The Dragons of Dorcastle

Chapter Six

Her heart pounding, Mari spun on one heel and dodged into the nearest shop. A few citizens of Ringhmon browsing among the racks of clothing pretended to be engrossed in their shopping as the owner came bustling up and bowed. “How may I help you, honored Lady Mechanic?”

Mari calmed herself before answering. “I just came in for a moment to get out of the sun.”

The owner backed away, head down to hide his expression. Mari turned and gazed out the small front window of the shop, searching for the bandits in the crowded street. Seeing nothing, she reached under her jacket toward her pistol, then cautiously edged to the door again.

The street held no sign of dusty riders now. Mari scowled around her while the passing commons tried to ignore a plainly unhappy Mechanic. Turning, Mari walked back into the shop. “Do you have a private room in the back?” she demanded as the owner hastened up again.

“Yes, Lady Mechanic.”

“I need it.”

A few moments later, Mari shut the door firmly, then went to stand near the small window of the back room and dug into her pack until she surfaced with the far-talker. She eyed the large, heavy thing, thinking of how many times she had fantasized about dumping it in the desert in order to lighten her pack. But Mechanics didn’t dump equipment. It just didn’t happen. Especially not something as important as a far-talker.

She flicked a switch to power it up, extended the antenna, and held it near the window. “Mechanics Guild Hall of Ringhmon, this is Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn. I have arrived in the city.” She released the button and waited.

And waited. Muttering angrily, she broadcast her message again.

The third time she called a reply finally came, weak and laden with static. “This is Senior Mechanic Stimon, Guild Hall Supervisor in Ringhmon. You are late arriving in this city.”

Mari stared at the speaker of her far-talker. Since when did Senior Mechanics monitor incoming calls to Guild Halls? And not just any Senior Mechanic, but the one in charge of the entire Guild Hall. Answering far-talker calls was a job for an apprentice. “The caravan bringing me to Ringhmon was attacked by bandits and destroyed,” she said. “I barely made it to the city alive.”

Stimon’s response took a moment longer than it should have, then held no sympathy. “Bandits? Enough to overcome the guards of a caravan? I hope you are prepared to provide a detailed report.”

A detailed report? That was his reaction to the news? “Yes. I can provide a detailed report,” Mari said, trying to keep her voice level. “Especially since I just saw some of the bandits inside the city. I need an escort to the Guild Hall. An armed escort.”

“An armed escort? You’re safe in Ringhmon now.”

“I don’t think so. The bandits knew I was with the caravan and were after me. They were armed with at least two dozen rifles. Do you copy that? Two dozen rifles.”

Stimon’s reply once again took a little longer than it should. “You’re certain of that?”

“There’s no other way to explain the number of bullets fired. I personally saw one rifle in the hands of a dead bandit, but was unable to recover it. I also saw a rifle being carried by the bandits just now.”

“How did these bandits know you were in the caravan when your presence was supposed to be a secret?” Stimon’s voice sounded accusing now.

Mari glared at the far-talker as if it were Stimon himself. “I have no idea how they knew. The Guild Hall here arranged my contract. At the moment, I’m more concerned about my own safety.”

“Mechanic Mari, there’s no reason to think you are unsafe in Ringhmon. There is no need for an escort.”

Mari had to pause to count to five before speaking so that her voice wouldn’t sound too upset. “That’s Master Mechanic Mari,” she corrected him, “and I repeat that I just saw some of the bandits in the city.”

“Master Mechanic Mari,” Stimon repeated, somehow giving the title a very subtle and mocking twist. “I’m sure you are mistaken.”

“Senior Mechanic Stimon, perhaps I didn’t make clear that the caravan was wiped out except for myself and one other person!” She tried to put a lid on her temper, not wanting to fly off the handle and give anyone grounds for questioning her professionalism. “We barely survived.”

After a long pause, Stimon’s voice came back on, so little emotion apparent in it that for a moment it reminded her of the Mage. “A Mechanic shouldn’t be so easily frightened by the sight of a few commons. It seems you lack the experience for dealing with routine situations.”

