The Assassins of Altis

Chapter Seven

“The Mechanics Guild,” Mari breathed. “That’s one of their steam-powered ships. There are hardly any of those left working any more, but they’re so much faster than sailing ships that they must have caught the Sun Runner easily. How did they know I was on board this ship? How did they know to intercept this ship?”

“What do we do?” Alain asked.

“We can’t jump off like we did the train.” Mari rubbed her forehead, her face frantic. “Our only chance is to try to hide somewhere below deck.”

Mari turned, starting to fight her way through the crowds of passengers boiling out onto the deck to point and stare and wonder what had led the Mechanics Guild to stop this ship. Alain stayed close to her, frustrated by the slow progress they were making. The crowd on deck had become so dense that it was hard to move at all even though ahead of him Mari was shoving hard.

Suddenly a group of Mechanics wedged their way between Alain and Mari, using the butts of their weapons to strike at anyone in their way. Alain had to stagger back a half-step to avoid having one of the weapons strike him, then found himself separated from Mari. He lunged forward, disregarding the cries of anger from commons he was pushing aside. Alain made it through a knot of commons, then maybe a lance length farther, and suddenly found himself at the edge of a small area of deck cleared of commons.

He stopped, gazing at the scene within that area.

Mari was standing still, facing several Mechanics. Two had Mechanic weapons pointed at her. One middle-aged male Mechanic reached forward and roughly jerked back Mari’s coat, checking the area under her shoulder. “Not carrying the pistol today, Mari?” he demanded.

“It’s in my pack,” Mari answered. “Honored Senior Mechanic,” she added in the kind of voice which Alain had learned meant sarcasm.

The Senior Mechanic’s hand rose, but he stopped before hitting Mari. “Where’s your friend?”

“I have no friends,” Mari replied in a voice now emotionless.

“That’s probably the only thing you’re going to say that I’ll agree with,” the Senior Mechanic noted coldly. “But the Guild knows that you were traveling with someone. Where is he?”

Mari shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Answer me! Is he on this ship?”

Alain could see Mari’s mocking smile. “We split up a while ago. Doesn’t the Guild know that?”

Another Mechanic took Mari’s pack. “Should I search it?”

“No!” the Senior Mechanic barked. “Don’t look in there. It will be searched later, by authorized Senior Mechanics only.”

Alain could see the resentment in the other Mechanic at the Senior Mechanic’s haughty tone, but he stood obediently holding Mari’s pack.

At a gesture from the Senior Mechanic, a female Mechanic stepped forward and patted her hands all over Mari’s clothing, then stepped back. “No concealed weapons,” she reported.

“Good. Get her to the ship.” The Senior Mechanic led the way as the others grabbed Mari and pushed her along, the commons splitting to leave a free path for the Mechanics.

Alain watched, shoving his way through the crowd to keep the Mechanics in sight, trying to figure out what to do. In this dense a crowd, invisibility would be a hindrance, not an aid. Simply attacking the group of Mechanics around Mari would do no good. His heat might just as easily harm Mari as her captors, his knife was no match for their weapons, and even if he somehow triumphed without hurting Mari, the metal Mechanic ship with its big weapon would still remain.

But he became aware of a rumbling noise from the crowd of passengers, slowly rising in volume as more and more commons joined in. It took Alain a few moments to make sense of the words, then the intensity of the noise rose again and he heard them clearly. “It’s the daughter!”

“The Mechanics have the daughter of Jules!”

“They’re taking the daughter!”

The different cries merged into a welter of shouts in which only the words “daughter” and “Jules” were clear, but that was enough. As Alain watched with growing concern, the crowd surged forward toward the Mechanics, the commons yelling and seizing anything that might serve as improvised weapons.

The Mechanics had heard the shouts, too, and were backing along the rail in a tight group, their weapons pointed outward. Alain could see the growing fear in their eyes, the sort of alarm which could lead to panic and then the use of the Mechanic weapons. Even though the crowd of commons far outnumbered the Mechanics, Alain had seen what Mechanic weapons could do. Mari had told him that these were called “lever-action repeating rifles,” and while he did not know the meaning of that, those same weapons had wiped out a caravan which Alain had tried to protect. Alain knew that something had to be done, but he hesitated because his training as a Mage had told him nothing about how people thought. Alain had no idea how to stop the crowd before a massacre occurred.

