The Pirates of Pacta Servanda

Chapter Seven

Hurtling into the darkness, Mari felt herself dropping and swinging forward as the rope tightened with a jerk that almost popped her arm. Her stomach insisted that she was doing a lot more falling than swinging, the sea’s surface just barely visible below. Mari fearfully wondered whether the sailors had accurately estimated the lowest swing of the rope. How far down was the bottom of the ocean here? If she fell into it and couldn’t resurface, how far would she sink before reaching the dark and silent mud far below?

The thoughts occupied barely an instant. A moment later, the rope reached the bottom of the swing and began yanking her upward as well as forward.

Part of her was exhilarated by the thrill of it. Part of her was terrified. She tried to ignore both and focus on trying to spot something to grab onto.

The black wall of the Pride’s stern suddenly gained detail as Mari neared the farthest edge of the rope’s swing. The stern rail of the other ship appeared before her and just above. Mari swung out her free hand to grab on, frantically fighting to maintain the hold as the weight of the rope began trying to drag her back. If she didn’t get rid of that rope very quickly, it would pull her off the Pride as the Gray Lady kept going.

She spun the rope off of her arm, unable to do anything for a moment but hang there, suspended by one hand from the stern rail, nothing beneath her feet but the wake of the Pride.

Mari finally thought to look over and saw Alli clinging nearby, also hanging from the rail, though by both hands.

“Did you hear something?”

Mari looked upwards as the low voice came clearly to her from the Pride’s quarterdeck.

“Like a thump?” someone answered. “Yeah. Do you think somebody fell overboard?”

“Nobody is supposed to be out on deck at night except the watch and the sentries. But I better check.”

Mari thrust her free hand into her jacket, scrabbling for her pistol. She got the weapon out and the safety off, raising the pistol just as someone looked over the rail directly above her.

“Not one sound,” she whispered as quietly as possible, her pistol almost touching the Mechanic’s nose. “Don’t move.”

From the corner of her eye Mari could see that Alli was using both hands to silently pull herself up high enough to get over the rail. Once on deck, Alli brought the sling over her head and grasped her rifle.

She surveyed the situation, then stepped over to place her rifle barrel against the head of the Mechanic being threatened by Mari. That allowed Mari to reholster the pistol, edge sideways a little, and employ both hands to get over the rail.

Two Apprentices were standing on the quarterdeck, one holding the big wheel that controlled the rudder of the Pride and the other beside her. Both were looking forward, oblivious to those boarding the ship behind them.

Mari looked to the side and saw Mechanic Dav, the crewmember from the Lady beside him, giving her a thumbs up as he also readied his rifle.

A swoosh of wind and rush of water noise heralded the return of the Lady. Mari leaned out to grab Calu’s hand as he swung over, helping him up.

“I heard something again,” said one of the Apprentices, beginning to turn. “Mechanic—?”

She stopped speaking as she saw Mechanic Dav pointing his rifle at her and raising one finger to his lips.

Mari made sure that Calu was up, saw that Bev, Mechanic Rob, and the other crewmember were making their way over the railing, and then took some swift steps to the helm, trying to walk without making noise. She had her pistol out again as she swung into the line of vision of the Apprentice at the wheel. “Shhh. Let’s keep it quiet and nobody gets hurt.”

The first crewmember from the Lady took over the wheel, and Mari hustled the two Apprentices back to where the captured Mechanic was glaring in silent bafflement. His expression suddenly cleared, though. “It’s a drill, isn’t it?” he whispered.

“Riiiiight,” Alli said, turning over guard duty on the three to Rob. “Surprise safety drill. But it’s not over yet. You’re all supposed to simulate having been killed, so lie face down and stay silent.”

Accustomed to following orders, the three did as they were told, except that one Apprentice excitedly whispered to the other, “Do you think they’ll be able to take out both sentries on the main deck?”

“Shut up!” the captured Mechanic growled. “You were told to be silent!”

