The Assassins of Altis

by Jack Campbell

  The Mechanics had heard the shouts, too, and were backing along the rail in a tight group, their weapons pointed outward. Alain could see the growing fear in their eyes, the sort of alarm which could lead to panic and then the use of the Mechanic weapons. Even though the crowd of commons far outnumbered the Mechanics, Alain had seen what Mechanic weapons could do. Mari had told him that these were called “lever-action repeating rifles,” and while he did not know the meaning of that, those same weapons had wiped out a caravan which Alain had tried to protect. Alain knew that something had to be done, but he hesitated because his training as a Mage had told him nothing about how people thought. Alain had no idea how to stop the crowd before a massacre occurred.

  Then he heard Mari yelling over the sound of the crowd. “No! Stop!” Her face appeared as Mari shoved her way to the front of the frightened Mechanics despite having her arms held behind her. “They’ve got rifles, blast you! If you try to charge them a lot of you will die!”

  The Senior Mechanic in charge of the boarding party looked nervously from Mari to the crowd. “Listen to her!” the Senior Mechanic shouted.

  Mari bent an angry look on the Senior Mechanic, then faced the crowd again. “Back off. Please. For your own sakes.”

  A common stepped forward slightly from the crowd, an older man with short-cut hair and a face red with fury. “We’re willing to die for you, Daughter.”

  “I don’t want anybody dying for me!” Mari yelled back. “It’s senseless. Even if you overcome these Mechanics and free me, that still leaves that ship out there. It can shell this ship and sink it, then make sure no life boat or life raft stays afloat. You would all die. Please, let them take me.”

  “We can’t let the Mechanics destroy our only chance for freedom!” a woman cried, her voice torn between anguish and fury.

  “Don’t die in vain!” Mari called back. “As long as I live, that chance remains.”

  Perhaps inspired by Mari’s words, the Senior Mechanic drew his pistol and put the small end against Mari’s head. “Rush us and I blow her brains out! Do you hear me?”

  Alain had to restrain himself from launching a spell at the Senior Mechanic. He did not know enough about how the Mechanic weapons worked to be sure he could kill the Senior Mechanic before he killed Mari, and an attack on the Mechanic leader would surely produce an immediate reaction which would turn into the massacre which Mari feared.

  Mari’s face had gone rigid. The crowd had become suddenly silent, so Alain could hear what Mari said to the other Mechanics. “The Senior Mechanics would order your death as easily as they ordered mine, as easily as this one put a gun to my head.”

  “Shut up!” The Senior Mechanic glared at the crowd of commons. “We are going to the ladder down to our boats. She is going in the first boat, and she’ll have weapons pointed at her head the entire way. Try anything and she’ll die.”

  The commons stood glowering as the Mechanics began backing toward the ladder, the weapon of their leader staying pressed tightly against Mari’s head. As Mari’s arms were being freed for the climb down she caught a glimpse of Alain in the crowd and he saw Mari mouth the words “I love you,” then after a brief pause one more forceful, unspoken word. “Go!” A moment later she was being shoved down the ladder and out of sight.

  Alain ignored Mari’s command, but as he tried to think of a plan to save her he heard the volume of anger in the commons rising again. At least this time he knew how to halt them, by following what Mari had done. “Do not,” he called. “She asked you not to die now.”

  Eyes turned to him, one of the nearest commons giving Alain a challenging look. “How do you know she means it?”

  “Because I am her friend,” Alain replied. “Listen to Lady Mari. Another time will come.”

  “Lady Mari?” another common said. “I heard the Mechanics call her Mari.”

  “That was the name she used,” a woman called. “In the Northern Ramparts! You’re really her friend?”

  “I saw him with her earlier,” another woman said. “Side by side along the railing. They were talking.”

  “If you’re really her friend then you know that we have to do something,” another common insisted, her eyes blazing. “We can’t let them just take her!”

