The Hidden Masters of Marandur

Chapter Eleven

“All right.” Mari kicked out, her boot catching the man’s ankle and drawing a yelp of pain. The man fumbled with the weapon he had been in the act of trying to draw as Mari grabbed the wine bottle and slammed it against his head. Watching curtains being yanked back on some of the other booths in the room, Mari began sliding out of her seat as the man slumped down onto the table. Before she could tell who was inside those booths, Alain had grabbed her and pulled her back inside their own.

“Close our curtain,” he said.

Not waiting to ask, Mari used one hand to sweep the curtain to their booth closed, brandishing her pistol as she did so to dissuade anyone from rushing in immediately. “Now what? Why didn’t you let me run?”

“There are better ways to leave.”

Mari gave Alain a quick, puzzled look, then saw the wall beside his booth seat now had a hole in it, a hole large enough for them to get through. “I forgot all about that.”

The thunk of handheld mini-crossbows firing echoed in the room and the curtain to their booth jerked as bolts tore through it. Alain was already sliding through the hole, then turned to help her. Mari ducked down as low as she could get as more bolts thudded into the booth. A moment after she had cleared the hole, it vanished as if it had never been. “That should slow down any pursuers,” Alain remarked.

Mari impulsively kissed him. “I love you, my Mage.”

Alain twitched one of his small smiles at the possessive term. “We have to keep moving and get away from here. Though they may not be able to figure out how we escaped, they can still launch a search of the area.”

A couple of more thunks startled Mari, and she turned to see the very tip of one bolt sticking through the wall. “Let’s hope they keep shooting into that booth for a while before they charge it.” An ugly thought struck then. “We left that guy in the booth. He might get killed by his own people.”

Alain gave her a dispassionate look. “Waste no concerns on him. When he spoke of the Dark Mechanic who shot at you in Edinton, I could see in him that he was one of those who tried to kill you there.”

Mari couldn’t help shivering. She had never before looked closely upon someone who had tried to kill her. “Thanks for not telling me that earlier.” She looked around, seeing that they were on the upper floor of a laundry, with rack after rack of clothing hanging from rails on the ceiling. The distant sound of voices and splashing water warned of laundry workers laboring on the first floor. “It might be very hard to sneak past whoever is downstairs here, and if there’s anyone watching the outside of that restaurant, they might see us leaving an adjacent doorway. Can you get us through another wall?”

“Yes, but the fewer walls the better. If we are going to run, I cannot afford to exhaust myself. Also, each time I use a spell, I risk revealing my presence to nearby Mages.”

“We’ll keep the walls to a minimum. Follow me.” Mari started across the laundry, ducking down to scuttle under the rows of hanging garments. “I just wish I knew how those guys spotted us and knew we’d be on that coach.”

“He said we had been seen together in Umburan,” Alain noted.

“We were stuck in that town for days. Even though we stayed in our hostel room most of the time, someone must have seen me there, and after they watched us get on the coach, they called ahead to Pandin. I bet anything that the Order has far-talkers.”

“Far-talkers?” Alain disentangled himself from the low-hanging hem of a long dress.

“Yes.” Mari ducked under another row of clothing. She didn’t see much sense in worrying now about some of the Guild rules that had kept her from talking to Alain in the past. “They’re exactly what the name says, devices that allow us to talk across a distance. You’ve seen me use one, in Dorcastle. I’ve still got one with me, because as a Master Mechanic I was authorized to have one, and I thought it might be important at some point to have a far-talker.”

To her surprise, Alain just nodded as if she had said something unremarkable. “The Mages have such things. There are those who can create spell creatures and send them to where we wish the message delivered.”

“Uh, yes, but this is science, Alain. Far-talkers don’t use spell creatures.”

“What do they use?”

Mari wondered just how far across this laundry was as she ducked under yet another row of hanging clothing, then wondered how to explain far-talker transmissions to a Mage with no technical background at all. “They send, uh, these sort of invisible wave things.”

“Invisible wave things?”

“Yes, waves. Of energy. The invisible waves carry messages.”

Alain nodded again. “Like the spell creatures?”

“No, they don’t really carry a message,” Mari explained, “they, um, are the message.”

“The message delivers itself?”

“Sort of. Yes. It’s hard to describe.” Why did science sound so much more mystical than the Mage arts? “Here’s the next wall.” She heard the voices downstairs pause and wondered if they had been speaking too loudly or if their footsteps had been heard. “How long will it take you?” she whispered urgently. I’m asking someone to hurry up and create an imaginary hole in a wall. Sometimes I stop to think about this and it’s scary.

“Not long.” Alain came up beside her, stood up in the gap between the last row of clothes and the wall, and took on a look of concentration. A moment later a roughly Mari-sized hole appeared in the wall. Mari stepped through cautiously, moving the pistol held in her hand back and forth in search of threats. This room was dark, with vague bulky shapes visible in the light coming in through the hole behind her.

Alain bent and turned to get through the hole. Once he was beside her the hole vanished, leaving them in darkness.

