“How much farther is it?”
“Right up there! We’re almost to the gate.” She came to a halt just before the sealed gate, breathing hard, looking up and around. “Alain? Do you see the sentries?”
Alain shook his head. “I thought I saw some movement in the guard posts above the gate while we were running here, but I cannot be certain.”
“Inside the university!” Mari called. “This is Master Mechanic Mari and Mage Alain. We’ve come back to see the masters of the university. Please open the gate.”
As they waited for a reply, all they could hear were more whistles in the ruins that told of barbarians gathering.
“Alain, why would they leave the main gate unguarded?” Mari asked.
“They would not,” Alain said. “Perhaps the barbarians found another way in and no one survived the attack.”
“If that had happened, why would the barbarians have left this gate closed?” Mari stared above one part of the wall. “See that? Dav, that’s exhaust from a boiler, right?”
Dav craned to look. “Yeah. Are they burning wood?”
“That’s all they’ve got. But if they can still run the boiler, why aren’t they guarding this gate?” The sun had fallen enough to put the former park into dusk. More whistles sounded, some of them nearer. “Alain?”
“We should enter,” Alain said. “Asha can open an entry for us, you and Dav with your weapons ready and me with my heat spell, and we will go inside and see what awaits. Whatever is inside, we cannot stay out here.”
“Good plan. Nobody shoot until I do.”
“No noise. Right,” Dav said.
“That and we don’t want to hurt the wrong people.” Mari hefted her weapon in both hands, as did Dav. Alain mentally prepared himself to imagine heat, and also drew his long knife from beneath his robes. Asha already had her knife out as she gazed fixedly at the wall next to the gate.
An opening appeared in the wall, one large enough for two persons to go through at once. Mari and Alain dashed forward, Dav and Asha on their heels.
Mari went only a few steps inside, then stopped, her weapon pointed toward a group standing directly behind the gate. Several crossbows were pointed back at her.
Alain relaxed his developing spell but kept his knife out as Mari lowered her rifle.
“Hi,” she said in a voice that sounded exaggeratedly relaxed to Alain. “I know you guys. You, anyway. And you and you. You’re all students. We worked together. Why wouldn’t you let us in? Why didn’t you answer us?”
“You must leave!” one of the guards cried, gesturing with a short sword. “Now!”
Alain indicated the wall. Asha had relaxed her own spell, and the wall was solid once more. “We cannot leave.”
“We’ll open the gate—"
“After dark?” another student objected. “The rules say we never—"
“I am in command here and I say—" the one in charge, wearing the same frayed robes as the other students, began to insist.
“Oh, stuff it!” A student with a crossbow lowered it and gestured apologetically. “We’re sorry, Lady. We have orders to not let you into the university.”
“Why?” Mari asked.
“Don’t answer her!” the officious commander of the gate guards cried. “We have orders.”
Alain, feeling an un-Magelike level of annoyance with the guard leader, knew that Mari would want to avoid any kind of confrontation nonetheless. He could also see the tension in several of the students. They were trying to present the illusion of steadiness, but their jumpiness was betrayed in the shifting of feet and eyes, the set of their mouths, the way they stood, and the nervousness with which they held their weapons.
He did not see enough hostility or resolve in them to worry him, but their fear could too easily cause them to over-react. Especially the officious commander of the guard, whose bluster did nothing to hide his insecurity. That commander needed to be given something else to think about. “You had orders that we should not enter?” Alain asked that student.
“Yes!”
“But we are inside. What are you orders if we are inside?”
The commander paused, looking suddenly panicky.
“Maybe we should be taken to the masters,” Alain suggested. “So that they may provide new instructions.”
“But we weren’t supposed to let any of you inside! You need to get back outside!”
The student who had apologized spoke in a horrified voice. “We can’t make them go outside! You heard the barbarians out there!”
A low murmur of assent came from most of the guards.
“We’re not your enemies,” Mari said, her weapon pointing straight up. “Asha, Alain, put away your knives. It’s just a misunderstanding that I’m sure the masters can clear up. I’m sure that none of us want to do anything that would be contrary to the wishes of the masters.”
The commander of the guard relaxed a bit as the long knives were put away and Dav raised his rifle to point up. He was bright enough to recognize the out that had been suggested and to embrace it eagerly. “The masters are in charge. I will bring you to them so that they can decide your…what to do.”
Several of the guards stayed behind at the gate while one ran to carry word to the masters. The others walked with Mari, Alain, Asha, and Dav as the commander of the guard led the way. Alain looked around as they walked, seeing few changes from the last time he and Mari had been here. Some dead trees which had been left standing had been cut down, doubtless to feed the Mechanic boiler. An abandoned building was also gone, perhaps sacrificed as well to feed the appetite of the Mechanic creature.
“Have you had any problems with the boiler or the steam-heating system?” Mari asked one of the student guards.
“No, Lady,” the guard said, grinning. “All has gone well, thanks to your instruction and guidance.”
“All I did was teach you the basics,” Mari said. “I’ll take a look at things before I go to make sure no problems are developing anywhere.”
