The Pirates of Pacta Servanda

Chapter Fifteen

Mari had no idea how much time passed as she and the others struggled through the swamp. She grew worried about whether they would make it to the edge of the warlord’s camp before dawn. But the mud gradually became less gooey and less deep, the water shallower. The insects did not let up, but the salve the locals had provided seemed to be effective enough to keep their torment within endurable limits. The obstructions in their path thinned out.

It took a little while to realize that she was walking on nearly solid ground amidst trees which grew fairly straight, few bushes or other undergrowth blocking their progress.

Alain stopped abruptly so that Mari bumped into him and the Mechanics behind her bumped into her. “Wait,” he murmured in the barest whisper, then Mari felt the rope she held grow slack. He had let go.

Having no choice, Mari stood still, trying to see into darkness so thick that she wondered if it was solidifying just beyond her reach.

“I am back,” Alain said. “There was a sentry ahead.”

“Was?”

“He will not trouble us.”

Mari inhaled slowly. She knew what had happened. Alain had used a concealment spell, if one was required on a night like this, to get close to the sentry and kill without warning. Because she had given orders to carry out this attack. Mari remembered the screams last night and tightened her resolve to see this through.

They reached another natural barrier, brush on the ground and vines dangling from the trees, picking their way through with the best care they could and still setting off what sounded to Mari like a bedlam of noise. But those sentries who would have heard and called warnings to Raul’s camp were already dead from the blows of Mage blades.

After the pitch blackness of the woods, the starlit night beyond seemed almost bright for a moment before it became obvious how little could still be seen. Mari ensured the Mechanics with her were all out of the woods. “Everyone spread out. Stay right at the edge of the woods, keep low and keep quiet. Bev? Go down the line until you meet up with Calu and tell him to bend the line outside the woods so we block all the paths of retreat from Raul’s camp.”

Mari’s stomach felt as if it had tied itself into a knot so tight even the sailors on the Gray Lady wouldn’t have been able to untangle it.

Bev came back. “Everybody is out of the woods, all Mechanics within sight of each other, and the Mages right behind them. The line is bent where Calu is, extended out of the woods to the east.”

“All right. Good. We’re going to advance slowly. Ten paces at a time. I’ll pass word down before anybody walks. Got it?”

“Got it.” Bev ran down the line, passing the word.

Mari stood in a crouch, holding her rifle, trying to control her breathing. “Ten paces. Pass it down.”

She took the ten steps with care, watching ahead. Raul’s encampment wasn’t in sight yet, so Mari ordered another ten paces.

A low ridge loomed just ahead. Mari told the Mechanic next to her to wait, then moved in a crouch to look over it. Directly in front of her, about two hundred lances away, was a large open area. As Calu had described, tents were set up helter-skelter except for a spot near the center of the camp, where a large tent sat by itself. The fires outside the tents had subsided to beds of glowing coals, giving little light. Mari checked the time. The attack was supposed to start at dawn, when there would be enough light for the Mechanics to see their targets.

Alain moved up beside her. “The Dark Mage is moving.”

“Where?” Mari fought down an urge to curse at the unwelcome development.

“There.” Alain pointed, and Mari spotted a figure next to one of the tents.

Mage Tana spoke in a whisper just loud enough to carry. “I sense a Dark Mage at work.”

“So do I,” Alain agreed. “He is preparing a spell. A powerful one.”

“A dragon?” Mari hissed. She had thought she was worried before, but if a dragon appeared—-

“I do not think so,” Alain said.

“Not a dragon,” Tana said. “Another spell creature.”

Mari pulled out her far-seers to try to get a better look at the Dark Mage, then flinched as they became superfluous. A large, hulking shape had appeared in front of the Dark Mage. It was at least half again as tall as the Dark Mage and much broader, a being whose crude lines suggested a half-formed imitation of a human being.

“A troll,” Alain said.

Mari stared, remembering the troll that had attacked them in Palandur and taken a good portion of an Imperial legion to destroy. “We’re supposed to wait until dawn to attack, but that thing just forced a change in our plans. Alain, is there any way to stop that troll?”

“Do enough damage and it will cease.”

“I’m looking for other options!” Mari said. “The Dark Mage and the troll are just standing there looking at each other. What’s happening?”

