The Dragons of Dorcastle

Chapter Fifteen

Mari tried to elbow her captor in the side but couldn’t get her arm free. She tried to bite the hand over her mouth but a stout leather glove protected it. She kicked backwards, getting in some jabs to the ankles of whoever had grabbed her, but he was wearing heavy boots that protected his shins. Mari’s kicks made him stumble, but he kept a firm grip on her.

They were fading into the crowd. Mari lost sight of where she had been. She had no idea where Alain was. Then they backed through a doorway. The door started to close, caught on something, then slammed shut, leaving Mari and her captor in the dimness of a room illuminated only by a heavily curtained window, the sounds of the brawl outside now muffled.

“Get her,” someone grunted. Hands grabbed her own, forcing her arms back as her captor released his grip slightly. The bag dropped from her hand. Mari twisted, slipping one hand free and swinging a punch that caused one of the kidnappers to back away hastily.

The big man’s grip tightened again. Mari felt a sense of despair. There were at least two other men in here, and she had no way to get in a good blow at any of them. Once she was tied up she would be helpless.

“She’s supposed to have a gun,” the big man stated. “Search her.”

One of the others placed his hands on Mari, pawing her and grinning as he saw Mari’s outrage. “What’s the matter, girl? Not used to men feeling around? Maybe you’ll like it.”

That did it.

Mari twisted again, surprised at her own strength and surprising her captors. Her leg came up and she planted her boot in the gut of the man who had been trying to search her. As he fell backwards with a grunt of pain, the other men shouted angrily, but under their cries Mari heard a familiar voice whose tones conveyed calm and confidence even though they carried no emotion.

“Close your eyes.”

Hope blossoming inside her, Mari squeezed her eyes tightly shut. A moment later bright light flared in the room, dazzling even through her eyelids. The cries of the men holding her changed to distress. A thudding noise resounded, then the arms of the big man holding her finally relaxed as he fell, almost pulling her down with him.

Mari spun, her angry gaze fixed on the third man, who was stumbling around blinking. Mari pivoted on one foot, leaning back and bringing her other leg up in a kick that slammed into the man’s stomach and bent him over, gasping for breath. A moment later she landed a hard kick on the man’s head, snapping him back and to the side, where his head struck a wooden beam. He fell and lay still.

That left at least one. But as Mari turned to face the first man she had kicked, she saw Alain hurl himself forward, hitting the man in the chest and forcing him back through the window. Glass shattered as the curtains billowed, and the noise of the riot outside suddenly jumped in volume. Alain stood up and looked out the window, one hand raised slightly, then backed away. “He is running,” he explained dispassionately.

“You couldn’t get a good shot at him?” she asked, trembling with reaction, fear, and anger at the kidnapping attempt. She stared at Alain, who appeared to be completely unfazed by the recent crisis.

“I could easily place the heat upon him,” Alain said. “I chose not to, even though he is nothing. I did not think you would want me to.”

She got control of her breathing, remembering the bodies of the bandits in the Waste who had been struck by Alain’s heat. “You’re right. For a moment there I did want to hurt him, even after he stopped being a danger to me—to us,” Mari admitted. “But that would have been hard to live with. Where did you come from?”

“Later. We must leave this place. These three might have more companions nearby.”

“Right. Good thinking.” Mari looked down at her captor as she bent to pick up her bag. He was a big man, as she had guessed, wearing common laborer’s clothes and now lying unconscious on the floor. “Did you do that? What kind of spell was that?”

Alain held up a paving stone from the street. “I made use of part of the illusion.”

She couldn’t help grinning. “You used an imaginary rock to hit my imaginary captor on his imaginary head?”

“Exactly. You are learning much wisdom,” Alain said with absolute seriousness. “It is important to see the illusion around you and employ it in the service of your goals,” he said as if reciting a lesson. “Do you know that shadow who held you?”

“No,” Mari said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him. I didn’t recognize the other two, either.”