In a short time, they were in the same large, vaulted room where Mari and Alain had met the masters on their last visit, and once again the masters faced their visitors from behind a long table. But Alain immediately noticed that Professor Wren, who had been the head master during their last visit with a seat at the center of the table, was now seated off to one side. In her place, the center seat was occupied by a very lean, tall man whose expression was far from welcoming.
“Why have you returned?” he said, sounding as if Mari and Alain had violated some agreement by doing so.
Alain noticed Mari’s temper flaring at the man’s attitude, but she controlled it and simply raised an eyebrow at him. “Maybe we should all know who we’re talking to. You all know me and Mage Alain. This is Lady Mage Asha of Ihris. I’ll let our other companion introduce himself.”
Dav faced the masters. “I’m Mechanic Dav of Midan.”
Alain saw the reaction that rippled through the masters when they heard Dav’s name. Surprise and guilt appeared to be equally mixed, but there was also some skepticism.
“An ancestor of mine began a job here,” Dav continued. “I’m here to help finish that job.”
“We…will see about that. I am Professor Don, headmaster of the University of Marandur in Marandur by charter of the Emperor,” the lean man declared.
“The charter was revoked when the Emperor Palan declared all within the borders of Marandur dead,” Professor Wren said heavily, her attitude that of someone restating an old and unresolved argument.
“Our oaths stand!” Professor Don insisted.
“Our predecessors also swore an oath to this Mechanic’s ancestor!” Wren said, pointing at Dav. “I take such oaths seriously.”
“The oath to the Emperor takes precedence over all others,” Don said. “Do you deny that?”
Mari broke into the argument. “All we want is to collect what I had to leave behind. We’ll depart tomorrow if we can get everything out by then.”
“There is nothing for you here,” Professor Don said.
“You know that is not true,” Alain said. He gestured to Asha. “Few dare to speak falsehoods before even one Mage. Do you seek to mislead two?” He had let his voice become emotionless again, and it rang with strange menace in the room.
“If I may,” another of the masters interjected into the resulting silence, “we remain very grateful for the assistance you once granted us, Master Mechanic Mari. But in the wake of your departure, there was extensive debate over whether or not giving aid to you, in any form, was in violation of our oaths of loyalty to the Emperor. After much discussion, votes were held, and those who felt our loyalty to the Emperor must be paramount won the day and now run the university.”
Mari shook her head. “We went over this last time. I’m trying to help the Emperor by overcoming the forces that, if left unchecked, will turn every city in the Empire into a howling wilderness like Marandur. How is that contrary to your oaths?”
Alain was grateful that the masters did not also have a Mage to tell whether or not Mari was telling the truth. She was speaking truth as far as her words went, but left unsaid had been the fact that the Emperor would want these masters to turn the texts over to him rather than Mari.
“Have you warned the Emperor of this looming disaster?” asked a soft-spoken woman professor.
“Yes,” Mari said. “I’ve sent messages to him.”
“And what has he replied?”
“He has not replied,” Mari said.
“If this matter is so serious,” said Professor Don, “why haven’t you gone to the Emperor in person?”
“Are you serious?” Professor Wren demanded. “She has been to Marandur. We all know what that means. The Imperial court would kill her immediately for violating the ban.”
“And yet,” another master observed, “she has once again not only made her way to Marandur, but passed safely through the legion enforcing the ban.”
“Getting what was left here was important enough to justify the risks of coming back,” Mari said. “And I tell you again that those texts are important to the future of the Empire as well as every other country and city and person on Dematr.”
Dav had been listening with growing impatience. “Mari told me that my ancestor stayed here not only to protect those texts but also to help your ancestors. I don’t understand why you’d dishonor his sacrifice by disregarding the promises you gave him to keep the texts safe and provide them to the right Mechanic when she or he came.”
The silence that followed Dav’s statement was finally broken by Professor Don. “We have other responsibilities, other vows, that we must observe.”
“But is there a conflict here?” Professor Wren said. “We could not ask Master Mechanic Mari again after she left, but there she is before us now. Lady Mechanic, do you swear that what you mean to do will benefit the Emperor?”
“Yes,” Mari said without hesitation.
“Would the Emperor agree with what you’re doing?” a male professor asked.
“I don’t know,” Mari said. “Would he agree with what you’re doing? All either of us can do is what we think is best for the long-term interests of the Emperor and all of his subjects. I do know that anyone who works against what we are trying to do isn’t serving the Emperor. They’re serving the Storm that will sweep away the Empire and the Emperor if it is not stopped.”
“We?” Professor Don asked. “What we do you speak of?”
Mari waved to indicate her companions. “Myself, other Mechanics, these Mages and others, and many common folk.”
“We have the word of Master Mechanic Mari,” Professor Wren said. “We have the descendent of the Mechanic Dav to whom our predecessors gave their word. And you all know we have what they came for, which is not and never has been ours except to hold in trust.”
“It has stayed here for generations and can stay longer,” Professor Don insisted.
“Not unless we break faith without cause! I call for a vote of the masters.”
Professor Don did not try to hide his unhappiness, but he nodded. “You have the right to call for a vote. Before the vote is held, I remind everyone that their oath of loyalty to the Emperor takes precedence over any other oath.”
