Fate of the Free Lands

by Jack Campbell

  “That’s your plan?” Grace asked.

  “Yes, Lady Senior Mechanic. Convince every free settlement that when Dor’s is threatened they need to send people to help defend that wall, and get every free ship to gather in the waters off of Dor’s Castle to defeat the Imperial invasion.”

  The senior mechanics all smiled. “And while that force of commons defeats the Imperial attack,” Rhian said, “the Guild can sit back, applaud, and afterwards deal with a chastened and weakened Emperor. We won’t have to risk open confrontation and war.”

  “We can’t just sit back,” Grace said. “The stakes are too high. We have to do what we can to ensure that this girl survives and convinces the other commons to support her plan. Here.” Senior Mechanic Grace pushed a small wooden box across her desk toward Jules.

  Jules stepped forward to pick up the box. Opening the lid, she saw inside the box a wooden shelf with large holes in a regular array. Set into each hole, nose down, was cartridge.

  She counted them in disbelief. “Twenty? You’ve giving me twenty cartridges?”

  “You’re going to need them,” Senior Mechanic Uri said. “The Mages are growing desperate.”

  “Keep the second revolver as well,” Grace told Jules.

  Jules nodded in reply, momentarily lost for words. They were giving her twenty more cartridges, an unbelievable arsenal for a common. They accepted her reasoning, agreed with her on what the Empire would do, and liked her plan.

  She felt herself relaxing, no longer as frightened, thinking perhaps she could work with these people rather than covertly fighting them every step of the way.

  And then her memory conjured up the sight of Mechanic Hal on the beach at Julesport, despairingly describing how Mechanic Gayl had disappeared, and how he had been forced to run for his life.

  These Senior Mechanics were among the leaders of the Mechanics Guild. Only Senior Mechanic Grace had been referred to as a “grand master,” but the others were clearly important. Which meant they were important parts of the system that caused the disappearance of Mechanics who said the wrong things. Grace herself might have given the order for Hal’s arrest, and for Gayl’s disappearance. And that was how they treated other Mechanics.

  She could never forget who these Mechanics were, Jules told herself. Never forget that while they were happy to use her, to praise her for doing what they wanted, they’d never regard her as an equal. If she crossed them, outright refused their orders or defied the Mechanics Guild, she might disappear as well. To them, every common was merely a tool, something to be used. Jules had been a particularly useful tool, but that was all she would ever be to them. And other commons were far less. Even now their plans weren’t about freedom for people oppressed by the Empire, but about creating stability so that their rule of the world wouldn’t be challenged.

  It was a great pity, Jules thought, that none of these Senior Mechanics would be alive to see the daughter of her line break their Guild.

  “I think we’ve resolved all of the important issues,” Senior Mechanic Grace said, looking at the others.

  Her voice came back as Jules realized there was another problem she hadn’t brought up. “Lady Senior Mechanic, there’s something I’m concerned about.”

  Had she pushed her luck too far? Grace and the others eyed her for a moment before Grace finally nodded. “What is it?”

  “The Mages, Lady Senior Mechanic. You’ve figured out how to support me with your devices, the revolver, I mean. What if the Mages decide to begin supporting the Empire directly?”

  “By doing what?” Senior Mechanic Uri asked.

  “By having Mages operate alongside legionaries,” Jules said. “Using their abilities in direct support of the Imperial forces.”

  Rhian shook her head. “That would risk exposing the Mages as frauds. All of the Imperial forces would see that the Mage tricks didn’t actually produce any real results.”

  At least Mechanics were consistent in their willful blindness when it came to Mages, Jules thought. But that wouldn’t help her or the free commons if her fears came to pass.

  To her relief, the oldest male senior mechanic frowned. “But it would have an impact on the commons fighting the Imperial forces. Their superstitious fear of the Mages might make it hard for them to stand against legionaries alongside Mages.”

  “We’ll have to keep that possibility in mind,” Grace agreed. “If the Mages do weigh in that way, we’ll have to provide more of our weapons to the other side to balance it out.”