“The Dark Mage is instructing the troll on what it should do. If the task is complicated, the instructing will take some time. Trolls are not very bright,” Alain added.

Mari inhaled sharply as an idea came to her. She didn’t like the idea, but she liked the alternatives much less. “What if something happened to the Dark Mage before he finished giving directions to the troll?”

“It would simply attack the first thing it saw,” Alain said, looking to Mage Tana for confirmation. She nodded in agreement.

“And it’s in the middle of Raul’s camp.” Mari looked back. “Alli? I need Mechanic Alli up here as fast as possible.”

Only a few moments later Alli ran up to Mari and dropped down beside her. “What’s the job?”

“See that troll? It’s not the target. The guy talking to the troll is a Dark Mage. He… he needs to be killed. Fast.”

“No problem.” Alli eased her rifle into position, resting it on the ground and aiming carefully.

Mari looked back again. “Pass the word down the line that we’re going to have to change the plan and attack earlier. There will be one shot, maybe two, from here. Everyone is to advance to the edge of this ridge when they hear the shots, but wait to open fire until they hear me call the order.”

Several long moments passed, while Mari felt increasing fear that the Dark Mage would finish and dart away. She wanted to hiss orders to Alli to go ahead and shoot already, but she knew that distracting Alli would be a mistake.

The crash of Alli’s shot sounded cataclysmic in the silence of the night, startling Mari so much that she almost dropped her own rifle.

The Dark Mage turned his head to look toward the sound, but suddenly jerked sideways, staggering.

Alli had levered in another round and now fired quickly a second time.

This time the Dark Mage jolted backwards as if he had been punched, falling to the ground and lying still.

The echoes of the shots faded into the night as the troll stood staring down mutely at the figure of the Dark Mage.

Aroused by the sound of Alli’s shots, the warlord’s soldiers started running out of their tents with weapons at hand, hastily buckling on whatever armor each one owned. Some skidded to frantic stops at the sight of the troll, while others who were scanning the woods for threats didn’t yet seem aware of the hulking figure nearby.

The troll roared, its voice slurred and impossible for Mari to understand. But its gestures were unmistakable as the troll raised its arms threateningly at the sight of people with weapons and charged forward. Within moments the open area had turned into a horrible brawl as the soldiers fought to subdue the monster, their weapons doing little damage while the troll’s hammering blows wreaked havoc on the warlord’s troops.

Mari could hear murmurs of grim satisfaction as those with her took in the battle. “How much damage can that troll take?” she asked Alain.

“It depends on the troll,” Alain said.

“Of course it does.” There were times when Mages could be just as particular as engineers.

The former silence of the night had given way to a cacophony of yells, shouts, screams, clashes of metal on metal, and over all the roar of the troll. Mari saw Raul’s soldiers form into ranks and volley crossbow fire at the troll. To one side others were wheeling the warlord’s ballista into position. “Alain, we need some light down there, and that ballista needs to be taken out.”

“I understand.” She saw Alain tense with concentration, and a moment later the wooden ballista erupted into flame, those who had been loading it falling away with cries of dismay. “What about some of the tents?” he asked.

“Yes. Set some of those on fire, too.”

Mari nerved herself again as two tents blossomed with fire. Between them and the burning ballista the fights in the warlord’s camp were well illuminated. General Raul is a monster. He needs to be stopped just like a rampaging dragon or that troll. She raised her rifle, remembering the faces of those she had been forced to kill in Marandur. Then Mari looked up to see the warlord’s soldiers being beaten into formation to face the troll. She remembered the screams and wondered how many nights had been like that, how many victims had suffered. “Mechanics! Aim at anyone giving orders and at anyone with a crossbow! Open fire!”

Entire common armies might muster only twenty rifles because of the cost the Mechanics Guild charged and because the Guild deliberately kept the supply of rifles very limited. Ammunition was so expensive that soldiers might as well be firing gold coins every time they pulled a trigger. But Mari had forty rifles that suddenly erupted in a ragged volley to pour fire into the warlord’s camp, and plenty of ammunition looted from Edinton.

A dozen of “General” Raul’s officers fell under the hail of bullets. A few others tried to rally or threaten Raul’s fighters, only to fall as well as the Mechanics targeted them.

The troll stomped around, smashing everything and everyone within reach, but a thick dark substance was oozing from numerous wounds and its ponderous movements were slowing.