Then he heard Mari yelling over the sound of the crowd. “No! Stop!” Her face appeared as Mari shoved her way to the front of the frightened Mechanics despite having her arms held behind her. “They’ve got rifles, blast you! If you try to charge them a lot of you will die!”

The Senior Mechanic in charge of the boarding party looked nervously from Mari to the crowd. “Listen to her!” the Senior Mechanic shouted.

Mari bent an angry look on the Senior Mechanic, then faced the crowd again. “Back off. Please. For your own sakes.”

A common stepped forward slightly from the crowd, an older man with short-cut hair and a face red with fury. “We’re willing to die for you, Daughter.”

“I don’t want anybody dying for me!” Mari yelled back. “It’s senseless. Even if you overcome these Mechanics and free me, that still leaves that ship out there. It can shell this ship and sink it, then make sure no life boat or life raft stays afloat. You would all die. Please, let them take me.”

“We can’t let the Mechanics destroy our only chance for freedom!” a woman cried, her voice torn between anguish and fury.

“Don’t die in vain!” Mari called back. “As long as I live, that chance remains.”

Perhaps inspired by Mari’s words, the Senior Mechanic drew his pistol and put the small end against Mari’s head. “Rush us and I blow her brains out! Do you hear me?”

Alain had to restrain himself from launching a spell at the Senior Mechanic. He did not know enough about how the Mechanic weapons worked to be sure he could kill the Senior Mechanic before he killed Mari, and an attack on the Mechanic leader would surely produce an immediate reaction which would turn into the massacre which Mari feared.

Mari’s face had gone rigid. The crowd had become suddenly silent, so Alain could hear what Mari said to the other Mechanics. “The Senior Mechanics would order your death as easily as they ordered mine, as easily as this one put a gun to my head.”

“Shut up!” The Senior Mechanic glared at the crowd of commons. “We are going to the ladder down to our boats. She is going in the first boat, and she’ll have weapons pointed at her head the entire way. Try anything and she’ll die.”

The commons stood glowering as the Mechanics began backing toward the ladder, the weapon of their leader staying pressed tightly against Mari’s head. As Mari’s arms were being freed for the climb down she caught a glimpse of Alain in the crowd and he saw Mari mouth the words “I love you,” then after a brief pause one more forceful, unspoken word. “Go!” A moment later she was being shoved down the ladder and out of sight.

Alain ignored Mari’s command, but as he tried to think of a plan to save her he heard the volume of anger in the commons rising again. At least this time he knew how to halt them, by following what Mari had done. “Do not,” he called. “She asked you not to die now.”

Eyes turned to him, one of the nearest commons giving Alain a challenging look. “How do you know she means it?”

“Because I am her friend,” Alain replied. “Listen to Lady Mari. Another time will come.”

“Lady Mari?” another common said. “I heard the Mechanics call her Mari.”

“That was the name she used,” a woman called. “In the Northern Ramparts! You’re really her friend?”

“I saw him with her earlier,” another woman said. “Side by side along the railing. They were talking.”

“If you’re really her friend then you know that we have to do something,” another common insisted, her eyes blazing. “We can’t let them just take her!”

Alain looked across the water toward the metal monster which was the Mechanic ship. Mari was already climbing down the access ladder on this ship into a boat which would leave at any moment. The Senior Mechanic had followed, leaving another Mechanic in charge of those still on deck. Little time remained to act, and while he was on this ship he could not help Mari. I need to get over to that strange ship with her. I cannot get over there on my own. An idea finally came to him. But perhaps I can convince these Mechanics to take me there. They are looking for a friend of Mari’s. I will create an illusion that will give them what they seek. “I will do something, convincing them to take me to that ship. If the rest of you wish to help her, then listen to what she said and trust that we will find a way to escape. Another day will come.”

“What can you do alone?” the most belligerent common demanded.

“I am her friend,” Alain repeated. He could tell that wasn’t enough. Too many of the commons were beginning to turn back to face the Mechanics, their expressions fixed with anger and determination. “I have traveled far with her. We have been through great perils together.”

