“Speaking of which, the Senior Mechanics are being held in their main conference room, as you ordered,” Lukas told Mari.
“Good. Mechanic Ken is leading teams to evaluate how much equipment we can, uh, borrow from this Guild Hall if we use the Mages’ help to create larger openings to the outside. If any of the Mechanics we captured are eager to help, let me know so I can have them vetted by the Mages.” Feeling a little awkward at having given orders to someone of Lukas’s age and seniority, Mari dug in one of the pockets of her jacket and pulled out a spare armband. “Would you wear this, Professor?”
S’san frowned at the golden star on light blue. “Why is this your symbol, Mari?”
“It’s not my symbol. It’s the image of the new day. What we’re fighting for.”
“I doubt your followers see it in the same light.” S’san pulled the band over one sleeve of her jacket. “You were always very practical and down-to-earth , Mari. And correspondingly weak on symbolism. Who convinced you that an emblem of the new day would be a good thing?”
“My friends made it,” Mari admitted. “Alain convinced me it was a good idea to use the image on banners and armbands.”
“They were right, if my opinion still matters to you. So, Lukas here tells me that you have access to banned technology texts. How did you manage that?”
“I can’t tell you yet, Professor, and your opinion will always be very important to me. Master Mechanic Lukas, I’m going back to check things at the front entrance and then drop in on the Senior Mechanics.” Mari led her old teacher through the hallways, Alain following.
“I see the Mage is still with you,” S’san added, looking at Alain.
“He’ll always be with me,” Mari said, holding up her left hand so that the promise ring showed clearly. “I’ve got five more Mages with me now as well.”
“Five more?” S’san walked alongside Mari, shaking her head. “You don’t believe in changing the world slowly, do you, Mari?”
“We truly do not have time to move slowly, Professor.”
S’san shot a keen glance at Mari. “According to the Senior Mechanics, you’re also doing your best to get the commons to revolt.”
Mari had to laugh scornfully at that. “The truth is the opposite. I’m telling the commons to wait. Not to act until things are ready. If they rose up now, cities would be destroyed while the Great Guilds fought back, and the loss of life would be awful.”
“And they are listening to you? Are they so easily convinced?”
“She is the daughter,” Alain said. “The commons can tell.”
“Alain,” Mari said, her voice sharpening. “I’m talking sense to them. They can tell that.” She felt relieved to reach the entry again, where all of the Mages were now gathered along with a few of her Mechanics. “You’re all right?” she asked the Mages. “None of you were hurt?”
To her surprise, not just Mage Dav and Mage Asha but the three newer Mages all acknowledged her question. “There is one concern,” Mage Dav said. “None of us can sense any activity from other Mages in this city. Our spells must have told the Mages and the elders here that we are present, but nothing is happening.”
“They must be preparing,” Alain said.
“Or deciding to prepare,” Mage Dav said. “We will continue to rest and watch for signs of spells elsewhere.”
“Thank you,” Mari said. As she, Professor S’san, and Alain walked quickly toward the Senior Mechanics’ main conference room, Mari gave Alain a worried look. “What do you think the Edinton Mages are doing?”
“It is likely the elders are trying to learn what is happening. If it is seen as merely a dispute among Mechanics, the elders will do nothing. But if they hear that the daughter is in Edinton, and present at this Hall, they will act.”
“Can they…sense me?” Mari asked.
“As if you were a Mage?” Alain said. “No. A Mage must see you to know that you are the daughter. The elders will not want to attack a Mechanics Guild Hall based on the rumors of shadows. They will seek other confirmation.”
“That should give us more time, which we need. Getting that heavy equipment down to the docks is going to take some work, even with the Mages helping.”
“Did the Mages help you penetrate the vaults at Mechanics Guild Headquarters and remove banned technology texts?” S’san asked.
“That’s not exactly what happened,” Mari said. “When we get somewhere where I don’t have to worry about being overheard, I can tell you the truth of where Alain and I got the texts. Somebody else should know in case something happens to me and Alain, but to everyone else it still has to be a secret.”
“I can understand your reasons for that,” S’san said. “I have only one regret at this moment: that I won’t be able to see the faces of the Senior Mechanics and the Guild Master at Guild Headquarters when they hear what you’ve done here.”