A company of the warlord’s troops in matched armor and armed with crossbows came running into the area, stopping to work the levers to draw their bows. “Get the new guys!” Mari yelled over the sound of gunshots and battle.

Mari raised her rifle, sighting on a fighter with a crossbow and feeling once again a sick turmoil inside. Mari’s target fell as she levered another round into her rifle, trying not to think about what she had just done, then leveling the gun again and firing at a second crossbowman. The crackling of Mechanic rifle shots rose in an almost continuous roar and their muzzle flashes lit the field in a riot of light. Mari’s shot missed her target but apparently hit someone nearby, who screamed and clutched her arm, dropping her crossbow.

Mari blinked in surprise as her latest target seemed to disappear. Then she realized the troll had stumbled close to the crossbow wielders and was slamming them right and left so hard that they were flying through the air for some distance before crashing to the ground or into other fighters.

Mari tried to lever in another round and realized her rifle was empty. She dug out bullets from her jacket pocket and fed them in as fast as she could, wondering how much longer it would be before her Mechanics themselves came under attack. The warlord’s soldiers couldn’t miss the barrage of rifle fire, but in their dark jackets the Mechanics were hard to see, and the troll was occupying the attention of almost everyone in the camp.

She felt a curious exhilaration mingling with the dread that still filled her. Alain was by her side, she was facing danger and overcoming it, she was righting all of the wrongs done by the warlord and his thugs, and it felt good, it felt right, and that scared her, too, even as Mari saw one of the warlord’s officers brandish a sword to threaten a reluctant batch of Raul’s fighters and with an angry snarl put a bullet in him.

A tight group of soldiers carrying pikes came marching into the battle, leveling their weapons at the troll and advancing with steady discipline. General Raul’s bodyguards, Mari guessed. The keystone of his little army. “Take out those people with the pikes!” she yelled.

A moment later she heard and felt a whoosh of air past her head. Puzzled, Mari suddenly noticed one of Raul’s fighters gazing directly at her and setting another bolt onto his crossbow.

Mari brought her rifle to her shoulder again, but as the soldier raised his crossbow it caught fire. He dropped it and ran. “Thanks, Alain.”

The pike formation had lost quite a few soldiers before reaching the troll, dissolving under the hail of Mechanic rifle fire like a block of salt left out in the rain. The troll, spotting the large group of enemies, shambled toward them. Ignoring the pikes that tore into it, it waded into the formation. The fighters scattered, dropping their long weapons, which were worse than useless once the enemy was among them.

“It is time to call in the others,” Alain said.

Mari stopped, aghast at realizing she had been so caught up in events that she had forgotten about other responsibilities. She dug the far-talker looted from Edinton out of one of her jacket pockets. “Master Mechanic Lukas! Tell Major Sima it is time for his soldiers to move in!”

“… move?” she heard in reply.

Cursing Guild technology, Mari tried again. “Major Sima! Attack now!”

“… under… Sim… now…”

Sima and his one hundred volunteers from the Confederation should be leaving the town now, sallying from one of the gates and moving against the front of Raul’s camp to pin the warlord’s army between Sima’s force and the Mechanic rifles.

“There he is!” Mari heard Alli cry. A moment later, Alli’s rifle barked again. Down in the camp, a big man in an ornate breastplate spun about and fell. Alli fired again, then a third time, and the man stopped moving.

Mari could hear trumpets sounding in the direction of the city. Sima’s soldiers. But in addition, she heard the sound of drums. “What’s that, Alain?”

He paused to listen over the sounds of battle. “Tiae. The battle drums of Tiae. The soldiers of the city come to join the fight.”

“They’ve got some scores to settle,” Mari said.

The troll staggered into the last organized body of fighters in the camp, and a moment later the survivors of the warlord’s army fell apart into a mob trying to escape.

Mari went to one knee from weariness as she stared down at the camp, seeing common soldiers from the Confederation and Tiae sweeping in to take prisoner men and women who had dropped their weapons and were begging for mercy. Others kept running until they collided with the line of Mechanics or with other soldiers from Pacta Servanda.

“General” Raul’s army had ceased to exist.

Mari got to her feet, leaning on her rifle for support. “Is anybody hurt?” she yelled.

“Tesa took a crossbow bolt in her hip,” a hail came back.

