullets hit the top of the bar, sending splinters flying, as others thudded into the front of the bar. From the other side, Mari could hear the thunking noise of bullets plowing into the brick wall behind her, sending out spurts of pulverized brick dust to drift downward. Armed Mechanics must have burst through the back door as well.

Some of the lanterns in the room had been knocked over, their flames now catching on the floor and tables to brighten the dimness and give Mari a decent view of the open end of the bar. Someone in a dark jacket appeared at the opening and Mari aimed and fired in one motion, making the figure jerk back and away.

We’re trapped. No way out this time. It’s over. Mari felt fear filling her again, but along with that fear was a powerful certainty that overrode everything. “Stay down,” she said to Alain over the sounds of gunshots and the impacts of the bullets. “They won’t get to you while I still live.” The conviction she felt was an odd thing, separate from her terror and utterly unyielding. She might soon die, but all that mattered, the only thing that mattered in all the world, was trying to save Alain even though she knew it was hopeless.

Mari felt a sudden rush of fatigue and her arm drooped. She was raising her weapon again when Alain’s hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled backwards. Off-balance and surprised, Mari yielded to his tug even as she wondered where he had found room to get farther back.

An instant later she was stumbling onto the street outside, staring at a once-again solid wall and at another Mechanic who was staring back at her with a dumbfounded expression. Mari recovered first, swinging her pistol to club her opponent senseless. A shout from the corner drew her attention and she saw another Mechanic there, yelling and pointing at her. Mari brought her weapon up again and fired, sending splinters flying as the shot hit the wall near him. He dodged behind the corner, still yelling.

Mari looked around, seeing Alain propping himself up against the wall, ashen-faced with fatigue. She put one arm around him. “Lean on me!” Moving as fast as possible while supporting Alain, she staggered across the street. Shots rang out behind them and bullets went snapping past. Mari hit the corner of the next street and swung them behind it as another volley tore holes in the bricks and wood of the structure there. She leaned out and fired, sending Mechanics diving for cover, then waited despite the shots still coming her way and fired again to discourage pursuit for a few more seconds before swinging back and supporting Alain once more.

“Run, blast you!” she urged Alain, who was still having trouble getting his feet under him. Mari supported as much of his weight as she could. She would carry him if she had to, but she knew they had to move faster if they were to get away again. They reached the next street and Mari crossed immediately, then went down the next side street and took the next corner as another shot took a chunk out of a window frame near her.

She staggered with Alain down a short side street, her heart pounding with fear and fatigue, her legs wobbly with effort, and saw an open-top horse-drawn cab there, the driver looking with a puzzled and worried expression toward the sound of the gunshots growing closer. Seeing Mari, he shook his head. “I’m not taking any fares. I’m leaving.”

“Not without us.” Mari tossed Alain into the cab with a strength she hadn’t known she possessed, then jumped in as well and stuck her pistol in the driver’s face. “Go!”

Mari wondered just how deadly her expression must have looked as the driver paled and whipped his horse into motion. The cab thundered down the street, scattering a few pedestrians who stopped to hurl insults their way. Mari rested her free hand on Alain, rising up enough to look back and see Mechanics running out onto the street, then leveling their rifles at the fleeing cab. More shots rang out and the pedestrians scattered again, this time not stopping in their flight.

“Turn, you idiot!” Mari yelled, pivoting to stick the muzzle of her pistol against the driver’s back. The cab swung wildly, tilting onto two wheels as it took the next corner going full out. The cab settled back onto four wheels with a jarring crash while Mari tried to figure out where to go next.

“Left,” Alain mumbled from the seat where Mari’s free hand was holding him in place.

“Turn left at the next corner!” Mari commanded the driver. “And slow down a little or I’ll blow your head off!”

They took the corner with less danger that time and the cab rumbled down a long straight stretch before Mari ordered it to turn left again. As it settled onto the new street, she saw a city park to the right and pulled back her weapon. “Stop the cab.” The driver reined in his foam-flecked horse. It was hard to tell which one was staring with wider eyes, the horse or the driver. Mari hopped out, pulling Alain with her. Before she could say a word, the driver whipped his tired horse back into motion. By the time Mari had dragged Alain into the cover of the park, the cab had vanished.