Another common stared at Alain. “She was traveling with a Mage. The people who saw her up north said she was traveling with a Mage.”

Everyone nearby froze, their startled eyes on Alain. He hesitated only a moment, knowing that he had to keep these commons from rioting against the Mechanics, and to do that he had to convince them that he could do something they could not. Alain nodded once, then for a moment let his expression go into the emotionless state of a Mage. “I am her friend and her Mage and I will help her,” Alain said in a very low voice, letting his tones take on the impassive tones of a Mage. “Did you not know that of the prophecy? The daughter will unite Mages, Mechanics, and the common folk into one force which will overthrow the Great Guilds and free the world. Wait for her, as she commanded. Her day will soon come.”

Even though commons sometimes tried to mimic the emotionless expression and voice of a Mage, none of them could drive feeling from their face or tone as a Mage could. Convinced by Alain’s demonstration, the commons made way for him, their expressions ranging from disbelief to amazement, but visible above all on their faces was a dawning and joyous hope. One man began crying, tears running down his face as he whispered the same words over and over. “She’s really come. She’s really come…”

The other commons shushed the man, blocking him from being seen and heard by the Mechanics.

Alain relaxed to let some emotion show again, then stepped out of the crowd. The weapons of the Mechanics still on deck instantly swung to point at him. Alain held up his hands as he had seen Mari do. “You were looking for Mari’s friend,” he said, trying to mimic the arrogant tones of a Mechanic.

One of the Mechanics beckoned Alain closer. “That’s you?”

Alain came closer, lowering his voice so that only the Mechanics could hear it over the growing murmuring from the crowd of commons behind Alain. “That is me,” he confirmed, trying to put a sneer into it such as the member of the Order had used at Pandin. He thought it came out sounding pretty good, or rather bad.

The Mechanic flushed with anger and raised his weapon. “Watch how you talk to your betters, common.”

“I am not a common,” Alain replied in the exact same tones.

Sudden interest flared in the Mechanic’s eyes. “Another Mechanic, eh? They thought Mari had one with her. Prove it! What’s your specialty and where are you from?”

He had to convince them. Alain kept trying to mimic the manner of the member of the Order as he answered, using information he had heard while traveling with Mari during their journey south to Marandur. “Umburan. That is where I used to work.” Specialty. What did that mean again? Alain used the name for one of Mari’s Mechanic devices. “Far-talkers. My specialty is far-talkers.” The biggest lies he had ever told, and no one he knew was here to see how well he had done it. What a shame.

“In Umburan?” the Mechanic pressed with skepticism Alain could easily see.

He needed something to make the illusion complete. Details. Those mattered in forming an illusion. Mechanic Calu had told Mari something which she had then told Alain. That might provide the detail needed right now. “Yes. Umburan,” Alain replied. “The big far-talker there could not be fixed.”

“He’s right,” another Mechanic said to the first. “Umburan was down for a long time. Besides, who knows about far-talkers except Mechanics? If he was a common he wouldn’t have heard of them.”

“All right, then.” The Mechanic grinned unpleasantly. The crowd of commons had gone silent, listening intently to what Alain and the Mechanics were saying. “Dumb enough to join Mari but smart enough to throw yourself on the mercy of the Guild now, huh?”

Perhaps one of these Mechanics was like Calu. “You should listen to Master Mechanic Mari. She was betrayed by her own Guild when she—”

“Shut up! None of us want to hear any treason. And for your information, it’s just Mari now. Her Guild title has been revoked by order of the Guild Master.”

Alain felt anger, balanced by a calm confidence he could not understand. It allowed him to maintain the cool arrogance he wanted to project. “She remains a Master Mechanic beyond any ability of anyone to deny her that status.”

He could hear the commons behind him muttering, passing along what they had heard and commenting on it. “The daughter used to be a Mechanic, too, but she’s revolted against them to help us.”

“Just like Jules worked for the Empire before she struck out on her own for freedom.”

“A Mechanic, and she told us not to risk helping her so we wouldn’t be hurt. She is the daughter.”

And one worried voice in low tones. “But maybe she’s Mara.”

