Alli gave Mari a startled and skeptical look, then gazed at Alain again. “Stop messing with me. He’s not a Mage.”
“Yes, he is.”
“No, he’s not. They all look like their faces are dead.”
“I’ve been working on him,” Mari explained.
“But why? Why work on him if he’s a Mage?” Alli must have seen something in her face. “You said you two weren’t just working partners. Oh, Mari, tell me you haven’t.”
“Haven’t what?”
“A Mage. Mari, that is so… you promised me that you’d only get with the right guy. You promised me, Mari!” Alli shook her finger at Mari.
“I know,” Mari said. “And I did. He really is the right one.”
Alli shook her head again, looking very worried now. “A Mage, Mari. How could he be right? Wait. Is this the guy Calu talked about? He was trying to tell me something about him, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.” Alli stared at Alain. “He said you were in really good hands, and the other hints… yeah, he knew this guy was a Mage. No wonder I couldn’t figure it out. That was the one answer I didn’t try to fit to Calu’s vague clues. Calu said he liked— What’s his name?”
“Alain,” Mari said. “Yes, Calu did like him. Alli, I swear to you that Alain is the greatest. He respects me and he believes in me and he’s risked his life for me more times than I can count.” Mari raised her hands in a pleading position. “Please, Alli. You know me. You can see I’m still myself. Can you still believe me?”
Alli hesitated. “That’s a big thing, Mari, but—” Her eyes suddenly focused on Mari’s hands. “Oh. My. Stars.”
“What?”
“Is that a promise ring?”
“Uh… this?” Mari held up her hand, spreading the fingers a bit. “Yes.”
“You married him?” Alli just sat staring at Mari, then shook her head with a dazed expression. “If Calu hadn’t already told me that this Alain was all right, I’d… Who proposed?”
“He did, first. Then later, I did.”
“You got a Mage to propose to you? Wow.” Alli’s eyes were on Alain again. “He looks all right, and I can tell he’s worried about you by the way he’s watching us.”
“Do you remember when I told you about the guy who saved me in the desert, and from the dungeon in Ringhmon and later in Dorcastle? That was Alain.”
Alli made a helpless gesture. “All right, Mari. It’s your heart, and you know it better than anyone else. I know Mages aren’t frauds like the Guild told us. I’ve seen what they can do, too. I was told never to talk to anyone about it.”
“That’s what happened to me.”
“But Mari, how do they do it?”
“I don’t know yet,” Mari admitted. “I mean, Alain has tried to explain it to me in Mage terms, but it doesn’t make any sense in Mechanic terms. Though Calu gave me some ideas, based on some kind of physics he was taught. I was wondering if I’d find some more clues in Marandur but—”
“Marandur?”
“Yes.” Mari leaned forward, delighted at the chance to finally share with another Mechanic. “You won’t believe the stuff I found there. Things from the vaults inside the old Guild Headquarters.”
Alli’s eyes had widened. “Banned technology?”
“Oh, yeah. Alli, this stuff is so great. The things we could build with it!”
Alli’s face lit up. “Really? I can’t begin to imagine—”
“No! You really can’t! It’s astonishing.”
“But, Mari, the penalty if you’re caught with it—” Her expression sifted to shock. “Marandur? You got it from Marandur? If the Empire gets its hands on you it’ll kill you.”
“The Empire has already tried,” Mari admitted. “Alli, don’t tell anyone else about Marandur or what I found there. Not yet.”
“Sure. I promise. As long as I get to see it someday.” Alli frowned at Mari. “Have you heard some of what the commons are saying? About this young female Mechanic who’s the daughter of Jules and traveling with a Mage? I thought it was crazy common talk, but you really are with Alain. You might get mistaken for the one the commons are talking about.”
Mari sighed and spread her hands apologetically. “The commons are talking about me.”
“You’re telling people that you’re the daughter of Jules? Mari, that’s suicidal! If the Guild gets its hands on you now—”
“Alli… I…” Mari didn’t know how to say it, so she finally just blurted it out. “I am the daughter.”
“What?” If Alli had looked dazed before, it was nothing compared to now.
“The Mages have seen it. They say I’m the woman who will fulfill the prophecy. If I live that long.”
“Oh my stars.” Alli blinked, then stared at Mari. “If the Mages believe that you’re her, why haven’t they killed you?”
“They’re trying,” Mari said.
“And so are our Guild and the Empire.”
“Well… yeah. A lot of people want to kill me.”
Alli looked away, then mimicked Mari’s spread-hand gesture. “All right. So, to summarize, everybody is trying to kill you, and you’re married. To a Mage.” She leaned forward and whispered. “Is it true what they say about Mages?”
Mari knew that she looked puzzled. “Is what true about Mages?”
“You know. Those things they know. In bed.”
“Things?” Mari asked.
“Come on, Mari! Everybody’s heard about that!”
Mari gave Alli a bewildered look. “I haven’t. What are you talking about?”
“Like you don’t know!” Alli said with a laugh. “Oh, wow. Mari of Caer Lyn, married.” Alli shook her head suddenly, sobering. “We need to talk about the Guild. How much do you know about what’s going on?”
“Not a lot. I haven’t been able to talk to anyone since I saw Calu in Umburan and someone else in Severun. Well, I was talked at by a Senior Mechanic on the ship that captured me, but she didn’t seem to be interested in giving me any information.”
“Calu isn’t at Umburan anymore.” Alli saw Mari’s expression. “It’s not that bad. I’m sure he wasn’t sent to Longfalls. But he was transferred somewhere else. There’s a lot of that going on—Mechanics being sent to different Guild Halls, often a long way from their original Halls. Officially, it’s all routine, which everyone knows is ridiculous because of how many transfers are being ordered right now. Unofficially, the Guild is trying to break up gangs.”
“Gangs?” Mari asked.
“Uh-huh. The Senior Mechanics think that there is a traitor behind every tree. That’s one reason they want you so badly. It’s an open secret that they’ve been trying to find you for months with no luck, and after what you did to the Queen of the Seas—” -
“Was that the ship that captured me?” Mari asked. “You’ve heard about that?”
“A report came in on our far-talker a few days ago. You didn’t quite sink the ship, you know,” Alli confided. “Which I guess means you weren’t trying to sink it, because the Mari I know would have done that if she’d wanted to.” Her face lit up with understanding. “The rumor mill was trying to figure out how you escaped. Was Alain with you? And the Guild doesn’t know he’s a Mage?”
“Right, and right,” Mari confirmed.
“Cool. I want all the details someday. What the Guild thinks happened is that some of the Mechanics aboard must have helped you escape, so the whole crew is under suspicion. Anyway, everything you’re doing is making you a symbol for disaffected Mechanics. And after word got around about the mess in Emdin, what the Senior Mechanics were doing to the apprentices there and how the Guild leadership had been covering it up, there are a lot more disaffected Mechanics. And they look at Mari and see someone who is thumbing her nose at the Senior Mechanics and getting away with it.” Alli bent a mock disapproving look on her. “You’re encouraging rebellion by commons and Mechanics.”