The Pirates of Pacta Servanda

Chapter Twelve

Alain had been gathering strength to himself, preparing his spell, and now he placed the strongest heat he could on the pavement in front of the attacking Mechanics. The stones of the pavement shattered into fragments and dust, creating a boom that rivaled the sound of Mechanic Alli’s bombs.

The attackers reeled back, seeking cover.

More Mechanics appeared to the right of them.

Alain placed another ball of heat in front of that group.

The sun sank below the buildings, putting the plaza into shadow.

The first group of attackers was firing on the rear guard from the shelter of some of the buildings.

Alain, feeling his strength draining rapidly, put a third globe of heat just inside the window of the largest structure the attackers were using as cover, causing the nearest windows to blow out.

He took a faltering step, nearly falling, but Mari caught him. “This day must have taken more from me than I realized,” Alain told her, startled that his strength had given out so quickly.

The rear guard was reaching them now, racing past Bev and her force as Bev waved them onward. “We’ll form a line at the buildings,” one Mechanic yelled as he went by, his face streaked with smoke, sweat, and blood.

“Mari, you and Alain ought to get out of here, too,” Bev urged, pausing in her firing across the plaza.

“Not until the rest are clear,” Mari insisted.

“Then send Alain ahead! From the looks of him he can’t run very far!”

Mari gave Alain an anguished look, then focused on Bev again. “Make sure Alli and Calu make it past before you fall back.”

“You got it.”

Alain, angry at being so weakened, did his best to move quickly as Mari helped him toward the line of buildings ahead. “Like Marandur all over again,” Mari gasped. “Or Altis. Why do we keep ending up like this?”

Just ahead of them, one of the rear guard stumbled and fell forward, blood appearing on her back where a bullet had hit. But two other Mechanics grabbed her, one on each side, and carried her on. “Get her to the boats!” Mari ordered.

Alain looked back as they reached the shelter of a building, able to stand on his own once more. About a dozen members of the rear guard and Bev’s force were intermingled in the plaza. He saw Mechanic Alli stop, turn, aim carefully, and fire. Moments later, one of the attackers came to a sudden halt and fell as her bullet struck.

Spurts of dust and fragments were flying from the buildings around them, marking hits by the attackers’ bullets.

“Keep going! Keep going!” Calu was yelling. He jerked from a bullet hitting one arm, but kept on his feet.

Unable to see any targets worth using another fire spell, Alain could only fall back again with the others.

Alli stopped nearby, reloading her rifle. “Alain, the only thing that will keep Mari from insisting on being the last out will be if you keep her moving. Don’t you be a hero or she’ll do the same.”

“I understand,” Alain said. He felt a strong reluctance to follow Alli’s advice, but he knew it was wise. Wisdom this day seemed to involve telling someone else something that they did not want to hear. “Mari! This way!”

Without waiting for her to argue, Alain once more began moving back with the rear guard.

Mari caught up, glaring at him, but stayed at Alain’s side.

Despite the way parts of the rear guard kept halting to cover other members as they retreated, Alain found he had trouble keeping up as the Mechanics hurried down the long way they had marched through just the night before. It only slowly occurred to him how long he had been up, moving, and often fighting and casting spells. Little wonder three fire spells had exhausted him.

Fortunately, this time the journey was downhill toward the harbor, not uphill into the city, and fear lent wings to everyone heading for the boats they hoped were still waiting at the docks.

With all the commons in the city in hiding, no one had come out to light the streetlamps. The streets grew increasingly dark as the sun set, the buildings to either side dim shapes.

Alain paused in a darker patch of shadow, looking back down a long straight stretch of a wide street. Mari leaned against the wall of the building, breathing heavily, her pistol ready in one hand as she used the other to pull out the far-talker Professor S’san had given her. “Ditch the far-talkers!” she said into it. “Don’t forget that the Guild can track their locations. Get rid of them now if you haven’t already.”

Mari dropped the device onto the pavement, raised one boot, and slammed it down repeatedly on the far-talker. “That felt good.”

Several shots resounded from the far end of the street. Alain saw the shapes of Mechanics running toward him and Mari. It was obviously time to force Mari to fall back as well, but Alain paused, remembering an abandoned draft wagon they had passed at the head of the street. He could still barely make it out.

More shots as more Mechanics appeared, these firing at the rear guard. Alain measured his strength, then built heat above his hand. A moment later he placed that heat on the dimly visible form of the wagon.

The wooden wagon erupted into flames which sharply revealed the shapes of the attacking Mechanics. The rear guard fired at the clear targets, causing three to drop while the others scattered for shelter.

Calu stumbled up to them, his wounded arm dripping blood that formed tiny, dark pools on the street. “Move!”

