“May I ask by whom?”
“A Mage elder.”
The old woman tapped her teeth with one fingernail. “Did she tell you of this Storm?”
“She did,” Alain said. “And I have seen it, as have many other Mages in recent years. It threatens all, just as the prophecy says.”
“What sort of storm?” the woman in uniform asked.
“A Storm born of the built-up frustrations of the common people,” Alain said. “They will rise, and destroy. Armies will clash, cities fall, all will be laid waste. Though you seek to hide your knowledge, I can see that you know this Storm approaches as we speak.”
The old woman sagged back in her chair, the prophecy lying in her lap. “And now a young woman comes to us. A young woman wearing the dark jacket of a Mechanic, one of those who have enslaved us for time out of mind. With her is a Mage, one of those who have treated us even worse than the Mechanics. And they say they will save us. Would you believe this, Lady Mechanic?”
Mari felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the old woman. “I’m sorry. I can’t be anyone other than who I am. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want it. But I am told it is a job given to me, and when I am given a job to do, I get that job done.”
The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You, a Mechanic, apologize to us? Why?”
“Because I believe in doing the right thing,” Mari said.
“And she has shown me how to do the right thing,” Alain added.
The woman in uniform rubbed one hand across her brow. “You must know what we’re facing, Lady Mechanic. If the Mechanics Guild learns of your presence in this city, they will demand that Julesport turn you over or be placed under a Guild interdict and be banned from receiving the service of any Mechanic. The Mage Guild would retaliate in even worse ways. And always the Empire seeks justification for another war on hopes of finally gaining a foothold beyond the Southern Mountains. What do you want from Julesport?”
“Nothing,” Mari said. “Except an averted gaze. We need to take on supplies. We’ll pay for them. Once we’ve loaded the food and water we require, we will be gone,” she promised. “I do not want Julesport crushed because of me.”
“Tell me,” the old woman said, “why we should not hand you over to the Great Guilds, who have promised immense rewards for your bodies, alive or dead.”
Mari felt anger at the question, but also weariness. Why did it even have to be asked? And yet she knew it would be. “Why not? Because it would mean your continued slavery. You would be selling your chance at freedom. How much is the Mechanics Guild offering? How much is your freedom worth?”
“More than the Great Guilds offer,” the old woman said. “More than they have. But you ask us to believe that you can gain us freedom.”
“All I can do is ask,” Mari said. “And I know that’s hard. I’m a Mechanic, and Mechanics have done you great harm in the past. But the fact that the Great Guilds fear me so much, me and Mage Alain, is a sign of what I might be able to do.”
“You ask leave to depart Julesport. Where will you go?” the woman in uniform asked.
“If you don’t know, you can’t be forced to tell,” Mari said.
“Were you in Ringhmon this last year?” the old woman asked abruptly.
“Yes,” Mari said.
“And Dorcastle?”
“Yes.”
“You slew a dragon there.”
“Yes.”
The old woman took a deep breath. “And then the Northern Ramparts. Another dragon. And great damage to an Imperial legion. And a Mage in your service.” She looked keenly at Alain.
“Yes,” Mari said. “But he is not in my service. He is my partner.”
“The stories we have heard,” the middle-aged man said, “claim that you did great service for common soldiers in the Northern Ramparts and refused all payment.”
“They needed my help,” Mari said.
“And then Marandur?” the old woman continued. “Why Marandur?”
“I cannot tell you,” Mari said.
“Jules was in Marandur,” Colonel Faron said. “Long ago.”
The old woman nodded at him, then looked back at Mari. “You must have heard the rumors the Imperials have been spreading. Rumors about the Dark One, Mara the Undying, who companioned the first emperor, Maran.”
Mari flinched. “I’ve heard them. I think you can see that I don’t fit those rumors.” Mara was supposedly beautiful as well as deadly.
“You don’t look like one who craves the blood of handsome young men, no,” the old woman said, smiling very briefly. “But you did escape from Marandur. Then Palandur, rumor has it. An attack by Mages, followed by a battle between Mages and Mechanics in the heart of the Empire. Neither of the Great Guilds has deigned to explain what happened there, and the Empire has done its best to suppress such information.”
“Having been to Marandur,” Alain said, “we could not remain in Palandur to explain events to Imperial authorities.”
“I suppose not, Sir Mage,” the old woman said, twisting one corner of her mouth in a sardonic smile. “The Emperor would make your deaths painful, prolonged, and public to ensure no one else attempted to visit the forbidden ruins of Marandur. After that, we have had scattered reports of setbacks for Mechanics, including the pride of the Mechanic fleet nearly sunk, before the city of Altis suffered great damage and a great battle was fought in its harbor that left another Mechanic warship on the bottom. This was you?”
Mari nodded. “Mage Alain helped. We did everything together.”
“Why Altis?”
“Again, I cannot yet explain.”
“Do you want what happened at Altis to take place at Julesport as well, Lady Mechanic?”
“No,” Mari said as firmly as she could. “Altis was badly damaged by Mechanics Guild assassins trying to kill me. I want to leave Julesport quickly so that it won’t happen here.”
The middle-aged man held up a paper. “We have a report from Altis. A swift ship reached Gullhaven and couriers carried copies throughout the Confederation. This arrived only last night.”
“What does it tell you?” Alain asked.
“It tells us you speak the truth.” The man paused. “And it tells us that you are the daughter.”
The woman in uniform spoke sharply. “If the people of this city hear that the daughter is in Julesport, the resulting mayhem will make the riots of last summer look like a minor street celebration.”
“What does the report from Altis say?” Alain asked. “Was there rioting there?”
“No, Sir Mage,” the old woman said. “Are you going to tell us why? Some Mage spell that compels obedience?”
“If such a spell existed, the Mage elders would use it freely and not depend on fear,” Alain said. “It does not. There were no riots in Altis because Lady Mechanic Mari told the people there not to riot, not to rise up, but to wait.”
“Why would they listen?” demanded the woman in uniform.
“Because they had hope,” Alain said. “They had a reason not to destroy.”
“It was not the strong hand of the Mechanics Guild that suppressed any rioting? It was not the work of Mages or fear of the consequences?”
Alain gestured toward the east. “When we were in Palandur, there were riots. An entire district burned, and a legion was called in to restore order. This in the Empire, where order is valued above all else. Have you heard this?”
Colonel Faron nodded. “Mostly rumors, again, but with credible details. You are saying the rioting was born of the same problems we have seen?”
“And the same problems that tore apart the Kingdom of Tiae. We were there in Palandur. We could see it, we could feel it.”
“If the empire is starting to feel the rot as well—” began the woman in uniform.
“It’s not rot,” the middle-aged man argued. “I do not welcome this news, but it does not surprise me. It is despair. You all know it as well as I do. What this Mage says matches our own knowledge. You talked to those arrested after the last round of rioting here and you heard, just as I did, that they had lost hope.”