The Assassins of Altis

Chapter Five

Fragments of wood pelted the bed where Alain had been lying, then incredibly bright strands of lightning ripped through the doorway and into the bed, flaying the mattress and igniting everything that could burn.

Mari kicked out at the window frame, popping it straight out of the wall while after-images of the lightning danced in her eyes. She heard a sharp explosion and looked back to see the area just beyond the shattered doorway erupt into flames. Alain turned away from the destruction. “My fire spell may slow them down. Go, Mari!”

She hesitated. “You’re coming too, right?”

“When I can—”

“Now! Or I stay, too!”

Alain looked ready to argue, then nodded. Mari pulled herself through the small window opening and out onto a tiny landing, which swayed precariously under her. She grabbed at the ladder fastened to the side of the building while Alain came through after her. As Alain left the room, lightning flared again, filling the place where they had been and almost knocking Alain off the landing. Mari got a hand on his arm and held him until he could grab the ladder, then started clambering down as fast as she dared.

She let go to drop the last several feet into the alley their room had overlooked, rolling to break the fall and coming up with her pistol in her hand. A robed figure appeared nearby and raised one hand, a long Mage knife gleaming in the dim light. Mari, knowing the Mage wasn’t Asha because he or she was too short, aimed for the center of the figure and fired, her shot illuminating the alley with a flash of light. In that momentary brightness she could see that the robed figure was also heavier than Asha. The Mage grunted with pain and was knocked to the ground by her shot, the knife falling to one side. Mari took three quick steps to stand over the fallen Mage, who was writhing on the ground. Mari pointed her pistol at the Mage’s head, seeing expressionless eyes looking back at her from the rounded face of an older man.

Kill him! her nerves screamed. He’s a Mage! He could still be very dangerous!

But the wounded Mage did not move, did not betray any of the signs she was familiar with in Alain of preparing to cast a spell. Mari lowered her pistol, then yanked a cloth from one of her pockets and knelt to jam it over the Mage’s wound, where blood was welling out to soak the Mage’s robes. “Hold that tight over the wound until a healer can see you and you may all right,” Mari whispered, then jumped back and to her feet, looking for Alain.

Instead of Alain, Mari stared at another figure which had appeared at the opening to the alley. It looked vaguely human-shaped, but was taller and much broader than any human Mari could imagine.

The noise of feet hitting the surface of the alley sounded close by, and Mari spun as she brought up her weapon, finding her pistol pointed at Alain’s nose.

He looked at the pistol and shook his head. “You keep doing that,” Alain said, then reached out and pulled her back as more lightning rippled down from above, lashing the alley and blowing apart some nearby crates of trash.

Mari looked up, seeing a robed figure on the landing of their former room, his or her shape outlined by the fires burning behind. Aiming carefully almost straight up, using both hands to steady the pistol, she fired twice. The sound of the shots filled the night, sounding huge after the silence which had once enveloped this part of the city.

At least one of the shots apparently hit, as the lightning Mage fell backwards and out of sight into the room. “I think I got him. Or her.”

A guttural roar sounded from the head of the alley. Mari twisted to look that way. The thing there was now lumbering down the alley toward her, its weight making the ground shake.

Alain spoke with what Mari considered remarkable calmness. “It is a troll.”

She fired at it, the light from her shot this time revealing a crude being which looked like a half-formed attempt to make a creature in the form of a human, but one that towered over her and was so wide it almost filled the alley. The creature didn’t even react to Mari’s shot, nor from the next two bullets she carefully aimed and fired directly into it. Once again the sound of her shots echoed thunderously through the once-sleeping city, streets now stirring around them as the din of Mechanic and Mage weaponry filled the air and fire spread in the hostel above.

Alain raised his right hand, the air glowing above his palm, and a moment later the creature facing them howled as the fireball appeared in its face. The troll reeled back, pawing at itself.

Alain’s hand came down on Mari’s shoulder. “We must run,” he said. “Neither of us can kill a troll.”

“I was reaching the same conclusion,” Mari gasped, spinning around to look at the other end of the alley. Piles of trash were heaped against a fence that was about as tall as Alain. “We can’t run past the thing. Come on. This way.”

The Mage whom Mari had shot had crawled to one side to avoid the troll as it looked for Mari and Alain through still-dazzled eyes. The wounded Mage silently watched as she and Alain bolted down the alley toward the fence.

“I will need a moment to gather strength to create a hole,” Alain gasped.

“What? Just go over it!” Mari shoved Alain forward and then up as he scrambled clumsily to get over the fence. She followed, cursing the weight of her pack and hearing the troll coming on behind them again. Alain helped her over the fence as he got to his feet on the other side.

“I never thought of going over a wall instead of through it,” Alain confessed.

“Mages,” Mari grumbled. She staggered as her feet hit the ground, then shoved Alain onward toward an opening visible a short distance ahead, giving way onto another street. The once-quiet night was now filled with the noise of crackling flames. Shouts and screams came from the hostel and surrounding buildings, and the sound of ringing bells from near and far called the fire wardens of Palandur to action. On top of that came the deep thud of gongs calling the city guard to the site of the battle. “We’ll talk about different ways to get past walls later.”