“You, too!” Alli ordered as she joined them. She shoved Calu towards Mari and Alain. “All three of you, get to the boats!”

“Where’s Bev?” Mari demanded.

“With the other section! Get out of here, Mari! And take my idiot husband with you so the healers can patch him up!”

Alain grabbed Calu’s uninjured arm and pulled him along. Mari, muttering something angry under her breath, followed just behind, covering their back trail with her pistol.

They staggered out onto the open area along the dockfront. Alain saw three boats in the water, two of the large ones from the Pride and the largest boat from the Gray Lady. Sailors were at the oars, and Mechanics in each boat were gazing anxiously toward the sounds of battle.

“Alli…” Calu fought being handed down into a boat, but he was weak from loss of blood.

Alain turned to Mari, who was standing on the edge of the dock and staring into the city. The sound of rifle fire was coming closer, and Alain heard one bullet strike the surface of the dock not far from them. “We must go,” he told Mari.

“Not yet!” Mari cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled as loudly as she could. “Everyone in the rear guard! Fall back to the boats now! We are leaving!”

Dark shapes appeared, racing over the short remaining distance, some of them lurching with fatigue or injury.

“Get in the boat, Mari!” Alli shouted as she appeared. She turned, fired again, then came running their way.

Alain saw Bev reaching one of the other boats and helping in some of the others before kneeling and firing at other Mechanics who were darting from the buildings. He reached out, took Mari’s arm, and pulled her toward the boat as Alli came charging up.

They all got into the boat at about the same moment, Alain dropping in, pulling Mari with him, and Alli diving off the dock to land on the oar handlers as bullets tore by overhead.

“That’s all of them! Shove off!” Mechanic Deni ordered from her post at the stern of their boat.

Deni tossed off the line holding the stern to the dock, then used a pole to help push off as the sailors got their oars in the water and began pulling with the vigor of those hearing bullets headed their way.

“Asha,” Mari gasped, staring around frantically. “Did we get Asha to a ship, or are she and Dav still at a hospital?”

Alain pointed toward the shape of the Pride, which was growing in size as the boat approached it. “I can sense Asha on that ship. Mechanic Dav is surely with her.”

“Thank— Oww!”

Alain spun to look, alarmed, and saw Mechanic Alli hit Mari again. “Stop risking yourself like that!” Alli stretched far enough to hit Mechanic Calu as well. “You, too! I cannot be the only adult in this crowd!”

“I’m glad that you’re safe, too,” Calu said in a worn-out voice.

“Thank the stars that Alain listens to sense!” Alli sagged back, still holding her weapon, gazing at the flash of rifle shots from the dock. “You did an amazing job commanding the rear guard through most of the retreat, Calu. I love you. When we get nice and safe, I think I’m going to cry a little. I’m kind of stressed.”

“Me, too,” Mari said. “I’m going to slug you back once we get on the ship.”

They came alongside the Pride, sailors helping everyone up the ladder. Alain saw the boats being hooked up and hoisted out of the water, while other sailors brought up the anchor and unfurled sails that looked ghostly in the light of the rising moon.

“They’ll be looking for other boats in order to follow us and attack again,” Mechanic Deni commented to Alain as she passed. “Those killers, I mean. But the commons took every boat but ours and tied them up out on the water. We’ll be clear of this mess before you know it, Sir Mage.”

The Gray Lady led the way out of the harbor, out between other vessels that sat silent as she and the Pride wove their way toward open water.

Alain leaned on the railing as they passed the breakwater. The swells came stronger as the ships entered the open sea, the Pride rolling and twisting as she put on more sail and gained speed.

“Go west until we’re out of sight of land,” Mari told Captain Banda. “Then turn south.”

“South?”

“Yes, south. We’ll hold a conference tomorrow, or is it today now? In the morning.” Mari came over to Alain. “We made it. Do you think anyone will pay attention to me any more after that near disaster?”

“You may be surprised,” Alain said.

Mari woke to the rolling motion of the Pride and a sense of relief mingled with dread at the conference that had to be held.

She got out of the bunk carefully, somehow untangling herself from Alain without waking him despite the tight quarters.

Asha was in the other bunk, looking beat-up but otherwise all right. Mechanic Dav slept on the deck beside her bunk, still keeping guard.

Mari went out on deck, squinting against the light of the sun and a brisk wind that carried salt spray with it. The day looked beautiful, all four ships sailing together with the sun nearly overhead—

Four ships?

Mari shaded her eyes, staring. Each of the four ships flew the square banner of the new day from its highest mast. The Pride she was on, the Gray Lady was bounding along to starboard, and one of the other two must be the ship that Edinton had provided.

