The Assassins of Altis

by Jack Campbell

  “Captain Patila,” Mari began.

  “Look, you don’t owe me anything,” Patila said. “But I wanted to tell you something I couldn’t when others were around. There are a lot of commons like Jorge. They’re scared. Worried about their homes and families and all. They’re unhappy with how things are but frightened of how much worse they could get.”

  “They’re not the only ones worried about that,” Mari said.

  “Yeah. I could tell. So, you need to know, if the daughter starts raising an army, a lot of commons will want to join, but many of those won’t be able to, because they’ll be trying to keep the lid on things at home, trying to keep their cities from boiling over and protecting their own places and people from whatever the Great Guilds try to do to stop the daughter.” Patila gave Mari a somber look. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” Mari said. “I wouldn’t ask anyone to abandon their responsibilities.”

  “Are you a Mechanic?”

  Mari grimaced. “Yes. And no. I’m not a member of the Guild anymore.”

  “Her Guild wants to arrest and kill her,” Alain said.

  “Yours, too?” Patila asked. “I thought so. The daughter is poison to them. Are you going to be in Altis long?”

  “I don’t think so,” Mari said. “There’s something I need to do and then we’re leaving.”

  “That’s good. Altis can be hard to get out of, so it’s not a good place to be trapped if anybody happened to be hunting you. I don’t need to know your business. You shouldn’t have any more trouble in Altis. Not from common folk, anyway. I’m only here for a couple of days myself, then I’m heading back to my unit. I need to pass on word to some people, higher-ups, to let them know it’s real, that she’s for real, and that we had better brace ourselves for the blast when the world learns about it.” She studied Mari again. “You know, if anybody had come strutting around, claiming to be the daughter and telling everybody what to do, I wouldn’t have been happy. Somehow I always thought that the daughter would be about us, not about her, and that’s how I’d know she was real. That’s why I got involved back there, and I think that’s why Jorge tried to trip you up. The people who meet you know that you’re the real deal, and not all of them are going to be happy about that. Good luck, daughter.”

  Patila veered off, walking down the street without looking back.

  “She did not lie,” Alain told Mari.

  “I already knew that,” Mari said. “You and I are going to keep our heads down, talk to as few people as we can, say as little as we can, find that tower, and then get out of Altis.”

  “Where will we go?” Alain asked.

  “I am really hoping that something we find at the tower will help us decide that,” Mari said. “But at this moment, we need to get out of the low port and up to the city.”

  She stopped to ask directions of some commons while Alain kept an eye on the crowds around them. The low port felt as low-key and casual as the customs official they had dealt with, and Alain felt himself relaxing a little as well. He could see numerous taverns lining the waterfront and guessed that come evening there would be plenty of high-pressure activity here as sailors relieved themselves of their money and their worries. But for now the low port just showed the bustle of trade and the movement of cargos and passengers. There was no sign of the betrayer Jorge, and Alain’s foresight offered no warning.

  But then it had also offered no warning before their near-conflict with the local officials.

  Alain followed as Mari led them through the streets of the low port, then up the long slope to Altis proper. “Some older and wiser Mechanics I knew at the academy told me that jewelers in ports are not to be trusted,” she explained to Alain. A few moments later, as if invoked by Mari’s mention, a trio of Mechanics came into view, swaggering down the street alongside each other so that everyone else was forced to move aside. Mari bent her head as if laboring under her pack while the Mechanics passed, unobtrusively putting Alain between herself and them. Alain saw one of the Mechanics give him a disinterested glance, then the group of Mechanics had passed.

  Mari straightened, her face sad. “Why do I have to hide from my former comrades? That still hurts. We’ll take pains to avoid the area around the Mechanics Guild Hall, though.”

  Alain nodded. “As well as the Mage Guild Hall. There are a good number of Mages here, though I can sense no sign of worry among them.”

  “Does worry show up somehow in what you can sense?”

  “Not directly,” Alain explained. “I sense what is happening. If Mages are trying to hide themselves, if many are practicing spells, or if there is a strange lack of any spell activity, these would all be signs that something is amiss.”

  “Can you tell if there are any Mages you know here at Altis?”

  He shook his head. “I cannot feel the presence of anyone I know. That is not too surprising. Altis is a backwater. The harbor is magnificent, but the island itself offers little beyond spectacular scenery.”

  “And an ancient tower full of answers, we hope.” They had reached the city after toiling up the rise. As the street leveled out, Mari’s face brightened when she caught sight of a casually elegant storefront. “Aha! Shah Jewelers of Altis. Not too fancy and not too cheap. Just what we need.”

  “Should we take time for this?” Alain asked. “After the incident on the quay—”

  “Alain,” Mari whispered, her voice intense, “I am running for my life and liable to be killed at any time. I’m expected to save all of Dematr from your chaos storm and overthrow the Great Guilds. I don’t think it’s too much to ask if I take a very little time to get the rings that will show how proud we are to be each other’s partner in life.”

  He considered possible responses before replying. “That is wise.”

  Mari stared at him, then muffled a laugh. She pulled out some coins and held them up before Alain. “I hadn’t mentioned this before, but do you remember that bag of food my mother gave us?”

