“No,” Mari said. “I have no idea how they found us, which is very worrying. I don’t believe that Professor S’san betrayed us, and even if she had she didn’t know where we were staying tonight. Maybe we gave ourselves away by how we acted, or maybe some Mechanic we didn’t notice recognized me and followed us.”
“If they believe you are in this city,” Alain suggested, “then they will also be going to the home of your elder. They will believe you came here to see her.”
“Stars above, you’re right.” Mari aimed an anguished look in the direction of S’san’s home. “We can’t go warn her. They’re probably already there. Oh, Alain, what am I doing to my friends?”
“You are doing nothing to your friends. These are the actions of others. The blame for those actions does not rest with you.”
“No matter how many times you say that, I won’t believe it.” They reached a high point in the street and looked back a final time toward the lake. Mari bit her lip, gazing north in distress. “Is there anything else from Asha?”
“No. I sense nothing now from any other Mage.”
Mari pulled her far-seers from her pack and focused them to the north, then pivoted to look south in the direction they were going. Nothing was visible in either direction but darkened streets and buildings dimly illuminated by streetlamps burning coal. In one place behind them to the north, a few more lights were visible, but it was impossible to see anything in detail. “Far-seers,” she explained to Alain. “They have lenses in them which make far-off objects much easier to see.” She was putting them away as she spoke. “It’s risky for me to use them when anyone else might see me, because only a wealthy common or a senior military officer could afford far-seers, but I wanted to see if anything was visible.”
“I saw these with the Alexdrian soldiers,” Alain said. “I do not understand the Mechanic spell which makes them work, but the commons found them valuable. Did you see the Mechanics?”
“Not directly. There are some more lights down there, but the lights are staying around where we were. The Mechanics are probably searching every possible hiding place in the area of that hostel and the buildings around it.” Mari bent her head in thought. “Since my Guild knows or strongly suspects I’m in this city, it wouldn’t be safe to try heading south by train.”
Alain actually revealed relief at her words. “I would prefer not to risk a train again.”
“Trains really are usually safe, Alain.”
“Your Guild and mine may be watching the horse-drawn coaches from Severun as well.”
She blew out an exasperated breath. “You’re probably right. We’ll have to walk until we’re well clear of the city and then try to get rides on passing wagons again. That’s the only way to avoid being spotted at the coach stations, and the Senior Mechanics will never suspect that anyone would be willing to walk when they could ride.” Mari settled her pack. “Let’s go. It’s going to be a long walk tonight.”
They had been trudging along for a while, having reached the southern stretches of the city, when Mari gave a brief laugh as an incongruous thought struck her. “Jules was a sailor. If I’m a daughter of Jules, why do I have to walk everywhere?”
“Do you enjoy sailing?” Alain asked.
“I’ve hardly ever been on the water.” Mari shrugged. “Alain, no offense, but I will never believe that I’m actually descended from Jules.”
“What you believe is less important than what others believe,” Alain suggested. “The illusion they see is very powerful.”
Mari sighed. “I haven’t exactly spent my life to this point aspiring to be a powerful illusion.” She noticed Alain looking back north again. “What’s the matter?”
Alain didn’t answer for a few moments. “I am…worried about Mage Asha. Her attempts to warn us and misdirect our pursuers could have placed her in great peril.”
Mari turned to him, guilt and gratitude mixed inside her. “Alain? I hope she’s all right.”
“Your professor?”
“Your friend. Asha. It was very brave of her to risk herself for us that way.”
Alain’s voice held a note of wonder that she had rarely heard before. “I have two friends?”
“Yes,” Mari said, “if you mean Mechanic Calu and Mage Asha. I am more than a friend.”
“You are much more than a friend, my Master Mechanic.”
Feeling tremendous relief as they walked past the indifferent guards at the south gate of the city and out into the open country beyond the city walls, Mari couldn’t help a brief giggle. “Alain, you, and only you, are allowed to call me just Mechanic.”
A little before dawn, and with the city well behind them, Mari and Alain found an area not far from the road which was sheltered by a large stand of trees. Staggering with weariness, they made it well into the trees and then collapsed onto the ground next to each other. By the time Alain awoke, the sun was well up in the sky. He sat up carefully, trying not to disturb Mari, then went back toward the road, seeing that it was now covered with considerable traffic. Being one of the main roads within the Empire, the route was paved with massive stone blocks and stretched wide enough for wagons to pass each other and the foot traffic with no difficulty. Even if he could not have seen the road he still would have known it was near from the scent of the manure from the various draft animals baking in the sun’s heat.
Mari came up beside him, looking haggard. “Any sign of trouble?”
“No. We should not have difficulty blending in with so many foot travelers, wagons, and carriages using the road.”
She yawned, then winced. “Do your legs hurt as much as mine do?”
“I do not know. How could I know?”
Mari closed her eyes and sighed heavily. “That’s another rhetorical question, Alain.”
“A question which is not to be answered.”
“Yes. And yes, that is kind of an odd thing, now that you’ve pointed it out. Let’s see if we can find a wagon that’ll let us pay for a ride, preferably a wagon with cargo we can hide ourselves among.”
Alain looked north, watching the sky. “Do you feel the wind? Winter comes marching from the north, but we remain a step ahead of it.”
Mari shivered. “They don’t have blizzards down here as severe as they do up north around Umburan. I would have noticed if anything like that hit Palandur. But I’m not thrilled at the idea of slogging through a regular snowstorm, either. Those can be plenty bad enough. Let’s try to get to Marandur before then.”
“We must not mention our destination again,” Alain cautioned.
“Fine. You’re right. Let’s go.” She walked out toward the road and Alain followed, seeing that their appearance attracted little attention from the passing traffic.
About noon they managed to buy seats in the back of a big wagon hauling freight southward. Mari wedged herself and Alain between some of the crates so that they were almost invisible to anyone on the road, then fell asleep.
Alain stayed awake longer, watching for danger, but finally succumbed to tiredness himself.
He awoke much later in the afternoon when the wagon rolled to a stop. Gazing out cautiously, Alain saw an inn offering water and food. “Need anything?” the driver leaned back to ask. “I’m just getting something for me and watering the mules, then we’re off, so make it quick.”
Awakening Mari, Alain got his aching body out of the wagon, grateful for the moment for his Mage training at enduring hardship. “I sense no Mages nearby, so I will go first to see if it is safe.” He went into the inn, buying some wine and travel food, and finding an irrational pleasure in knowing how to do such a simple task for commons. But as he turned to walk back to the wagon, Alain saw two Mechanics lounging near the passenger coach stand. Both carried the large Mechanic weapons that Mari called repeating rifles. The commons were either ignoring the Mechanics or casting worried glances their way, so Alain also pretended not to be aware of them.