He shook his head. “What is different is you and me, because I would not have survived alone, either. Yes, with my help you escaped the Mechanic ship, but I would have died in the Northern Ramparts long before that if not for you.”
“You and me.” She thought about that and liked it. “A team. Individually, we’d both be long dead. Together, maybe we can finally change the world. Maybe that’s what the world has been waiting for, what the prophecy really required. A Mechanic and a Mage who would work together to make things right.”
They stood at the point in the valley where the path back toward Altis began.
Coleen the librarian hesitated, then offered her hand. “We’re not supposed to take sides, but good luck anyway. May you find success in your efforts and may your life be a good one.”
“Thank you.” Mari gave her most sincere smile back. “But we’ll meet again. Alain and I will return some day, just like I said.” She swung her arm and pointed toward the base of the tower. “Some day I’ll come back with a generator, and we’ll power up that far-talker you’ve got, the one that talks to the stars, and we’ll see who answers when we call.”
Coleen’s eyes shone. “That would be a marvelous thing. What would we say, Lady Mari? What would we say to them?”
Mari grinned. “First off, we’d have to apologize for taking so long to get in touch.”
The journey back was much easier; they took the librarians’ path the entire way. The path proved to be cleverly routed, not only concealed but also containing a couple of breaks where it seemed to come to a halt. In each case, only the guidance they had received from the librarians allowed Mari and Alain to spot the relatively easy but difficult-looking route to meet up with the next stretch of the path. At its end, the path let out through a maze of broken stone into a pass which in turn led to one of the finger valleys that led into the city of Altis.
By the time they reached the city proper on their second day after leaving the librarians’ tower, the sun had long since sunk behind the mountains to the west and the streets of Altis were dark. “Let’s eat something fast and find a place to sleep,” Mari suggested. “It’s too late to meet Alli tonight.”
Alain agreed, and after cramming down a meal from a street cart which was about to shut down for the night, they found a decent though far from fancy hostel. The only room available was on the second floor, but that suited them. Once inside the room, Mari sighed and hugged Alain. “Hey, nice room, nice bed, no ancient recording devices. It’s really late, and I’m really tired, but we can still try to have some fun tonight.”
Alain held her tightly. “That would be nice. I wish we were not so tired.”
“If wishes were horses… what’s the rest of that saying, anyway? There’d be a lot more horses around?”
Alain didn’t answer, his grip tightening on her.
Mari winced. “Ouch. Careful, lover. I’ve got a lot of sore muscles.”
“Danger,” Alain murmured.
She got it then, stepping silently from Alain’s grasp and gliding over to the room’s window to look out and down. The scene outside was mostly of the alley beside the hostel, but a strip of the street could be seen past the crates stacked near the alley’s entrance. The street was dimly lit this late in the evening. She saw a couple of people walking by in the weary manner of those just trying to get home for the night. A horse-drawn wagon rolled past slowly, the hollow clopping of hooves sounding strangely threatening. “I don’t see anything out here,” Mari whispered.
Alain shook his head. “My foresight warns of danger outside the window.” He pointed toward the door. “And there. I do not know what.”
Mari drew her pistol, carefully and quietly chambering a round and letting off the safety, then walking on cat’s feet to the door. Kneeling, she peered under it and saw nothing. Standing again, Mari listened intently. She heard nothing, and yet that very silence felt dangerous in some inexplicable way. Mari reached for the door handle, turning it carefully, then with infinite care eased the door open very cautiously, her pistol aimed at the gap as it opened. Nothing was visible in the barely lit hallway outside the room. Mari waited, breathing shallowly, then suddenly swung out as fast as she could and stared toward the stairs.
Easily half a dozen people were stealthily coming down the hall, carrying rifles, their Mechanics jackets a deeper dark against the night. They froze as they saw Mari, then charged toward her, raising their weapons as they came.
Chapter Fifteen
Mari swung herself back inside with haste borne of panic and slammed the door shut, locking it. “Mechanics!” she hissed at Alain.
Alain had his pack on and tossed hers to Mari. She was backing toward the window, her pistol pointed at the door, as Alain threw the shutters open wide.
Thunder sounded in the hall outside and holes appeared in the door. If she had been standing at the door, those holes would be in her now. Mari stumbled back, hitting the window sill with her thighs and falling backwards out the window. She bumped into Alain, who had reached the fire escape ladder and grabbed at her to keep Mari from falling to the alley below.
The door to their room crashed open. “Go!” Mari yelled, getting her feet under her and pushing Alain. He jumped, grasping at the ladder as he fell, but missed a hold and dropped too far too fast, hitting hard and lying unmoving on the floor of the alley.
Mari, feeling tears of rage starting, stood in the window and emptied her pistol, firing as fast as possible into the figures crowding through the door. Some fell and others scuttled backwards under the furious barrage. Mari ejected the spent clip, her mind numb, and loaded another. She jumped to the ladder and dropped down it so fast her stomach knotted.
She landed near Alain and scrambled to his side, kneeling to check him with her heart in her mouth. He was breathing but seemed to have been knocked out by the fall.
A bullet snapped by so close that the wind of its passage ruffled her hair. Snarling, Mari spun and fired back, holding her ground with Alain lying helpless beside her.
Bullets kept coming at her. The crates and boxes at the entrance to the alley were masking several Mechanics with rifles, and those Mechanics were far better fighters than the usual Mechanic who had been handed a weapon and pushed into using it. These Mechanics used cover well, constantly popping up to snap dismayingly well-aimed shots at her.
Mari knelt on one knee next to Alain, using both hands to steady her pistol, aiming carefully despite her growing fear, aiming and firing at an arm behind that crate, aiming and firing at a flicker of clothing behind that wall, aiming and firing at a muzzle flash as a rifle fired. A shot struck the wall near her, spraying her with fragments of brick dust, and Mari felt a thrill of pure terror. She had only a few shots left in this clip, and she knew with ugly certainty that the instant she stopped firing those Mechanics at the end of the alley would rise up and aim carefully and she would feel their bullets slamming into her and all of her running and planning would be over and the daughter would have failed and the world would fall into chaos. But Alain was lying there helpless so there was nothing else she could do, absolutely nothing else she would do, and so Mari knelt and aimed and fired and waited for that last bullet which was surely only one or two away now.
Her latest shot knocked splinters from a crate. She heard a howl of pain from someone hidden behind it, then the slide on Mari’s pistol stayed back, signaling the clip was empty. Everything felt as if it were happening in very slow motion as Mari began to scramble up and backwards, trying to draw fire away from Alain and fumbling for a new clip as she saw Mechanics standing up and raising their rifles toward her.