They had almost reached the end of the alley when three robed figures appeared before them, two in the act of drawing and brandishing the long knives of Mages. They must have surprised this group, leaving the Mages unable to concentrate on spells. With too little time to aim and fire, Mari ducked under a swinging blade and then smashed her pistol barrel against the nearest Mage’s temple. That Mage fell heavily to one side.

By the time Mari turned to help Alain, his opponent was down as well. Mari brought her pistol to bear on the third Mage, who had made no move to attack.

“Wait,” Alain cautioned, going past Mari to stand directly before the third Mage. “It is Asha.” He held up Asha’s hands so that Mari could see they were bound together and tied to a cord about her waist.

“She was a prisoner?” Mari rushed over as Alain used his knife to sever the cords around Asha’s wrists. Close up, Mari could see the blindfold across Asha’s eyes, which had been concealed from easy view by the cowl of her Mage robes.

Her hands free, Asha lowered her hood and pulled off the blindfold. “The elders were able to detect my presence far better than I expected. While remaining out of sight, some of them tracked me to your room. That is how they found you. I was confronted when I returned to the Guild Hall and forced to accompany the Mages attacking you. Though they thought me helpless with my vision blocked, I attempted to warn you by using my strange tie to Mari.”

“You what?” Mari said. “I didn’t—Those headaches? Something you did caused those headaches?”

“She does not lie,” Alain said.

“Alain, she was tied up and blindfolded! I know she’s not lying! Come on, sister, we need to get out of this city and you’re coming with us!”

“No.” Asha looked back the way that Mari and Alain had come. “I must stay. There is one who requires my… my… help.”

The fence behind them splintered, the troll staggering into sight as it looked around for Mari and Alain. “Asha, we’re being chased by a troll!” Mari cried.

“It will seek you, not me, as long as I conceal myself.”

“Mage Asha,” Alain said, “the Guild sees you as an enemy now. You are in danger. The elders would have ordered your death as soon as Mari and I were dead. If we now leave you alone—”

Asha shook her head. “I will not be alone. I cannot leave now. One needs me. Go. I will find you again, no matter where you are.”

The troll had seen them and was now stalking forward.

Mari hesitated. “Alain, can you hide us the same way—”

“No. The troll can sense us by other means since we are its prey.”

“I can find you, Mari. Just think of Alain.” Asha reached out to touch Mari’s hand. “Go now.”

Alain still wavered, visible emotions flashing across his face. Mari reached out and grabbed his arm. “We have to do as she wants, Alain! Run! That thing is right behind us!”

They ran, the troll’s frustrated roar echoing behind them, Mari’s hand locked onto Alain’s as she ran all out down the street, legs pumping as fast as she could drive them.

“Weapon,” Alain gasped.

Mari realized that she was still holding her pistol in one hand and hurriedly holstered it . It wouldn’t do for the Imperials to see her carrying that when they came charging in to restore order. The glow of the fire was continuing to spread, lighting up the sky, and increasing numbers of people were flooding into the streets as they left the hostel and surrounding buildings that had caught fire from blown sparks. The clanging of fire bells could be heard in all directions, growing rapidly louder as the fire wardens converged on the increasing conflagration. Mari heard the troll again, then saw it stomp into the street and stare around, coming after them with its shambling gait. She was just thinking how fortunate it was that trolls moved a lot slower than dragons when a squad of the city guard showed up.

“Halt!” one of the Imperials yelled at Mari.

“Troll!” she yelled back, gesturing wildly.

The city guards stumbled to a stop as they saw the troll, not making any attempt to stop Mari and Alain as they tore through the ranks of the guards. Mari heard orders being shouted and the thump of crossbows firing, but didn’t look back, instead taking the next corner at the best speed she could.

Alain was gasping for breath beside her. “Should we not help?”

“Against that?” Mari wheezed. “Besides, if we did, the Imperials would just kill us, too, once the troll was dead.”

Another group of Imperial police dashed onto the street, spreading out to form a line. “Halt!” their leader shouted, pointing at Mari.

She skidded to a stop, trying to decide whether or not to try bluffing her way through again or to just threaten them with her pistol. Before Mari could reach a decision, a crowd of commons erupted from the entrance of the building next to her and rushed the thin line of Imperial guards.

The Imperials closed ranks to support each other and swung their hardwood clubs with practiced skill. The first citizens to reach them fell with bleeding heads or broken arms, their screams adding to the tumult.

Mari yanked Alain back into motion, swinging around the fight as more citizens piled onto the street. “We don’t want to get stuck in that mess,” she gasped to Alain.

Alain nodded wordlessly, trying to keep up with her until Mari had to slow down again, her lungs and her legs burning. But she kept heading away from where flames were leaping higher into the sky and the bedlam of battle rose behind them. “That is not our fault,” she got out between attempts to breathe.