She kept going until they reached a bench well concealed by bushes from the street they had left, then dropped Alain onto it and collapsed beside him. Cursing her trembling hands, she pulled out some bullets and refilled the clip in her pistol, fumbling with the rounds as she tried to force them into place.

“Where are we?” Alain looked around wearily.

“I think we’re at the boundary of the industrial areas,” Mari guessed, angered by the way her voice wavered from stress. “That’s where the parks are. What happened back there? You told me you couldn’t get us through a wall because there wasn’t enough power.”

“There was not,” Alain confirmed, breathing deeply and staring upward. “There definitely was not. But then, while we were behind the bar, the power was suddenly there.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that could happen?” Mari asked crossly. It didn’t make sense to be angry at Alain, but her nerves were jumping crazily.

“It cannot happen. Power can be drawn down by the work of Mages, but then can be renewed only slowly. It cannot spike as the power did there. It came from somewhere, Mari.” Alain’s expression suddenly shifted and he stared at her. “It came from you.”

“What? Alain, that’s totally ridiculous.”

“But it happened. I do not understand it at all, but it came from you. With what you provided and my own strength, I was able to get us through the wall.”

Mari stared back at him, remembering the strange burst of tiredness she had felt. “No. It must’ve been something else. Not me.”

“Mari, I have been noticing this for a while. I am becoming more aware of a power that people carry, that strong emotions can create.”

“I didn’t give you power! Knock it off, Alain!” She didn’t know why, but the idea frightened her. On top of other events so far this night, it was simply too much to handle.

He seemed surprised by her reaction. “I will not speak of it again for a while then.”

“How about not speaking of it ever again?” Mari growled. She looked around them. “How did they find us at that bar? First the hostel, then the bar. What’s going on?”

“I have no idea.”

Mari stood up, offering Alain her hand. “Let’s go. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

Alain stood up, nodding. “I can walk now.” Then he turned his head toward the street.

Mari did, too, hearing the sounds of horse hooves, of carriages rattling to a halt, then of boots hitting the pavement. No. It’s impossible. But she grabbed Alain’s hand and they both took off through the park, running as fast as Alain’s tiredness would permit. Mari heard a command shouted and saw the flash of light from a rifle shot, then heard the shot and its passage through nearby bushes. They dodged to one side, then dodged again, hitting a slope and almost falling down it before reaching another patch of shrubbery and racing through it.

They stumbled out onto a wide street which looked deserted, stretching off in both directions with no cover. On the other side of the street was a wall easily half again as tall as Alain. Mari spotted a gate in the wall and urged them that way. It was locked, of course, but with a big lock, easy to pick for someone skilled. Mari hurriedly pulled out a lock pick and quickly clicked the lock open. Pushing the gate ajar, Mari pulled Alain inside and pushed the gate closed again, relocking the gate as she did so, then leading them into a warren of large buildings that loomed high on all sides. “The warehouse compound,” Alain got out between breaths. “I remember it from the city maps.”

Mari nodded wordlessly. She was feeling more and more like a hunted animal, chased from place to place, running out of endurance and options while the hunters closed in relentlessly. High, narrow windows with heavy bars on them stared down at the fugitives as they raced down the alleys between warehouses. Finally they reached a dark corner and collapsed next to each other. Please, please, don’t let them find us again. The other gates out must be locked, too, and they’re too easily guarded. Alain’s too tired to take us through another wall. This looked like a good place to hide but I’ve trapped us in here.

She heard boots running toward them and almost groaned with despair. It sounded like only one Mechanic, but even one Mechanic would force her to fire her weapon and bring the others down on her.

“Mari! Don’t shoot!”

She was swinging her pistol around to bear on the person who had called her name, her finger quivering on the trigger. Somehow Mari managed to control her overstressed nerves and kept from squeezing off a shot. “Alli?”