  Alain looked across the water toward the metal monster which was the Mechanic ship. Mari was already climbing down the access ladder on this ship into a boat which would leave at any moment. The Senior Mechanic had followed, leaving another Mechanic in charge of those still on deck. Little time remained to act, and while he was on this ship he could not help Mari. I need to get over to that strange ship with her. I cannot get over there on my own. An idea finally came to him. But perhaps I can convince these Mechanics to take me there. They are looking for a friend of Mari’s. I will create an illusion that will give them what they seek. “I will do something, convincing them to take me to that ship. If the rest of you wish to help her, then listen to what she said and trust that we will find a way to escape. Another day will come.”

  “What can you do alone?” the most belligerent common demanded.

  “I am her friend,” Alain repeated. He could tell that wasn’t enough. Too many of the commons were beginning to turn back to face the Mechanics, their expressions fixed with anger and determination. “I have traveled far with her. We have been through great perils together.”

  Another common stared at Alain. “She was traveling with a Mage. The people who saw her up north said she was traveling with a Mage.”

  Everyone nearby froze, their startled eyes on Alain. He hesitated only a moment, knowing that he had to keep these commons from rioting against the Mechanics, and to do that he had to convince them that he could do something they could not. Alain nodded once, then for a moment let his expression go into the emotionless state of a Mage. “I am her friend and her Mage and I will help her,” Alain said in a very low voice, letting his tones take on the impassive tones of a Mage. “Did you not know that of the prophecy? The daughter will unite Mages, Mechanics, and the common folk into one force which will overthrow the Great Guilds and free the world. Wait for her, as she commanded. Her day will soon come.”

  Even though commons sometimes tried to mimic the emotionless expression and voice of a Mage, none of them could drive feeling from their face or tone as a Mage could. Convinced by Alain’s demonstration, the commons made way for him, their expressions ranging from disbelief to amazement, but visible above all on their faces was a dawning and joyous hope. One man began crying, tears running down his face as he whispered the same words over and over. “She’s really come. She’s really come…”

  The other commons shushed the man, blocking him from being seen and heard by the Mechanics.

  Alain relaxed to let some emotion show again, then stepped out of the crowd. The weapons of the Mechanics still on deck instantly swung to point at him. Alain held up his hands as he had seen Mari do. “You were looking for Mari’s friend,” he said, trying to mimic the arrogant tones of a Mechanic.

  One of the Mechanics beckoned Alain closer. “That’s you?”

  Alain came closer, lowering his voice so that only the Mechanics could hear it over the growing murmuring from the crowd of commons behind Alain. “That is me,” he confirmed, trying to put a sneer into it such as the member of the Order had used at Pandin. He thought it came out sounding pretty good, or rather bad.

  The Mechanic flushed with anger and raised his weapon. “Watch how you talk to your betters, common.”

  “I am not a common,” Alain replied in the exact same tones.

  Sudden interest flared in the Mechanic’s eyes. “Another Mechanic, eh? They thought Mari had one with her. Prove it! What’s your specialty and where are you from?”

  He had to convince them. Alain kept trying to mimic the manner of the member of the Order as he answered, using information he had heard while traveling with Mari during their journey south to Marandur. “Umburan. That is where I used to work.” Specialty. What
did that mean again? Alain used the name for one of Mari’s Mechanic devices. “Far-talkers. My specialty is far-talkers.” The biggest lies he had ever told, and no one he knew was here to see how well he had done it. What a shame.

  “In Umburan?” the Mechanic pressed with skepticism Alain could easily see.

  He needed something to make the illusion complete. Details. Those mattered in forming an illusion. Mechanic Calu had told Mari something which she had then told Alain. That might provide the detail needed right now. “Yes. Umburan,” Alain replied. “The big far-talker there could not be fixed.”

  “He’s right,” another Mechanic said to the first. “Umburan was down for a long time. Besides, who knows about far-talkers except Mechanics? If he was a common he wouldn’t have heard of them.”

  “All right, then.” The Mechanic grinned unpleasantly. The crowd of commons had gone silent, listening intently to what Alain and the Mechanics were saying. “Dumb enough to join Mari but smart enough to throw yourself on the mercy of the Guild now, huh?”

