“What do they want?” Mechanic Dav asked, glancing around worriedly and fingering his rifle even though the weapon would be useless against so many.
“They want me,” Mari said. She stood up carefully in the carriage and looked out on the crowds, feeling a chill at their numbers and their watchfulness. And all of them were watching her.
The fire inside the building grew in intensity with a sudden whoosh, the light spilling out to illuminate Mari. The buzz of the crowd grew in volume, and their eyes glittered at her like thousands of candles.
How did she even begin to address these people?
That dilemma was resolved as someone finally called out a loud question. “Who are you?”
In the silence that followed that call, a silence broken only by the distant ringing of bells as fire wardens sounded alarms and the crackling of flames greedily devouring the building, Mari’s voice had no trouble carrying. “You know who I am. I have come from Altis. Before that I was in the Empire, and in the Northern Ramparts, and at Dorcastle. I came to Julesport to…to ask you to wait a little while longer. I know you have stopped believing that things could ever change. But they will! It is not yet time. The Great Guilds are very powerful. But they will be overthrown!”
The answering roar from the crowd felt like a physical force beating at Mari. She raised her arms, gesturing for silence, and for a wonder the crowd fell quiet again. “Do not act yet! It is not time! I do not want what the Great Guilds did at Altis to happen here. You will hear from me, and of me, I promise you. But do not risk yourselves and your city by acting before I am ready. You all have a lot to live for. Never forget that.”
A shrill voice yelled at her. “You’re a Mechanic! Liar! She would never be one of them!”
Part of Mari quailed at the accusation, knowing what would happen to her and her friends if this crowd turned into a mob. But part of her got angry. This was all hard enough. Too hard. Why did she have to argue with the people who should be helping her? “Jules was on officer of the Empire before she became something else. Have you forgotten that? Who am I? Ask the people of Altis!” Mari yelled back. “Ask the leaders of the Mechanics Guild, who have placed a high price on my head and already tried to kill me many times! Ask the Mages, who have told me I am that person, and the elders of the Mage Guild who also want me dead!”
Asha stood up beside her, the cowl of her robes back, her beauty making her look spectral in the light of the fire. “She is the daughter. It has been foreseen.” The Mage voice, loud but completely unfeeling, echoed among the suddenly silent crowd.
And in that silence a single person could be heard sobbing, crying softly. “At last. At last.”
Mari tried to sound calm and determined. “I have to go now. I have to leave Julesport in order to protect you. The days of the Great Guilds are numbered. Believe that because it is true. Together we will bring a new day to this world. Stay safe until then!”
Judging the moment right, Colonel Faron spurred his mount forward, the cavalry with him taking position around the carriage as its driver flicked the reins at the two horses hitched to it. The carriage began rolling toward the nearest edge of the crowd, which reluctantly gave way, everyone straining to see Mari as she sat down again. Mari held her hand before her, staring at how badly it was shaking.
Colonel Faron leaned down to speak to her. “I’ve sent for healers to meet us at the quay for the injured Mage Alain. There are reports that Mechanics are vanishing from the streets of the city, all withdrawing into their Guild Hall.”
“Wh—” Mari swallowed and managed to speak again. “What about the Mages?”
“There are small groups of them out. They don’t seem to be converging on any point. They’re just out.”
Mage Dav went to the edge of the carriage. “I will seek some of them.”
“Is that not dangerous?” Mage Asha asked.
“Yes.”
Mage Dav stepped down from the slow-moving carriage, vanishing almost immediately into the crowd, while Alli, Bev, and Mechanic Dav stared after him. “You Mages take some getting used to,” Alli finally said. “No offense.”
“Why should I care what you say?” Asha asked.
Alli’s mouth dropped open for a moment, then she looked at Mari. “Tell me again just how you got to know Alain?”
“We were running for our lives,” she said, holding Alain with one arm while she tried to suppress the nervous shakes that still shivered through her. “We didn’t have any choice. And yes, if the circumstances had been any different, it would have been very hard to get to know him enough to understand why he said things like that. It’s not an insult. Mage Asha isn’t trying to make you upset or angry. She’s just asking why she should be upset by anything you say, and that’s literally all she means by it.”
