“Do you know how much he worries about you?” Alain said.
Her expression softened. “Yeah. I’m sorry. It’s the whole ‘daughter of Jules, everything is going to be destroyed, got to change the world’ thing. If not for that, we could just go somewhere and be happy. And that’s what we’ll do, Alain.” She enfolded him in a hug, speaking gently. “When this is all over. When we’ve won and everyone is safe. We’ll find a quiet place to live and be with each other and try to forget everything bad that happened.”
“We will do that,” Alain said, his voice steady but his mind remembering the awful foresight vision of a motionless Mari with blood on her jacket. “We will survive, and we will find a good place.” He said it as a promise to her, and as a vow to himself.
Alain could not sleep that afternoon. He waited for some sign from his foresight, but nothing came. He knew that meant nothing, that the foresight might not warn of even the greatest dangers, so the lack of warning brought no comfort.
His restless steps took him to the town wall, where he looked across the fields toward the camp of the self-styled General Raul. Mechanic Calu, his legs wobbly and his stomach unsettled but smiling nonetheless, had provided more information about the layout of the camp and where sentries were posted. Mage Alera had confirmed that there was only one Dark Mage in the camp, expressing her contempt for the Dark Mage’s inability to conceal himself. “He was surprised when Swift and I flew over,” Alera said, making a point of saying the new name of her Roc. “His sense of other Mages is very poor.”
From there Alain went to the waterfront. Most of the buildings there had been dedicated to the trade which once flowed through Pacta Servanda. With that trade nonexistent for so many years, those buildings were vacant, to Alain’s eyes standing like grave markers for the hopes and dreams of those who had once built them. It was not nearly as depressing a sight as the ruins of Marandur, but sad enough as a sign of how much had been lost when the government and society of Tiae had collapsed.
The Pride and the big merchant ship Worthy Son had tied up to the town’s long-disused pier and begun disgorging the supplies and Mechanic equipment they had brought from Edinton. Many of the Mechanics had come ashore and were working around the ships and their equipment, engaged in activities that Alain found incomprehensible.
Alain gazed outward across the water, watching the boats ferrying items and people between the shore and the two other ships. The whole process reminded him of ants laboring, each individual unable to accomplish much but together creating impressive works. It was hard for him to believe that the illusion surrounding Mari had grown so much in so short a time. They had arrived in Altis as just the two of them, seeking the tower where the past of Dematr might be learned. Leaving Altis, their party had grown to include Mechanics Alli, Calu, Dav, and Bev, as well as the Mages Asha and Dav.
And now there were so many. He did not see Mechanics Alli, Calu, or Bev, and knew that Mechanic Dav must still be watching over Mage Asha aboard the Pride. Alain watched the Mechanics and Mages who were here, trying to spot the Mechanics Lukas and S’san or Mage Dav. But other tasks must have drawn them away from this place, where so many Mechanics and Mages who did not know each other and had been long taught to detest each other were now intermingling.
It did not take foresight to be worried about what might happen.
As if in answer to Alain’s concern, angry voices broke into his reverie. Alain turned to see a small group of Mages confronting a larger group of Mechanics. Everything about the way the two groups faced each other caused alarm to rise in Alain. He walked quickly toward them, certain that there was no time to summon Mari, Lukas, S’san or any of the others to help deal with these Mechanics.
As he got closer, a large male Mechanic was leaning in toward a Mage who stood at the head of her group. The big Mechanic yelled again. “Just get out of the way!”
The Mage did not react at all. It was typical Mage behavior to ignore the actions of the shadows around them, as they had been taught others were only illusions. Those Mages who had joined Mari had been told to behave differently, but a lifetime of experience was not so easily set aside. Especially when it involved Mechanics. Every Mage knew that the best way to infuriate arrogant Mechanics was to ignore them. That old tactic was working all too well at the moment.
The big Mechanic tried to shove the Mage aside but she slid away from his shove without apparent effort or even taking notice. The other Mages in her group moved to face the Mechanics. The Mechanics stepped closer, the two groups only a short distance apart. “I’m only going to tell you one more time,” the big Mechanic said in a threatening voice.
“There is a problem?” Alain used his full Mage voice, which drew the attention of the Mages who would have disregarded anyone else, and of the Mechanics who were already keyed on Mages.
Alain could read the traces of stubbornness and anger in the faces of the Mages, who no doubt looked impassive to the Mechanics. The pride and resentment of the Mechanics was much easier to see.
The big Mechanic turned a furious eye on Alain. “Oh, so you’ll talk to me?”
“I am Mage Alain of Ihris,” he said.
“I don’t really care. What I do care is that these Mages are deliberately blocking us!”
“Hold on,” said one of the other Mechanics. “Mage Alain. He’s Master Mechanic Mari’s Mage.”
“Then he ought to understand why we’re unhappy!”
Alain looked around the dock area. “I see a large place, and two groups arguing over a very small patch of it.”
The big Mechanic looked angrier, pointing to a small building standing nearby. It sat near the waterfront and was separated from the structures on either side by access roads leading onto short piers. “We need that vacant building. The Mages won’t get out of the way.”
Alain looked to the Mages. “Is there a purpose?” he asked.
The woman leading the group of Mages spoke as emotionlessly as Alain had. “There is no Guild Hall, and Mages should live apart. That place will serve our needs.”
“We need this building!” the big Mechanic insisted. “It’s empty, it’s in the right place, and it’s the right size. And you should be grateful that I said that much, because we don’t need to justify what we do to anyone!”
“Mages care not for the imaginary needs of shadows,” the female Mage responded, her impassivity seemingly designed to further goad the Mechanics.
“That does it,” the big Mechanic snarled. He clenched his large hands into fists and stepped forward. The other Mechanics did the same.
The Mages gave no ground, but their long knives appeared in their hands.
In another moment blood would surely be shed, and the stain of it would lie between Mages and Mechanics whom Mari wanted to work together as one.
And Alain could not strike at the Mechanics, or he would be one more Mage acting as an enemy. Nor could he attack the Mages, who would regard him as a Dark Mage if he aided their enemies.
His eyes fell upon the place the groups both wanted and in that moment, as he eyed the illusion of a building, he realized that it had become something else. Not just a structure, but a symbol to each of these Mechanics and Mages. None of them would have risked injury or death for such a building. But they would for that symbol, which represented their own pride and status.
Alain cast his arms wide, his robes flaring around him, and shoved his way between the two groups just before they clashed. Startled, both groups backed up slightly. Facing the building they were prepared to fight over, Alain rapidly summoned the heat over his palm, then placed it within the structure.