A moment later, another sailor came on deck and bowed to Alain and Asha, visibly trembling. “Wh— Wh— What do you de- desire, h- h- honored Mages?”
Inwardly, Alain flinched at creating such terror in another person. Even before he met Mari he had not liked seeing people react to him like this. But he betrayed none of that, keeping his own face as dead as Asha’s. Alain pointed down river. “Take us.”
The sailor looked in the direction indicated, hesitated, then bolted back below. In a very short time, three men and two women came on deck. Alain and Asha ignored them, acting as if they were alone in the world, as the sailors cautiously moved about to release lines and begin poling the barge down river.
Mages did such things, commandeering transport when they wanted to, and commons did what they were told for fear of what the Mages might do if they were disobeyed. Everyone knew that. Too many commons had experienced it, or knew someone who had, or had simply heard horror stories about what could happen.
The entry to the Imperial dock area appeared ahead, illuminated by lanterns burning on the small guard towers on either side.
Alain pointed again, clearly indicating that entry.
The fear emanating from the barge crew grew in intensity. Four of them looked to the fifth, who must be in charge, but he just shook his head helplessly and gestured for them to do as Alain directed.
Alain and Asha walked to the bow, standing silently as the barge veered and slowly headed for the entry.
Somewhere behind them the Terror should be creeping in the barge’s wake, but Alain could not turn to look without possibly causing someone else to do the same.
A legionary appeared at the top of one of the towers, waving off the barge. “You’re not allowed here!”
The trembling sailors looked at Alain, who pointed into the entry again.
“You got dirt in your ears? No entry! Veer off!” The legionary emphasized his commands with another strong wave-off. Other legionaries appeared on the towers, drawn from their watch duties by the unusual activity.
The sailors, their heads averted from not only the Mages but also from the sentries, as if that would render them invisible, stole glances at Alain and Asha and kept poling.
The sound of a small ballista being loaded came clearly across the short distance remaining to the guard towers. The legionary leaned down and yelled. “The only reason you’re not already dead is because I don’t want to have to fill out the blasted paperwork after we kill you! This is your last…”
The legionary had finally spotted the two Mages on the bow of the barge as it grew closer to the lights on the guard towers. Alain and Asha raised one arm each to point between the guard towers to the dockyard beyond.
“Sir,” one of the sailors said to the legionary, pleading in a voice hoarse with fear, “we don’t have any choice. Please!”
The legionaries on sentry were rushing out of the guard towers to stare at Alain and Asha, arguing among themselves as the barge began to enter the dockyard. One who seemed to be in charge yelled over the debate. “Get the commander! Wake the supervisor! On the double!”
Two legionaries took off at a run.
“What do we do?” another legionary demanded of their leader.
“Uh…follow them! Keep them in sight! Alert the boat patrols! Move it! No! Not all of you! We can’t leave the entrance unguarded, you mindless clods! Odd numbers follow that barge. Even numbers stay in the towers!”
Alain pointed again, slightly to the right. As the barge shifted course, he also moved a little to give himself a sidelong view of the guard towers that were now behind the barge. Even though half of the legionaries had remained to guard the entrance, everyone in the towers was staring at the barge rather than watching the entry. The other legionaries were running down the quay forming the outer wall of the dockyard, keeping pace with the barge but trying to stay slightly back so they weren’t in the direct line of sight of either Mage.
He could not see the Terror. He could only hope that the ship was taking advantage of the diversion.
The barge moved slowly under the push of the crew’s poling, giving plenty of time for the Imperials to react to the slow-motion intrusion. Alain pointed again, toward the Mechanics pier but not directly at it, keeping everyone else guessing as to where the Mages intended to go.
Two boats driven by oars and carrying extra guards were rowing up, taking position on either side of the barge. The barge passed an Imperial war galley tied up to the quay, the crew coming up on deck and lining the rail to stare at the spectacle. More legionaries could be seen streaming toward the area of the dockyard closest to the barge. From their numbers, Alain estimated that the rest of the on-call cohort had been called out. Leading them was a woman still buckling on armor and her sword, but already wearing a helmet with the plume of a cohort commander waving above it.
A smaller group was running toward the scene from another part of the dockyard. From their dress, most of them seemed to be workers. However, the man leading that group wore the suit of an Imperial official of moderately high rank.
Alain pointed once more, directly at the Mechanic pier, which as Banda had said was impossible to mistake. The pier was large, extending out a substantial distance and wider than the main thoroughfares in Imperial cities. A fence and gate blocked access to the pier from shore, but the sides and end were open. Mechanic lights, what Mari called eel-ectric, shone brightly over the pier. Alain could see the squat, round shapes that he had been told would be the fuel tanks located near the end of the pier where Banda had said they would be. The barge was coming in on the opposite side of the pier from the tanks, and a little ways closer to shore. In addition to the fuel tanks, a few small buildings were scattered along the far side of the pier, and near the fence a guard house.
A woman, unmistakable in her Mechanics jacket, was standing on the pier and staring at the circuses headed her way by land and sea. A male Mechanic was hastening to join her.