Captain Banda came up next to her, smiling. “A fine sight, isn’t it? Nothing beats a tall ship with the wind in her sails and a fair sea.”

“Where did we get four ships from?” Mari asked.

“That large one there to port is the Worthy Son, which was pirated out of the Edinton port itself in a daring raid and is now loaded with many rare and valuable Mechanic tools.” Banda pointed astern. “And that ship with all the boats is the Dolphin, a Confederation transport used for landing soldiers. Lost at sea, I was informed, fate unknown. It’s possible it was also captured by pirates.”

“Are there soldiers aboard it?” Mari asked, aghast.

“Aye. I’m not certain how many.”

“The Confederation isn’t supposed to be getting directly involved in anything yet! Captain, we need to hold a conference. I’ll give you a list of everyone who has to be there. They’re probably scattered on all four ships.”

Banda nodded. “No problem, Lady Master Mechanic. We’ll all bring in sail so we’re just drifting, and use boats to ferry anyone needed to the Pride.”

Mari gave Banda her list, then went back to the cabin. She found a tray of food and drink on the table and barely managed to avoid wolfing it all down. Alain woke up as she was eating and joined in, managing a smile which was almost perfectly done. From someone who had once been forced to forget how to smile, it was very nice to see.

They left the cabin quietly to avoid disturbing either Asha or Dav. The ships had all furled their sails. Now they rocked in the swells without moving forward, four stationary objects in a vast expanse of water. Mari could see boats already headed for the Pride.

Banda had offered his cabin for the meeting, since it doubled as a dining room for the Mechanics aboard and thus boasted a decent-sized table and multiple chairs and benches. When Mari finally entered she saw one seat left empty at the head of the table—the place Captain Banda usually sat—and another empty seat beside it. Everyone else was either seated or standing around the edges of the cabin.

Feeling awkward, Mari walked to the head of the table, steeling herself for the criticism she felt certain would soon be hurled at her. Would these Mechanics, Mages, and commons continue to listen to her after the mess which Edinton had turned into?

She reached her seat and paused while seeking words.

Master Mechanic Lukas began softly pounding the table with the palm of one hand. The others picked up the applause, some smiling at Mari and others just giving her looks of approval.

She wondered if her mouth had fallen open in astonishment.

“Well done, Master Mechanic,” Lukas said as the applause ended. “I wouldn’t have believed it possible.

“There—” Mari began. “There were mistakes—”

“No plan goes perfectly,” Mechanic Ken said. “But every time something went amiss, you knew what to do. How did you get Edinton to give up a ship so easily?”

“And that Mage who warned us,” Professor S’san said. “You sized her up, knew how to use her, and gave the right orders.”

“Those were Alli’s, and Calu’s, and Alain’s ideas!”

“You obviously listened to them,” Mechanic Kasi remarked. “And gave the right people the right jobs. What now, Master Mechanic?”

“Um…” Thrown off by not having to defend or excuse her actions in Edinton, Mari took a moment to gather her thoughts. “You are?” she asked a man in uniform.

“Major Sima,” he replied, standing up and saluting. “On long-term leave from the Confederation military to deal with family issues.”

Captain Banda smiled. “Exactly how many members of the Confederation military on long-term leave for family issues are aboard the Dolphin?”

“One hundred and three, counting my officers and me,” Sima replied.

“You’re not here representing the Confederation?” Mari asked.

“No. Anything I happen to do while on leave is strictly unofficial, unsanctioned, and unapproved.” Sima paused. “We had little time to find volunteers with long-term family issues, or there would have been more of us, daughter.”

“All right,” Mari said, managing not to flinch this time at the use of the title. “Two things. First, we’ll need to have my Mages check your soldiers to ensure none are spies for the Great Guilds. Or the empire.”

Sima nodded. “I understand. Since I do not want to attempt to lie to a Mage, I will confess freely that my superiors have asked me to keep them informed about your actions, daughter.”

“You’ll need to keep that information vague for the time being,” Mari warned. “Anything the Confederation learns might reach the Great Guilds, and we are going to need time before the Great Guilds muster an effort against us.”

“I understand, daughter.”

“Which brings up the second thing. I am… really… uncomfortable with being addressed as… her. I would prefer just Lady Master Mechanic.”

“But there are other Lady Master Mechanics,” Mechanic Kasi pointed out.

“Perhaps just Lady?” Major Sima said. “Or Lady Mari? Stories from the Northern Ramparts say you used that title there.”

“Lady Mari will be fine,” Mari said. “How many Mechanics do we have now with everyone who joined us at Edinton?”

