He thought of her waiting on the wall for him, and his resolve wavered. I must warn her. That also I must do. Then we will part, for Mari must not die on my account.
The new day, stopping the storm that threatened this world, had dwindled in significance inside him. All that Alain could think of was that he had found happiness, and now he must cast it away.
Mari sat in an uncomfortable chair before a long table deep within the Mechanics Guild Hall of Dorcastle. Sitting at the other side of the table were three Senior Mechanics. The man Saco, the woman who had belittled her at the wrecked trestle, and a third man Mari hadn’t seen before. The door behind Mari was thick and had been closed tightly after she entered the room. She took another look at the expressions of the Senior Mechanics facing her. If this isn’t what a prisoner feels like, it must be close. You would think I was one of the Dark Mechanics instead of the person who uncovered them.
The woman spoke in a formal, detached voice. “This proceeding is convened to resolve questions regarding the actions of Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn in the city of Dorcastle the night before.”
The male Senior Mechanic whom Mari hadn’t seen before spoke brusquely. “What led you to the inner harbor last night?”
Mari kept her head up and eyes on the man as she answered. She had nothing to apologize for and wouldn’t be intimidated. “I’d been looking into the acts supposedly carried out by dragons. I conducted an independent inquiry, examining the evidence available, and concluded that the barge docks probably held the answer to events which had been causing harm to the Guild by restricting trade in this city.” She had been rehearsing that statement in her head ever since last night while she waited for her fellow Mechanics to arrive. She had known it would be necessary, and it had also been a way to try to avoid thinking about Alain.
Senior Mechanic Saco glared at her. “What made you think you had any right to conduct an independent inquiry?”
“I had no alternative. My attempts to discuss my theories with the leadership of the Mechanics Guild were rebuffed. Since Senior Mechanics refused to listen to me or to respond to formal requests submitted using proper procedures, I was forced to take action alone for the good of the Guild.” Let them put that in their record of the proceeding.
Apparently none of them wished to pursue that angle, though. Saco frowned at her as he changed the subject. “Alone? You say you acted alone? Your report is extremely vague on how the boiler in the warehouse came to explode, and how you managed to survive that.”
Mari met his gaze, keeping her face composed. “As I said in my report, the people in the warehouse were distracted by a visitor while getting up steam. Apparently they let the pressure get too high. I was far enough distant to avoid harm when it blew.”
“We found the relief valve for the boiler,” the third Senior Mechanic stated in a hard voice. “It had been tied down.”
Mari nodded, determined to tell the truth where she could. “I did that while the people were distracted.”
“Did you have any help?”
“Tying down the relief valve? No.” As she had phrased it,the answer was literally true. Mari thanked the luck that had left Alain’s presence at the warehouse last night unknown to her own Guild. How could she have explained the identity of a mysterious ally there?
“How did you come to be soaking wet when the Mechanics from this Guild Hall met you?” the female Senior Mechanic asked.
“I dove into the harbor to protect myself from the blast. I know steam boilers, and I could tell when that one was about to explode.”
The woman’s stare pinned Mari. “Then you are willing to swear that no other Mechanic aided you in this? That there was no other Mechanic accompanying you at that warehouse last night?”
That one was easy. “I swear there was no other Mechanic aiding me last night,” Mari said. “There was no other Mechanic with me at the warehouse, not until Mechanics from this Guild Hall arrived in a group to meet me.”
“Were there any commons with you? One or more?”
“No. I swear there was no common with me.” They wouldn’t ask about Mages. Mari was sure of that. The possibility would not even occur to them.
They didn’t. The three Senior Mechanics exchanged glances, none of them looking happy, then the woman nodded. “The proceeding is closed. Master Mechanic Mari, you are ordered by authority of the Guild Master not to say anything to anyone regarding any of these events. You are to forget them. They did not happen.”
There it was again. She had found so much proof, she had been hoping it would change something, but… Mari took a deep breath. “I respectfully ask for an explanation of the Guild’s policy in this matter.”
“You have your orders,” Saco noted in a cold voice.
“Yes, sir. But I can best serve the Guild if I understand the Guild’s policies and instructions, and I do not understand this.”
The third Senior Mechanic shook his head. “Your reputation precedes you, Mechanic Mari.”
“Master Mechanic Mari.”
“Certainly. The point is, you’re always asking questions instead of doing what you’re told. From this point on, that changes. Do you understand that?”
Mari took a couple of slow breaths. “Yes, sir.”
“Are there further questions?”
She couldn’t help herself. She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. “Yes, sir.”
The third Senior Mechanic looked incredulous, but Saco gave Mari an insincere smile. “Go ahead.”
“The contents of the warehouse, sir.” Careful, Mari. Careful how you say this. “They—”
The woman interrupted. “By order of the Guild Master, the warehouse held nothing.”
Mari stared at the three Senior Mechanics. Nothing. She hadn’t even tried to bring up the dragon’s carcass, impossible to miss, knowing the Senior Mechanics would ignore the existence of the remains. “Those who were in the warehouse—”
“There was no one in the warehouse except some commons who died in the accident.”
“—and escaped before the explosion—” Mari tried to continue.
“There is no one who meets that description.”
What had happened to them? Had they escaped the city? Or been taken into custody by the Mechanics Guild, disappearing as completely as Mechanic Rindal had?
Mari swallowed and tried one more time. “The boiler that exploded—”
“There was no boiler.”
The boiler we just talked about no longer ever existed. Because its existence would be inconvenient. “So we pretend that something real doesn’t exist? How does that make us any better than the Mages?”
Saco leaned forward, the false smile gone. “That is a treasonous statement.”
“No, sir! I want the best for my Guild! I am loyal to my Guild! But something is wrong. Something is wrong with the world! If we don’t change— ”
“Change?” the woman demanded. “Think through the consequences of change,” she advised Mari in the tone of a teacher speaking to a not very bright student. “Think what would happen to this Guild. Think what would happen to this world. Think of the upheaval of all that we know, to be replaced by what? Do you know? Can you even guess? You’re eighteen years old, girl! You don’t even have a good grasp on how things are yet. How can you say that altering the system our ancestors created would be a good thing? How can you say they were wrong?”
Mari stared back at the woman. “Things are breaking,” she said as calmly as she could. “If things were breaking on a machine, I would analyze the problem and find out what needed to be fixed.”