“If you say so.” Alli looked at the crowds on either side of the carriage. “Just how did Mage Asha help us find Alain anyway?”
“It’s my…beacon,” Mari admitted.
“Oh, yeah. You haven’t talked about that since Altis.”
“I don’t want to ever talk about it,” Mari mumbled.
Asha spoke again. “When Mari developed feelings for Mage Alain, and I learned to see Mari as not just a shadow, I began to sense her presence from afar. Whenever she thinks of Mage Alain, it is as if a distant bonfire lights for me.”
Alli didn’t answer, and when Mari looked at her she saw that Alli was trying desperately not to laugh. “That must be…really…embarrassing,” she finally got out.
“It is,” Mari said, trying to sound as cold as a Mage.
Mechanic Dav was giving her a funny look. “Does that happen every time a Mechanic and a Mage, uh…”
“You’ll have to let me know,” Mari said, which at least shut down further questions from Mechanic Dav.
The crowds were thinning as they reached the edges of the throng, the carriage horses trotting along streets where more and more soldiers were in evidence. As the carriage neared the quay, a cavalry soldier came riding up and saluted. “Colonel,” she called. “There is a group of Mechanics down there. They claim to be friends of the daughter.”
Faron turned a questioning look on Mari.
“Did they give any names?” Mari asked.
The soldier shook her head. “One of them said to tell Master Mechanic Mari that the next time she is in a blizzard to remember that nothing is real.”
“What?” Colonel Faron demanded. “What does that mean?”
“I know what it means,” Mari said, laughing with relief. “Alli, you might want to run ahead and meet those guys.”
“Why?” Alli asked. “Hold on. Blizzard. Isn’t that when you met—?”
“Sure was,” Mari said, smiling.
“Wooo!” Alli jumped out of the carriage and ran ahead.
“I guess it is all right,” Faron said, motioning the carriage to move on. “Lady, may I ask a question before you take leave of us?”
“Sure,” Mari said, feeling totally worn out again and wondering just how much longer this day and night could last.
“What reward do you seek?”
Mari looked at the colonel. “Reward?”
“Yes. What will you gain?”
“Everyone will be free. The Storm won’t come. The Great Guilds will no longer control this world.”
“But, for you,” Colonel Faron pressed.
“I…” Mari spread her hands in confusion. “I have Alain. I’ll be able to practice my Mechanic skills freely. My friends will be free. Isn’t that enough?”
“I would think so,” Faron said. “Good luck, Lady. I must go to ensure your ship has a clear path out of the harbor.” He flicked his reins and rode away, quickly vanishing into the dusk.
The carriage rumbled to a halt and Mari roused herself to get Alain out, feeling an irrational resentment that he wasn’t helping more.
“Four more Mechanics,” Bev commented. “No, wait. Five. Alli is glued to one of them so it looked like they were just one.”
“Hi, Calu,” Mari called, realizing her hail sounded breathless.
What looked like the silhouette of one broad Mechanic separated into two, Alli leading Mechanic Calu. “Hey, Mari. Still causing trouble, huh?” He spotted Alain as the others tried to get him down from the carriage. “Alain’s hurt?”
Calu rushed to help, talking as he did so. “I’ve got four friends with me. When the Guild Hall supervisor ordered everyone into the Hall for a lockdown, we were outside and figured it was time to make a break. We planned to try to find you, but you were a lot closer than we expected. So you’re the daughter now, huh?”
“She’s already power-mad,” Alli commented to Calu as they got Alain down. “That’s why we had to rescue this guy. Alain is the only one who can control her.”
“He’s a better man than I am, then,” Calu observed with a grin. But the grin faded into a look of concern. “What’s the matter with him?”
“Drugs, we think,” Mari reassured Calu. “He’ll be all right,” she added, trying to convince herself.
“There are a couple of healers here. I guess they got sent to help him.” Calu tried to take more of Alain’s weight on his own shoulder. “Can I take over here? You must be beat.”
