The Pirates of Pacta Servanda (Pillars of Reality Book 4)

by Jack Campbell

  She had chosen those words carefully, and could see the reaction they caused. Especially the last sentence. She didn’t have to underline that keeping things the same had been the primary governing rule for the Guild since its founding. And everyone here had bloodied themselves against the wall of inertia that rule had created.

  “Do you really think,” Master Mechanic Lukas asked, “that you can get Mechanics, Mages, and commons to work together that way?”

  “I already have,” Mari said.

  Several moments of silence followed. Lukas looked at Mage Alain and Mage Asha, then around at the common sailors. He smiled slightly. “I’m looking forward to learning more about that, Master Mechanic Mari. All right. It’s your project. Does anyone disagree?” None of the Mechanics spoke up this time. “Now tell me where we’re going to get tools.”

  Mari grinned. “We know where to get tools. A Guild Hall. We’re heading for one right now.”

  “Edinton?” Mechanic Ken asked incredulously. “I won’t deny that Edinton has a lousy reputation and is probably riddled with dissent, but that doesn’t get you through the door, Mari.”

  “The front entrances have been reinforced even more in the last year,” Senior Mechanic Gina said. “And additional guard procedures put into place. You would need an army to break through the front door.”

  “Why do you seek ways to overcome the defenses at the front entrance?” Alain asked, drawing looks from all of the Mechanics. Only Mari knew that she had prepared him to ask that question after he had been the one to suggest to her not only attacking the Guild Hall but how to get in.

  “Because that’s the way inside,” Master Mechanic Lukas said gruffly.

  “But my training in military matters advises that when faced with strong defenses, it is better to go around them than to strike them head-on.”

  Lukas paused before answering. “There is merit in that. In theory. If you want to break something you aim for a weak point instead of hammering where it is strongest. But there isn’t any way to go around the defenses at the front. The other entrances to the Guild Hall are heavily armored and routinely locked, barred, and alarmed. I doubt with the materials available to us we could even blow our way through them.”

  “There are other ways to make openings where none exist,” Alain said.

  Master Mechanic Lukas froze with his mouth half-open.

  “You mean like when you made that opening in the deck?” Mechanic Ken asked eagerly, leaning in toward Alain. “Can you do that for a longer time?”

  “Yes,” Alain said. “On land there will be much more power to draw on. And the other Mages who follow Mari can also perform this spell.”

  “We’ve seen it,” Alli said. “It’s a solid wall, then the Mages do their thing, and there’s an opening big enough to walk through.”

  “How can they make openings in walls?” Lukas asked. “I’ve seen it, but how do they do it?”

  Alain answered. “Mages do not make openings. We create the illusion of an opening in the illusion of a wall. The illusion lasts as long as our power can sustain it, and then the illusion of the wall returns to its former appearance.”

  Mari laughed. “I’ve had this conversation before! Everyone, Alain is not messing with you. That is how the Mages think. It’s how they do something that we can’t explain. And Alain was the one who proposed this plan. Unlike me, or probably any of the Mechanics here, he actually has some training in how to conduct military operations.”

  “If we can get inside the Guild Hall somewhere far from the front entrance,” Calu said, “then we’d just be more Mechanics walking around. We could get access to things like the armory—”

  “That’s heavily alarmed and locked,” someone cautioned.

  “Why can’t a Mage make an opening in the armory?” Ken asked, looking around.

  “Bring a Mage inside a Mechanics Guild Hall?”

  “Why not?”

  “What happens when they kill somebody?”

  “Why would we kill anyone?” Alain asked. “Would that be necessary?”

  “No,” Mari said. “And if it did prove to be necessary, Mechanics would do it. We can handle our own. The Mages will not harm anyone if I tell them not to.”

  “They aren’t like other Mages, then,” someone scoffed.

  “This one is talking to us,” Master Mechanic Lukas pointed out. “I can even spot some feeling in his voice at times. No, he’s not like other Mages. And neither is the Lady Mage there. While we were pounding our heads against the front entrance fortification problem, this Mage thought of a way around it. Why haven’t Mages broken into Mechanics Guild Halls that way before this, Sir Mage?”

