“Why are they destroying train trestles?” Mari asked.
“There is some sort of ransom being demanded. A very large sum. The city will not pay, and the Mage Guild Hall in Dorcastle is attempting to deal with the problem and failing. All this according to my fellow travelers. I have not heard of this from Mages.”
Mari nodded. “How strong are they? Could a dragon have pulled out the supports from a trestle like this? Wooden supports bigger around than I am?”
“It depends on the dragon. But, yes, they can be very large and very strong.”
“I’m asking about dragons. This is crazy,” she muttered, just loud enough for Alain to hear.
“They do not act like the dragons I know of,” Alain repeated. “Could they be Mechanic dragons?”
“Mechanics don’t have dragons. I need to check on this and why the last wagon was detached from the train before we stopped. Wait here. Please,” she added hastily, then walked back to talk to her fellow Mechanics.
Alain waited, aware that he was standing out from everyone else and thus the object of attention from both the Mechanics ahead and the commons behind. That felt odd, too. Normally everyone tried not to look at a Mage. Now everyone seemed to be looking at him.
The voice of the large man who had first talked to him came from the commons. “Hey! You know one of the Mechanics? On speaking terms?”
Alain considered the best way to answer. He needed to maintain the proper illusion. “I was able to do some services for her in Ringhmon.”
“You’re not free and easy with them, that’s for sure,” the man commented. “Don’t worry, we don’t think you’re one of them. Try to calm down. You still sound like you’re in shock.”
“Maybe he’s really a Mage,” another common joked, and several other commons laughed.
Mari came back, her face troubled, and the commons hastily backed away again. “We’ve contacted the Guild in Dorcastle to come get us, but it’ll take until morning for a train to get here.” Almost immediately she flinched enough for it to be visible in the dark. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Why not? Do Mechanics not have something like message Mages?”
“Message Mages?” Mari blew out an angry breath. “One more thing my Guild claimed wasn’t real. For now, just don’t mention what I said to anyone.” She looked at the other Mechanics. “They said the two Senior Mechanics in the last wagon were able to open the coupling to the train and set the brake when we started the emergency stop. One single wagon was able to stop a lot faster than the entire train could.”
“I understand very little of what you said, except that it seems fortunate these Senior Mechanics were where they needed to be.”
Mari looked at him. “What do you mean by that?”
“When your train began stopping,” Alain explained, “some force held me in place. Are Mechanics not affected by it?”
“Yes, of course they are. It’s called momentum. It—” Mari stopped speaking. “They had to be exactly where they needed to be when we hit the brakes on the train. One at the coupling and one at the brake. Those are real close to each other, but…”
Alain studied her expression. “You are concerned.”
She took a deep breath. “Is that what it seems? It’s just…the last car would’ve survived even if the rest of the train had gone over, and if we had seen the break just a little later the locomotive would have gone over even if the wagons were able to be saved.”
“You said you were in the locomotive.”
“Yeah.”
He saw her emotions change, fear shifting to anger, then to resolve. “I need some answers. Some of the Mechanics are going to go down and look at the wreckage of the trestle to see what we can discover. I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to go with them.”
“Why would you not go?” Alain asked.
“If it’s dragons, what could I learn? I’m an engineer. I work with facts.”
Alain pondered that. “Then why do you not seek facts about dragons?”
She did not answer for a moment. “Very good point. All right. I’ll go, too. Now, this is going to sound weird. I can’t believe that I’m saying it. But…you’re the only person on this train that I trust.”
Alain felt his lips twitching, as if the sides wanted to curl upwards. But that would form a…smile? Unthinkable. He had to work to avoid showing his reaction. “You trust me?”
“I told you it was weird. I don’t know any of these other Mechanics. That shouldn’t matter, but there’s been some strange stuff happening.”
“It is not weird,” Alain objected. “You do not know the Mechanics. I am a friend.”
“Yeah.” He could see the flash of teeth in her smile. “Would you come along? Down to the wreckage?” Mari added quickly.
“Me?”
“Yes. Because I trust you, and because you actually know stuff about dragons, and, heavens above, if you’d told me a month ago that I’d be saying this I would have— Well, I wouldn’t have answered, because I wouldn’t have talked to you.”
“Nor would I have talked to you.” Alain looked toward the Mechanics, considering what Mari had said. The elders would have warned him not to trust her, that she was planning some trick, perhaps to get him alone among the Mechanics and then strike. Long years of training, of being told wisdom, warred with the experiences of the last few weeks. “Master Mechanic Mari, you are a friend, and you ask for help. I will do this.”
“Thanks. You’re a good friend.” She hesitated again. “You do understand, I’m only a friend. Nothing more.”
“More?
“Nothing more. Just remember that. Now, don’t use my name around anyone else. Just call me Lady Mechanic. Would you be willing to carry my tool kit down?”
It was Alain’s turn to hesitate. “Mechanic tools? I have been told many warnings about those. I was told they were dangerous. You said they could be weapons.”
“If you misuse them, they can be dangerous,” Mari admitted. “And they can be deliberately used as weapons in an emergency. But they are perfectly safe to carry. I swear it. I need to have a reason for you to be with me. I’ll tell them that I got injured in Ringhmon and need someone to carry my bag down the cliff for me. The other Mechanics know I was at the City Hall fire, so they’ll believe me. I’ll say that I’m paying a common to haul my stuff. Mechanics do that when we need manual laborers. Understand?”
“You were not really hurt in the fire?”
“No.” She sounded pleased. “It’s nice of you to ask again, though.”
“Your fellow Mechanics will not think it odd that you would not just leave your tools near what you call the locomotive?”
Mari paused before answering. “It’s hard to explain. It’s not just that the tools are really expensive because so few are made, or that apprentices get it drilled into them that losing a tool is a sign of incompetence. Those tools represent who we are in the same way that your…skills…represent you.”
Alain nodded. “I understand the importance that shadows can attach to illusions, but wisdom would say that what represents a Mechanic, or any other shadow, is what is found within them.”
“Um, yeah,” Mari admitted. “Maybe we’re not all that wise in wanting our tools close at hand. But a tool you don’t have is a tool you can’t use, so it’s more complicated than a matter of self-image. Anyway, that means everyone will think it’s perfectly normal for me to want my tools with me.”
“Then I will do this.”