Mari stared back at him, remembering the strange burst of tiredness she had felt. “No. It must’ve been something else. Not me.”
“Mari, I have been noticing this for a while. I am becoming more aware of a power that people carry, that strong emotions can create.”
“I didn’t give you power! Knock it off, Alain!” She didn’t know why, but the idea frightened her. On top of other events so far this night, it was simply too much to handle.
He seemed surprised by her reaction. “I will not speak of it again for a while then.”
“How about not speaking of it ever again?” Mari growled. She looked around them. “How did they find us at that bar? First the hostel, then the bar. What’s going on?”
“I have no idea.”
Mari stood up, offering Alain her hand. “Let’s go. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
Alain stood up, nodding. “I can walk now.” Then he turned his head toward the street.
Mari did, too, hearing the sounds of horse hooves, of carriages rattling to a halt, then of boots hitting the pavement. No. It’s impossible. But she grabbed Alain’s hand and they both took off through the park, running as fast as Alain’s tiredness would permit. Mari heard a command shouted and saw the flash of light from a rifle shot, then heard the shot and its passage through nearby bushes. They dodged to one side, then dodged again, hitting a slope and almost falling down it before reaching another patch of shrubbery and racing through it.
They stumbled out onto a wide street which looked deserted, stretching off in both directions with no cover. On the other side of the street was a wall easily half again as tall as Alain. Mari spotted a gate in the wall and urged them that way. It was locked, of course, but with a big lock, easy to pick for someone skilled. Mari hurriedly pulled out a lock pick and quickly clicked the lock open. Pushing the gate ajar, Mari pulled Alain inside and pushed the gate closed again, relocking the gate as she did so, then leading them into a warren of large buildings that loomed high on all sides. “The warehouse compound,” Alain got out between breaths. “I remember it from the city maps.”
Mari nodded wordlessly. She was feeling more and more like a hunted animal, chased from place to place, running out of endurance and options while the hunters closed in relentlessly. High, narrow windows with heavy bars on them stared down at the fugitives as they raced down the alleys between warehouses. Finally they reached a dark corner and collapsed next to each other. Please, please, don’t let them find us again. The other gates out must be locked, too, and they’re too easily guarded. Alain’s too tired to take us through another wall. This looked like a good place to hide but I’ve trapped us in here.
She heard boots running toward them and almost groaned with despair. It sounded like only one Mechanic, but even one Mechanic would force her to fire her weapon and bring the others down on her.
“Mari! Don’t shoot!”
She was swinging her pistol around to bear on the person who had called her name, her finger quivering on the trigger. Somehow Mari managed to control her overstressed nerves and kept from squeezing off a shot. “Alli?”
Alli came closer, her Mechanics jacket making it hard to see her clearly in the dark. “Yeah, it’s me.” A moment later Alli dropped down next to them, breathing heavily from her run. “Thank the stars I found you! They know you’re in here somewhere but I managed to get away from the others and sneak in ahead of them. Mari, listen, you’ve got—”
“What are you doing here?” Mari cried. “They’ll kill you, too.”
“Will you please shut up, Mari?” Alli demanded. “Listen. The Guild is tracking you.”
“What? How?”
Alli fumbled at Mari’s pack. “Your far-talker. You’ve got a far-talker with you.”
“Yeah. I thought I should hang on to it.” Mari hastily began aiding Alli, digging for the far-talker she had faithfully lugged across half the world despite the frequent temptation to drop the heavy object down a deep hole. “How did you—? What about—?”
Alli seized the far-talker. “We’ve got to rid of this! Fast!”
“Why?”
“A friend helped me plant a far-listener in the office of the Guild Hall supervisor so I could hear what they were saying. Yeah, I know how illegal it is to bug a supervisor’s office, and you’re in no position to be lecturing me about it anyway. I was worried about you and about me. And do you know what I heard them talking about? Portable far-talkers send out a low-powered signal even when they’re off, Mari. The Guild can use that signal to find you. That’s how they’re locating you. That’s how they knew you were on that ship when the Queen of the Seas captured you, and that’s how they realized you were in Caer Lyn and that you had come here.”
“A homing signal?” Mari stared at the far-talker. “But I know the Guild lost track of me at times.”
“I told you it’s low-powered, Mari, so no one would suspect their far-talker was operating even when supposedly powered down. They could only find you if you were close enough for them to pick up the signal. Whenever you got close enough to a Guild Hall with the far-talker, they could tell where you were. These killers they sent to get you have several portable devices that give them bearings on your signal, so they’re able to locate you pretty precisely and pretty fast no matter where you are.”
“Blast!” Mari pointed her pistol at the treacherous far-talker, feeling an irrational urge to execute the traitorous device, then restrained herself with an effort. “Alain, this is how they’ve been able to find us! When a far-talker is sending out a signal it isn’t directional, but by using different timed bearings or multiple intercept stations they can—”
“Mari,” Alain interrupted. “I appreciate your attempt to keep me informed, but since I am not understanding a single thing you are saying to me, is it really wise to spend time doing this?”
“I guess not. We can pull the battery… no, let’s use this to misdirect them. The blasted thing has betrayed me many times. I’ll let it betray the Guild for once.” Mari stared around, focusing on a window in one of the warehouses nearby. “Can you boost me up, Alain?”
She had to climb on his shoulders, balancing against the warehouse wall to keep from falling, but that was high enough to be able to look into the warehouse through the barred window. Mari shoved the far-talker between the bars, then one-handedly tossed it to fall down between several large crates. “Catch me,” she warned, then dropped into Alain’s arms.
Alli actually grinned at them. “That looked really romantic. You guys must have done this kind of thing a lot.”
“Alli! This isn’t the time! We need to—” Mari raised her pistol again as another figure appeared.
“Alli!” a new voice called.
“Here,” she answered, pushing down Mari’s gun hand. “It’s okay, Mari.”
The new person ran to them, his open Mechanics jacket flapping. “They’re localizing on the new location right now. We’ve got to move.”
“All right,” Alli agreed. “Mari, this is Dav. He helped me get in here, and he’s the guy who helped me bug the supervisor’s office. We can trust him.”
Mari returned the other Mechanic’s handshake, noting that he seemed to be in his mid-twenties. “Dav?”
“Yes. Dav of Midan.”
Mari stared at him, causing Alli to give her a worried look. “Mari, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Maybe I have. Dav, did one of your ancestors die in the siege of Marandur?”
“Yes. How did you know?” Dav asked, astounded by the question.
“I can’t tell you yet.” Mari turned to Alain. “I’ve made a lot of bad choices tonight. Where do you think we should go now?”