  Perhaps one of these Mechanics was like Calu. “You should listen to Master Mechanic Mari. She was betrayed by her own Guild when she—”

  “Shut up! None of us want to hear any treason. And for your information, it’s just Mari now. Her Guild title has been revoked by order of the Guild Master.”

  Alain felt anger, balanced by a calm confidence he could not understand. It allowed him to maintain the cool arrogance he wanted to project. “She remains a Master Mechanic beyond any ability of anyone to deny her that status.”

  He could hear the commons behind him muttering, passing along what they had heard and commenting on it. “The daughter used to be a Mechanic, too, but she’s revolted against them to help us.”

  “Just like Jules worked for the Empire before she struck out on her own for freedom.”

  “A Mechanic, and she told us not to risk helping her so we wouldn’t be hurt. She is the daughter.”

  And one worried voice in low tones. “But maybe she’s Mara.”

  That statement was followed by grumbles about Imperials, then the Mechanics were gesturing to Alain. As he took the final steps to reach them, he could no longer make out the murmuring among the commons.

  Alain’s pack was pulled off, then another Mechanic seized his arms and pulled him toward the access ladder. “Wait, you idiot,” the first Mechanic growled. “Search him!”

  Having a Mechanic, or any stranger, run hands over him was hard for Alain to endure. As a Mage he had been taught to avoid human contact, and his time with Mari had only dented that teaching, not overcome it. He managed to stand still, even when the Mechanic doing the search paused, then reached inside Alain’s coat to surface with the long Mage knife. “Where the blazes did you get this?” he demanded of Alain.

  “I got it from a Mage,” Alain said, which was exactly what had happened. He had been presented with the knife by a fellow Mage on the day Alain had been granted Mage status.

  “You took it off a Mage?” The Mechanic grinned as he stuck the knife into one of the outside pockets on Alain’s pack. “You and that Mari have more guts than you do common sense. Did you kill the Mage?”

  “He was still alive when I took it from him.”

  “No way!”

  “Stop talking to the guy and get him into the boat!” the first Mechanic ordered.

  The man who had searched Alain went down first. Alain turned to descend, seeing that the boat carrying Mari was halfway to the Mechanic ship. In her common coat she was easy to spot among the black jackets of the Mechanics, and she seemed very alone. But not for long. He would soon be with her on that ship.

  He hoped he had done the right thing.

  As Alain began to descend, facing the crowd again, he saw the commons watching him. Always before, commons who had known he was a Mage had given him looks of fear and of disgust. But these commons looked at him with hope. It staggered Alain for a moment. Then he nodded to them, feeling a strange surge of strength within him before the Mechanics ordered him to descend.

  Reaching the bottom of the ladder and dropping into the second boat, the Mechanic in the lead gestured Alain to a seat in the center as they waited for the rest of the Mechanics to come down the ladder. “What did you guys do, anyway?” he whispered to Alain.

  What should he say to a Mechanic? “We learned things that the leaders of the Mechanics Guild did not want anyone to know. This was after the leaders of the Guild tried to have Mari killed because they feared she might someday be a threat to their authority. That happened at Ringhmon.”

  The Mechanic stared at Alain with worried eyes, then shook his head in warning to Alain not to say anything else as more Mechanics climbed down into the boat. The Mechanic leading this group came last, moving down the ladder quickly as the rest kept their weapons pointed upward toward the commons rushing forward to line the rail and look down at them. Some of the commons still carried the objects that they had seized to use as improvised weapons, but even though the menace in their postures and expressions was impossible to miss the commons all watched silently.

  “Get us back to the ship,” the lead Mechanic ordered, untying the line securing the boat to the ladder as the other Mechanics got busy putting oars in the water. “Blasted crazy commons. Mari must have been stirring them up already. She’ll get us all killed.”