Alain yanked open the door and Mari followed him out. The fight seemed to be spreading and overwhelming the city guards in the area. There would be no timely help from that quarter. Turning, she and Alain ducked and dodged their way along the front of the buildings until out of the mess, finally getting clear of the riot and hastening down the waterfront before stopping to rest in a place where they could see if anyone else was coming at them. But no pursuit could be seen.

Mari realized she was shaking with reaction again and tried to calm herself. “Nobody told me Dorcastle had a kidnapping problem.”

“No one told me of that, either,” Alain observed, his totally emotionless voice sounding inappropriate rather than confident now.

“I doubt that anyone tries to kidnap Mages,” Mari said. “Not more than once, anyway. I, on the other hand, seem to have started attracting kidnap attempts like a magnet.”

“What is a mag-net?”

Mari fumbled for an explanation for something she had never needed to explain. “It’s a piece of metal that attracts other metal using invisible lines of force.”

Alain actually betrayed a flash of interest. “It employs power to bring other objects to it? I did not know any part of the illusion could do such a thing.”

“No,” Mari said. “It’s not Mage stuff. It’s electromagnetism, which is an invisible force that…uh…makes things…happen. Why does something that’s part of Mechanic training and knowledge sound so much like what you’ve said about your Mage work? That’s weird. But a person can’t employ electromagnetism directly just by…thinking about it. We need equipment to do that. Um…what did you do? How did you get into that room without being seen?”

He shrugged. “A protection spell. I used it at the caravan, if you recall, when getting water. It causes the light to bend around a Mage instead of revealing the Mage. The door almost caught me coming in, but no one seemed to notice.”

“Bending light. Sure. Why not? And that flash of light?”

“Another spell,” Alain replied. “Changing the darkness to an equal measure of light.”

“Sort of the opposite of what you did at Ringhmon? Thank you, Alain. I don’t know what that man and his friends were planning, but I’m very grateful you stopped them. You’re the most wonderful— ” Stop it! Stop it! Don’t say it! He’s a friend, that’s all he can be! He just saved you again and you can’t repay that by clinging to him at the cost of his own well-being!

Her thanks seemed to embarrass the usually impassive Mage. “I am very…happy…I was there to stop them, though it would be important to know why they wanted you.”

“There are a couple of obvious possibilities.” How could she be speaking so calmly about this so soon after the event? Alain must be wearing off on her. But she couldn’t pretend any longer how much safer his presence made her feel. And for good reason. He had just proven again how cool and capable he was in an emergency. Just thinking about that made Mari want to smile at Alain. “They might have been after any girl for purposes I don’t want to think about,” Mari continued. “Or they might have been after me. They took advantage of that fight to grab me.”

Alain shook his head, frowning slightly in thought. “The sudden fight, the rapid growth in the crowd, the swift development of a riot, singling you out quickly. I see in the illusion a pattern of planning. I think it more likely that it was all arranged to cover your capture.”

She stared at him. “That would require a lot of work, and I assume a fair amount of money. Do you think they know who I am?” By now Ringhmon could have hired agents to try to kidnap her again, though this time for purposes of vengeance.

“If they knew who you are,” Alain said, “they would have used more shadows to ensure your capture.”

“Alain,” Mari said, “if you’re trying to reassure me, or compliment me, you’re doing a terrible job. No one tried to get you?”

“No. I believe some commons tried to block me as I saw you being taken. I would have lost sight of you quickly if they had succeeded. But once I bent light to hide myself, they could not see to obstruct me and I easily got past them. I did not fail this time. Those in the caravan died, but I saved you.” He hadn’t talked about the caravan since they had left the site of its destruction, but unless she was mistaken, what he had just said meant a great deal to the Mage.

“Of course you did,” Mari replied. “And you also saved me from that dungeon in Ringhmon, if I may remind you. You don’t need directions to act, you can take charge in an instant when you need to, and you think through what you’re doing even during a crisis. You’re really good at saving people, Alain.”

“As are you.”

“I guess. When I’m not getting them into situations where they need to be saved. Now what? Do you think we should hide?”

The Mage shook his head again. “If they know who you are, they will search and lie in wait. It is better to go on the attack, to gain and use the initiative, rather than let them set up another attack on us.”