Despite her urgency, Mari stumbled to a halt and stared behind them as an inarticulate cry of rage filled the night. It was as if the roar of the troll had been hugely amplified. It wasn’t the troll, though, but rather a sound rising from thousands of human throats, giving vent to wordless rage and frustration.

It frightened her worse than the troll had.

This time it was Alain who urged her back into motion. “Where are we going?” Alain got out as he also struggled for breath.

“The train station. We can’t risk the gates or the water with the Mages watching those ways, so we’re taking the blasted train.” She had to pause and inhale deeply several times. “It’s too blasted dangerous to stay in this city with the Mages out to kill us both. There’s a risk I’ll be recognized, but at least we won’t run into any trolls at the train station.”

“Assuming the Imperials kill this one before it finds us again.” They reeled to a halt as what looked like half a cohort of Imperial legionaries hauling a ballista came at quick-step down the street with a mounted officer urging them on. “But it seems the Imperials will make every effort to finish the creature,” Alain added as they crossed the street in the wake of the legionaries. “Enough hits from a siege machine will stagger even a troll.”

Behind those legionaries came the rest of the cohort, expressions grim. Mari wondered if they were going to battle the troll, or the mob of Imperial citizens.

Mari held onto Alain as she led the way, zigzagging through the streets while trying to keep a bearing on the Mechanic train station, looking back occasionally where the glow of the fires lit the night and echoes of fighting still resounded.

The waiting area for common folk at the Mechanic train station was uncomfortable at the best of times. Mari had sent Alain to buy two tickets to Landfall after coaching him on exactly what to say and how much money to give the apprentice occupying the ticket window. The Mage, who could walk through walls, foresee the future, and create heat out of nothing, had come back visibly proud of having successfully handled something that complicated.

They sat on hard, narrow seats in one corner of the waiting area, heads lowered as if they were sleeping while awaiting the departure of their train, which also served to keep Mari’s face partly concealed. As the morning wore on, more and more Imperial citizens waiting for the same train took seats, too, providing more cover for Mari when the occasional Mechanic sauntered through. Fortunately, as usual, the Mechanics made a point of ignoring the commons. Mari, who had often been annoyed when some of the Mechanics she was with flaunted such attitudes, now felt only gratitude for the arrogance which helped render her invisible.

“Will the Mechanic train run?” Mari heard one Imperial woman ask another. “The city council has closed the gates.”

“The Mechanics are not affected by the city council’s actions.” The second woman had the look of a high-ranking Imperial bureaucrat, her suit and accessories as precisely arranged and selected as if it were a uniform. “They will do what they want.”

“Arrogant and uncivilized,” the first woman complained. “What happened in the Gorgan District, anyway?”

Mari strained her ears to listen to the reply.

“Officially, no one is saying anything,” the Imperial bureaucrat replied. “But I’ve heard from those who’ve seen all the reports that it was an all-out fight between a large group of Mechanics and a large group of Mages. An absolute, pitched battle with Mechanic weapons and Mage spells ravaging the entire district. Four buildings were totally destroyed and several others damaged.”

“You’re not serious!” the first woman gasped. “In the heart of Palandur?”

“Gorgan isn’t exactly the heart of Palandur,” the second woman replied dryly. “Some of the buildings that burned should have been torn down years ago. Still, it’s pretty frightening, isn’t it? The city guard couldn’t handle it all, so they actually called out part of the city legion to deal with it. Some sort of Mage monster had to be destroyed. Imagine being caught in the middle of that. The fires still haven’t been completely extinguished.”

Mari sniffed cautiously, hoping no scent of smoke still clung to her, and tried to suppress a guilty feeling. It’s not my fault that buildings I’m in keep getting burned down. Well, the one in Ringhmon was my fault. But not these.

“What about the rioting?” the first woman asked.

“What rioting?”

The first woman paused, as if uncertain what to make of that question. “In Gorgan. There are rumors that hundreds have been injured, large numbers of stores and homes destroyed—”

“Imperial citizens do not riot,” the Imperial official said in a tone of voice that both warned and reprimanded. “Anything that happened in Gorgan involved Mages and Mechanics and no one else.”

Mari could almost hear the first woman gulp nervously before speaking again. “Of course. You’re right. Surely the Emperor’s not going to tolerate that behavior from the Great Guilds?” she said, hastily changing the subject back to the first topic. “Even from Mechanics and Mages?”

The second woman lowered her voice dramatically, but Mari could still hear. “He is reportedly very, very unhappy and has expressed that to the heads of both of the Great Guilds.”

“It’s about time! Those Mechanics think they’re better than the Emperor himself, I’m sure!”

The woman was in fact right about that, Mari thought to herself. But Mari wasn’t going to say that out loud. She leaned back and looked at Alain. “I guess we were the large group of Mechanics,” she murmured.

“I will try not to take offense at being mistaken for a Mechanic.” Alain gave her a glance. “What happened with the Mage you fought in the alley before I came down?”

Mari bit her lip, looking at the floor. “I shot him. I had to. He had a knife and he looked like he was getting ready to make a spell. But after I shot him he just lay there, hurt. I gave him something to control the bleeding and told him what to do. He should be all right if a healer gives him antibiotics.”