“Two sentries on the main deck,” Mari commented to Alli as they walked to the front of the raised quarterdeck and looked down at the main deck before them. “There’s one. The group up here were all unarmed, but that sentry has a rifle. How do we sneak up on them?”

“By being obvious,” Alli said. “Hey, Calu, snuggle up.”

The last group of four was coming over the stern as Alli and Calu held each other in a one-armed hug, their rifles held in their free hands and concealed between their bodies. The dark shape of the Gray Lady faded back, having lost enough speed in her repeated course changes to be unable to keep up with the Pride for the moment.

Mari watched nervously as Alli and Calu sauntered across the deck, giggling softly to each other.

The nearest sentry reacted. “What the blazes are you two doing?” he demanded.

“We’re just looking for a little privacy,” Alli said in a lighthearted voice.

“You idiots know that no one is allowed on deck at night except sentries and watch standers!”

The other sentry had come from a bit farther forward, wandering closer to see what was happening.

“Cut us a break,” Calu said.

“I’ll cut you something, you idiot! Is that you, Judi? I told you what I’d do if I saw you with another guy!”

The two guards were close enough by then for Calu to twist and raise his weapon to cover the second guard. Alli brought her rifle up too, but in a hard blow against the head of the sentry who had almost reached her. That Mechanic staggered back, Alli taking his rifle from a slack hand. “You are really lucky I’m not Judi,” Alli said. “Or I would have hit you a lot harder.”

Mari came down the stairs from the quarterdeck, looked at the stern cabin, and paused. Instead of one door leading to where the captain slept, there were two doors equally spaced. The stern cabin must have been subdivided. Which side did she want, and who was in the other side?

Bev and Mechanic Dav were coming down the stairs as well when Mari’s dilemma was resolved by one of the doors beginning to open. The man who stepped out was the second that night to find Mari’s pistol pointed straight at his nose.

He was an older Mechanic, with dark hair and a mustache both bearing enough grey that it could be seen even in the darkness. Age had given him enough wisdom that he said and did nothing.

“We’re taking this ship,” Mari said. “Hopefully without anyone getting hurt. That’s entirely up to you. Surrender it and no one gets hurt. Fight, and it could get ugly.”

The eyes of the older Mechanic went to one side, looking over Bev and Dav with their rifles and Alli and Calu standing over the two chastened sentries. He looked upwards enough to see Mechanic Amal from Julesport, rifle also in hand, standing by the front rail of the quarterdeck. “My surrender would seem to be a mere formality, but why am I surrendering to a fellow Mechanic? Who are you?”

“Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn,” she said.

After a pause, the Mechanic nodded. “I see. We were warned that you might try something in port, but you do tend to exceed expectations, don’t you, Master Mechanic?”

“Who told you that?” Mari asked, thinking it sounded oddly like praise.

“One of my passengers on an earlier voyage. I have an obligation to the passengers’ safety, Master Mechanic. As well as to the safety of my crew. Do you swear you mean them no harm?”

“I swear,” Mari said. “I understand that your passengers are actually prisoners.”

“Your understanding is correct.” The Mechanic’s voice clearly conveyed his distaste for his role as a jailor.

“I’m going to set them free and give them the option of joining me. Anyone who doesn’t want to will be put off in your ship’s boats with enough food and water and guidance to reach shore.”

Another pause, longer this time, then the Mechanic nodded again. “I surrender my ship to you. I am Mechanic Captain Banda of Marida. At your service.”

Mari lowered her pistol, grateful since her arm was beginning to ache. “I would appreciate your assistance in assuring I take the rest captive without harming anyone,” she said.

“You need those two first,” Banda said, gesturing toward the other door to the stern cabin. “The two Senior Mechanics who are actually in charge of this work detail.”

“Are they armed?”

