“Hey, your daughterness. Have a rifle,” Alli said as Mari approached.
“Alli, I swear, if you don’t—” Mari took the rifle, looking at it and thinking that soon she would be using it to shoot at people.
At “General” Raul’s people. Before they could torture anyone else.
She checked the safety and sighted out into the harbor, getting a feel for the weapon.
Calu came up, carrying his own rifle. “Hey, I had an idea. If those Rocs can carry a couple of people, they could be used to ferry soldiers someplace behind the enemy. Think of that! Just go right over the enemy defenses!”
“One soldier at a time?” Mechanic Bev said as she approached. “Slow way of attacking.”
“And not very inconspicuous,” Alli said. “You know, giant birds going by overhead. Somebody might think to check on what they’re doing.”
“There are a few bugs to work out,” Calu conceded. “Alain, is there any chance any of the Mages who create dragons would join us?”
“I don’t want them,” Mari said before Alain could reply.
“It is unlikely they would join,” Alain said. “The… temperament?… of Mages who create the illusion of dragons is… somewhat like that of a dragon itself.”
“Say no more,” Alli replied. “I agree with Mari that we don’t need that kind of help. Here come the last couple of guys I’ve been waiting for. I’ve think we’ve got your whole Mechanic army assembled, Mari.”
Mari looked around in the growing darkness. Forty men and women, most of them Mechanics but a few older Apprentices as well. Each carried a rifle, and with Apprentices authorized for this night mission to wear dark jackets like the Mechanics, the entire group blended into the gloom. In addition, eight Mages counting Alain stood on the waterside, their robes wraithlike in the night.
“The other eight good rifles are with Mechanics on the town wall, like you ordered,” Alli added. “Just in case that warlord tries a night attack against the town while we’re getting into position to kick his butt.”
“Great.” Mari spoke to the others in a low voice that carried. “We’re going to get to the edge of the swamp and then break into eight parallel columns, each led by a Mage. The Mages will head toward the Dark Mage they can sense in Raul’s camp. Each Mage will hold a length of line, and the Mechanics behind them will hold that line to keep from losing contact with the Mage or each other. Mechanics, if the Mage leading you tells you something, listen. Calu thought he spotted some sentries near the edge of the swamp. If they are there, the Mages will take them out before they can sound any alarm. We’ll form into a line once we clear the swamp and get ready to give Raul and his scum an unpleasant wake-up call. The locals here have given us a salve they say will repel insects and recommended we apply it very liberally, so make sure you follow their advice before we get to the swamp. Any questions?”
One Mechanic raised his hand. “I heard those screams last night. Are we taking any prisoners?”
“Yes,” Mari said. “The officials of Pacta Servanda say about half of Raul’s people are being forced to fight for him. It might have been one of them being tortured last night as a lesson to the others. We’ll accept surrenders, then turn them over to the people of Tiae so that anyone forced to fight can be sorted out from the real criminals. Remember, everyone be as quiet as possible, and make absolutely certain that your safeties stay on until you get the order to fire. A single gunshot could ruin everything.”
They moved to where the boats from the Pride and the Dolphin waited, sailors with muffled oars already seated and ready to row.
Bev sat near Mari and Alain in one boat as they waited for everyone else to load. “I hear we’re doing this for a princess?” she whispered. “A for-real princess?”
“Who told you?” Mari asked. “As few people as possible are supposed to know.”
“Alli told me. So we really are rescuing a princess?”
Mari couldn’t help smiling. “Sort of. Helping her out, anyway. She’s a pretty hard-core princess, though. You know, this is like the sort of games I used to play as a little girl. I had a friend. Dina. We had a rule that there could only be one princess, so one of us would be the princess and the other would be the hero coming to save her.”
“Why couldn’t you both be heroes?”
“I don’t know. We were little girls playing a silly game.” Mari stared into the darkness, feeling almost as if she could see those little girls at play. “I haven’t seen Dina since the Guild came for me when I was eight years old and took me to the Guild Hall for training. And you know what’s funny? Here I am, and I could become a princess, or I could become a hero, but I don’t really want to be either one. I just want to be free to do what I enjoy, instead of being forced to do what I must.”
“Did it ever occur to you that you already are a hero?” Bev asked. “What do you think, Alain?”
“Mari has saved me many times,” Alain said.
“Ha ha,” Mari whispered. “Quiet, everyone. Here we go.”
With all of the Mechanics, Apprentices, and Mages seated in the boats, the sailors cast off and began rowing away from the landing, north and west to gain a little distance off the coast, then straight north to where the swamp jutted out into one side of the harbor. Behind them lanterns flickered low on the waterfront of Pacta Servanda, invisible to Raul’s sentries on the other side of the town wall but providing navigational references so the sailors could tell whether they were going in the right direction.
Mari, staring into the night with dark water surrounding them and the vague blackness of land off to the right, realized just how important those lights were. The stars above gave a little light, but they were screened by a layer of high clouds, while the crescent moon would provide little illumination even after it rose. Without the lights on the waterfront, she would not have had any idea where she was, let alone which direction she should go.
Rags had been stuffed into the oarlocks, but nevertheless the muffled creaking sounds made by the oars sounded far too loud to Mari, as did the faint splashing of water as they rowed. Normally the oars would be lifted between strokes, making it easy to draw the oar back through the air for another sweep through the water. But oars breaking the water’s surface repeatedly would have made a lot of noise, so the rowers kept the oars in the water, twisting them for the return stroke so the flat paddles met little resistance, then twisting them again so the paddles were upright and propelled the boats forward on the sweep. It was a lot more work, but a lot quieter.
Mari jerked with surprise as something darker than the night obscured the sky just above her head. She looked around, realizing that her boat must be nosing into the swamp, feeling its way forward through partially submerged trees and other obstacles.
The swamp stank of salt and decaying matter. Mari had to suppress an urge to cough.
The boat she was in slid to a stop. “That’s as far as we can go and still get out again,” Mechanic Deni whispered to Mari.
“Thanks.” Mari passed along the word to the others in the boat, then nerved herself and swung her legs over the side.
Her legs sank into water and loose mud. Mari blessed the loan of high boots from the ships and Pacta Servanda’s supplies. As it was the water felt icy through the boots and her trousers, and the sucking mud felt as if it was trying to pull her down.
Alain placed a length of light rope into her hands and Mari passed one end back to the next Mechanic in line, working by feel since she could see almost nothing. The Tiae officer who had warned of the darkness here at night had if anything understated the problem.