The Pirates of Pacta Servanda

Chapter Ten

Alain followed as Mari ran for the entry, Professor S’san and Mage Asha right behind him. He tried to order his thoughts despite his fears for Mari. “From the size of the spell I sensed, this dragon will be larger than the one we fought in Dorcastle,” Alain told her.

She glanced back. “How much larger? As big as the one in the Northern Ramparts?”

“No. But still large.”

Alain almost slid into Mari as she came to a sudden halt in the entry area. All of the other Mages were present and gazing out into the city. So were Mechanics Alli, Calu, and Dav, as well as a few other Mechanics wearing Mari’s armbands.

“Mari?” Alli said. “Just in time. There are some very agitated commons outside.”

Alain stayed close to Mari as she rushed to the massive main entrance door, which was ajar. Just outside, two common soldiers and another common waited. “Daughter! We need you!” one cried.

“There is a monster in the city!” another said. “A Mage dragon!”

Alain saw Mage Dav point. “It approaches from that direction.”

The commons shrank back as they saw Alain and Mage Dav.

“You can tell where it is?” Mari asked Mage Dav. “Then we can go out there and stop it.”

“Mari,” Alain said, “this is a very dangerous dragon.”

“Every dragon I’ve met has been very dangerous!”

Professor S’san was outside now as well, peering about. “If we have to deal with a threat from the Mages—”

“Other Mages,” Mari broke in. “My Mages will help us.”

“Very well, Mari. As I was saying,” S’san began once more, “we would be well advised to seal this Hall. We can shoot at it from the inside, and it shouldn’t be able to reach us.”

The commons looked stricken as S’san gave her advice.

“We can’t do that,” Mari said. “There’s a dragon out there, coming through the city, and it’s going to kill and destroy anything in its path. It’s there because of me. The Mage elders want me dead. I’m not going to sit safely inside this Guild Hall while others face death because of me!”

Alain did not want to back Mari in this. He wanted her safe. But he looked upon her and saw the woman who had insisted on saving him, a Mage, when every rule she had ever been taught would have justified leaving him to his fate. “Master Mechanic Mari speaks wisdom,” Alain said, wishing he did not have to say so.

“Then let her Mages deal with this problem!” Professor S’san insisted.

“We will confront the dragon if Master Mechanic Mari says wisdom dictates it,” Mage Dav said, his emotionless statement sounding totally calm. “We are unlikely to stop it.”

“And likely to die?” Mechanic Alli asked. “Mari, we can’t send Mage Dav and Mage Asha and the others out there alone.” She offered Mari a rifle.

“Mari!” S’san said, growing angry. “You have said yourself how critical you are to the success of your plan! How can you risk yourself like this?”

“How can I not?” Mari said, taking the weapon from Alli. “Professor, only two people here have ever fought a dragon. Me, and Alain.”

“I have fought one,” Mage Asha said.

“All right, three people. The point is, I know what I’m doing. No one else does. What kind of leader sends others out to do a job she knows how to do and they don’t? And there is another important factor. If a Mage monster attacks this Guild Hall, it might break apart the fragile coalition of Mechanics and Mages that I am building. The Mechanics who have just joined with me might turn on the Mages out of habitual suspicion. But if we defeat this threat with a band of Mechanics and Mages working together, it will be a powerful example of what cooperation can do.”

Calu nodded. “It will also show that Mages and Mechanics can risk their lives for each other.”

A sound drifted toward them across the city, an inhuman scream of anger that Mari remembered all too well.

One of the common soldiers looked pleadingly at her. “Lady… daughter, the monster must have encountered our forces. We will defend this city, but with only our weapons, our numbers will mean little.”

Alain felt something similar to what he had experienced when the Alexdrians had been ambushed by an Imperial legion. A sense of sadness and a resolve to do what he could. “Do not waste the lives of your people to no purpose. If the monster can be stopped, we will stop it.”

Shocked to be directly addressed by a Mage, the commons had trouble for a moment understanding what he had said. Then the one who wasn’t a soldier bowed his head to Alain. “The daughter’s Mage. We have heard of you. The Mage who stood between death and commons in the Northern Ramparts.”

