Mari straightened up with some difficulty, then shrugged. “It seemed like a good place to hide. No one would look for me there.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“Because I couldn’t stand it anymore. The place is haunted.”
“Did you go to the Mechanics Guild Headquarters in Marandur?”
“I went to what was left of it,” Mari said scornfully. “Just a big pile of rubble and rusted-out equipment. There wasn’t anything there that I could use.”
“You should have had the brains to know that before you went to Marandur. Where were you going on that ship?”
Mari seemed indifferent as she answered. “West.”
“Why?” the woman asked with barely concealed anger.
“For my health. I thought I’d visit the hot springs on Syndar.”
“Liar.” The woman pointed to a map on one wall. “That ship was going to the Sharr Isles. Where your family lives.”
This time Mari’s eyes sparked with real resentment that Alain had no trouble spotting. He was sure the Mechanics in the room could easily see it as well. “So what?” Mari spat out.
“I didn’t think you were going to them,” the woman replied with a cruel smile, “but it never hurts to check.”
Looking from Mari to the older woman, a thought occurred to Alain. The Mage Guild had tried to sever him from his family by convincing him that his family did not matter. Not as people, and not as mother and father. The teaching left Mages looking only to the Guild for what life they had. From what Mari had said, the Mechanics Guild thought little of commons and yet had never ordered her to stay away from her family. She had broken contact with her family because the family had broken contact with her.
Or, rather, Mari had been convinced that her family had broken contact with her, leaving her nowhere else to turn but her Guild. Had Mari’s Guild used its own tactics to sever the family ties of those from common origins? And if they had, how could he get Mari to listen to the possibility when she refused ever to talk about her family?
But that would have to wait. There were more critical things to deal with right now.
“Who is this other Mechanic you were traveling with?” the woman demanded.
Mari made a contemptuous noise. “A lovestruck fool who I used to help me. He’s harmless.”
“We’ll see what he has to say about that.”
Alain tensed, wondering if Mari would betray knowing that he was aboard, but she was quick-witted enough to frown at the captain’s words. “I left him—” Mari began.
“On that ship. He turned himself in.” The captain smiled unpleasantly. “We’ll see how much loyalty he has to a traitor.”
“He doesn’t know anything,” Mari insisted.
The captain shook her head. “Why would I believe a word you say? I’m glad you’re not wearing the jacket you’ve disgraced. Just in case you’re planning on sleeping easily for the next few days, let me tell you what’s going to happen to you. You’re to be returned to Guild headquarters in Palandur. Hooded and in chains, with a gag in your mouth, so you can’t corrupt any other Mechanics. If you cooperate and answer every question put to you truthfully, you may be allowed to spend the rest of your miserable, traitorous life in a tiny cell in Longfalls. If there’s any question about your truthfulness, you’ll be turned over to the Empire to answer for your visit to Marandur. I’m sure the Emperor will want to make a special example of you, one involving an extended and painful death.” The female Mechanic gave every sign of enjoying reciting the terrible future intended for Mari. “Are there any questions?”
Mari nodded. “Two questions. The first is, do you actually think that I’m stupid enough to believe that the Guild will still let me live when it has already tried to kill me more than once? The second is, how do you live with yourself, Senior Mechanic?”
The woman flushed with anger and gestured again. Alain had difficulty restraining himself as the same guard once again bludgeoned Mari with his weapon. “Take her out of here,” the captain ordered, “and make sure she falls down a few ladders on the way back to her cell. Maybe that will bang a little sense into her. Then bring the other one.”
“Yes, Senior Mechanic,” the leader of the guards said with the eagerness of the type of follower who wanted to impress any superior, then as Alain slid to the side the Mechanics yanked open the door and dragged Mari out between them.
Once again he had to move fast, and once more his foot caught in the door as one of the Mechanics tried to close it. That Mechanic shoved the door harder, shrugging as it closed without hindrance the second time.
Mari had noticed, though, her eyes widening briefly before she carefully schooled her expression to reveal nothing but an apparent stoic acceptance of her fate.
They reached the first of the stairs down, and the Mechanic in charge moved to trip Mari and tumble her down them, but one of the other Mechanics stepped in the way. “She could break some bones going down that.”
“So? You heard the captain.”
“We’re not Mages who torture people for fun. This girl is… she used to be a Mechanic.”
The first Mechanic glared at his companion. “You’re disobeying orders?”
“Get them in writing,” the second Mechanic insisted. “If you think those orders are all right, get them in writing and show them to me.”
“The captain’s going to hear about this, Kalif.”
The other Mechanic wavered, then shook his head. “The Guild wouldn’t allow someone to be treated like that. Now let’s get her back to her cell.”
“Sure.” The first Mechanic stepped back, glowering. “I’ll let you explain things to the captain when we get back with this one’s friend, and you can ask the captain for her orders in writing.”
Alain tried to relax. He had nearly leaped at the Mechanics when Mari seemed threatened with serious harm. Now, as Alain followed the Mechanics back toward the places where he and Mari had been imprisoned, he measured his remaining strength, trying to decide what to do. Once they reached the improvised cells, Mari would surely be locked up again—and then the room where Alain was supposed to be confined would be opened. He was already tired from the effort of holding the concealment spell and could not see how his usual weapon, the fireball, would be able to defeat these Mechanics without also harming Mari and causing enough noise to bring more Mechanics running.
If only he had another weapon, a weapon which did not require his rapidly diminishing spell strength to employ. But his knife had been taken from him, and would have little effect against the Mechanic weapons even if he had it.
The Mechanic weapons.
Alain took a long look at the Mechanic weapons the guards were carrying. Impossible. I cannot use them, even if I am pretending to be a Mechanic.
Do I have to know how to use them? An illusion. They already see me as another Mechanic. If I hold one of those weapons, they will see the illusion of another Mechanic ready to employ it. If the illusion is strong enough, they will act as if it is real.
They came down a last stairway and walked up to the sentry, the guards almost ready to shove Mari back into her cell. Alain dropped his concealment spell and slammed his elbow into the side of the Mechanic who was farthest back, while reaching with his other hand and grabbing the Mechanic’s rifle, wresting it free from the surprised and staggered Mechanic. As the Mechanic who Alain had attacked reeled into his companions, Alain tried to hold the weapon just as he had seen Mechanics do it. He was certain that he had the right end pointed at them, and his hands should be in about the right places, but that was the extent of his knowledge when it came to using a Mechanic weapon.
By the time the other Mechanics turned to look, Alain had the weapon pointing at them. “Do not move,” Alain said in the most menacing voice he could manage, copied from the tones of the Senior Mechanic. “Make no sound.”