“You’ll be able to see the Senior Mechanics here. Is Senior Mechanic Vilma still the Guild Hall Supervisor?”
“Oh, Vilma got sacked months ago, for letting a certain Master Mechanic slip through her fingers instead of ensuring you were safely dead in the service of the Guild. We’ve had Senior Mechanic Tam lording it over us since then. His leadership skills are poor even for a Senior Mechanic, which is saying something. Who are these people?”
They had nearly reached the Senior Mechanics’ conference room, but the hallway was blocked by a group of several Mechanics, two wearing Mari’s armbands and the others apparently new captives. “Master Mechanic!” one of Mari’s Mechanics cried. “We need your instructions. These Mechanics want to help, to join with us, and we need their skills.”
Mari paused in front of the group. “Mage Alain?”
Alain looked over the five Mechanics from Edinton as Mari had them recite the statement about wanting to work with her.
“Hold on!” Mari said as the last of the five came up to her, grinning. “Gayl? Gayl of Daarendi?”
“That’s right,” Gayl said. “Fernan said you’d do something some day!”
“I knew Gayl and Fernan at the Guild Academy,” Mari explained to Alain and Professor S’san. “Where is Fernan? Is he all right?”
Gayl’s smile slipped. “I think he’s all right. He was sent to the Guild Hall in Palla, to break us up.”
“My fault again.” Mari sighed.
“Not this time. A Senior Mechanic took a very close interest in me and thought that if Fernan got sent far, far away I could be convinced to fall in love with someone else.” Gayl’s lip curled. “It didn’t work, so I got sent to Edinton.”
“None of them are lying,” Alain said.
“Welcome to all of you,” Mari said. “Stay with my Mechanics until you get armbands of your own. I very much appreciate your assistance, and it is great to see you again, Gayl. We’ll get word to Fernan so he can join us where we’re going after this.”
“I don't know everything that you want to do,” Gayl said. “Aside from finally breaking the hold of the Senior Mechanics on us all. But you’ve already done the impossible. Tell us what you want and where to go, and we’ll follow you!”
“I’m nothing without people like you,” Mari said, hoping that she didn’t look too embarrassed.
They paused outside the door to the Senior Mechanics’ conference room, which was next to the Guild Hall Supervisor’s office. During her time of exile in Edinton she had been called on the carpet in that office more than once for trivial matters. If she had been the sort to want to settle scores, there would have been plenty of them to deal with here in Edinton.
She felt an habitual urge to knock and await permission. It took a moment to overcome her training and walk in as if she ran the Hall. Which, in fact, she did at the moment. More than a dozen Senior Mechanics were lined up against one wall of the large room along with several other high-ranking Mechanics, two of Mari’s Mechanics standing guard over them all with rifles at ready. Mari came to a halt in front of them, running her eyes over the
group, recognizing several of them from the weeks she had spent in Edinton. “Are there any Senior Mechanics missing?” she asked S’san.
“No, Mari, you got them all.” S’san seemed to be quite pleased about that.
Mari’s eyes came to a rest on another familiar figure. “Professor T’mos,” she murmured.
Professor S’san leaned closer to her and murmured back. “He hasn’t been here long. The Guild leadership took it very poorly when Professor T’mos allowed you to slip through his fingers in Palandur. They accused him of either deliberately aiding you or of being too dense to realize you had fooled him.”
Mari couldn’t help a twisted smile. “He didn’t deliberately aid me.”
“I myself thought the second option was more in keeping with dear, prideful T’mos. But he got sent here anyway, either because he was suspect or because he was punished. Maybe both. We haven’t spoken all that much since he arrived, but then we never did.”
“You should have warned me more about his controlling paternalism,” Mari said, aware that the senior Mechanics were watching her with hostile and angry expressions. She raised her voice. “For anyone who doesn’t already know,” she announced, “I am Master Mechanic Mari—”
“Your title was taken from you! Do not sully it!” a Senior Mechanic Mari vaguely recognized yelled at her.