Mari looked over her weapon. “Professor, you and Master Mechanic Lukas are in charge here until we get back. Alli, help arrange a defense of the Guild Hall—”

“Alli ain’t staying here,” she replied.

“Neither am I,” Calu said.

“If Mage Asha goes, then I’m going,” Mechanic Dav added.

Mari cast an aggravated look at Alain, who gestured at her friends. “It would be wise to accept their help, Mari.”

“Stop telling me I’m wise when I do what you want me to do,” Mari grumbled. “Mage Dav, you told me that only Alain can cast fire. None of you other Mages can create that kind of destruction? There’s no sense in all of you coming, then.”

Alain shook his head. “They must come.”

“Because…?” Mari demanded.

“The path of wisdom lies in following you,” Mage Dav said.

“The path of wisdom does not lie in risking your life for no reason,” Mari insisted.

“We must go with you,” Mage Hiro said, somehow sounding insistent despite the lack of emotion in his voice.

“I thought nothing mattered and nothing was real!” Mari said.

“Nothing is real,” Alain agreed.

“It’s been a while since you said that, and I haven’t missed it.”

“But this must be done,” Alain continued, not knowing how to explain it. “No Mage would stay behind. That would mean that shadows had forced a Mage to treat the shadows as real, that the illusion of the world had frightened a Mage from taking a course the Mage would have chosen. These things would mean leaving the path of wisdom.”

Mari stared at Alain, frustrated. “It’s a dragon, Alain!”

“It is the illusion of a dragon on the illusion of the world.”

She threw up her hands in surrender. “All right! All right! Let’s all go out and get killed so everyone will know how wise we are!”

“Mari!” Professor S’san cried in anger and despair as Mari ran down the steps accompanied by Alain, the commons, the other Mages, and her three Mechanic friends. “This matter requires more thought!”

“No time!” Mari called back.

“We will return,” Alain called to Professor S’san.

“Is this thing flying toward us?” Mechanic Dav asked.

Mage Asha gave him the slightest of puzzled frowns. “A dragon? How could a dragon fly?”

“Don’t they have wings?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Alli asked between breaths as they ran. “If you Mages make dragons, why can’t you make one any way you want?”

“Because dragons do not have wings,” Asha said. “And they are very heavy. Wings would not fit the illusion.”

“What about fire?” Calu said.

“Do Mechanics know of dragons that cast flame?” Alain asked. “Mari asked me this as well when we were in Dorcastle.”

“Real dragons don’t breathe fire,” Mari said.

“Nothing is real,” Asha and Mage Dav said in unison.

“I know!”

“So what do dragons do?” Alli pressed. “How do we stop it?”

Alain considered the question. “Dragons kill and destroy. It is all they do. They are very powerful. Their scales are very strong armor. They are swift and require much damage to stop. The weak spots on a dragon are the eyes,” he advised. “The eyes are well protected by heavy, armored brow ridges, but they are still the dragon’s most vulnerable feature. The other weak points are under the arms and the inner side of the thighs, where the armored scales are thinnest. The dragon-killer weapon that Mechanic Alli gave Mari killed a dragon with a blow to its chest, though.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have any more shoulder-fired, fin-stabilized rockets with shaped-charge warheads on me at the moment,” Alli said. She held up something that filled her hand. “I do have some explosives with short fuses.”

“How many?” Mari asked.

“Two bombs. Hand-delivered.”

“Not ideal,” Calu said.

The commons who had pled for help were running with them, gesturing and calling commands to other commons. Cavalry was dashing ahead to carry word and to clear the streets. Bells were ringing from towers, sending warnings across the city. Alain could see commons running into buildings and barring doors and windows. It was odd to think that he had once been able to convince himself that he believed as he had been taught, that those commons, and the Mechanics with him, were shadows of no consequence. Perhaps when all was said and done they were only shadows, but Alain watched them with worry and knew that for him they would always have importance.

“Where do we want to meet this thing, Alain?” Mari asked. “In the middle of a street or in one of these courtyards where streets meet?”