Experience. She had already figured out that was the Senior Mechanic code word for “age.” “Fine,” Mari replied in as icy a voice as she could manage. “I will walk the rest of the way to the Mechanics Guild Hall and I will provide a full report of this to Guild Headquarters. I’m sure they will be concerned at a threat to a Mechanic from commons, as well as by a lack of concern for the safety of Guild members.”

Stimon didn’t seem fazed by Mari’s reply. “Good. You were expected two days ago. Report to me as soon as you arrive at the Guild Hall.”

Mari didn’t trust herself to say anything in response to that last.She shut off power to the far-talker, taking a few moments to stew in anger. I’ve earned my status as a Master Mechanic, and that means I’ve earned the right to expect respect from Senior Mechanics. Just because they run the Guild and handle all of the administrative tasks doesn’t mean they can treat a working Mechanic like this.

Does he want me to get killed?

That thought was so outrageous that it at least cooled her temper a bit. The smart thing to do now would be to find a spot to lie low until dark, then sneak into the Guild Hall. But there was no way she would give Stimon the satisfaction of being able to talk about the frightened little girl who thought she was a Master Mechanic. Checking her pistol again, Mari stuck her far-talker back into her pack, set the pack on her shoulders, and strode out of the back room.

The owner stood to one side, watching her with worried eyes.

“Thanks for the use of the room,” Mari said, trying not to let her anger at Stimon color her words to the owner.

The owner didn’t reply, only bowing in farewell as Mari left the shop.

Once outside, where danger could be anywhere, Mari felt her mood darken again. The unusually rapid way commons shrank away as she stalked down the street told her just how ominous her expression must be. She searched the streets for any more signs of the bandits, on or off their horses, almost wishing some would show up so she could have a nice, noisy gunfight with them in the middle of the city. That would show Stimon. But no more of the dusty riders appeared.

The Mechanics Guild Hall sat near one edge of the city and had been here as long as Ringhmon, just like Mechanics Guild Halls in many other places. The aqueduct carrying water to Ringhmon from the mountains to the north ran right through the Guild Hall before continuing on toward the center of Ringhmon. Commons thought this reflected some Mechanic conspiracy to control the water supply. Mari and other Mechanics knew the water actually ran through hydroelectric generators inside the Guild Hall, which powered not only the hall itself but Mechanic workshops and those common places in Ringhmon willing to pay for the wires and electricity.

Of course, that arrangement gave the Mechanics control over the city power supply as well as its water supply.

The sun was setting by the time Mari reached the large open area fronting on the fortresslike Guild Hall, her temper not mollified by the long walk in the heat of Ringhmon. She almost stomped across the plaza, then up the broad stairs to the heavy doors.

An apprentice was on duty at the entrance, studying a text as most apprentices did when they weren’t dealing with visitors, so he didn’t see her until she was up close. Then his eyes went directly to her face and he grinned. “Hey, princess. What’s the matter?”

Mari stopped dead, her momentary outrage subsiding as she realized the apprentice had automatically assumed someone her age had to be another apprentice.

An instant later the apprentice’s face reflected horror as his eyes dropped slightly and he realized she was wearing a full Mechanic’s jacket. “L-lady Mechanic. Forgive me. I—I didn’t—”

“Obviously,” Mari agreed. The apprentice’s natural mistake and quaking fear helped draw off her anger. “I’m Master Mechanic Mari of—”

“M master Mechanic?” The apprentice stared at her helplessly. “Lady, please, I didn’t know.”

His fear was so real that Mari stared back at him. “Yes. You didn’t know. Now you do know. Relax.”

The apprentice stayed pale, bowing his head toward her. “I beg your forgiveness, Lady Master Mechanic.”

Mari gazed back, feeling her aggravation evaporate as concern rose for the apprentice and his fellows in Ringhmon. If Senior Mechanic Stimon had been so unpleasant to her, what must apprentices in this Guild Hall endure? Any apprentice anywhere was subject to harassment from full Mechanics, but Mari had heard that some Guild Halls were worse than others. “Apprentice,” she said firmly. “You are forgiven. Understand? No further apology is necessary.”