Not wanting to use her hand light, which might reveal their presence to anyone watching, Mari felt her way forward, spotting a rectangle of light that must mark the borders of a door. The door wasn’t locked, so they opened it carefully, peering out into a deserted hallway.

“Unoccupied offices, I guess,” Mari whispered. She led the way to the stairs and went down them, Mari wincing as each stair creaked with what seemed to be an incredible amount of noise. On the ground floor, a few small window openings were boarded up. “Great. How do we leave a boarded up building without someone noticing?”

Alain sighed. “Let us go to the back. If we cannot open a door there, I will make another opening.” He seemed tired already.

“Let’s hope we won’t need to do that.” Mari smiled at him. “Have I told you you’re great to have around when bad guys are on the hunt?”

Alain managed another one of his smiles. “I can be useful in dungeons as well.”

“True.” They had to kick open an interior door before reaching the back. There Mari found a door locked from the outside. Grumbling, she pulled out a tool from her pack and hastily pulled the bolts from the hinges, then swung the door open backwards. Alain was watching her with a perplexed expression, plainly trying to figure out how she had done that. It was a source of unending amazement for her that a man who thought being able to walk through a solid wall was no big deal regarded the most simple mechanical tasks as mysterious and unfathomable.

The door let out into an alley, where Mari paused to look both ways, her pistol at ready. “Now what?”

“We can assume all ways out of the city will be watched.”

“We can’t afford to stay here, Alain. Pandin’s already too dangerous for us.”

“No, we cannot stay. But we can confuse our pursuers as to where we are going. I have thought of a plan, a stratagem.”

“A stratagem?” Mari asked, impressed by his use of the term. “Really?”

He led them both out the alley and onto the street, walking rapidly back toward the coach station as Alain talked. “I am assuming someone may be watching for us,” he assured Mari. “Let us get on the coach to Marida.”

“We don’t want to go to Marida, Alain!” Mari objected. “It’s a seaport and we'd need to leave Imperial territory to get there. There’ll be more spies and more Imperial security between here and there than anywhere inland!”

“We need only take the coach a short distance and then jump off to confuse our pursuers.” Alain stopped speaking, staring ahead with a grim look in his eyes. “Then again, my foresight now warns of serious danger for us near the coach station. I do not think we will be allowed to leave that way.”

Mari thought, running through options. “We have to get out of this city. Walking would be too slow, and…wait.”

Alain looked at her. “I am already waiting.”

“No, I meant— Never mind.” She pointed in a direction where a smoky haze was visible over the city. “There’s one way out that the Order will never suspect we’ll take. We’ll get on a train.”

“A train?” Alain followed as Mari began walking rapidly toward the Mechanics Guild train station. “A Mechanic train such as we rode from Ringhmon? But your Guild seeks to arrest you.”

“Yeah. Which means it would be crazy for me to walk into a Mechanic Guild train station. Which also means no one will expect me to do that,” Mari explained, wondering to herself whether that actually sounded like a smart plan.

“But then—”

“I’m not wearing my jacket, Alain. My Guild thinks I’m still wearing it, they think I’m traveling alone, they don’t think I’m in the Empire.” Mari smiled in what she hoped was a confident way. “We should be okay. Just a couple of commons. The Mechanics here won’t look twice at us.”

Mari turned casually away from the ticket booth as she spotted the poster with an all-too-accurate drawing of her face on it just inside where the Apprentice selling tickets could easily see it. The Guild had been more efficient than she had expected. “Time for another plan,” she muttered to Alain.

Gazing around the station, Mari saw that it resembled other Mechanic train stations. No surprise there, since the Guild had a mania for standardized design. The main difference from the train stations farther south was that up here the locomotives used coal to fire their boilers rather than the oil employed in the southern Empire and the Bakre Confederation. Instead of oil tanks, this station had large coal bunkers.

But if this station was otherwise just like the stations she was more familiar with… “I’ve got another idea. Follow me and try to look casual and unconcerned.”

“That was easier to do before you announced that you had another idea,” Alain said.

“Very funny,” Mari said. “Lots of Mages in the world and I get the one with the hidden sense of humor. I’ve done way too good a job of teaching you sarcasm.”

Mari led the way to one side, where crates, barrels and bags were stacked awaiting transport in freight cars. She slid smoothly in among the freight, ducking slightly so she was concealed behind the stacks, then moved rapidly toward the train just beyond.

There weren’t any guards, just as Mari had expected, because no common would risk getting close to a Mechanic train except to board the passenger cars. She studied the nearest freight car, looking up and down the train. A small cluster of Mechanics and Apprentices was visible at the rear of the train, standing around talking before boarding the passenger car there. Up front, a single Mechanic and one Apprentice were fussing with the steam locomotive. No one was looking her way. Mari pulled out her Mechanics jacket and put it on, stuffing the common coat into her pack. “Stay here,” she cautioned Alain, then stepped out from cover.