He jerked his attention back to the current problem. “A courtyard,” Alain said. “Large but not too large. We must have enough room to move around the dragon, but the dragon must not have enough room to move as it desires.”

“How close is it, Mage Dav?” Before Mage Dav could answer the question, another dragon scream cut through the air like a knife.

“Pretty close,” Alli commented.

“We need a courtyard!” Mari yelled to one of the nearby cavalry.

The soldier appeared to be in her early thirties, with the look and bearing of a veteran. “About two hundred lances up ahead, Lady. The Court of Dyers. There’s a plaza another six hundred lances beyond that.”

The sound of fighting came to them as the street opened out into a court a few hundred lances across, substantial but much smaller than the plaza around the Mechanics Guild Hall. Streets entered the courtyard from all four sides, and the buildings surrounding it rose for three or four stories. As in the rest of Edinton, the buildings and galleries around the court combined the clean, straight lines of northern architecture with the curves and arches of the south. The railings and balconies were draped with drying fabrics in a rainbow of colors, and the air was filled with the smell of the makings of dyes, some pleasant and some pungent. Alain held out a hand. “This should be large enough. We should fight here.”

The Mechanics took deep breaths, looking around as they rested. “I love that purple, Mari,” Alli said. “See it up there?”

“It’s beautiful,” Mari agreed. “But it’s really expensive. What do you think of those reds?”

“Nice! Mage Asha, you’d look great in that one.”

The first thing Alain had done as they entered the courtyard was to look at the stone paving to see if it matched that in the frightening image his foresight had shown. Relieved to see that it did not, he reminded himself that the vision didn’t mean that Mari could not be badly hurt or die in a different place if her or others’ decisions led her there. “Mari,” Alain said, trying to understand why she and Alli were talking about fabrics and colors, “the dragon will try to choose one target to attack. If it is confused, it will keep trying to settle on one target.”

“There’s our tactic,” Mari said. “That’s the right word, isn’t it? Can dragons see color?”

Alain hesitated at the question, looking at the other Mages. All shook their heads very slightly to indicate ignorance. “I do not know,” Alain said. “Is that important?”

“We might have used some of the colored fabrics to distract the dragon,” Mari explained. “That’s why Alli and I were checking them out. But since we have no way of knowing whether it would work, we’ll have to depend on most of the Mechanics and the Mages hitting the dragon from all sides so that it is constantly having to deal with new threats. Based on the way my pistol’s bullets bounced off that smaller dragon in Dorcastle, I don’t think our rifles will be able to penetrate this one’s armor, but maybe the impacts will still raise a few bruises and shift that thing’s attention. Alain, Alli, you two have the best chance of really hurting the dragon, so the rest of us will support you by keeping it confused and hopefully in one place. We Mechanics will try to hit the eyes or maybe the underarms, you aim for whatever looks good, and the other Mages… how do you guys fight dragons?”

Asha and the other four Mages all produced their long knives from beneath their robes.

“Are you joking?” Mari asked in a shocked voice.

“Mages do not joke,” Alain reminded her. “They will use their concealment spells to get close to the monster. A well-delivered blow to the back of the knee joint can hamstring even a dragon.”

“It is not easily done,” Asha added, her face an emotionless mask. “But it is a worthy test of a Mage’s ability to focus, to concentrate on a spell while also aiming to strike the dragon and evade its blows.”

Mechanic Dav stared at her. “Please be careful.”

Asha said nothing, but one corner of her mouth twitched in a tiny Mage smile as she reached out one hand to touch his cheek.

Mari turned to Alain, but before she could say anything another dragon scream sounded close by, this time accompanied by shouts and yells. “Over there!” Mari cried, directing Alli to one side. “You stay on this side near me,” she told Alain. “But move back a little so you’ll be able to spot a good shot at the dragon and make it happen. Everybody else, disperse along these three sides of the courtyard so we’ll have that thing surrounded when it enters.”

Everyone was still moving into position when three cavalry bolted through the courtyard from the direction the dragon was coming, the soldiers making frantic and unsuccessful attempts to regain control of their terrified mounts.

