The Dragons of Dorcastle

Chapter Sixteen

“It is a dragon,” Alain explained. “An actual dragon. Not a very big one, but still dangerous.” The creature’s head did not even come up to the top of the warehouses on either side, so it was only about the height of three people. But its armored scales winked in the dim light and its powerful hind legs drove it toward them as the dragon charged, the huge claws on its smaller forearms extended, its powerful tail raised behind to balance it.

Mari spun around and yanked Alain back toward the warehouse entrance. “Can it breathe fire?” she gasped as they ran.

“How could a dragon breathe fire? They are just very large and powerful creatures, as you see. We discussed this.”

“I’m having a little trouble concentrating on past conversations!” Mari yelled.

Dark Mechanics had managed to unlock the door and were spilling out of the warehouse in pursuit of Mari and Alain when she ran full tilt into them, bulling through the startled enemies before they realized that their quarry had changed direction.

The dragon roared as it sighted the Dark Mechanics, who stood paralyzed for a moment before stampeding back through the entry as well, the last ones slamming and relocking the door, then bracing themselves against it.

Mari and Alain ran across the open area and had just about reached the crates again when the door and the surrounding wall burst inward in a mass of splintering wood, followed by the dragon. The Dark Mechanics who had tried to hold the door shut flew in all directions, some hitting the floor to lie still and others stumbling to their feet and limping frantically away.

Crossbows were firing again, the bolts glancing harmlessly from the dragon’s scales. One of the Dark Mechanics had produced an old Mechanic weapon and fired, the crash of the shot followed by a clunk as the projectile struck the dragon and fell harmlessly to the floor.

Dark Mechanics were running in all directions as the dragon snapped at anyone within reach. But then the creature caught sight of Mari and Alain and with another roar sprang after them.

“Why is it chasing us?” Mari screamed as they ducked in among the crates again.

“It saw us first,” Alain explained. “Dragons are not very intelligent. I told you that as well.” She gave him a murderous look. Perhaps it was not the best time to remind Mari that he had already told her things. “It will keep after its target until that target is destroyed or for as long as the dragon can move.”

“Tell me you’re not serious!” Mari jerked to a halt as the shape of the dragon loomed before them, its head above the level of the crates as it searched the open aisles between. Catching sight of them, the dragon roared, revealing a mouthful of daggerlike teeth as it slammed into the intervening crates to try to reach them.

Mari stood her ground, her expression determined, holding her weapon with both hands as she fired several times, the sounds of the shots echoing deafeningly from the crates around them. Her projectiles glanced off the scales with bursts of sparks, just as useless against the dragon’s armor as the weapons of the Dark Mechanics had been.

Mari’s attack had caused the dragon to pause for a moment, giving Alain time to concentrate. He built as powerful a fireball as he could manage in the time available, then placed it against the monster’s head.

Nearby wooden crates exploded into flaming fragments as the dragon roared with pain as well as fury this time. The scales on one side of its head had been blackened with heat, but it did not seem to have been hurt badly.

Mari grabbed Alain again and pulled him along into the maze of crates, taking lefts and rights in quick succession. They ran past some of the Dark Mechanics, also fleeing with no more thought of trying to catch intruders. “Was that your best shot?” Mari gasped as she leaned against some crates to catch her breath.

“Do you mean was that my most powerful fire? Yes,” Alain admitted. “I still need to grow my abilities.”

“Great. My weapon can’t kill it and neither can yours.” Mari stared forward, her face intent. “It’s going to keep after us until it’s dead?”

“It is not alive—”

“Answer the question!”

“Yes,” Alain said. “It will kill or destroy anyone and anything else that gets in its way before then, of course. If we survive long enough, the creature’s spell will expire even if it has not been destroyed.”

“How long is long enough?”

Alain spread his hands. “Perhaps a few days.”

“That’s way too long.” Mari paused as a hissing sound came to them over the sounds of the dragon crashing through the crates. “I thought you said they didn’t hiss.”

