“Officially? The city is under a Guild Interdict for contract violations and scrambling to raise enough money to pay the fine and qualify for Mechanic services again.” Calu gestured vaguely. “There are rumors that Ringhmon was doing worse things than contract violations, and other rumors that the emperor wanted to take advantage of that to launch another expedition in the south, but the Guild told him to knock it off. Were you involved with any of that?”
Mari laughed in a way that held no humor. “I caused it, Calu. I discovered what Ringhmon was up to and I reported it to the Guild.”
“You also burned down the city hall,” Alain pointed out.
“You helped,” she retorted. Calu nodded, as if unsurprised to hear that Mari had burned down a building. “Contract violations?” Mari continued. “Do you want to know what Ringhmon was really doing? And before you say yes, I need to tell you that I’m under a Guild Interdict myself never to say a word of this to anyone.”
The other Mechanic’s expression was totally serious now. “If you think I should know it, I want to hear it.”
“Ringhmon was trying to reverse-engineer Mechanic weapons. They were trying to figure out how to make their own.”
Calu stared at her, his mouth dropping open. “They had the nerve to try that? But why? They could never succeed.”
Mari’s eyes were closed as she spoke. “Calu, do you remember something you asked Alli and me a long time ago? You wondered why, if commons can’t do Mechanic things, we have to keep what we do secret from them.”
“Yeah. I remember that night. Was that the first time Alli punched me, after I asked about that? I’ve wondered about it since then, too. What did I say? That it was like prohibiting us from teaching horses something.”
“Algebra.”
“Right!” Calu grinned for a moment before the happiness vanished into contemplation. “It still doesn’t make sense to me, but like you wisely advised me then, asking about that would be a one-way ticket to the cells in Longfalls.” He looked at her intently. “What all did you find, Mari?”
“I found evidence, Calu. A far-listener not made in any Guild workshop. A steam boiler without any Guild markings on it, operated by commons. And I was told, ordered, by the Senior Mechanics never to say a word about any of it.”
“A boiler? You found an entire boiler? Full scale? With commons running it?”
“Yes,” Mari said. “Did you hear anything about Dorcastle a few months back?”
“Just something about a Mage plot to blame our Guild for some extortion scheme.” Calu jerked with surprise. “It wasn’t a Mage plot?”
“No, it was these guys I call Dark Mechanics. I don’t know who they are, but they can do Mechanic work, Calu, and even knowing they exist is apparently very dangerous for any Mechanic. The Mages didn’t have anything to do with the plot in Dorcastle, though some Dark Mages helped put an end to the plot and almost put an end to Alain and me.”
“Dark Mages?” Calu glanced from Mari to Alain. “Aren’t all Mages kind of dark?”
“Not all of them!” Mari looked embarrassed by the force of her denial. “I mean, Mages aren’t supposed to believe in anything, but they actually do believe in something they call wisdom which is supposed to help them gain more power. I mean, personal ability to do their spells. Dark Mages don’t worry about that, instead doing anything that brings them money.”
Calu was staring at Mari again. “How did you learn stuff about Mages?”
She gave him a helpless look, then turned her gaze on Alain. He knew what she was asking, and nodded to her. “You trust this Mechanic,” Alain said. “I will trust him as well. I have seen no falseness in him.”
“Huh?” Calu seemed baffled by Alain’s words, then looked at Mari as she placed a hand on his arm.
“Calu, Alain is a Mage.”
The Mechanic’s eyes flared with worry as he stared at Mari, then shifted his gaze to Alain. “I saw him smile. I know I did. Is this some kind of sick joke, Mari?”
“Mari would not lie to a friend,” Alain said, forcing himself not to tense in readiness at the suspicion and fear on the Mechanic’s face. “She has saved my life more than once, and I will never harm her nor allow any other to harm her as long as I can fight to protect her.”
Some of the tension left the Mechanic, then he looked at Mari. “I’ve heard they can control people.”
“No,” Mari denied. “They can’t do that. Alain told me.”
“Then he wouldn’t object to leaving you and me here alone? Going as far away from us as he can so I can see how you react when he’s not around?”
Mari gave Alain an embarrassed look. “Do you mind?”
Alain shook his head, standing with slow, casual movements, aware of the watchful way Calu was eyeing him. The Mechanic’s suspicion of Mages was justified, after all. “Do you wish me to leave the inn, friend of Mari?”
Calu hesitated. “No. That would attract too much attention, with the storm still going on. How about down one floor and to the far end of the hall?”
“I will do this. How long do I wait?”
“Until I come and get you.”
Alain looked to Mari, who nodded. “Please, Alain. I’ll be safe here with Calu.”
“I know this, or I would not leave.” Alain left the room, closing the door carefully behind him to avoid making too much noise, then walked to the stairs, feeling for the presence of the other Mages in the inn. They were all on the ground floor, on the side opposite from where Alain had been sent by Mechanic Calu, and he could sense no spells being prepared by those Mages.
Alain reached the end of the hall one flight down from the room and waited. A small window gave a view of darkness shot by occasional swirls of white as blown snow was illuminated by the lanterns providing dim light in the hallway. Alain watched the snow, trying to calm his mind.
He was not sure how much time had passed when he heard the sound of Mechanic boots thumping on the stairs. He turned and saw Mechanic Calu coming toward him, wary but no longer fearful. Calu stopped directly in front of Alain, eyeing him. “You didn’t say that you’d saved Mari’s life a number of times.”
“She is my friend.”
“According to Mari, she’s a lot more than a friend.” Calu shook his head. “I owe you a lot for saving her, but how can I trust you?”
“Mari once asked me the same thing.” Alain met the Mechanic’s eyes. “I will tell you what I told her then: that nothing I can say will make a difference. You must judge my actions.”
“She’d be dead now if not for you. That’s pretty easy to judge. But what do you hope to get out of this? It’s not like everything I’ve heard about Mages.”
“My actions are not what Mages are taught. My own Guild is seeking my death because they believe that Mari has corrupted me.” Alain had to think about the answer to the Mechanic’s question, trying to put words to feelings which were still unfamiliar to him. “I hope to help Mari, to protect her from those who would harm her. Did she tell you who she is?”
“I know who she is,” Calu said. “Do you mean, besides being Mari?”
“If she did not tell you, I should not,” Alain said.
“Mari said something about fixing things,” Calu said. “About how she needed to do it even though it might change the world.”
“Changes to the world,” Alain said. “To make it…right.”
“People tend to have different ideas of what will make things right,” Calu observed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “But I’ve never heard anything from Mari that I disagreed with after I thought it through. It sounds like you feel the same.”
“I do,” Alain said. “But for me it is more than doing the right things. It is…is it a privacy thing to speak to you of how I feel about her?”