The Mechanics began yelling at the Imperials, making wave-off motions, but the legionaries in the boats looked at Asha and Alain and pretended not to notice the Mechanics. Alain had expected that. When the Great Guilds came into conflict, commons always tried to get out of the way rather than get involved.
The barge came alongside the pier, bumping against it as Alain grabbed a ladder and climbed.
Alain went up the short distance to the pier first, Asha following. The two Mechanics, both holding the sort of rifles that Mari called lever action repeaters, were facing Alain as he came up. The woman was younger, perhaps just recently having been promoted from Apprentice. Both Mechanics were trying to project toughness and authority, but Alain could easily read the uncertainty in them. Before he left the Terror, Mari had once again told him how Mechanics thought. “They’re used to being treated to their faces as the biggest dogs on the block. They’re used to deference and respect and a bit of worry about what a Mechanic might decide to do. If you don’t react like that, if you do the Mage thing of not even admitting they are there, they won’t know how to handle it. And if they don’t know how to handle it, they’ll first try to bluff you, and then when that doesn’t work they’ll call for instructions from the Senior Mechanics.”
Reassured that his old Mage training and guidance from Mage elders on how to ignore and annoy Mechanics was in this case still the best course of action, Alain pretended that the two Mechanics were not even present, let alone speaking.
“You! Hey! You don’t belong here,” the female Mechanic said. “You— what?” She turned to look at the guard house as a bell began ringing continuously.
The male Mechanic scowled. “They set off the alarms coming up that ladder! Go shut the alarms off. You…Mages…is there a message?”
Alain and Asha ignored the question.
“If there isn’t a message,” the Mechanic said, “then get back on that barge.”
The woman ran to shut off the alarm system, which as planned would allow Mari, Dav, and Banda
to reach the fuel tanks on the other side of the pier without alerting anyone. Alain eyed the male Mechanic with total disinterest, then looked down the pier away from the fuel tanks. Asha stood beside him. They exchanged a look. She nodded once to him as if they had also soundlessly exchanged words. Mages were not supposed to play games, weren’t supposed to enjoy them, but every acolyte heard of ways to frighten and confuse shadows by pretending to powers that even Mages did not have.
The bell had ceased ringing. Asha was facing Alain, able to see the fuel tanks beyond him. She caught his eye and this time did pass on a wordless message. Something was happening near the tanks.
She turned and began walking slowly toward the shore end of the pier. Alain walked with her as the male Mechanic followed in angry impotence, soon rejoined by the woman Mechanic. “What do we do?” she whispered. “Stars above, they’re disgusting.”
“If they keep going, we just walk them off the pier,” the other Mechanic replied. “If they don’t… I don’t know. I’m going to call—" His voice lowered dramatically as he realized he had been about to spill a Guild secret within earshot of Mages. “I’ll let the Guild Hall know. You stay with them.”
“Me?” The female Mechanic sounded very unhappy at the prospect. “What are they doing here? What if they do something else?”
“Just watch! Maybe this is what Mages do on dates.” The male Mechanic laughed scornfully as he sprinted ahead to the guard house.
Alain turned a dead look on the female Mechanic, who backed a step, raising her rifle.
“Don’t get any ideas, Mage!”
The revulsion on her face took any fun out of the performance for Alain. But his movement had let him surreptitiously scan his surroundings while still appearing uncaring. He thought he had caught a glimpse of some sort of large tube running over the far side of the pier to the fuel tanks. The barge he and Asha had arrived on was being ushered away by one of the Imperial guard boats, the sailors on the barge working their poles with the enthusiasm of people who believed they had just escaped a dire fate.
He was trying to figure out how to draw out the encounter so that the others would have enough time to get the fuel they needed. Banda had spoken of a certain number of minutes required, but Alain still had only a vague idea of what “minute” actually meant.
The male Mechanic had reached the guard house and was standing partly concealed by the door. From his posture, Alain could tell that he was using a far-talker but ensuring that neither Mages nor Imperials could see it. The female Mechanic had her eyes fixed on Alain. The Imperials were watching on boats and land from varying distances, this part of the dockyard now lit by dozens of lanterns and torches as well as the bright, unwavering lights of the Mechanics.
But how could he maintain their focus on him without being obvious? He and Asha had to keep moving or people would begin to look away. But if they left the pier too quickly the Mechanics and the Imperial harbor boats might go back to watching for other intruders.
Alain looked over at Asha, a question in his eyes. She judged the distance to the end of the pier, nodding in understanding.
Asha stopped, forcing Alain to stop as well. She turned to face him, her expressionless demeanor giving no clue to her intention. Before Alain realized what Asha was doing, she had pulled him close and brought her face to his, their faces only partly concealed by the cowls of their robes.
If it had just been a common man and woman, the watchers would have probably looked away. But these were Mages. Alain kept his eyes open, catching glimpses of Imperials watching them with revolted fascination. Very likely none of them had ever seen Mages do such a thing, and very likely none of them had ever wanted to see it, but now they could not look away.
Even though Asha was not actively kissing him, just pressing her lips against his and moving her head slightly as if doing more, Alain found himself torn between a small measure of enjoyment and a large amount of guilt.