Senior Mechanic Gina answered. “One hundred fifty-six. Mechanics and Apprentices. None of the Senior Mechanics at Edinton were sympathetic, but we picked up ten more Master Mechanics among the hundred fifty-six.”

“You’re kidding.” Mari took a deep breath.

“Mage Dav told me that an additional twelve Mages joined us as well,” Alain said. “Three are Mages who can create Rocs.”

“So, that’s four counting Mage Alera? Mage Dav says all the new Mages are all right?”

“He does. I have told him the new Mages must not mistreat anyone and must not deliberately insult Mechanics. I will also speak to them of this,” Alain said.

“Where are you taking all of these people?” Professor S’san asked. “What is your plan from here on?”

Mari gestured to Captain Banda, who unrolled a chart. “Tiae,” she said. “The Broken Kingdom. We’re going there, where no one will expect us to go, where we can find commons to train, and where we can begin fixing the problems of this world at the place where they have done the most damage.”

She had expected the first reaction to be an outburst of protests and objections, but instead Mechanic Kasi laughed. “I kept telling the Senior Mechanics that we should send a strong force into Tiae and rebuild things! It would be like melting down scrap metal and reforging it! But all they could think to do was try to seal off the break.”

“Where in Tiae?” Lukas asked. “If what I know is even remotely accurate, there are warlords and bandit gangs everywhere. How could we keep them off our backs?”

The captain of the Gray Lady cleared his throat. “If I may, honored Mechanics and honored Mage, I do have some information regarding Tiae.”

Captain Banda raised a disapproving eyebrow at him. “I was informed that you had spent much of our time in Edinton prowling the waterfront taverns.”

“Aye, that I did. How better to learn what could be learned?” The captain stood up and gestured to the chart. “I posed as a member of the fellowship, you see, one who had become too well known in the north and was seeking safer waters to ply the old trade until things cooled off in the waters I normally sailed.”

“You posed as a pirate?” Banda asked. “That must have been difficult,” he added sarcastically.

The captain of the Gray Lady smiled in response. “There were those I spoke to who had been south of Confederation waters in the last several years. Not many. Few ships go to Tiae now. There are the pirates along the coast, and the embargo.”

“Embargo?” Professor S’san asked.

“Aye, Lady. The Confederation, the Alliance, the Free Cities, and even the Empire have all banned the shipment of arms and armor to what used to be Tiae. To control the violence, you see. It was demanded by the Great Guilds.”

“I guess that’s something most Mechanics were never told. How has that embargo worked?” asked Calu. His arm was bandaged, but he looked weak and had a seat at the table instead of standing.

“How has it worked? Not at all.”

“Pirates along the coast?” Banda asked. “How bad is that?”

“Not as bad as formerly,” the captain replied. “Too little prey, you see. But I was warned that any ship sailing off the coast of Tiae, especially off the cities, will attract pirates coming out in small boats, usually at night. The cities are shadows of what they once were, great empty monuments of the past with few people left, but some still find homes in them.”

“What happened to the people?” Professor S’san asked in a low voice.

“Most went into the countryside,” Major Sima said. “They scratch out survival on tiny farms. It was their only hope once food stopped coming into the cities as the roads became unusable due to bandits, warlords, and deterioration.”

“Not many refugees in the Confederation itself?”

“Some. Not many made it across before the Great Guilds ordered the Confederation to seal the borders. I was told that the Confederation was still debating what to do when the decision was taken from our hands. I will confess that is a source of guilt among many of us.”

“Like trying to block the spread of a plague,” Captain Banda remarked.

“We’re going to fix things,” Mari said. “Not just try to seal off what we don’t know how to fix. We can avoid the pirates just by sailing out of sight of land. Right?”

Banda shook his head. “Not if you want to know where you are. The Mechanics Guild has limited the navigational equipment available to us. I have no idea why. But sailing out of sight of land, unless a ship is following clear sailing directions in well-known waters like the Sea of Bakre, is a good way to become lost at sea. Out here I know I can sail east and find the coast, but where on the coast? That I can’t say.”

Mari grimaced and shook her head. “The Guild probably limited navigational methods to prevent anyone getting to the Western Continent. There’s no telling what might be there. It might be something the Guild doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

Everyone except Alain stared at her. “The Western Continent is real?” Banda asked.

“Yes. Alain and I have seen it on… a map. An absolutely reliable map.”

“I’ve always wanted to sail out looking for it,” Banda murmured, his eyes distant.

“We’re not going there now,” Mari said. “It might be completely barren. What else did you learn?” she asked the captain of the Gray Lady.

“I was advised that piracy was unlikely to pay but that if I cared to risk it, running weapons past the embargo might gain some valuable goods in trade. However, just about everywhere on the coast is controlled by bandits or warlords who would more likely slit your throat and take what you have rather than make an honest trade.”