Alli came closer, her Mechanics jacket making it hard to see her clearly in the dark. “Yeah, it’s me.” A moment later Alli dropped down next to them, breathing heavily from her run. “Thank the stars I found you! They know you’re in here somewhere but I managed to get away from the others and sneak in ahead of them. Mari, listen, you’ve got—”

“What are you doing here?” Mari cried. “They’ll kill you, too.”

“Will you please shut up, Mari?” Alli demanded. “Listen. The Guild is tracking you.”

“What? How?”

Alli fumbled at Mari’s pack. “Your far-talker. You’ve got a far-talker with you.”

“Yeah. I thought I should hang on to it.” Mari hastily began aiding Alli, digging for the far-talker she had faithfully lugged across half the world despite the frequent temptation to drop the heavy object down a deep hole. “How did you—? What about—?”

Alli seized the far-talker. “We’ve got to rid of this! Fast!”

“Why?”

“A friend helped me plant a far-listener in the office of the Guild Hall supervisor so I could hear what they were saying. Yeah, I know how illegal it is to bug a supervisor’s office, and you’re in no position to be lecturing me about it anyway. I was worried about you and about me. And do you know what I heard them talking about? Portable far-talkers send out a low-powered signal even when they’re off, Mari. The Guild can use that signal to find you. That’s how they’re locating you. That’s how they knew you were on that ship when the Queen of the Seas captured you, and that’s how they realized you were in Caer Lyn and that you had come here.”

“A homing signal?” Mari stared at the far-talker. “But I know the Guild lost track of me at times.”

“I told you it’s low-powered, Mari, so no one would suspect their far-talker was operating even when supposedly powered down. They could only find you if you were close enough for them to pick up the signal. Whenever you got close enough to a Guild Hall with the far-talker, they could tell where you were. These killers they sent to get you have several portable devices that give them bearings on your signal, so they’re able to locate you pretty precisely and pretty fast no matter where you are.”

“Blast!” Mari pointed her pistol at the treacherous far-talker, feeling an irrational urge to execute the traitorous device, then restrained herself with an effort. “Alain, this is how they’ve been able to find us! When a far-talker is sending out a signal it isn’t directional, but by using different timed bearings or multiple intercept stations they can—”

“Mari,” Alain interrupted. “I appreciate your attempt to keep me informed, but since I am not understanding a single thing you are saying to me, is it really wise to spend time doing this?”

“I guess not. We can pull the battery… no, let’s use this to misdirect them. The blasted thing has betrayed me many times. I’ll let it betray the Guild for once.” Mari stared around, focusing on a window in one of the warehouses nearby. “Can you boost me up, Alain?”

She had to climb on his shoulders, balancing against the warehouse wall to keep from falling, but that was high enough to be able to look into the warehouse through the barred window. Mari shoved the far-talker between the bars, then one-handedly tossed it to fall down between several large crates. “Catch me,” she warned, then dropped into Alain’s arms.

Alli actually grinned at them. “That looked really romantic. You guys must have done this kind of thing a lot.”

“Alli! This isn’t the time! We need to—” Mari raised her pistol again as another figure appeared.

“Alli!” a new voice called.

“Here,” she answered, pushing down Mari’s gun hand. “It’s okay, Mari.”

The new person ran to them, his open Mechanics jacket flapping. “They’re localizing on the new location right now. We’ve got to move.”

“All right,” Alli agreed. “Mari, this is Dav. He helped me get in here, and he’s the guy who helped me bug the supervisor’s office. We can trust him.”

Mari returned the other Mechanic’s handshake, noting that he seemed to be in his mid-twenties. “Dav?”

“Yes. Dav of Midan.”

Mari stared at him, causing Alli to give her a worried look. “Mari, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Maybe I have. Dav, did one of your ancestors die in the siege of Marandur?”

“Yes. How did you know?” Dav asked, astounded by the question.

“I can’t tell you yet.” Mari turned to Alain. “I’ve made a lot of bad choices tonight. Where do you think we should go now?”

