“Lied about a lot of things, Alain. Just like my Senior Mechanics lied to me.”
Out of the corner of his eye Alain noticed something else and swung to look off the opposite side of the ship. Another black blot on the fog. That could mean only one thing. “And there is another galley in the direction.”
“Two of them? Wonderful.”
“Why is that wonderful? I thought wonderful meant—”
“Sarcasm! Never mind! We need to tell the captain we’ve definitely got two galleys out there now.”
Alain pivoted slowly, looking for more warnings from his foresight. He paused as another blotch appeared off the bow of the Gray Lady. “There are three. And they surround us.”
Mari snagged a passing sailor. “Tell the captain that there are three galleys out there, all looking for us. One in that direction, one out there, and the third over that way somewhere.”
The sailor gaped at her, then hastily saluted. “Yes, Lady Mari! I’ll tell him immediately!” Rushing off toward the quarterdeck as quickly and quietly as he could move, the sailor vanished into the fog.
More soft footsteps sounded, and the shape of Mechanic Bev came out of the fog. “Did you do something to one of the crew?” she asked.
“I told him that there are three galleys out there hunting us,” Mari replied.
“That explains the look of terror on the guy’s face. Three? I thought it was one.” Bev herself no longer seemed rattled as she handed one of the Mechanic weapons to Mari, then others to Alli and Dav.
But Alain could still sense a tightness in Mechanic Bev. She hides something, Alain told himself. Mechanic Bev hides emotions as a Mage does, but for other reasons than Mages do. There is something she will not reveal to anyone.
If it is what I think it is, don’t ask, Mari had told him. Bev has been hurt, but if we are loyal to her she’ll be loyal to us.
He had not understood, but now was not the time to pursue the matter of whatever in Mechanic Bev’s past had been kept hidden. Not as long as Mari was certain that Bev could be counted on.
Alli scowled as she flipped the object she called a lever action on the rifle. “This thing is just waiting to jam the moment I need it. I can feel it. Bev, set this one aside and let me have that one.”
“Sure. If you can’t fix it, nobody can.”
Mari faced the rail, cradling her weapon. “If a galley runs across us in this fog they’ll be right on top of us before we see them, so we won’t have much time to deal with them. If you see one, call out fast.”
Alli leaned on the rail next to her. “While I was at Danalee some Syndaris tried to place an order with us for a lot of pistols. I gathered that they prefer to capture other ships by coming up fast and flooding them with attackers. That’s why the Syndaris wanted to buy pistols from the Guild but weren’t interested in rifles. They don’t want to fight long-distance battles.”
“That’s what Alain said. Did the Guild sell them any pistols?” Mari asked.
Alli grinned. “One. And exactly twelve rounds of ammo. You wouldn’t believe how much the Syndaris had to pay for that.”
Mechanic Dav called softly from the other side of the ship. “They want to capture the ship, you say. What about us? Do they want us alive?”
“Probably not,” Mari said. “You know how we’ve been warned that commons will accidentally hit Mechanics during a battle. That’s under normal circumstances. This time they know our Guilds want us dead.”
“Mage Guild, too?” Dav asked. “All of us dead?” His eyes strayed toward Asha.
“All of us,” Alain confirmed.
“Well… that’s not going to happen.”
Alli grinned. “We made it out of Altis in one piece, which is more than the people trying to catch us there can say.”
Mari glared at the fog, her face tight with emotion. Alain could sense what she was thinking, that she and Alain had been through many more such tight situations than the others, and how narrowly the two of them had often survived. “All right,” Mari finally said, her voice probably sounding perfectly calm to the other Mechanics even though any Mage could have heard the tension within it. “Ideally, we need to keep the Syndari galleys from getting close enough to board us. That’s going to be very hard with visibility this low. If one shows up, everybody start throwing lead at any spot where they try to board.”
“Throwing lead?” Mage Dav asked.
“That means firing our rifles,” Mari explained. “You Mages will have to do whatever you can to either scare off the galley or stop anyone trying to board us.”
“We will cast what spells are possible,” Alain cautioned. “And if any Syndaris should reach the deck of this ship we will deal with them.” He partly drew the long knife which all Mages carried under their robes, and Mage Dav and Asha did the same.
Mari’s eyes met his. “At times like this I wish you could use my pistol.”
“It is hard. I could strike someone with it if they came close enough,” Alain said.
“And yet you can’t use a hammer,” Mari muttered, glaring into the fog again.
They stood at the rail, saying little and even then speaking in low voices. Except for the quiet creaking of wood as the Gray Lady rode the barely apparent ocean swell, the sailing ship made no sound, a fact for which Alain was grateful. It left the galleys no clue to follow to their location. He frowned very slightly as a thought occurred to him. “Mage Asha and Mage Dav. The galleys seek us here in the fog. They know of our presence in this small part of the sea despite not being able to see us.”
Mage Dav nodded without expression. “They must have a Mage with them, one who can sense the presence of you, me, or Asha. Only the dense fog has kept them from finding us before now. I cannot sense this Mage, though.”
Asha gazed into the fog, her expression a curious mixture of blankness and intensity. She was, very slowly, following Alain’s lead in beginning to show traces of her feelings again. “I sense…” Asha pointed off the stern of the Gray Lady, her arm and hand slowly moving forward. “There. It is very hard. He hides himself well. But I know him.” She looked at Alain. “Niaro, the Mage who was almost your downfall in Palandur.”
“Great,” Mari muttered. “Can this Niaro cast fire like Alain?”
“No. His Mage gifts are modest.” Asha nodded to Alain. “His envy, I think, feeds his ability to find Alain despite Mage Alain’s skill.”
Alain saw Mari’s jaw tighten and her hands flex upon the weapon she held. Mari did not like shooting at others, often displaying great distress after having to do so, but she would when necessary. Now she looked ready to deal with Niaro. “We need to discourage him,” she said. “If I get him in my sights, he’s going to have something to worry about besides his own inadequacies as a Mage.”
“I believe he was also attracted to me,” Asha explained, almost apologetically. “In physical ways, and blamed my rejection on Mage Alain.”
Alli smothered a laugh. “He’s a man? He saw you? Yeah, he was probably hot for you. What do you think, Dav?”
Mechanic Dav looked uncomfortable, but wisely refrained from replying.
Asha shrugged lightly at Alli’s statement, then tapped her robes where the long Mage knife was concealed beneath them. “I am experienced at discouraging those Mages whose attention was not welcome. Niaro did not take that well.”
Bev, who had been more distant than the others around Asha, now turned an approving smile on her.
Mari glanced up at the sails, staring at the fog drifting among them. “I thought I felt a breeze.”
A sailor came running along the deck, bare feet making little noise, his gaze turned upward where the fog had begun swirling. The masts, spars and booms creaked as the gentle, erratic breeze pushed at the still-limp sails, the sound seeming huge amid the silence on the ship.