“That is not the dragon,” Alain said, trying to identify the sound and failing.

“It’s the steam boiler on the barge,” Mari gasped. “The Dark Mechanics fired it up before this mess started and they’ve forgotten about it.” Her eyes lit with hope. “We’ve got another weapon, Alain.”

“We do?”

“Yeah. We just have to survive long enough to get to it.” As if summoned by her words, the dragon’s head appeared, darting down toward them, crates splintering and flying to either side as it lunged. Mari held her weapon in both hands again, now looking stubborn as well as scared, aiming carefully as the dragon reared back for another strike.

She fired a single shot.

Alain saw the projectile from Mari’s weapon hit just beneath one eye and shatter, fragments pelting the dragon’s eye. It screamed in rage and pain, the sound so intense the air itself seemed to pulse with its power.

“Go left!” Mari urged, darting past the creature’s blinded side as she grabbed Alain once more and led them through a couple of more turns before skidding to a halt as they faced a solid wall of crates. “We’re dead.”

“No.” Alain concentrated, even though his strength was draining rapidly. For a moment he wondered if he could manage the spell, but as his fear for Mari peaked he felt her presence more strongly, felt the thread between them, and sensed a small additional surge of strength from somewhere. An opening appeared in the crates before them. Mari dashed through the opening, Alain following. Moments later he heard the dragon crashing around in the area they had left, trying to figure out where its prey could have gone.

Mari headed back into the open area, running toward the barge. The leader of the Dark Mechanics, scurrying past in another direction, turned to face them with a livid expression and opened her mouth, but when Mari pointed her weapon at her, the Dark Mechanic wheeled away and ran.

With a leap, Mari jumped onto the barge’s deck, running to the big Mechanic creature she called a boiler. Alain followed, seeing the dragon’s head where it was floundering through the crates, hurling aside broken wood and the occasional Dark Mechanic as it searched for Mari and Alain. But they and the barge were to the monster’s left, unseen thanks to the damage done by Mari’s last shot.

Mari was crouched near a very large barrel which radiated heat, her hands spinning some wheels attached to it or on things leading into or out of it. “Wire or rope. We need wire or rope,” she gasped.

Alain looked around, faded memories of his earliest years on his parents’ farm coming back to him. He spotted a coil hanging from a hook. “Will this do?”

She grabbed it gratefully. “I hope so.” Hastening to one side the barrel, Mari started winding the rope around something high up, over and over again until all of the rope had been used up, then knotting it hastily.

Alain took another look at the dragon, which had reduced most of the crates to splinters and was digging through the remains while the few surviving Dark Mechanics near it tried to crawl away.

Mari came up beside Alain and grabbed his arm, not to direct him this time but apparently for comfort. Her face was very pale and her eyes frightened, but she spoke with forced calm. “All right. I’ve opened the fuel valves all the way. The pressure in that boiler is going up fast, but I closed off the steam exhaust pipes and I’ve tied down the relief valve. When the pressure gets high enough the boiler will explode with enough force to hurt even something like that dragon. I hope.”

“You are frightened of this boiler,” Alain said.

“Alain, an over-pressured boiler is incredibly destructive. It may well kill us instead of the dragon, but it’s our only chance.”

Alain nodded. “How do we get the dragon here when your device explodes?”

“If the boiler is close enough to blowing, having that monster step on it or crash into it will finish the job,” Mari explained. “As to how to get it here, I was hoping you knew how to do that. Being that you’re my expert on dragons.”

“The only way to get it here is to show it a reason.” Alain nodded again, this time slowly, not having to think through his decision. “One of us must act as bait, so I will—”

“No!” Mari shouted. “You will not act as bait! You can’t judge when the boiler is close to blowing, and I won’t let you die saving me! Nor will I leave you or anyone else to face something like this alone. Is that understood, Alain? If that’s what we have to do, then I’ll do it while you go—”

It was Alain’s turn to interrupt. “I cannot allow you to die saving me. I will not leave, either.”