“Jorge got grazed. Nothing serious.”

Realizing how lucky they had been, how much they owed the troll for the damage it had done to the warlord’s army, Mari shouted again. “Somebody stay with Tesa until the healers get to her! The rest of you, let’s move in!” She waved the Mechanics forward.

They advanced slowly, pushing the broken remnants of the warlord’s fighters ahead of them until the common soldiers took them prisoner. Mari stopped when they reached the armored man she had seen Alli kill.

“It’s not a pretty thing,” Alli said. “But I’m glad I nailed that guy. He didn’t get away to cause more hurt.”

Mari didn’t know what she had expected the warlord to look like. Monstrous, maybe. But Raul looked distressingly average. A little tall. A little heavy. Nothing in his face or in the eyes staring sightlessly up at the sky that would indicate this was someone who took pleasure in inflicting pain.

That was more frightening than if he had appeared hideous. “Monsters should look like monsters,” Mari said.

“His sort of monsters do not,” Alain said.

Before she could speak again three men came running out of a tent, holding their hands high. None of them wore armor or carried weapons. “We surrender! Don’t turn us over to the commons!” one pleaded.

“But aren’t you commons?” Bev asked.

“We’re part of the Order! We know Mechanic skills!”

Mari glared at the three, thinking of the evil they had abetted by helping Raul. The presence of these Dark Mechanics explained how Raul’s ballista had been repaired after the damage inflicted by the Pride’s deck gun. But the idea of ordering the deaths of the Dark Mechanics repelled her. “We will turn you over to the authorities of Tiae. They can decide what punishment your crimes merit.”

“There are no authorities in Tiae!” one of the Dark Mechanics protested.

“Yes, there are, and you’d better be prepared to beg mercy from them.” Mari took a step away from the three and stumbled slightly.

Alain was right there, grasping her arm to steady Mari. He eyed her closely. “How are you feeling?”

“Sick,” Mari said, feeling an odd buzzing in her ears. “Sick to my stomach, sick at heart, and sick of death.” The surge of excitement that had kept her going during the battle was fading, replaced with weariness and something that felt like depression. Then she heard a strange sound filled with anguish, which yanked her out of her mood for a moment. “What’s that?”

Alain looked in the direction of the sound. “The troll. It is not yet dead, but it is no longer a threat.”

Mari got to her feet, pushing past Alain, drawn to the noise even though she wasn’t sure why. Looking past the bodies of the warlord’s fighters littering the ground, Mari saw the shape of the troll, not lying in the dirt but seeming shorter than it should and not moving.

Despite a reflexive burst of fear at the sight of the monster, Mari walked closer and stood watching the troll in the light of the burning ballista. The creature was on its knees, arms hanging uselessly, its thick blood coating heavy, rough skin ripped and torn by the weapons of the soldiers it had fought. The troll was so badly hurt it could no longer move, but it kept moaning. Mari could easily hear the pain in the inarticulate sounds coming from the troll’s malformed mouth.

“There is nothing we can do,” Alain told her, standing beside Mari. “If anyone gets within reach it will still attempt to kill. That is all it knows. It will cease in time.”

“Alain, it is in pain. That creature hurts and it doesn’t understand why, it doesn’t understand anything except that it’s in pain.” Mari still held her rifle, but she rubbed tears roughly from her eyes with her free hand. “It didn’t ask for this. It didn’t choose this fate. That Dark Mage created it to be nothing more than… than a monster. It couldn’t be anything else.”

Alain stood next to her, searching for words. “There is nothing we can do,” he finally repeated.

Mari shook her head. “I will never believe that there’s nothing to be done.” She walked toward the monster again, hearing Alain following, and stopped near it, so close it could almost reach her with one of those long arms. So close, a short lunge from the troll would have doomed her. But the troll was beyond lunging. It just stared at her, its eyes dark with pain and, Mari thought, perhaps puzzlement. The creature had just enough intelligence to kill, but not enough to understand what it had done and what was happening to it. “This is so wrong, Alain. To create a living creature as a weapon.”

“It is not truly living, Mari.”

“It lives enough to feel pain!” She raised her rifle, aiming at one of those eyes. Her hands trembled, making the rifle wobble, but she steadied them. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “this is all I can do.” Then she squeezed the trigger.

