“Dark Mages,” Alain suggested. “I do not know of any reason they would want to capture or kill us, but they could always be hired by someone who did.”
“Fair enough. At least we’re running out of really powerful groups who can become new enemies or want to kill me on sight.” Mari wondered when she had started being able to joke about something like that. “Anyway, I need to see what’s at Altis. If those old Mechanics had a good reason for what they did, I need to know before I unleash some of this stuff. Before I start changing things.”
“Mari.” Alain pointed upward. “The rooms above us are warm even though a winter storm rages outside.”
“It does? The storm?” Mari blinked, and her sudden apprehension faded. “Oh. Just a regular storm. I need to get some fresh air. I think I’ve been in this basement too long.”
“The point is, you have already set changes in motion. You have begun to fulfill the prophecy.”
Mari yawned again. “Bringing about the new day that will save the world, after I overthrow the Great Guilds for my great-great-however-many-times-grandmother Jules? Yeah, sure. You just keep believing in that. I’m afraid you have to do the believing for both of us.”
“I can do that. Am I not in Marandur with you?” Alain asked. “Am I not going to Altis with you?”
“I hoped you would, but I don’t have any right to assume you’ll just keep walking with me from danger to danger,” Mari said. “I’ve asked so much of you already.”
“I will stay with you,” Alain said. “I will protect and assist you, because it is you, and because I too wish you to succeed. Besides,” he added, “you have also promised me someday a night I will never forget. I would like to be there when you feel that night has come.”
“Oh, please,” Mari scoffed. “I’m sure there are plenty of courtesans in Palandur who could show you a whole lot better time than I could.”
Alain shook his head. “I do not believe it. We are going first to Palandur, then?”
“All roads lead to Palandur, Alain. Isn’t that the saying? We can’t avoid having to go through that city, but we’ll pass through as fast as possible and head for the coast so we can get a ship to Altis. After Altis…we’ll see. Should we leave tomorrow?”
“No,” Alain said. “It is full winter outside and you need some rest. I told you that a storm rages.”
“Then how about the day after tomorrow?”
“Perhaps.”
Mari smiled and pulled him into a tight embrace. “If I do change the world, it will be because you were beside me every step of the way,” she told Alain. As she held him, her eyes came to rest on the crude drawing of the tower. Would it hold the answers she needed? Would they live long enough to find out?
Could she really overthrow the Great Guilds and change the world?