* * * *
A week later, Alain stood by Mari’s side as she explained to Princess Sien about the mission. Sien, who had sat down with a happy expression at being reunited with Mari, grew increasingly stone-faced as Mari talked.
When Mari had finished, Sien said nothing for a while. Finally she stood up, drew her dagger, and slammed it point first into the table with enough force to partially bury the blade. “How can you do this to Tiae?” Sien demanded. “How can you do this to me?”
“I am doing it for Tiae,” Mari insisted. “This is part of fighting the Storm.”
“You are rushing to your death when your life means hope for everyone!”
“Sien,” Mari said, “these texts are the most valuable things in this world.”
“That will mean nothing if Tiae remains a broken kingdom!” Sien clenched her fists and glared at Alain. “You permit her to do this?”
Alain, surprised at the way the question was phrased, shook his head. “I do not control Mari.”
“No one does, it seems! And no one can guarantee that she will return to Tiae! If I had ever doubted that she bears the wild spirit of Jules within her, I would know that for certain now!”
“Sien,” Mari said, “the contents of those texts, what they could mean to everyone in this world, is impossible to describe. You know Mechanic lights? One of those texts tells how to make panels that can turn sunlight into the electricity needed to power those lights and a lot of other devices. Every building could have them. There’s another that shows how to make devices that let Healers see inside the bodies of people. Instead of having to cut into people to see what was wrong, Healers could just look through their skin and muscles! And devices for farms that would let them grow a lot more food with less labor, along with means to preserve food for longer periods. No more famines!”
Sien shook her head angrily. “Mari, I understand how these things could benefit everyone, but you yourself have said the Storm approaches. If you die, the Storm triumphs, and there will be no future to build those devices.”
“And if I win there has to be a foundation for a better future! I can’t just aim to win and have no plan for afterwards!”
The two women looked at each other, both upset, neither yielding.
Something occurred to Alain that might break the impasse. “Princess Sien, when Mari returns to Tiae, she will have the texts with her.”
“What does that matter to Tiae?” Sien grumbled.
“The most valuable things in the world will be in Tiae,” Alain said.
Sien paused, shooting a sidelong glance at Alain. “But they will belong to the Mechanics.”
“They will belong to everyone,” Alain said. “Is that right, Mari? You have said these texts belong to everyone.”
“Yes,” Mari said. She gave a knowing nod and half-smile to Alain. “But they will need a safe place to be located. Tiae could be that place.”
Sien stood straight and crossed her arms, eyeing Mari. “Tiae would not control these texts. But Tiae would be their home.”
“Everyone would have to come to Tiae to see them,” Mari agreed.
“You are clever, Mage Alain,” Sien said. “You offer me something that would help make this kingdom respected once it is reunited. But still, Mari, it must be reunited. I am…disappointed to hear that you will risk yourself in this way.”
“Have you ever risked yourself for Tiae, Princess Sien?” Alain asked.
“Too clever,” Sien said. “And you know I am only Sien to you in private. Yes, I have risked myself for Tiae. Mari, does your heart tell you that you must risk this?”
“Yes,” Mari said. “For the world. Believe me, if my brain could think of a good alternative, I would be doing something else.”
“Then I cannot stop you, because the one person in this world more stubborn than I is Lady Mari. I can only give you my blessing and hope with every bit of my being that you will succeed and come back whole to me.” Sien looked down at the table, grasped her dagger, and pulled unsuccessfully. “Alain, can you aid me in getting my dagger out of this?”
Alain focused on the wood next to the blade. The illusion of a table was there, but he could overlay on that for a little while the illusion that some of the wood was missing.
A small section of wood next to the dagger blade vanished, Sien catching the weapon before it could fall. “My thanks, Mage Alain.” She studied the dagger blade as she spoke to Mari. “I know of Mage Asha, and have been impressed by your Mechanic Captain Banda, but have had little experience with this Mechanic Dav.”
“He’s a good man, reliable,” Mari offered. “He has a family obligation to fulfill.”
