“But you are fated to fulfill—” Alain began.
“Stop that! That’s simply ridiculous!” Mari jumped up and began pacing, her hands moving wildly as she talked. “How could I be her? Do I look like her?”
“Mari, you had already decided to change this world—”
“That’s different!” She spun to face him. “That didn’t make me…her.”
Alain stood up slowly and spoke with care. “You are still Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn. You will always be that person. All the prophecy says is that you are also the daughter. It is not you. It is only part of what you will do.” His voice faltered and he fought to steady it. “Mari, I…am…sorry. If I had suspected that you did not know, I would have found a way to tell you before this.”
She looked away from him, out the window facing the lake.
He waited, wishing he could see her face. Outside noises came faintly to them, and on the lake the lights of boats moved leisurely across the water, but Mari remained silent and motionless as even the stars swung unhurriedly overhead. Through the window, Alain could see the moon very slowly crossing the sky, forever chased by the two small dots of light known as the Twins.
“Alain,” she finally said, “can you imagine what this is like for me? It’s not just that so many people will want to kill me, but the idea that I’m some…I don’t even know how to say it. If I believed for even one minute that you have deliberately avoided telling me about this until now, I…I don’t know what I would do. But I have been trying to remember every conversation we have had, and I can see how you and I thought we both knew what the other meant, when actually we did not.”
“What can I do?” Alain asked.
“Just tell me one thing.” She finally looked at him again, her face drawn, eyes haunted. “Are you with me because of that? Did you stay with me in that blizzard because of that? Because I’m…her?”
Alain shook his head. “I resolved to be with you before I knew of that. I thought of nothing but you during that blizzard. I would be with you now and always even if that vision had never come to me.”
Mari began laughing and crying at the same time, a mix of emotions that dismayed Alain as he watched it.
“You’re not lying,” she said. “You really mean it. Oh, Alain, what am I going to do?”
“What you were already planning on doing,” he said, feeling helpless.
She shuddered with the effort of regaining control, took in a long, slow, breath, then exhaled, her expression calming somewhat. “My plans just hit a brick wall, Alain, remember?” She wiped her eyes roughly. “You heard Professor S’san. Even if I had an army, it couldn’t prevail. What you call the storm would blow it to pieces before it could get strong enough. And what would I do if I had an army? Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds to me? I wouldn’t know the first thing about leading an army. I don’t know how to fight battles. Where would I get an army, anyway? And why would an army follow me?”
“You wish me to say what I believe?”
“Yes,” Mari said, “and from now on if I say let’s not talk about something, talk about it anyway.”
“Then I will say that from what I saw in the Northern Ramparts,” Alain said, “someone believed to be the daughter of Jules could raise an army of commons simply by calling for it. The same forces that would help drive the storm—the anger and the frustration of the commons—would cause them to flock to the—to the one they believe could save them.”
Mari was still breathing deeply, still looked stricken, but she was also frowning in thought. “Redirect the force? Employ it for useful ends instead of destruction? I can understand that. It makes sense. We talked about attitudes and emotions among the commons as being like pressure in a boiler. If it just keeps building with no outlet, then the boiler explodes. But if instead I use that force to accomplish work…” She bit her lip. “How can they believe that I’m that person, Alain?”
“The soldiers of Alexdria were eager to believe it,” Alain pointed out. “I was told by General Flyn that long ago the children of Jules were hidden among the commons, so that when word of the prophecy reached the Great Guilds they could not slay every child in the line of Jules. No one knows who carries her blood.”
“How many centuries ago was that, Alain! How many daughters would have already been born to the descendants of Jules, and how thin would that blood be by now?” She started pacing back and forth through the room again, though this time in a much more controlled way. “Even if blood mattered, when it came to what a person could do! It’s ridiculous. Me, the daughter of Jules. Am I a pirate queen? Am I an explorer? Have I founded any cities or countries? Have I fought the Empire itself to a standstill? I have nothing in common with Jules. I can’t afford to believe such a thing. You know me better than anyone except myself! How can you believe it?”