“I am beat,” Mari admitted, “but Mage Asha and I will get him the rest of the way.”
“Mage Asha? Another Mage?” Calu glanced at her, then his eyes widened as Asha’s beauty struck home. “Wow. I mean—”
Alli intervened, punching Calu in the shoulder. “We know what you mean. Behave yourself. She’s a Mage and she’s got a knife.”
“And I’ve already got a girl,” Calu said. “I’ve got to fill you guys in on what’s been happening.”
“Later,” Mari gasped as some of the rowers from the launch helped lower Alain into the boat. “Right now we have to get out of town fast.”
“It should be two trips with this many people,” the boat officer suggested.
“All right. I’ll…” Mari hesitated, torn between wanting to go to the ship with Alain and her sense of duty that she remain on the quay until everyone else was clear.
“You’ll go,” Alli said. “I can supervise things here for a few minutes.”
Mari nodded, grateful that Alli had stepped in. “Thanks. Mage Asha…Mage Dav! We can’t leave Mage Dav!”
Asha shook her head. “If Mage Dav means to accompany us, he will be here. If he does not meet us here, he will find us at some later time.”
Bev was gazing out over the harbor. “Sparks and smoke, people. That stack is showing signs that someone is trying to get a boiler lit and online really fast.”
“Move it!” Mari ordered, scrambling down the ladder into the launch. She sat in the back, pillowing Alain’s head on her lap, trying not to burst into tears over how sick he looked.
Bev joined them, as did two common folk with the snake and staff badges of healers, then three of the Mechanics who had accompanied Calu and Calu himself, hustled down the ladder by an insistent Alli.
The launch shoved off and began threading its way through the crowded harbor back to the Gray Lady. “I guess Alli and I are going to be trying to keep you out of trouble again,” Calu commented.
Mari couldn’t helping smiling. “Yeah. Just like old times.”
“These guys are Rob of Larharbor—” one of the new Mechanics nodded to Mari—“and Tess of Emdin and Amal of Farland.”
Mari saw how closely Rob was sitting to one of the healers, a woman about his age. “And you’re healers?”
The woman nodded. “Cas and Pol of Julesport. Brother and sister. We’ll do all we can for, uh…”
“My Mage,” Mari said.
“And then can we come with you?” She reached for the hand of Mechanic Rob. “My brother just wants to help you, but Rob and I have wanted to get married for years. The Guild blocked it.”
“They’re cracking down on any relationships with commons,” Rob explained.
“It’s gotten even crazier lately,” Calu agreed. “You’ve really got them scared, Mari.”
“I haven’t done all that much,” she said. “Alain and I have mostly just tried to stay alive.”
“And get your hands on forbidden Mechanic texts,” Bev added.
“Well, yeah, that, too.”
The other Mechanics stared at her. “Forbidden texts?” Amal asked. “From the Guild vaults?”
Despite her fatigue, Mari perked up a little at the topic. “Yes. There is some amazing stuff in there. Wait until you see it.”
“We’ll all get to see the texts?”
“Everyone will,” Mari said. She knew they wouldn’t think she meant literally everyone. They would assume that she only intended other Mechanics. But she was too tired at the moment to explain, and argue, that the texts should be seen by commons and even by Mages as well.
She was surprised when the hull of the Gray Lady loomed above them, the masts of the ship rising skyward like angular trees shorn of leaves. A barge lay next to the ship, its open deck laden with crates, boxes and barrels which were being hoisted up and onto the Gray Lady using lines that ran through tackle on some of the spars. The crew, who didn’t seem to find the need to haul a limp body aboard the least bit unusual, brought over one of the lines being used as a hoist, passing a large loop over Alain’s head and arms and using it to pull him up to the deck. “They’re familiar enough with it,” the captain explained to Mari. “In every port one or two sailors takes on way too much booze and needs a bit of help up the side.”
Mari stood on deck, trying to decide what to do as the healers and some of the crew carried Alain into the cabin. Once again she was torn by conflicting responsibilities. She finally went to the rail, watching as the rest came aboard and the launch headed back for the quay. “Captain, we need to be ready to leave as soon as the launch returns and the people it carries get aboard.”