“In the middle of a battle you paused to give mercy to an enemy?”

“Yeah. I know. It wasn’t very smart.” She inhaled deeply, feeling the rawness in her throat from last night’s exertions. “But that’s who I am.”

“I am happy that you did that,” Alain said.

Despite her disquiet, Mari tried to bend a smile his way. “A Mage approving of an act of mercy? What’s the world coming to?”

“Perhaps something better, if the one who will bring the new day wields mercy as well as a weapon,” Alain said. “What of the other you shot at? Your weapon struck the lightning Mage?”

“I think so,” Mari said. “Either that or I scared the blazes out of that Mage.”

“The loss of that one would cause me no grief,” Alain admitted. “Especially if it was the same Mage who tried to kill me during the ambush of the Alexdrians on the northern plains. Asha did not lie to us.”

“You told me that at the time and I never doubted it. I hated leaving her behind. Did you get any look at all as we ran, to see what happened to her?”

Alain nodded. “As we began running, Mage Asha vanished from sight using the concealment spell. That would have made her presence obvious to other Mages, but hidden her from the troll since it had not fixed on her. She probably held the spell only until safely past the troll.”

“I wish we could have done that,” Mari said. “Do you have any idea who needed her help?”

“No. Perhaps the Mage you shot, though I do not know why that would concern her.” Alain paused. “It is all right to be concerned about Asha?”

“Alain!” Mari stared at him. “You really felt that you needed to ask that? I must have been awful.”

“It is just that you have sometimes seemed unhappy when speaking of Asha—”

“Because I was being stupid! And jealous! There, I said it. I admit another one of my flaws.” Mari grasped Alain’s hand tightly. “Of course you can be concerned for Asha’s safety. Is there a thread between you and her?”

“No,” Alain said. “That is only between us.”

Despite her resolve not to be jealous of Asha any more, Mari still felt a flash of relief to hear that. “I hope she’s all right, Alain. Should we wait somewhere for her?”

“That would be too dangerous, since we have no idea how long we must wait. Mari, what did Asha mean when you spoke of her warning you?”

“She gave me a headache,” Mari replied shortly, feeling oddly reluctant to discuss it.

“She made your head hurt?”

“That’s what headache means, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” Alain was looking at her with a wondering expression. “Asha was able to use her link to you in this way? That is remarkable.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Mari said. “Personally, grateful as I am for her warning, I am less than thrilled that any other woman can reach into my head because I’m in love with you. Even Asha.”

“This still bothers you?”

“Of course it bothers me.” Mari looked away, unable to watch him as she kept speaking. “Yes, I was half-dreaming about you just before the headache hit. I guess my bonfire of adoration for you was hot enough that Asha could toast some marshmallows on my brain. That’s what jerked me into full alertness so I heard those Mages coming up the stairs.”

“It saved us?” Alain asked. “Why are you unhappy when you speak of it?”

“Because I’m not comfortable with knowing that every time I think of you I am transmitting passionate signals to the entire world!” Mari hissed. “Why is that hard to understand?”

“Transmitting?”

“Sending out messages!” Mari leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have someone able to tell every time I’m thinking about you? ‘Oh, there she goes again. I wonder if she’s in bed with him right now. Or maybe they’re just kissing.’”

“Or planning to change the world,” Alain said.

“I’m sure that’s the first thing that comes to Asha’s mind.”

“But she would only try to sense you when she is trying to find you,” Alain offered. “It is an effort, Mari, like any other spell. It tires her, requires power, and cannot be sustained for long periods. She will only do it when she is trying to locate us, and then for short lengths of time.”

“Really? You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then why doesn’t my transmitter of love tire me out? Asha made it sound like I’m broadcasting to everyone and everything on Dematr, which, I have to tell you, doesn’t make me happy. How many people besides Asha are listening in while I light up the world with thoughts of you?”

Alain started to answer, stopped, then spoke slowly. “It is not the same thing. Certainly no one can read your actual thoughts.”

“You said that before, and that had better be true.”

“Asha has a tie to you. You now serve to assist her in finding me when you increase the intensity of your feelings. I am not sure how to explain it right.”

Mari stared at him. “Increase the intensity? I’m an amplifier as well as a transmitter?”

“A what and a what?”

“I’m an amplifier and a transmitter,” Mari repeated. She gazed upward. “I don’t believe this is happening to me.”

“Do you really think about me that often?” Alain asked.

“That’s none of your business!”

“It is not?”

“No! What I think about you and when I think about you is my business! I wonder if there is any way to ground out my signal?”

“What?” Looking confused, Alain tried one last attempt at reassurance. “Mari, I would advise that you not worry about it.”

That did it. “Of course you wouldn’t worry about it! You’re not transmitting your lust to the world! And if you were, you’d be happy, because you’re a man!”

Alain nodded quickly, his expression wary, and changed the subject. “The rioting must have become worse after we escaped the area.”

