The Servants of the Storm

by Jack Campbell

  She gave him a startled look that quickly became apologetic. “Sorry, love. I know how you worry.”

  Once more he felt guilt that Mari did not know of that vision, that he had shared it with only one other person. Across the table, Mage Asha met Alain’s gaze with her own, wordlessly conveying her understanding.

  Mechanic sailor Captain Banda entered, the guards outside closing the door behind him. “I’m last? Apologies, all. We ran into some contrary winds entering port.”

  “This Mage must work on his wind spells,” Mage Dav said impassively.

  The statement drew blank looks from almost everyone present, who knew that Mage Dav had not been on Banda's ship and that Mages had said they could not control winds.

  “That Mage makes a joke,” Alain explained to the Mechanics and commons. "He pretends to berate himself for not having skills no Mage can employ."

  “Good one!” Mechanic Calu said with a little too much enthusiasm, but Alain could see that Mage Dav was pleased by the words.

  Mari’s old instructor, Professor S’san, gave her a sharp look. “All right, Mari. We’re all here. You said this was an extremely important matter. About something you found in Minut?”

  “Not directly.” Mari looked around the table. “It’s about something from Marandur.”

  General Flyn looked surprised. “The stories that you went there to find something left by Jules are true?”

  “No. We went there to find something, but the supposed link with Jules is just to cover what we really found. One of you knows the truth about this already. I’m going to tell the rest of you now. The banned technology texts that Alain and I acquired came from Marandur—from the old Guild Headquarters there.”

  Mechanic Dav reacted first. “But those texts were destroyed.”

  “No,” Mari said. “When the siege ended, the Guild didn’t know whether the texts had survived the destruction of the old Guild Headquarters. The ruins of Marandur were about to be sealed by order of Emperor Palan, so a Mechanic was ordered to determine whether the texts had been destroyed, and if not to finish the job. But he didn’t. He saved them, because he knew how important those texts were. He was your ancestor, Dav. Mechanic Dav of Midan. Do you remember how surprised I was when you told me your name the first time?”

  “Yeah.” Dav rubbed his chin, his eyes full of wonderment. “That’s what he did? He didn’t just die in the siege?”

  “No. He defied the orders of the Guild, but sent out word that the texts had been destroyed. Then he stayed in Marandur to ensure the texts were kept safely and to make sure the Guild wouldn’t find out. That’s where he died, on the grounds of the old Imperial University, and that’s where the texts were hidden until Alain and I found refuge there.”

  “Refuge?” Captain Banda asked. “In the ruins of the university?”

  “The university isn’t ruined,” Mari said. Alain could see her relief at finally being able to share the story with more people. “It wasn’t destroyed in the fighting—it had a wall around it—and so the descendants of the teachers and students who were trapped there have been able to survive. They’re barely hanging on, but they are hanging on.”

  “Astounding,” S’san murmured. “And that explains why you have not produced any other texts? It’s not because your source in Palandur has stopped providing them?”

  “Yes,” Mari said. “The Guild had copies that it moved into the vaults in Palandur when the new headquarters were built, so we’ve fed the impression that someone there was leaking copies of those copies to us. It was critically important to keep the Senior Mechanics from learning the true source of those texts, because Alain and I could carry out only a small portion of what was saved. I had to focus on those texts that would be most useful in overthrowing the Great Guilds. But there is so much more, and all of those texts that we couldn’t carry are still in Marandur.”

  “Why tell us now?” General Flyn asked.

  “Because the Mechanics Guild and the Imperials are trying very hard to learn where the texts came from,” Mari said. “Alain and I think that both the Imperials and the Guild may be close to realizing that we got the texts from Marandur.”

  Master Mechanic Lukas sat back, looking very unhappy. “Based on the texts we already have, whatever you left must be of incalculable value. The Senior Mechanics would defy the Emperor’s ban if they knew those texts were there. And if the Imperials realized it, they would lift the ban long enough to get their own hands on the texts.”