  “Why would Mages want to?” Alain asked.

  “Don’t Mages hate us?”

  “Mages hate no one. Mages do not care about anyone. That does not mean they will never harm them,” Alain added. “It means Mages do not care whether others are hurt or killed, because they do not believe others are real. Why attack the Mechanics unless they first attack the Mages?”

  “Which I understand did happen in the past,” Mari said. “Maybe our Guild decided in part to leave the Mages alone because the Mages did break into Guild Halls in the way Alain has suggested.”

  “Your…work,” Mechanic Ken asked. “It can’t be detected by alarm systems?”

  “It can be,” Alli offered. “If a Mage makes a hole that breaks an alarm wire, that sets off an alarm just as if someone cut it. But if we tell the Mages where to make the holes—I mean, if Mari tells them where to do it—they should be able to avoid setting off alarms. There’s about thirty of us. Counting the weapons we still have on the Gray Lady, we’ve got a dozen rifles and four pistols. That’s already a lot, but Edinton’s armory should have ten or twelve more rifles and a couple of revolvers.”

  “We go in at night,” Mari said. “We know where the security patrols travel and what their schedules are because we’ve all walked those patrols and the Guild never changes them. We know the exact layout of the Guild Hall at Edinton because the Guild builds every Hall using the same plan. I don’t know where all the alarm wiring runs but I bet some of the others of you do. We surprise everyone, we get all the weapons under our control, and when the Senior Mechanics at Edinton wake up, we’ll be in control of that Guild Hall.”

  “I’ve always wanted to loot a Guild Hall,” Bev said. “To get my hands on some of the stuff the Senior Mechanics have hidden away for only their use.”

  “I’ve wanted that longer than you have,” Lukas said.

  “Do we get a vote on this plan?” another Mechanic asked.

  Mari could see Alain’s head move very slightly to left and right in a tiny shake of disapproval. They had discussed this, too, and Alain had been very firm that while voting might be a good idea under other circumstances, it was no way to run an army.

  And while this was a very small army, it was going to attack a Guild Hall.

  “No,” Mari said. “We can discuss long term policy issues, but when it comes to a project like this, we need someone in charge.”

  “Why is that someone you?”

  Calu laughed. “Are the Mages going to listen to you?” he called to the dissenting Mechanic. “Are the commons going to do what you say? How many Mechanics in Edinton are going to look to you as someone to follow?”

  Mechanic Ken glared at the objector. “You are just like me and the others here. All except Master Mechanic Mari. We sat around as the years went by and things got worse and worse. We complained and said something ought to be done, and watched our friends get shipped off to exile or prison, and waited for someone to do something. Why follow Mari? Because she’s willing to lead! And you know what the best measures are of how good she is at that? The fact that the Guild has worked so hard to kill her, and the fact that she not only is still alive but has hit the Guild harder than we ever dreamed possible.”

  Ken pointed to the banned technology text that Lukas still held. “Anybody else who has m
anaged to get their hands on that can present themselves as a candidate to lead us.”

  “We should have an organized group in charge,” Senior Mechanic Gina said cautiously. “But when dealing with issues of Mages and commons, there is only one person who can give orders.”

  “I just don’t want her setting herself up as the only one in charge,” the dissenter complained.

  “I don’t want that, either,” Mari said. “Believe me. I want to build things and fix things, and when this is over that’s what I’m going to do. Anybody who tries to haul me into a Guild Master’s job is going to face a very nasty fight.”

  “That settles it,” Lukas said. “None of us would have been interested in joining—if you’ll forgive me, Mari—a mindless act of rebellion by a girl barely out of school. But the Guild has already made it clear how much they fear your ability to inspire other Mechanics, and it is obvious that you have put a lot of thinking and preparation into this. We’ve been looking for a leader, and we’ve found one. A leader with plans and the means to carry them out. That leaves only the question of where we’re going to take all of the equipment we will hopefully get from Edinton.”