She grinned. “Are you still game to go dragon hunting?”

“Yes.” Then Alain turned swiftly and stared out into the city. “I sense Dark Mages.”

“Sense them?” Mari asked, looking around quickly.

“Yes. I told you that a Mage can feel when other Mages are not too far away. We are taught ways to hide our presence from other Mages, but it is not my strongest skill by any means, and when I cast those spells it would have advertised my presence very clearly.”

“But you didn’t think Dark Mages were involved in this dragon stuff.”

“No,” Alain agreed. “But they could be in the city, and attracted to the violence as a possible source of profit. They might even strike at me to weaken my Guild, or attempt to kidnap me to extort ransom from my Guild. Or they could be hired to threaten you.”

Mari nodded, running one hand through her hair and wondering how many other threats against her would materialize. “Maybe I shouldn’t have burnt down the city hall in Ringhmon. But you can tell when a Dark Mage is close?”

“I should be able to, yes.”

“All right. That’s one more thing we have to keep an eye out for. Let’s get out of here before someone else attacks us.”

The barges which floated down the Silver River into Dorcastle, carrying the crops grown on the farms of the Bakre Confederation and the goods built in the workshops of Danalee, rode the last stage of their journey through a series of locks which carried them past the rushing waters where the Silver River plunged down past Dorcastle into the harbor. Once safely at sea level, the barges went to an inner harbor surrounded by warehouses. There they tied up alongside lengthy piers, offloading their cargo and awaiting imports from the sea-going ships arriving at Dorcastle. Once loaded again, the barges would undertake the long, arduous journey back up the Silver River, completing the circle of trade that enriched Dorcastle and much of the Bakre Confederation.

But that circle had been broken lately, as the ships already there remained in Dorcastle’s harbor and new ships stayed away for fear of the dragons terrorizing the city. The warehouses were packed to the brim with cargo waiting to go out to sea, and nothing was coming in to go back up the river. As a result, the number of barges had grown steadily, until the inner harbor was filled with them and their increasingly restive crews.

Alain and Mari had chosen a place on top of a flat-roofed two-story building where they could sit unobserved and watch the inner harbor area. As the sun sank, the workers at the warehouses left for their homes, leaving the sailors on the barges where they lived. Some of the sailors who still had a little money to spend wandered into town, looking for entertainment in the nearby inns, but most stayed on their boats, huddled around small cooking fires in the boxes of sand that served as the barge kitchens. Alain could hear Mari muttering angrily to herself occasionally as the night wore on and the sailors sat up talking, gambling, and singing. She had been on edge ever since the attempt to kidnap her. In a Mage that would have been improper, but since Mari was a Mechanic, Alain could not fault her. And if someone in Dorcastle already knew or suspected who Mari was, that she was the daughter named in the old prophecy, her reactions actually displayed great composure in the face of such a threat.

By midnight, almost all of the sailors had packed themselves off to sleep. A trickle of foot traffic still existed as party-goers wandered back in twos and threes. “Do sailors ever sleep?” Mari grumbled.

“It is growing quiet,” Alain reassured her. “We can move soon.” He had noticed that the Mechanic was much more impatient than the Mages he was used to associating with. Apparently she felt time pass in a different way, speaking of short periods as if they held great importance and must be measured exactly. Alain had refrained from asking Mari about that tonight, however, as she had seemed very irritable on the subject of how much time had gone by while they watched the sailors.

He felt a lingering urgency himself from the vision of the oncoming storm. Was that what drove Mari as well? The same sense that danger loomed and must be dealt with?

Seeking some subject to distract her, he looked upward, seeing the tapestry of the stars standing out brilliantly against the black of night. “You do not believe that Mechanics came from the stars, as your Guild claims?”

She gave him a cross look, then took on a more companionable expression with an obvious effort. “Didn’t we talk about that once? Officially, yes, we’re the superior beings from the stars. I personally think it was just made up to make the Guild seem more powerful or mysterious or whatever. Aside from our skills, we seem to be just like everyone else.”

“Do you know of any other group who believes they came from the stars?”