“Yes and no. The extra weapons are locked up in there, but those two don’t routinely carry them. Denz might have a pistol, since he liked parading around with one stuck in his belt. He’s the man. Gina’s the woman, and before you go in there I feel obligated to say that she has done her best by us during this voyage. I would not have been surprised if she had ended up among the so-called passengers on the next trip because of her insufficiently zealous attitude toward the Guild’s instructions.”

“Bev, Dav, you heard him. Go in there. If the guy twitches wrong, don’t take any chances. Club him.”

Bev’s smile held no humor. “I can’t shoot him?”

“No. I promised no one hurt, Bev.”

“Yes, Lady Master Mechanic.” Bev tried the door handle, found it locked, and knocked gently. Waited. Knocked again. Waited. Began knocking lightly but continuously.

Mari heard the lock being unlatched, then a very angry man stuck his head out. “Who dares to—?”

The question ended when Bev stuck the barrel of her rifle under his chin. “I do. I’m Mechanic Bev of Emdin. I was an Apprentice at Emdin. Do you want to see how little it would take to make me blow off the head of a Senior Mechanic?”

Keeping the barrel right under his chin, Bev led the Senior Mechanic, who was wearing only his trousers, out on deck while Dav dashed inside. He reemerged quickly, leading a woman in shirt and trousers who looked around in disbelief.

“The key to the weapons,” Mari asked, extending her hand for it.

The woman looked for guidance not at her fellow Senior Mechanic but at Banda, who nodded. She pulled out a key on a chain and dropped it into Mari’s hand.

“Traitor!” the other Senior Mechanic got out before the barrel of Bev’s rifle jerked upward and slammed his jaw shut.

Mari gave Bev a worried look, but she returned a controlled expression that conveyed she wasn’t losing it. And Alain had made a special effort to tell her that Bev could be trusted in a tough situation. He must have had a reason for that.

“She wouldn’t have had any trouble picking the lock,” Senior Mechanic Gina told Denz. “Didn’t you read her file?”

Mari paused to think. She had the top deck of the ship, but most of the men and women aboard were belowdecks. “Captain Banda, I assume the passengers are locked down?”

“You assume correctly.”

“What about your crew? Do I have to worry about them?”

“My crew will follow my orders,” Banda said. “I will tell them not to resist so as to limit any chance of anyone being harmed. For the good of the Guild,” he added, sounding almost sincere as he parroted the standard justification for any Guild action.

But then Captain Banda visibly hesitated, as if trying to tip off Mari. Taking his cue, she raised her pistol again toward him. “What did you leave out?”

“The guard force sent along by the Guild. They are in forward berthing.”

“Are these two examples of them?” Alli called in a low voice, indicating the disarmed sentries.

“Those two are part of the guard force,” Banda confirmed.

“That’s bad news, Mari. From what Calu and I have seen of them, these two are hard core.”

“The guards were selected to be reliable,” Senior Mechanic Gina said. “And to be willing to use whatever force was necessary. I personally think they are overly eager to use force.”

Senior Mechanic Denz apparently tried to interject some comment, but couldn’t speak with Bev’s rifle barrel holding his jaw shut from beneath.

“Are they armed?” Mari asked.

“Most have knives. A couple have personal pistols,” Banda added. “Standard Guild revolvers, not semi-automatics like yours. Yours is only the second of those I’ve ever seen.”

“They were only intended for bodyguards of the Guild Master,” Alli commented. “Mari, we need to get those goons up on deck a few at a time. And someone needs to give me some line so I can tie up these two and gag them until we’ve got the whole batch under guard. Otherwise they might yell a warning when others come up.”

One of the Lady’s sailors ran up to Alli with a length of line and began expertly tying the arms and legs of the two guards. Finishing there, Mari directed him to do the same to Senior Mechanic Denz. “How many of these guards are there?” Mari asked Banda.

“Twenty.”

“We’ve already got two, so that leaves eighteen. Which of you will help me get those guards up in small batches?” she asked Banda and Gina, who exchanged glances.