Alain pointed east and led the way toward one wall of the compound, the small group running across open spaces as they tried to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the telltale far-talker. But when they reached the warehouse nearest the east gate they ran up against a barrier of lights outside. Crouching in the shadows of the last warehouse, Mari tried to make out what was beyond the lights. “They’ve got to have people there.”

“Yes,” Dav agreed. “That’s the plan. They opened the gates to encourage you to try to run out, but they’ve got the lights set up to blind you as you come and sharpshooters with rifles behind the lights. I was hoping they hadn’t gotten things ready yet, but that’s why they’ve taken a little while to come in here after you. You kept getting away every time they had you, so this time they were going to have every exit covered before they went in. They’ve got orders to shoot on sight,” he added.

“We’ve noticed.” Mari sighed heavily. “How do we get past them? Anybody? Any ideas?”

Alain studied the lights. “I can muster enough power to blow one of the lights if placing a small fireball there would do it.”

“One light wouldn’t be enough,” Alli replied in a grim tone. “Besides, if they figure out we’re here they’ll come charging in and nail us all.” She gripped her rifle. “I could shoot out some lights here and hold them off while you guys run—”

“No, Alli!” Mari snapped. “Your chance of surviving would be zero.” She slumped against the warehouse wall. “Too bad we can’t just walk through walls until we get past them.”

The other two Mechanics exchanged puzzled glances as Alain shook his head. “One small hole, perhaps,” he said, “but then I would be unable to do another. There has been too much effort tonight.”

A new voice spoke then, one which Mari recognized instantly.

“Then perhaps a friend can help.”

Mari stared at the robed figure standing in the shadows nearby. “Asha?”

Alain was on his feet, too. “Mage Asha. You have found us. I did not sense you near.”

Amid the blood and fire of the night, Asha’s cool Mage voice sounded even more bizarre than usual. “I have worked hard to improve my ability to hide myself, a necessary thing when the Mage Guild seeks my death as well as that of my friends. As to finding you, how could I not? Even if the fires and destruction on your track were not easily seen, the being of my friend Mari has been blazing in my mind for the past few weeks as if to blind me.”

Mari rounded on Alain, all thought of their desperate straits momentarily forgotten in her sense of humiliation. “You said she couldn’t tell!”

“I said she could not tell what we were doing! If your feelings were more intense—”

“It’s the same thing!”

“Uh,” Alli interjected hesitantly. “I don’t really understand what this argument is about, but if this Mage can help us escape I really think we ought to get going as fast as possible.”

Mari took a deep breath. “You’re right. The first priority is to get under cover so we have time for more planning without worrying about being surprised.” She eyed the warehouse next to them. “Where’s the door to this thing? Nobody knows? We can’t go running around looking for it and maybe running into assassins on the way.” She looked at Asha. “Alain is exhausted from helping us get this far. Can you get us though this wall? Please?”

Asha raised one eyebrow the barest fraction. “You need only ask, friend Mari.” She turned and beckoned. Another robed shape appeared and that Mage turned to face the warehouse wall. A moment later that solid wall showed an opening large enough for each of them to scramble through in turn. Inside, the darkness of the warehouse was dimly lit by reflections through high windows of the Mechanic lights outside the gate.

Mechanic Dav shook his head as the hole vanished. “I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Believe it,” Mari muttered. She leveled a finger at Alain. “You and I have some things to discuss later. Alone.”

Alain held up his hands to signify defeat. “Whatever you wish. If we survive.”

Asha came close, staring at Alain’s left hand. “What is that ring you now wear? A promise ring? I know of them. You have wed her. Now I understand the intensity of friend Mari’s bonfire.”

Alli stared at her. “Mari has a bonfire?”

“Will everybody stop talking about my bonfire?” Mari gazed threateningly at the small group. Even Asha’s eyes widened slightly as she stared back. Mari focused on the third Mage. “Who are you? A friend of Asha’s?”