“No.” Mari’s expression changed to curiosity. “Why are you asking? I mean, that would just be a ridiculous myth.”

“Perhaps.” Alain gestured upward. “There is an oddity in history. You asked me of the last few centuries when we talked of Tiae and other events, but before that we know of the oldest cities, places like Landfall the Ancient, Larharbor, and Altis, which were of course much smaller when they started. And we know when people left those cities to found new ones. But nowhere does it say where the people of the oldest cities came from.”

“They came from…” Mari waved a hand vaguely. “Around those places.”

“There are no older towns, no settlements, no ruins. Only the oldest cities. I checked on that when I went through Landfall. There are no signs of any human presence older than the city itself, and the oldest portions of the city show planning. It was not the haphazard growth which happens when no authority is ordering events.”

She gave him a perplexed look. “Really? That’s sort of strange. How could a city full of people just show up from nowhere? It makes me wonder if maybe the Western Continent really exists and they came from there. But if there is such a place, and people were there, why haven’t they kept coming?”

“Or perhaps they came from the stars?”

“I’d need some proof of that.” Mari shook her head. “I’m not sure what difference it would make, anyway. Say we did come from the stars. Why would that matter now?”

Alain considered that. “I do not know. I have a feeling that it is somehow important, but cannot say why. At the least it would mean that, somewhere among those stars we see, there are others looking up at us as we look upon them.”

She stared upward. “That’s sort of wild to think about. Do you know that you can be almost poetic at times, Alain? But there’s the same problem as I mentioned before. If we came here from the stars, why hasn’t anyone else come here from there?”

“It could be the journey is too long or too difficult.”

“That I can believe. How far away are the stars, anyway? The Guild discourages any actual study of the heavens.” Mari gave him a sharp look. “I wonder what’s up there that I’m not supposed to see? I can’t believe it matters, but if it doesn’t, why doesn’t the Guild want people studying the stars? I know someone who wanted to build a far-seer that would let them view the moon better.” Calu, enthusiastic as he outlined the design for a scaled-up version of what Mechanics used to see longer distances on land and sea. Calu, abashed as Senior Mechanics tongue-lashed him for improper experimentation and wasted effort. “He wasn’t allowed.”

She dropped her gaze back to the rows of barges alongside the piers, then stood up and stretched, stiff from the long wait. “We’ll have to leave questions about the origin of everything for another time. It’s as quiet as it’ll get. Let’s go for a walk.”

“All right.” Alain saw the smile that she turned on him as he used her phrase. He had guessed that Mari might be pleased to have him say it. How strange it felt to correctly anticipate the emotional reaction of another.

He stretched out his muscles as well, then followed her down the fire stairs on one side of the building. Once they reached the ground, he had to speed up to walk beside her, as Mari started off at a rapid pace. She might complain of others looking to her for direction, but Mari had a habit of taking the lead. “We might want to walk slower so we do not seem so obvious,” Alain suggested. Everyone else they had seen in the area for a while had been ambling along as if they had no need to be anywhere soon.

Mari grumbled something under her breath, but slowed her walking. “Thanks for pointing that out.”

“Thank you for listening to me,” Alain said.

She gave him a startled look. “That’s right. Your elders don’t listen to you, either. I’m so grateful that you listen to me that I forget how important it is for me to listen to you.”

“Even when you forget, you listen,” Alain said. “That is important to me.”

Mari mumbled something, looking embarrassed, then made an obvious effort of focusing back on the barges.

“What are we looking for?” he asked. “Just a barge? There are many.”

She took a moment to answer as she thought it through. “We want a low-riding barge. You can see most of these are riding high because they’ve offloaded their cargo. But the one we want would still have a lot of heavy stuff aboard.” Mari hesitated. “I’m not sure what else. When we see any low-riding barges, we’ll take a closer look and maybe spot something else.”

They started down the piers in turn, moving quietly past barge after barge, the only sounds the creaking of wood and the gentle lapping of the inner harbor’s waters, punctuated by an occasional snore from aboard one of the barges. The barges varied a bit in size, and were painted different colors which were hard to distinguish in the darkness, but otherwise were distressingly the same.

