“Wave length? We are nowhere near an ocean.”
“Um…” Mechanic Mari paused. “Never mind that. Listen. When this fire gets bad enough, the smoke-sniffer will set off an alarm and the guards will come charging in through that door to put out the fire. While they do that, we’ll go charging out the door under the cover of all the smoke and confusion and stuff.” She sat back, eyeing the flames now leaping upward to lick at the wooden beams of the ceiling. “If this fire gets out of hand, or if the guards take too long to come, you and I may be in a lot of trouble.”
“We are already in a lot of trouble.”
“That was my reasoning, too. Of course, if that happens and the fire gets too big before the mighty citizens of Ringhmon stop it, it’ll also gut this little palace and destroy everything inside it. Including the enormously expensive Model Six that I just fixed, which they’ll be responsible for paying for, and probably the other Model Six that they openly own.” She shrugged, trying to appear unworried. “That’ll teach them to kidnap me. But that won’t happen. We’ll be fine.”
“You say that and yet you are frightened.”
“Yes, I’m frightened! I admit it! Happy? No, wait, Mages are never happy. Just try not to die, all right? I don’t want that to be my fault.”
Alain thought through her words. “I will attempt not to die. Your plan appears to be sound, as well as potentially very destructive. I see that it is a mistake to offend you.”
“Yes, yes, it is,” Mari agreed, a smile flickering briefly to life. “Stay on my good side and you won’t have to worry about it.” She backed away from the fire, which was now burning brightly, sending up flames and sending out heat. “Let’s toss some more mattresses on it to get some good smoke.”
He assisted her as they mounded a couple of more mattresses on the burning one, producing billowing clouds of smoke which stung Alain’s eyes and throat as he backed out of the storeroom after her. Fire had sprung to life on the beams of the ceiling in the room, illuminating the smoke from above. “Over here,” Mechanic Mari called, coughing as the smoke began filling the hallway as well. He followed her again, to the room on the opposite side. A harsh sound began blaring around them, echoing off the walls. “That’s the smoke-sniffer.”
As they waited, the Mechanic coughed again, her eyes watering. “Mage Alain? There’s something I forgot to take into account.”
Alain squeezed his eyes to try to clear them, but the irritation from the smoke kept blurring his vision. “How so?” he asked, coughing as well.
“The smoke. It’s spreading faster than the flames right now. We have less time than I thought. If those guards don’t get down here soon, the smoke will kill us.”
“That would be unfortunate,” Alain admitted. “So you have erred as well?”
“Yes. I have erred. Let’s hope it wasn’t a fatal error. I hate it when that happens.”
She had attempted more of her sarcasm, but Mari’s fear stood out clearly despite the front of bravery she was attempting, the feelings radiating from the Mechanic like the heat from the fire. As Alain used his training to keep his own fears deeply buried, he wondered about her. “Master Mechanic Mari, is this a time when a friend would help?”
“If they could, yes,” she gasped.
“Death is just a passing from one dream into another. It is nothing but another journey.”
She blinked at him with eyes watering because of the smoke. “Thanks. That doesn’t really help, but thanks for trying. I—” Whatever else the Mechanic might have said was forestalled by shouts from the other side of the barred door, accompanied by a metallic rattle and clicking. “They’re unlocking the door,” Mari whispered. Moments later the door slammed open and a group of guards carrying pails of water surged into the hall. The heat and smoke from the fire met them and threw the group back as it billowed into the new space the open door now offered.
Alain felt a hand grab his arm and followed its tug downward toward the floor. The smoke wasn’t as thick down here. Mechanic Mari moved in a low crouch toward the door, still holding onto him and trying to avoid the guards, who were milling about in confusion while someone shouted orders. They bumped into the legs of several guards, all of whom were so disoriented they didn’t react, then reached the door, where another wedge of guards was being urged forward into the hall. For now, that wedge completely sealed the doorway against them. Alain let Mari lead him to crouch to one side, tears streaming down her face as the smoke irritated her eyes, holding her hand over her mouth as the roar of the fire grew behind them. He was having a lot of trouble breathing himself, and wondered how long they could last here.
The plug of guards burst out of the doorway under the urging of their leader, hurling their buckets of water randomly in all directions before stampeding back to the doorway. Alain once again let Mari lead as she merged with the tangle of guards, who were fleeing up a long flight of stairs. He caught a brief glimpse of a guard commander howling curses, then a gust of smoke roiled up the stairway and blotted out his sight.
Pounding up the stairs in Mari’s wake, Alain’s breathing grew more labored by the moment. Coming on top of the weakness he still felt from his earlier efforts, it left his head spinning. He had thought her lost in the smoke ahead, but suddenly Mechanic Mari appeared before him, reaching back to pull Alain onward. The knowledge that she had backtracked into danger to ensure his survival kept him going as much as the tug of her hand.
Just when he feared he would collapse, they came to a small landing, then out the door at the head of the stairs and around a corner, where the air near the floor was almost completely clear of the smoke fountaining from the doorway and along the ceiling above them. Alain struggled for breath, coughing as he did so. He noticed Mechanic Mari lying on her side nearby, curled up and coughing constantly. Acting on a vague memory, Alain crawled to her and began thumping her back hard with his palm.
The Mechanic’s coughing broke and she started breathing. Mari grabbed his hand to stop him. “That’s enough. Thanks.”
He peered at her, blurry through the water filling his eyes from the irritation of the smoke. “You came back for me on the stairs.”
“Didn’t you believe me? I don’t leave anyone behind, Alain.”
She had simply used his name, not the title of Mage. He should have objected, but instead felt a desire to do the same with her. “I will believe you next time…Mari.”
“Good. You’re a quick learner.” She looked both ways along the hall, where individual commons were running about in panic, none of them seeming to take note of the Mechanic and the Mage on the floor. The night shift in this building must be substantial, though nowhere near as large as the number of day workers. “Do you know how to get out of this building?” Mari asked.
“I came in through walls.”
“Then the answer is no,” Mari gasped, pushing herself to her hands and knees. “Let’s just get away from the fire before any of those commons starts thinking and wondering what the blazes we’re doing here. This way looks as good as any.”
They crawled away, trying to avoid any other occupants of the building as those rushed by. The smoke gradually diminished as they turned corners, but the roar of activity behind them didn’t relent. Mari got to her feet, helping him rise as well, and they both staggered along. Some of the commons stopped to stare at them but Mari’s glare got them moving again quickly.
Something crashed somewhere, causing the entire building to shudder. Moments later a huge cloud of smoke came billowing along the hall. Alain could not help thinking that the smoke seemed to be pursuing them, as if the fire did not want them to escape its grasp.