Mari called out a reply, her voice taking on a slightly different accent. “Yeah.”
“How many of them did you get so far?”
Mari did not hesitate before replying. “Ten that I know of.”
“Ha! Hope there’s some left for us! That’ll teach the dead to try to leave that pile of broken garbage. The healer’s in the tower you’re heading for.”
“Thanks.” The shapes of the Imperial soldiers dimmed and then vanished in the snow as the legionaries dashed toward the sound of fighting.
Mari changed their path to angle away from the tower, heading straight out from the city.
“Why did you sound different?” Alain asked as they struggled through the snow.
“My accent?” Mari said. “That legionnaire had a Centin accent. I learned about different Imperial accents from listening to commons when I was at the Mechanics Guild Academy in Palandur. I answered him back trying to sound like I was from Centin, too, because the Empire builds its legions with men and women from the same areas.”
They drew even with the towers, then began to leave them behind. Alain started to relax slightly, then felt his Mage senses tingle with sudden warning. He reached over, grabbed Mari and pulled her down flat into the snow once more. She lay next to him, not moving, waiting to find out why he had acted. Moments passed, the snow falling down to coat them once more with white. Alain could feel the cold biting into him, worse this time, but stayed motionless, his hand still on Mari to urge her to do the same.
Several more shapes came walking out of the storm, their outlines hard to make out as the snow swirled past. Alain could see the helmet plume of a high-ranking Imperial officer. Then he made out the unmistakable shape of Mage robes on one of the other figures. The group trudged past, not speaking among themselves, but just as they were starting to fade into the storm again the Mage stopped.
The Mage turned, peering in the direction of Alain and Mari. Alain did not dare make any preparations for a spell, since that would betray them instantly, but he heard Mari’s hand slide under her jacket to grasp her weapon.
The Imperial officer said something which Alain could not make out, the tones outwardly respectful but betraying the revulsion which commons felt toward Mages. The other Mage did not respond for a long moment. Then the Mage started walking again, not toward Alain but away, vanishing into the storm-driven gloom along with the soldiers.
Alain began breathing once more. He waited a few moments longer, then urged Mari up again.
Mari was shivering badly as she dusted packed snow off of her front. “I r-really h-hate th-this,” she whispered through chattering teeth. “D-did that M-mage s-sense you?”
“I do not know. We must put distance between ourselves and this place in case that Mage returns.” Alain ached to use his powers to warm the air around her, but doing so would instantly tell the other Mage where he was, so instead he took Mari’s arm again and together they walked steadily away from the line of watch towers. The flaming lights of the towers dimmed and then vanished in the storm, and no more noise of battle could be heard as they struggled through the deepening snow.
They crested a small rise and began going down the other side, then both stumbled into a small ditch lying across their path. Alain bent to look. “It is the side of a road.”
“A road.” Mari shook her head. “We can’t risk running into anyone on the road, not this close to Marandur.”
“No. They would surely arrest us on suspicion even if they did not kill us on sight.” Veering sharply to the left, they headed away from the road, staggering occasionally as they hit a deeper drift of snow. “We have been going hard since early this morning,” Alain managed to say, wondering whether he was supporting Mari or if she was supporting him as they trudged onward. “We need to rest.”
“Not until we find cover,” Mari got out between rapid, shallow breaths.
They went onward, Alain feeling exhausted and knowing that Mari was at least as tired. He looked back occasionally, still seeing no sign of pursuit, and noting with relief that their tracks were being filled in by the still-falling snow.
More shapes reared up out of the gloom, causing Mari and Alain to stagger with alarm. “Trees,” Mari said in a worn-out voice.
“If there is even a small group of trees here we can hide among them, allowing the snow to cover our tracks this far.”
“But we’re not that far from the city,” Mari insisted, her voice slurring with fatigue.
“Mari, if we keep walking, we will keep leaving traces of our movement. And we must rest.”
“All right,” she mumbled. They moved in among the trees, not able to make out the full extent of the woods in the limited visibility. It was a fair-sized grove, though. Mari came to a stop, swaying on her feet, where two trees growing close to each other had formed a natural break against the weather. Pulling their blankets out of their packs, they wrapped themselves up together, sharing the blankets and their warmth. Mari buried her head next to Alain, her breathing now deep and slightly ragged. “We made it. I think.”
“I think so, too.” Alain rested his own head near hers, enjoying the warmth of her breath. “But I am afraid tomorrow has come. Your birthday must be over now.”
“You forgot a cake for me, didn’t you? And you invited legionaries and barbarians to the party.”
“Regretfully, yes.” He waited a moment, then heard how even her breathing had become and realized Mari had fallen asleep. Alain stayed awake a little while longer, trying to listen for any sign of danger, but soon passed out from fatigue as well.
He awoke with the sun high in the sky to the distinctive sound of axes thunking into wood. Raising his head cautiously and staring around, Alain could tell the wood cutting wasn’t going on anywhere close by, even though the sound carried clearly in the clean, cold air. The snow had stopped, but the sky was still gray with leaden clouds. Mari was blinking awake beside him. “What is it?” she asked.
“I will check.” Disturbing the blankets as little as possible, Alain crept cautiously toward the sounds. Using the cover of the trees to screen himself as much as possible, he got fairly close before he managed to spot the woodcutting crew working away. But almost as soon as he saw them, a loud voice ordered the cutters to stop.
Gliding slightly closer, Alain could see an Imperial officer berating the man in charge of the woodcutters. The man was arguing back, his hands and arms moving in the exaggerated motions of vehement debate. Alain listened for a little while, then eased back into the woods and returned to Mari. “Woodcutters made the noise, but they were stopped by an Imperial officer who claims they are cutting too close to Marandur. The leader of the woodcutters is arguing that this patch of woods is outside of the Emperor’s ban and has been cut for ages. I saw a bribe pass to the officer, so the matter is probably resolved.”
Mari nodded wearily, running one hand through her hair in a futile attempt to comb it into decent order. “Not our problem, then?”
“Yes and no. The officer asked if the woodcutters had seen anyone heading away from the city. He reminded them of the reward for turning in anyone who tries to leave Marandur.”
She grimaced. “Then they know or suspect that we made it out.”
“The snow may not have completely obscured some of our tracks before they were found, especially near the city walls where the legionaries were searching intensely,” Alain replied. “Perhaps they think it was some of the barbarians. But it is not impossible that the Mage we saw was able to sense a trace of my presence. My Guild is still seeking my death, so that Mage may have been warned to watch for me even though the Mage Guild did not realize that we were in Marandur.”