From this close she couldn’t miss her unmoving target. The bullet went into the troll’s eye. It stiffened and the moaning sound finally stopped, then it fell forward, its bulk slamming to the ground at Mari’s feet to lie silent and finally bereft of the illusion of life. She looked down at it, then shook her head and turned away, pausing to stare at Alain. “It’s wrong,” she repeated, tears coming again. She rubbed them away, flinging the tears from her hand so that they fell to the ground, mixing with the blood everywhere.

Alain nodded. “I understand.”

Late on the afternoon of the next day Mari entered the grandly named, sparsely furnished, and slightly cramped suite of the Princess of Tiae on the third floor of the city hall.

Princess Sien stood next to a window, gazing out over the town, her back to Mari. From the streets below muted sounds of celebration could be heard. “Please be seated.”

Mari, still worn out from the exertions of the previous night, did not object. She took a comfortable-looking chair and sat back, wondering why the chair looked and felt familiar.

“Your Captain Banda provided us with a number of chairs,” Sien said. “He said that he understood we had need of them, and that those who had once used them no longer required them. Are you displeased?”

So that was why the chair felt familiar and was so comfortable. It had been one of those made for the Senior Mechanics and looted from the Mechanics Guild Hall in Edinton. Mari took another look, realizing that this particular chair must have come from the Guild Hall Supervisor’s office. “Displeased? Not at all. I’m glad that Captain Banda found them a good home.”

The Princess turned to face Mari, her expression somber. “It’s odd how hard it can be, accepting charity even there is almost nothing left to us. Where is your Mage?”

“Alain is helping make sure no one from Raul’s army got away. We don’t want any of the scum who terrorized people to hide in the woods or elsewhere and go on to cause more trouble.”

“A wise measure,” Princess Sien said. “You’ve won a notable victory. Raul has been terrorizing this area for a long time. With him dead and his army destroyed, a major threat to the surrounding area has been removed, and other people in this region will be more inclined to deal with us rather than hide and hope to avoid further danger. I’d wondered if you could really help us, if you would really risk yourself to help Tiae, but you’ve proven that you can and will.”

Mari just nodded.

“Why aren’t you celebrating, Lady Mari?” Princess Sien asked.

This time Mari shrugged. “I don’t particularly feel like it. We have a Mage who can send messages. I’ve asked him to contact a General Flyn, who operates around the Free Cities.”

“You think that this Flyn will come?”

“He’s, um, already sworn himself to my service,” Mari said. “He’s a good commander, and I’ll be more than happy to turn over fighting battles to him. I’m not actually that good at it.”

Princess Sien raised a questioning eyebrow. “In that case I would hate to go against you in something you think you are good at. You’ve every right to feel proud of this victory. You’ve helped ensure the safety of this town and eliminated a warlord who has done great harm.”

Mari let her distaste show. “And all I had to do was kill a lot of people.”

“I see. You don’t like causing deaths.”

“No. Even when it’s totally justified. Even when it’s the only good option.”

“But you do it anyway,” Sien observed.

“I don’t have any choice, Princess. How else do we stop people like that? If you know another way, please tell me.”

Sien watched Mari for a little while without speaking. “As you say, we have no choice. But I understand you participated in the combat, in firing your Mechanic weapon at the warlord’s soldiers. As commander, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Maybe not.” Mari gave the princess an angry look. “But how could I tell somebody else to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself?”

The princess nodded. “I see more and more why people follow you, Lady Mari.”

“Feel free to explain it to me sometime,” Mari offered, feeling irritable.

Sien’s lips curved in a wry smile. “It’s not my place to do that. I will say that the choices we make define us to the world. You seem to make difficult choices for the right reasons.”

Mari laughed. “I wish I had choices, Princess Sien. It seems more like I’ve got lots of things I have to do, and then whatever choices exist are between bad or worse.”

“Really? I understand you even granted a merciful death to a troll. That was a choice.”

Mari looked away, agitated and angry over feeling defensive about her action. “Why not? Why shouldn’t I have done that?”

The princess’s expression was impossible to read. “You felt sorry for a hideous creature whose only function in life was to kill.”

“That wasn’t the troll’s fault,” Mari replied with a scowl. “It had to die. I know that. That didn’t mean it had to suffer. It wasn’t like Raul. It didn’t choose to be what it was.”