After going down two piers and seeing nothing, Mari stopped and looked angry. “This is going to take all night.”

Alain, agreeing with her, scanned the inner harbor. He paused as he got a glimpse of shadows moving between the barges two piers down from where they were.

“What is it? Do you see something?” Mari asked.

“Wait.” He watched carefully, finally rewarded by another sight of a dark shape moving along the water. “A barge is underway, but it is headed toward the warehouses, not the harbor.”

Mari craned her neck to see, then beckoned to Alain. “Come on. There’s no good reason a barge should be moving at this hour. Maybe that’s who we’re looking for.”

It was not easy to move quickly along the piers without making noise, but they managed it, reaching the end just in time to see a barge riding low in the water ease inside the broad, open doors of a warehouse that like some others extended out over the water and contained an enclosed dock. As soon as the barge’s stern cleared the doors, they were silently swung shut.

“That’s it,” Mari breathed. “It’s got to be.” She starting walking at a fast pace toward the warehouse, Alain following despite his doubts about the wisdom of so openly approaching a possible enemy position.

Reaching the large building, which was partly made of wood and partly of masonry, Mari kept going until she found a small side door giving access to the inside. “Locked. Like that’s a problem.” She pulled out something from one of her jacket pockets.

“Mari,” Alain said in a low voice. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to pick this lock, then I’m going inside this warehouse to find the proof of what’s really going on here,” she muttered, going to one knee and examining the lock as she had the ones in the dungeon of Ringhmon.

“But there are those inside. Those crewing the barge and those who operated the doors, at least. Possibly more.”

“Yeah.” She had brought out one of her tools and was applying it to the lock. “So?”

Alain tried not to stare at Mari, who was patiently working away at the lock. “There may be more enemies inside that warehouse than we can deal with,” he explained.

“I don’t hear a crowd in there,” Mari replied, her voice stubborn.

“They could be quiet.”

“We’ll be quiet, too.”

“Wait,” Alain said. “Mari, this is not wise. I was told to evaluate a foe before attacking. We have no idea how many we could be facing, what weapons they might have— ”

“We have to have better evidence if we’re to convince anyone that the barge and this warehouse are involved with the so called dragon attacks!” Mari insisted. “We need proof. We need proof that no one can deny. Everybody keeps telling me that I don’t know what I’m doing and refuses to listen to me! What’s in here can change that. We need to know what it is.”

“This could be very dangerous,” Alain said.

She paused, eyeing him. “How dangerous? Is that a guess? Or your, um, foresight?”

Alain hesitated. The temptation to say whatever he wanted to say was strong. And, after all, his misgivings might be the result of his foresight. But he knew that was not the case, and Alain knew he did not want to lie to Mari even if truth did not exist. “It is a guess. My assessment.”

“Alain, I respect that,” Mari said. “I do. But my guess is that we need to check this out and we need to do it now. I got attacked again today, so I do feel a little urgency to learn exactly what I’m dealing with here.”

“Mari…” What was the right word to use? When it was not a command but a request? Mages never used such words. But Alain remembered being in the dungeon in Ringhmon, recalled Mari asking for his help in getting her tools. She had used the word. “We should go carefully. Please.”

“You said please?” She looked at him, then away. “What did that take? Are you really feeling that much concern about this?”

“Yes. For you.”

“That is so not fair.” Mari ran both hands through her hair, looking down. “Alain, I’m not planning on charging into there and making noise and everything. I want to scout it out. Carefully. Just like you said. Maybe I’ve been rushing things a little just now because success is so close. I can feel it. But I will be careful in there. You’re feeling emotions and they may be a bit overwhelming. I am flattered that you’re worried about me. But this is important. Don’t we need to know who is after me and why?”

“Yes,” Alain agreed.

“Whatever is in there is very likely to be the kind of evidence, the kind of proof, that no one can pretend not to see, or stuff into a drawer and forget about. This isn’t just about me.” Mari paused, her expression shifting to distress. “I’ve learned that things are being ignored. Very important things. If my Guild doesn’t start dealing with those things, doesn’t start admitting some problems exist, then…then this world will be like a boiler with too much pressure inside. Sooner or later, it will explode.”

