“Alli,” Mari said, “do your stuff and get back to us fast. We won’t go if you’re not with us when the charge goes off.” As Alli dashed off, Mari pointed toward the wall facing the street. “Let’s get in position. Asha, does your Guild have any idea that Alain is here?”
The female Mage shook her head as they ran to the wall, making her long blond hair shimmer and causing Mechanic Dav to trip over something. “I do not know. However, before the Mechanics began destroying this city we did not notice any unusual behavior among the Mages here.”
“That’s one piece of good news.”
They wove through a maze of crates of varying heights and finally reached the wall. Mari leaned against it, trying to calm herself, running through her plan in her mind to see if she could spot any flaws in the time they had left. “Having more than one Mage to use is very handy,” she said to Alain.
“Having extra Mechanics around is useful as well,” he replied.
“Yeah,” Mari agreed. “The bad part of all that, though, is that if I mess up I won’t be the only one who pays the price. It’s been that way for a while for both of us, hasn’t it?”
Alain nodded, his expression revealing tension to her even though others probably would have thought it calm. “A mistake would harm both of us. It has been like that for some time.”
“Hey.” Mari spoke in a quieter voice as he looked at her. “I’m a little crazy about that bonfire thing, but I do love you. Remember, if I fall, you—”
“Will stay with you.”
“Alain, you’re the only other person who knows all the things I know! The only other person who has a chance of fixing things if something happens to me!”
“I cannot bring the new day. You are the daughter. It is your fate.”
“I need you to stay alive.” Mari insisted. “We both have to make it back to Dorcastle, right? That’s what your vision showed.”
He shook his head. “The vision showed what might be, not what will be.”
“I say it will be, Alain!” She held his hand tightly. “We’ve made it this far.”
Mari heard the sound of running boots and dropped her grip on Alain to draw her pistol and ready it again. “Alli! Over here!” A moment later Alli appeared, one extended forefinger moving in a steady beat as she counted. Alli gave Mari a warning look. “All right, everyone. Stand by.” Alli’s forefinger came down one last time and she gave Mari a thumbs-up. “Now, Mage Dav. Go, Alain.”
Chapter Sixteen
The solid wall of the warehouse now held a hole the size and shape of a narrow door, through which pale light from the nearby Mechanic searchlights filtered into the warehouse. Alain took two steps and stood in the opening Mage Dav had created, one hand extended, the other arm covering his eyes. A loud explosion erupted at the far end of the warehouse as Alli’s charge went off, blowing out part of the wall down near the gate, and at almost the same moment Alain’s spell caused bright light to flare for an instant right outside, then vanish.
Mari blinked away spots. Even though she had been screened from most of Alain’s light, it had still been bright enough to dazzle her a little. “Let’s go!” She rolled around the corner of the opening, her pistol held ready, and sprinted across the street, coming even with Alain. In the middle of the street an apprentice was staring around, his young face panicky. “Kris? Fathima? Who’s there?”
Mari swung close to the boy, who she thought couldn’t be older than ten. “Guild business,” she snapped with the most attitude she could muster, mimicking a Senior Mechanic. “Don’t worry about us.”
The boy nodded in confusion, blinking around as the other Mages and Mechanics ran past. The Mage-created opening in the warehouse wall had already vanished as if it had never been. Mari heard a girl’s nervous voice call from down the street. “Kyl? What happened down there? Are you all right?”
“Guild business!” the boy called back. “Yeah, I’m all right.”
In the other direction, shots rang out. Mari pivoted that way, bringing her pistol up as a heavy lump formed in her guts, but the shots weren’t followed by the sounds of bullets striking nearby or going past. She stared down the street at the bright lights around the gate, able from this angle to see the figures of Mechanics behind the lights, some of them aiming into the cloud of dust raised by Alli’s explosive charge. More shots rang out as the Mechanics fired into the dust and the small opening the charge had made in the warehouse wall.
A hand grabbed her arm. Mari spun again, seeing Alain even as her pistol came around. He pulled at her urgently and Mari realized she had been standing still instead of fleeing. She ran with Alain after the rest of her tiny army, none of them stopping until the group had reached the minimal shelter of a side street. “Your plan worked!” Alli exulted. “Those guys are professional killers and you outsmarted them!”
“Yeah,” Mechanic Dav agreed, giving Mari the sort of look he had previously reserved for Mage Asha. “Alli was right. You’re brilliant.”
Mari stared at them, unsettled by the praise. “Oh, please. We’re not out of this yet. How do we get out of Altis alive?”
“There is a boat down at the landing,” Asha said with her unnaturally calm voice even though her eyes were glittering with excitement. “It will take us to a small ship in the harbor.”
“A small ship?” Mari asked. “What small ship?”
“My small ship,” Mage Dav answered. “The common members of my family are traders out of Gullhaven. I discovered that I had inherited a trading vessel, the Gray Lady by name, from one of them. The ship and crew await us.”
“We’ve got a ship,” Mari exulted. “If we can get to it. Alli, Mechanic Dav, you guys know Altis better than I do. How do we get to the landing?”
The other Mechanics exchanged glances. “The Guild’s got a ship in the harbor, too,” Alli told her.
“A ship? One of the steam ships?”
“Yes, but not one of the all-metal cruisers. There’s only one of those left right now since you crippled the Queen,” Alli explained.
“You really did almost sink the Queen, all by yourself?” Mechanic Dav asked with an awed expression.
“Alain helped a lot. Is this Mechanic ship in the harbor armed?”
“Yeah. A medium-caliber deck gun.”
“Is that bad?” Alain asked.
“That’s bad,” Mari confirmed. “All right. Fine. We’ll deal with that when we get there.” Mari led the way down the street at a fast walk, putting away her pistol. “First thing, we head for the entertainment district.” A few more shots rang out behind them, muffled by distance. Mari could hear more fire bells ringing, and when she looked back she could see at least two columns of smoke rising into the night sky, illuminated by the fires beneath the smoke, fires that had been caused by the fights near the hostel and the bar. Mari suspected that the Mechanics Guild and crowds drawn by the sounds of battle had prevented the local fire wardens from getting to the blazes and putting them out before the fires spread. Nearer at hand, a wide and growing pillar of smoke was rising from the warehouse area, this one lit up by the lights of the Mechanic assassins and from more flickering flames beneath it. As she watched, another explosion resounded from among the warehouses and a fountain of smoke and debris flowered skyward as tremors rippled through the street underfoot. “This is going to be a tough night for the city and citizens of Altis,” Mari said.