  “And so they can kill more Mages,” Uri said with a smile.

  “You know what to do,” Senior Mechanic Grace said with another smile at Jules. “Keep it up and maybe several years from now you can earn the right to wear that jacket.”

  Another vague offer to be a Mechanic herself someday. What should she say? I’ll see you dead first probably would be a mistake. “Thank you, Lady Senior Mechanic,” Jules said, trying to sound grateful rather than repulsed.

  Uri went to the door, opening it and speaking to the Senior Mechanic who’d waited outside. “Take her back— No, wait. Get her two new revolvers and take those ones she has. They probably need maintenance and cleaning. Then have her taken back to her ship. Same orders, but this time if Mages try to attack, our Mechanics are authorized to shoot.”

  None of those in the room said goodbye to Jules, just as none of them had made any polite greeting when she arrived. They were, after all, Mechanics, and she was a common. The senior mechanic took Jules to another room where a massive door protected ranks of shelves. A Mechanic on duty there took her two revolvers, shaking her head in disgust at their condition, and returned with two new ones. “She has to sign for them,” the Mechanic told the Senior Mechanic. It was only at that point that Jules realized the Mechanic on duty had mistaken her for a real Mechanic because of the jacket.

  The senior mechanic shook his head. “No written records of this, by order of Grand Master Grace.”

  Heading back toward the entrance, Jules and the senior mechanic passed a column of boys and girls of various ages marching through a hallway wearing serious expressions. How many of them had been born to Mechanics, and how many had been stolen from common families because they passed the Mechanics Guild tests? Jules looked away, not wanting to know, because she could do nothing about it.

  When they passed other Mechanics, Jules took quick glances to see if any were Lady Mechanic Verona, Mak’s lost daughter, but saw no sign of her.

  The eight younger Mechanics were all waiting at the main entrance. “Take her back. Same procedure,” the senior mechanic told them. “Except this time if attacked you can shoot.”

  Seeming more intimidated than enthused about the chance to engage in a fight with Mages, the young Mechanics once again made a circle with Jules in the center as they headed out of the Guild Hall and down the stairs.

  Full night had fallen, the Guild Hall blazing with light behind them, scattered lanterns on the streets ahead, and patches of darkness on all sides. “Do any of you guys have any experience fighting Mages?” one of the Mechanics muttered to the others as they made their way across the wide plaza.

  “I do, Sir Mechanic,” Jules said, not certain if she should have answered or not.

  “Oh, that’s great. The common does.”

  “Shut up, idiot,” another Mechanic said. “She’s that one.”

  They headed down a wide street with too few lanterns for either its width or its length. Ahead, long before the waterfront, their path was shrouded in darkness. Their footsteps sounded unnaturally loud on the empty street. The Mechanics looked about, the ones with the “rifles” fingering them nervously.

  Something was wrong, Jules realized. “Um, Sir Mechanic, Lady Mechanic—”

  “What?” one of the women growled at her.

  “Shouldn’t there be a lot of people on this street? Commons?”

  The group stumbled to a halt, the Mechanics searching the night. “The lanterns up ahead have been put out
,” one of them said. “You, girl, why wouldn’t there be commons on this street?”

  “They’d be avoiding it,” Jules said, “if they saw signs of trouble. Or Mages.”

  “Blazes,” another Mechanic muttered, his hands tight on his weapon.

  Ahead and around them, the darkness seemed to press in.

  Chapter Nine

  “We’ll see them coming, won’t we?” the Mechanic in the lead whispered.

  “Not necessarily, Sir Mechanic,” Jules said.

  He looked back at her. “You said you’d fought Mages. More than once?”

  “Yes, Sir Mechanic.”

  “Suppose we wanted to avoid fighting Mages. What should we do?”

  One of the women spoke up in incredulous tones. “You’re asking a common for advice?”

  “This common is the subject matter expert! Am I wrong? Come on, what’s your advice?”

  Jules looked ahead into the deep darkness. “Do something different. Unpredictable. Mages sometimes know what people are planning. I don’t know how. Like now, waiting on this road for us.”

