She had a hard time relaxing after the tension of the recent battle, instead worrying about what other challenges they might face even here at Julesport. The stack of a single steam-powered ship was visible on the far side of the harbor. That would be a Mechanics Guild ship, since no one else was allowed the use of boilers as propulsion. Everything else was under sail, under oars, or at anchor. Every time the wind shifted sails flapped, spars shifted, and booms swung as sailors on dozens of different vessels of widely varying size adjusted to the vagaries of the breezes. To Mari it looked like a huge, complex machine with scores of independently moving parts, each pursuing its own path, yet all in a strange kind of harmony in the service of some greater purpose.
She would have to create something like that if she were to overthrow the Great Guilds. But that would be impossible to do alone. After so long of just barely surviving with just her and Alain seemingly against the world, it was very comforting to know that she had friends here ready to help.
Mari looked around, seeing most of her companions, but noticed that two were missing. “Where are Mage Asha and Mechanic Dav?”
Mechanic Alli looked innocently off to the side, Mechanic Bev rolled her eyes, and Mage Dav, as usual, betrayed no feelings at all even though Asha was his niece. Alain looked around, as if startled to realize the other two were not on deck.
It took Mari a moment to realize what their reactions meant. “You’re kidding,” she said. “They’re together belowdecks? Mage Asha and Mechanic Dav met for the first time in Altis. They’re already that close?”
“At the moment they’re probably very close to each other,” Alli said, grinning.
“And,” Bev added dryly, “probably trying to disprove the Exclusion Principle.”
Alain looked at the Mechanics. “What is the Exclusion Principle?”
“The law that says no two objects can occupy the same place at the same time,” Mari snapped. “Think about it.”
“We just won a fight,” Alli pointed out. “Don’t you feel like celebrating?”
“Not that way! Where are they doing this? Alain and I have been trying to find a private place on this ship since we left Altis! How did they find a private place when Alain and I couldn’t?”
“You know how young lovers can be.”
“Alain and I are young lovers! We’re both younger than Mage Asha or Mechanic Dav!”
“But now you’re an old married couple,” Alli explained.
“We’ve only been married for about a month. All right, a month and a half. That’s not old.” Mari gave Alain an accusing look. “Did you know about them?”
“Did I know what about them?” Alain asked.
Sometimes she wondered if Alain were truly that oblivious or if he just pretended to be unaware of human interaction. “Did you know that they were that interested in each other?” Mari asked patiently.
“Not until this day, when Mage Asha made her interest so plain,” Alain said. “I recall a time that Asha discussed Mechanic Dav with you.”
“She did,” Mari conceded. “At least, she asked if Dav was fair game and I said as far as I knew he was. I just hope she doesn’t hurt him. I like Asha, but she is still a Mage, taught to believe that other people don’t matter.”
“Mages are taught that other people do not exist,” Alain corrected. “But I believe that Mage Asha…what is the word?”
“I hope you’re not looking for the word love!”
“No. Not yet, if I am to judge love by what I feel for you. Something less?”
“She likes him?”
“Yes,” Alain said. “I believe that Asha likes Mechanic Dav.”
“Do she like him or does she like him like him?”
Alain stared at Mari, openly conveying confusion. “I have no idea what you are asking.”
“Is that because you’re a man or because you’re a Mage? Never mind. Who Asha takes up with is none of my business, as long as it’s not you.”
“You know that Asha is not your rival in any way.”
Mari shook her head, smiling to let him know she wasn’t really worried about Asha. “Alain, she’s the most beautiful woman anyone’s ever seen. She’s a few years older than me and a Mage like you. She’s even got a better rear end than I do.”
“On that last you are absolutely wrong,” Alain said.
“Sure. I’ll try to believe that.” Mari looked around the harbor again, at the city spreading beside it and up into the low hills beyond, at the forts and walls defending it, and wondered if she really was a descendant of Jules, who according to legend had been the first to see this harbor and who had founded this city. She felt a shiver born of some indefinable sensation and decided it must be nerves.
“Alli and Bev,” Mari called. “We’d better shed the jackets so no one can tell we’re Mechanics. We need to get the supplies we require and then leave this port without any complications.”
She pulled off her own jacket, wondering if the Syndari galleys would notify the city leaders of Julesport about who was riding on the Gray Lady in an attempt to claim the rewards, despite failing to capture Mari themselves. Or if the Mechanics Guild Hall and the Mages Guild Hall had taken note of the battle just outside the harbor.
Mari didn’t make any comments when Mechanic Dav and Mage Asha eventually reappeared on deck, but both Alli and Bev began pestering Dav with mock concern, asking if he had been hurt in the fight and exactly where he had been and what he had been doing.
By early afternoon the Gray Lady had tied up to an anchor buoy only about a thousand lances from the nearest pier. The captain immediately began negotiating with barges that came alongside offering food and water or transport ashore for the crew. The latter left disappointed, since no one planned to leave the Gray Lady.
But Mari was quickly reminded that plans were what people made before they found out what the real world had in store for them.
