Chapter Eight
Mari wasted a precious second gaping at Alain. Not because she was surprised by his sudden appearance; she had seen the door catch on something and knew it meant that Alain was close by. What stunned her was seeing the Mage holding a Mechanic rifle as if he intended using it. Fortunately, the other Mechanics were a lot more shocked by Alain’s appearing out of nowhere than she was, giving Mari time to recover and hastily seize another rifle from the unresisting hands of a second Mechanic. Stepping back, Mari leveled the rifle at her former guards. “The rest of you set down your weapons slowly. Don’t make any noise. I know the Guild intends to kill me, so I’ve got nothing to lose by killing you all.”
The Mechanic who had hit her with his rifle shook his head. “You can’t get away, you idiot. You’re on a ship at sea.”
“Then there’s no sense in you dying trying to stop me, is there?” Mari answered coolly.
Mechanic Kalif was staring at Alain. “How did you get out of your cell?” He turned an accusing gaze on the sentry, who mimed bafflement.
Alain answered calmly, though not as impassively as a Mage would have. “There are things the Mechanics Guild does not know.” Mari could see from the sweat on his brow that Alain had been working hard to stay concealed
Kalif turned his eyes to Mari. “How do we know you won’t kill us as anyway as soon as we put down our weapons?”
“Because I never hurt anyone unless I’m forced to,” Mari said.
“That’s not what we were told.”
Mari’s laugh mixed sadness with derision. “I can’t take the time to explain how many lies you’ve been told, not just about me but about everything. I won’t let the Guild torture and kill me just because I learned things that the Guild doesn’t want any Mechanic to know. Now put down your weapons and raise your hands, or my companion will start shooting.” It was quite a bluff, considering that Alain probably didn’t even know how to fire a weapon. Mari didn’t dare look, but she suspected that Alain didn’t have a finger on the trigger of the rifle he was holding.
Fortunately, the other Mechanics didn’t focus on that detail. Kalif lowered his rifle to the floor cautiously, as did the others. Mari indicated the cell she had occupied. “All of you, in there.”
“You can’t get away!” the guard who had bludgeoned her repeated angrily.
“I’m really tired of people like you trying to tell me what I can and can’t do.” Mari used her thumb to pull back the hammer on the rifle, then raised it to aim at his face. “And I’m even more tired of people like you who are willing to hurt others just because someone else tells them to. Get in there. I won’t repeat myself a third time.”
He went in hastily, followed by the other former guards and the former sentry, the tiny compartment barely holding all of them. Mari looked at Mechanic Kalif as he turned to face her. “Thank you. I know this isn’t a nice way to repay your humanity, but thank you.”
“Mari,” Kalif said, “the Guild won’t really torture and kill you. They’re trying to play games with your mind is all. Give it up. You can trust the Guild.”
“I believed the same thing once,” Mari said. “Until the Guild set me up to be killed. There are other Mechanics who know about that, who know it’s true. Maybe you can find some of them. Now, you and you,” she said, pointing to two of the other Mechanics. “Take off your jackets and toss them out here.” Both Mechanics hesitated, glaring at her. “Alain.”
Alain obligingly stepped forward, raising the weapon a little awkwardly, and spoke in tones that mimicked the Senior Mechanics Mari had dealt with earlier. “Do as you are told!”
The two Mechanics yanked off their jackets and threw them out the hatch to land at Mari’s feet.
“Close the hatch, Alain.” Mari kept her rifle aimed at the five Mechanics until the hatch swung shut, then immediately grabbed its handle and twisted it down before pushing the lock closed.
Only then did she turn back to Alain. “Stars above, you’re a sight for sore eyes, my Mage.” She kissed him very quickly. “How long were you with us?”
“All the way. The woman has our packs.”
“I saw. We need to pay her another visit. She’s expecting you already.” Mari indicated the bigger jacket. “Would it bother you to wear that?”
“Not at all. It is just part of the illusion.”
“Right.” Mari hastily put on the other jacket. “We need to look like we belong here. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you holding one of these rifles. When did you learn how to use one?”
“I do not know how to use one.”
“I was afraid of that. Please, very carefully, give me the one you’re holding. Don’t press or push anything.” Mari took the rifle from Alain gingerly, breathing a sigh of relief once it was out of his hands. “Very good bluff, my Mage.”
“Did you want me to shoot them? I do not know how to do that.”
“No, I didn’t want you to shoot them. That was a bluff, too.” Mari opened the lock on the room which had held Alain, putting all but two of the rifles she had taken into it and swinging the hatch shut again. “All right, I’m going to set the safety on this rifle and give it back to you. There isn’t a round loaded and the safety is on, so as long as you just carry it and point it and don’t move anything on it, the rifle shouldn’t go off. See this lever thing on the bottom? That needs to be swung down and then back up to load a round, so if you don’t move the loading lever, then the rifle can’t fire.”
Alain was watching her, frowning in concentration. “Lever?”
Of course a Mage wouldn’t know what a lever was. “Never mind. Just don’t move anything on the rifle. And don’t point it at anyone! Unless I tell you to. We’re going to walk back to the captain’s cabin as if we’re on official business. If anybody tries to talk to us, let me answer.”
“All right. But I can talk like a Mechanic. What is an idiot?”
Mari grinned. “Someone like a Senior Mechanic. You really do have the arrogant voice down. Where did you learn it?”
“I… have observed Mechanics.”
“I’m the Mechanic you’ve spent almost all of your time with—” Mari paused. “Do I do that?”
“Very rarely, and never to me since first we met. Mari, the Mechanics on this ship are far more likely to recognize you than they are to recognize me.”
She blew out an exasperated breath. “You’re right. You take the lead. Do you remember the way to the captain’s cabin?”
“I believe so.”
“Same here. Hopefully one or the other of us will remember all the details.” Mari took a long, calming breath, then tried to look relaxed and casual. “Let’s go.”
There were fewer Mechanics in the passages of the ship now that the normal work day had ended, and they paid little attention to what appeared to be two of their fellows. Mari tried to unobtrusively avert her face whenever they passed other Mechanics, or use Alain to shield herself from being seen directly. It felt very odd to be walking behind Alain while he was wearing a Mechanics jacket. He didn’t look half bad in the jacket, though. He actually looked pretty good. Really good, Mari thought.
Alain was even mimicking the exaggerated self-confidence and swagger of a Mechanic. She knew he wasn’t copying her. She never had been able to get the swagger thing down, thinking that she looked ridiculous whenever she tried.
Mari ducked her head again, pretending to examine her rifle, as they passed two more Mechanics who were talking together. They paid no attention to Mari and Alain.
They finally reached the captain’s quarters, Mari breathing a sigh of relief that they hadn’t gotten lost on the way. Pausing a short distance away from the door, Mari looked at Alain, speaking very quietly. “There’s three things we have to do before we can try to escape. We have to get our packs back, which means dealing with that witch of a captain, then we have to disable the ship’s far-talker so they can’t tell anyone that we’ve escaped, and then we have to somehow sabotage the main propulsion system so the ship can’t chase us down. Only after all that can we try to steal a boat.”