The hood on the robes came back to reveal the expressionless face of a middle-aged man. “We have met before,” he said, the lack of emotion in his voice giving no clue as to how that meeting had gone.

“We have?” Mari stared at the Mage, trying to remember where she had seen him.

“Yes,” the Mage said calmly. “You tried to kill me.”

Mari gave Alain a startled look. “Did I have a reason? I must have had a reason.”

“I was trying to kill you.”

“Well, there you are.” Something finally clicked in her memory. “In the alley in Palandur. You’re the Mage I shot.”

The male Mage nodded. “And, when you could have slain me, refrained. Then you gave me a bandage and instructions on how to use it until a healer could preserve my life. I did not understand why any shadow would do such a thing. I did not understand how a shadow could save something that is real. The Mage Asha and I spoke of that and many other things, for she is my niece.” Mari looked from the tall, gorgeous female Mage to the dumpy male Mage, wondering how they possibly could be that closely related. “In speaking with her, I came to realize that I could give my loyalty where I choose, and that the feelings I had been fighting for so many years were to be welcomed instead. When I learned that my Guild sought Mage Asha’s death, I did not hesitate to renounce the authority of our elders.”

Asha gestured toward the male Mage. “This is my uncle. In Palandur I sensed that he was injured, and would not leave without him. This I learned from friend Mari. Do not leave anyone behind.”

“Well… yeah,” Mari said, embarrassed. She smiled reassuringly at Asha’s uncle. “I’m honored by your trust and grateful that you chose to help Asha. I’m not always this stressed, by the way. What’s your name?”

“I am Mage Dav.”

Two Davs in their small group. Nothing was going to be easy this night. “All right, Mage Dav. I’m glad to meet you. This is Mechanic Alli and Mechanic Dav, and Mage Alain, of course.”

Mage Dav looked at each of them, not showing any trace of gladness or other expression.

Mari glanced at Alli and the other Dav. “I know it doesn’t look it, but he’s being very polite by acknowledging that you exist.”

“I’ve known Senior Mechanics who acted like I didn’t exist,” Alli remarked. “Hey, Mage Dav. Welcome to the revolution.”

Asha indicated her uncle. “In the confusion as the Mages attacked you in Palandur, I was able to reach my uncle and take him to a healer. It did not surprise me to learn that Mari had aided him even while fighting for her life. Mage Dav and I had to hide while the healer worked his art, but my uncle is strong and quickly recovered enough to travel. I said we would find you and join you, and we have. Our timing appears to be fortunate.”

“You might say that.” Mari gazed around the group again, surprised to realize that there were now six people total. Mechanic Dav, getting his first good look at Mage Asha, appeared to be in a state of stunned nirvana.

Mari was easily the youngest person in the group, except for Alain who was only a little younger than she, but all were looking to her for leadership. How did that happen? When did I become the leader in a situation like this? Me, the crazy woman with the bonfire that has now reached blinding levels of intensity. They’re probably picking it up back on Urth and wondering who I am. All right. The daughter of Jules has to figure a way out of this mess or the revolution ends here. “Mechanic Dav, what are the Mechanic assassins going to do once they have all of the exits covered?” It had finally occurred to her that these were the Guild assassins Professor S’san had warned her of back in Severun.

Mechanic Dav jerked his attention away from Asha with obvious difficulty. “They’ll come in and quarter the area until they find you and kill you.”

“Nice. Are they guarding the walls between the gates?”

“Yes. But that’s a lot of territory to cover, so between the gates there’s just a screen of armed apprentices posted at intervals. I’m supposed to be supervising some of them. A lot of them are way too young to be doing that kind of thing, but their main role is to sound an alarm if they see you.”

Mari gave Alain an anguished look. “I don’t want to shoot at apprentices. I don’t want to hurt them at all. A lot of them are just kids.”

Before he could answer, a deep boom sounded outside and the floor and walls of the warehouse shook. Dust filtered down from the high ceiling and a shock wave rippled through the floor beneath them. Alli scrambled up onto some crates until she could see out of one of the windows. “I think that warehouse where we left the far-talker is gone.”