  “I recall there were some cookies within it which I never saw,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah, the cookies. There weren’t very many of them.” She made a pleading gesture begging forgiveness. “It had been so long since I’d had my mother’s cookies.”

  “Next time I would like some.”

  “You will. I promise. Anyway, Mother stuck a fair amount of money in with the food she gave us. I didn’t realize it until we were out at sea, of course, or I’d have given it back. She knew that, which is why she hid it in the bottom. I’ll pay her back someday, but since we’re stuck with it, I can’t think of a better use for some of it than paying for our rings, can you?”

  “I am sure that would bring your parents joy,” Alain agreed. He wondered if Eirene had gotten around to telling Mari’s father that Mari intended to marry a Mage. That news might not have brought all that much joy.

  A short time later, Alain made a fist of his left hand and contemplated the bright gold band on the third finger. He felt somehow very different. It seemed such a small thing to be able to make such a big change in his own world.

  Mari came beside him and spread her own hand next to his so their rings lay side-by-side. “Like us,” she whispered. “Next to each other. Isn’t this great? This makes it official.”

  “I thought the ceremony at Caer Lyn made the marriage official,” Alain said.

  “Well, yes, it did, but the rings make it officially official,” Mari explained, hoisting her pack onto her back once more.

  “Officially official?” Alain asked.

  “Yes. Now let’s find that tower.”

  Unfortunately, finding the way to the tower proved frustrating. Mari insisted on going first to a large and neatly laid out map store, where young clerks tossed the question of the tower among themselves, then finally asked a middle-aged supervisor who shook his head. “Our maps show everything that’s there. If it’s not on the map, it’s not there,” he pronounced confidently, pointing to the same motto engraved over t
he doorway.

  Asking passing citizens of Altis was also fruitless. “A big tower? Somewhere in the interior? Never heard of it. There aren’t even any roads into the interior. Nothing’s there.”

  Some members of the city guard they asked also had no idea what they meant. “If a tower like that could be found on the island, we’d know about it.”

  The clerks at the city records hall expressed total confidence that no such tower could really be on the island. “It’s not on the property tax rolls, so it can’t exist.”

  Alain finally suggested that they try another mapmaker. “Not one who makes maps for today only. If this tower is a thing of history, then those who map history might know of it.”

  Footsore by this time, and with the day well along, Mari agreed. She did seem skeptical of the place Alain selected, though, a small mapmaker’s establishment which appeared to be as ancient as the city, with maps and documents piled up inside the dusty windows. To Alain, this was just the place for finding memory, but Mari shook her head. “How about we find some place where things are filed and neat and clean?”

  “We have tried one such place. I believe that the map which we seek will not be found in a drawer,” Alain replied.

  Mari made a defeated gesture and waved him inside.

  “The old tower?” The mapmaker’s shop which Alain had chosen proved to be a joint venture between an elderly man and his wife, both of whom had obviously been at their trade for a long time. The old man nodded in instant recognition. “I haven’t been asked about that since…”

  “The year of the current Emperor’s inauguration,” his wife finished.

  “Yes! But that wasn’t someone asking how to get there…”

  “It was someone who had seen it in the distance and wondered what it was,” his wife completed the sentence.

  “We couldn’t tell him that…” the man confessed.

  “But we could tell where he had seen it,” his wife added.

  Mari hid a smile behind her hand, glancing at Alain. “Can you tell us how to get to it?”

  The old couple dug through large, shallow drawers and piles of maps, searching for the drawing they needed, before eventually surfacing with a map of a part of the island which was well inland. “This is the best map…” the man assured Mari.

  “For anyone seeking the tower,” his wife agreed.

  “The tower is…”

  “There,” his wife noted, using her finger to point out a spot.

  The man inked a quill and made a small notation. “Yes, there.”

  Alain studied the map, trying to understand what it showed. “What do all these lines around the tower mean?”

  “Mountains, lad! Very rough terrain there. You see?” The man traced peaks with his fingers.

  “The tower sits in a sort of bowl-shaped valley,” his wife said.

  “Not well mapped, that area,” the husband added.

  “No reason for it,” his wife agreed.

  “That’s why so few know of the tower…”

  “Because the heights around block any view of it.”

  Mari looked at the map as well. “No one climbs these heights?”

  “Why would they?” the man said.

  “There’s nothing there,” his wife added.

  “Except the tower…”

  “And the mountains.”

  Mari held out a coin for the map. “I don’t suppose you have any idea whether or not anyone still lives in the tower?”

  The old couple exchanged surprised looks. “No…” the husband said.

  “No idea at all,” the wife conceded. “Why are you interested in it?”

  “I like old things,” Mari answered with another smile.

  “Except when it comes to men, eh?” the wife replied, pointing to the obviously new rings on Mari’s and Alain’s fingers. “My man is old and comfortable now, but he was as raw and young as this one, once.”

  “You were pretty raw and young yourself in those days,” her husband noted. “But mainly pretty. Still are.”