He looked down at where Mari crouched next to the lock. “As Tiae has?”

“Yes. Like we talked about earlier. Like Tiae. Or like those animals in the pen.” She pointed to the door. “But if I can get strong enough proof, it might be enough to change things, to start changing things here. I just want to fix what is broken. That’s what a Mechanic should do. Will you help me, Alain?”

As he listened to Mari’s earnest words, Alain thought of the storm in his vision sweeping down upon the second sun in the sky. What happened now would either help Mari fight that storm, or perhaps put an end to the future only she could bring. What happened now could perhaps doom the world illusion to the eventual fate of Tiae and worse.

It did not matter, his Mage training told him. The world illusion did not matter. What mattered to him was the young woman who knelt by the door, the shadow who called herself Mari. A shadow the storm would utterly destroy to prevent her from bringing the new day of hope to this world.

The elder had said that his choices mattered, and now he understood just how much that was so. Part of him wanted to stop Mari, to try to keep her safe no matter what, but that would be selfish, an act like that of the Mage elders who clung to power. Mari would insist on trying to help others no matter what Alain did. He understood her well enough already to know that.

Alain remembered the graves of his parents and thought of countless other parents dying if that storm swept this world, countless children dying as well or left unprotected, while the Mage Guild and the Mechanics Guild fortified their Halls and held out as long as possible against the bedlam that the world had become before they, too, fell. How much time was left before that storm struck?

He knew that no matter what his training told him, he would not allow such a thing to happen if he could help prevent it. And the only way he could help prevent it was by helping the daughter of the prophecy, no matter how much he feared for her safety. “I will help you,” Alain told Mari. “Not just because it is you who ask, but because you seek to do the right thing.”

She smiled in a way he had not seen before. “You know what the right thing means, now?”

“Yes. I will help you do the right thing. But do not forget that there are limits to my powers,” Alain added.

“I know. All you can do is walk through walls and bend light and stuff,” Mari replied in her sarcasm voice, still smiling at him. “Listen,” she said, earnest again, “I’ve been thinking. We survived the attack on the caravan. That took both of us, working together. Then we got out of the city hall in Ringhmon together. Separately, we couldn’t have done that. But together our skills add up to something more than just a sum. I really think that. Because Mages and Mechanics don’t work together, do they? Never. Something designed to handle a Mage isn’t very good at handling a Mechanic, and something a Mechanic can't handle a Mage can . You and I work together, so we can handle anything that comes up.”

He nodded to her. “Yes. Mages and Mechanics working together. You have already done this.”

“We’ve both done it.” Mari grinned and pumped her fist in triumph at Alain’s agreement. Turning back to the lock, she worked again for a few moments until a soft click announced her success. Before opening the door, Mari knelt by her bag, putting on the holster which held her weapon, then her Mechanics jacket over that. “Do you want to get into Mage gear?”

“My robes? No. If we are seen, if they do not already know who you are, it will be better if no one knows a Mage and a Mechanic are side by side.”

“Good point.” Taking the weapon in one hand and leaving her empty bag on the ground, Mari eased the door open slowly, sliding in as soon as the gap was large enough.

Alain slipped in behind Mari, who carefully closed the door behind them. They were in a narrow open lane running next to the wall, facing a tall barrier of wooden crates in various states of dilapidation. Mari listened intently, then gestured to Alain, leading him to the right.

The crates proved to be stacked into walls two crates deep, with passageways of varying widths running between them in a mazelike arrangement. The height of the crate stacks also varied but was generally well above their heads, blocking off sight. Higher up, the flickering light of oil lamps reflected off of a lofty ceiling. Alain could hear voices and the occasional sounds of large objects being moved. Mari, using those noises to orient herself, cautiously led the way through the maze.

They were close to the sounds when Mari paused and went to one knee, examining something resting on a crate. The object was metal and looked to Alain like a Mechanic device. “No makers’ marks,” she whispered. “No workshop codes. My Guild didn’t construct this.”