“Yeah.” Mari closed her eyes briefly, trying to calm herself once more, then opened them to look at him. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m not blaming myself for that. It was as though the citizens there were a bomb waiting to go off, and the Mage attack just acted as a spark to make them explode. Do you have any idea why?”

“They were very angry,” Alain said, thinking. “They appeared to have no goal but fighting and destruction.”

“That’s what I saw, too. What would make people act like that?”

Alain kept his eyes on her. “I saw a few acolytes act in a similar way during my training. Pushed too far, unable to continue to live as they were, but believing they had no chance of becoming Mages, they erupted into violence against any Mage and elder within reach. Those acolytes were quickly killed, of course.”

Mari nodded, feeling sick inside. “They didn’t have any hope. Nothing to make them think things would ever get better. No reason any more to restrain their worst impulses.”

“The leading edge of the storm,” Alain murmured. “Perhaps if someone gave the commons hope, it would help them.”

“How can anyone give them hope that things will get better? That things will ever change for them?” Mari suddenly understood, and looked down at the floor, trying to avoid coming to the only possible conclusion. “You mean, if someone… revealed herself.”

“Yes.”

She stared at the vague patterns in the flooring, her stomach knotting at the idea. “All right. I will think about it. But not until after we find that tower on Altis. It must have been kept secret for a reason, and I don’t want too much attention on me from the commons until we’ve found any answers that place holds.”

Alain did not reply, but she sensed his approval and agreement. Unhappy, Mari settled back again to wait. The train was supposed to leave in about an hour, so they had a little while left to wait before they would be allowed to board the passenger cars.

Another train rolled into the station, a freight from the south by what Mari could see of it. She stared at the sky, willing the sun to rise faster. “I’m going to see how they’re doing at getting our train ready.”

“I do not think that you should,” Alain said. “It is not wise to walk around this place when your fellow Mechanics might recognize you.“

“I can keep my head down. It’ll only be for a few moments. I’m going to go crazy if I have to keep sitting here.” Before Alain could object again, Mari stood up and walked quickly to where she could view the train which was being prepared to go to Landfall, trying to judge how close it was to boarding passengers. Mechanics moved around it, working on the cars and the steam locomotive which would pull the train. Despite her resolve not to linger in this spot, Mari stared at the locomotive, remembering happy times spent maintaining and operating locomotives during her training. Feeling depressed, Mari finally turned back towards Alain.

And found herself facing a portly, middle-aged man in a Mechanics jacket. The man stopped in mid-stride, staring at her, his broad mustache seeming to bristle. She stared back, knowing that he had recognized her. “Professor T’mos. Good morning.” It had been less than a year since she had seen him last, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.

T’mos nodded, frowning just as he had the many times he had discussed Mari’s behavior with her when she was a student at the academy. “Good morning, Master Mechanic Mari.”

She feared that he would immediately sound an alarm, but instead the professor tilted his head to one side to beckon Mari to stand near the wall. “I did not expect to meet you here.”

Mari smiled as if unconcerned. “All roads lead to Palandur.” She could see out of the corner of her eye that Alain was watching them without seeming to watch them. Mari studied Professor T’mos, trying to figure out his attitude toward her. They had been on good terms when she had been at the Mechanics Guild Academy, Mari thought, but only on a student/professor basis. T’mos had devoted considerable time to counseling her on proper ways for Mechanics to act. All in all, his attention to her had been a little suffocating, but Mari had liked him enough as a teacher to tolerate that.

Professor T’mos nodded again, his mouth working as he thought. “Have you come to Palandur to report to Guild Headquarters?” he finally asked.

“I wasn’t planning on that, no.”

“Maybe I should be clearer.” T’mos took on the same attitude she remembered so clearly; the wise, mature professor speaking to the inexperienced young student. “You’re in a lot of trouble, young lady. Surely you know that?” Mari nodded. “There is an arrest order out. Running isn’t the answer. The Guild will catch you eventually if you try to do that. Whatever you did, you still need to trust in the Guild’s mercy.”

Mari shook her head. “Professor T’mos, the Guild’s mercy in my case consisted of setting me up on my first contract to get kidnapped and killed by commons. You must have heard of that.”

“Rumors, Mari. Surely you don’t believe the sort of nonsense that commons speak against the Guild.”

“Some very experienced Mechanics confirmed that it happened that way, Professor.” Well, one had, anyway, but Professor S’san was worth a hundred regular Mechanics in Mari’s estimation.

“Politics,” T’mos snorted. “The Guild would never harm any Mechanic, and you shouldn’t listen to those who claim otherwise. I don’t know who you’ve talked to, but that’s what got S’san. She was forced to retire for meddling in politics, Mari. You need to rethink anything she taught you unless you want to end up sidelined yourself, which would be a great shame given your potential.”

Mari felt her temper rising, which had always been a problem during T’mos’ lectures to her. The difference now was that Mari didn’t try as hard to keep her temper in check. “Never harm a Mechanic? The Guild ordered me to go unescorted to Tiae. You know what Tiae is like now. Total anarchy. I’d have been enslaved or, if I was lucky, simply killed.”