  “Men take a while to train,” his wife confided to Mari, “but I found it worth the effort.” She handed Mari back the coin. “Take the map as your promise gift from us. We’ll not have it otherwise.”

  “I couldn’t—” Mari started to protest.

  “It’ll make us happy, girl,” the woman suggested with a smile.

  “You’d not deny us some happiness?” her husband asked.

  “Would you?” his wife finished.

  “No,” Mari said in a very soft voice. “I would not. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

  Once outside the mapmakers’ shop, Mari stared upward, toward the peaks rising inland. “Alain, those two were common folk. The sort of people you and I were taught by our Guilds to hold in contempt.”

  “That is true,” Alain agreed. “For your Guild. Mine taught me that they did not even exist and so were not even worth contempt.”

  “I don’t know what we’ll find at this tower, what answers it might hold, but when I meet people like that I already know in my heart that neither Mechanics nor Mages are some sort of superior beings. They are taught to look down upon the common folk, and I think an unquestioned sense of entitlement and superiority is more likely to make someone inferior in spirit. No one should be certain that they are better than everyone else.”

  “Not all commons are good.”

  “No. Of course not.” Mari took a look at the map, her lips spreading in a broad smile. “Do you think we’ll ever be like that? Finishing each other’s sentences? As comfortable together as a pair of trees which have grown into each other’s embrace?”

  “I hope so,” Alain said.

  “Me too. I’m going to keep this map safe all of my life, as a memento to remind me of them.” She looked around. The number of people, horses and wagons on the streets of Altis had diminished, and shadows were filling the streets as the sun fell low. “It’s late, and according to this we’ve got at least a few days’ walk to get to that tower. Tonight we’ll get some food, wine and water for the trip, but there’s no sense in trying to start until morning.”

  #

  The mapmaker’s shop was on the edge of town, so they had to backtrack into the city to find some accommodations for the night, then a little farther yet to get something to eat. Mari looked up the street as they finally located an eatery and was startled to see that they had come far too close for comfort to the Mechanics Guild Hall. Several long blocks still separated them from the open plaza around the Guild Hall, but that wasn’t far enough for her peace of mind. “Let’s get something and get out of here,” she muttered to Alain as they walked into the restaurant. She stood checking the list of items on the menu. “Good. They sell things we can wrap up and take on our hike.” Mari looked at Alain. “Do you—? What?”

  Alain used one hand to gesture toward a female Mechanic who must have come in behind them and was now alone at a corner table and staring in their direction. Mari felt a momentary stab of panic, then recognized who was sitting there. “Alli! What’s she doing here on Altis? Alain, I know her. She’s my best friend.”

  “You have spoken of Alli.”

  “Yes.” Mari looked around, running her hands nervously through her hair, grateful to see that no other Mechanics were in the café at the moment. “You’d better keep an eye out while I talk to her.” Mari walked toward Alli’s table.

  As she got closer Alli’s eyes widened and she waved Mari over. “Mari?” Alli breathed. “It is you. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you walk in here. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”

  Mari sat down, shrugging. “Well, I know there’s an arrest order out on me.”

  “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “Of course it bothers me. It also bothers me that the Guild intends to kill me after it questions me.”

  Alli stared at her. “Who told you that?”

  “A very experienced professor, and a Senior Mechanic confirmed it when
she thought I was safely under arrest.” Mari smiled apologetically. “But I got away.”

  “Mari, you used to be sort of a rebel, but this…” Alli shook her head. “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Have you heard from Calu?”

  “Yeah. He sent me a letter using a commons courier service instead of the Guild’s postal system. I got the impression he still couldn’t say much, though. I could barely work out between the lines that he’d met you and that there was some kind of big trouble.”

  “Really big trouble,” Mari agreed, then gave Alli a curious look. “What are you doing in Altis? Why did you leave Danalee?”

  Alli looked cross. “I left because I was ordered to leave. I’ve been internally exiled by the Guild. That’s thanks to a certain Master Mechanic with an arrest order out for her.”

  “Oh, no. Alli, are you serious?”

  “Not really.” Alli dropped her annoyed look and smiled ruefully. “I mean, I did get sent here under a dark cloud, but it’s not really your fault. Not completely, anyway. I kept digging into old designs. None of them were supposed to be off limits, none of them were restricted, but the Senior Mechanics kept complaining anyway about me trying to build things. None of them were new, but a lot of it hadn’t been worked with for a while. I kept getting told I was innovating! Heavens forbid I should innovate, right? Like those weapons I gave you. I think that was the last straw that got me exiled here. What did you do with them, anyway? The way I got interrogated about them made me think you’d tried to blow up a Guild Hall or something.”

  “I never used them against the Guild,” Mari denied. “I only used one, actually, and that was because I had to kill a dragon.”

  “What?” Taken aback, Alli peered at Mari. “You had to kill a what?”

  “A dragon. And Alli, it worked great. It was a huge dragon and it never stood a chance. Your weapon nailed it with one hit.”

  Alli smiled proudly, then remembered what they were talking about. “You’re serious? Please tell me you’re not joking. Or crazy. There’s been some talk about…you know.”