“You speak truth.” Sien glanced out of the window again. “Tiae has suffered at the hands of those who care nothing for the pain others endure. Yet we came to this state in part because of those who hesitated to punish, even those who most deserved it.”

Mari leaned back again, watching the princess’s face. “Alain knows a lot of history, but I don’t.”

Sien gave Mari a startled look. “You depend upon a Mage for knowledge of the world?”

“Well… yes.” Mari couldn’t suppress another sudden, brief laugh. Mages believed the world to be an illusion and most knew practically nothing of it, let alone any history. “I know that’s a little strange. But Alain’s not a typical Mage, either.”

“Obviously,” the princess observed. “The entire history of Tiae’s troubles is too long and complicated to force upon you at this time, but in short, my parents were well-meaning but naïve. So I’ve been told by those who knew them well and who I trust, for my memories are those of a very young child.” Her face was shadowed by old grief. “They would not act against those who were acting against them, and they would not take steps needed to stop those who defied them. Perhaps they were already trapped in this Storm you and your Mages spoke of, helpless before the fate that had come to Tiae in their time.”

“What happened to them?” Mari asked.

“Eventually, one of those they would not confront brought about their deaths. My brothers and sisters and I were all too young to assume the throne, so a regent was appointed.

“The regent,” Sien continued, “was my uncle, a man as hard as my parents were soft. Where they would inflict only the mildest of punishments, and then only reluctantly, he dealt death as a common remedy for wrongdoing. And my uncle greatly expanded the list of those things considered wrongdoing. He killed many enemies but created far more in the process. One of them ended his life and his regency. By then Tiae was in great turmoil after the combined excesses of kindness and harshness. But there were other problems, mostly the rage of our people against the Great Guilds and the repression the Great Guilds ordered as punishment. There are few records surviving from that time, but I suspect the Great Guilds had demanded many of the most severe actions my uncle took against his own people.”

“I’m very sorry,” Mari said.

Princess Sien eyed her. “If you still represented the Mechanics Guild whose jacket you wear, your words would mean nothing. I would regard you as just one more agent of those who helped destroy Tiae.”

Mari nodded. “I had to decide whether I would keep defending that Guild. I realized that I couldn’t.”

Sien sighed. “After my uncle was killed, the next regent died within weeks. Then my eldest brother, who was close to reaching the age at which he could rule, was slain by poison, for by that point many others thought they saw the way to power over Tiae.”

Mari looked away, not wanting to see the sorrow on the princess’s face. “I guess it just got worse after that.”

“It did,” Sien confirmed. “Full-scale riots erupted in the cities. The army fell apart as officers and politicians vied for control. The Great Guilds unleashed spasms of violence that fed the chaos instead of suppressing it. Trade collapsed as the roads became unsafe. In the midst of that, my brothers and sisters and cousins and I became pawns. Powerful people, or people who wished to be powerful, wanted to control us, and to kill the ones they didn’t control. Tiae broke into two parts, then three, then shattered completely. The royal family died person by person. I was traded for a while among captors wishing to use my royal status, narrowly escaping from the last thanks to some still loyal to Tiae itself. Those brave men and women died to save me. I hid. I fought. I survived. I learned how to judge who I could trust and who I could not. A single mistake would have doomed me.”

“How did you survive?” Mari asked. “I’ve only gotten this far because of Alain.”

“I had no Alain,” Sien said, averting her eyes from Mari. “I did have those who still believed that Tiae meant something. Who were willing to run the greatest risks in what seemed a hopeless effort to keep one small part of Tiae alive.” She paused, staring out the window. “I eventually ended up here. I have done all I could to help Pacta Servanda hold out, to remain Tiae, while the rest of my country sank further into barbarism.”

The Princess looked at Mari again. “Why did the Great Guilds do nothing? They left what had been Tiae. They left us to suffer. Why? Did they no longer wish to rule the commons here, or consider us not worth the effort?”

Mari shook her head. “They were afraid. Every tool they were used to using to control the commons had failed. Trying something else would have required them to change, and both the Mage Guild and the Mechanics Guild are dedicated to not allowing any change.”

“That is… stupid,” Sien said. “They control the world. Shouldn’t that be their priority?”