  “So if we go another route we’ll throw them off?”

  “That’s what I’d do, Sir Mechanic.” Jules sensed the hesitation in the Mechanics around her. “Mages chased me all through Landfall, and out, and back again. I’m still alive.”

  “All right. Wendi, left or right?”

  “Ummm…right,” one of the Mechanics said.

  “Let’s go.” The Mechanic led the way back a short distance and then down a side road, the entire group moving quickly. “Myke, left, right, or straight ahead?”

  “Straight.”

  They kept it up, wending through the town using random choices until the group reached another wide street, this one well lit. “Let’s head for the pier,” the leader ordered. “Double-time, people.”

  The Mechanics broke into a trot, Jules staying in the center.

  They’d gone perhaps halfway when Jules spotted something out of the corner of her eye. “Mages to our left,” she gasped between breaths.

  The Mechanics on the left looked that way. “I see them.”

  “What’re they doing?” the leader asked.

  “Just standing there.”

  Jules managed a better look. “They’re looking inland. With their hoods up they can’t see us from this angle.”

  “How do you know that?” the Mechanic leader demanded.

  “I stole a Mage’s robes and wore them to get away one time,” Jules said.

  “How’d you steal a Mage’s robes?” one of the women asked.

  “I knocked her out.”

  “You… Why are we protecting her again?”

  They’d kept moving, and as the Mages to the left were lost to sight behind buildings the leader slowed their pace, which was attracting attention from the commons.

  “There’s one Mage up ahead,” the leader said. “Crossing from our right to our left. Doesn’t seem to notice us. Everybody keep on. Common, stay low so they can’t see you.”

  Resentful at the tone and the orders, Jules nonetheless saw the wisdom in what the leader of the Mechanic group said. She hunched over a bit, losing any ability to see past the Mechanics crowded around her.

  Jules was surprised soon after when she realized they’d turned onto a pier. The Mechanics were relaxing a bit as they walked, audibly sighing with relief as they came even with the big Mechanic ship tied up there. Jules stole a glance at it, seeing how the metal structure rose above the deck in tier upon tier.

  “You go down first,” the leader told Jules.

  She grasped the second revolver firmly as she went down the wooden ladder to the boat astern of the ship. The box of cartridges had barely fit into one of her pockets, but the revolver would have only fit inside one of the pockets of the Mechanic jacket, and she didn’t expect to be wearing that much longer.

  Jules had barely taken the middle of the center seat when the Mechanics came down the ladder quickly, once again taking seats around her. “What’s this chest?” the leader asked the Mechanics on the pier, pointing to a small chest resting next to the middle seat.

  “We don’t know,” one replied. “They brought it from the ship and said to give it to her,” he added, pointing to Jules. “Orders from a Guild Master. We weren’t told anything else.”

  “Fine. Let’s get going.”

  She couldn’t see what was happening behind her in the stern of the boat, but it began shaking gently again, the lines were cast off, and the boat curved out into the harbor. They were quickly in among anchored ships with one or two lanterns marking them, the dark water showing rippling reflections of the lights.

  “It should be easy from here on out,” the leader commented.

  “Hey,” another of the male Mechanics said, looking at Jules, “have you got a boyfriend?”

  Before Jules could recover from her surprise enough to answer, realizing with a shock that a male Mechanic hitting on her wouldn’t be doing so because of the prophecy, a female Mechanic laughed. “Seriously, Myke?”

  “Hey,” the male Mechanic protested, “they said it’s all right to look outside Mechanic ranks for partners. They’re encouraging it!”

  “Yeah, but her?”

  “What? She’s smart.”

  Another female Mechanic joined in. “Sure she is. Have you been listening to her? She’s also dangerous. A shorted power line sends off nice sparks, but you probably don’t want to grab it.”

  “I don’t know,” another male Mechanic said. “Sometimes that kind of danger is pretty attractive in a girl.”

  “Stars above! What is wrong with guys?” The female Mechanic who’d spoken last noticed Jules watching and listening. “You look surprised. Why?”