“Gone?” Mari demanded. “They blew it up? The whole warehouse?”

“Looks like it. Boy, Mari, they really want you dead.” Loud thumps sounded on the roof over their heads. “That’s debris from the explosion coming down. Wow, I wish I could’ve set that charge. It must’ve been great putting something that big together.”

“Alli! Focus! We’re trying to survive here!” Mari closed her eyes, trying to pull up a mental map of the area they were in. “Walls. Warehouses. The outer wall of this warehouse is also one of the outside walls. We’re in a trap, but every trap has a weak point because everything has a weak point. That’s simple engineering. What’s the weak point in this trap? The apprentices.”

“They’re the youngest and the weakest and the least experienced,” Mechanic Dav agreed. “But like you said, a lot of them are just kids.”

“That’s all right,” Mari said. “Thanks to these Mages, we’ve got some non-lethal ways of dealing with the apprentices. Alain, that thing you did when they tried to kidnap me in Dorcastle, where you made it really bright for a moment? Can you do that again?”

He nodded. “Yes. I have that much remaining in me. I cannot hold it long.”

“You won’t have to. Just a flash in a small area. But we have to do something to keep the assassins from noticing when we do that.”

Alli brightened. “How about an explosion?”

“An explosion?” Mari grinned. “Do you know where we can get some explosives?” she asked, already guessing the answer.

“I’ve got some with me,” Alli said. “And some fuses. Don’t look at me like that, Mari. I packed some tonight because I thought we might need to blow up something.”

“You were right about that,” Mari admitted. “Do you have enough to blow a small hole in one of these warehouse walls?”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t know if it would be a big enough hole for us to get through, though, and the sound of the explosion would attract the assassins for sure.”

“That’s the idea! It’ll be a… what do they call that, Alain? A distraction?”

“A diversion,” Alain said.

“Right. Alli, we’ll need an explosion going off near that closest gate outside, to divert the attention of the assassins and everyone else. Do you have a timer?”

Alli shook her head. “I have a fuse I can cut to the right length, though.”

“Good enough.” Mari looked at the two other Mages. “Mage Asha and Mage Dav, I don’t know how much you had to go through to get here. How tired are you? Do you have many spells left in you? Is there enough power in this area for you to use?”

Both Mages nodded. “We are fairly well rested. The journey to find you was not difficult,” Asha explained. “Our main concern was staying hidden from the senses of other Mages. We did not have to search for you, since as I said earlier I had no trouble sensing your bonfire. At one point its intensity was almost painful.”

Mari winced, looking daggers at Alain, who took a sudden interest in the far side of the warehouse. “Can we just not bring up that bonfire thing again for as long as possible? I’m a little sensitive about that.”

Mage Dav gave Mari what passed for an intrigued look from a Mage. “You know a great deal about Mages.”

“Well, yeah.” She pointed at Alain. “I’m married to one. Can either of you throw fire like Alain?” To Mari’s surprise, both shook their heads.

“The use of fire is a very difficult art,” Asha explained. “Few Mages can master it.”

“Alain never told me that,” Mari said, giving him a different kind of look. “All right. Here’s what we’re going to do,” she announced. “Alli, you’re going to lay a charge against this warehouse wall as close to that nearest gate as you can. Use a short fuse.”

“I’ve got enough fuse for a longer burn if you need that,” Alli said.

“Of course you do. We want a short burn, Alli, because we need to get out of here before the assassins figure out where we are, but give yourself enough time to get back here. After Alli has lit the fuse, she’ll join us along the wall of this warehouse. That’s part of the outside wall, too. We’ll get as far from the nearest gate as we can. Just before the charge blows, Alli lets us know so Mage Dav can open a hole in the wall, giving us access to the street, and as the explosion goes off Alain sets off his flash spell thing through the hole to dazzle the eyes of any apprentices nearby. It has to be at the exact same time, Alain. While the Mechanics watching the gate are diverted by the explosion and watching for us to charge out the gate, and the nearby apprentices are temporarily night-blinded, we all run across the street and head for, uh…”

“The entertainment district,” Mechanic Dav suggested. “There’ll still be crowds there so we won’t be the only people on the streets, and it’s only a few blocks east of the warehouse district.”