“They control the world because they haven’t allowed any change,” Mari said. “The Great Guilds have long since made that tactic into their whole reason for being. Change must not happen. Yet change did happen in Tiae, and anything else the Guild did would open the door for greater change. What would happen to the world’s stability if the Bakre Confederation restored order in Tiae with the help of the Guild and then decided to stay, thereby doubling its size and power? What would happen if the Confederation moved into Tiae and instead of restoring order the social collapse in Tiae spread into the Confederation? So the Great Guilds did nothing, because the Great Guilds feared doing anything else.”

Mari leaned forward, resting her forearms on her legs as weariness struck again. “That’s why I’m here. Why my Guild decided to kill me even before I knew I was… that person. Because I thought that kind of reasoning was terrible and I want it to stop. I want to fix things, not let them go to blazes because I’m afraid change might undermine the way things are.”

The princess watched Mari a little longer, then shook her head. “Would that you had been born twenty years earlier. Perhaps you could’ve prevented much suffering here.”

Mari shook her head in turn, closing her eyes for a moment. “No. I don’t think conditions would’ve been right twenty years ago for me to get the support I’ve needed. Besides, it’s not me alone. I wouldn’t be here now if not for Alain. He’s kept me alive and kept me going. Without him, without his skills as a Mage, I’d be lost. Actually, I’d be dead. And I know a lot of people look at us and think we couldn’t possibly really be in love, but we are. He’s my partner in every way.”

“Your partner.” Sien nodded. “A nice thing to have. Can he then take your place if the worst happens? You told me the others would follow only you.”

“I’m afraid that’s true.” Mari sighed, raising both palms in a what-can-I-do gesture. “Don’t ask me why. They listen to Alain because they think he’s telling them what I want. Even though he’s smarter than I am. Probably has a lot more common sense, too.”

“Success depends upon you,” Sien noted. “As it depends upon me for Tiae. I’m all my country has left to rally around, Lady Mari. There should be an elected parliament to exercise some authority. That disappeared long ago and will need to be recreated, but even when the government has been rebuilt my status will stay the same in one very important way. I literally am Tiae, by the laws and beliefs of Tiae.”

“I’ve got enough trouble with being the woman of the prophecy,” Mari said. “I can’t imagine being a country.”

“If I fall, all will be lost. There is no one and nothing else left that all of Tiae could look to. It would be generations, or never, before Tiae was whole and happy again.”

“If the Storm hits as the Mages keep warning, it’ll be a lot longer than that,” Mari said. “Why does it have to be me? I’ll bet you’ve wondered the same thing plenty of times.”

The princess nodded at Mari. “You may be the only other person in the world who understands how I feel. And I may be the only one who fully understands how you feel.” She blinked, smiling sadly. “I remember as a small child playing in the palace in Tiaesun. Tiae was whole and at peace. It seems an impossible memory now, a dream of a place that never really was. I’ve spent so many years hiding, trying to stay alive, trusting in only a few. Even within this town only a trusted few know my true identity, because if it became widely known that the last princess was here, the warlords would flock to capture or kill me. There has been no one I could share the burden with.”

“I’m sorry you never found your own Alain,” Mari said.

Sien lowered her head, the smile changing into something that Mari couldn’t interpret. “I have had three men who intended to marry me. The first was when I was ten years old.”

“What?” Mari asked, thinking she couldn’t have heard right.

“He was much older. He claimed he would protect and love me and help me save Tiae when, with my help, he became ruler of Tiae. Wasn’t that noble of him? But he was killed by rivals, and I changed hands. The second man gained control of me when I was fifteen, holding me prisoner and swearing that I would marry him and do exactly as he demanded so that he could become king someday. Are you seeing a pattern?” Sien paused, her eyes shadowed by memory.

Mari swallowed before she could speak. “What happened to him?”

The princess smiled again. “I had hidden a knife on myself. Only a small knife, but I had learned enough of the ways of violence by then to kill him with it when he attempted to attack me in the bedroom that was my cell. With his keys I was able to escape.” Her expression changed again, becoming wistful. “And then, at seventeen, I met a knight in shining armor. Faris had defied the embargo of the Great Guilds, coming south from Danalee in the Confederation to try to learn the fate of relatives who had been trapped in Inser when the kingdom was broken. He was twenty, and he believed in good things and meant all the best, and I believe to this day that he truly loved me. But he thought that if we wed we should be equals in all things, and I told him that was not possible, that I would always be Tiae and he could not be. He did his best to understand, I think, and perhaps in time he would have been able to accept that. But our small group was ambushed, and he died as valiantly as any hero could have wished, holding off the bandits until I and a few others could escape. It has been almost ten years since he died, and there has been no one since, for I would not again put myself at the mercy of another, and I could not put enough trust in anyone.”

