“Is he hurt?” Mechanic Ken pointed at Alain as Mechanic Deni led her group down to the next deck.
“He used up his strength to manage that spell,” Mari said. “He’s all right, but worn out in an instant’s time.”
“Then it’s not… magic? It requires energy?”
“Yes,” Mari said, not wanting to explain any more while the former guards and Senior Mechanic Denz could hear.
Mechanic Deni came back up the nearest ladder, she and her helpers hauling along a very angry female Mechanic whose arms had been trussed. The would-be killer’s legs were still free, but it wasn’t hard to see why. A shard of bone protruded from her trousers and blood dripped from her pants leg.
Mari looked over and spotted the healer Cas, who had come across from the Gray Lady and was standing with Mechanic Rob. “Help her out,” Mari ordered.
The female Mechanic was being held down by of the Pride’s crew and was swearing steadily, screaming nonstop obscenities at Mechanic Deni and Mari. As healer Cas knelt by the injured woman’s leg, Deni threw out one arm, grabbing a long, hard belaying pin from its stand. She brought the pin against the injured Mechanic’s head hard enough to knock her out and cease the yelling. “You might want to check her for a concussion, too,” Deni told Cas as the stunned healer looked on.
Deni noticed Mari looking at her. “Sorry, Master Mechanic, but she got on my nerves. If someone is going to swear in front of a sailor, they should be creative and fluent. This one just kept repeating the same old things in a very uninspired way. It offended my sailor’s sense of the art of obscenity.”
“All… right,” Mari said. She was secretly grateful that Deni had silenced the woman, but didn’t feel that she should openly admit to it.
“Remind me not to swear in front of the sailors anymore,” Mari heard Alli murmur to Calu.
“Let’s get this done,” Mari said, gesturing to the next passenger in line.
The process proceeded without any problems until near the end, when the turn came of a personable young Mechanic. He walked up to Mari with a smile on his face, declaring “I want to work with you” with enthusiasm.
But Mage Asha, and Alain who had recovered somewhat by then, both halted him. “He lies,” Asha said, the passionless voice with which she voiced the statement making it sound even more damning.
The Mechanic’s smile faded, but he shook his head as Bev, Calu and some other Mechanics closed in on him. “No. Really. I mean it.”
“He lies,” Asha repeated.
“Let’s search him,” Calu suggested.
It was Mechanic Ken who found a small concealed pocket on the inside of the young man’s Mechanic jacket. He extracted a folded piece of paper, looked it over with his eyebrows rising, then passed it to Mari.
She scanned the document quickly. “This is a letter from the Guild Master introducing you to the Guild Hall Supervisor at Edinton. The Guild Master says you’re a very capable undercover agent for the Guild.” Mari looked at the young man. “Did you think your eagerness to work with me so you could spy on me would fool my Mages?”
His smile completely gone now, the young man didn’t resist as he was shoved over to join the former guards.
The last couple of Mechanics passed without any problem. Mari looked over to see three of the passengers still standing some distance away. “The choice is yours,” Mari said. “But you won’t get a second chance today. If you are certain that you want to remain with the Guild, then go join that group.”
None of the three appeared enthusiastic as they walked to join the former guards. Mari suspected their reasons were similar to that of the Apprentice. But she didn’t want to question them for fear of seeming to try to bully them into changing their minds.
“Twenty-seven leaving us, then,” Captain Banda observed. “We’ll have to give up two of the boats from the Pride.” Banda didn’t look happy at giving up two of the four boats hanging from davits aft.
“Make it happen, please, Captain,” Mari directed.
The crew went to work with considerable enthusiasm, showing every sign of being eager to be free of the former guards and Senior Mechanic Denz. Both the Pride and the Gray Lady brought in most of their sails so that their speed was cut to something safe for launching boats. By early afternoon the boats had been stocked with food and water and lowered to the waves, and those who wished to remain loyal to the Guild descended a rope ladder into them. The would-be assassin with the broken leg was let down by rope, once again awake and cursing loudly until the crew “accidentally” dropped her the last lance-length into the boat. “You have the necessary navigational instruments,” Captain Banda called down to the Apprentice from his crew. “And directions back to Julesport. You should make it easily in a little more than a week’s time, assuming the wind holds.”
Mari looked down on the boats. The faces turned up toward her were hard, angry, and hostile, but she still felt badly about setting people adrift in the ocean. “They really will be all right?” she asked Captain Banda.
“The only worry they should face is sunburn,” Banda said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Or if the fools refuse to listen to Apprentice Tan. But even Senior Mechanic Denz knows that sailing east is going to bring them ashore somewhere in the Confederation. He’ll want to go back to Julesport, though, mark my words.”
“He’s not going to want to wash ashore someplace where he’d be at the mercy of the commons,” Calu agreed. “What if he decides to head for Edinton?”
“Trying to beat against these winds in those boats? Maybe two weeks. He could do it, but they’ll have to stretch their food and water very carefully.”
“Good,” Mari said. “Let’s get going, then.”
“Where to?” Captain Banda asked.
“For now, keep heading for Edinton.” She called across the water to the Gray Lady. “We’re going to speed up! Stay with us!”
Not long later Mari sat on the deck, in the inner circle of several rows making up most of those aboard the Pride. Next to her was Alain, and right behind Alain was Asha. Clustered close by were the rest of Mari’s original group, Mechanics Alli, Calu, Dav, and Bev. Only Mage Dav, still aboard the Gray Lady, was not present.
Mari could feel the eyes of Mechanics, Apprentices, and the common sailors upon her. Before she could say anything, Master Mechanic Lukas spoke up, seated facing her across a small open area in the center of the group. “Master Mechanic Mari, my experience with you is that you work out details before deciding on actions. I didn’t question the vagueness of what you’ve told us so far because I could understand your reasons for withholding the details while hostile ears could hear. I think most of us would like to hear more now.”
“And you will,” Mari said, once more trying to sound totally in control. She was getting better at that, she realized. And that was good, since Master Mechanic Lukas’s words could be taken as a challenge as well as a request for more information.
Alain reached into his robes and produced the text she had asked him to bring from the Gray Lady, handing it to Mari. She had wanted that done in full view of the Mechanics. “This is a big detail,” she said, holding up the text, then passing it carefully to Master Mechanic Lukas. “Texts containing technology banned by the Mechanics Guild.”
“Banned technology?” The Mechanics around the circle were straining to look, their eyes filled with wonder, as Lukas took the text and began looking through it. “Communications,” he commented.