“You’re asking us to participate in an action that is likely to lead to the injury of fellow Mechanics,” Senior Mechanic Gina said.

“You mean like the Guild did when it imprisoned your fellow Mechanics and assigned those guards over them?” Mari asked angrily.

“I am uncomfortable with the idea of actively assisting you as well,” Captain Banda said, “but it does not matter because they will not obey orders from me.”

“So I have to do the dirty work? Fine!” Mari looked around. The two former sentries and Senior Mechanic Denz were trussed up, the sailor in the final act of putting gags in their mouths and being none too gentle about it. She thought about telling him to ease up, but she was in a bad mood about once again having to deal with people who resisted being helped. “Alli, Calu, Bev, come with me. Dav, you and Amal cover the deck and our current crop of prisoners. How are Rob and the others doing up there?”

“No problems,” Amal called.

“Will you at least point out the right hatch?” Mari asked Banda, who looked unhappy with himself. He gestured toward one of the forward hatches.

Mari led the other three Mechanics to the hatch, which was open for ventilation and led to a stairway, or ladder, as the sailors called stairs on ships. “Calu, can you imitate that oaf that Alli slugged?”

“I can try,” he said.

“When we first reached the ship, the Mechanic on the quarterdeck thought someone might have fallen overboard. That gives me an idea. The ship would have to do a muster if they thought they’d lost someone, right? Like those bed checks when the Guild Halls try to catch Apprentices who aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Call down, sound annoyed but not scared, and say someone might have fallen overboard and that everyone has to come up for a muster.”

“Got it.”

“Anybody who comes up with a weapon on them gets pulled aside and knocked out,” Mari ordered. “If they aren’t armed, they get hustled over there. Bev, you’ll cover that group. If everything goes to blazes, our goal is to hold as many of the guards as possible up here and keep them from doing anything.”

“Do we open fire if we think we have to, or wait for you to say?” Alli asked.

Mari hesitated, swallowing at the thought of giving that order. She suddenly realized how Captain Banda had felt. “I know you guys. I trust you guys not to fire unless you have to.” Mari made sure to look at Bev so that she would know she was included in that statement. “If you think you have to, do it without asking for permission.”

Feeling sick to her stomach, Mari checked her pistol while the other three ensured their rifles were ready, then nodded to Calu.

He leaned over the hatch and called down in a loud, gruff voice. “Hey! Everybody up here! They think someone might have fallen off the ship and we need to do a muster!”

Groans and curses echoed up from below. “Says who?” someone yelled back.

“Senior Mechanic Denz!” Calu yelled back.

The grumbling subsided, but there remained a low rumble of discontent. Mari braced herself as the clomp of angry feet on the ladder sounded.

Two women came up first, scowling and disheveled from sleep. Alli met them with a leveled rifle and gestured them to move to the side fast. Surprised and mentally off balance, the women stumbled over to where Alli directed to find themselves facing Bev’s steely gaze and leveled weapon.

Then came a big man with an angry glower and a holstered pistol at his hip. As he cleared the ladder, Calu swung his rifle butt so that it connected with the Mechanic’s head and knocked him over to the side.

“What was that?” someone still coming up the ladder complained.

“Tripped,” Calu called back. “Watch your feet, you idiots!”

“Who the blazes are you?” another Mechanic said as he reached the deck along with two others.

“Special duty,” Calu said, keeping his voice in the low, angry tones of a Mechanic who was bullying someone. Mari wasn’t surprised that Calu could mimic it so easily. They had all heard that sound too often in their time with the Guild.

Seeing the rifles, the three let themselves be herded over with the first two.

Mari lost count after that, as they tried to keep the line moving while keeping anyone from realizing what was going on. A female Mechanic wearing a holstered revolver managed to jerk back and avoid Calu and Alli, but found Mari’s pistol barrel pressed against the back of her neck as Mari reached forward to seize the revolver.