“I… don’t know what to say,” Mari confessed. “Except that I don’t know that I would have survived what you have, let alone come out of it as… as well as you have.”

“I have my demons, Lady Mari,” Sien said, looking at Mari again. “They come in the night, usually, but sometimes in the day, to mock me and frighten me and attempt to warp me into something that would harm Tiae and all who believe in it. Maybe being Tiae is what has kept me sane.”

A soft knock sounded on the door, then the old woman looked in. “The Mage is here asking after Lady Mari.”

“Send him in,” Sien said. “Mage Alain. You are welcome, and I thank you as I thanked Lady Mari for your service to Tiae.”

Alain nodded, moving to stand next to Mari. “One of the first things I learned from Mari was the need to do the right thing.”

“Is there no end to the good that Lady Mari does in this world?” Sien asked with just the right amount of humor in her voice. “I now face the need to live up to her example.”

Mari couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, that’s me. Absolutely perfect, and a model for princesses everywhere. Do not nod, Alain. Did you find any more of Raul’s people hiding out there?”

“About twenty in various locations,” Alain said. “But none of them lied when they said they had been forced to join the warlord’s army. The commander of the town’s forces let them go. Most of them. Four said they had nothing left and asked to join the town’s defenders.”

Sien finally sat down, looking at Mari and Alain. “You have given us much. What can Tiae give you besides workers and soldiers?”

Mari bit her lip, hesitant to bring up what she really wanted. “Princess, I’m a Mechanic. I have a lot of training in how to fix things and build things. Machines. And the nice thing about machines is that even though they are often temperamental in their own ways, and each can have its quirks, one machine of a certain type is just like every other machine of that type. But I’ve been, more and more, having to work with people, and people are… really complicated. Alain can tell me if someone is lying, but what about people who think they’re being truthful when they tell me something that isn’t right? What about people who know how to twist the truth?”

“You’re talking politics,” Sien said. “I imagine that every ruler of the common folk, no matter how elected or appointed, has greeted the news of the daughter’s appearance with thoughts of how they could use the daughter to their own ends. If you’re claiming that you have no skills to motivate and inspire, I must disagree, but if you are worried about those who will try to manipulate you for their own power and profit, you have every right to be concerned. I’m afraid that I have far too much experience in dealing with that.”

“Can you help me?” Mari asked. “Alain and I? Help us with the politics?”

“The Princess of Tiae become political advisor to the daughter of Jules? How can you trust me, Lady Mari? Do you not realize I would do anything to help Tiae?”

“No,” Mari said. “I don’t think you would do anything. I can see what this town is like. I’ve also seen places like Marandur, and I’ve dealt with the Senior Mechanics. I know what people who would do anything are like, and what their works are like. You’re not one of those people.”

Sien did not answer for a long time. Finally, she nodded. “Thank you. I often fear what I could become. What I could become for the best of reasons. Yes, Lady Mari, I will be happy to advise you in matters political, and perhaps help keep the vipers from whispering in your ears those things that benefit only them.”

“Can you just call me Mari, Princess?”

“Can you just call me Sien, daughter?”

Mari laughed, finally feeling her depression after the fight lifting a little. “That’s a deal.”

“And what does Sien call Mage Alain?” the princess asked.

“To friends of Mari,” Alain said, “I am Alain.”

“Then, Mari and Alain, let us go down to the streets and join the people who are celebrating the beginning of the rebirth of Tiae. It is a lean celebration, given how little we have, but no less sincere for that. And afterwards we will speak with each other of the impossible things we are going to do together, restoring my country and bringing peace to its people.”

“And overthrowing the Great Guilds and bringing the new day,” Mari said.

“And stopping the Storm before it causes more grief,” Alain said.

Princess Sien shook her head. “You two don’t dream small. I don’t know if I’ll be able to help you as much as you will help me. Can you change the entire world alone, Mari?”

“No, of course not,” Mari said. “But I don’t have to do it alone. Alain’s helping me get it done.”