The shouts were rapidly growing louder. Alain saw common soldiers racing into the courtyard as well, some running all out like the panicked horses and others supporting injured comrades. Some of the soldiers still carried crossbows, but many had lost theirs in the retreat.

Behind them came a larger group of soldiers still under the control of their officers, who were yelling commands as the soldiers fell back fast. The rear rank formed a line just inside the courtyard, the soldiers aiming and firing their crossbows as their comrades staggered back.

Mari waved her Mechanic weapon over her head, her shout carrying over the commands of the officers and the thudding sound of steps from something very large that was very close. “Get behind us! We’re going to stop that thing!”

The formation of soldiers paused in disbelief, then a quick-thinking officer began crying out commands to send them to the sides of the courtyard. “Fall back!” he called to the lone rank at the entrance to the courtyard, who were reloading their crossbows.

The rearguard loosed a final volley, then broke and ran for all they were worth.

Alain heard the dragon’s scream again at the same moment he caught sight of it. It towered high enough for its head to rise above the surrounding buildings, wicked rows of teeth as long as a person’s arm catching the light of the rising sun. Long claws gleamed on the end of its forearms. Crossbow bolts bounced off of the dragon’s scales with dull thuds as the monster bent to slash at the fleeing soldiers.

One small group of soldiers was flung in different directions as the dragon’s blow swept through them. Moving with amazing speed for something so large, the dragon entered the courtyard, one massive, clawed hind -leg raised to squash a wounded soldier who was lying stunned on the paving.

“Fire!” Mari shouted to the other Mechanics. The booms of the Mechanic weapons echoed from the buildings around the courtyard, startling the dragon so that it fell back one step. Bullets sparked from the dragon’s head as the Mechanics tried to hit its eyes, flying off with high-pitched keening sounds instead of bouncing away as the crossbow bolts had.

All of the Mages except Alain disappeared as they used concealment spells, under cover of which they would be moving in to attack the dragon as well.

Standing slightly back, Alain felt like an observer to the fight rather than a participant. It frustrated him because he wanted to be among those in front, but he understood the wisdom of Mari placing him far enough back to be able to act immediately if a good target presented itself.

But as the dragon shook off the first volley of Mechanic rifle fire and refocused on the fallen soldier, Alain was too far back to stop her as Mari suddenly ran forward.

She was firing her weapon as fast as possible, but something appeared to stick on it. Mari wrestled with the rifle for a moment, then hurled it away, drawing her pistol. Standing over the fallen soldier as the dragon bent to strike, Mari unleashed a stream of bullets that caused the dragon to flinch up and back.

“Somebody help me here!” Mari cried as she reloaded her pistol.

Mage Dav appeared next to her, dropping his concealment spell to grab the soldier by one arm and pull him quickly back to where some of the soldier’s comrades were forming ranks behind the Mechanics. Mechanic Alli dashed out to help get the man to the small relative safety that existed behind the screen of the other soldiers.

Alain knew he should not waste strength on an attack that could not seriously harm the dragon, but it had recovered from the shock of Mari’s attack and was now fixing on her. He imagined the heat above his hand, using the power available in this spot along with his own strength to feed the illusion. Not waiting for the illusion to build to the maximum he could manage, Alain imagined the heat no longer above his hand but next to the dragon’s head.

The dragon screamed again, the sound deafening so close and confined in the courtyard. It sidestepped, its huge tail sweeping around to strike at Mari, who was running backwards. Alain’s distraction, on top of that caused by the Mechanic bullets continuing to strike the creature, slowed the beast enough that the tail barely missed striking Mari. She was able to make it back among the others so that she no longer stood out as a target for the dragon.

“I am angry at you!” Alain yelled over the cacophony of combat.

“Save it for later!” Mari shouted back. “Get that thing!”

“I cannot see a place to strike!” The dragon twisted and lunged, making abortive strikes that kept breaking off as hits from other directions caused it to forget its original target.

