Alain leaned closer to Mari. “You cannot rest yet.”
She nodded, drawing in a deep breath, her eyes refocusing. “What—? Asha.” Mari took in everything at a glance. “Dav? Mechanic Dav? Someone is going to need to guard Mage Asha. Protect her and ensure she gets safely back to our ships. You do it. Stay with her.”
Mechanic Dav blinked at her in disbelief. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Mari said. “You have your instructions, Mechanic. Get the job done!”
“Thanks, Mari! You really are the greatest.” Dav walked alongside the stretcher as the soldiers carrying Asha followed one of the local healers toward the nearest hospital. He still held his rifle, and looked ready to battle another dragon singlehandedly if one showed up and threatened Asha.
Mari gazed after them, her expression tragic. “Why did she— Why did anyone have to be hurt?” Her face changed, growing stiff and angry. She looked at Alain, her eyes blazing. “Alain, didn’t you tell me that one of the new Mages was the type who could send messages to other Mages?”
“Yes. Mage Dimitri.” Alain gestured and Mage Dimitri came up, eyeing them both impassively. A long cut in Dimitri’s Mage robes marked a slash from the dragon which had narrowly missed him.
“Mage Dimitri,” Mari said, breathing hard, “I want you to send a message to the Mage Guild in this city. To the elders in the Mage Guild Hall.”
“What is the message?” Dimitri asked.
She had to pause, staring at Asha’s stretcher as it was carried out of the courtyard, before speaking in a voice that quivered with anger. “Tell them, tell the elders, that we’ve destroyed their dragon. Tell them that if any more attacks are aimed at me or at this city I will lead everything I have against their Guild Hall, and I will reduce that Guild Hall to a lifeless pile of smoldering rubble that will make the ruins of Marandur pale by comparison. The world illusion will be changed, and changed for all time, in a way that leaves none of them alive in it. Tell them that.”
Dimitri’s Mage composure, as good as it was, was obviously tested by Mari’s words. He looked at Alain.
Alain nodded to Mage Dimitri. “Tell the elders, and tell them that you saw no falseness in the words of Master Mechanic Mari. She is not making a threat. She is making a promise.”
“This one understands.” A common or a Mechanic would have seen no emotion on Mage Dimitri’s face, but Alain saw traces of elation there. This was one message Mage Dimitri would be pleased to send.
Dimitri went off to work his spell. Alain saw Mari rubbing her face with one hand. “I hope the elders listen,” she mumbled so that only Alain could hear.
“If nothing else,” said Alain, “your message should cause the elders to debate what wisdom dictates in this case. It will delay any further action by the Mages in the Guild Hall.”
“I hope you’re right.” Mari sighed and faced a common soldier who approached them.
“Lady?” The officer came to a stop before Mari, saluting. “Corporal Rik asked that he be allowed to thank you personally.”
“He’s awake? Come on, Alain.” Mari followed the officer until they stopped at another stretcher.
Corporal Rik looked as though he had been used as a kickball by a giant, but his bruised and scratched face bore a smile as he saw Mari. “They told me what you did, Lady. I have nothing. I am nothing, except to my wife and children, but on their behalf I cannot thank you enough.”
Mari knelt next to the stretcher. “Who told you that you were nothing? Everyone is something. Even my Mage agrees with that now.”
“Your Mage.” Corporal Rik’s eyes went to Alain. “They said a Mage pulled me to safety. A Mage and a Mechanic, holding onto my arms. What sort of miracle is this, Lady, that those who think the least of us would risk themselves for us?”
“From now on,” Mari said, “you’ll meet more and more Mechanics and Mages who aren’t like the others. Do you see this armband? I have it. Mage Alain has it. All who follow me will have it. If you see the sign of the new day, you will know that whoever bears it, Mechanic or Mage or common, is someone who will help those who need it. If we’re going to free this world, we’re going to have to work together.”
“I will be well enough to help soon—”
“You must wait until it is time,” Mari said. “All of you,” she added, looking around. “Wait until it is time. It won’t be that long now if I can get done what I need to get done. But not today, and not tomorrow. Understand? If you trust me, then wait.”
Corporal Rik, big and bluff, seemed ready to cry. “I did not believe it could be true, but it is. You are the daughter, for who else could lead or would lead Mechanics and Mages in the defense of common folk? Take my sword, Lady! It is yours!”
“Use it to defend your city,” Mari said. “That’s what I need from you now.” She stood up again as Corporal Rik’s stretcher was carried off. “Hey, Calu. How are you doing?”
Calu rubbed his forehead, wiping away sweat. “You’ve already killed two of those? One was more than enough for me.”
“I’m not exactly looking for them, Calu, and now you and Alli can claim one as well.”
Alli, busy trying to comb gobbets of dragon out of her hair, just grimaced in reply.
Mari suddenly looked at Alain, as if seeing him here for the first time. She leaned in and kissed him, holding the kiss uncaring of any spectators. “You are a gift, my Mage. Even when there aren’t any dragons around. In case you’re wondering, I saw that you were the one who crippled that dragon badly enough to give Alli a good shot at it. I owe you another one.”
“We have discussed this before,” Alain said, feeling oddly put out by Mari’s phrasing. “You owe me nothing. I do not ask for payment or repayment, and that is not why I did it.”
“I know, you silly Mage! I’m going to have to talk to Mechanic Dav so he’ll know how you Mages take things.” She cocked her head at him. “Does Asha like him as much as he obviously likes her?”
Alain nodded. “She has feelings. She has asked me about some of them.”
“What?”
“Asha has asked me about some of the things she is feeling,” Alain explained, wondering why Mari was acting so surprised. “These emotions are things we Mages have denied and been denied, and so it is hard to deal with them. I have been able to help her because I understand how love changes the entire nature of the world illusion. And it is sometimes difficult to comprehend the words of Mechanics.”
“It is, huh?” Mari looked around at the doors and windows being unlocked around the courtyard, fearful commons looking out on the scene of the recent battle, many of the drying fabrics still fluttering in the breeze like a rainbow broken into fragments. Practically all of the fabrics bore speckles of dragon head, but Alain knew those would vanish without a trace within several days. “Are you saying that you have trouble understanding me, Alain?” she added.
Alain gazed back at her. Something about the question made him wary. There were questions, he had learned, that it was best not to answer, or at least to answer with care. “No,” he said.
“Liar.” Mari smiled slightly. “Like a Mage. But you’re learning more about being married. We need to get back to the Mechanics Guild Hall. Is everybody ready?”
The Mages did not answer, of course, but Mechanics Alli and Calu nodded. Alli had picked up Mari’s discarded Mechanic weapon and was fiddling with it. “There. I cleared the jam. Here it is.”
“I don’t need it now,” Mari said.
“A pirate queen should have a rifle,” Alli said. “Right, Calu?”