The captain leaned and pointed to one place on the coast of what had been Tiae. “Except here. Pacta Servanda. It’s a town with a decent harbor, on the coast about halfway between Minut and Tiaesun. Somehow it has held out against the warlords. The sailors I talked to claimed that it is the only place along the coast where the old flag of Tiae still flies. They are civilized—they’ll make an honest deal if you don’t try to cheat them—but you still must be very careful with them.”

“Why?” Mari asked.

The captain sat down again, his eyes hooded. “It was explained to me so, Lady. Have you ever seen a dog, one that had been mistreated, beaten, starved, for most of its life? If you saw that dog, would you go to pet it?”

“Such a dog would bite your hand off,” Master Mechanic Lukas said.

“Aye, he would. And if you offered him food? Would the dog wag his tail and be your friend?”

Lukas shook his head, looking grim. “No. He might take the food, but he’d still be ready to bite, because to him everyone is an enemy.”

“And just so are the people of Tiae,” the captain said. “Pacta Servanda has held on to the rule of law, but the people of Pacta Servanda have been marked by too many years of dealing with a world that is full of hurt and death.”

Mari nodded, feeling hurt inside herself as she thought of Tiae and its people. “We’ll have to talk to them. Approach them very carefully. Hopefully we can convince them that we are willing to help, long term.”

“If anybody can do it, you can,” Lukas said.

“I’m not—”

“Oh, stop it, Mari,” Alli said. “How many Mages do you have taking orders from you, listening to you, calling you elder? How many people even talked to Mages before you decided to do it?”

“Even Mages talk to Mages only when they have to,” Alain said.

“There!” Alli said. “See? And you got the locals in Julesport to help us, and the locals in Edinton. Commons listen to you. You know how to talk to them.”

“And Mechanics,” Professor S’san said. “I know of no rebellion that has ever occurred within the Guild. No matter how badly things went, no group of Mechanics ever arose to fight against the Guild. But you are leading such a group. The commons and the Mages may listen to you because of the daughter prophecy, but Mechanics are another matter. Even before the daughter connection, the Senior Mechanics feared your ability to lead and inspire others.”

Mari couldn’t sort out how she felt as the others spoke. Was it discomfiture at the praise? Happiness at being told she was doing a good job by people whose opinions she respected? Fear of letting down them and so many others? “I… I’ll do my best. I assume everyone agrees that we should go to Pacta Servanda? What else do we need to decide?”

Senior Mechanic Gina spoke up again. “As far as I can tell, things aren’t really organized. Everyone just listens to you. But you shouldn’t be deciding everything, or having to deal with everything, especially if we keep gaining people.”

“That’s a very good point,” Professor S’san said.

“I would recommend that Master Mechanic Lukas and Professor S’san be put in direct charge of the Mechanics, reporting to you and passing on important decisions to you,” Gina added.

Mari looked around for objections. “That sounds like a good idea. But I also want Mechanic Alli designated in charge of arms production. She is going to need that authority.”

Lukas nodded judiciously. “Alli would be an excellent choice for that job. If I had my wishes, we’d work on other things first, but we’re going to need weapons to give us time and space to work on other things next.”

“Thank you,” Alli said, smiling. “I’ve found a design in one of Mari’s forbidden texts. It’s a rifle that’s simple and rugged. It uses a clip and semi-automatic feed like Mari’s pistol, so it would have a much higher rate of fire than the Guild’s lever-action rifles, and the barrel is longer and has better specs, so it would also have a significantly better effective range.”

“Sounds like it would need a lot of ammunition,” Mechanic Ken commented.

“It will,” Alli said. “We’ll have to look at mass production of small-arms ammunition.”

“And far-talkers,” Calu said. “Another one of Mari’s texts has some designs that would let us build far-talkers smaller, lighter, and a lot better than the current Guild models. Hey, Mari, do you have any idea why the texts call the far-talkers rah-dee-ohs?”

“No idea,” Mari said. “Those sound like good first priorities.”

Mechanic Kasi waved toward Calu. “I don’t know what his specialty is, but this guy did a great job on that rear guard command. If we need someone to work with the common militaries, I recommend him.”

“My specialty is theory,” Calu admitted.

“Ha! Well, you got your hands dirty in Edinton, theorist!”

“What about the Mages?” Professor S’san asked. “Do they report to Mage Alain?”

“That would mean Alain was reporting to me,” Mari objected.

“Is that a problem?”

“He’s my partner! We’ve made every decision together, and his have equal weight with mine! Alain should be seen as… as…”

“Your executive,” Senior Mechanic Gina said. “The invaluable co-worker who helps get everything done.”