  “I want to avoid saying that until we leave Edinton,” Mari said. “There is a place, but since we have a chance of losing someone at Edinton I don’t want to tell everyone yet and risk the Guild learning right away.”

  As the meeting broke up, Mari turned to her friends. “Thanks, guys. Alain and I should stay aboard the Pride to keep an eye on this bunch.”

  “It’s a good thing Master Mechanic Lukas backed you,” Calu commented. “He deliberately brought up issues others might use to try to undermine you so you could address them up front.”

  “Yeah,” Alli said, “but he was also testing her. I worked with Lukas enough to be able to spot that. If Mari hadn’t passed, he would have challenged her. Hey, Mari, as long as you’re staying here, maybe Calu and I should go back to the Gray Lady.”

  “You just want to be alone in that rear cabin,” Mari teased, feeling giddy with relief that she had made it through the meeting so well.

  “Stars above, yes! Calu and I got married yesterday, remember? And we didn’t get to spend last night alone.”

  “We did get to spend it playing pirate,” Calu said.

  “Yeah, we did.” Alli giggled. “That will make a great story for our kids. Playing pirate on our honeymoon night.”

  “They probably won’t want to hear about that,” Captain Banda said, approaching. “Master Mechanic Mari, my sailors and those from the Gray Lady who are still aboard this ship wish to present you with a gift.”

  “What? A gift?” She turned to see the commons gathered nearby, one from the Gray Lady in front.

  That sailor stepped forward and offered Mari something.

  She stared at the object in the sailor’s hands. “A knife?” Mari picked it up carefully, turning it to examine the weapon. It was a sailor’s knife, with a short, broad, heavy blade designed to handle dozens of tasks. The handle, gleaming hardwood inlaid with mother-of-pearl from seashells, contrasted with the dark metal of the blade. Folded into the handle was a curved spike that could be swung out for use. “It’s beautiful. Why are you giving it to me?”

  “It is traditional, Lady Mari,” the sailor said. “To gift a knife whenever someone is initiated into the fellowship of Jules.”

  “He means the pirates,” Captain Banda explained. “You can be certain that most new pirates don’t get a knife nearly that nice.”

  “Most new pirates aren’t the daughter herself,” the sailor said. “Any doubts anyone had disappeared when we saw you take this ship like Jules would have. Her blood is in you.”

  “Thank you,” said Mari, looking down at the knife, simultaneously feeling proud of the gift and embarrassed by it and the praise. “I will do my best to, uh…” Be a good pirate didn’t sound right. “Live up to the example of Jules.”

  The sailors backed away, smiling and nodding.

  “Put the knife in your teeth,” Alli suggested. “Let’s see how piratical you look.”

  “Weren’t you and Calu going back to the Gray Lady?” Mari asked pointedly. “You’re going to need your rest. How many days until we reach Edinton, Captain Banda?”

  “If these winds hold, about three days,” Banda said.

  “Three days?” Alli said. “What do you think, Calu? Are you up for three days of serious resting on our honeymoon?”

  Mari tried to keep a straight face as she shook her head at Alli. “Over the next three days you’re not supposed to be resting nonstop, wench, you’re supposed to be helping plan our attack on the Guild Hall!”

  “I am not a wench!” Alli said as Calu led her away. “I’m your armaments expert! And don’t you forget it, your daughterness!”

  “Don’t call me that!”

  Mari noticed Captain Banda smiling at her. “Your friends must be a great comfort in times of stress,” he said.

  “I don’t know if they’re always a comfort,” Mari said. “But they do help me keep my head on straight. And help keep my head from exploding when the pressure gets too high.” She indicated Alain. “But by far the most important is Mage Alain. Without him, I couldn’t do this.”

  Banda studied Alain. “It’s real, then? I’ve noticed the promise rings but didn’t wish to pry.”

  “It’s real,” Mari said, putting her arm through Alain’s.