Asha finally drew back, still revealing no trace of feeling. Alain maintained the same cold lack of expression as she did, imagining that the watchers would be further appalled by the inhuman nature of the Mages’ physical relations. And unable to resist keeping their eyes on the Mages in case some other disgusting thing happened.
They began walking slowly toward the shore end of the pier again. Both Mechanics were close once more. “What did they say?” the female Mechanic hissed to her companion.
“Just keep watching them. There’s a Senior Mechanic and reinforcements on the way,” the male Mechanic muttered in reply.
Had it been long enough yet? Had the Terror been able to get the fuel it needed? Alain and Asha reached the barrier at the end of the pier, standing impassively before it. The male Mechanic edged forward and flipped the gate open, then stepped back.
After a long pause to keep everyone watching for whatever the Mages would do, Alain began walking again. He and Asha went through the gate without showing any awareness of the male Mechanic standing beside it, who once again betrayed frustrated anger at the Mages.
The gate slammed shut behind them. Alain heard the lock clicking and almost betrayed himself with a smile over how the Mechanics thought such a thing could keep Mages out. He was tempted for a moment to demonstrate how easily he and Asha could get back on the pier. But a spell to regain access to the dock would be sensed by other Mages, and some of them might recognize Alain or Asha as the one who had cast the spell.
However, Alain did pause, turning slightly as if deciding whether to go back, knowing that this would keep the Mechanics’ attention centered on him. The legionaries had formed up nearby, almost like an honor guard, the shipyard official and the cohort commander together in front, both watching the Mages. After waiting as long as he dared, Alain started walking again, Asha alongside.
As they passed the legionaries, giving no sign of admitting to the presence of the Imperial soldiers, the official and the cohort commander cautiously fell in behind the Mages.
Alain, apparently disregarding everything around him, concentrated on hearing the hushed conversation between the cohort’s commander and the dockyard supervisor. “I can’t do anything else. Didn’t you get the orders?” the commander asked as if continuing a discussion. “No incidents with Mages. No provocations, no challenges, no confrontations.”
“It’s not like anyone starts any of that with Mages anyway if they can help it,” the supervisor grumbled. “What’s going on?”
“Word is, the Emperor is trying to make some sort of deal with the Mage Guild and doesn’t want anything happening that might cause trouble with getting things settled. Most people think it has something to do with that daughter business out west.”
“Huh,” the supervisor commented. “If she’s who rumor says she is, even the Emperor could use the Mages’ help in taking her down.”
“I wish they’d let me at her! I’d get together a special strike force of the best female legionaries, and while you men were falling at her feet we’d take her head off. Let her try to cast spells after that.”
“But what are these Mages doing? Does it have anything to do with the Emperor’s negotiations?”
“Who knows? Do you want to be the one to ask them?”
Alain glanced at Asha, who was maintaining a perfect Mage attitude. A legionary looking their way caught Asha’s eye and nearly fainted from the force of her indifference and cold dismissal of his very existence.
Alain and Asha walked along the dockyard’s waterfront as long as they could, keeping the security forces in boats as well as those on land occupied in watching them. Surely by now the Terror would have gotten far from the pier and headed out through the entry?
“I sense other Mages,” Asha murmured. “They approach.”
“Then we must leave.” The Mages might be coming this way by chance, or they might have been sent by the Mage Guild elders in Palandur who had heard of Mages acting oddly in the dockyards. Alain and Asha turned, walking toward one of the large gates contro
lling access to the dockyard. They were in the right area to depart, upstream of the entry.
The gate they walked toward was closed, but the cohort commander still following them gestured commands and the sentries opened one side before stepping away and clearing a path. Alain and Asha, still acting totally unaware of the existence of anyone else, walked out onto the broad street running alongside the wall protecting the military dockyards.
Far down the street behind them, Alain could hear the rapid clop of hoof beats that spoke of a carriage pulled by more than one horse moving fast. That was probably the Senior Mechanic and other reinforcements. He could also sense the Mages that Asha had detected earlier, their presence drawing closer at what felt like a walking pace. Well past midnight and still not close to dawn, there was very little other traffic on the street, and those commons out right now were making every effort not to approach Alain and Asha.
Alain and Asha walked at a faster pace along the street, a small detachment of legionaries still following at a distance. The Imperial soldiers displayed little enthusiasm for their assignment, but in keeping with the reputation of the legions they kept diligently following the two Mages as they had been ordered.
“There.” Asha had spotted the darker bulk of the trees where Captain Banda had said to watch for them. It was a park running down to the water, where small landings offered moorage for pleasure boats and water taxis as well as footing for those fishing in the river.
They veered into the park, moving silently into the deeper darkness among the trees, secure in the knowledge that Imperial gardeners would not leave any obstacles marring a lawn. Alain could hear the sounds of the legionaries behind them, proceeding more cautiously to avoid running into the Mages by accident.
Banda had told them to look for a small landing at the far side of the park. Alain could see it now, overshadowed by trees whose branches grew down toward the water. He paused to look out at the river and almost immediately saw a large pile of driftwood not far from the landing, and not drifting with the current but holding position.