She glared at him, then unexpectedly smiled in a sad way. “You’re as stubborn as I am, Alain. We’ll do it together. All right? When I give the word, follow me and run like your life depends on it, because it will.” Her hand shifted from his arm, reaching down to clasp his hand tightly.

They waited, Mari glancing back at the Mechanic device behind them. Alain took a firmer grip on the bag containing his robes, surprised that he had not lost it during all of the running and fighting. He could feel the increasing heat coming off the boiler and hear it roaring and hissing ever louder. Metal pinged and groaned in a way that sounded more frightening than the dragon did.

Her hand gripped his, and even amid the fear and danger he marveled at the feeling that came with that contact. If we die holding hands in this way, will we enter the next dream together?

Mari took one more look at the Mechanic boiler, bit her lip, then looked at him. “I’m going to say this because in another minute we may be dead, and I don’t want to die not having told you. I love you.”

Before he could reply, or even try to grasp her words, Mari had aimed her weapon at where the dragon was still rooting around in the mess of broken and battered crates. “Hey, ugly!” she yelled. “Come and get some!” She fired, the projectile sparking off the side of the dragon.

Its head jerked around, the right eye finally focusing on Mari and Alain, then the creature leaped out of the wreckage around it and dashed straight for them.

Mari stood, her face paler than ever, her hand holding the weapon shaking. Her other hand still gripped Alain’s. “Now,” she breathed, then burst into motion like a scared cat.

Alain tried not to slow them down as Mari scrambled over the deck of the barge, the dragon roaring as it came on behind but its cries not matching the rising thunder from the Mechanic boiler inside the barge.

The dragon was almost to the barge when Mari reached the bow. “Dive deep and stay down!” she yelled as they jumped.

The water swallowed them into a strange silence and cold, the noise of the Mechanic device and that of the dragon muted and distorted. Alain had lost his grip on Mari when they hit the water, but he did as she said, stroking downward until he reached the mud of the bottom and trying to hold himself there.

The world shook.

A wave of pressure swept across Alain, hurling him tumbling through water suddenly opaque with mud swept from the bottom. Half-stunned by the force of the wave, Alain struggled to reach the surface. He broke it, taking in deep lungsful of air, wondering why the lights inside the warehouse were all gone, and only slowly realizing that he still had a death-grip on his bag.

Heavy objects were splashing into the water around him. Alain looked upward, baffled, seeing stars in the night sky through a massive hole framed by shattered fragments of the warehouse roof. Pieces of the warehouse flung high into the air were still falling back to the ground.

Looking around, Alain saw that the warehouse walls were also shattered. The entire part of the barge above the waterline had almost vanished, and the pier it had been tied to had been reduced to matchsticks.

Off to one side, the massive bulk of the dragon twitched, then lay unmoving, apparently hurled there by the force of the Mechanic boiler’s explosion.

Where is Mari? Alain looked around frantically. Finally spotting a dark jacket, Alain lunged that way through the water.

Mari was floating on her back, more badly stunned than Alain had been. But her eyes were open and focused. “Are you all right?” he gasped.

“Uh…yeah.” He helped her to the pier, where they painfully climbed up the remains of the wood to the floor of the warehouse. Mari glanced back at the dead dragon and the wreckage. “This is why you don’t tie down relief valves on boilers,” she said in a voice almost as calm as that of a Mage, as if she were giving a lecture.

“How did we survive?” Alain wondered.

“The boiler was above the water when it blew, so almost all of the force vented above and to the sides, unfortunately for the dragon and fortunately for us. I did plan on that, you know.” Mari shook her head and looked around. “We’ve got to get out of here before people come to investigate this. Are the Dark Mages still around?”

“I do not sense any nearby. If any of them had come close to the warehouse, they probably regretted it when your Mechanic boiler exploded.”

“Yeah. Come on.” They staggered to their feet and stumbled through the wreckage. Getting out was fairly simple, since most of the warehouse walls had been blown out. People bearing torches and oil lights were running toward them, and Mari led Alain off at an angle. More people appeared, though, coming their way fast. Finding a dark alcove, Mari pulled Alain in with her, waiting as rescuers dashed past heading for the warehouse.