“Then who deals with the Mages on everyday matters?” S’san asked. “Assuming that everyday and Mages belong in the same sentence?”

“Mage Dav,” Alain said. “He has shown a gift for speaking to other Mages.”

“Mage Dav is cool,” Alli agreed.

“That’s settled, then,” Mari said, hoping that Alain had taken well what she and others had said. It had proven unexpectedly difficult to put a title on the role he played for her and with her. “What else?”

Professor S’san pushed a piece of paper toward Mari. “I went through the Guild Hall Supervisor’s files before we left Edinton and found this. It’s the latest warning the Guild sent out about you, a few days before you showed up in Edinton. I would advise you not to bother reading the parts about your mental, emotional, technical, and moral failings.”

Mari picked up the paper, skimming through the first part despite S’San’s warning. “Clearly insane, huh? Fanatical. Paranoid. Pro—promiscuous?”

“You didn’t think they’d avoid saying that about you, did you?” S’san asked.

“I didn’t— Unqualified?!” That stung worse than the charge of promiscuity.

“Nobody who knows you would believe any of that,” Alli said.

“Yeah, but first the Mage elders claim I’m some seductress trying to ensnare Alain, and then—” Mari stopped talking, realizing too late that she had never told even her friends about that embarrassing charge. “Let’s just forget that last part.”

“Fat chance,” Alli murmured.

Mari did her best to focus on the last part of the report. “Seriously? The Guild leadership is reporting that I may be in Altis again, and in Syndar, and in Amandan en route to Kitara, and off Daarendi, and in Gullhaven, Kelsi and Jacksport. The Guild also has reports that I’ve got armies in Amandan, Kelsi and Jacksport.”

“Wow,” Alli commented. “You sure get around, don’t you? Why didn’t you tell us about all of these armies of yours?”

“It must have slipped my mind.” Mari read the final paragraph out loud. “If Mari is seen, she is to be shot on sight. Take no chances, as she is murderous, ruthless, and deranged, and will show no mercy to any Mechanic who crosses her path. Any Mechanics, Mages, or commons who are near her are also to be killed without hesitation because they may well be part of her evil plots against the right and proper role of the Mechanics Guild as the supreme power in Dematr.”

It was quiet for a moment after Mari had finished, then Calu shrugged. “No surprises there. The Guild first tried to kill you just on suspicion that you were doing something wrong or might do something wrong someday. They would have done the same to us, eventually. Mechanic Dav told me about the evidence of Guild purges that he found in old records.”

“There is good news in that report,” Captain Banda said. “They’re not thinking about Tiae. The Guild is seeing you behind every tree, but they’re still not imagining that you’d be going to Tiae. It doesn’t occur as an option to the Senior Mechanics.”

“That’s good for us,” Lukas agreed.

“May I ask something?” Mechanic Kasi spoke up. “Mechanic Calu is suffering from a bullet wound. So are some other Mechanics. I understand that one of the Mages was badly hurt in the fight with the dragon. Why haven’t the Mages healed any of them?”

Mari indicated Alain. “He can explain.”

“Mages,” Alain said, “can do nothing to another directly. I can create heat in the air which will burn someone, but I cannot set a fire inside them. I can create the illusion of a hole in a wall, but I cannot create the illusion of a hole in the heart of another. No Mage can.”

“Why are there so many stories about Mages doing those kinds of things to people?” Banda asked.

“Because the Mage Guild has encouraged such stories,” Alain said. “They served to increase the awe and fear with which shadows regarded Mages. But the truth—and you must understand I was taught that there is no truth but have rejected that—is that no Mage spell can directly change another, for good or for ill. Mage elders claim that the reason for this is because no Mage has ever been able to totally disassociate themselves from others, that even in the wisest Mages to date there has always been a trace of belief that others are real and not just shadows who mean nothing.”

“What do you think?” Calu asked.

Alain remained silent for a moment. “I think it is because all others are real. The world is an illusion and may be changed. But others are, they are reality amid the illusion, and cannot be altered. Perhaps we all create the illusion together. This is my theory.”

Master Mechanic Lukas smiled. “I hope you’re right, Sir Mage. If we’re real, then that might mean there’s more to the story even after we die.”

“We go from this dream to another dream,” Alain said. “The story never ends.”

Senior Mechanic Gina gazed at Alain with a shocked expression. “I wondered how you could have fallen in love with a Mage,” Gina said to Mari. “Now I know. Are there any others like him?”

Mari grinned. “There is no one else anywhere like him.”

Later, alone, she held Alain close. “What am I doing giving orders to the likes of Professor S’san?” Mari asked, resting her head against his shoulder.

“They do not have to obey you,” Alain said. “They have made a choice to obey you.”