He raised his head to stare at her again, then nodded. “Yes, Lady. Thank you. I’ll report this incident to my shift leader so he can—”

“You’ll do nothing of the kind! I’ve accepted your apology and that’s all there is to it. It’s now forgotten.”

The apprentice blinked in surprise. “But, Lady—”

“That’s an order from a Master Mechanic. All right?”

“Yes, Lady. You have my thanks.” The apprentice sounded almost breathless with relief. “If I’d known you were coming—”

“You weren’t told I was coming?” Stimon hadn’t even done her that small courtesy.

“No, Lady,” the apprentice stammered as Mari’s expression hardened again.

She relaxed with an effort. “That’s not your fault, either. I need a room.”

“Of course, Lady Master Mechanic!”

The apprentice almost fell over himself summoning another apprentice to carry her pack and escort her to a room.

Mari sighed and just stood for a moment after the door closed, trying to calm herself, then glared at the air cooling unit. The breeze coming out of it was barely moving. Mari rapped the unit irritably, causing the fan to stutter. Ha! Think you can mess with me, you worthless piece of junk? I’ve fixed more complicated things than you in my sleep. She dug in her bag, pulled out her tool kit, popped off the front panel and peered in at the fan. As she had suspected, the screw holding one wire to the fan motor was loose, causing a weak connection. Mari got out a screwdriver, tightened the screw, causing the fan to roar fully to life, then put the panel back on, rapping it home with the handle of her tool.

The simple repair brought a feeling of satisfaction. She thought of the task she would tackle tomorrow and felt another lift to her spirits. I’m one of the only Mechanics in the world who can do that job. Girl, am I? Wait until they see me at work. Then they’ll call me Lady and mean it.

She thought about cleaning herself off. Thought for several seconds about doing the quiet thing, the expected thing, the typical thing. She had spent years thinking about those sorts of things, really, years of staying relatively quiet and trying not to raise a fuss, though rarely with complete success. She always asked too many questions, always chafed at rules that didn’t seem to make sense, and other apprentices and later on Mechanics had for some reason looked to her for ideas. It had gained her Master Mechanic status, a recent, close brush with death, and nasty attitudes from Senior Mechanics.

Mari settled her dusty jacket on her shoulders, ran one hand through her matted hair, set her jaw and went looking for Senior Mechanic Stimon.

Since dinner hour had sounded, Mari headed for the dining hall. She found Stimon where the Senior Mechanics were dining, seated at the head of the table as befitted the Guild Hall Supervisor. Mari walked briskly across the floor, knowing her boots were leaving dusty footprints, knowing every other Mechanic in the dining hall was watching her. She halted before Stimon’s table. “Master Mechanic Mari reporting in.”

The Senior Mechanics all looked back at her with disapproval, then Stimon stood up. He had a shaven head, a broad stomach, and a truly impressive frown. All other conversation in the dining hall had stopped, so Stimon’s voice had no trouble carrying clearly. “What is the explanation for your appearance?“

“I informed you earlier that my caravan had been attacked and almost wiped out, and that I had been forced to make my way to this city by my own means across the desert waste,” Mari said. “What little water I had went to narrowly avoiding dying of thirst, so I was regrettably unable to use it for washing up each evening. However, you instructed me to report to you as soon as I arrived, and I am following your instructions.” Mari jerked her head to get some hair out of her eyes and a fine cloud of dust arose from her, drifting toward the Senior Mechanics’ table.

“Mechanic Mari—”

“Master Mechanic Mari.”

Stimon sat down again, drumming the fingers of one hand on the table. “It appears the stresses of your journey were too much for you.”

Mari smiled. “Not at all, Guild Hall Supervisor.”

“I decide whether or not Mechanics are prepared for contract work.”

“You intend defaulting on the contract with Ringhmon, then?” Mari asked. “I’m the only Mechanic within a few hundred thousand lances who can do the job. I assume you don’t want to discuss that here, though.”