  S’san nodded, her own expression bleak. “If the Senior Mechanics get their hands on those texts they’ll be lost to this world. If the Empire gets them, they'll keep them and everything in them for themselves, sharing nothing.. How much is there, Mari?”

  “A lot more,” she said. “And what it is…I can’t begin to describe it. Mechanic Dav of Midan, the one who saved them, called those texts the future of our world, and he was right.”

  “They’re even more advanced than the texts you brought out?” Calu asked.

  “Some of it is lower-level knowledge in areas that weren’t as critical to defeating the Great Guilds,” Mari explained. “The highest-level technology in the texts is…well, magic,” Mari said, turning an apologetic look at the Mages. “Not your magic. Just technology that’s way beyond what we have, like systems that use equipment based on far-talker technology to monitor weather and predict dangerous storms.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Master Mechanic Lukas said. “The things in the texts you have are better than what we’ve got, but I can see where they came from. How could there be technology that far beyond what we have? How did the Guild ever develop that, and then keep it all secret?”

  “The Mechanics Guild did not develop it,” Mari said.

  “Are you finally going to tell them about the ship?” Mechanic Alli asked.

  “What ship?” Calu looked at her. “You know this stuff?”

  “Mari had to have one other Mechanic she could talk to about it,” Alli explained. “Tell them, Mari!”

  “The technology came on a ship from the western continent?” Captain Banda asked.

  Mari pointed upwards, her expression solemn. “No. It came on a ship from a world that is warmed by another star. The stars, most of them, are suns like our own. It was a special kind of ship designed to travel through the empty space between worlds. It was the same ship that brought people and animals and many plants to this world. The voyage took many, many years.”

  Professor S’san, for the first time that Alain had ever seen, appeared totally astounded. “How could you know this?”

  “There are people who saved artifacts,” Mari said. “Librarians. You cannot…it is impossible to describe the equipment they have preserved. Unfortunately, most of it either doesn’t work anymore or they don’t know how to make it work. You remember that ancient far-talker you showed me once, Professor? The oldest one in existence? The librarians have some, and they are among the most minor of their technological treasures. Those who founded the Mechanics Guild stole the knowledge brought from that other world, allowing only enough of it to make sure they could control Dematr. And they hid from everyone else knowledge of the ship that brought our ancestors here. I haven’t been able to tell you about the ship or the librarians because the Guild only permitted the librarians to continue in case the Guild ever needed what they had. But the Guild apparently kept them so secret that the Guild itself has probably forgotten about them. We cannot afford to let the Guild be reminded of the librarians and what they have.”

  She pointed to one the forbidden technology texts she had brought to the meeting. “You’ve all asked what that means. Demeter Projekt. That was the name of the ship. Demeter. It gave its name to this world, though over time we must have altered that to the name we know, Dematr. The texts like this were designed to allow civilization to rebuild if ever there was need. They provide step-by-step instructions for recreating the sort of things that allowed a ship to cross from one star to
another.”

  “That is why history is so short?” General Flyn said, his own expression reflecting wonder. “Only centuries, and with no mention of any time before the first cities like Landfall. I had thought the Great Guilds had destroyed any accounts of earlier times.”

  “In a way they did,” Mari said.

  “The Mechanics did,” Alain corrected. “The Mages did not come into existence until later.”

  “Right. That’s one crime the Mage Guild was not guilty of.”

  “Which star did the ship come from?” S’san asked.

  “The librarians don’t remember. They may have records that show it, but they can’t access them anymore. The planet was named Urth, though. That’s where the ancestors of all of us came from. The Mechanics aren’t the only ones who came from the stars. Everyone did.”

  “I didn’t know that any Mechanics still believed that,” Lukas said. “Strange that it turned out to be true. Can we visit these librarians and see what they have?”

