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Some time later Mari sat back with a contented sigh, drinking her wine slowly, her gaze on the raindrops pattering on the window and the street beyond. “This city really is a fortress. No wonder it’s got “castle” in its name.”

“You did not know that?”

“No. I’m really not up on history. Why is this place so fortified?”

“Dorcastle is the first good harbor on the south coast of the sea west of the Imperial lands,” Alain explained. “From Ringhmon’s marshes to here are cliffs, and for some ways past Dorcastle are more cliffs and rugged coast. For anyone seeking to strike inland, this is the place from which such a strike must be made. The river valley beyond Dorcastle gives good access to the heart of the Bakre Confederation, and has little in the way of natural defenses. As a result, Dorcastle’s defenses have always been critically important to the Bakre Confederation. They have been tested many times by Imperial legions.”

“Really?” Mari looked at him curiously. “You know a lot of history? I thought Ma__ your kind of person didn’t care about the world.”

“As a rule, they do not. I know some of this from the military knowledge I was given in anticipation of fulfilling contracts with military forces of the commons. But the Mage Guild does have records of what has happened in the world illusion. Most of my Guild members do not bother to study much of the history of that illusion.” Alain shrugged. “But I am a little different.”

“I’ve noticed.” She smiled at him again. Something else in her face caused Alain to look down in confusion at how it made feelings want to boil up inside him, but when he looked at her again Mari was also looking away, seeming worried.

“Is something amiss?” he asked.

“No. Nothing is wrong,” she said firmly. “I can control this. Myself, that is.”

“Control?”

“I’m not going to make the most important decision of my life until I know more about…this problem I have to deal with. Never mind. You were talking about history.”

Mari was eager to change the subject, so Alain did not object. “I have always been interested in history, and even my training could not quench my interest. Since my Guild says the study of the illusion aids in altering it, I was able to pursue this with the agreement of my elders.”

“That’s nice.” She was still looking away from him, focusing on the outside. “So, that’s the story with Dorcastle? People keep attacking it?”

“The Empire keeps attacking it. For centuries, Dorcastle has held against the best that the rulers of the Empire could throw at it.” He pointed out into the street. “There is a monument out there, at the end of the street. It marks the high point of the last Imperial advance. The legions got this far and were broken, hurled back to their ships.”

Mari stared out the nearest window at the rain-wet street. “It’s odd to think this street must’ve once run with blood as it now runs with water.” She shuddered.

He blinked, seeing the shapes of phantom soldiers running past through the street. Behind the soldiers came a few ghostly cavalry who must be a rear guard, one carrying a broken lance, their horses stumbling with weariness. Before any vision of the enemy pursuing them could be seen the images disappeared, leaving only rain pelting down through the night. Had he simply imagined it? Had it been, somehow, a vision of past events which had occurred on that street? Or had it been a touch of foresight again, a vision of a future battle?

A future battle. Armies clashing. “There is something we must discuss,” Alain said.

“I know,” Mari said. “We should get down to business. Are you free to tell me whether your Guild is really innocent in this dragon stuff?”

“It is not about the dragons. It is something that…must not be shared. This must be between only you and I.”

She eyed him, a different kind of alarm showing. “Alain, I don’t need…we don’t need…any private talks about anything about us.”

“But there is something that you must know. It is very important, about the future.”

“Alain,” Mari said, holding out both palms in a warding gesture, “I know what you want to talk about, and I don’t think we should.”

She was fearful. Alain could see that. Not afraid of him, but worried about something else. “You know?” Alain asked.

“Yeah, Alain. I know. I’m trying to deal with what I know. Let’s not talk about it. All right? I know everything that I need to know, and what I don’t know, I’m learning. If…if there is anything that we need to talk about regarding…you and me and the future, I’ll bring it up. Can you agree to that?”

Alain nodded. He had no idea how Mari had learned about her role in the future, but perhaps she had experienced some visions as well. “Yes.”

“Good.” Mari exhaled with relief. “Now, the dragons. What have you learned?”

“There is no doubt in my mind that my Guild is baffled by these events,” Alain said. “Baffled and frustrated, since they should have been able to find and defeat the creatures by now. Finding a way to stop the attacks would be a service to my Guild.”

Mari’s eyes regarded him over the rim of her glass. “Your Guild is really trying to stop whatever’s going on?”

“Yes, though they believe my own skills would not contribute to that effort.”

“Jerks,” Mari muttered, draining the last of her wine.

“One elder was actually pleasant about it,” Alain added. “Pleasant for an elder, that is. She told me many things, including explaining about the thing you wish us not to speak of.”

“Oh, the elder explained that, did she?” Mari laughed, the sound sending a nice sensation through Alain even though he could not understand why she would react that way to his words. “I guess that saved me the trouble of having to do it. All right, then.” Leaning back again, Mari stared over Alain’s head. “I can’t believe I’m doing something which goes against all I was told, but I’m approaching this dragon thing as if it were a scientific problem.” She lowered her eyes to his. “You shamed me into that, you know. I was just going to discount anything about dragons without even thinking about it, but thanks to you I realized that I need to follow the same rules in evaluating information about dragons that I use in evaluating things I already believe in. So, you told me before that these dragons weren’t acting in a way dragons should act. Is that still what you think?”

Alain nodded. “Yes. All of the members of my Guild who I have talked to agreed. This is one of the causes of the frustration.”

“And from what you’ve told me, if dragons were terrorizing Dorcastle then your Guild should have been able to deal with the problem by now.”

“That too is so. It is a contradiction, an inconsistency.”

She spread her hands on the table surface, gazing at it as if an answer was written there. “Then the source of these events doesn’t act like dragons and hasn’t been stopped by people who can stop dragons. That has to mean one thing. Whoever or whatever’s causing this, it isn’t dragons.”

Alain stared at her. “How do you know that?”

“If it doesn’t act like a dragon and can’t be found by people who can find dragons, why should anyone think it is a dragon?”

“Because…” He scratched his head. “That had not even occurred to me.– According to my training, anything we see is false, so any inconsistency means nothing. It is just an inconsistency born of my own perceptions. The patterns that govern the illusion remain unchanged.”

“It hasn’t occurred to any members of my Guild here, either.” Mari made an angry gesture. “Plenty of people in my Guild prefer to disregard inconvenient inconsistencies, too, even though they don’t have the excuse of being trained to ignore facts. Not officially, anyway. They’re fixated on the idea that the Mages are doing this, and so they’re trying to find out how the Mages are doing it and any evidence that ties the Mages to it.”