“There’s a launch heading this way,” the captain called to Mari. “Not normal port tax collection from the look of it. Too fancy. That fellow in the back is not the run-of-the-mill customs inspector, Lady. I’d guess from the cut of his jib that he’s a high official of the city guard.”
“We’ll get under cover,” Mari said, beckoning to the other Mechanics and the Mages. “You see what they want, Captain, and hopefully talk our way out of any trouble.”
“As you wish, Lady Mari!”
The large launch coming toward the Gray Lady flew the flag of Julesport, an official emblem which incongruously boasted the crossed swords of the sometime-pirate Jules. Jules had not just founded this city, but had also been the primary founder of the Confederation. It was from Julesport that she had led a flotilla against an Imperial fleet to win the battle that saved this region from Imperial control and gave Jules the title Hero of the Confederation. Mari was certain that Jules must have received aid from the Mechanics Guild and the Mage Guild in her victory, because neither of the Great Guilds wanted the Empire to grow so powerful it might openly challenge their authority, but she had still been the sort of person whose legend had trouble outpacing reality.
The idea of being linked to such a woman, of being the long-awaited daughter of Jules, was disconcerting for Mari, to put it mildly. But that was who Alain said she was, who the Mage Guild had decided she must be, who the common people saw in her: the person who was prophesized to overthrow the Great Guilds which had ruled Dematr for all of its history. A history that was measured only in centuries, but on Altis Mari had finally learned the reason for that.
Mari gazed through the windows of the stern cabin using her far-seers. The man in the stern sheets of the launch approaching the Gray Lady wore an impressive uniform. “That’s a dress uniform, isn’t it? Not a working outfit.”
Mechanic Dav borrowed the far-seers and took a look. “Definitely. It looks like…uh-huh. The oar handlers have knives, and the guy in the fancy uniform has a sword, but there aren’t any other weapons in sight. They don’t seem to be coming to
“That’s right. I took an advance on my first year's Mechanic pay allowance for them.” Mari took another look at the official in the launch, then glanced at Alain. “High-ranking, but obviously not one of the leaders of the city. What do you think that means?”
Alain considered the question. “I would guess that it means they suspect that this ship carries not just any passengers, but that they also wish to know more before making any decisions.”
“I cannot sense any unusual activity among the Mages in Julesport,” Mage Dav said.
“That one steam ship hasn’t fired up its boiler,” Mechanic Bev offered.
The launch was nearing rapidly under the pull of its oars. Mari looked across the harbor, seeing no other activity that seemed out of the ordinary. Work everywhere within sight had slowed for the afternoon break. “The captain told me that we can’t leave without taking on more food and water and then getting official clearance to depart. All we can do is see what that official wants and what questions he asks.”
“It is safe to assume that the leaders of all cities are under a great deal of pressure from the Great Guilds to find us,” Alain said. “Was not Julesport the site of rioting not long ago?”
“Yes,” Mari said. “About the time I went north to find you again. The last I heard, the Mechanics Guild was leaning hard on the city leaders and the city leaders, according to the gossip among commons, were pretending to go along with orders but finding ways to avoid actually complying.”
“My experience with commons,” Mechanic Dav offered, “is that they are really good at that sort of thing. The Senior Mechanics kept telling me the commons were too stupid to understand what they were told, but it looked to me like they were plenty smart enough.”
“That’s what I’ve seen, too. We’ll crack the hatch so we can listen while that guy talks to the captain,” Mari decided.
The wait for the launch to pull alongside and its passenger to climb up the rope ladder to the Gray Lady's deck seemed interminable to Mari, but eventually she saw the official step on deck, looking around casually. The hatch onto the deck was open but a narrow crack. Mari stood slightly back from it, surely invisible to anyone outside, with Alain right beside her and the others clustered farther back.
Alain murmured in her ear. “This official pretends not to be aware, but he is watching everything. There is a worry inside him that he does not show to other commons.”
The captain greeted the official with a smile and a salute. “The Gray Lady, an honest merchant ship out of Gullhaven, honored sir. Here to pick up provisions and perhaps give the crew a bit of liberty ashore.”
The official nodded, smiling politely back, but only for a moment before his face went serious. “Gullhaven? That was your last port?”
“Aye, sir.”
“That’s odd. We have a report out of Altis that a ship like enough to yours to be her twin left that port under hasty circumstances.”
Mari tensed, but the captain of the Gray Lady only looked surprised. “Is that so? I’ve not seen that ship, sir, or I’d have marked it for certain. Much like this one, you say?”
“Exactly like this one,” the official stated. “Even down to the name.”
The captain looked outraged. “They claimed the name of my ship? That’s not the work of honest sailors, sir.”
“I daresay,” the official responded, glancing around again. “The Mechanics Guild gave us the description and the name. The Mechanics Guild said there was a substantial reward for this ship and its occupants. They want this ship very badly.”
The Gray Lady’s captain looked puzzled. “Why ever for? We’re but honest sailors.”
“Naturally. But the Mechanics Guild thinks you’re carrying someone the Guild wants badly enough to offer that substantial reward for, dead or alive. I might add, preferably dead.”