The captain looked at the sky. “Lady, it’s not the best night for sneaking out of a harbor. A bit too bright and clear, with a nearly full moon.”
“Make the best of it,” Mari ordered. “The Mage Guild is not going to be happy when they realize we got Mage Alain away from the Dark Mages.”
“The Mage Guild?” The captain blew out a long breath. “I once saw a leviathan turn a bigger ship than this to matchsticks. What about the Mechanics Guild?”
“You can see they’re trying to get steam up on their ship. That’s going to take a little while, but we want to have disappeared before they can start chasing us. Did we get all of the supplies that we need?”
“Aye,” the captain said. “Better quality than we usually have, as well, and I was told it was all paid for.”
“All of it? I didn’t—” Mari exhaled heavily. “It’s too late to argue now.”
“How many more are coming, may I ask, Lady?”
“Four or five, I think. It depends if Mage Dav makes it back.”
She looked over to where the Mechanic ship was working to get up steam, smoke gushing from its stack visible even against the night sky. “What are they doing?” she asked Bev. “There’s way too much smoke.”
“I’m not a steam specialist,” Bev said, “but I’d guess they’re trying to get the boiler going as fast as possible.”
“They’ll crack the bricks lining the boiler if they’re not careful,” Mari said. “Why do I think that there’s a Senior Mechanic standing over the captain of that Mechanic ship demanding they move faster?”
“Rules are for regular Mechanics,” Bev said. “How are you going to run things once the Guild is gone?”
“What?” Mari turned a baffled gaze on her.
“Once the Mechanics Guild is overthrown, somebody is going to have to make new rules. Somebody is going to have to set up some way of running things if the Senior Mechanics are out of the picture. I know Alli and Dav are just sort of assuming you’ll be that somebody, and I bet everyone else will, too.”
Mari stared at the waters of the harbor, aghast. “Oh, no.”
<
br /> “You can’t do worse than the Senior Mechanics have,” Bev said, a sudden dark edge entering her voice. “They—” She struggled to control herself. “They’ve got a lot to answer for,” she finally got out.
“Bev, I’m sorry. Whatever it was.”
Bev pointed over the side, changing the subject. “Here comes the launch. Looks like Mage Dav collected a few friends.”
Mari stared. There were five figures in Mage robes among the others. Mage Dav and Mage Asha made two. Who were the other three?
Mage Asha was first on deck, looking as unconcerned as ever.
“Asha,” Mari said, “who are those other Mages?”
“Mage Dav found some who sought us,” Asha said. “They seek different wisdom.”
“He’s sure they can be trusted?”
“Mage Dav would not have brought them along if he was not certain.” Asha turned her gaze on Mari. “My uncle…likes…you. Is that the right word?”
“I don’t know,” Mari said, startled. “Why does he like me?”
“He is a Mage, and one of no great standing, but you treat him with the same courtesy and concern you grant Mechanics. Your trust is also welcome and unexpected, for Mage Dav knows how Mages are seen by others.” She paused, her face shadowed. “That has always been difficult for Mage Dav, to know he was seen as a monster.”
“It was hard for Alain, too,” Mari said. “I hated knowing how the commons looked at me behind my back. Oh, they’re very respectful to Mechanics to their faces, but if you turned around quickly enough you’d see their true feelings. And I couldn’t blame the commons, seeing how some of my fellow Mechanics treated them.”
“Mages have always treated shadows as nothing,” Asha said.
“They don’t have to be nothing, Asha. Alain is a Mage and he sees me as real, and I think he’s seeing a lot of other people that way, too.”
“I watch and I listen,” Asha said. “I learn.”
Mage Dav came up the ladder, followed by the three other Mages with their faces concealed under the hoods of their robes. Mage Dav nodded to Mari and led the other Mages to a spot on deck where they would be least in the way. There all four sat down facing each other in a tight circle.
The Pirates of Pacta Servanda (Pillars of Reality Book 4) Page 9