  “I wish you could! But not yet. We have to keep their location secret until the Mechanics Guild is defeated. And one thing they don’t have, because the founders of the Mechanics Guild did not want to risk the librarians sharing the knowledge, is copies of the banned technology texts.” Mari paused. “So you see the reason for this meeting. If we are to ensure those texts remaining in Marandur are safe, we have to figure out a way to get there and safely depart with them. And we need to do it as fast as possible.”

  Every eye turned toward Mage Alera. She looked at the map of Dematr on one wall, then at Mari. “Elder, the journey by Roc would be long, over difficult areas and ground held by our enemies, and the Rocs would be seen as they arrived and departed.”

  Alain saw the concern underlying Alera’s impassivity. “You are uneasy about using Rocs for this task?”

  “It would be very difficult.”

  “Would it matter if they’re seen?” Calu asked. “As long as no one can attack them when they’re flying?”

  “There are Mages capable of creating Rocs who could attack,” Mage Alera said. “You saw this at the city to the north. And on such a long journey the Rocs would have to land and rest many times. Anyone could strike at them then. How much must be carried?”

  Alain picked up a box that Mari had prepared. “Like this. Only twenty.”

  “Twenty?” Alera hefted the box, shaking her head. “We do not have enough Rocs. They could not carry so much.”

  “Is there a different means of…operating your Rocs that could make it feasible?” S’san asked.

  Alera gave her a look that was vacant even for a Mage. “I have told you what a Roc can do.”

  “She does not speak out of fear for the task,” Alain told all of the non-Mages in the room. “That is not a concern for her. It is the ability to do the task.”

  “You can’t make a machine exceed its capabilities,” Captain Banda commented.

  “Or overload horses and expect them to just keep going over long distances,” General Flyn agreed.

  “Having had first-hand experience with being attacked by another Roc,” Calu added, “I can see where we can’t afford to risk that.”

  “You’re our expert on Rocs, Mage Alera,” Mari said. “I was really hoping we could get this done easily using them, but if you say it can’t be done, then we need to look at other options.”

  Calu looked at the map as well. “I assume that walking or using horses is out of the question.”

  Alain nodded. “It was very difficult for Mari and me to enter Marandur on foot, just the two of us. Departing was also very hazardous. Since our visit to Marandur became known, the Imperials have surely further tightened the security around the city. Only an army could fight its way in and back out.”

  “Against the Imperial legions on their own ground?” Flyn said with a snort of disbelief. “There isn’t any army nearly that big. And how would we even get them there? Overland through the southern mountains and the great waste, which have stopped every Imperial attempt to traverse them? Impossible. By sea? Lady Mari’s fleet is too small and too weak to face the Imperials and whatever the Great Guilds would throw at it. No offense intended, Sir Mechanic,” he added to Banda.

  “None taken,” Banda replied. “I agree with you. It would be suicide.”

  “Are we deciding this is impossible?” S’san demanded. “There must be a way.”

  “If we decide that the air and the land are closed to us, there is one more way,” Banda said. He pointed to the map. “The Ospren River runs through Marandur, and then the new capital at Palandur, and thence down to Landfall where it joins the sea.”

  Alain saw the look of dread on Mari’s face and knew that she was remembering their perilous crossing of the Ospren inside Marandur. “It is a wide and swift river,” Alain said.

  “And cold,” Mari said. “Really, really cold.”

  “And deep,” Banda added. “Before gaining command of the Pride, I was second in command on a steam ship the Guild runs on the Ospren. I know that river from years of sailing on it. I could take a steam-powered ship nearly the size of the Pride all the way to Marandur.”

  “Why would the Imperials keep the river dredged and clear all the way up to the old capital?” Master Mechanic Lukas asked. “Wouldn’t they only worry about keeping the river navigable as far as Palandur?”

