“Would Mari shoot a helpless woman? Even a Dark Mage? You put a bullet in her and you’ll feel good for maybe five seconds. Then you’ll hate yourself for the rest of your life.”
Mari stared at her friend, took a deep breath, then stepped back as Alli finally let go of the barrel of the rifle. “Thank you.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Alli said. “I’ll take care of—”
“Let me,” Mage Asha said. She walked over to the unconscious Dark Mage, who was lying against the outer wall. Asha tensed as she cast a spell, and a section of that wall disappeared, leaving an opening about the size of a person. Asha placed one foot on the Dark Mage and pushed, rolling her out of the opening.
Mari heard the thud of the Dark Mage hitting the ground as the opening vanished, leaving a once-again solid wall in its wake.
“That’s gonna hurt,” Alli said with a grin.
“Mage Alain is my friend,” Asha said.
“Are you guys all right up there?” Bev called from below.
“We’re fine,” Mari yelled back, then raced to the bed to look at Alain. His hands were tied but he wasn’t fighting the bonds, instead lying limply, his eyes partially open.
Alli leaned close. “Drugged?”
Asha nodded. “It is one of the weapons of dark Mages. They sought to discredit and humiliate Mage Alain, altering his mind by physical abuse so that he would become feeble and irrational. They must have been hired by the Mage Guild here to strike at him. It is not enough that Mage Alain die. The elders want him shown to be a weak Mage before then.”
“Let’s get him dressed and get out of here,” Mari said, grabbing Alain’s shirt from where it lay beside the bed.
Alli grunted with frustration as she tried to help. “I can’t get his arm through this sleeve. He’s got his fist clenched and I can’t budge it.”
“Why would his fist—?” Mari looked. “It’s his left hand.” She felt tears starting. “Even when drugged he clenched his fist to keep them from taking his promise ring!” Her voice broke on the last two words.
Alli rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Even when one of you is unconscious, you two are still nauseating.”
“It’s love, Alli!”
“I know what love is. I just think you two go a little overboard on the whole thing.”
“Jealous,” Mari said, her heart still pounding from recent events. “We’ll just get Alain into his robes. That shouldn’t be too hard.” She realized that it should have felt weird to have two other women helping her to dress her husband, but at the moment Asha and Alli felt a lot more like sisters.
Once his robes were on, the three women hoisted Alain and began carrying him out of the room. “Wow,” Alli commented, looking at Asha as they headed for the stairs. “You’ve got some muscle hidden under those robes.”
“All Mages prepare for any physical demands,” Asha said, impassive even while helping to maneuver Alain’s limp body down the stairs. “All physical effort must be as nothing.”
They paused to adjust the load at the bottom of the stairs, Asha maneuvering Alain’s head so that his eyes were pointed toward the Mage who had been injured. “Mage Niaro, working with Dark Mages. You see, Alain,” she told him even though he showed no sign of being aware. “That is how the Mages found you in this city.”
Mari stared at the fallen Mage, whose blood was forming a widening pool. “Shouldn’t we help him? He’ll die.”
“He is nothing,” Asha said.
“No. Nobody is nothing. Not even this Niaro.”
Bev knelt down, looking over Niaro. “Well, this guy is nothing now. He just died. Hey, Dav, help me drag him out of here.”
Together the two Mechanics pulled Niaro’s body through the door as the others got Alain out as well. Bev laid out Niaro straight, his arms folded across his chest, as if he were anyone else who had died and needed to be laid out properly. She dug in one pocket and pulled out a coin, placing it on Niaro’s chest in the old ritual.
“Why are you doing that for him?” Mechanic Dav asked.
“I’m doing it for me,” Bev said. “So that I know I’m not like he was.”
Mari saw that the Dark Mage who had surrendered was standing blank-faced, his arms bound, amidst Colonel Faron’s soldiers. Some other soldiers were busy binding up the woman Mari had knocked unconscious.
The owner of the building followed them out, shouting angrily. “You will pay! This was illegal!”
“Hold on a second,” Bev said. She brought her rifle to her shoulder, causing the owner to stagger back and cover his head, but her shot went into the building and resulting in a tinkle of breaking glass. “Darn. My weapon went off and hit that oil lamp.”
“Did you do that for you, too?” Mechanic Dav asked.
“Nah. I did that for Mari.”
Firelight was already flickering within the doorway as Colonel Faron turned to a detachment of police officers who had just arrived. “It is unfortunate that you won’t be able to save this building.”
“If the fire wardens get here quickly enough—” one of the officers began saying.
“You won’t be able to save this building,” Faron repeated in a way that made it clear no more argument was allowed. “Don’t let the fire spread to any other buildings, though.”
Mari, suddenly feeling very tired, blinked at an empty, open-topped carriage sitting in the street.
“My unit is supposed to take this carriage down to the quay,” Colonel Faron said as if talking to the air.
“Get in,” Mari told everyone. It took some work to get Alain up and inside, but he was soon sitting limply between Mari and Asha.
Only then did Mari notice how crowded the streets were, how many people were there, all of them gazing silently toward the Mechanics and the Mages. A low buzz of conversation started among the crowd, and Colonel Faron turned a pleading glance her way.
“What do they want?” Mechanic Dav asked, glancing around worriedly and fingering his rifle even though the weapon would be useless against so many.
“They want me,” Mari said. She stood up carefully in the carriage and looked out on the crowds, feeling a chill at their numbers and their watchfulness. And all of them were watching her.
The fire inside the building grew in intensity with a sudden whoosh, the light spilling out to illuminate Mari. The buzz of the crowd grew in volume, and their eyes glittered at her like thousands of candles.
How did she even begin to address these people?
That dilemma was resolved as someone finally called out a loud question. “Who are you?”
In the silence that followed that call, a silence broken only by the distant ringing of bells as fire wardens sounded alarms and the crackling of flames greedily devouring the building, Mari’s voice had no trouble carrying. “You know who I am. I have come from Altis. Before that I was in the Empire, and in the Northern Ramparts, and at Dorcastle. I came to Julesport to… to ask you to wait a little while longer. I know you have stopped believing that things could ever change. But they will! It is not yet time. The Great Guilds are very powerful. But they will be overthrown!”
The answering roar from the crowd felt like a physical force beating at Mari. She raised her arms, gesturing for silence, and for a wonder the crowd fell quiet again. “Do not act yet! It is not time! I do not want what the Great Guilds did at Altis to happen here. You will hear from me, and of me, I promise you. But do not risk yourselves and your city by acting before I am ready. You all have a lot to live for. Never forget that.”
A shrill voice yelled at her. “You’re a Mechanic! Liar! She would never be one of them!”
Part of Mari quailed at the accusation, knowing what would happen to her and her friends if this crowd turned into a mob. But part of her got angry. This was all hard enough. Too hard. Why did she have to argue with the people who should be helping her? “Jules was on officer of the Empire before she became something else. Have you forgotten that? Who am I? Ask the people of Altis!” Mari yelled back. “Ask the leaders of the Mechanics Guild, who have placed a high price on my head and already tried to kill me many times! Ask the Mages, who have told me I am that person, and the elders of the Mage Guild who also want me dead!”