“Great. Mage Asha, you’re our… um… spare,” Mari said.

“Reserve,” Alain corrected her.

“Reserve. Right,” Mari said. “Be ready to cast a spell if we need it right after Alain and Mage Dav have cast theirs and can’t do another quickly. Has everybody got that?”

Mechanic Dav shook his head. “I get the hole in the wall thing, because I just saw it even though that seems impossible, but what’s the flash-spell thing?”

“Just keep your eyes averted when I tell you,” Mari said.

“What are explosives?” Asha asked.

Alli stared at her. “Somebody has really neglected your education, Lady Mage! Explosives are mixtures of ingredients that have been processed in a way that allows them to either oxidize extremely quickly or to instantaneously release large amounts of energy when triggered by a detonator employing chemical, mechanical or electrical—”

“Alli,” Mari interrupted. “Mage Asha is a smart person, but she is not understanding one word of that because she has been taught very different things than you and I have.”

“Really?” Alli frowned. “Um… explosives make a lot of noise and blow up things.”

“Like a Mechanic boiler,” Alain said.

“No,” Mari said. “Not like a boiler. A boiler can explode but it is not an explosive.” That sounded a little odd even to her. “Listen, we’ll have time to explain things to each other later. For now, just each do your part.” Mari looked at the motley group, amazed that she suddenly had five Mechanics and Mages following her instructions. Alli seemed perfectly happy with that, Alain was used to working with her in a crisis, the other Mages weren’t giving any clues as to what they thought, and if Mechanic Dav didn’t stop drooling over Mage Asha he would walk straight into a wall and knock himself out.

“Alli,” Mari said, “do your stuff and get back to us fast. We won’t go if you’re not with us when the charge goes off.” As Alli dashed off, Mari pointed toward the wall facing the street. “Let’s get in position. Asha, does your Guild have any idea that Alain is here?”

The female Mage shook her head as they ran to the wall, making her long blond hair shimmer and causing Mechanic Dav to trip over something. “I do not know. However, before the Mechanics began destroying this city we did not notice any unusual behavior among the Mages here.”

“That’s one piece of good news.”

They wove through a maze of crates of varying heights and finally reached the wall. Mari leaned against it, trying to calm herself, running through her plan in her mind to see if she could spot any flaws in the time they had left. “Having more than one Mage to use is very handy,” she said to Alain.

“Having extra Mechanics around is useful as well,” he replied.

“Yeah,” Mari agreed. “The bad part of all that, though, is that if I mess up I won’t be the only one who pays the price. It’s been that way for a while for both of us, hasn’t it?”

Alain nodded, his expression revealing tension to her even though others probably would have thought it calm. “A mistake would harm both of us. It has been like that for some time.”

“Hey.” Mari spoke in a quieter voice as he looked at her. “I’m a little crazy about that bonfire thing, but I do love you. Remember, if I fall, you—”

“Will stay with you.”

“Alain, you’re the only other person who knows all the things I know! The only other person who has a chance of fixing things if something happens to me!”

“I cannot bring the new day. You are the daughter. It is your fate.”

“I need you to stay alive.” Mari insisted. “We both have to make it back to Dorcastle, right? That’s what your vision showed.”

He shook his head. “The vision showed what might be, not what will be.”

“I say it will be, Alain!” She held his hand tightly. “We’ve made it this far.”

Mari heard the sound of running boots and dropped her grip on Alain to draw her pistol and ready it again. “Alli! Over here!” A moment later Alli appeared, one extended forefinger moving in a steady beat as she counted. Alli gave Mari a warning look. “All right, everyone. Stand by.” Alli’s forefinger came down one last time and she gave Mari a thumbs-up. “Now, Mage Dav. Go, Alain.”