“Was Edinton as messed up as I thought it was? Because everybody else seems to think it went great.”

“You achieved everything you set out to do,” Alain pointed out. “Despite some major threats which surprised everyone. I have seen an experienced and talented military commander in the face of such a surprise, Mari. You did as well as he did.”

“You are so delusional!” Mari drew back a little and shook her head at Alain. “I’m sure General Flyn would love hearing that I’m as good a commander as he is!”

“He is already sworn to your service.”

“And I wish he was here! If we face any fights in Tiae, everybody is going to look to me, aren’t they?” Mari stepped away from Alain, rubbing her face with both hands. “Where is this going to end, Alain?”

“With the overthrow of the Great Guilds,” he replied.

“And then what? What happens to me if I’m still alive at that point?”

“I do not know,” Alain said. “But I will be with you, wherever you are.”

Somehow, that made everything feel all right.

Two days later, in the late afternoon, Captain Banda led Mari’s small fleet past the city of Minut. “It’s necessary to fix our position here before we turn south again,” he insisted.

Mari stood on the deck of the Pride, gazing on what had once been one of the largest cities in the Kingdom of Tiae. From a distance it looked all right, if oddly pristine. “Marandur was like that,” she said to Alli, who was standing beside her. “Cities always have this cloud of smoke and dust above them from fires and people and everything. But Marandur had nothing above it but blue sky. It looked so clean from a distance. Because Marandur was dead.”

“How do you sleep?” Alli asked. “You’ve seen more than your share of nightmares.”

“Sometimes I don’t sleep,” Mari said. “Other times I don’t sleep well.” She raised her far-seers to her eyes and scanned the city. “I can see some people, not nearly enough for a city of that size, and a lot of the buildings are still intact but some are beat up and falling apart. It’s like the city is on its way to becoming like Marandur.” She passed the far-seers to Alli.

“Everywhere is going to become like Marandur if we fail, right?” Alli asked as she studied Minut.

“Yeah.”

“How long exactly do we have?”

“Not very long. That’s as exact as I know.” Mari paused. “Alli? Why are Mechanics like you and me and Calu leading this? All right, I know why I am, but why you two when we have people like Professor S’san and Master Mechanic Lukas also with us? They’re in charge of Mechanics, but you and Calu are running the two most important projects almost independently. And why are Alain and Asha playing leading roles with our Mages? Mage Dav guides the other Mages, but he does what Alain says.”

“You want to know why older and wiser heads aren’t calling the shots?” Alli lowered the far-seers and shuddered. “That is an awful sight, isn’t it? My theory, Master Mechanic Mari, is that the Great Guilds are at least partly designed to operate like lathes. Over time they grind down Mechanics and Mages alike, taking off the hard edges and the other parts that stick out, and eventually shearing away anything like rebellion and free thinking and initiative. Mechanics like S’san and Lukas are smart and capable, but when faced with something bad they look around for someone to tell them what to do. You and me and Calu haven’t been under the lathe too long. We’ve still got all our nonconforming and inventiveness attached to us.”

“I actually wasn’t expecting an answer,” Mari said, “but that’s a really good one.”

“Want another?”

“I love your answers, Alli.”

“And I love your humility, your daughterness.” Alli went on speaking before Mari could finish getting her glare on. “Everybody is like, whoa, Mari has figured out how to get Mechanics and Mages to work together! Isn’t that totally amazing? But for me, what’s amazing is how you get us young types to work well with the older-and-wisers. You remember how yesterday I came to you all ticked off because Master Mechanic Lukas was telling me something about the production process for the new rifles and I am Mechanic Alli and I already know everything about weapons? What did you do?”

“Umm.” Mari had to think. There had been a lot going on that day. “I asked you…”

“’Is there something we’re missing because we’re not seeing it?’” Alli quoted. “And I thought, how can I miss it if I can’t see it? And then I realized that I can’t notice a problem I’ve never seen or thought about. But Lukas is older than dirt. He’s seen all kinds of stuff. And he’s willing to talk about it. At great length. Which can be annoying. But I went back to him and listened and, yeah, I was missing something.”

“It just seemed like the right thing to ask ourselves,” Mari said. “Alain has really made me think more about our assumptions and how we shape what we see by how we expect to see it.”

“You’re starting to sound like Calu and his observer-effect stuff,” Alli commented. “Not that I mind. I do love him. But that stuff is weird.”

“How is Calu doing?” Mari asked, taking back the far-seers and looking at the harbor of Minut. There were forlorn masts rising out of the water where ships had sunk, some rotting wrecks still tied up to the piers, and a long stretch of brownish water that Captain Banda said probably marked silt from the river which was slowly choking the decaying harbor.