“No, I don’t,” Stimon said, his face reddening. “You are dismissed. I will see you in the morning, after you have returned your appearance to that expected of a Mechanic.”

“Thank you, Guild Hall Supervisor Stimon.” Mari pivoted like an apprentice, then walked to a table with a few other Mechanics seated at it. As an apprentice hastened up with a plate of food and a drink, Mari nodded in greetings to the others.

One of the Mechanics pretended she didn’t see Mari. The other two, a man and woman, smiled in greeting.

“You really survived the Waste?” the male Mechanic asked, his voice pitched low as conversations began around the dining hall again.

Mari rubbed her forehead, then looked at the dirt on her hand. “I think I did. I won’t be sure until I get all of this dust off me.”

The Mechanic who had been ignoring Mari shook her head. “This is what comes of making a child a Mechanic.”

Mari smiled at her. “A Master Mechanic. I made Mechanic at sixteen.”

The woman glared at Mari before getting up and walking to sit at another table.

The face of the female Mechanic who had stayed lit up in recognition. “You must be Mari. A friend of mine at the academy mentioned you in his letters to me. I’m Cara.”

The man nodded again. “And I’m Trux. The Senior Mechanics are glaring at us.”

“I get that a lot,” Mari said, digging into the food.

“They’re on edge more than usual lately, what with the rioting in Julesport.”

“Rioting?” Mari took a drink to clear her throat. “I’ve been out of touch for weeks now. What happened?”

Cara answered. “It started out with the usual protests against the Mechanics Guild, but when the Guild Hall at Julesport told the local authorities to shut down the protests the people went crazy and raised blazes for a few days before Confederation troops restored order. Typical. They say they want to rule themselves and then they prove they’re incapable of it.”

“Not too typical,” Trux commented. “I mean the rioting. It was pretty strange for the commons to explode like that. Like they were primed to blow.”

“But no one has identified anything unusual going on,” Cara said. “Things are just like they’ve always been. Except that the commons went berserk.”

“It’s a good thing all of that fury was unfocused,” Trux added. “The commons need a leader, and they’ll never get one that they’ll all follow. That’s why they cling to that daughter of Jules nonsense.”

“What is that all about?” Mari asked. “I’ve heard that expression a few times.”

Cara laughed mockingly. “The commons think there was a Mage prophecy a long time ago that a daughter of Jules would someday overthrow the Mechanics Guild. Can you imagine being desperate enough to believe something a Mage said?”

Mari took another drink to avoid answering, hoping that she wasn’t revealing her reaction to the last statement.

“The commons think she’ll overthrow the Mage Guild, too,” Trux pointed out. “Jules hasn’t risen from the dead, so the commons have to hope some descendent of hers can do the job.”

“If any common could have, it might have been Jules,” Cara said. “Not that even Jules could have overthrown the Guild, right?”

Mari made an uncertain gesture. “I don’t really know anything about Jules.” She saw the surprise on the others’ faces. “History wasn’t my strongest subject.”

Trux laughed this time. “If you made Mechanic at sixteen, you wouldn’t have had time for much besides technical subjects. Jules was an officer in the Imperial fleet a long time back, when only the east side of the Sea of Bakre had been settled. She left Imperial service, got her own ship and headed west, exploring and engaging in piracy. She was the first one through the Strait of Gulls into the Jules Sea and the first to sail the Umbari Ocean. Jules helped found a couple of the cities in the Confederation, and when the Empire tried to move in she organized the cities in the west to fight back and keep Imperial control confined to the east.”

“She must have been an undiscovered Mechanic,” Cara added. “No one who was really a common could have done all of that.”

“Wow,” Mari commented. “But why did the unrest at Julesport throw off the Senior Mechanics out here? Even if the rioting was unusual, Julesport is a long ways off, and it’s not like there’s never been commons rioting or even attacking the Guild.”