“The Guild must’ve had a good reason for ordering you to Tiae,” T’mos assured her. “Unescorted? That wouldn’t happen. There would have been an escort.”

“No, Professor, I confirmed that there would be no escort even though I was assured one would be there.”

“Hmm.” Professor T’mos shook his head, then changed the subject slightly. “Analyze that, Mari, and you’ll see the flaws in your concerns. What possible reason do you think the Guild would’ve had to send you on a suicide contract?”

Mari spoke quietly, but kept her voice firm. “I had learned about those who call themselves the Order, those who aren’t of our Guild but have the skills of Mechanics. I knew Mages could actually do things beyond our understanding. Not tricks, but actual temporary changes to reality. Even though I’d promised to stay quiet, those things were apparently enough to condemn me in the eyes of the Guild’s Senior Mechanics. That and some belief of theirs that I would threaten their control of the Guild someday.”

T’mos made an irritated gesture. “The so-called Order is a tiny bunch of tinkers who’d be lucky to fix a broken pot. The Mages are very good frauds, though, and I’m not surprised they fooled even you given your lack of experience. But Mari, I know much more than you. What you say you thought you knew wasn’t true. Why would the Guild have tried to silence you for that? And frankly, whoever told you that the Guild feared your abilities as a leader when you’re still this young is a fool. The Guild encourages good leaders.”

Mari had always been unhappy with being talked down to, but willing to tolerate it. After all, Mari had been inexperienced, her instructors were indeed the best in their fields, and her knowledge of the world had been second-hand, since she had been kept within Mechanics schools since being forced to leave her family at a young age.

But she wasn’t that inexperienced girl any more and she had seen a great deal of the world in the last several months. “Professor T’mos, how can you tell me something that you know isn’t true? Do you honestly believe that the Mechanics Guild is right to deny truth solely so that it can maintain its hold on power? Aren’t you alarmed by the way the technology used by the Guild is deteriorating, regressing as we lose the ability to make and do certain things because anything that might be considered innovation or change is prohibited? You’re a smart Mechanic. Surely you can see that the road the Guild is following is a dead end.”

T’mos smiled sadly. “Mari. Always the questioning one, aren’t you? If there are things you think you know, then you need to lay them out before the Guild so—”

“I did.” Mari spread her hands. “And I was put under a Guild interdict and sent into great danger.”

“No.” T’mos displayed an annoyance at being interrupted that Mari recognized. He always had treated her like a child of his, hadn’t he? “You’re under an arrest order because you didn’t listen, because you jumped without thinking. How many times did we discuss your impulsiveness? And now here you are! You and whoever it is you’re traveling with.” He glanced around, studying the other people in the waiting area.

So the Guild now knew or suspected that she had a traveling companion, but still didn’t know who it was. Mari, sensitized to spotting subtle emotions by being with Alain, thought she detected another layer of aggravation beneath the professor’s annoyance. Maybe, as Professor S’san had suggested, T’mos really had once thought that he and she would end up together as something much more than professor and student, though still authority figure and obedient follower. The thought made her stomach clench with sudden nausea. “The Guild thinks that I’m traveling with someone?” Mari asked, hoping to learn more of whatever the Guild knew and get T’mos’ attention back on her.

Professor T’mos shook his head and sighed with disappointment. She recognized that, too, and was ready when T’mos tried his next approach. “The Guild knows a great deal more than you give it credit for, Mari. You’re a Mechanic. Descended from those who came from the stars themselves. So am I. This other Mechanic… I assume he’s a Mechanic…”

Mari knew she was probably flushing in anger a bit at T’mos’ tone, but it wouldn’t be hard to make the professor think that her reaction reflected embarrassment. “You don’t think that I’d take up with a common, do you?”

“Of course not, Mari,” T’mos said, smugness tingeing his words. He apparently thought that he had tricked her into confirming something. “This Mechanic, whoever he is… ?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“All right, Mari, but he doesn’t have your best interests at heart.”

“He… seemed all right,” Mari suggested.

“Can’t you trust me more than some romantic fling you’ve picked up? Is he behind this? Is he driving it? Controlling you? Listen, the Guild can protect you. We’re your true comrades. Turn yourself in, young lady. For your own sake.”

Mari pretended to think about it. T’mos appeared to believe that his old manipulations would get through to Mari, as if she hadn’t changed in the least since leaving the academy. Is he “controlling” me? Does T’mos believe that I can’t think or act on my own? All right, then. Perhaps I need to give my old professor another illusion to play with so Alain and I can get out of Palandur in one piece. “Professor,” she whispered, “I am worried. I never meant things to go this far.”

T’mos smiled encouragingly. “It’s not too late. Trust me.”

“I will.” Recalling the old saying about lying like a Mage, Mari looked around with a nervousness she didn’t have to feign. “I’m meeting someone here. He’s supposed to arrive this afternoon. I’m staying at one of the old hostels in the Devjin District. Tonight I’ll get him to come with me to Empress Tesa Square. We’ll go to the café facing the fountain of the Empress. You know the one.”