That statement was followed by grumbles about Imperials, then the Mechanics were gesturing to Alain. As he took the final steps to reach them, he could no longer make out the murmuring among the commons.

Alain’s pack was pulled off, then another Mechanic seized his arms and pulled him toward the access ladder. “Wait, you idiot,” the first Mechanic growled. “Search him!”

Having a Mechanic, or any stranger, run hands over him was hard for Alain to endure. As a Mage he had been taught to avoid human contact, and his time with Mari had only dented that teaching, not overcome it. He managed to stand still, even when the Mechanic doing the search paused, then reached inside Alain’s coat to surface with the long Mage knife. “Where the blazes did you get this?” he demanded of Alain.

“I got it from a Mage,” Alain said, which was exactly what had happened. He had been presented with the knife by a fellow Mage on the day Alain had been granted Mage status.

“You took it off a Mage?” The Mechanic grinned as he stuck the knife into one of the outside pockets on Alain’s pack. “You and that Mari have more guts than you do common sense. Did you kill the Mage?”

“He was still alive when I took it from him.”

“No way!”

“Stop talking to the guy and get him into the boat!” the first Mechanic ordered.

The man who had searched Alain went down first. Alain turned to descend, seeing that the boat carrying Mari was halfway to the Mechanic ship. In her common coat she was easy to spot among the black jackets of the Mechanics, and she seemed very alone. But not for long. He would soon be with her on that ship.

He hoped he had done the right thing.

As Alain began to descend, facing the crowd again, he saw the commons watching him. Always before, commons who had known he was a Mage had given him looks of fear and of disgust. But these commons looked at him with hope. It staggered Alain for a moment. Then he nodded to them, feeling a strange surge of strength within him before the Mechanics ordered him to descend.

Reaching the bottom of the ladder and dropping into the second boat, the Mechanic in the lead gestured Alain to a seat in the center as they waited for the rest of the Mechanics to come down the ladder. “What did you guys do, anyway?” he whispered to Alain.

What should he say to a Mechanic? “We learned things that the leaders of the Mechanics Guild did not want anyone to know. This was after the leaders of the Guild tried to have Mari killed because they feared she might someday be a threat to their authority. That happened at Ringhmon.”

The Mechanic stared at Alain with worried eyes, then shook his head in warning to Alain not to say anything else as more Mechanics climbed down into the boat. The Mechanic leading this group came last, moving down the ladder quickly as the rest kept their weapons pointed upward toward the commons rushing forward to line the rail and look down at them. Some of the commons still carried the objects that they had seized to use as improvised weapons, but even though the menace in their postures and expressions was impossible to miss the commons all watched silently.

“Get us back to the ship,” the lead Mechanic ordered, untying the line securing the boat to the ladder as the other Mechanics got busy putting oars in the water. “Blasted crazy commons. Mari must have been stirring them up already. She’ll get us all killed.”

Alain shook his head. “Mari wants no one to be hurt. You heard her tell the commons not to attack you. All she wants is to fix things. She would still be loyal to the Mechanics Guild if she had not been threatened with death by its leaders while faithfully trying to carry out the orders of her Guild.”

“I told you to shut up!” The lead Mechanic stuck the end of his weapon close to Alain’s face. “You try to rouse up any more trouble and I’ll put a bullet between your teeth.”

At times like this, Alain’s Mage training was particularly useful. He gazed back at the Mechanic without any sign of worry or concern, and eventually the Mechanic had to lower his weapon with an angry grunt. Some of the other Mechanics grinned in admiration, and Alain realized that they had been impressed by his impassivity in the face of the threat. He nodded calmly to them, wondering if any of these Mechanics were like Mari’s friends, Mechanic Calu and Mechanic Alli.

As the boat came around, the setting sun glared into Alain’s eyes. He sat silently as the boat he was in crossed the distance between the ships, seeing the boat ahead carrying Mari reach the Mechanic ship. He saw her climb up the ladder, the Mechanic behind her holding one of the long weapons pressed against her. As she reached the top of the ladder, Mari was shoved out of his sight and into the metal hull of the ship. Alain watched, hoping that he would soon see Mari again.