There had to be twelve or even fifteen on deck already, Mari thought, but the line out of the hatch was backing up as the Mechanic guards on deck reacted too slowly to silent orders to move.

“Get out of the way!” someone still on the ladder bellowed, and a small group shoved their way onto the deck, sending those just ahead of them stumbling in all directions.

For a moment, Mari could not see Alli or Calu.

“Everyone freeze!” she yelled, surprised to hear how deep and intimidating her voice sounded.

On the other side of the crowd, a rifle shot sounded.

Mari waited, her pistol on the dazed Mechanics facing her, wondering how many more shots would erupt.

“That one went into the deck on purpose. The next one goes into whoever I think looks ugliest,” Mari heard Bev say.

“All of you get over there!” Alli shouted.

“Move!” Calu added.

The crowd shifted, moving back and to the side. Most of them looked scared, and all of them looked confused. That had been their best weapon, Mari realized, to make things happen too quickly for the Mechanic guards to have time to understand what was going on. But it had also been their greatest risk, since moving so fast had meant little time to react if the Mechanic guards had gathered their wits in time and charged as a group.

Mari moved to the side to be in line with Alli and Calu, all three of their weapons pointed at the Mechanic guards. She could see Bev slightly off to the side, her rifle also leveled.

“Who—?” another angry voice began demanding from near Mari.

She pivoted to cover the woman coming up from another hatch. “—are you?” Mari finished for the suddenly silent Mechanic.

“Mechanic Deni of Farland,” she said, raising her hands. “Ship’s crew. I heard a shot.”

“Good,” Mari said, trying to get her breathing and her heart rate back under control. “Your captain has surrendered the ship to us. He said you would follow his orders.”

“Captain?” Mechanic Deni called.

“Follow the orders of Master Mechanic Mari! Pass the word to the rest of the crew,” Captain Banda’s answer came back. “She is the master of this ship.”

As Banda’s words soaked in, the faces of the Mechanic guards twisted into almost comical expressions of anger, disbelief, and fear.

Mari faced them again, stepping back from the hatch where Mechanic Deni stood. “First off, no one will be harmed as long as no one tries anything. Secondly, anyone who tries anything will be harmed. You’re also being covered by rifles from other parts of the ship, so don’t do anything stupid.”

It took a while to get the rest of the Pride’s crew on deck and for Captain Banda to assure them that Mari had control of the ship. Banda suggested to Mari that an improvised barrier be set up to confine the guards, who were gradually coming to grips with their situation and muttering among themselves in a way that Mari did not like at all. She had the two sentries and Senior Mechanic Denz added to the group but left them tied up for now.

The crew set to with a will to rig a large net so that it hung from some of the spars overhead and completely confined the Mechanic guards against part of the starboard rail. “They’ve endured their share of abuse from that group,” Banda commented to Mari. “You’ve made my crew prisoners and happy in the same day.”

A small group of guards began to move forward as the last section of the net was raised, but found themselves facing Bev’s rifle again. Something in her face convinced them to stop and back up. “You can untie your friends and the Senior Mechanic now,” Bev told them.

Mari finally relaxed a little as the barrier settled into place. It wasn’t impossible to get over, but to do so would require a lot of awkward climbing for the guards. “I guess now we can deal with your passengers, Captain. Do you have the keys to where they’re held?”

“No,” said Banda, shaking his head, “you do. It’s on the same ring as the key to the weapons. That one there.”

Mari twisted the key free and handed it to Banda. “Then please do me the favor of releasing them and getting the passengers up on deck, Captain.”

“Please?” Banda asked. “And the use of my title? Why so polite, Master Mechanic, when you rule this ship?”

“It’s what I do,” Mari said. “I have no reason to treat you with anything but respect, Captain.”

“I hope you will always feel that way,” Banda said, smiling, and walked toward one of the aft hatches.