They were close together inside the alcove. Alain could feel her body moving as Mari tried to catch her breath, could feel the warmth of her. He felt an urge to pull her even closer and fought it off only with great difficulty. Then Alain heard her breath shudder.

“You stayed with me,” Mari whispered, and a moment later one of her hands grabbed one of his again.

“I would not leave you to face danger alone,” Alain answered, wondering once more at the sensations inside him from her touch.

Mari’s voice turned despairing as she held his hand tightly. “I am in so much trouble.”

“No one can blame you for what happened in the warehouse.”

“Oh, you big, dumb, wonderful Mage, I’m not talking about the warehouse. Do…do you like me? A lot?”

“Yes, Mari.”

“Oh, no,” she groaned.

“You said…on the barge…you said…” He could not seem to get the words out.

“Yeah. I did.”

“Did you…?”

“Yeah. I meant it.” Her hand released his and both arms came around him, her hug so tight as to be almost painful. “But, Alain…oh, blazes…we can’t.”

His mind filled with a roaring in which the only thing outside himself was her. Alain’s arms came around her loosely, awkwardly. He had not held anyone in so long, not since being taken by the Mages, that he was not sure how to do it.

The moment ended as Mari abruptly broke her grip on him. “We…we should go,” she said as she stumbled away.

He followed, wondering what had just happened, as they went out into the growing crowd on this roadway. In the dark, the fact that they were soaking wet wasn’t obvious, and they were able to move through the onlookers until the crowds thinned out and Mari could find a deserted street.

Only then did she lean against a wall, looking at Alain with a wan smile. “Do you know, back when I was taking Basic Steam Engine Mechanics the instructor told us ‘Never tie down a safety valve. The only one of you who would ever do that is probably Apprentice Mari, but I hope even she will avoid doing it just to see what happens.’ And I did do it!” Mari said with a forced laugh.

Alain had been taught so stringently not to laugh that he could not summon the same hilarity even amid the elation of unlooked-for survival, but he was barely able to avoid smiling. “Our elders should be impressed by what we accomplished, but somehow I do not think they will be.”

“You’re amazing, Alain!” Mari’s smile became rueful. “I can’t believe we survived that. Go ahead. Say it.”

“Say what?” Alain asked.

“You know what I mean! You were right. Going in that warehouse was a dangerous thing to do.”

Alain shook his head. “Yes, but together we were able to handle the danger, and the Dark Mechanic threat to you in Dorcastle has very likely been eliminated. You were also right.”

“I was also right? Ohhh nooo.” Mari had lost all of her attempt at humor, once again sounding as despairing as she had when they were in the alcove together. “You have the perfect chance to say ‘I told you so,’ but instead you find a way to say I was right, too. What’s the matter with you, Alain? You listen to me, you believe in me, you respect me and you care about me. You’re honest and smart and brave and resourceful. You never ask for anything for yourself and you’re always there when I need you. Where are your flaws? You were supposed to have flaws. Do you have to be perfect? Except for what I can fix, that voice and that face that doesn’t show anything?”

“I am not perfect,” Alain objected. “All of those things you said, they are true of you. You listen to me, you believe…” He had trouble bringing out the words for a moment. “You are also smart and brave, and can do anything, it seems. You have saved me when it seemed impossible. Mari, do you know how hard it is to slay a dragon? Any Mage who can do so earns great respect. We have survived. I do not understand why you are upset.”

Mari shook her head. “I’m unhappy because I wanted to find those flaws so I could find reasons not to feel…like I do. I wanted to learn about all of the things wrong with you. And you just wouldn’t cooperate. This can’t work, Alain! It can’t happen! Don’t you know that? What will your Guild do to you if they know about me? Tell me the truth.”