The common soldiers had formed up behind the very thin screen of Mechanics, those carrying pikes which looked ridiculously small against the dragon planting their weapons to protect the remaining crossbow wielders, who were shooting out bolts as fast as they could. But every crossbow bolt glanced harmlessly off the dragon’s scales.

On the other side of the courtyard Alain could see Mechanic Alli, carrying one of the bundles she called explosives, also frustrated by her inability to use it. “It won’t hold still!” Alli cried to Mari.

The booming of the Mechanic weapons had slowed, Calu, Dav, and Mari taking time to aim each shot. But the creature’s darting head presented a poor target, and none of the bullets succeeded in hitting an eye. So far no real damage had been done.

“I’ve only got so many bullets, Mari!” Calu called.

“Only fire often enough to keep the dragon from fixing on one target!” Mari yelled back, firing her pistol a moment later.

The dragon twisted, its head lunging toward Mari, who scrambled to one side as both Calu and Dav fired. Both shots hit the dragon’s head. The creature halted its lunge, shook its head, then looked around for some other enemy to fix on.

The ring of metal on scales sounded in the interval between the crashes of the Mechanic weapons. The dragon jerked its leg forward, then back. Mage Asha appeared suddenly, her long knife flying from her hand, stumbling to one side as the dragon’s leg brushed her with bruising force. Seeking its latest attacker, the dragon pivoted, its tail slamming into Asha hard enough to hurl her across the courtyard.

Mechanic Dav gave a cry of mingled rage and distress as she rolled to a stop, rushing to stand next to Asha and fire his weapon again and again. The dragon screamed its own challenge in reply, taking a step toward him as bullets sparked off its muzzle.

“Over here!” Mari yelled, running toward the dragon and firing rapidly again.

“My rifle’s jammed!” Calu shouted, working frantically at the inert weapon.

The dragon jerked its head back to focus on Mari. Alain saw the light of recognition fill its eyes and knew the creature had finally realized that Mari was the one it had been sent to destroy.

The dragon would not be diverted from its target again.

He had only moments left to stop it.

As the dragon pivoted to face Mari, Alain saw the flash of one of its inner thighs, the scales thin enough there for the difference to be clear. He knew he did not have time to create a fire spell and place it on that part of the dragon before the beast moved again and left him unable to see the spot. He did not have time. It was impossible.

Mari was about to die.

He never knew how it happened, how he achieved something that could not be done. The fire appeared above his hand and was exploding next to the most vulnerable part of the dragon in a single instant. The scales on the dragon’s inner thigh blackened and melted from the intense heat.

The dragon’s scream was louder than ever, this time wracked with pain. The beast’s right leg crumpled under it and the dragon began falling toward Mari, who was racing back toward Alain.

The dragon hit the pavement with enough force to make the ground jump under the feet of everyone facing it.

Alain, barely able to stand after the sudden expenditure of so much of his strength, felt himself falling.

Mechanic Alli was running forward, one arm drawn back. As the dragon opened its mouth to snap at Mari’s retreating figure, Alli hurled her burden into it.

Alain fell to his knees, trying desperately not to collapse entirely.

Alli had skidded into a sliding turn that brought her just clear of the monster’s jaws. She ran all out toward Calu. “Everybody get down!” she shouted loudly enough to carry over the choking scream of the dragon.

Mari leaped and hit Alain, knocking him to the pavement and covering his body with her own. He had a confused image of the common soldiers obediently dropping to the ground, the other Mages appearing and going flat as they saw Mari doing so, and Mechanic Dav falling to protect Mage Asha.

No more weapons were firing. The dragon had broken off its last scream. For a long moment, the only sound was the scrabbling of the dragon’s claws on the pavement as it struggled to rise.

Alain heard it make an odd gagging sound, as if something were stuck in its throat.

Something exploded with a sound that dwarfed that of the Mechanic weapons, the noise reverberating from the buildings around the courtyard. Alain felt a hail of small objects pelt him, the ones that hit his skin striking hard enough to sting.

And then silence made all the more profound by the vast noise that had preceded it.

Despite Mari being on top of him, Alain managed to twist his head enough to see the dragon.