The door to the freight car was locked. Mari glanced up and down the track again, wondering what the odds were of getting the lock picked without anyone noticing. Even though right now I look like just one more Mechanic, it’s still too risky because no one should be popping open any of these cars right now. How can I get us inside this thing without being spotted? She looked up, then beckoned to Alain. “Come on.”

It took her five steps to the rear of the freight car, then Mari swung in between cars to where the small ladder leading up the back was located, pulling Alain behind her. She started climbing, glad to be hidden from the Mechanics at the front and rear of the train, pausing only to gesture Alain to climb after her.

The top of the freight car felt hideously exposed, but was actually screened right now from anyone close to the train. The lock on the small top-access door was also closed, but easier to pick than the side door would have been. Mari popped the lock in a few seconds, then beckoned Alain again, getting him down inside the freight car and following quickly. She stopped when only her head was still out in the open, listening and looking for any sign that someone had noticed. Reassured, Mari lowered herself into the freight car, swinging the door shut after her.

The car was almost full of freight, but that left plenty of room for the two of them. The sides of the car were supposed to be solid, but the car was old, the wood had shrunk and warped, and therefore there were numerous small gaps through which light and air could enter. “Welcome to our ride to Severun,” she whispered. “Stay very quiet until the train starts moving.”

Alain sat down on a crate, watching her. “We will travel in this wagon?”

“Yeah,” Mari agreed, looking around for a less uncomfortable spot. “It’ll be fast and no one will see us in here. Unless this car contains freight to be offloaded before the train reaches Severun.”

“I see.” Alain waited for Mari to continue, then finally spoke again. “What will we do if that happens?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“All right.”

She stopped to look at him. “That answer satisfied you?”

“Yes.”

Mari smiled at him, settling down onto the top of another crate. “Thanks.”

It took a while for anything to happen after that, Mari and Alain sitting quietly and listening to the Mechanics outside calling orders to each other. One Mechanic apprentice came walking down the outside of the train rattling doors to ensure they were locked. He couldn’t have seen them inside the car unless he had shined a light through one of the gaps and put his eyes up close, but she didn’t relax until he had moved on. Mari wondered if she would have recognized the apprentice if they had met face to face. The idea depressed her, and she slumped against the nearest crate, eyes downcast.

Alain’s hand touched hers, and when Mari looked up he tried to smile at her. She forced a return smile and he seemed to understand her mood, nodding silently, then leaving her to her thoughts.

The train whistle screamed, then the car jerked forward into motion. The outlying districts of Pandin rolled past as the locomotive began picking up speed and were replaced by the low hills on the northern side of vast Lake Bellad. Mari settled back and tried to rest. The crates weren’t exactly comfortable, but compared to the crowded coach from Umburan this was almost luxurious. She finally fell asleep, lulled by the motion of the train.

She awakened sometime later when she felt Alain’s hand on her arm.

“Something is amiss,” he warned.

Mari stared around. Judging by the angles of the rays of light slanting in through the gaps between the sideboards of the car, the sun was much lower in the sky, but the train was still moving at a good clip. “What?”

“I do not know. I sense a Mage nearby and rapidly getting closer, though how this could be I do not understand since we are traveling so fast.”

“He’s in front of us somewhere,” Mari explained patiently. “The train is moving toward this Mage—”

“The Mage is behind us, Mari.”

Mari just stared for a moment. “The Mage is rapidly catching up with a train? What’s he doing? Flying?”

“Flying? Of course. That explains it.” Alain looked up. He didn’t look worried, but that didn’t mean anything, since even now Alain rarely let his feelings show.

Before Mari could say anything else the freight car shuddered and rocked, its wooden top bending and creaking alarmingly. Mari stared in shock as the wood overhead burst inward at one point, driven by an enormous bird’s beak. The beak withdrew and an equally enormous bird’s eye peered into the opening, twitching back and forth as it searched for something.

“It is a Roc,” Alain explained in that same impassive tone of voice.

“Blazes!” Mari yelled, hauling out her pistol. Before she could fire, the eye jerked away, then the beak reappeared, tearing a bigger opening in the roof of the freight car. “Is it after us?”

“Probably,” Alain agreed, his voice still unnaturally calm. “It is possible that I am still not good enough at hiding my presence from other Mages, but more likely my use of spells in Pandin led another Mage to find me and follow us long enough to determine that I had gotten on the train. The Mage riding this Roc—”

“There’s a Mage riding it? That’s real?”

“Nothing is—”

“Don’t say it!” Mari flinched as broken wood showered downward and the roof of the freight car sagged alarmingly. “There’s a giant bird being ridden by a Mage on top of this car and it’s trying to kill you? That is insane!”

“It may be trying to kill you as well,” Alain corrected.

“Great! Why did I get involved with a Mage? What do we do?”

Alain had been concentrating, and now Mari felt a gust of heat. The broken wood around the opening the Roc had been widening burst into flame and the giant beak jerked away. “That should discourage it.” Alain noted.