“I understand better than most the burdens of family obligations,” Sien said. “More important than those are your judgments of him. Mari, you have spoken of your troubled nights. Do you not fear that returning to Marandur will worsen the nightmares that plague you?”
“I’m learning to handle them,” Mari said.
Alain gave her a look, knowing that she would understand his meaning without words being spoken.
She did. “Alain’s opinion may differ.”
“It does,” Alain said. “Part of Mari has never left Marandur.”
Mari gave him a cross look. “I didn’t need to hear that.”
“But,” he continued as the thought came to him, “it is possible that when we return, she will find that part, and be able to finally leave Marandur behind.”
Sien raised her eyebrows at Alain. “You may have spoken wisdom indeed. I have tried to help Mari in my own ways.”
“Your advice has helped a lot,” Mari said.
“I’m glad to hear that. Let me know what Tiae can do to assist you both. Will this require our hoped-for campaign to establish control over Tiaesun to be postponed?”
“No,” Mari said. “I don’t think so, anyway. There’s some uncertainty as to how long it will take the ship thing to be built, but even though it will take time to prepare for the campaign, and to get the newest volunteers integrated into my army, we need to capture Tiaesun before the rainy season hits.”
“And it does hit,” Sien said. “Any army trying to move during the rains will drown in the mud.”
“I’m not looking forward to that. Anyway the, uh, Terror isn’t going to be ready that soon.”
“Tiae needs more time to grow its own army,” Sien admitted. “Though that army grows much faster than anyone could have expected. It is a comfort to me to know that you will be present when we retake Tiaesun. Our armies have grown, but so have you. You are much more comfortable with giving orders, Mari.”
Mari looked surprised. “I don’t feel much more comfortable doing it.”
“That does not show. You do not hesitate to lead even though those you lead have grown greatly in number. You do not like making some of the decisions, but you make them.” Sien paused. “Speaking of decisions, on the matter of rifles…”
Mari made a face. “How many do you need?”
“How many are to spare?”
“You know there aren’t any to spare. I’ll talk to Alli. Would you be willing to accept ten out of every hundred new ones for Tiae’s army?”
Sien smiled at Mari. “Surely my dearest friend and companion could find a way to offer twenty out of every hundred?”
“You wish for more than that,” Alain said.
“Of course I do! I would take fifty out of every hundred if I could get it, but I know that Mari’s army is the one that will face the Great Guilds.” She gave Alain and Mari a searching look. “However, the open comments of those such as Colonel Yuri do not help.”
“Colonel Yuri?” Mari looked to Alain for help with the name.
“He came with three hundred troops of the Western Alliance,” Alain said. “That force arrived but two days ago, and Colonel Yuri has begged off seeing you since, saying that he must tend to his soldiers. General Flyn told me that he was unhappy that the three hundred are all a single unit rather
than a group of volunteers. He suspects it is an attempt by the Western Alliance to subvert your control.”
“And what has this Yuri been saying?” Mari asked Sien.
“In public, that Tiae will only ever receive token numbers of the new weapons, which will instead go to ‘reliable’ soldiers such as his.”
Mari’s expression hardened. “Alain, if you speak to Flyn before I do, tell him I want this Colonel Yuri to be politely told to go home. I don’t want to offend the Western Alliance, but I don’t want them playing those kinds of games here. Sien, you must have known that I would never do what Yuri suggested.”
“I know this,” Sien said. “But others do not. Tiae has always been a proud land. It is hard to accept our need for foreign assistance, even while feeling bitter that more help was not coming from other lands. I was informed of the problem with Yuri as soon as I arrived, which tells you how much it concerned my advisers. If I may suggest…”
“Always,” Mari said.
“Send the errant colonel home, but keep the soldiers and break them up among your other forces so that they can no longer act as a single force under Western Alliance control.”
“This is wise,” Alain said.
“And,” Sien added, “it will make clear to those who planned this that the daughter is not so easily undermined. Make those soldiers your own, so that they become an instrument to use against the Western Alliance if necessary.”
