Alain put his mouth to Mari’s ear, speaking as quietly as he could. “They are out there. I am sure of it. We must go now.”
She nodded wordlessly, then lifted one foot, moved it slowly to the side, brought it down with great care, then slid a little ways along the wall. Alain followed, his eyes and ears straining for any more signs of their pursuers. A fight now would surely alert the Imperial watch towers.
Another rattle not far away. Alain thought it might have come from their left. Mari kept moving as soundlessly as possible, easing right with her back against the wall, almost to the nearest gap now where the wall had been breached long ago.
Alain clearly heard a foot come down in the snow, then the rasping of breath from more than one man. They are almost on top of us. He reached for Mari’s arm and pushed her toward the break in the wall, knowing that only speed could save them now.
Mari jumped, grabbing the edge of a huge, broken stone to steady herself, then vanishing around the corner. Alain leaped after her, hearing the rush of feet and the rattle of debris as their pursuers also abandoned any attempt at stealth. He made the corner, rounding it into the break just as hands grabbed at him. Alain lunged forward and down into the opening in the wall, trying to break the grip and found himself staring up at Mari, who had her Mechanic weapon in her hand and was swinging it like a club instead of firing it. He heard the thud of the weapon’s impact against something, then the hands on him let go and Mari was pulling Alain up and along. The ancient wall was thick here near its base. They had to skid across broken, massive stones slick with snow, not knowing in the murk how much farther they had to go. Then they suddenly dropped into darkness.
Alain had only a moment to feel the fear of the fall before they landed in a snow drift which had piled up on the outside of the walls. He and Mari staggered out of the drift, not knowing whether their foes would try to chase them beyond the -city walls. They had not gone more than a short distance before they heard the unmistakable thumps of more bodies landing in the snow drift behind them.
“We’re trapped between two enemies,” Mari gasped. “If we move too slowly those barbarians will catch us, and if we run at the Imperial line they’ll see us or we’ll trip that Mage alarm you warned me about and—”
“That is what we must do,” Alain said as the answer came to him. “We must distract the Imperials, and we have to deal with the barbarians. Or let each side take care of the other for us.”
“What do you—?” Mari got it, her words sounding with sudden enthusiasm. “Use our two problems to cancel each other out? That’s some brilliant math for someone who doesn’t know geometry, my Mage.”
Alain pulled Mari close. “Hold tight to my cloak. Use both hands. And come along as fast as possible.”
Alain went straight ahead, walking as quickly as he could in the snow with Mari at his back. They could hear the sound of others behind them. Then Alain spotted the drifting strands which indicated a Mage alarm. Instead of trying to move the strands aside, Alain walked through them.
He walked a little farther, then paused as he felt a presence not too far distant. “There is a Mage near,” he breathed into Mari’s ear. He heard her muffled curse. “Release me, walk near, and drop flat and motionless when I say to.”
He felt her nod, then Mari was coming along beside him, her face grim. She knew he could not cast a spell now without the other Mage knowing and quickly finding him. But with the snow so heavy and the night aiding them, perhaps they would need no more invisibility.
Alain sensed the Mage coming closer. He or she would be moving with Imperial soldiers, thereby providing a rough picture of where the legionaries were. Then Alain heard the rustling sounds of someone forging through the snow behind them. He dropped, pulling Mari flat as well, and hurriedly brushed snow over her back and his own as best he could, waiting while the snow fell on them.
Someone blundered past them from behind. Alain did not dare move his head much, but he caught a glimpse of shaggy hair and a shapeless mass of rotting old garments before the barbarian moved on a little more without spotting Alain or Mari.
Moments later Alain heard noise from in front and saw the glow of torches through the snowfall. “Stay very still,” he murmured to Mari, his lips touching her ear. Already the snow had laid a thin, concealing layer over them both.
A long line of Imperial soldiers came tramping through the snow, one legionary in five holding a flaring torch aloft and the others with drawn swords. A second line came into view behind them almost immediately, these legionaries bearing crossbows. A yell of alarm sounded and the barbarian Alain had seen earlier came floundering through the snow, trying to make it back to the city. Alain heard the thump of crossbows firing, and the barbarian staggered, standing and swaying for a moment before falling face down in the snow less than a lance length from Alain, a crossbow bolt protruding from his back.
The Imperial soldiers were close enough together to have made it impossible for someone to get past them without being seen, but there were gaps between each legionary, and the soldiers were searching for foes on their feet, not expecting anyone to be concealed under the snow. Alain watched the legionaries coming, tensing in case he had to act, but the mound of snow forming over him and Mari as the heavy snow continued caused the closest legionaries to veer to either side to avoid the apparent drift. There were cries behind and to the side, then shouted orders. The Imperials broke into a trot, chasing the barbarians back to the city, intent on killing every one that they could. Legionaries searching for fleeing enemies before them paid little attention to the snow beneath as they swept past to either side of Alain and Mari, one so close his foot almost brushed against Alain.
Alain waited just a little longer, then staggered up, pulling Mari with him. “Now we walk.”
Her voice was chattering with cold. “Walk? Toward the Imperial watch towers?”
“Yes. The illusion we wish to create is that we are part of the legionary force. We are hard to see in the darkness and the snow, and we do not resemble the barbarians. Walk as if we belong here, Mari.”
“You’re the Mage.” Mari walked along with him, trudging through the snow but trying to look like she was in no hurry as she matched Alain’s pace. “Where’s that other one?”
“Not too far distant. I cannot tell if he seeks me.”
“Then link arms with me so we look like one of us is supporting the other.”
Alain did not ask why, putting his arm about her as they struggled through the snow toward the Imperial watch towers and the large fires burning between them.
The air grew brighter as they neared the Imperial beacons, Mari and Alain aiming between them as if walking toward a watch tower. Behind them, occasional shouts and metal-on-metal clangs told of combat, the barbarians and the Imperials busy with each other. Dim shapes materialized off to their left. “Hey!” someone called from what appeared to be a small group of legionaries. “You guys get nicked?”
Alain had held his breath at the first hail, but he suddenly understood Mari’s idea. In the limited visibility, the soldiers had guessed he and Mari were other soldiers returning from the small battle against the barbarians. But their retreat might have raised suspicions if it had not also appeared that one of them had been injured.