  “You were wise not to make too much of that while convincing the others,” Banda said. “They’ve had enough to take on as it is. We’ll clean out the half of the main cabin that was occupied by the Senior Mechanics so you’ll have a place to stay on the ship. I don’t think any of the Mechanics you’ve freed will begrudge you a little more space and privacy for the next few days.”

  * * * *

  Alain woke just before dawn two days later. Mari sat in a chair before the window looking out over the stern of the Pride. He got up as well. “More nightmares?”

  She shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on the water. “Just very restless. We should reach Edinton tonight, and so many details of our plan have to wait on exactly what we find there.”

  “There is something else,” Alain said, walking to stand beside her.

  Mari sighed. “Serves me right for trying to lie to a Mage. Alain, I’m worried about what might happen. If I mess up in Edinton as badly as I did at Julesport, we could have a disaster on our hands.”

  “You messed up at Julesport?”

  “Don’t pretend otherwise,” she said unhappily. “You’ve been very nice, you and everyone else, not to bring up my mistakes. But I still made them, and things could easily have ended up a lot worse because of that.”

  Alain moved to be able to see Mari’s face. “Mistakes?”

  She glared at him. “You do remember that you were kidnapped, right? Because I wanted to play Master Mechanic and ignored my larger responsibilities? Including my responsibilities to you?”

  “This has been bothering you?” Alain sat down on the small ledge running just inside the stern window.

  “Of course it’s been bothering me! Alain, if I hadn’t sent you off alone, you wouldn’t have been kidnapped.”

  “I was not alone,” Alain pointed out. “I had soldiers of Julesport with me.”

  “That’s sort of irrelevant, isn’t it? They couldn’t protect you and I wasn’t there and they died and you got kidnapped,” Mari finished, sounding both miserable and angry with herself. “I messed that up so badly. And now we’re going into Edinton and if I mess up again like that dozens of people could die.”

  Alain paused to think his words through. “I understand your worries, but do not blame yourself for Julesport. Mari, you know I was knocked unconscious, and the soldiers were killed by Mages using spells to conceal themselves.”

  “Yes. So?”

  “The two Dark Mages we found and Mage Niaro could not have so quickly and silently killed that many soldiers. They must have had help. I have discussed
this with the other Mages, and they agree that the Mage Guild must have assisted in my kidnapping, using at least several other Mages, then turned me over to the Dark Mages for degradation and humiliation.”

  Mari frowned, then gave him a demanding look. “Why haven’t you mentioned that to me before now?”

  “Because it has been clear that you did not wish to discuss events in Julesport.”

  “All right, but so what? How does that change anything?”

  “It means,” Alain explained, “that if you had been with me, you would have been killed along with the soldiers. You could not have defended yourself against opponents you could not see. Perhaps the Mage Guild intended that and were frustrated by you not being there. Perhaps they would simply have taken advantage of the opportunity to kill you. But had we both left the city hall in Julesport at the same time, I would still have been kidnapped, and you would have died.”

  Mari stared at him, her mouth partway open. Finally recovering, she shook her head at him. “You’re saying that my unthinking and selfish decision saved my life?”

  “And mine,” Alain said. “For without you, Mage Asha could not have led the others to me.”

  She fell silent, looking past him at the waves. “All right. But even if it is true that I made the right decision for the wrong reasons, the fact remains that I had no idea it would be the right decision.”

  “Perhaps you did,” Alain said. “You stayed to fix that Mechanic device, which is of value to the commons in Julesport. That was not selfish. It placed them in your debt. Perhaps that unselfish act is what led them to ask the Confederation warships to protect our departure from the harbor.”

  Mari finally smiled slightly. “I don’t know if I believe you, but… It’s nice to think I may have at least made good mistakes.” Her smile vanished. “But Alain, everyone will be counting on me in Edinton. What if my mistakes there are all bad ones?”

  “Then you will do something to fix them,” Alain said. “That is what you do, is it not? Fix things?”

  That earned him another brief smile. “Why do they trust me, Alain? I’m not somebody like General Flyn. I’m just me. Yet they’re letting me make the big decisions about Edinton, including attacking the Guild Hall.”