Mari gave the woman a flat, hard stare. “Don’t interrupt me again.” Saying that felt good. Over the years there had been any number of Senior Mechanics she had wanted to say that to, and now she finally got to do it. “If I were you, I’d be spending my time thinking up explanations for how you let this Hall be captured. I imagine the Guild is not going to be pleased with you. Maybe you’ll finally be called to account for your inability to do anything but yell at Mechanics junior to you in the Guild hierarchy.”
Professor T’mos, looking outraged, spoke in the firm tones of a teacher admonishing a recalcitrant student. “Mari, you must cease this immediately. You can’t get away with it. If you throw yourself on the mercy of the Guild—”
Mari felt a surge of anger. She held up one hand, palm out, her expression so foreboding that even someone as self-assured as T’mos stopped in mid-sentence. “I’ve learned all about the mercy of the Guild and the gratitude of the Guild and the morals of the Guild. The Guild that disregarded my loyalty and used me as bait against Ringhmon, hoping that commons would kill me. The Guild that tried to murder me by sending me to Tiae. The Guild who beat me and threatened to turn me over to the Emperor’s tender mercies. The Guild whose assassins I barely escaped in Altis. And of course the Guild that has systematically lied about so much to everyone on Dematr for centuries. The Guild was built on a foundation of lies. That flawed foundation is finally cracking. The Mechanics Guild will fall, and anyone who continues to back it will fall with it.”
“The Guild fall?” another Senior Mechanic blurted out. “You’re insane, girl! Just as the Guild has warned us! Absolutely insane! The Guild has always been here and always will be!”
Mari shook her head. “No. The Guild’s days are numbered. I have no wish for bloodshed, unlike the Senior Mechanics who keep trying to kill me, but I will break the hold of the Mechanics Guild on this world. Believe it or not, I’m doing you a favor. If the Guild succeeded in keeping Dematr in chains, that victory would last a very short time before the commons finally rose and drowned everything in blood and fire.” She didn’t think these Senior Mechanics could be convinced, didn’t think they would believe her or join her, but they would report what was said, and many eyes would see those reports. Some of those eyes might become future allies.
“How would you know such a thing?” Senior Mechanic Tam asked contemptuously.
“The Mages have seen it—”
“Mages!”
“And I would say that any fool who walks among the commons can feel it, but you obviously haven’t.” Mari paused while Tam purpled with rage. “This world will be free. Mechanics will be free as well, and everything you have tried to control will slip through your fingers.”
“Nothing will change except that you will die,” another Senior Mechanic said in a very cold voice. “And your lies will die with you.”
Mari managed to smile despite the tightness in her gut at the threat. “I don’t think so. Things are already in motion that will survive even if I don’t. I have a job to do, and I’m going to see it done.”
Some others had entered the room behind Mari, and she turned to see Bev standing close by. Bev had her eyes fixed on the row of Senior Mechanics, her face rigid.
She brought the barrel of her rifle up and started walking toward the captives. Mari almost flung out a hand to stop her, but Alain shook his head. “She must handle this,” he said in a very low voice.
“What’s going on?” S’san whispered to Mari.
“I don’t know exactly. I assume it has something to do with when Bev was an Apprentice at Emdin,” Mari whispered back.
“Blazes! What is she going to do?”
Mari looked at Alain again. “She must know she has the power to shape her world,” Alain said.
Her rifle in a ready position, Bev halted directly in front of one of the Senior Mechanics, a man Mari didn’t recognize. Nobody was saying anything, the silence almost oppressive.
Finally Bev spoke, her voice sounding almost as dead as a Mage’s. “Senior Mechanic Sodo.”
Sodo, a man of average height and a bit too much weight, stared back at her wordlessly, his terrified eyes going from the barrel of the rifle to Bev’s face and back again. The Senior Mechanics next to him were edging away, plainly almost as frightened as Sodo.
“Aren’t you happy to see me again, Senior Mechanic Sodo?” Bev asked in that same emotionless voice. “Aren’t you?”
With shocking suddenness, Bev swung the butt of the rifle around and forward, slamming it into Sodo’s groin. The Senior Mechanic gasped in pain, his legs giving way.