The monster’s body lay in the courtyard, twitching.

Nothing was left of the dragon above its shoulders.

Mari staggered to her feet, helping Alain up, then wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “Thank the stars you’re all right. Alain, when Alli says get down, you get down.”

“I will remember,” Alain said.

She looked up at him, frowned, and reached to touch something on his cheek that felt wet. “What is—” Mari’s eyes widened and she combed the fingers of one hand through her hair. “What is in my hair?”

“It is pieces of the dragon’s head,” Alain said. Once he had seen that the dragon’s head was gone, the answer had seemed obvious. He did not mention that similar pieces speckled her face and clothes.

“I’ve got little pieces of dragon brain in my hair?” Mari asked, horrified.

“Yeah,” Mechanic Alli said, running her fingers through her own hair and gazing distastefully at the results as she got to her feet. “Little pieces of dragon brain, little pieces of dragon skull, little pieces of dragon snot—”

“Euwwww!” Mari cried. “Could you have used a little less explosive!?!”

“I didn’t know how much I’d need to blow off a dragon’s head! Excuse me for ensuring that thing won’t get up again!”

“The pieces will dissolve in several days as the power that created them dissipates,” Alain offered.

“Several days?” Mari asked. “No. I am washing my hair as soon as possible. We’re just lucky no one was hurt—” She broke off, turned, and ran over to where Asha lay with Mechanic Dav kneeling beside her. “Asha. How is she, Dav?”

“I don’t know,” Mechanic Dav said, frantic with worry.

“The healers,” Alain said, pointing to where Cas and Pol had entered the courtyard. He found it hard to look at Asha as she lay there, as if he could feel the pain of her injuries just as he once had felt a blow to Mari’s head.

Cas examined Asha carefully. “She’s very tough, which helped. Her muscles were able to absorb some of the force of the blow. It feels like a couple of broken ribs. I’m not sure whether her arm is broken or not. She’s going to have some serious bruises on this side of her body.”

“What does that mean?” Mechanic Dav demanded. “Is Asha going to be all right?”

“I think so,” Cas said. “We should get her to one of Edinton’s hospitals so specialists can look her over, though.”

Alain looked at Mage Dav. “Is this acceptable to you?”

“It is,” Mage Dav said. “My niece believes in the wisdom of Lady Mari.”

Mari shook her head wearily at Mage Dav, then turned to the common soldiers who were watching. “We need a stretcher and someone to carry it.”

“We have healers on the way,” an officer replied. “We have many injured.”

“I’m sorry,” Mari said.

Alain heard the regret in her voice, and knew without asking that Mari was blaming herself for the dragon having been unleashed.

“Sorry?” the officer said. “Lady, you killed the monster. You and yours stood between us and the death it carried. I have never heard of such a thing.”

“The only reason Corporal Rik is still alive is because you stood over him,” another soldier said. “We saw it. The dragon lunging and you not giving way until Rik was safe. Lady, we have heard rumors. I have long ceased believing in myths and legends, but now I see one before me and I know the stories are true.”

As if an order had been given, the soldiers all knelt before Mari.

Alain saw her dismay as she looked upon them.

“Not the kneeling!” Mari said. “What is with the kneeling thing? Stand up, all of you! I don’t care how you… do homage to your own rulers, but no one should be kneeling to me. Ever.”

The soldiers climbed to their feet, looking sheepish. “We do not kneel to our city councilors,” the officer explained. “Or any official of the Confederation. It is a rule among us that even the least deserves the same dignity as the greatest.”

“That’s a very good rule,” Mari said.

“It came down from Jules herself,” the officer said. “Small wonder the daughter of her daughters feels the same. We thought perhaps— We were wrong.”

Cries of welcome marked the arrival of a large group of new soldiers carrying stretchers and several healers who hastened to assist Cas and Pol.

Mari slumped against one wall, her eyes distant, as Asha was carefully placed on a stretcher by soldiers who seemed terrified to be touching a Mage. Standing next to them, Mechanic Dav looked helpless and afraid.