As soon as his own boat was tied to the Mechanic ship, Mechanics pushed Alain to the wood and rope ladder going up the metal side of the Mechanic ship. He went up as fast as possible, on the chance that Mari might still be near the ladder, but he saw no sign of her when he reached the deck. Mechanics there grabbed him and used their weapons to prod him along the deck, through an entry with a metal hatch, and through more hatches and passageways and down steep metal stairways until he was thoroughly lost. The interior of the metal ship was well lit by glass globes that glowed with a steady, bright light, another Mechanic trick which his elders had once assured Alain did not actually work.

Reaching an open hatch giving access to a very small room, Alain’s escort used blows from their weapons to propel him inside hard enough that he fell. His escorts then slammed the hatch, leaving Alain in total darkness. He heard a metallic rasping which he assumed was a lock being fastened on the outside of the hatch.

Alain rolled to a sitting position, wondering how many new bruises he had picked up today, where his pack had been taken, and most importantly where Mari was now. He tried to remember if there had been another locked hatch located next to the one he had been shoved through. It seemed reasonable that the prisoners would be confined near each other, especially since the Mechanics who had taken them into captivity did not think either of them could walk through a metal wall.

Not that he could walk through many walls out on the sea. The power here was very limited, as it always was on the water, though the reasons for that remained unknown to Mage elders. But he still felt the aftereffects of that strange burst of power as the commons had looked at him, and now as the motion of the ship changed to mark it moving ahead, Alain could feel new power becoming available as the ship traveled across the sea. He had felt something like that on the Mechanic train, moving so rapidly that the flow of power was always renewed by reaching new supplies of it. It was strange to think that a Mechanic creation could thus benefit the work of a Mage. In this case, it might be what allowed him to rescue Mari.

Alain calmed himself, reaching out his mind to sense Mari’s presence. The thread he had first sensed between them in Ringhmon was strong again, leading unerringly to one side. From the strength of the thread and the intensity of Mari’s presence at the other end, she must be very close. Unable to see anything in the total darkness of his cell, Alain crawled over a rough and uneven surface made up of big ropes coiled on the deck until he reached a barrier. Alain rapped the metal wall, listening for a response.

After a moment there was a knock back.

Her presence had flared when he knocked, so it must be her on the other side. Alain sat back, thinking. Getting through a Mechanic metal wall should not be any different from getting through any other wall. Nothing was real, every wall and everything else being just illusions born of his mind. As the wall was imaginary, he would imagine an opening in it, creating and maintaining the illusion upon an illusion with the help of the power the world held here.

The spell posed an unexpected problem, though. How did he imagine a hole in a wall when he could not see the wall? His elders had always taught that a Mage must be viewing what should be changed. Alain frowned at where the wall should be, trying to think of a way around that.

He had not yet felt all the way to the side. He had not seen any wall there. Could he imagine that where he had not felt there was no wall?

The effort was unexpectedly difficult, like a physical act done in an unfamiliar way, as if he were trying to walk on his hands rather than his feet. But Alain felt the power flow, felt his strength ebb dangerously, then reached out to where the hole should be.

It was there. Alain felt the edges, then dodged through and caromed right into someone else in the total darkness on this side of the wall. They both fell with muttered grunts, then Alain felt two hands lock on his throat. “Who are you and where did you come from?” Mari hissed.

It wasn’t easy to talk with Mari’s hands clamped on his windpipe, but Alain managed to get out one half-strangled word. “Alain.”

“What?” Mari’s hands loosened, then let go of his neck to run over his face and upper body as if trying to see him by touch. “Alain? It’s you?”

“Yes.” Alain coughed, massaging his neck. “That hurt.”

“Sorry. I thought I was alone in this little compartment and then— How the blazes did you get here?”

“I turned myself in,” Alain explained, reaching carefully to touch her. “I could not leave you alone, so I came to find you in your cell when you were imprisoned. It is a kind of tradition with us, is it not?”

“You big idiot. I love you, but you shouldn’t have gotten yourself stuck on this ship.” Her voice was despairing. “Escaping from this ship will be almost impossible.”

“I had to come help you.”

“No, you didn’t! I told you to go and stay safe! I don’t want you in this kind of danger on my account.” Mari’s hands found his face again, then her lips came against his. “Stars above, I’m glad you’re here.”