“You set fire to the freight car we’re inside and there’s a giant bird outside trying to kill us!” Mari tried to calm herself as the car rocked violently again but fortunately didn’t jump the rails. “Can you kill a Roc?”

Alain hesitated. “I can certainly try to harm the Mage riding and controlling it. I would rather not, though.”

Mari stared again. “Why not?” she finally asked.

“Rocs are not like dragons or trolls. They have more the seeming of natural creatures, and the Mages who create them have ties to the Rocs.”

It took her a moment to process that. “You don’t want to kill the Mage or his giant, murderous pet bird.”

“The Mage is female, I think,” Alain corrected.

“Excuse me. Her giant, murderous pet bird.” Mari looked up. The fire was spreading, but had at least driven away the Roc. “Will it leave now that the car is on fire?”

Alain frowned slightly in thought. “I doubt it. We would need to startle the creature beyond the Mage’s ability to control it and also find a way to hide ourselves.”

The freight car jolted again and part of the flaming roof fell into the car as huge talons punched through the still intact part of the roof. “That does it,” Mari snapped. She raised her pistol and fired through the roof. A deafening squawk sounded and the freight car jerked once more, the talons vanishing and leaving ragged holes in their wake. “We’ve got to get out of here.” How to startle a giant bird? How to drive it away? The answer suddenly seemed obvious. “We’ve got to get to the engine.”

“The what?”

“The locomotive!”

Alain nodded, his Mage composure infuriating to Mari at the moment. “The Mechanic creature at the front of the train.”

“Close enough.” Mari holstered her pistol, making sure the holster was fastened shut, then climbed up some crates to get right under the opening which the Roc had torn in the car. The fire was still blazing but the dry wood wasn’t generating much smoke, the flames pale in the late-afternoon sunlight as they ate at the freight car. Mari studied the wreckage carefully. “The bird knocked a big enough hole in the roof that we can get out, and the fire is on the downwind side. We just need to jump up and onto the still intact part of the roof at the front of the car.” The freight car swayed wildly, the land rushing past on either hand. The train had increased speed to a dangerous velocity, probably trying to outrun the Mage creature.

She jumped up and forward, through the hole and outside onto the top of the freight car, skidding for a heart-stopping moment before she could stop her movement and cling to the oscillating roof. Alain landed beside her, missed his grip and began sliding off the roof. Mari grabbed his arm, going flat to grasp a good hold with her other hand. She felt a whoosh of air and something hard brushed her back, followed by an enormous, disappointed squawk from the Roc.

Mari caught her breath. Alain was still half off the roof, his feet dangling in open air, Mari’s right hand locked onto his arm and her left hand gripping the other side of the roof.

Moving with strong, careful movements, Alain pulled himself up and next to her.

Mari swallowed, nerving herself. The locomotive was apparently running full out, wind was buffeting them, and the roof of the freight car kept swaying and jerking beneath them. Clouds of dirty smoke mixed with bits of flaming coal from the locomotive billowed over them, bringing up frightening memories of the fire in Ringhmon’s city hall and limiting their ability to see the Roc somewhere overhead. Hopefully it would hide them from the Roc as well. “Follow me!” she yelled to Alain over the wind, then forced herself up despite her fears and scuttled forward.

There were three more freight cars between them and the locomotive. Mari wondered what the passengers farther back on the train thought of the Roc’s attack, especially the Mechanics in the last passenger car. Mages are frauds. That’s what the Mechanics Guild insists, and that’s what you’ve always been taught. How are you going to rationalize a giant bird tearing apart the train you’re riding on? You’ll be told not to talk about it, just like I was. You’ll be told to pretend it never happened. Will any of you find yourselves unable to do that, and in the same trouble I got into?

She reached the end of the roof, gazing across the gap to the next freight car. It wasn’t all that far. An easy jump. Easy if the train wasn’t thundering along the track as fast as it could move and the cars weren’t threatening to jump the rails at any moment and the wind wasn’t tearing at her and a giant bird wasn’t somewhere above doubtless getting ready to dive on her again.

Mari jumped, landing with her boots sliding for purchase on the roof and her hands scrabbling for a hold, any hold, and her body starting to fall sideways toward the ground tearing past in a blur and…she got a hold and gripped it so tightly her hand hurt.

Looking back, Mari saw Alain watching, his own eyes betraying an unusual amount of apprehension. “Come on!” she yelled. “This is easy compared to facing a dragon!”

That brought a trace of grimace that might have been a smile to Alain’s face, then he jumped, his body crashing into her. Mari wrapped one arm around him, the other keeping its hold. Alain got himself set, then glanced up and back. “Down!” he shouted.

Mari, who had already started forward again, flattened herself onto the roof of this freight car. She heard and felt another whooshing over the roar of the train. A tremendous creaking sounded just overhead and she realized it was the sound of the Roc’s feathers shifting in the wind. A shadow flashed past, Mari swearing she saw the Roc’s wing brushing the top of the car ahead of them, then the massive bird was curving up and away to prepare for another strike.