Alain leaned closer to Mari. “You cannot rest yet.”

She nodded, drawing in a deep breath, her eyes refocusing. “What—? Asha.” Mari took in everything at a glance. “Dav? Mechanic Dav? Someone is going to need to guard Mage Asha. Protect her and ensure she gets safely back to our ships. You do it. Stay with her.”

Mechanic Dav blinked at her in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Mari said. “You have your instructions, Mechanic. Get the job done!”

“Thanks, Mari! You really are the greatest.” Dav walked alongside the stretcher as the soldiers carrying Asha followed one of the local healers toward the nearest hospital. He still held his rifle, and looked ready to battle another dragon singlehandedly if one showed up and threatened Asha.

Mari gazed after them, her expression tragic. “Why did she— Why did anyone have to be hurt?” Her face changed, growing stiff and angry. She looked at Alain, her eyes blazing. “Alain, didn’t you tell me that one of the new Mages was the type who could send messages to other Mages?”

“Yes. Mage Dimitri.” Alain gestured and Mage Dimitri came up, eyeing them both impassively. A long cut in Dimitri’s Mage robes marked a slash from the dragon which had narrowly missed him.

“Mage Dimitri,” Mari said, breathing hard, “I want you to send a message to the Mage Guild in this city. To the elders in the Mage Guild Hall.”

“What is the message?” Dimitri asked.

She had to pause, staring at Asha’s stretcher as it was carried out of the courtyard, before speaking in a voice that quivered with anger. “Tell them, tell the elders, that we’ve destroyed their dragon. Tell them that if any more attacks are aimed at me or at this city I will lead everything I have against their Guild Hall, and I will reduce that Guild Hall to a lifeless pile of smoldering rubble that will make the ruins of Marandur pale by comparison. The world illusion will be changed, and changed for all time, in a way that leaves none of them alive in it. Tell them that.”

Dimitri’s Mage composure, as good as it was, was obviously tested by Mari’s words. He looked at Alain.

Alain nodded to Mage Dimitri. “Tell the elders, and tell them that you saw no falseness in the words of Master Mechanic Mari. She is not making a threat. She is making a promise.”

“This one understands.” A common or a Mechanic would have seen no emotion on Mage Dimitri’s face, but Alain saw traces of elation there. This was one message Mage Dimitri would be pleased to send.

Dimitri went off to work his spell. Alain saw Mari rubbing her face with one hand. “I hope the elders listen,” she mumbled so that only Alain could hear.

“If nothing else,” said Alain, “your message should cause the elders to debate what wisdom dictates in this case. It will delay any further action by the Mages in the Guild Hall.”

“I hope you’re right.” Mari sighed and faced a common soldier who approached them.

“Lady?” The officer came to a stop before Mari, saluting. “Corporal Rik asked that he be allowed to thank you personally.”

“He’s awake? Come on, Alain.” Mari followed the officer until they stopped at another stretcher.

Corporal Rik looked as though he had been used as a kickball by a giant, but his bruised and scratched face bore a smile as he saw Mari. “They told me what you did, Lady. I have nothing. I am nothing, except to my wife and children, but on their behalf I cannot thank you enough.”

Mari knelt next to the stretcher. “Who told you that you were nothing? Everyone is something. Even my Mage agrees with that now.”

“Your Mage.” Corporal Rik’s eyes went to Alain. “They said a Mage pulled me to safety. A Mage and a Mechanic, holding onto my arms. What sort of miracle is this, Lady, that those who think the least of us would risk themselves for us?”

“From now on,” Mari said, “you’ll meet more and more Mechanics and Mages who aren’t like the others. Do you see this armband? I have it. Mage Alain has it. All who follow me will have it. If you see the sign of the new day, you will know that whoever bears it, Mechanic or Mage or common, is someone who will help those who need it. If we’re going to free this world, we’re going to have to work together.”

“I will be well enough to help soon—”

“You must wait until it is time,” Mari said. “All of you,” she added, looking around. “Wait until it is time. It won’t be that long now if I can get done what I need to get done. But not today, and not tomorrow. Understand? If you trust me, then wait.”