He knew some emotions were showing on his face, knew she could see bewilderment and something else, something he could not comprehend, but he could not control his expression at this moment. “It did work, Mari. We have found those behind the dragon illusion, we have destroyed their creation and the place they worked from—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Mari was slumping against the wall now, her expression distressed, her eyes fixed on him. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. And you’re not answering my question.”

His stomach seemed to tying itself into a knot. “I…”

“Do you feel anything?” She was pleading now. “Am I being a total idiot? You said you like me. Do you? Do you know what that means? Are there emotions still buried down inside you or have I just imagined that?”

“I…feel.” He stared back at her, wondering what his face revealed.

“It’s my fault, isn’t it? You were all right before you met me, you were a Mage and you were happy.”

It was Alain’s turn to shake his head. “I am still a Mage. I was not happy. I did not know what happiness was. I had forgotten. But now I have met you and I remember some things and feel other things that—”

“No!” Mari turned her face away from him. “Don’t say it. It’s impossible. Now answer my question, Alain. What will your Guild do to you if they learn that…that a Mechanic is in love with you.”

“That would be a cause for discussion,” Alain said. “Cause to decide if I could exploit the situation for the good of the Mage Guild. Cause to debate what should be done to her. But I would be eliminated as a danger to the Mage Guild if my Guild learned that I was…in…love…with a Mechanic.”

“Are you really?” Mari asked, her eyes searching his. “Stars above, you are. I’ve messed up everything.”

She seemed to need some praise, some commendation to make her feel better. Alain, who had been taught as an acolyte never to say nice things, cast around for anything, saying whatever he could think of. “You do not mess up all things. You have defeated the dragons of Dorcastle.” She almost smiled. He could see it. What else to say? Discuss her abilities, just as if she were a fellow Mage. “You are a very dangerous person, Master Mechanic Mari.”

Mari finally turned a sad smile on him. “Maybe I’m more dangerous than I ever realized. I never thought of myself as the sort of girl who could ruin a guy’s life. Didn’t anyone ever warn you that girls can be dangerous, Alain?”

“I have often been warned lately how dangerous girl Mechanics can be.”

“You’re dangerous, too. In all the good ways and all the bad ways.” She shook her head. “Alain, we’re talking about a relationship that endangers your life.”

“It endangers yours as well. That is more important.”

“No, it isn’t.” Mari covered her face with both hands. “I really have to think. Not here. Not now. Alain, you need to get back to your Guild Hall so you don’t get tied into this, and I need to call my Guild Hall so they can get some Mechanics down here to take over what’s left of the warehouse. There’s no telling what Mechanic devices might have survived the explosion.”

“And your fellow Mechanics will get to see the dragon,” Alain added, still desperately trying to make her feel better.

“Yeah.” Mari managed another smile. “Those Dark Mechanics were pretending to be dragons, and an actual dragon came in and whomped them. How’s that for poetic justice?” She sighed, reaching into her jacket. “Good thing I had this in a waterproof pack. I hope the shock of the boiler explosion didn’t break it. Um, you’re not seeing or hearing anything, all right?”

Alain nodded. “Yes, Mari.”

Bringing out a dark box as long as her lower arm, Mari held the box near her mouth, then spoke as if talking to someone. After waiting a while, she talked into the box again. Finally Alain heard the faint sound of someone answering her, as if that person was in the box but also far away. Mari and the box voice talked for a while, then she put the box away. “That’s it, my…Alain. You need to be gone before the other Mechanics get here.” She sounded very weary as well as sad now.

“How will I know you are safe? If I see someone coming, how will I know they are your friends?”

She thought about that. “Go somewhere where you can see me. I’ll stay here. If I see the people I expect to see, I’ll wave. So when you see that wave, you’ll know everything’s fine.”

“I will do as you say.” Alain felt a terrible reluctance to leave, overpowered by emotions he had forgotten how to deal with, or never learned to deal with. For a moment, Mari’s status as the daughter of the prophecy meant nothing. For a moment, only she mattered. “Mari, I did not know that I could ever feel like—”

“Don’t, Alain. Please.” She saw his face. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ve been so selfish. I wanted you around because I trust you and because you make me happy and now…”

“I make you happy?” Alain asked, unable to believe what he had heard.