Despite her terror, Mari found herself momentarily frozen in admiration as the smoke from the locomotive parted to give her a good glimpse. The Roc seemed much like a hawk with a slightly elongated neck, but a hawk so large that the figure of the robed Mage on its back seemed no bigger than that of a small mouse compared to a real hawk. The creature swept the air with its huge wings, moving with a titanic grace that left Mari smiling involuntarily at its graceful flight. The Mechanic part of her mind told her that no bird could possibly be that big and still fly, but the rest of her didn’t care that something so lovely was impossible. “All right,” she yelled at Alain. “I know why you didn’t want to kill it.”

She got up into a crouch and ran, not stopping when she reached the gap to the next car this time but leaping across without any pause that might let fear master her. Once again she felt her feet sliding out from under her and once again Mari managed to get a handhold in time.

Alain followed, landing clumsily and squinting into the wind, one hand trying to bat away the hot cinders pelting them. “Have you done this before?” he shouted over the rushing wind.

“Run on top of a moving train? No!”

“I do not want to do it again.”

“That makes two of us.” Mari gazed upward, searching the sky and spotting the Roc winging over for another dive. “Come on!”

Another run, right to the edge of the first car in the train and over to the tender without stopping. Mari dropped onto the tender, landing on lumps of coal that shifted under her and bruised her painfully. She rolled to one side, wincing as the coal lumps dug into her.

Alain came down and hit hard, staring at her and gritting his teeth. “I did not know we would be jumping onto rocks this time.”

“It’s not rocks. It’s coal,” Mari told him.

“It feels like rocks and it looks like rocks.”

“Rocks don’t burn! It’s coal!” Mari heard something and tugged Alain down. “Watch out!”

The Roc swept past again, its beak stabbing down and narrowly missing them. Mari stared after it. “If this keeps up, I’m going to kill that thing! I don’t care how beautiful it is!”

“I understand your feelings,” Alain assured her.

Mari scrambled down the slope of the coal to the cab of the locomotive. Two apprentices stopped frantically shoveling coal into the boiler for a moment to gape at her. The Mechanic driving the train was looking forward, his face set in desperate lines.

Mari pulled herself next to him. “We need to scare it!” she yelled over the roar of the boiler and the clashing of the locomotive’s drive wheels.

The other Mechanic jerked his head over to stare at her, his face white with fear. “You made it up here from the passenger car? Who are you?”

“I’m…never mind now! Just trust me!”

“You know how to stop that thing?” the Mechanic demanded. He was well past middle age, Mari could see now, probably not far from being able to retire after a lifetime of quiet train trips across the Empire.

“Yes!” I hope. Mari scanned the skies again. “Here it comes.”

Alain was near the back of the cab, eyeing the boiler with nervousness so plain that Mari could spot it easily. In Dorcastle he had seen what an exploding boiler could do. Or perhaps he still believed the locomotive to be a creature like a Mage troll or dragon, something that could go into an out-of-control rampage if the Mechanic commanding it made a mistake.

The Roc came arcing down, talons extended this time as if it intended to pluck her and Alain from the locomotive cab. Mari tried to keep breathing as the vast shape of the Roc grew rapidly in size. Fearing she had left it too long, Mari yanked down the whistle lanyard and held it.

The whistle of the locomotive screeched like a banshee, even louder than usual because of the high pressure in the boiler. The Roc jerked upward, its eyes flaring with fear, wings backing frantically as the huge bird broke its descent and tried to flee this awful thing shrieking as if a dozen Rocs were in torment.

Mari grinned and gave Alain a thumbs-up. “It worked.”

“It will be back,” he advised. “We have to keep it from coming back.”

“How—?” Mari coughed as another wave of harsh smoke swept across them from the locomotive’s smokestack. “That’s it!” She turned on the apprentices. “Smoke! We need as much smoke as you can make!”

“Lady Mechanic,” one of the apprentices gasped, “we’re already putting out a lot, and we’ll slow down if we lower the fires by making them smoke more.”

“You can’t outrun that thing! But you can drive it away with smoke! Do it!”

Both of the apprentices looked to the Mechanic driving the locomotive, who nodded hastily. They started reducing the airflow to the fire, causing tremendous clouds of black smoke mixed with a swarm of glowing cinders to billow out of the stack. Within moments Mari was coughing, her eyes smarting.

Alain was beside her. “This reminds me of something,” he got out between his own coughs.

“I remembered it first.” They had almost died from smoke inhalation during the fire in Ringhmon.

“And, just like that time, we have to escape,” Alain added.

She gave him a baffled look, then realized Alain wasn’t just referring to the Roc. Caught up in the need to drive off the Roc, Mari had forgotten that if these apprentices or that Mechanic recognized her they would try to arrest her. If she and Alain were still in this locomotive when it stopped—and it would stop as soon as possible to deal with the burning freight car before its flames spread—one of the Mechanics from the passenger car at the end of the train might well recognize her.

Mari leaned out as far as she could on the side opposite the engineer, squinting against the smoke, tears running down her face from the irritation. “There’s a small bridge up ahead,” she said, putting her lips close to Alain’s ear so the others wouldn’t hear. “There’s a creek under it. I think.”