“Because I know you,” Alain said. “You are smart and you are brave. You help others find new strength. You give them hope. You do not give up.”
She stopped and stared at him. “Alain, I am scared. I’d gotten used to the idea that my Guild and your Guild were hunting me, but that is nothing compared to what will be sent against someone who claims to be that person.”
Alain nodded. “I know. I long ago resolved that I would die to defend you. That will not change.”
“Oh, great. So if I die, you will, too. That doesn’t actually make me feel better.” Mari flung her hands toward the ceiling. “Just what do I do now? You heard Professor S’san. Her whole plan hinged on my getting access to the Mechanic Guild vaults and the banned texts inside them. That’s impossible now. What can I do without that knowledge?”
“These texts exist only in those vaults?” Alain asked.
“Yes! At Mechanics Guild headquarters in Palandur! Supposedly kept safe for use in emergencies when the tech in them might be critically needed, but no Mechanic believes those texts will ever actually be made available, no matter what happens. Everything is so tightly guarded we’d need an army to get at them. A very big army. That’s even if a Mage were helping me get through some of the defenses. I wouldn’t put it past the Senior Mechanics to destroy those texts if they thought I was trying to get them.”
“Palandur?” Alain shook his head. “That city is not much more than a century and a half old. Surely there was once another headquarters for your Guild. Might something not still be in that place and perhaps not as well protected?”
Mari laughed bitterly. “The old headquarters was in Marandur, Alain.”
“Perhaps that is the answer.”
She gave him a startled look. “Marandur? How can Marandur be the answer? I don’t know all that much about it, but I do know that after the city was destroyed the Emperor Palan declared it off-limits for all time. It’s an automatic death sentence to set foot inside the old city. Even Mechanics were warned not to mess with that prohibition.”
“Yes,” Alain agreed. “But you do not know the story? The history of the end of Marandur?”
Mari finally sat down again, still looking very worried but eyeing him with interest. “Please tell me. It was some kind of rebellion, but that’s all I know.”
The change in her mood heartened Alain. “A fanatical underground movement arose. It gained thousands of followers who worshipped their leader. The Imperials had become complacent and did not realize how powerful this group had become. Over time, the rebels by trickery lured away the legions which normally guarded the capital and in a bold nighttime stroke seized Marandur, closing the gates before the legions could return. They captured most of the Imperial family along with the capital city.” He shook his head. “Then, as the returned legions watched along with Prince Palan, who had by chance been out of the city, the rebels brought the Imperial family to the walls and murdered them all.”
Mari made a noise of disbelief. “I’m not the smartest person in the world, but even I know how stupid that must’ve been. Everybody talks about how loyal the legions are to the Imperial family.”
“Yes. Palan proclaimed himself the new emperor and ordered the legions to retake the city at all costs, ensuring no rebels survived. Many Mages were called upon to assist in the assault, and I assume many Mechanic devices must have been used as well. The city was destroyed, building by building, as the legions advanced and the rebels fought to the death.”
He paused, his thoughts dark. Once the story had seemed interesting but removed from him, something that could not stir emotions he no longer acknowledged having. But Mari had made him see that other people were not just shadows, and now the thought of the suffering disturbed him. “No one knows how many citizens of the city died during the retaking of Marandur. But when the assault was over, every rebel had been slain as they fought to the last, and the city was a wasteland of ruins populated mostly by the dead. That was when Palan decreed that Marandur would stand as an eternal monument to the costs of rebellion. After giving any survivors a very short period to leave, the ruins of the city were declared sealed on pain of death, a quarantine enforced by Imperial soldiers ever since. Palandur was built as the new capital.” Alain pointed at Mari. “Some artifacts and wealth were removed from the wreckage of the Imperial palace, but by the emperor’s decree no one else was allowed to bring objects out of the ruins of Marandur.”