Mari jerked in surprise. “Against the Western Alliance? Why would I ever need to do that?”
“Better that I say, against some of the leaders of the Western Alliance,” Sien said, reaching out to touch Mari’s shoulder. “The people are yours. That is not something that many leaders will be happy about. But if enough of the people are yours, it might give pause to leaders planning to do something stupid.”
“Alain,” Mari said. “Please go talk to this Colonel Yuri yourself. See what he reveals when a Mage is there to read him. I want to know exactly what he and his bosses were planning. And tell General Flyn that I want Yuri gone and the soldiers he brought scattered among the rest of my army.”
Sien smiled. “You might tell General Flyn to inform Yuri that these measures are necessary because the daughter fears that otherwise the Western Alliance might become the direct target of the wrath of the Great Guilds. No one could object to the daughter’s concern for their own welfare.”
“One of our Mages who rides a Roc could also deliver such a message directly to the Western Alliance,” Alain pointed out.
“They could! I will be happy to assist in drafting the message.”
* * * *
Not long afterward, Alain walked with General Flyn through one of the large encampments of new volunteers for Mari’s army. “Colonel Yuri finally checked in with me yesterday,” Flyn said. “But if I judged him right, he took my orders as suggestions. I’m looking forward to having him face both of us this time.”
“Perhaps we should have brought Mari as well,” Alain said.
Flyn smiled. “I think perhaps Lady Mari’s temper might be too sorely tested by the likes of Yuri.” His smile vanished as they approached Yuri’s command tent. “It’s still up.”
Alain gazed at the flag of the Western Alliance flying in front of Yuri’s tent and understood Flyn’s unhappiness. “You told him to take it down?”
“In no uncertain terms, Sir Mage.” Flyn, a stern look on his face, marched up to the sentry at the entrance to the tent. “We’re here to see Colonel Yuri.”
“Yes, sir!” the soldier replied, saluting smartly. “I will see if the Colonel—" “There’s no ‘if’ about it, soldier,” Flyn interrupted. “Tell him that we’re coming in.”
Alain and Flyn walked into the tent right after the sentry had announced them. Colonel Yuri, a handsome enough man in a uniform adorned with ribbons and medals, looked up from his field desk with barely concealed annoyance. “Yes, General?”
Flyn’s frown increased slightly. He gestured toward Alain. “I am not your only guest, Colonel.”
Yuri glanced at Alain, who had let his face settle into a Mage’s menacing lack of emotion. Unnerved by that, Yuri stood up quickly. “Sir Mage.”
“Do I irritate you?” Alain asked in his most unfeeling voice.
That question rattled Yuri a bit more. “No, Sir Mage.”
“Why is the Western Alliance flag still up?” Flyn demanded.
Yuri looked only mildly apologetic. “My soldiers are proud of their unit and its history serving the Western Alliance—"
“They’re either here to serve the daughter, or they’re going home,” Flyn said, his voice taking on a sharper edge. “Flying that flag on the soil of Tiae without invitation is an insult to the army of Tiae.”
“The army of Tiae?” Yuri asked, smiling slightly. “Do you mean the children, or the gray-haired elders?”
Alain saw General Flyn’s expression tighten even more.
“I am not impressed by your disrespect for capable, motivated, and reliable troops,” Flyn said. “You may count yourself fortunate if your soldiers never have to fight them.”
“If?” Yuri stood straighter, looking affronted. “You issue threats? The Western Alliance has sent soldiers to fight for Lady Mari—"
“Despite the fact,” Alain said, his emotionless Mage voice slicing through Colonel Yuri’s words, “that Lady Mari has instructed governments not to send entire units of soldiers, since that could cause the Great Guilds to retaliate against them before the daughter is prepared for such a confrontation.”
Yuri paused, then a smile flickered on and off. “We of course deeply respect Lady Mari—"
“You do not,” Alain said, having seen the lie clearly.