“Because of Tiae,” Cara said. “How long has it been since the kingdom fell apart? Something like fifteen years, and it just keeps getting worse. I hear it’s complete anarchy there now.”

Trux nodded. “The Guild pulled the last Mechanic out of there about ten years ago. Too dangerous. Since then the Guild has been trying to hold the line at the border between the Confederation and what used to be Tiae. We think that’s what has the Senior Mechanics spooked, the worry that the unrest in Julesport was the first sign that the problems in Tiae might spread north. If we lose the Confederation like we did Tiae, well, that’s a big chunk of Dematr.”

“But that won’t make the Guild change the way it does anything,” Mari grumbled, then instantly regretted saying that aloud.

The other two nodded, though. “Something has to be done,” Trux agreed, his eyes on Mari. “I’ve heard…” He glanced quickly toward the table where the Senior Mechanics sat. “Maybe Cara and I should let you eat.”

Both Trux and Cara had grown nervous enough that Mari didn’t debate the point. Besides, she didn’t want them asking her what everyone should do. Just because she thought Mechanics should offer solutions rather than sticking to the past, and just because she had said that more than once, and just because she was willing to stomp in here covered with dust, other Mechanics thought she was crazy enough to…

To what?

She didn’t know the answer to that, but she did know what could happen to Mechanics who complained too loudly and too often.

Mari ate quickly, apprentices refilling her glass several times as she tried to make up for the dehydration of the desert journey. As she tipped back the last glass, Mari caught a whiff of something that didn’t smell very good. “Is that me?” she asked Cara.

“Uh, yeah. Understandable, though, if you walked here through the Waste.”

“Understandable or not, I appreciate you putting up with it. I’d better get cleaned up.”

She felt the eyes of everyone in the dining hall upon her as she left, then a rising roar of conversation behind her.

Back in her room, Mari had to let the water out of the bath and refill it after the dirt on her made the first tubful too filthy to get clean in. After getting her hair clean and combed, then putting on fresh clothes, Mari held her breath as she rolled up her old clothes before setting them outside to be laundered. She couldn’t launder the jacket, but she did clean it as well as possible.

She put her jacket back on and checked her reflection in the mirror. No wonder that Mage never hit on me. A couple of weeks confined in a stifling hot wagon, followed by a week out in the open desert, had not done her complexion any favors, but at least she was clean now. Mari flipped her hair lightly, causing the tips to brush her shoulders, and not for the first time thought about cutting it shorter. Some days her hair was just a pain. Other days she liked it, though, so she might as well keep it at this length.

Tired but restless, Mari carefully drew her pistol from the holster draped over the room’s chair. After all her time in the desert, the dust-covered pistol needed cleaning, too. Sitting down, Mari got out the oil and wire brushes and worked away, finding comfort in the simple task. Once she had finished, she reassembled it, pulled back the slide to check the mechanism, clicked off a dry shot on the empty chamber, then reinserted an ammunition clip, set the safety, and returned the pistol to its holster.

Only to yank it out again when a knock sounded on her door. “Who’s there?” Mari called, wishing that she could control her voice as well as that Mage had.

“Mechanic Pradar. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about my uncle. He was at the Guild Hall in Caer Lyn.”

Angered at herself for panicking, and surprised that she would react that way inside a Guild Hall, Mari shoved her pistol back into the holster. She paused to control her breathing before opening the door.

The Mechanic there looked to be in his mid-twenties, and seemed as nervous as Mari had been. “Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn?” Pradar asked.

“Yes. Though it’s been a couple of years since I left. Do you want to come in and—”

“No!” Pradar smiled anxiously. “Better we just talk here.”

“All right. What’s your uncle’s name?”

“Rindal. Mechanic Rindal.” Pradar must have seen her reaction. “Do you know anything?” His voice had taken on a pleading quality.

Mari hesitated, thinking that she was in enough trouble already. But if Rindal was this guy’s uncle… “Yes. What do you know?”

Pradar made a helpless gesture. “He just disappeared. Uncle Rindal stopped sending letters, and my father’s letters to him were never answered. We checked with other Mechanics we knew at Caer Lyn and they said he was gone. Nobody knew where or how.”