Corporal Rik, big and bluff, seemed ready to cry. “I did not believe it could be true, but it is. You are the daughter, for who else could lead or would lead Mechanics and Mages in the defense of common folk? Take my sword, Lady! It is yours!”

“Use it to defend your city,” Mari said. “That’s what I need from you now.” She stood up again as Corporal Rik’s stretcher was carried off. “Hey, Calu. How are you doing?”

Calu rubbed his forehead, wiping away sweat. “You’ve already killed two of those? One was more than enough for me.”

“I’m not exactly looking for them, Calu, and now you and Alli can claim one as well.”

Alli, busy trying to comb gobbets of dragon out of her hair, just grimaced in reply.

Mari suddenly looked at Alain, as if seeing him here for the first time. She leaned in and kissed him, holding the kiss uncaring of any spectators. “You are a gift, my Mage. Even when there aren’t any dragons around. In case you’re wondering, I saw that you were the one who crippled that dragon badly enough to give Alli a good shot at it. I owe you another one.”

“We have discussed this before,” Alain said, feeling oddly put out by Mari’s phrasing. “You owe me nothing. I do not ask for payment or repayment, and that is not why I did it.”

“I know, you silly Mage! I’m going to have to talk to Mechanic Dav so he’ll know how you Mages take things.” She cocked her head at him. “Does Asha like him as much as he obviously likes her?”

Alain nodded. “She has feelings. She has asked me about some of them.”

“What?”

“Asha has asked me about some of the things she is feeling,” Alain explained, wondering why Mari was acting so surprised. “These emotions are things we Mages have denied and been denied, and so it is hard to deal with them. I have been able to help her because I understand how love changes the entire nature of the world illusion. And it is sometimes difficult to comprehend the words of Mechanics.”

“It is, huh?” Mari looked around at the doors and windows being unlocked around the courtyard, fearful commons looking out on the scene of the recent battle, many of the drying fabrics still fluttering in the breeze like a rainbow broken into fragments. Practically all of the fabrics bore speckles of dragon head, but Alain knew those would vanish without a trace within several days. “Are you saying that you have trouble understanding me, Alain?” she added.

Alain gazed back at her. Something about the question made him wary. There were questions, he had learned, that it was best not to answer, or at least to answer with care. “No,” he said.

“Liar.” Mari smiled slightly. “Like a Mage. But you’re learning more about being married. We need to get back to the Mechanics Guild Hall. Is everybody ready?”

The Mages did not answer, of course, but Mechanics Alli and Calu nodded. Alli had picked up Mari’s discarded Mechanic weapon and was fiddling with it. “There. I cleared the jam. Here it is.”

“I don’t need it now,” Mari said.

“A pirate queen should have a rifle,” Alli said. “Right, Calu?”

“Right,” Calu agreed.

“When did I become a pirate queen?” Mari asked, accepting the rifle as she walked beside Alain.

Alain saw that the common soldiers, unasked, had formed lines to keep a clear path before Mari and their companions. More soldiers were rushing into place ahead, doubtless called in to confront the dragon but now facing a much less hazardous task.

Mari began pushing the pace as they walked, doubtless wanting to return to the Mechanics Guild Hall as quickly as possible. Alain suspected, though, that she was also uncomfortable with the growing number of commons who were lining the streets, all of them pointing at her or raising young children to see Mari.

His speculation was confirmed when Mari looked over at him with worried eyes. “What if I let them down, Alain? The task I’m facing is nearly impossible. What if I fail?”

“Should we fail,” Alain said, “neither of us is likely to remain in this dream long enough to have to face the disappointment of others. The Great Guilds would want to seal a victory with our deaths.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “That is so very pragmatic and so very not comforting, my Mage. I just hope we get out of Edinton without any more—”

They had just reentered the vast plaza surrounding the Mechanics Guild Hall, where the soldiers of Edinton had cleared a wide area ahead of them. Mari broke off her words as the high-pitched screech of an enormous bird of prey sounded right over their heads and they were suddenly shadowed by the sweep of immense wings.