“Pretty stupid if you ask me, walking around outside in the winter.” The other officers grinned at their comrade’s comment.
“It was pretty cold. We won’t do it again,” Mari agreed, trying to appear meek.
“Where did you go?”
“A lot of it was cross-country. We went through Sinda, and stayed one night at the inn at Kolis.”
“Northeast of here, eh?” The officer handed Mari back her papers. “Did you see any other hikers? Coming down from the north? Maybe some in very old clothes or rags? Two of them?”
“Old clothes?” Mari asked as if totally puzzled by the question. “Like beggars?”
“Yes. They could’ve been men or women.”
Mari shook her head. “No. We didn’t see anyone like that on the road.”
Another officer spoke up. “Or it could have been a young woman, very good-looking, dark hair, with or without a young man. She might have been wearing a Mechanics jacket.”
“A Mechanic?” Mari put disdain into her voice. “No, we didn’t see any of them and I’m glad of it.”
“I didn’t say she was a Mechanic, citizen. I said she might have been wearing one of their jackets.” His gaze shifted to Alain. “She’s someone you might have noticed, young man. Any attractive women like that catch your eye?”
Alain shook his head in denial.
Mari didn’t have to feign unhappiness at the question. “He’s got a girl.”
The officer grinned at her reaction. “How about Mages? Maybe one, traveling with a common girl?”
“No.” Mari pretended revulsion this time. “Why would a common girl–—? Ewww.”
The officer nodded, smiling knowingly. “Some girls like that sort of thing. Are you sure you didn’t see anything? There’s a reward. A big one.”
“We could use a big reward,” Mari admitted. “But I didn’t see anyone.”
“What about tracks in the snow?”
She couldn’t very well deny seeing those. There were tracks everywhere. “We did see some tracks.”
“Where at?” the officer asked, his eyes brightening. “North of Kolis?”
“Yes. In the fields there.” If she denied that, and such tracks had been reported already, it could unravel her entire story.
“Which way were the tracks headed? What kind where they? Boots?”
Mari shook her head, looking regretful. “We couldn’t tell. They were just big tracks in the snow and there had been some melting.”
“One or two sets of tracks?”
Pausing as if trying to remember, when in fact she was trying to recall how much she and Alain had walked side by side instead of one behind the other, Mari finally nodded. “Two. I’m pretty sure there were two.”
The officer regarded her for a moment, then smiled briefly. “Thank you, citizen. The Emperor appreciates your assistance.” Pulling out a silver coin, he tossed it to Mari.
She caught it with a delighted grin, then she and Alain walked toward the gates of Palandur. Alain looked around to see if anyone was close, then spoke in a quiet voice. “And I thought I was a good liar.”
“It’s for a good cause,” Mari said. “They think whoever got out of Marandur was most likely two of the barbarians. No one would ever mistake you and me for two of them. Of course those other questions mean they have some idea that a rogue Mechanic and Mage might be in the area, though if they keep searching for a ‘very good-looking’ girl they won’t look twice at me. I figured it didn’t hurt to throw them off the track.” Mari gave him a sidelong glance. “Do you think they’ve heard about you and me meeting up in the Northern Ramparts? It sounded like it.”
“It did.” Alain paused. “It is never wise to assume that someone in authority has told you everything they know.”
Mari felt her self-satisfaction ebbing away. “What do you mean?”
“The Mage who was with the Imperial guards around Marandur. He or she surely knew I was not one of the barbarians. That could be why the officers asked about a Mage.”
“Yes, but— Yes. Couriers on horseback would have been here days ago. Maybe the questions about the barbarians are just cover for them asking about you and me?”
“It is very possible,” Alain said. “If you had betrayed knowledge of why the Imperials were asking about someone in rags, those officers would not have let us depart.”
“Fortunately, I thought of that before I answered. But if they’ve heard something about us, why are they searching for a ‘very good-looking’ woman?” Mari wondered.
“I believe that you are very good-looking,” Alain said.
“Yes, but you’re crazy,” Mari retorted. “Those Imperial officers and whoever tipped them off aren’t in love with me. If it was Asha they were after, I could understand that description, but no one who saw Asha could think she was dark-haired. Those soldiers in the Northern Ramparts could have passed around that I have dark hair, but they saw enough of me to know I wasn’t beautiful.”
Alain shook his head. “Illusions can take many forms.”
“Oh, even you admit that anyone calling me beautiful would be seeing an illusion?”
“No. But perhaps to the soldiers with General Flyn, the one who had saved them, the one they thought to be a certain special person, would appear attractive for those reasons as well as for her appearance.”
“Hmmm. Stranger things have happened, I guess. At least if the Imperials are looking for some beauty they won’t focus on me.” Mari looked around casually. “However, if you judged those officers correctly, they might have someone following us anyway, just because we sort of match what they’re looking for.”
“Yes. What will happen if they check with the university to see if we are enrolled there?”
“We’ll be in trouble. If they find us again.” Mari walked on a few more steps, then pretended to have a problem with one of her boots. Turning as she knelt on one knee, Mari fumbled with the laces again as she swept her gaze across the people behind them. Standing up, she nodded to Alain as they started walking once more. “One of the officers is behind us. Not close, but he was there, just sort of strolling along.”
“Why would he do this?”
Mari glanced at Alain to see if he meant the question seriously. “He’s following us to see where we go.”
“But if you wish to find a Mage in a city, another Mage can try to do so using his or her Mage senses.”
She sighed. “Alain, the rest of the people in the world don’t work that way. They can’t sense people at a distance, so they do things like following them without being noticed. We need to lose this cop so the Imperials don’t know where we are.”
“Lose him?”
“Throw him off our track.”
“Oh, like a military force seeking to conceal its movements from enemy scouts.” Alain studied the street ahead. “I recommend we look for this university and ‘lose’ him near there. It will match our story.”
“All right. I think I remember how to get to the area.” Mari looked up at the massive east gate in the walls around Palandur, feeling an odd sensation. “Alain, I left this city several months ago, the youngest person ever to qualify as a Master Mechanic in the history of my Guild, not knowing that the Guild’s Senior Mechanics had already decided to set me up for kidnapping and murder by the scum who run the city of Ringhmon. It feels so strange coming back here now, with everything looking the same, and yet everything is different.”
“Are you different?” Alain asked.
She looked at him, surprised by the question, then thought about it. “Am I different? I’ve been through a lot. I’ve fallen in love. So much of what I was taught to believe I now know to be a lie. I’ve been told I’m… someone. Does that make me different?”