“Then you have found what you sought?”

“A small part of it,” Mari said.

She headed closer to the sounds while Alain looked around, seeking any trace of warning from his foresight or other senses.

Finally they reached what must be the last wall of crates. Mari pointed upward, and they carefully climbed the wooden crates, trying not to make a sound. Reaching the top, Alain crawled with Mari along the top of the crates until they could see the rest of the warehouse.

A large area opened up ahead, leading to a dock with a small wooden pier to which a barge was tied up., The big warehouse doors leading out to the open water were still sealed. On the opposite side of the open area was what must be the main door of the warehouse, providing access to one of the roads on the landward side. Within the open area and on the barge, a group of commons, men and women, were working. The sides of the structure on top of the barge had been taken down so that what was within it could be seen.

Mari pointed to one object after another, murmuring just loudly enough for Alain to hear. “Steam boiler. Collapsible funnel for the steam boiler, so they could raise it when needed and lower it the rest of the time and no one could see it. Winches powered by the steam. I wonder if it also ties in to a propulsion screw beneath the barge? That would really help them move around. What do you think?”

“I think I have understood about one word in five of what you are saying,” Alain replied.

She grinned, then pointed again. “See those iron-tipped timbers? Braces. That’s what made those marks on the cliff face and provided stand-off so the barge didn’t get caught in the collapse of the rail trestle. And look at those. Hooks shaped like really big claws on the end of the cables that the winches pull in. We’ve found our dragons, Alain. Those people down there are working on it, but they’re not wearing Mechanics Guild jackets. We’ve found our Dark Mechanics.” She pointed to one side, where a big man stood. “Doesn’t he look familiar?”

“It is the same one who tried to kidnap you earlier,” Alain agreed. “The one I knocked unconscious.” Her certainty about what they were seeing impressed him, even though he could not grasp her descriptions of what they had found. But the objects in the barge were definitely Mechanic work. Alain took in the many Dark Mechanics below, not liking the odds if they were discovered. “Should we go?”

Mari chewed her lip, plainly reluctant. “I’ll have to convince a bunch of other Mechanics to come here, but if I can get even one or two others to see this, it should be the lever I need. It’s the best I’ll get unless we steal that barge.”

“You wish to steal the barge?” Alain asked, trying to think up a plan that might succeed in doing that.

“No. I’m not that crazy,” Mari said. “But if there was any way to do that it sure would—”

Both of them froze as someone banged loudly on the main entrance to the warehouse. The commons in the warehouse stopped their work, staring silently toward the door, then all of them produced weapons of various kinds. A woman who seemed to be in charge beckoned to two others who had grabbed crossbows, then walked to the door, a knife at ready.

Alain could not see the woman’s reaction when she peered through the door’s security peephole, but he did not have to. “There is a Dark Mage there. At least one,” he murmured to Mari.

Mari frowned at him. “The Dark Mechanics are working with Dark Mages?”

“I doubt that. Even Dark Mages are Mages. They disregard Mechanics, considering them beneath notice.”

Anything else Mari might have planned on saying was cut short as the leader of the Dark Mechanics opened the door. Alain could just make out a lean, middle aged man with a hawk nose. He did not wear Mage robes, but the power that hung around him announced his status clearly to another Mage. “A strange place to find dragons,” the Dark Mage announced impassively.

The Dark Mechanic leader shifted her hold on her knife so it was ready to stab. “You’ve got a very short time to convince me not to kill you.”

The Dark Mage shook his head. “My comrades would take that poorly, and you do not want that. We hold this place in the palms of our hands. Should we choose to close our hands, you will all die and lose all that is here.” The emotionless monotony of his voice was in strange contrast to the threatening words.

“You’re a Mage,” the Dark Mechanic spat.

“That should not bother you. You already have a Mage here.”

Alain saw all of the Dark Mechanics start with surprise. His efforts to hide his presence from other Mages clearly had not been effective enough. “The Dark Mages sensed me,” he breathed to Mari. “They have been following me. That is how they found this place. They may have been watching us for some time.”