“We can’t— Yes.”

Alain hesitated. “You do not seem happy.”

“I’m unhappy because you make me happy,” Mari sighed. “If I wasn’t so glad to be around you I wouldn’t be so upset.”

“I do not understand.”

“For once, I don’t blame you,” she said. “I feel very confused, too. I need a little time, Alain. You need…you need some girl who can fly on a giant bird with you.”

“Why cannot you be that girl?” he asked.

“Firstly, because I think it’s impossible for a bird that big to actually fly, and I can prove it using equations, and secondly, because your fellow Mages will kill me. After they kill you.” Mari made a confused gesture. “This is just like me. I can’t fall in love with some regular guy, a Mechanic or even a common. I have to fall in love with a Mage. But sometimes love means giving something up, Alain. And we may have to do that. I need to think and I need to see how my Guild reacts to what’s happened tonight and what I learned. When I can talk, I’ll leave my Guild Hall and be somewhere on one of the walls. Can you still find me?”

Alain nodded, wondering why his insides felt so heavy. “Always.”

“Always.” She repeated the word softly, staring into his eyes, then took a deep breath. “We…we’ll talk. I promise. I have to… What am I going to do? I don’t know yet. I’ll be on the walls somewhere, in a day or so. Maybe three. I promise. Maybe by then…” Mari shook her head. “Tell your Guild that the dragon problem should be solved. That should make you look good, right? Now you’d better go. I don’t know how long it’ll take the other Mechanics to get here.”

“You will be safe?” he asked.

“I’ll be very careful,” Mari said. “I promise.”

He hesitated, looking at her, wanting to say more, but Mari bit her lip and shook her head again, and Alain turned and walked away, turmoil filling him. He walked fast, trying to outrun something even though he did not know what it was, until he reached a place where two adjacent warehouses left a shadowed gap between them. Alain went to the gap, sliding into the deeper darkness and gazing back at where Mari waited.

He finally had time to think. He had not worn his Mage robes, but he had been forced to use some spells. Someone in that warehouse might have seen enough to realize that Mari had a Mage working with her. Did Dark Mages know enough of the prophecy to realize what that would mean? Did the Mechanics Guild?

Mari stood on the deserted road, the dark of her Mechanics jacket blending into the raven of her hair and both matching the shadows so that she seemed to be fading into the night. Time passed slowly, but eventually Alain heard the sounds of numerous people approaching through the otherwise silent area. Moments later, a group of Mechanics came into view, moving quickly.

Mari raised her arm and waved slowly and deliberately, holding her arm aloft an extra-long time before letting it fall.

He stayed a while longer, watching as the Mechanics reached Mari, waiting until the entire group headed back toward the ruins of the Dark Mechanic warehouse. As the last Mechanic vanished from sight, Alain pulled out his Mage robes, soaking wet inside his bag, and put on the dripping garment. It would dry on the long walk to the Mage Guild Hall, and the wetness and the cold might help distract from the strange sensations filling him.

Mari had said she loved him. Why had it made her sad? Alain knew emotions and relationships only as negatives, as distractions which his elders had sought to drive from the spirits of every acolyte, the greatest error any Mage could fall into. But even though he felt terrible right now, he also felt a remarkable sense of joy. Love was very bizarre.

Alain paused in the street, held his hand before him, and concentrated. Intense heat flared above his palm. When its power had peaked he sent the ball of fire high above to vanish into the sky over Dorcastle. Is this strange feeling actually love? I believe that it is. But I have not lost my powers. I feel instead strength beyond anything that I had before. What road is this I have found?

How can I do what is right to protect the daughter of the prophecy, to stop the storm, if all I can think of is Mari?

He struck off for the Mage Guild Hall through a night which seemed darker than before, wondering how he would explain knowing that the dragons of Dorcastle had been vanquished.