A short distance off to port, the Gray Lady raced along next to the Pride of Longfalls, the first rays of the morning sign highlighting the blue and gold banner flying from her mast. The rising sun turned the sky to shades of coral and turquoise as Banda led the bewildered passengers onto the deck. One of them laid eyes on Mari and began laughing. “Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn! I should have known when I heard gunshots and cursing that the Senior Mechanics were trying to deal with you!”

Mari broke into a smile. “Mechanic Ken! I haven’t seen you since I left the Guild Hall at Caer Lyn for the Academy at Palandur!”

Ken, well into middle age, walked over to her, oblivious to the rifles held by Mari’s friends. He grasped her forearm, still grinning. “And now a Master Mechanic! Well done, Mari!”

Alli smiled too. “Hey, Ken.”

“Alli! And Calu? That’s great. I guess what the Guild tried to keep asunder, Mari brought together.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Calu said. “Why are you here, sir?”

Ken waved away the honorific. “We’re all Mechanics now, Calu. Why am I here? Because I was one of the Mechanics who taught and sponsored a certain Apprentice Mari of Caer Lyn. Given how she turned out, I was accused of not doing any of that well.”

“Given how she turned out, I’d say the question is still open,” someone else said.

Mari turned to look. “Master Mechanic Lukas. You?”

“Me.” Lukas was considerably older, and wasn’t smiling. “Under suspicion as someone who once advised you, but I’m here because I protested too strongly that we had to change practices or lose more of the Guild’s technology. What now, Mari? I always told you to think three steps ahead. What’s the point of this? Freeing us is well intentioned, but life as a refugee among the commons isn’t likely to be much of an improvement over life as a prisoner of the Guild.”

“Why don’t I tell everyone?” Mari said, feeling more nervous than she had just before swinging into the dark. She waited as the freed passengers gathered on the port side and the crew near the bow, then stood before them all, her friends arrayed behind her. There were twenty guards, plus Senior Mechanic Denz. The crew consisted of another twenty-five, with Banda and four other Mechanics, five Apprentices, and fifteen common sailors. Plus thirty-one passengers.

“Tell Alain and Asha to swing over from the Gray Lady,” she asked Mechanic Dav. “You and Bev help them get aboard.”

Turning back to the eyes upon her, some hostile, some curious, Mari took a deep breath. “I’m going to start off by saying that anyone who does not want to join me will be free to leave this ship. They will be put off in one of the ship’s boats, with sufficient food and water to reach land. All I ask is that you listen to me before you decide.”

“Don’t listen!” Senior Mechanic Denz yelled. “You are all already in great trouble, and this will surely get you all branded as traitors, just like that delusional, arrogant young fool!”

Bev smiled and raised her weapon. “If you say anything else without first raising your hand and then being called upon,” she told Denz, using the old schoolroom rule for young Apprentices, “I will shoot you.”

Mari waited, but no one else said anything and Denz appeared to have been quelled by Bev’s threat. “Let me say a few things that you all know are true. The technology the Mechanics Guild uses is failing. Everyone knows it, but the Senior Mechanics refuse to make any changes. Mages can actually do things. Many of you have seen that, and you have all been told not to speak of it. The commons hate us, and even though they supposedly do as the Mechanics Guild and Mage Guild order, they actually find ways to sabotage us at every turn.”

No one interrupted, so Mari continued. “Here’s what you may not know. I committed no crime against the Guild before it tried to have me killed. I was loyal and doing my job as best I could, and I was set up to be killed by commons.”

“How do you know that?” one of the passengers asked.

“I was told it by a Master Mechanic who had personal knowledge of the matter,” Mari said.

“What she says is true,” an older male Mechanic among the passengers said. “I was one of those in Palandur who learned of it and tried to bring about an accounting. Instead, we were ordered to be silent about it.”