Alain wondered if his voice reflected his confusion. “Are you happy or angry that I am here?”

“Both. You shouldn’t have done it.”

“You would do the same for me.”

“That’s not the point!” Mari insisted.

“It was the only way to rescue you,” Alain pointed out.

“I’m not rescued, Alain. We’re just in the same cell again, only this time you can’t—” Mari suddenly stopped talking. When her voice came again, it held hope. “You can. You got in here. Where were you locked up?”

“In a similar room next to this one.”

Mari stayed silent for a moment, then sighed. “I’m pretty sure there’s a guard out there. We can’t just open the door, even if I could see where the lock was, so we can’t get out like we did in Ringhmon. And the inside of a Mechanics Guild ship will have a lot of Mechanics walking around, so we’d be spotted pretty quick. Why did they bring you here, Alain?”

“I told you. I informed them that I was the friend of yours they were seeking.”

“But if they thought you were a common who had been accompanying me, why didn’t they just shoot you on the spot? Surely you didn’t tell them you’re a Mage?”

“I lied to them. I told them I was a Mechanic.”

He could hear her disbelief. “You were able to pass as a Mechanic? Alain, that’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever heard.”

“You are a good teacher,” Alain said.

“I’m not supposed to be teaching you to be a Mechanic!”

“I could not help learning how to act like one,” Alain admitted. “You have been teaching me how to show feelings again, and you are the person I look to most often as an example of how to do that.”

“I take back what I said earlier,” Mari replied. “That is the scariest thing I ever heard. You are not to become just like me. Understood?”

“No one else could be just like you,” Alain said.

“That had better be a compliment, but even if it isn’t I have to admit you’re probably right. You came in behind me. How long is it until sunset?”

“It will be dark soon,” Alain told her. “I assume night is the best time to make whatever escape we attempt?”

“It should be,” Mari agreed, “but I have no idea how to escape. We need to deal with the guard outside the hatch here, then we’ll have to find my pack—”

“Our packs.”

“Find our packs. Right. We can’t leave those texts behind. Then after we recover our packs we need to do something to keep this ship from chasing us and then we need to escape off of the ship. That’s a pretty tall order.”

Alain shrugged before realizing she would not see the gesture in the total darkness of the room. “It should not be any harder than escaping from Marandur.”

Mari laughed softly. “I can’t decide if you’re getting confident or crazy as a result of hanging around with me. Listen, maybe—” She stopped speaking as the thud of feet sounded outside the door to the room they both now occupied and the rasping of metal announced a lock being unfastened. “Oh, no. Can you—”

“Stay silent,” Alain cautioned. He groped his way to the side, then stood up and waited for a moment until the hatch began swinging open. Alain called upon his arts to hide himself, bending the flow of light so that it wrapped around him rather than striking him, hoping he would have the personal strength to hold the spell and that the power in the areas the ship was sailing through would be great enough to help support it.

Mari had come to her feet as well and was doing her best to look defiant, despite having to shield her eyes from the light. Two Mechanics entered and pulled her out, not even bothering to look around. Alain followed as closely as he dared, trying not to make any noise, but the heavy footfalls of the Mechanics covered the sounds of his own movements anyway.

A third Mechanic standing outside the hatch stared impassively at Mari as she passed, and two more Mechanics fell in as extra guards. The sentry moved to close the hatch. Alain dodged quickly, but the hatch struck his leg briefly and painfully before closing. The sentry blinked at the hatch, swinging it out and closed again, then shrugged before closing it a final time. “What about the other one?” he asked.

“Later,” one of the Mechanics replied. “The captain wants to see them one at a time. Stay here and stay on guard.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The sentry leaned against the hatch to Mari’s prison, looking unhappy with the continuation of his duty.

The other four Mechanics put Mari between them, the two at the rear prodding her along with their weapons, unaware of Alain following close behind. They walked along short hallways and took stairs upward, climbing into the higher levels above the main deck. Alain caught glimpses of the outside through infrequent small, circular windows, seeing that the sun had almost set and night was coming on quickly. Their small procession passed other Mechanics, who always stood aside. Those Mechanics averted their eyes from Mari with expressions that were trying to conceal emotions, but to Alain’s practiced eye hinted at feelings from curiosity to sympathy to fear to hostility.

