Rising against the back wall of the valley was the tower. Even though it was dwarfed by the mountains rising around them, Mari couldn’t hold back a gasp of surprise at the tower’s size. It soared upward for what she guessed must be a hundred lances, its surface some sort of smooth, shiny stone with no sign of break or seams except for windows and a large entry. On the tower’s top, an unbroken expanse of dull black material not only roofed the structure but created the odd impression in Mari that the stuff was actually soaking up the sunlight. “Did they carve it out of the living rock?” Mari wondered out loud as she studied the tower through her far-seer.
She moved her head slowly, using the far-seer to view more of the valley. Near the base of the tremendous tower other, much smaller, buildings were clustered. Some of those looked as if they had been fashioned from the same mysterious substance as the tower, but most appeared to have been built of stone and timber in ways Mari was familiar with. “Looks like communal living areas, barns and structures like that. There are plenty of people down there. I’d guess maybe a hundred within view right now. It looks like they’re all wearing plain robes of some kind.”
“Robes?” Alain asked.
“Yeah, not like Mage robes, though,” Mari said. “As far as I can tell, they’re tending to animals, working the fields and doing other work. Wait.” Mari spotted some smaller figures who weren’t wearing robes. “Children. There are families down there.”
Mari lowered her far-seer, glancing at Alain. “Families with children. And the children are playing. That’s a good sign.”
“It may be,” he agreed cautiously. “If children are among them, and playing, they are definitely not Mages, despite the robes.”
She raised the far-seer again. At the base of the tower, great doors stood open, with robed figures passing in and out. “The tower’s definitely still occupied. I see no sign of defenses or weapons, unless you count the staves being carried by the people herding the flocks. No sentries, no guards.”
Alain nodded. “These people depend for safety on not being known. They raise their own food, and must require little contact with the rest of the world.”
“Yeah. But this path proves they send people in and out for something. I wonder what? Medicine? Mechanic devices? Do you want a look?”
Alain shook his head, eying the far-seers warily. “No. I would see nothing that you did not, and I do not know how to safely use that.”
“They’re just far-seers, Alain. They can’t explode.”
“Then they are unlike the other Mechanic devices I have experience with,” Alain said firmly.
Reminding herself that Alain’s Mage arts still seemed as perplexing to her as Mechanic devices were to a Mage, Mari put away her far-seer and looked to Alain. “What do you think? Sneak around and see what we can spy out? Or just walk down, introduce ourselves and see what they do?”
“If I lived as these people do,” Alain suggested, “I would be highly suspicious of anyone acting suspicious.”
“You mean someone sneaking around and spying, I take it.”
“Yes. I think we would be best served by acting open and unthreatening.”
Mari drew her pistol and checked it, then replaced it in her shoulder holster. “All right. I agree. But let’s be ready in case they turn out to be a bunch of maniacs who consider outsiders to be the spawn of demons.” She paused, thinking some more. “Yeah, let’s be open and honest for once.” Pulling off her coat, she stuffed it into her pack and drew out her Mechanics jacket, putting it on and settling it into place with a small smile. “I’ve missed wearing this, you know,” she confessed to Alain.
“I could tell, every time you were able to put it on and every time you saw another Mechanic.” Alain also bent to his pack, removing the Mage robes inside and donning them. “Here we are, once again openly the Mage and Mechanic, just as when we first met.”
“That seems so long ago.” Mari glanced at the ring on her hand. This was the first time she had worn her Mechanics jacket and the ring at the same time. “You know, back when I was single.”
“As I was.”
Mari bit her lip, staring outward. “Your vision of us fighting in a battle at Dorcastle someday. We’re obviously on the path to that. We’re married now, just like in the vision. You have no idea who we were fighting?”
“No. Only you and I were clear.”
“It looks more and more like we’re going to be fighting the Great Guilds.” Mari looked over at him, feeling somber. “Have you seen anything else? Anything that would tell whether or not we both survive that battle?”
Alain regarded her gravely. “No. I have seen nothing of us, together or alone, in any period after the battle.”
“At least you haven’t seen either of us dead.” Mari swallowed, put her doubts and fears aside, then straightened her jacket and smiled at him. “Come on. Let’s go visit the tower of Altis.”
The path they were on switched back and forth twice as it descended into the valley, the obscuring barrier on its outside edge dwindling away to nothing so that there was no obstruction hiding their approach from everyone in the valley. “They have no need of sentries,” Alain observed.
The path followed the rise and fall of gentle slopes as it headed for a stream cutting through the valley. Mari and Alain walked at an easy pace, approaching a bridge spanning the stream. As they got closer to the bridge, Mari could see that it was made of the same seamless rocklike material as the tower.
Alain pointed. “There is a small group coming this way. A dozen, I think.”
Mari squinted, making out the figures. “Do we have a cover story this time, or do we just tell the truth?”
“You are asking a Mage about truth?”
“Yes, you clown.” Mari couldn’t help smiling, though. “I think we should try the truth. We’re fighting people who lie. Let’s be on the side of honesty regarding what we want and why we came.”
“I agree with your wisdom,” Alain said.
“And once again you affirm one of the many reasons I love you.” She grasped his hand as they walked, using her free hand to check her pistol again. “But they could be hiding all kinds of weapons under those robes. You’re still ready for trouble, right?”
“Of course.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mari and Alain kept walking toward the robed figures, while the group who apparently made up a welcoming committee strode toward them. They met at the bridge, the robed group spreading out to block the span. One of their number stopped ahead of the rest.
“Good day,” Mari said politely.
“Good day,” the robed figure in the lead responded, throwing back a hood to reveal that she was a woman, tall, a bit thin, with sharp eyes. She managed to look both gracious and unwelcoming at the same time. “You are lost. We will give you directions back to Altis.”
“We’re not lost,” Mari said.
“Then I regret to tell you that we do not welcome visitors here. Our people live apart from others. We must ask that you leave this valley and explore some other part of the island.”
Mari raised her arm to point at the tower. “We’re not exploring. We came here to visit that tower and those who live in it.”
The woman conveyed puzzlement. “Why would you seek that? Our people have lived here for generations, and we have nothing in which the outside world would be interested.”
Alain leaned close to Mari to speak in her ear. “The first part of her statement was true, the last part a lie.”