“He’ll be fine. Complains that his arm hurts more now that it’s healing than it did when he was shot.” Alli squinted at the city. “How is Mage Asha doing?”

“Half of her is a glorious tapestry of blacks and blues,” Mari said. “She must hurt every time she breathes. But not a word of complaint. The healers say she’s doing well, but it’ll be a while before her ribs mend.”

“I had no idea Mages were so tough,” Alli said. “Hey, what’s that?”

Mari had spotted it too and was focusing on the distant activity. “People running to some boats. I think I see sun glinting off weapons. They’re pushing off from the pier. One… two… three. Three boats. All three are raising sails.”

“These are ugly-type pirates, right?” Alli asked. “Not nice daughter-of-Jules pirates like us?”

“That’s what I understand,” Mari said. “Do you have to keep using that word?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. Is there any chance we could just wait here until those three boats catch us and then show them how bad a mistake they’ve made?”

Mari stopped to think, lowering the far-seers and gazing at the sad remnants of Minut. “That’s tempting. I’ve noticed something, Alli. Whenever something is tempting, it turns out to be something I shouldn’t have done or tried to do.”

“How can it be wrong to take out those pirates?” Alli asked.

“I don’t know. But it would be… well, we’d kill them, right? Not because we had to, but because we wanted to. We can get away from them easily enough. If we wait here just to kill them when they get close…” Mari shook her head. “It feels wrong.”

Alli gave her a searching glance. “You’ve got a good feel for that sort of thing, Mari. Maybe sometimes when your gut tells you something is wrong, what it’s really saying is that something is more dangerous than it looks.”

“That could be,” Mari said.

The Gray Lady shifted course, swinging closer to the Pride. Mari saw the Lady’s captain raise a speaking trumpet to his mouth. “Those boats are bait!” he yelled across to the Pride. “I was warned of this. They’ll provoke us with crossbow fire in hopes we’ll chase them and end up closer to shore. They’ll prolong the chase until the sun sets, then under cover of the dark many of their friends will swarm out in other boats to overwhelm our crews.”

“It’s amazing what you can learn in waterfront bars,” Alli commented. “Maybe I should spend more time in them.”

“You’re joking, right?” Mari said as she waved an acknowledgement to the Lady’s captain.

“We’re all pirates, aren’t we? And I know Calu would love to show off his scar and boast about it. Aye, there we were at Edinton, dragons on all sides and assassins charging from the front. I’ll hold them off, I said, while the rest of you get to the ships with the loot.”

“Aye, the spirit of Jules was with us that day!” Mari said, and laughed. “Let’s hope that spirit is also with us at Pacta Servanda. Jules managed to found a city and help cobble together the Confederation. We’re going to need those kinds of skills.”

She stayed at the rail for some time after Alli went below decks. She watched the pirate craft come closer, loose a few crossbow bolts at long range, then lose ground increasingly as the Gray Lady, the Pride of Longfalls, the Worthy Son, and the Dolphin put on more sail and left the pirates of Minut in their wakes.

Three days later the small fleet arrived off the town of Pacta Servanda. Mari saw everyone on the ships staring at the land of Tiae as the ships wore into the small harbor. For as long as she could remember Tiae had been the Broken Kingdom, a place of anarchy and violence. Like everyone else on the four ships, Mari had never expected to see Tiae, let alone choose to go there.

She raised her far-seers, spotting the green and gold banner of Tiae still flying over the town. “Our information was correct. Pacta Servanda still considers itself to be part of the kingdom.”

“A kingdom that no longer exists except for this town,” Captain Banda commented. “What is happening there on the left?”

Mari swung her far-seers to view that part of the defensive wall. Pacta Servanda occupied a small peninsula which both shaped the town’s harbor and limited the land approaches to the town. The wall guarding the town was still intact, but where Banda had indicated Mari could see a mass of armed fighters surging at its base, trying to put up ladders that would get them to the top. Behind them a single ballista was hurling rocks against the city and the wall. “Pacta Servanda is under attack,” Mari said.

Captain Banda had been studying the situation through his far-seers as well, and now shook his head. “There aren’t nearly as many defenders on that wall as there are attackers trying to get in. It looks bad.”

Alain declined Mari’s offer of her far-seers as he always did, having a Mage’s discomfort with Mechanic devices, instead shading his eyes to view what he could from this distance. “We may have arrived just in time.”

Mari took another look at the battle, and at the attackers in a variety of cast-off armor and clothing swarming at the walls. This was no army deserving of the name. One of the warlords who had caused so much suffering in Tiae was trying to extinguish the last vestige of the kingdom. “Or we may have arrived just too late.”