T’mos nodded, easily recognizing the name of an area in Palandur near the Academy where Mechanics often went for food or drink. “The Rakesh café?”

“Yes! I won’t let… my friend… know what’s going on, but I’ll bring him so you can talk to him, too.”

The professor nodded again, his lips curving into an approving and confident smile. “And you’ll be ready to turn yourself in?”

“I don’t know,” Mari temporized. “Why don’t you come alone and talk to both of us? Is that all right, Professor?” For a moment, she worried that she had overdone the innocent young student act, but T’mos apparently didn’t think that she was acting.

“Of course, Mari,” T’mos said soothingly. “Of course. I’ll come, we’ll talk with this man you’re traveling with, and we’ll get things resolved, eh? But you must ensure he comes along with you. I want the chance to reason with him as well.”

Mari nodded, looking at his eyes and seeing, just as she had expected, that Professor T’mos planned on arriving in Empress Tesa Square with an army of Mechanics at his back, intending to scoop her up along with “this man.” “That’s a good plan. I’m so glad you’ve helped me think this through.”

Surely Professor T’mos couldn’t believe that she was that naïve. But T’mos merely smiled with benign approval, showing no sign of doubting her apparent lack of sophistication.

“Now, please, Professor,” Mari said, “you must go. If he sees you when he gets here, he might get suspicious and may not agree to go to Empress Tesa Square.”

“That’s what we will do then.” T’mos reached out to grasp her upper arm, holding on and squeezing lightly with every sign of affection. “I’ve missed you, Mari. I’ll do what I can to straighten out this mess, and maybe we can work together again. That assistant teaching position is still available.”

Mari managed to fake another smile as her guts knotted again. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

T’mos nodded a final time, and with a knowing wink started away, but then turned back, causing Mari to catch her breath for fear that he had seen through her. “Empress Tesa Square, the Rakesh café, tonight,” T’mos said. “What time?”

“Three hours after sunset.”

“That’s fairly late, but I’ll be there.” With another wink, T’mos left. Mari watched him go, wondering why she had never noticed before that the professor strutted when he walked.

She waited a little while, knowing that Alain was still discreetly watching, then slowly walked toward the door the professor had used, gazing out at the increasing number of people rushing to and fro, yawning and reluctant, as the work day and workers woke to life. T’mos was barely visible down the street, striding along with no sign of special haste, apparently confident that Mari would do as she had said. Mari studied the entire area, but could find no indication of other watchers, though she could see a wide plume of smoke still rising in the direction of the Gorgan district.

Finally going back to the bench, she sat down next to Alain without looking at him. “That was an old professor of mine,” she murmured. “You have permission to say, ‘I told you it wasn’t wise to go over there, darling.’”

“I told you it was not wise to go over there, darling,” Alain repeated tonelessly.

“You’re right, dear.” Mari sighed heavily.

“The meeting did not seem to go well on your side,” Alain spoke softly to her. “But this old teacher of yours departed looking very satisfied.”

“Right. He thinks I’m going to hand myself over to the Mechanics Guild on a silver platter tonight”

“He does not think you are leaving?” asked Alain an uncharacteristic amount of surprise noticeable in his voice. “Even though you are here where the Mechanic trains leave?”

“No, he doesn’t.” Mari looked toward the door by which Professor T’mos had left. “I told him I was waiting for someone to arrive, and he wants to catch that someone even more than he does me. I guess he couldn’t conceive that I’d be clever enough to lie to him. It’s strange, Alain. When I met Professor S’san again she was everything I remembered, and she treated me like someone she respected who had grown since I’d last seen her. But Professor T’mos turned out to be a bit different from what I’d remembered, and he acted like I was still a snot-nosed youth trying to figure out which end of a hammer to use. It’s funny how sometimes the world turns out to be like we expect and other times totally different.”

“It is all just an illusion,” Alain assured her. “This Professor T’mos sees the shadow of you he wishes to see, even though it is not you.”

“Sometimes I wish I believed it was just different illusions,” Mari said. “That nothing is real. When things seem really bad, believing that must be comforting.”

“Sometimes,” Alain said. “Other times it makes you question why you should try. If nothing is real, then what difference does anything you do make?”

Mari smiled and looked at him. “You’ve made a very big difference for me. You’ve never let me down, and I think of you more often than I probably should because it usually makes me happy to do so. Hello, Asha,” she called softly to the air, feeling a little giddy after her narrow escape from T’mos. “I’m transmitting again! How’s the bonfire?”

Alain looked baffled once more. “You find that amusing now?”

“Yeah.”

“But a short time ago you were very upset by it.”

Mari nodded. “Yes. What’s your point?”

“Then you have decided this transmitting is humorous?” Alain asked, relieved.

“No,” Mari informed him. “Next time it comes up I might be upset again.”

Alain sat quiet for a while before speaking slowly. “So any time this transmitting comes up you might find it amusing, or you might find it upsetting?”

“Yeah.”

“How am I supposed to know in advance whether you will laugh or get angry when the subject comes up?” Alain asked.

“You can’t.” Mari gave him a barely apologetic look. “Sorry.”