“I know how,” Mari said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know where. Not for sure.”

“What do you know?” Pradar asked, his eyes lit with hope and dread intermingled. “Please. My father…it’s been years.”

“Four years,” Mari said. She had never forgotten that night, because nightmares weren’t supposed to happen while you were awake. “I was on night internal security watch in the Guild Hall. You know how boring that is. Nothing ever happens. Except this night, a little after midnight, I got a call to come to the entrance guard post. There were Mechanics there, ones that I’d never seen before. They were all armed, all of them had pistols and rifles, and they seemed…dangerous. The Guild Hall Supervisor was there, too. He told me to do whatever these other Mechanics said, then he left.”

Pradar nodded, his eyes locked on hers. “Dangerous Mechanics?”

“Yes. Like they were soldiers or something instead of Mechanics. But they were Mechanics. I can’t explain it. Their leader told me to take them to Mechanic Rindal’s room. So I did.” Mari clenched her teeth at the memory, old guilt flooding through her.

“You didn’t have any choice,” Pradar said. “You were just an apprentice given direct orders by a Guild Hall Supervisor and some full Mechanic.”

“Thanks. I thought, stars above, Rindal’s finally going to get it. Because we’d all heard him arguing with Senior Mechanics, saying things like ‘we need to do this differently’ and ‘it’s wrong.’ ”

Pradar nodded with a pained look. “Father said that Uncle Rindal had a big mouth. I remember he was…sort of opinionated.”

“I took them through the Guild Hall to Mechanic Rindal’s room,” Mari said, reliving memories of that night. The strangely menacing Mechanics walked in a tight group, saying nothing, Mari in the lead terrified of doing something wrong, whatever “wrong” was to those people. The normally busy halls had been otherwise empty and silent as they always were at that late hour, dimly lit at intervals by night security lighting. Mari had kept hoping that someone else, anyone else, would come by, but she saw no one. Finally reaching Rindal’s room, she had pointed it out to the strange Mechanics. “The leader told me to walk away and not look back, told me that I hadn’t seen anybody or anything, and that I was never to talk about it to anyone by order of the Guild Master. But I did look back as I was rounding the corner and partly in a deeper shadow. I saw them pulling Mechanic Rindal out of his room, and his arms were already locked behind his back, and there was a hood over his head.”

Mari shook her head, the old helpless feeling returned. “And in the morning, all anyone knew was that Mechanic Rindal was gone.”

“That’s…what we’ve feared,” Pradar whispered back to her in anguish. “You never told anyone?”

“I told a couple of my friends. They told me to keep quiet, that I couldn’t do anything but…but I might end up just like Mechanic Rindal if I didn’t keep my mouth shut. Because…everybody already thought that I had a big mouth, too.”

“That was good advice,” Pradar said. “You couldn’t have done anything. My father told me he thought Uncle Rindal had been sent to the Guild prison at Longfalls, but we could never turn up any evidence of that. I’ll tell him what you said, though I won’t tell him who told me, and maybe he can finally find out what happened to Uncle Rindal. Maybe he’s still…”

Still alive? Mari’s thoughts had never gone there. Imprisoning a dissident Mechanic was one thing, but executing him? “Be careful,” Mari said. “If your father raises too much fuss—”

“He’ll end up disappearing like Uncle Rindal. I know. You probably thought Uncle Rindal was a lot more than a big mouth, right?” Pradar asked. “That he was a traitor or something?”

“Yeah,” Mari admitted. “Just arguing shouldn’t have—”

“Made him disappear. Yeah. But he wasn’t a traitor, Mari. My father said Uncle Rindal wanted only the best for the Guild. He was loyal. But he wanted to fix things.”

“I can understand that.”

“It’s what Mechanics do, right? What we’re supposed to do.” Pradar glanced up and down the hallway, his nervousness returned stronger than ever. “Thank you. I really mean that. Keep your head down. The Senior Mechanics here are as touchy as old explosives.”