She took a moment to realize what that meant. “The vaults at the original Guild headquarters. I was told that the rebels overran the Mechanics Guild headquarters, which was blamed on the guards not being alert. That’s why apprentices get told about it, since apprentices stand the routine security watches in Guild Halls. The Guild Hall in Marandur was certainly badly damaged, if not destroyed, when the legions retook the city, but the vaults might still contain manuscripts. If the Guild had copies elsewhere—and there are always supposed to be copies of important documents—and if the Guild believed that the ones in Marandur had probably been destroyed anyway, it might not have contested Palan’s decision. Blazes, the Guild would have known that the Empire was keeping everyone out of what was left of Marandur, the legions inadvertently guarding those old vaults better than even the Mechanics Guild could have. If those vaults are still sealed, which they well could be because they would’ve been very strong, those manuscripts might’ve survived intact.” Mari was getting visibly animated as she spoke. “It’s possible. Alain, it’s just possible. I can open those vaults, given time.”
Mari clenched her fists, gazing toward one wall. “Maybe…maybe the technology in those vaults could change things without a war. Maybe that army you saw me with would never be used. Maybe the big battle in Dorcastle wouldn’t have to happen. That’s possible, right?”
“That is possible,” Alain said. “The visions showed only possible futures.”
“And we’re already together again. Oh, Alain, this could give me the tools I need to fix things without some kind of war happening. The prophecy doesn’t say there will be a war, does it? It just says the Great Guild will be overthrown.”
Alain nodded, thinking. “As far as I know, that is correct. But will either the Mage Guild or the Mechanics Guild surrender without fighting?”
“I don’t know,” Mari said. “I have to try.” She looked at him, a different kind of worry visible now. “But it’s an automatic death sentence from the emperor to go to Marandur. That doesn’t matter as far as I’m concerned, with so many people who will want me dead when they discover about that prophecy. But you…I can’t let you be sentenced to death as well.”
“I am already under a death sentence from my Guild,” Alain reminded her. “It would not matter if that were not so, for I meant what I said. If you die, it will only be because I have already fallen protecting you. If you go to Marandur, I will go also.”
Mari looked at him for a long time, then to Alain’s surprise smiled in a very sad way. “I’m such an idiot. Do you know why? Because you and I are going to Marandur. I still don’t believe that I’m that person, but I’m going to keep trying to fix things.” Mari came over to hold Alain tightly. “You’re forgiven for not telling me.”
“I tried,” Alain said, once more bewildered.
“In your own silly Mage way, yes, you did,” Mari agreed. “But you have to promise me something.”
“Anything,” Alain said.
“Never say that,” Mari insisted. “I don’t own you. I don’t have any right to ask you to promise anything I want. But this one thing I need you to do. Please promise you will not call me that name. I can’t control what other people do, what other people might say, but I need to remain Mari in your eyes. Not…her.”
“I promise, Mari.”
She started laughing softly, alarming him again. “The word of a Mage. I just got a Mage to promise me something.”
“Many people would not understand why you bothered,” Alain said, relieved. “Do you feel better?”
“No. I’m in denial right now. I’m scared and overwhelmed and my mind is racing. But,” she paused and looked at him. “You’re here. You just gave me hope. You also just scared the blazes out of me. I’m no longer sure that I’m the most difficult person in this relationship.”
“I remain sure of it,” Alain said.
“Did you just make a joke?” She pulled away a little and stared at him, smiling more like she usually did. “Are you making fun of me, Mage?”
Alain couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had laughed. The act was completely alien to Mages, to the training he had endured since he was a small child. But now he laughed, the sound rusty and halting, yet he knew it was a laugh, and it felt so good to be laughing and holding Mari that Alain wondered what Mage art or other promised reward could possibly be worth giving up such things.