“I see.” Alain nodded, bewilderment showing in his eyes.

“I said I was sorry. That’s just the way it is.”

Alain scratched his head, then gave her one of his small smiles. “Then I will just think of it as another adventure.”

“That’s the spirit.” An apprentice came through the room, calling out that boarding was now permitted for the train to Landfall. “Thank the stars. What a time we’ve had here. I feel better about leaving Palandur than I did about leaving… that other city.” Stars above, she had almost said Marandur out loud. Mari shook her head, wondering if her carelessness was going to get both of them killed.

Despite Mari’s fears, they managed to board the train without anyone recognizing her, partly by keeping Alain between her and any Mechanic who passed by. She waited with increasing nervousness after they sat down in one of the coaches intended for common passengers, worrying that T’mos would tell some other Mechanics of her presence at the station.

But apparently she had judged him rightly as wanting to ensure that her “friend” was captured as well. The train pulled out of Palundur on time and was soon rolling uneventfully through the gentle countryside of the central Empire. The only problem was that Alain sat by her side, unusually tense, looking around constantly for danger. “Relax,” Mari told him for at least the tenth time. “I admit our earlier train trips have included some unfortunate events, but nothing is going to go wrong this time.”

“The Mage Guild in Palandur—” Alain began.

“Is still trying to sort out what happened last night and whether or not that troll tore you into tiny pieces and stomped on them. You still haven’t sensed any other Mages nearby, right?”

“I did not last night, either,” Alain said, peering suspiciously out the window at a distant speck in the sky. “I do not think that is a Roc, but I will keep an eye on it.”

“Fine. Enjoy yourself.” Mari settled back, trying to relax. The city of Landfall was a long way off, but the train made excellent time over the even terrain. After the adventures of the previous night, Mari found herself dozing off, waking once after sleeping for some time, and then insisting that Alain get some rest while she stayed alert. “Yes, I promise to watch for Rocs.”

Mari glanced at the setting sun as the express train finally slowed again to pick up passengers and cargo at the big station where the roads from Centin in the north and Alfarin to the south joined with the road between Palandur and Landfall. Alain had awakened when the train stopped. She grinned at him. “I can’t help wishing I could see the expression on Professor T’mos’ face when he realizes I’m not going to show up in Empress Tesa Square. Though I think he’s going to be more disappointed at not getting his hands on you.”

Alain frowned at her. “You said something like that before. Why would this old teacher of yours have any feelings against me?”

“It’s a long story, and to be perfectly honest it sort of makes me sick to my stomach to think about it now, so if you don’t mind I’ll fill you in at some future time.”

The stop was long enough to make Mari have to fight off fidgeting. They were so close now to getting out of the Empire. So close to avoiding the death sentence mandated for anyone who entered the forbidden city of Marandur, and so close to embarking for Altis to search for the mysterious tower that might hold a lot of answers that she needed to have.

An alert would go out once she didn’t show up in Empress Tesa Square, transmitted through the big far-talkers in the Mechanics Guild Halls. But it would be a few more hours before that happened, and by then they should be much closer to Landfall. “We’ll have to figure out how to leave this train before it reaches the station in Landfall,” Mari murmured to Alain. “My Guild will have sent out word by then that I might be aboard. The train will have to slow down a lot when it reaches the outskirts of Landfall, though, so we should have plenty of chances to jump off.”

His gaze on her was intense. “Jump off? As we did last time?”

“Well, no,” Mari said. “That time the train was going a lot faster and we had to fall farther and we couldn’t see what we were jumping into. This time should be a lot easier.”

A few new passengers came into their carriage and took seats nearby as the train finally lurched back into motion, gathering speed slowly. “What were all those cops doing?” one asked another.

The question was met with a shrug. “Checking all the people getting off. Another security alert, I suppose. A lot of the police got on the train, too, did you see? In the first passenger carriage. I guess they’re looking for someone again. An escaped convict, maybe.”

The first man spoke in a lower voice. “I heard the police are looking for two people who left Marandur. There’s been legionaries and police all over the roads back east of here.”

“Really? Anyone fool enough to go to Marandur gets what they deserve.”

“Well, some folk say whoever came out originally went in a very long time ago.” The man lowered his voice as he whispered to the other.

Mari turned to Alain. “Imperial police are on the train. They’re in the front cars and moving back, looking for us.”

He nodded, looking out the window beside him. “I heard.”

“Any ideas?” she asked.

“Not at the moment.”

The train kept gathering speed. Mari gazed bleakly through the window at the landscape rushing by, then ahead to where the Imperial police were undoubtedly methodically checking every passenger before moving back to the next passenger carriage. She had seen Imperial officers conducting searches and knew just how efficient they could be. Their packs would be searched, and what was in them would ensure that she and Alain were recognized and arrested. “Hiding won’t work and fighting would be hopeless. We could overcome the cops on the train, maybe, but hundreds of others would converge on wherever the train stopped.”

“Yes,” Alain agreed.

“That only leaves one alternative.”

“I was afraid that you would say that.”