“Here’s another thing,” Mari added. “Something you all may have felt. The commons have been slaves of the Great Guilds for centuries. They’re like a belt under greater and greater tension, and they’re about to snap. The rioting, the sudden, random attacks on Mechanics and Mages, the blind defiance we’ve all been seeing is getting worse at an accelerating rate, and soon it will pass a point of no return. When it does, this entire world will go the way of the Kingdom of Tiae. Only much worse. Tiae isn’t an anomaly. Tiae is a warning sign.”

“I have felt the tension you speak of,” a male Mechanic said. “But how can you be sure this isn’t just a temporary problem, part of a cycle of resistance and acceptance?”

A deeper silence fell before Mari could reply. She turned enough to see that Alain and Mage Asha had joined her group, standing out in their robes. “Partly because of them,” Mari said, indicating the two and knowing how badly the Mechanics she was speaking to would take that. “And partly from being among the commons.”

“Do they work for you?” someone demanded.

Before Mari could answer, Mage Asha did, her emotionless voice carrying clearly and eerily in the stillness of dawn. “Master Mechanic Mari has shown us new ways of wisdom. We follow her to learn more, and to aid her when called upon.”

“You’re teaching them to be Mechanics?”

“No,” Mari said, “I’m teaching them to be human! A lot of you may be wondering how I have managed to stay alive with both of the Great Guilds and the Empire trying to kill me. That Mage,” she said, pointing at Alain, “is the reason. In places where my Mechanic skills would have failed or been insufficient, his Mage skills made the difference.”

“That’s hard to believe,” another passenger commented. “Mages?”

“Believe this,” Senior Mechanic Gina said from where she stood with the passengers. “I was briefed on her before this job, told everything the Guild knew. Master Mechanic Mari should have been dead a dozen times already. She keeps getting out of impossible-to-get-away-from situations, including escaping from the Queen of the Seas with just one companion and disabling the ship in the process. According to the updates we received just before sailing from Julesport, at Altis she not only avoided being killed by the Special Missions Mechanic force but also did substantial damage to Guild assets, including sinking a ship

comparable to this one. The Guild keeps blaming our failures on incompetence, but the Special Missions goons never fail. Until Altis. Either the Mages have made a big difference, or Master Mechanic Mari is personally unstoppable and unkillable.”

After a few moments spent thinking, another passenger nodded. “No offense, Master Mechanic Mari, but I do find it more believable that the Mages made a difference.”

“There’s still something else going on,” another insisted. “Why did these Mages even listen to you? You’ve got commons on that ship following you, and according to the Guild you’re close to stirring up rebellion by all the commons. What are they seeing?”

“They listen to me,” Mari said, not sure how the full truth would be received. “Because I listen to them.”

“She’s insane!” Senior Mechanic Denz yelled, ducking back behind the other guards to shield himself from Bev. “She thinks she’s the daughter of Jules!”

“She is the daughter,” Mage Asha said. “It has been seen.”

The commons among the Pride’s crew turned shocked glances toward the sailors from the Lady who were aboard. Those sailors hoisted their fists high and shouted answers to the unspoken questions. “It is her!” “She’s the one!” “The daughter has come at last!”

Mari braced herself for the reaction from the Mechanics, but instead of mockery and contempt she saw thoughtfulness changing to admiration and looks of shared amusement. What did that mean?

“Smart,” Master Mechanic Lukas murmured.

She finally got it. These other Mechanics thought that Mari was working a scam on the Mages and the commons, posing so successfully as the legendary daughter that she could get them to do as she wanted.

“What’s your plan?” Lukas asked.

“To set Mechanics free,” Mari said, determined not to disclose too much while people who were certain not to join her, like the guards and Senior Mechanic Denz, were in earshot. “Free to do new things, to innovate, to change. Learn what we can from the Mages and accept what skills they can bring. And give the commons freedom. Why are Mechanics ruling the commons? We’re engineers. Let the commons rule themselves and come to us for the technology and the tools they need.”

“If the commons rule themselves,” one of the passengers said in a worried voice, “everything could go to blazes.”