Mari looked at him, blinking away tears. “You’re laughing. What a wonderful sound. My Mage is laughing. Our Guilds want to kill us, everybody thinks I’m somebody I’m not, and we’re going to a ruined city where the Emperor has decreed any trespassers must die. And we’re happy. Do you want to leave for there tomorrow?”
Alain stopped laughing long enough to answer. “Certainly.”
Then the moment vanished as they both heard an odd sound, like a distorted voice.
Mari flung herself away from him, toward her pack. Digging in the pack frantically, Mari surfaced in a few moments with the boxlike thing Alain had seen her use to call other Mechanics in Dorcastle. He heard a strangely raspy voice speaking in barely audible words. “I repeat, Master Mechanic Mari, please respond. Your Guild is concerned for your safety. If you will please come to the Guild Hall here in Severun we will ensure you are taken care of and that you are protected. Please respond—”
Mari did something to the Mechanic device and the voice cut off. “We’re not leaving in the morning. We’re leaving now. Somehow my Guild suspects that I’m in this city. Get everything together. I want us out of here as fast as possible.”
Chapter Fourteen
Fortunately, packing required nothing more than throwing a few things back into their packs and then heading for the door. The room had been paid for already, so Alain just had to wait while Mari tossed the key into a slot at the owner’s door, then they both hastened out of the hostel. “We go south,” Mari said. “Marandur is that way, and neither one of our Guilds will expect us to go south from here.” She felt dazed from the many emotional ups and downs of this day, which obviously had not ended.
The daughter? Her? How could she possibly be that person? Mari shook her head violently, trying to drive the thoughts away. Focus on here and now, on getting away from my Guild here, or that prophecy might end badly in a few hours.
Alain looked back for a moment, toward the waters of the lake, and came to a momentary halt. “I see a black haze when I look to the north. Danger comes from the lake.”
“Mechanics?” Mari asked, tugging Alain back into motion and increasing their pace.
“No. Mages, I think. It feels like that. They must be coming to Severun on one of the lake ferries or ships.”
; “Blast! My Guild seems to have figured out we’re here, and so has your Guild. How did they find us?” Mari looked around. “More importantly at the moment, how do we throw them off our track?”
“Asha,” Alain said suddenly.
“What? Do you think she betrayed—”
“No,” Alain said. “She is close to those on the lake. Her presence shone brightly for a moment. She must have been ordered to assist the Mages coming here, but she deliberately let her presence show so strongly. She has tried to warn us that the other Mages are coming.”
Hearing the clop of hooves and the rumble of wheels on the paved streets, Mari looked ahead to see a carriage approaching at a rapid clip along streets nearly deserted at this late hour. She took Alain’s arm and pulled him into the nearest doorway, waiting in the shadows there as the carriage rattled past. “They’re in a hurry to get somewhere. Let’s– Get back!” Mari pushed Alain into the shadows again as a second carriage appeared and rushed down the street past them. “We can’t run without drawing too much attention, but let’s walk as fast as we can. I couldn’t see who was in those carriages, but the drivers sure looked like Mechanic apprentices to me.”
Alain stayed with her as they walked, but glanced back once. “Why would your Guild have warned you if they were sending Mechanics to take you?”
She frowned at him. “That’s a good question. That message tipped me off. It was pretty dumb of someone to—” Mari paused, looking straight ahead now as she thought. “Maybe that wasn’t a mistake. Maybe someone warned me just like Asha warned you.” Who did she know in Severun besides Professor S’san? If Calu had been sent to Umburan, perhaps some of her other old friends had been sent here.
Or someone she had never met? Like the Mechanics who had confided in her their own doubts and worries about the Guild?
The two- and three-story shops and homes on either side of the road were mostly dark or with only a single window showing light from a lantern or candle inside. They had made it a fair way along the street, the road still climbing along the long slope leading down to the lake behind them, when Alain held out a cautioning arm. “I see police ahead.”