  Jules weighed whether to be candid, and decided to risk it. “It was just, listening to you, you seemed like any other group of people. Not Mechanics. Just people.”

  Instead of being offended, the woman grinned and pointed to the second man who’d spoken. “Don’t let looks fool you. That guy is an architect. He’s not like other people.”

  “And proud of it,” the male Mechanic replied. “Why does that surprise you?” he asked Jules. “That we sound like people?”

  “Common folk like me rarely see that side of Mechanics,” Jules said.

  After a brief pause, one of the women shook her head at Jules. “You’re getting into Guild politics there. Better we don’t start that debate.”

  “People are people,” one of the men said.

  “Not Mages,” Jules said. “They’re different when you talk to them.”

  Another pause, then the first female Mechanic leaned close to Jules. “You’ve talked to a Mage?”

  “More than one, Lady Mechanic,” Jules said.

  “Why did they talk to you instead of ignoring you or trying to kill you?”

  “They were dying.”

  Another, longer pause before the first female Mechanic spoke again. “You really have killed Mages?”

  “Yes,” Jules said. “They…they think differently.”

  “Any idea why?” one of the men asked. His voice sounded genuinely curious rather than mocking.

  “I think it has something to do with the scars.”

  “Scars?”

  “They all have scars on them. Not recent. As if they were the result of a lot of beatings when they were young.”

  “Mages,” another Mechanic muttered in disgust. “Why do you sound like you’re sorry for them?”

  “I am sorry for them,” Jules said. “For whatever was done to them to make them Mages.”

  “But you’ve killed Mages,” the first woman said.

  “Yes. And I’ll kill more if I have to. I’ll kill anyone I have to.”

  The Mechanics exchanged looks. “She’s not a downed power line,” one finally said. “She’s an over-pressurized boiler. Still want her as a girlfriend, Myke?”

  “Maybe,” Mechanic Myke said.

  The other Mechanics laughed.r />
  Jules listened, wondering what these Mechanics would do or say if she told them of Mechanic Hal and Mechanic Gayl. If they knew nothing of such things, they’d be sure she was lying. And if they did know of them, they wouldn’t be eager to risk the same fate for themselves by doing or saying the wrong thing.

  Maybe that also made them just like other people.

  The boat finally reached the Sun Queen, coasting along to the bottom of the Jaykob ladder with effortless ease. “Jacket,” the Mechanic leader said, holding out his hand to Jules.

  She pulled off the Mechanics jacket, trying not to show how relieved she was to rid herself of it.

  “Chest,” he said, pointing.

  Jules tried hefting it, finding it surprisingly heavy for its size. “Somebody up there drop a line so we can haul up this chest!” Jules called to those on the deck of the Sun Queen.

  A line came down, she knotted it securely about the chest, checked that the small wooden box was still securely in her pocket, grasped the second revolver firmly, and reached for the ladder.

  But paused to look around at the Mechanics who’d escorted her. “Thank you, Sir Mechanics, Lady Mechanics.”

  “We were just following orders,” one of the women said. “Go kill some more Mages for us.”

  Jules climbed the ladder while the chest was hauled up beside her. By the time she reached the deck the Mechanic boat had already left and was being lost to sight as it wended among the anchored ships between the Sun Queen and the pier.

  “Is everything all right, Cap’n?” Ang asked as other crew members crowded around.

  “I think so,” Jules said. “But Mages may have been looking for me in town. Let’s get back out to sea and head north to Marida’s.”

  “Aye. Gord, help the cap’n get that chest into her cabin. The rest of you get on the capstan to raise the anchor and get ready to make sail.”

  Jules paused in her cabin only long enough to stow the extra revolver and tell Gord where to set down the chest. She went back on deck as the Sun Queen’s anchor cleared the water and the sails were unfurled to catch the mild wind inside the harbor. Coming about, the ship tacked across the gentle waters, Jules and Ang watching closely to ensure the ship remained in the safe channel with enough water under keel. The Sun Queen sailed past the still-glowing beacon on Meg’s Point, and out into the rougher swells of the sea.