  Alain shook his head. “Mari wants no one to be hurt. You heard her tell the commons not to attack you. All she wants is to fix things. She would still be loyal to the Mechanics Guild if she had not been threatened with death by its leaders while faithfully trying to carry out the orders of her Guild.”

  “I told you to shut up!” The lead Mechanic stuck the end of his weapon close to Alain’s face. “You try to rouse up any more trouble and I’ll put a bullet between your teeth.”

  At times like this, Alain’s Mage training was particularly useful. He gazed back at the Mechanic without any sign of worry or concern, and eventually the Mechanic had to lower his weapon with an angry grunt. Some of the other Mechanics grinned in admiration, and Alain realized that they had been impressed by his impassivity in the face of the threat. He nodded calmly to them, wondering if any of these Mechanics were like Mari’s friends, Mechanic Calu and Mechanic Alli.

  As the boat came around, the setting sun glared into Alain’s eyes. He sat silently as the boat he was in crossed the distance between the ships, seeing the boat ahead carrying Mari reach the Mechanic ship. He saw her climb up the ladder, the Mechanic behind her holding one of the long weapons pressed against her. As she reached the top of the ladder, Mari was shoved out of his sight and into the metal hull of the ship. Alain watched, hoping that he would soon see Mari again.

  As soon as his own boat was tied to the Mechanic ship, Mechanics pushed Alain to the wood and rope ladder going up the metal side of the Mechanic ship. He went up as fast as possible, on the chance that Mari might still be near the ladder, but he saw no sign of her when he reached the deck. Mechanics there grabbed him and used their weapons to prod him along the deck, through an entry with a metal hatch, and through more hatches and passageways and down steep metal stairways until he was thoroughly lost. The interior of the metal ship was well lit by glass globes that glowed with a steady, bright light, another Mechanic trick which his elders had once assured Alain did not actually work.

  Reaching an open hatch giving access to a very small room, Alain’s escort used blows from their weapons to propel him inside hard enough that he fell. His escorts then slammed the hatch, leaving Alain in total darkness. He heard a metallic rasping which he assumed was a lock being fastened on the outside of the hatch.

  Alain rolled to a sitting position, wondering how many new bruises he had picked up today, where his pack had been taken, and most importantly where Mari was now. He tried to remember if there had been another locked hatch located next to the one he had been shoved through. It seemed reasonable that the prisoners would be confined near each other, especially since the Mech
anics who had taken them into captivity did not think either of them could walk through a metal wall.

  Not that he could walk through many walls out on the sea. The power here was very limited, as it always was on the water, though the reasons for that remained unknown to Mage elders. But he still felt the aftereffects of that strange burst of power as the commons had looked at him, and now as the motion of the ship changed to mark it moving ahead, Alain could feel new power becoming available as the ship traveled across the sea. He had felt something like that on the Mechanic train, moving so rapidly that the flow of power was always renewed by reaching new supplies of it. It was strange to think that a Mechanic creation could thus benefit the work of a Mage. In this case, it might be what allowed him to rescue Mari.

  Alain calmed himself, reaching out his mind to sense Mari’s presence. The thread he had first sensed between them in Ringhmon was strong again, leading unerringly to one side. From the strength of the thread and the intensity of Mari’s presence at the other end, she must be very close. Unable to see anything in the total darkness of his cell, Alain crawled over a rough and uneven surface made up of big ropes coiled on the deck until he reached a barrier. Alain rapped the metal wall, listening for a response.

  After a moment there was a knock back.

  Her presence had flared when he knocked, so it must be her on the other side. Alain sat back, thinking. Getting through a Mechanic metal wall should not be any different from getting through any other wall. Nothing was real, every wall and everything else being just illusions born of his mind. As the wall was imaginary, he would imagine an opening in it, creating and maintaining the illusion upon an illusion with the help of the power the world held here.

  The spell posed an unexpected problem, though. How did he imagine a hole in a wall when he could not see the wall? His elders had always taught that a Mage must be viewing what should be changed. Alain frowned at where the wall should be, trying to think of a way around that.