“Great,” Mari muttered back. “We’ve been chasing Dark Mechanics, and Dark Mechanics and Dark Mages have been chasing us. Do they know exactly where you are in here? Is this anything like the thread?”

“No, it is very different. They can sense my general location, but that cannot lead them directly to me. They know that I am inside the building. If I use a spell, they will be able to find me.”

“Let’s not do that, then,” Mari said.

Down below, the leader of the Dark Mechanics was glowering at the Dark Mage. “A Mage?” she said scornfully. “Here? That’s a lie, but since you’re a Mage, that’s no surprise. What do you want?”

“A piece of the action,” the Dark Mage said with emotionless calm. “We have been wondering who was behind these dragon acts, and now we know. If you do not wish us to inform others—perhaps the Mage Guild in this city, or the Mechanics Guild—you will agree to pay us half of whatever you make. Half before expenses.”

Dark Mages, Alain thought, must know a great deal about money and such things as paying. But the Dark Mage’s offer did not sit well with the Dark Mechanic. Even from where he was Alain could see the Dark Mechanic’s face darken with anger. “No deal. Because killing you would be a distraction, I’ll agree to give you one tenth. After expenses. Not a single bit more.”

“One half.”

“One tenth!”

“One half.”

Snarling, the leader of the Dark Mechanics swung her knife forward, but her target vanished as the Dark Mage invoked a concealment spell. Alain could see the Dark Mage still, as a pale pillar of fire that marked his use of power. That pillar leaped back as the Dark Mechanic fruitlessly swung her knife through the space where the Dark Mage had been. With a growl of disgust, the Dark Mechanic slammed the door, locked it, and faced her comrades. “Get everything together. We have to move it all tonight, as fast as possible.”

“What if those Mages try anything?” one of the others asked.

“Just get moving! Get a good head of steam up on the barge!”

As the Dark Mechanics began running around, Alain tapped Mari’s shoulder. “We must leave quickly. I sense a Mage preparing a spell of great power somewhere nearby.”

She gave him an alarmed glance, then wriggled backwards to drop back to the floor. Alain followed, staying close as Mari moved quickly back toward the side door, trusting the noise the Dark Mechanics were making to cover the sound of their retreat.

“Hey! Who the blazes— ?”

Alain saw a Dark Mechanic staring their way from the end of the lane they were in.

The Dark Mechanic shouted again. “There are some commons in here! No, one of them is a Mechanic!”

Mari brought her pistol up, but the Dark Mechanic dodged away and out of sight. Mari took the next right, then kept ducking through the maze of crates, running. Alain followed, hoping that Mari had some idea where she was going.

As it turned out, it was in the wrong direction. They burst out into the open area, where Dark Mechanics were turning to look, point and raise weapons. Behind them Alain could hear other Dark Mechanics pursuing them through the crates.

He would have hesitated then, deciding on a course of action, and been quickly trapped as the Dark Mechanics closed in. But Mari moved instantly, not pausing at all. “Come on!” she yelled, grabbing Alain and running full out for the main door.

Crossbows sang and bolts tore past, thudding into walls or crates. A Dark Mechanic reached the entry first, holding a knife at ready. Still running, Mari raised her pistol and the Dark Mechanic scrambled away, yelling. “She’s got a pistol! Shoot her!”

As they got closer to the door, Mari gasped with anger. “I forgot. It’s locked.”

“I will take care of it,” Alain replied. “Keep running!” Concentrating despite the weapons being aimed at them and the solid door coming rapidly closer, Alain managed to make a section of the door vanish just before Mari reached it.

Mari made a disbelieving noise but went through the opening as another crossbow bolt tore into the door frame. Alain followed right behind as they ran onto the darkened road in front of the warehouse, letting his spell relax so that the door would reappear behind him. It would take the Dark Mechanics a few moments to get the door unlocked, allowing them time to—

Alain reached out and pulled Mari to an abrupt halt. She glared at him in disbelief. “We need to get away. Why are you stopping us?”

“Because of that,” Alain advised, pointing down the road. The Dark Mage he had sensed at work had completed his spell.

Mari looked that way, then stared, her mouth falling open.