  Banda smiled. “These are Imperials, governed by Imperial bureaucracy. Yes, it was nigh on two centuries ago that Emperor Palan ordered no one be allowed to enter the ruins of Marandur, and built the new capital some ways down river. But the instructions given to the Imperial offices charged with keeping the river clear never changed. They still do their work all the way up to the edge of the forbidden zone around the city. We used to joke about that when we took Senior Mechanics on pleasure cruises up the river, stopping short of Marandur of course.”

  “Well enough,” General Flyn commented, “but I don’t think the legions would just stand and watch as you went up the river.”

  “No,” Banda said. “That’s the big problem. Deception, using a smaller ship that we could try to pass as an Imperial vessel, could get us as far as Marandur. But once we were seen entering the city we would be dead in the eyes of Imperial law. And we would be seen. The legions would be ready for us when we came out. I cannot imagine any way to survive the journey back down the river to the sea.”

  “Could one of the Mage concealment spells…” Mechanic Alli began, then trailed off as every Mage shook their heads in negation.

  The long period of silence that followed was eventually broken by Professor S’san. “I will admit to have begun expecting Mages to do anything needed whether it was physically possible or not. But it seems that here we have run into a problem that neither the Mechanic arts nor the Mage arts can defeat, and the cost to this world may be immeasurable.”

  “Hold on,” Calu suddenly said. “Concealment. Alli brought that up. I…where is that?” He started looking through the technical texts on the table. “There is something in one of these— Here! How about a ship that goes under the water so the Imperials couldn’t see it going to Marandur and leaving again? —Why is everybody looking at me like that?”

  “For signs of insanity,” Lukas said. “A ship that goes under the water?”

  “It’s called a submersible. Look!” Calu held up the text so everyone else could see.

  To Alain, the picture resembled some sort of odd sea creature, as if Mechanics had built a fish just as they built their other devices.

  Lukas took the text and studied it intently. “The ship can be sealed tightly, and uses tanks that can be filled with air or water to change its buoyancy.”

  “Like taking on or removing ballast?” Banda asked, leaning to look as well.

  “Sort of, but more so.” Lukas nodded, his lips pursed as he thought. “Mechanic Calu is right that this is the design for a ship that can sail either on the surface of the water or below it. But there are some practical problems.” He po
inted at the text. “Some of the potential power sources cited are unknown to me and certainly beyond our current abilities, but I’ve seen diagrams of these internal combustion engines. We could make one—we have the metallurgy and machining capabilities—but it would be an experimental model. Would we want to use something like that for a mission this important? And those engines are very loud, according to the descriptions.”

  “Why are they loud, Sir Master Mechanic?” General Flyn asked.

  “Because they work by setting off a continuous series of little explosions inside, as if four or more rifles were being fired again and again and again without pause. Maybe not that loud, but still loud.”

  “The legions wouldn’t miss something like that,” Mari agreed, looking disappointed.

  “But those engines need air,” Calu pointed out, “just like steam boilers do, so they’re only used on the surface. Underwater, they use batteries.”

  Lukas shook his head. “I see that. Again, some of these batteries are beyond us at this time, and the basic ones the text speaks of are described as potentially dangerous because of the chemicals used. This is a great idea in terms of concealment, Mechanic Calu, but it is not practical given what we can build.”

  “It’s too bad we can’t use a boiler,” Mari said. “That’s one power source we know well.”

  “Hey,” Alli said, also leaning in to look. “Why can’t we use a boiler in this design? No batteries and no explosion engine?”

  “How would that work when it was submerged?” Lukas asked. “Where would the boiler get fresh air, and how would the exhaust gases be vented?”

  “How about if we built something like this in which almost all of the boat or ship or whatever was under the water, but a small part always stayed above?” Alli said. “That way there would be a constant source of air for the people and for the boiler, and somebody could see to steer the thing.”

  “Even a small portion above water would be seen,” General Flyn pointed out, then paused. “But it could be concealed. Not using Mage spells, but in the way commons do, with branches and sticks and leaves. We call it camouflage.”