“How can you—"
“You’re trying to lie to a Mage,” Flyn said, now sounding exasperated rather than angry.
“But he’s Lady Mari’s…” Colonel Yuri’s eyes went from Flyn to Alain.
“I am a Mage,” Alain said. “Do not mistake my ability to feel emotion as a sign of weakness. Should you make me angry, you will see how strong my skills are, and your words and the meanings hidden behind them are indeed making me upset.”
“Um…Sir Mage,” Yuri began nervously.
“Come with me, Colonel,” Flyn said. “Right now. We have to talk, commander to commander.”
“But I—" Yuri glanced at Alain, obviously was worried by what he saw, and nodded. “Sentry!” Colonel Yuri gestured peremptorily when the soldier stuck his head in the tent. “Get Captain Patila in here.”
An aide rushed out, returning quickly with a woman Alain recognized. “Yes, sir?”
“I need to speak with the general. You’re in command until I return.”
Alain waited until Flyn and Colonel Yuri left, Yuri not realizing that he had not joined them, then spoke to Patila. “Captain,” Alain said. “It has been long since Lady Mari and I saw you at Altis.”
She nodded. “Yes, Sir Mage.”
“Do you still aid the daughter?” Alain asked.
“I do.” Patila hesitated, revealing worries and conflicting emotions easy for a Mage to see.
“You will not see Colonel Yuri again. He will be taken under escort to a ship that is sailing for the Western Alliance and given a message to deliver to his leaders.” Alain did not mention that the same message was also being sent north by Roc and would arrive by that means long before the ship did.
Patila gazed warily at Alain. “What are your intentions, Sir Mage?”
“None of the soldiers in your unit will be harmed or mistreated, but the unit will be broken up, the soldiers scattered among the rest of the daughter’s army.”
Patila grimaced. “I warned our leaders this was a bad idea—that you would see through it. They made me second in command anyway because of the time I aided both you and Lady Mari on the docks of Altis, which they thought might incline you well toward me.”
“What was the plan?” Alain asked. “I saw contempt for Mari in your colonel,
but not hostility.”
“No, no, it wasn’t about hurting her, it was about trying to gain an advantage for the Western Alliance,” Patila explained. “We were supposed to stay with you long enough to be issued as many of the new rifles and as much ammunition as possible, and then arrange for a transport from the Western Alliance to show up. We’d march aboard before anyone knew what we were doing and head home with the new weapons.”
“And the Great Guilds would have learned that the Western Alliance had those weapons, and would have moved to crush you,” Alain said.
“Yes,” Patila agreed. “But try talking sense to some people who can view situations only in terms of how they might personally profit. Colonel Yuri is highly ambitious, and has close connections in the highest levels of the Western Alliance. He was in many ways a bad choice because he is…not the most diplomatic of men. But he knew the right people to get the job. I don’t know whether this whole game was his idea, but he is not the highest-placed player in it.”
Alain nodded, eyeing Patila. “And your loyalty was torn between your oath to the Western Alliance and your sympathy for the daughter’s work. Will you serve Mari well, Captain?”
“If I am allowed to,” Patila said. “Her victory would be the greatest victory for the people of the Western Alliance as well, and my orders did send me here.”
“There is no lie in you,” Alain said. “Tell your soldiers that the unit will be broken up to ensure that the Great Guilds do not attack the Western Alliance for providing direct military aid to the daughter. Any who do not wish to serve wherever they are needed in the daughter’s army may return to their own lands. There is something you wish to say.”
Captain Patila hesitated. “I was thinking that another commander who suspected Colonel Yuri would have used this unit as cannon fodder in the next engagement, allowing it to be cut to ribbons in combat and only then dispersing the survivors among the rest of the army.”
“Lady Mari does not think that way, and does not act that way.”
“Then I did not misjudge her.” Patila paused again. “There are rising concerns in some quarters. The daughter’s power is growing. The Broken Kingdom is being mended. The world is not used to such changes in such a short span of time.”