Mari grimaced. Alain’s foresight. “All right, then, maybe if we take the south gate—” Alain’s alarm grew visibly. “That, too? How about the north gate? Back to the east gate? Are you saying that there’s great peril awaiting us at every gate out of this city?”
Alain nodded. “Very great peril. Someone watches for us to leave the city. In the time since we entered, something has happened.”
She took a deep breath, calming herself as she thought. “Did the other Mages sense that you’re here?”
“I am confident that they did not. If my presence could be detected, the Mages in Palandur would not be watching the gates. They would be coming to attack me.”
“All right. That’s a good point. But we can’t stay here. We have to get out of this city.”
Alain shook his head, his face grim enough for Mari to see the emotion. “I agree, but we cannot leave today. Mari, I have never seen such a dark warning from my foresight. It warns not just of peril but of death. We should not have come to Palandur, I think. This city is a trap.”
Chapter Four
Mari resisted the urge to punch the nearest wall in frustration. “I wish your foresight had told us that before we got here. It’s not like we had much choice. Every road in this region converges on Palandur, and the Imperials insist on everyone passing through the city security checks. Is there any hope that the threat will be less tomorrow?”
“It may be. I do not know.”
She stood looking around indecisively. “There are two other ways out of the city. We can try a boat or ship down the river—”
Alain shook his head. “Great danger.”
“—or we can take a train.” Mari paused, but this time Alain only looked concerned. “No warnings from your foresight about that?”
“No. But Mechanic trains worry me for other reasons.”
“I know. Alain, someday we’ll take a trip on a train and actually get where we’re going without being attacked or blown up or something. Why wouldn’t the Mages here be watching the train station?”
He thought about that before answering. “Even though some Mage Guild elders know I used a Mechanic train at least once, on the occasion when they sent a Roc to attack us, it is likely that here they simply did not think of the Mechanic trains when considering ways to leave the city. They have guarded all the ways in which they believe that a Mage would leave the city and do not realize there is another way available to me.”
Mari grimaced, brushing back her hair. “It never hurts to have an opponent with blind spots, but I don’t want to try the train here unless we absolutely have to. There are way too many Mechanics in Palandur who can recognize me and could easily be passing through the station. It wouldn’t be as dangerous as fighting our way out past Mages, but it wouldn’t be safe, either.”
“Perhaps one night in Palandur would not be too dangerous, compared to the risks of leaving.”
“Yeah,” Mari agreed. “I was thinking the same thing. Palandur is a big city, full of people, and with lots of places to disappear. We can go to ground and stay quiet. We spend the night here in one of the cheap hostels where we can get a room, no questions asked, then see how bad things look tomorrow.”
Alain looked past her, his gaze slightly unfocused. “All I can tell from my foresight is that your plan does not make things worse,” he finally said.
“Gee, thanks.”
“You are welcome.” He hesitated. “Was that your sarcasm?”
Despite everything, Mari couldn’t help smiling. “Yes. And a plan that doesn’t make things worse is probably the best we can hope for.”
Alain didn’t try to smile back. “I should have foreseen the danger of coming here.”
“Your foresight is unreliable, Alain,” Mari replied. “That’s not your fault. I think we should be grateful it kicked in when it did, before we got to one of those gates.” That seemed to make Alain feel better, so she kissed him, which made her feel better.
Mari led the way again, heading for a low-rent part of Palandur where she knew cheap hostels would abound. It wasn’t an area which Mechanics normally frequented, but she had heard some male Mechanics at the academy boasting about brief but memorable stays in the hostel rooms there with some of the many courtesans who plied their trade in Palandur. By the time noon had come and gone, they were dropping their packs onto the dusty floor of a tiny room on the third floor. The smirking desk clerk had asked whether they wanted to pay for the night or for a much shorter period of time. Mari, with an angry look she couldn’t suppress, had paid for the night.
Alain sat down on the thin mattress of the bed which dominated the room. “It should be very hard to find us here, even if we have to stay longer than one night.”
Mari sighed, looking around the shabby room. “Yeah. Maybe. Though the idea of spending more than one night in this kind of accommodation is less than appealing. I still want to leave this city as soon as possible. There are way too many dangers here. My Guild’s headquarters. Your Guild’s headquarters. The Imperial police. All the instructors and other Mechanics I knew in my days at the Mechanic Academy. The sooner we’re headed for Landfall, the better.”
Alain nodded in agreement. “We can try again tomorrow.”
Mari pulled out of her pack the remnants of the food they had bought on the road. As she did so, her eyes fell upon the petition from the university in Marandur. Mari had a brief fantasy of carrying the petition to the Emperor, of the Emperor realizing the injustice being done to the survivors trapped inside the university, ordering it corrected, and then offering aid to Mari in her own efforts. That fantasy dissolved into an image of the Imperial Center for Truth, the place where prisoners were sent to confess whatever “truth” Imperial authorities wanted to hear. As a Mechanic, Mari had exchanged horror stories about the place with other Mechanics, safe in the knowledge that she would never face Imperial torture designed to produce confessions. Now that assurance of protection from the Imperials had vanished along with a lot of other certainties.
Nor did she think the Emperor was very likely to be a reliable or trustworthy ally, even assuming he didn’t immediately sell her to the Mechanics Guild in exchange for some small advantage. The rulers of the common people on Dematr, regardless of whether they were elected by the people or occupied a mighty throne like that of the Empire, actually served the whims and demands of the Mechanics Guild and the Mage Guild. No government, no city or country, could survive if either Guild withheld its services and granted special support to the enemies of that government or country. The support of one of the Great Guilds could also be bought, of course, as long as the price was high enough and the goal sought did not conflict with the aims of the Guilds. The Mage Guild and the Mechanics Guild had a long history of hatred and conflict between them, but they were effectively allies in keeping the common folk slaves to the desires of the Guilds.
The common folk had long chafed under their servitude to the Great Guilds. Mari knew she would find many allies among the commons, but the Great Guilds could not have maintained their power for centuries without the aid of common allies who would sell out their fellows for power or money. She could not afford to trust everyone, and especially not anyone near the Emperor. There were plenty of stories about Imperial politics, and none of them inspired confidence in the Imperial court.
Mari carefully resettled the petition in her pack, knowing that it could not be delivered at this time without ensuring her own painful death.
“Is something wrong?” Alain asked.
“We need more to eat,” Mari replied, not wanting to talk about depressing things at the moment. “Listen, the Imperial cops and your Guild are looking for two people, right? As far as I know, my Guild has no idea I’m around here, and we’re in a part of Palandur where Mechanics rarely come during the day. Senior Mechanics wouldn’t expect any Mechanic to stay in a place like this, so they shouldn’t be looking here even if they suspect I’m in Palandur. If any Mechanics do show up I’ll be able to spot them easily by their jackets and stay out of sight. We need food and a few other things. Why don’t I go alone to the nearest market area and pick stuff up?” Alain eyed her, his face completely impassive. She knew what that meant by now. He was worried and withdrawing into his Mage persona because he couldn’t show his concern. But at least this time his foresight wasn’t setting off any alarms. “Alain, I’m a big girl. I’ll be all right. It won’t take long.”