He concentrated on maintaining his spell, grateful for how the ship’s motion kept supplying new reserves of power. And I know for certain that there are no other Mages anywhere near, so I need not worry about revealing myself to them.

They finally reached a short passageway where one of the escorts knocked on a door labeled captain, then opened it and led the way in. Alain barely managed to squeeze in as well before the door was closed, finding he had precious little space to stand without touching any of the Mechanics. Fortunately, the four Mechanics had herded Mari to stand in front of a desk where a middle-aged woman Mechanic sat, leaving room for Alain to stand back against a wall. Alain barely managed to avoid a small cry of satisfaction as he spotted both his and Mari’s packs sitting in one corner of the room.

The woman Mechanic at the desk gazed at Mari with obvious dislike. “Former Master Mechanic Mari, now only Mari. Even the Guild makes mistakes sometimes, and you’re the biggest mistake in quite a while. I’ve never looked upon a traitor before.”

Mari stared steadily back. “Try looking in a mirror.”

“How dare you—”

“You’re betraying everything, every Mechanic, everyone—!” Mari was yelling, when the woman made a gesture and one of Mari’s guards used his weapon as a club, jamming the wide end against Mari’s side and causing her to choke off her words with a gasp of pain. Alain noticed that the other three guards looked uncomfortable at the abuse but did not protest it.

“You’ll stay silent unless you’re answering my questions,” the woman Mechanic said in a harsh voice. “Why did you go to Marandur?”

Mari straightened up with some difficulty, then shrugged. “It seemed like a good place to hide. No one would look for me there.”

“Then why did you leave?”

“Because I couldn’t stand it anymore. The place is haunted.”

“Did you go to the Mechanics Guild Headquarters in Marandur?”

“I went to what was left of it,” Mari said scornfully. “Just a big pile of rubble and rusted-out equipment. There wasn’t anything there that I could use.”

“You should have had the brains to know that before you went to Marandur. Where were you going on that ship?”

Mari seemed indifferent as she answered. “West.”

“Why?” the woman asked with barely concealed anger.

“For my health. I thought I’d visit the hot springs on Syndar.”

“Liar.” The woman pointed to a map on one wall. “That ship was going to the Sharr Isles. Where your family lives.”

This time Mari’s eyes sparked with real resentment that Alain had no trouble spotting. He was sure the Mechanics in the room could easily see it as well. “So what?” Mari spat out.

“I didn’t think you were going to them,” the woman replied with a cruel smile, “but it never hurts to check.”

Looking from Mari to the older woman, a thought occurred to Alain. The Mage Guild had tried to sever him from his family by convincing him that his family did not matter. Not as people, and not as mother and father. The teaching left Mages looking only to the Guild for what life they had. From what Mari had said, the Mechanics Guild thought little of commons and yet had never ordered her to stay away from her family. She had broken contact with her family because the family had broken contact with her.

Or, rather, Mari had been convinced that her family had broken contact with her, leaving her nowhere else to turn but her Guild. Had Mari’s Guild used its own tactics to sever the family ties of those from common origins? And if they had, how could he get Mari to listen to the possibility when she refused ever to talk about her family?

But that would have to wait. There were more critical things to deal with right now.

“Who is this other Mechanic you were traveling with?” the woman demanded.

Mari made a contemptuous noise. “A lovestruck fool who I used to help me. He’s harmless.”

“We’ll see what he has to say about that.”

Alain tensed, wondering if Mari would betray knowing that he was aboard, but she was quick-witted enough to frown at the captain’s words. “I left him—” Mari began.

“On that ship. He turned himself in.” The captain smiled unpleasantly. “We’ll see how much loyalty he has to a traitor.”

“He doesn’t know anything,” Mari insisted.