“You think?”

“Yes! Get ready!” Mari looked around frantically and found what she knew would be in the locomotive cab: a big mailbag with a water-resistant seal for Mechanics Guild dispatches and packages. The apprentices and the other Mechanic were engrossed in staring out the other side of the locomotive in search of the Roc as Mari tore open the bag, stuffed her pack inside, then resealed it.

Grabbing Alain’s arm, Mari shoved him to the side of the locomotive. “Good luck!” She gave him a quick kiss, then as the low trestle and the ditch that hopefully marked a creek or stream hove into view, Mari launched them both off the side of the train.

The drop seemed terrifying, whatever lay beneath them impossible to make out through the smoke and with their eyes watering so badly.

Mari slogged through the shallows at the edge of the stream, feeling like a rat someone had beaten and then tried to drown. Her foot slipped in the mud and Alain caught her to steady her.

“I never knew water could feel so hard,” Alain observed.

“It’s softer than dirt or rocks,” Mari grumped.

“Or coal.”

“Or coal,” she agreed. “Just be glad there actually was water to land in.”

Alain gave her a look. “You told me there would be water.”

Maybe it was just her imagination, but his voice sounded accusing. “No, I didn’t! I clearly said I thought there was water.” He paused to think, then nodded. Mari’s defensive irritation vanished under a wave of remorse. Alain had, after all, trusted her enough to jump off a train without being certain what they were jumping into. “I’m sorry.”

Her Mage actually smiled back slightly in response, bringing an answering grin to Mari’s lips. Still smiling, Mari sloshed through the last shallows and up onto the bank of the stream. She more fell than sat, bracing herself on her hands to stare upward and in the direction the train had vanished, leaving a huge cloud of dirty smoke in its wake. “I think I can still see the Roc. It looks like it’s following the train.”

Alain nodded, looking tired. “I am concentrating very hard on hiding myself from the senses of other Mages.”

“Can I help?”

“I do not think so.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m a distraction.” Mari sagged back down to lie full length, closing her eyes and breathing deeply from exertion. “I guess it’s safe to say that your Guild knows you’re alive. They really picked you up because of those two spells you did in Pandin?”

Alain nodded again. “To another Mage, it would be as if I were standing in an open area, shouting my name.”

“We need to be more careful about using your spells, then. You think that Roc might have been after me, too?”

“It tried to seize you,” Alain said.

“Yeah, it did.” Mari gave him a startled look. “It went for me first. Why would it go for me before it went for you?”

He gestured slightly, as if the answer was obvious. “My Guild must suspect who you are. That is a bad thing.”

“If it means giant birds are going to try to kill me, I have to agree,” Mari said, trying to shake the sensation that the whole thing had been some bizarre hallucination. “Do they think I’m going to ensnare more Mages?”

“Yes,” Alain said.

Mari felt her face warming. It was absurd, but for a moment the implications of that upset her more than the recent attempt to kill her.

“They expect you to gather more allies,” Alain explained. “As the prophecy said. Mechanics, Mages, and commons, united to change this world.”

“I’m not—” Mari’s eyes locked on the sky past his shoulder. “Stars above, it’s coming back. Quick! Under the bridge!”

They helped each other up, then both hastily waded back into the stream and under the shelter of the stone bridge which seemed far too small at the moment. Mari and Alain huddled up against the buttress on one end of the bridge.

She started to lean out to look up, then glanced at Alain. “Can you tell where it is?”

Alain was frowning in concentration. Then he raised one hand and pointed, the forefinger slowly traveling as he followed the motion of the Roc.

“It’s going back north,” Mari said, waiting until Alain’s finger was pointing well past the bridge. She finally leaned out then, peering upward and seeing a dark shape in the sky swooping low over the track. “That Mage figured out we jumped, but doesn’t know where.”

Alain gazed to the west. “The sun will set in a while. We can travel then.”

“The Roc won’t see us?”

“They do not see well in the dark at all. It is one of their greatest weaknesses.”

She grinned with relief. “It’s nice to know that your Mage stuff follows its own rules, even if those rules are things that my Mechanic training say are impossible. All we have to do is stand in the water under this bridge until the sun sets.” Mari’s smile faded as she looked down at her boots, submerged in the creek. She sighed heavily, then awkwardly pulled off her boots and socks, piling them onto a projecting rock shelf. Hopefully they would dry a little. “It’s going to be a lot of fun walking long-distance across country in wet boots.”

“It will?” Alain asked. “I know little of fun, but walking far in wet boots does not seem a thing to desire.”

“I was being sarcastic again, Alain.” He was looking upward and north, plainly still trying to track the Roc, so she slumped back against the stone and shivered as the water chilled her feet. “Now I know what a mouse feels like when a hawk is cruising overhead.”

What seemed a very long time later, the sun finally set and light faded enough for Alain to believe it was safe. The Roc had stayed searching in their general area until sunset, crossing over the bridge several more times without spotting them, but when full darkness fell the Roc and its Mage headed south at a good clip.