“What!” the captain cried in feigned astonishment. “I’ll not deny looking askance at the odd Mechanic, sir, because you know how they can be with their pride and their ill manners, but surely that’s not grounds for such a charge. No one on this ship could match such a description, sir. We’re all—”
“Honest sailors,” the official finished dryly. “The Mage Guild has communicated with us as well, saying that they also seek a ship carrying someone, a young woman, and offering a huge reward for her death.”
“No wise person deals with Mages, sir,” the captain avowed.
“In that we are in agreement. Do you have any passengers?”
“Passengers? Well, sir, I’m not comfortable with carrying passengers, you see.”
“The harbor sentries on the breakwater reported sighting figures on your deck wearing the jackets of Mechanics. They also,” the official added, “saw at least one person in the robes of a Mage.”
“The fog does funny things to a man’s sight, sir. There have been times I’ve been near to jumping overboard from thinking I saw mermaids beckoning to me.”
“You took on three Syndari galleys and bested them,” the official said. “That’s very impressive. But do not think that you can best the city leaders of Julesport.”
The captain held out his hands in earnest entreaty. “I have but one task in Julesport, sir, and that is to take on food and water for my crew. We’re bound for other ports, sir. I have no wish to act contrary to the laws of Julesport.”
“Which other ports? Where are you bound?”
The captain finally hesitated in his reply. “We were bound for Daarendi, but after that tussle with the Syndari galleys I’ve been rethinking things, sir.”
The official gave the captain a stern look. “You are sailing in very deep waters, whether you realize it or not.”
The captain nodded. “I full realize it, sir, but I have my reasons.”
“Do you? There are rumors about, Captain. Rumors that someone may be headed this way. Someone important enough to cause both of the Great Guilds to demand her death. Julesport needs to know if that someone is on your ship. Julesport needs to speak with that person. I can promise nothing except this. Your ship will not leave this harbor until we have spoken with her, or until this ship has been searched down to the last nail.”
The captain eyed the official. “And if I knew her whereabouts, this person you seek, why would I betray her for any price or in the face of any threat?”
“Your reputation is known,” the official said.
“That may be a poor guide in this case. Tell me you mean her no harm, and we’ll discuss more.”
“You know that we’re discussing a woman? A young woman?”
“Aye. And those traveling with her.”
“A Mage?” The official waited for some confirmation, but the captain just stood watching him. “I swear by the honor of my mother and my father that if this woman is who she claims to be, there will be no harm done to her.”
Alain leaned close again to murmur to Mari. “He does not lie.”
“And he already knows too much,” Mari said. She sighed, nerved herself, then shoved open the hatch and walked out onto the deck, straight to the official. Alain and the others followed her. “There doesn’t seem much point in pretending I’m not aboard.”
The official eyed Mari, then Alain standing beside her, then the other Mechanics and Mages. “A young female Mechanic and a young male Mage. And others unknown to me. Are you the Mechanic your Guild seeks, Lady? Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn?”
Mari nodded, trying to keep her face calm and wondering just what the city council of Julesport was up to.
“Are you also…” The official paused, as if finding it hard to ask the next question. “Do you know why your Guild wants you dead?”
“I know exactly why,” Mari said. “Why do you want to know?”
“I am one of those responsible for the protection of this city.”
She took another look at Alain, who nodded to confirm that the official was once again being honest. “I am no threat to Julesport. I do not intend staying here.”
The official stared at her. “Lady, Julesport is on edge. The people have been pushed as far as they can go and are ready to set this city ablaze for no better reason than anger and frustration and fear. If they hear that…someone…is in this city, it may be all the spark that is needed.”
Mari took a step closer to the official. “I’m not trying to be a spark. You said it yourself. The people are angry and fearful. They lack hope that things will ever change. What if they could gain such hope again?”
“What if,” Alain said, “they had reason to believe that the prophecy is coming true?”
The official rubbed his mouth with one hand as he gazed at Mari. “Hope. Hope will not defeat the Great Guilds, Lady.”
“I have other means for accomplishing that,” Mari said with confidence she did not entirely feel. “But hope is important. Without hope there is nothing, and without hope there will be no future. Just let us go on our way, and when next you hear of me you will know I spoke the truth.”
“Lady, if it were up to me I would do so, but I have orders. Will you accompany me into the city? There are those who must speak with you. I swear that we will not betray you to either of the Great Guilds.”
“Yet,” Alain said, “simply entering into your city will make her more vulnerable to them.”
Mari looked out at Julesport, biting her lip as she thought. “I’ll go talk to your leaders. But only if Mage Alain accompanies me.”
“I was told to bring only you, Lady.”
“The Mage Alain goes where I go,” Mari said. “That is not negotiable.”
The official saluted her. “Very well. I agree.”
“You need this,” Alli said, offering Mari her Mechanics jacket.
Mari shook her head. “Hang onto it for me, will you? I don’t want to be any more conspicuous than I have to be. You guys stay aboard, keep a low profile, and watch for trouble. If our Guild finds out we’re here, they’ll try something.”
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