“Aren’t you?” Bev demanded, her voice finally tinged with rage. She brought the rifle barrel forward again and jammed it against Sodo’s teeth, forcing the Senior Mechanic’s head back against the wall and preventing him from falling to his knees.
One of the Mechanics standing next to Mari looked to her for guidance, his face anxious, but Mari just shook her head and made a restraining gesture. From what Alain had said and the little Mari knew of the events at Emdin, she understood what was going on. “Mechanic Bev decides how this ends.”
Bev paused as she heard Mari’s words, then leaned in closer to Sodo, her eyes blazing. “Don’t you have anything to say, Senior Mechanic Sodo? No lectures on an Apprentice’s duty to the Guild? No instructions on the importance of an Apprentice doing anything that she is ordered to do? No threats of what might happen if an Apprentice spoke out of turn? Now you have nothing to say, Senior Mechanic Sodo?” She jabbed with the rifle barrel, drawing a grunt of pain from Sodo and a trickle of blood from his lips and gums.
“How does it feel, Senior Mechanic Sodo? How does it feel to know that I can do whatever I want to do to you? How does it feel to be helpless?” Bev’s lips drew back in a snarling smile. “But you know what, Senior Mechanic Sodo? Not only are you a sorry excuse for a Mechanic, not only are you a sorry, pitiful, and pathetic excuse for a man, but you’re also a lousy teacher. Lucky for you, because if I had become what you tried to make me, you’d be dead.”
Bev jerked her rifle away, letting Sodo drop to his knees as he grabbed at his mouth in agony. “Listen to me very closely, Senior Mechanic Sodo. You’re going to live this time, because I won’t let what you did to me destroy me. But if you ever, ever hurt anyone else, I will find you. You will never know what door I might be behind, what corner I might be waiting around, with a pistol and a knife, to ensure that you die a slower and more painful death than you can possibly imagine. Do you understand, Senior Mechanic Sodo?”
Sodo nodded frantically, and Bev turned away, walking back to Mari, leaving the Senior Mechanic on his knees.
Bev reached Mari and nodded to her, breathing deeply and looking oddly relieved. “Thanks, Mari. Thank you, Mage Alain. I’m good now.”
Mari reached up to squeeze her shoulder. “We trust you.”
Bev put her own hand over Mari’s. “More importantly, you just showed everyone that you trust me. Do you want me to beat up anyone else?”
Mari couldn’t help glancing at Professor T’mos, who was staring at Sodo in shock, but she shook her head. This was…too pleasant. Getting revenge, being in control, scaring people who couldn’t fight back… She saw an ugly path ahead, a path that would lead to her becoming like the Senior Mechanics she now faced. Unless starting right now she made a major effort to turn her course in another direction. “Once we’ve taken all that we need from this Guild Hall,” Mari told the Senior Mechanics, forcing her voice to sound in control but not threatening, “we’ll leave. No one will be harmed if I can help it. I am truly sorry it came to this. I don’t want bloodshed, I don’t want fighting. If the Guild leaves me alone, I won’t attack any more Guild Halls. If the Guild attacks me, then all bets are off. Tell the Guild’s leaders that. They have a choice.”
“More lies! You’ll hang in Palandur when your lunacy and pride take you back there!” shouted another of the Senior Mechanics. “You’re a traitorous slave of the Mages, you filthy—” His voice broke off as his face suddenly flushed red and sweat sprang out on his forehead. The Senior Mechanic seemed to have trouble breathing for a moment, staggering back against the wall.
Alain spoke softly, but his voice held the dead quality that was terrifying to anyone who heard it. “That was a warning, just enough heat in the air to make you very uncomfortable. Speak of Master Mechanic Mari again in such a fashion and the air around your head will set you aflame.”
“Alain,“ Mari said, “their words can’t hurt me.” Which was a lie, but she knew she had to get used to being called worse than a slave of the Mages.
“But why should they be allowed to speak those words?” Alain asked.
“Because not allowing someone to speak is what they do,” Mari insisted. “Because I can’t say I’m doing to this to free everyone and then act as though I have the right to tell everyone what they can and cannot say. Even if what they say is about me.”
The Pirates of Pacta Servanda Page 20