“It’s already been going to blazes,” Mechanic Ken commented. “There are almost always wars and raids and attacks going on, and look at Tiae. The Guild has always claimed it can rule the commons, but the Guild ended up abandoning Tiae. That’s not a sign of superior strength or wisdom.”

“It’s Tiae that makes me believe her the most,” another Mechanic said. “That and my experience with far-talkers. I was on a task force working on the portable far-talkers being constructed now. We were told to use the same design, but some of the components being turned out either don’t work or are bigger, heavier, and less efficient than they’re supposed to be. Something is being allowed to change, but only in one direction, and that’s downhill.”

Captain Banda pointed back to the stern cabin. “One-half of that used to house a far-talker. But over time the big far-talkers have been pulled off most Mechanics Guild ships to be used for parts to try to keep the far-talkers on a few other ships and those in the Guild Halls still working.

“I’ve been like the rest of you,” Banda continued. “Trying to do my best, trying to do my job, but coming under suspicion by the Guild because I wasn’t willing to watch everything fall apart without saying or trying something. I’ll admit I’ve had it easier than many of you. Once the big far-talkers came off of these ships we gained a degree of freedom from the Guild whenever we went to sea. But we always had to come back into port sometime. And you are all examples of what is happening: how any dissent, any questioning, is taken as disloyalty. Too many Mechanics are disappearing, too many are being arrested and sent off to exile, while the rest of us wait for an alternative that we don’t think exists.”

Banda pointed to Mari. “Now we’ve got an alternative. I’d rather die trying to make something work than die in a prison cell because I wasn’t allowed to try. This Master Mechanic has given me a choice. When is the last time you were offered a choice? When is the last time you were treated with respect? Master Mechanic Mari treated me better as her prisoner than the Senior Mechanics have treated me. I’m going to follow Master Mechanic Mari.”

“Me, too,” said Senior Mechanic Gina, stepping forward. “You’re going to need someone who understands administrative functions. I can help.”

“We don’t need the Senior Mechanics running everything!” an angry voice rose among the passengers.

“I don’t want to run anything!” Gina insisted. “I want to help things run. You need administrative talent. It’s like the grease that keeps a machine moving. The problem with the Mechanics Guild isn’t because the grease is part of the system, it’s because the grease has decided it’s the reason for the machine’s existence.”

Mari saw Alain give her a slight nod. Both Banda and Gina were telling the truth. And with that she realized how to resolve her worries about whether anyone else was being truthful. “Stay next to me,” she told Alain in a low voice, then spoke loudly again. “Welcome to both of you,” she said to the captain and the senior mechanic. “For everyone else who wants to stay, I would like you to come up here, one by one, and tell me you want to work with me.”

“No vows of obedience?” a sarcastic voice called.

“No. Just say you want to work with me. We’ll start with the crew.”

Unsurprisingly, all of the commons and the Mechanics among the Pride’s crew agreed, as did all but one of the Apprentices. That boy came close to Mari and Banda to speak quietly. “Mechanic Captain, sir, I truly want to stay with you, but my parents and my little sister live in the Guild Hall at Amandan. If I am seen to be a traitor to the Guild—”

“I wouldn’t ask you to risk your family,” Mari said.

“But we need a stronger reason for your refusal,” Banda added. “Something that will protect you.” His voice rose. “I am surprised,” he said, his tone growing colder. “I expected better of you than blind loyalty to the Guild. Go, then. You belong among those who think as you do.”

The Apprentice quickly hid a relieved smile, tried to look abashed but determined, and walked to stand next to the net cage holding the guards.

Then came the Mechanics who had been passengers. The first several came up without incident, but then a woman approached. “I wish to work with you,” she said in a businesslike manner.

Alain’s hand came up in a warding gesture. “She is lying.”

The female Mechanic flicked a quick glance at Alain. Mari saw a knife appear in her hand with shocking suddenness, then the female Mechanic lunged at her from only a lance away.