“And I remind everyone,” Wren said, “that Master Mechanic Mari has said she is not working against the Emperor. Do you wish to repeat that, Lady Mechanic?”
“I am working in the best interests of the Emperor,” Mari said.
Alain, trying to judge the attitudes of the masters, could not be certain how they all felt. But it was clear that fear ruled many of them. “Has any ill befallen the university since we left?” Alain asked.
“Why do you ask that?” a master inquired.
“I see in you a worry that was not there when Master Mechanic Mari and I were here last,” Alain said.
The soft-spoken woman answered. “When the Master Mechanic started the heating system again and taught our students to operate it, our first response was gratitude and nothing more. But we know the old rules by which the Mechanics Guild operated, and we know her action must have been in violation of those rules. And we know of old that the Emperor demands his people accept no gifts from those outside the Empire. More, we knew that the Mages of old did not traffic with other people, but stayed within themselves.”
“You fear that you have violated all of those rules?” Alain asked. “But you knew when we were here—you heard Master Mechanic Mari say—that her intent was to overthrow the Great Guilds.”
“Intent,” Professor Don said, “is not action, and is not success.”
Mechanic Dav laughed. “You think Mari is all talk and would leave you to the tender mercies of the Great Guilds? She’s made big changes in Tiae. Changes that have helped people there a lot.”
“We have only your word on that.”
“You know we have to change things!” Mari said. “You want the Emperor to consider your petition to revoke the ban so that you can be free of this city. That’s a big change! Do you think your loyalty to the Emperor requires you all to die because Emperor Palan declared your ancestors to be dead?”
“It is not so simple,” a male master said. “We have vowed obedience. We have nothing else, Master Mechanic. As long as we hold to that, we have a purpose. But if we lose our sense of mission, then we are the slowly dwindling and doomed remnants of those who made a tragic error.”
“I’m sorry,” Mari said. “I can’t change what happened when Marandur was destroyed. All I can do is try to change the future to ensure that Palandur and every other city doesn’t share the same fate. What about your children? If I don’t change things, what happens to them?”
“We must have faith in what we have served all of our lives, just as our parents did, and just as their parents did,” Professor Don insisted. “You wanted a vote, Professor Wren. Let it be done. Who believes that we should allow this Master Mechanic to remove more items from this university?”
The vote went down the table, each master giving a yes or a no. Alain spent the time trying to work out the best means of getting the texts that Mari needed if the vote went against her. He had heard her speak too many times of their importance. He had seen her looking through all of them, moved sometimes to tears and often by wonder.
It was easy to spot the tension in Mari as the vote took place, and he could see her dismay at the number of votes against her.
The last master to vote, the soft-spoken woman, looked at Mari before saying anything.
“The vote is tied,” Professor Don said. “Give us your vote, Professor Jan.”
“I vote that we give to Master Mechanic Mari that which was promised her,” Jan said.
Alain relaxed, but tensed again as Professor Don spoke. “The masters have voted, by a bare majority, to give the Mechanic—"
“Master Mechanic,” Mari interrupted, her eyes fixed on the professor.
“To give the Master Mechanic the materials held in
trust by this university. This discharges our obligation to her and to the Mechanic Dav of Midan from the days of the siege. There will be no other assistance provided to the Master Mechanic or her companions by the masters of this university,” Professor Don finished.
No one said anything. Alain, fighting down an urge to set fire to the air around Professor Don, could see Mari struggling for control, so he spoke in a steady voice that only his Mage training made possible. “Will someone show us where the materials are, or would that be considered assistance?”
The flat, emotionless words made even Professor Don twitch as if he had been threatened.
Professor Wren stood. “I will show you. I was walking that way anyway, so no one should be able to consider this to be undue assistance to the men and women who have risked so much and done so much for us,” she added in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
Mari, her jaw tight, followed Wren, along with Alain, Asha, and Dav. Nothing else was said until Wren had led them down a hallway and two flights of stairs, then into another building. “I am sorry,” Professor Wren said. “Please do not hate them.”
“I don’t hate them,” Mari replied, her voice reflecting her inner turmoil. “I am frustrated with them and angry with them, but I don’t hate them.”
“What are they frightened of?” Alain asked. “The answer I was given was not a full one. I saw that, just as I saw fear in many of the masters, but not in you.”
Wren stopped walking and leaned against one wall, her face distressed. “You probably think they’re afraid of the Emperor, because of all that talk about the oath. But that’s just something they’re using to hide the real thing they fear.” The professor looked at the nearest window, which showed little but the night’s darkness now that the sun had fully set. “You look at our lives here and see hardship. And there is plenty of that. You see us locked within this dead city, prohibited from leaving, besieged within the walls of the university. And that is indeed what we live with.”
She paused, her expression changing. “One thing we have not had to face is change. Within the walls, we remain as we were. Individuals are born, age, and die, but the university goes on as it has since the days of the siege. Our days are hard, but predictable. Tomorrow will be like yesterday. There is a comfort in that, especially for those who have never known anything else.”