The captain shook her head. “Why would I believe a word you say? I’m glad you’re not wearing the jacket you’ve disgraced. Just in case you’re planning on sleeping easily for the next few days, let me tell you what’s going to happen to you. You’re to be returned to Guild headquarters in Palandur. Hooded and in chains, with a gag in your mouth, so you can’t corrupt any other Mechanics. If you cooperate and answer every question put to you truthfully, you may be allowed to spend the rest of your miserable, traitorous life in a tiny cell in Longfalls. If there’s any question about your truthfulness, you’ll be turned over to the Empire to answer for your visit to Marandur. I’m sure the Emperor will want to make a special example of you, one involving an extended and painful death.” The female Mechanic gave every sign of enjoying reciting the terrible future intended for Mari. “Are there any questions?”

Mari nodded. “Two questions. The first is, do you actually think that I’m stupid enough to believe that the Guild will still let me live when it has already tried to kill me more than once? The second is, how do you live with yourself, Senior Mechanic?”

The woman flushed with anger and gestured again. Alain had difficulty restraining himself as the same guard once again bludgeoned Mari with his weapon. “Take her out of here,” the captain ordered, “and make sure she falls down a few ladders on the way back to her cell. Maybe that will bang a little sense into her. Then bring the other one.”

“Yes, Senior Mechanic,” the leader of the guards said with the eagerness of the type of follower who wanted to impress any superior, then as Alain slid to the side the Mechanics yanked open the door and dragged Mari out between them.

Once again he had to move fast, and once more his foot caught in the door as one of the Mechanics tried to close it. That Mechanic shoved the door harder, shrugging as it closed without hindrance the second time.

Mari had noticed, though, her eyes widening briefly before she carefully schooled her expression to reveal nothing but an apparent stoic acceptance of her fate.

They reached the first of the stairs down, and the Mechanic in charge moved to trip Mari and tumble her down them, but one of the other Mechanics stepped in the way. “She could break some bones going down that.”

“So? You heard the captain.”

“We’re not Mages who torture people for fun. This girl is… she used to be a Mechanic.”

The first Mechanic glared at his companion. “You’re disobeying orders?”

“Get them in writing,” the second Mechanic insisted. “If you think those orders are all right, get them in writing and show them to me.”

“The captain’s going to hear about this, Kalif.”

The other Mechanic wavered, then shook his head. “The Guild wouldn’t allow someone to be treated like that. Now let’s get her back to her cell.”

“Sure.” The first Mechanic stepped back, glowering. “I’ll let you explain things to the captain when we get back with this one’s friend, and you can ask the captain for her orders in writing.”

Alain tried to relax. He had nearly leaped at the Mechanics when Mari seemed threatened with serious harm. Now, as Alain followed the Mechanics back toward the places where he and Mari had been imprisoned, he measured his remaining strength, trying to decide what to do. Once they reached the improvised cells, Mari would surely be locked up again—and then the room where Alain was supposed to be confined would be opened. He was already tired from the effort of holding the concealment spell and could not see how his usual weapon, the fireball, would be able to defeat these Mechanics without also harming Mari and causing enough noise to bring more Mechanics running.

If only he had another weapon, a weapon which did not require his rapidly diminishing spell strength to employ. But his knife had been taken from him, and would have little effect against the Mechanic weapons even if he had it.

The Mechanic weapons.

Alain took a long look at the Mechanic weapons the guards were carrying. Impossible. I cannot use them, even if I am pretending to be a Mechanic.

Do I have to know how to use them? An illusion. They already see me as another Mechanic. If I hold one of those weapons, they will see the illusion of another Mechanic ready to employ it. If the illusion is strong enough, they will act as if it is real.

They came down a last stairway and walked up to the sentry, the guards almost ready to shove Mari back into her cell. Alain dropped his concealment spell and slammed his elbow into the side of the Mechanic who was farthest back, while reaching with his other hand and grabbing the Mechanic’s rifle, wresting it free from the surprised and staggered Mechanic. As the Mechanic who Alain had attacked reeled into his companions, Alain tried to hold the weapon just as he had seen Mechanics do it. He was certain that he had the right end pointed at them, and his hands should be in about the right places, but that was the extent of his knowledge when it came to using a Mechanic weapon.

By the time the other Mechanics turned to look, Alain had the weapon pointing at them. “Do not move,” Alain said in the most menacing voice he could manage, copied from the tones of the Senior Mechanic. “Make no sound.”