Mari staggered out of the water, her feet numb, and pulled her pack from the dispatch bag. Even though the waterproof bag might be handy in the future, it was too bulky to carry and also had “Mechanics Guild” printed on the side in big letters. There wasn’t any sense in making it too easy for her Guild to find them. Mari went back into the stream far enough to wedge the bag against a rock as if it had come to rest there. “With any luck the apprentices and the Mechanic in the locomotive will think this bag, and you and I, got knocked out of the cab by accident or by the Roc. Or maybe they’ll think we went back to the passenger cars. Thank goodness that train didn’t back up looking for us.”

“Perhaps the presence of the Roc persuaded your train not to do that.”

“It’s nice to think we got one benefit from that monster.” Mari dug out a pair of dry socks, but then had to tug on her still-wet boots, hoping that any blisters she picked up tonight wouldn’t be too bad.

She shrugged, trying to make herself feel accepting of things she couldn’t change. “Sooner or later one of the people in that locomotive may realize the female Mechanic who joined them looked a bit like that Master Mechanic Mari the Guild is looking for. Maybe not. Things were really hectic in that locomotive cab, and the Guild may be so busy trying to get every Mechanic on that train to forget they saw a Roc that the matter of who the female Mechanic was falls through the cracks. My Guild will surely also be sending blunt signals to your Guild that there better not be any more attacks on trains. Hopefully it’ll be several days before everything is sorted out and somebody guesses it was me. Let’s get moving. We need to get into Severun and then out again before my Guild’s Senior Mechanics put two and two together. I don’t want to follow the tracks. Do you have any idea which direction Severun is in?”

Alain looked upward, studying the stars. “That way,” he said, pointing. “It should take us toward the road. Or do you wish to avoid that as well?”

“No. If we find the road, we can try to hitch a ride.” Mari looked up as well. “My Guild discourages us from ever studying the stars. You can use them to tell your way at night?”

“Yes,” Alain said. “Some stars move, but others stay fixed.”

“I wish I knew more about that.” They started walking, Mari gazing upward and to the south even though she didn’t see how she could spot a Roc at night if the creature returned. “Can Rocs carry just the one Mage?”

“Some can. Others are larger and can carry up to three or four additional people. You may not remember, but I once asked you about riding one with me.”

“Going on a date with you, riding a giant bird,” Mari said. “I admit at the time I didn’t expect that to ever happen. I didn’t see how Rocs could be real.”

“They are not real,” Alain said.

“Right.” Mari tried to laugh. “Nothing is real. Maybe you and Calu should go on that date.”

“Why would I— Sarcasm?”

“Uh-huh.” Mari did laugh briefly this time. “Well, my Mage, someday maybe we will ride a Roc together. If it’s not too dangerous.”

“Dangerous? May I ask you something about these Mechanic trains?”

“Trains? Sure,” Mari agreed. “What?”

“Why does anyone travel on such hazardous things? I have been on two journeys on them, and both have nearly ended in disaster. Travel by Roc seems much safer by comparison.”

It took Mari a moment to think up a reply. “Usually, trains are safe. When you and I aren’t traveling on them, that is. Most of the time they get where they’re going without any disasters taking place.”

“Are you certain?” Alain asked.

“Well, that’s what I’ve heard.”

“I was afraid for a while that you intended making that device explode just like the one in Dorcastle,” Alain added.

“Huh? No, I never planned on that! Not this time. I don’t usually deliberately make steam boilers explode.”

Alain nodded as if relieved to hear that.

“I don’t know why every man I meet thinks I get a kick out of blowing up steam boilers,” Mari grumbled. “Or burning down buildings.”

“As you once told me,” Alain said, “it is important to stay on your good side.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s true. Have you ever forgotten anything that I have said to you?”

Alain paused to think. “Not that I can recall.”

She laughed, wondering if the Mage had intended that as a joke or not, and linked his arm with hers as they walked.

They headed east toward Lake Bellad, since Mari’s map had shown the road ran closer to the lake than the rail line did. The moon was not near full, and the path overland required most of their attention to avoid obstacles. A chill wind was blowing down from the north, bringing with it uncomfortable memories of their narrow escape from the blizzard. But no clouds threatened this time, just the steady march of winter overtaking the more comfortable days of autumn.

Mari was limping when they reached the main road running south to Severun at midnight, but they kept going to put as much distance as they could between them and the site of the train attack. Eventually Mari stumbled to a halt, her feet and one ankle on fire. “I’m totally exhausted. There’s some high grass over there. Let’s get hidden in it and sleep.”

Alain nodded, betraying a great deal of tiredness as well. The grass wasn’t the worst outdoor bed they had endured, but occasional foot or horse traffic on the road made enough noise to rouse them. Neither of them slept well. Dawn was just graying the sky when Mari got up, feeling almost as bad as she had after narrowly surviving the blizzard. “If anything or anyone attacks us today, I’m going to kill them,” she vowed.