“I heard about Julesport—”

“It’s not just that. It seems to have something to do with you. If I can do anything—”

Mari shook her head. “No. You keep your head down, too. I’ll do my job and I’ll get out of here. Analyze, repair, test, and gone.”

“Good idea.” Pradar nodded in farewell, then walked away quickly.

Mari shut the door, ensuring the lock was set, then leaned back against the wall. Great. I had trouble sleeping for weeks after that incident, and now the memory’s come back full force.

I never really believed that Rindal was a traitor. Why keep it secret, if he was?

Why would me being here upset the Senior Mechanics so much? Pradar must be reading too much into that.

Trying to relax by sheer force of will, Mari lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and wishing she could gain access to the long-distance far-talker in this Guild Hall so she could speak to someone at the Guild Headquarters in Palandur. No, even if the opportunity arose she wouldn’t request access to long-distance communications, even though that was her right as a Master Mechanic. Her first job, and the first thing she did was run crying back to someone like Professor S’san? That would just convince everyone that Mari really was too young to be a Master Mechanic.

And what would she say? That Senior Mechanics were acting unhappy with her? That wasn’t exactly a new development. The Senior Mechanics had to abide by the rules they had written for advancement to Mechanic and Master Mechanic status, but one of the last things Mari had heard before leaving Palandur was that those rules had been changed to establish requirements for longevity as an apprentice and Mechanic rather than just using tests of expertise. Change was not permitted. Except apparently change was permitted if it meant that someone like Mari could be blocked from promotion in the future. It seemed her records for reaching Mechanic and Master Mechanic status would stand forever, since no one else would be allowed to move up as fast as she had.

It couldn’t be more obvious that the rule change was aimed at me, but it didn’t go through in time to block my promotion to Master Mechanic. That was thanks to Professor S’san. I didn’t know why was she pushing me so hard those last six months at the academy, but now I know she must have been tipped off about the rule changes wending their way through the Senior Mechanic bureaucracy. She wanted me to qualify before they took effect.

And what have I done to repay her? Things like my little show with Guild Hall Supervisor Stimon in the dining hall. S’san would probably rip my ears off for that. “Unprofessional, Mari.” Which it was, I guess. But it felt good.

I could try talking to Trux and Cara again. But I don’t really know them, not well enough to confide in, and if I do seek them out, and if the Senior Mechanics have marked me somehow, then I’d just be causing trouble for Trux and Cara.

There’s no one else in this city I know.

A memory of Mage Alain arose unbidden. It wasn’t that they had talked a whole lot, but rather a feeling that despite their differences they could have talked more. Was it his youth, so close to her own that made him somehow seem sympathetic to her despite his disreputable status as a Mage? Was she feeling pity for a boy who hadn’t remembered what to do when someone said thank you? Or had she actually found something to like in him in their time together in the desert?

Unthinkable. Yet as Mari lay in the dark, listening to stray sounds within the Guild Hall that should have been comforting in their familiarity, she found herself wishing the Mage were here to keep an eye out while she slept, just as he had in the desert. You’re crazy, Mari. Wishing a Mage was in your room with you? You were out in that desert sun too long.

And I can take care of myself. I’ve known I was on my own for a long time now, ever since—

No. I will not think of my…parents. They abandoned me, but they cannot hurt me anymore.

Think about the job, Mari.

But that attempt ended up looping back to thoughts of the Mage. How did Mage Alain know about my job here? I can’t talk to anyone about that. I can’t even admit I know the name of a Mage. If anyone in the Guild even suspected I had divulged Guild secrets to a Mage I’d be busted back to apprentice and shipped off to…well, actually, there isn’t anyplace worse than Ringhmon, I guess.

Except Longfalls.

I am not a traitor. I’m totally loyal to the Guild. They wouldn’t send me there.

They sent Rindal.

The job, Mari. Focus on the job. It has to be tough or they wouldn’t have sent for you to do the repairs.

“Beware that which thinks but does not live.” What about my job tomorrow worried Mage Alain?