“I will help,” Alain croaked in a hoarse voice.

Fortunately they were able to wave down a passing wagon, buying seats amid the bales of cloth in the back and settling down to sleep some more, well concealed by the fabric.

Two long days and a succession of begged and purchased rides later they arrived in Severun, dropping off from their latest wagon in a business area where no one would be looking for passengers arriving. “Better late than never,” Mari sighed. “Let’s find Professor S’san’s home.”

Alain gave her a look in which hesitation was unusually easy to see. “Mari, before we see your elder, I think it would be wise to check to see if Mage Asha is at the Mages Guild Hall here. We must find out, if possible, whether my Guild believes I died on the train, and what my Guild knows of you.”

“Alain.” Mari put one hand to her forehead, trying to rub away a sudden headache. “Don’t you think that’s too dangerous? What if this Asha did betray you later on? What if she is the reason the Roc attacked that train?”

He thought, then frowned slightly. “Establishing contact with Asha is the only way to find out why she did not announce my presence on the road to Umburan. Asha sensed me even when I was concealing my presence as well as I can. If she is indeed hostile to us, she could lead the Mages in this city to the home of your professor in search of me.”

“But—” Mari glowered down at the cobblestones of the street. Showing up at Professor S’san’s home with a bunch of Mages in pursuit, or maybe another dragon on their trail, would be a disaster. “All right. Fine. We’ll go look for your old girlfriend.”

He gave her one of those questioning looks. “I thought I had explained that while Asha is a girl, she was never a friend.”

“You did. Never mind. Let’s just get this over with.”

Mari followed Alain toward the Mage Guild Hall. He’s right. I know he’s right. But why did Alain have to end up being friends with and needing to talk to the only drop-dead gorgeous, blue-eyed, blonde-haired female Mage in the entire history of the world? And he says she’s a few years older than me, which probably makes her seem even more attractive to guys Alain’s age. How can I compete with someone like that? Serves me right for getting involved with a Mage.

Alain gave her a glance. “Did you say something?”

“I hope not,” Mari mumbled. “No,” she added in a louder voice. “How much farther?”

“Not far.” Alain stopped walking, his head slowly turning to gaze down a side street. “Mage Asha is here. She is making no attempt to hide herself at all, as if she wants me to find her.”

Oh, great. “What do we do?”

“Let us wait for a short time here.” Alain turned his head slightly. “Or perhaps we should go wait near the Mage Guild Hall.”

“Alain, no one lingers in front of a Mage Guild Hall,” Mari explained patiently. “They’re afraid some Mage will pop out and turn them into a toad or something.”

“No, that is impossible,” Alain assured her. “No spell can change a person directly.”

“You told me that before, didn’t you? Why not? I thought we were all supposed to be illusions.”

“Shadows,” Alain said. “I was taught that other people are shadows on the surface of the world illusion. But while Mages can change many aspects of the world we see, no spell can directly affect any person. I can make a hole in a wall, but I cannot make a hole appear in someone where their heart should be. This is a matter which the Mage Guild has never resolved, but I was told the elders believe it reflects our inability to fully divorce ourselves from others. If we were able to completely disregard all other humans, then we might be able to use spells on them. I do not know if this is so. It is only what I was told.”

“But why does everybody think that Mages can do those things?” Mari asked. “I mean, if they think Mages can do anything, that is.”

Alain’s small smile came and went. “The Mage Guild sees such beliefs as being to its advantage. They increase the fear with which the commons regard Mages.” He looked down the street again. “Mage Asha has left the Mage Guild Hall.”

Mari watched as Alain’s head slowly pivoted, as if he were a cat following the track of an invisible prey. Then Mari saw the robed shape of a Mage appear around the corner, walking their way. The Mage pulled back her hood, golden hair spilling down her back, but otherwise did nothing but keep walking toward them, her face an emotionless mask.

Alain just stood and waited, so Mari did as well, trying to keep her hand from jerking up to grab hold of her pistol. If Mage Asha really were hostile, there might be very little time to deal with her if she attacked.

The female Mage came even with them, then walked past, giving no sign that she had noticed them. Alain waited until Asha was a few lance-lengths beyond them, then beckoned to Mari and began following, roughly matching Asha’s pace.

As a result, Mari got an unwanted but prolonged look at the female Mage’s long blonde hair falling to her waist and the seductive sway of her hips as she walked. I can’t believe it. She’s even got a great rear end. I am so completely outclassed here.

They followed her along the street until Asha turned off toward the city park. The journey continued until they reached the forested park area, then through ever-diminishing pathways that finally ended in a small bower shaded by low-hanging branches that blocked sight in all directions. There, Asha stopped and turned to await them, her face still betraying no visible emotion.

As they walked toward the expressionless female Mage, Mari could feel herself tensing, fearing an ambush. She had some idea how to handle threats posed by other Mechanics. She had no ideas at all how to deal with a surprise attack by several other Mages with the powers that Alain had demonstrated.