The Assassins of Altis Read online

  In the gathering gloom, Alain sensed more than saw the smile on Mari’s face. “Maybe not every Mage. That old girlfriend of yours was trying to understand.”

  “Mage Asha was never my girlfriend. Why do you keep calling her that?”

  “Because I don’t believe you, my Mage,” Mari said. “But that’s okay. Asha felt like a good person trapped in a Mage’s teachings, just like you were before I met you and, uh, ‘ensnared’ you. She tried to help us back at Severun. I hope she’s all right.”

  “Yes,” Alain agreed. “It would be…nice to have more friends, after so long being alone.”

  Mari’s voice took on that slight edge it still sometimes did when talking about Asha. “Just as long as she doesn’t try to get too friendly with you.” She looked out over the dead city. “Alain, if we fail, if we can’t break the grip that your guild and my guild have on Dematr, the whole world could end up looking like this.”

  “It will end up looking like this,” Alain said. “Within a few years at most. Uncontrolled wars, breakdown of the governments of the common folk, mobs, rioting, the same anarchy that has riven what once was the country of Tiae in the south. The efforts of our former Guilds to control the bedlam will only magnify the chaos, until the Guilds are swept away along with all else.”

  “Unless…” Mari drew in a deep breath. “Unless the daughter of Jules stops it by overthrowing the Great Guilds first. Alain, why is it me? Jules died centuries ago. Who knows how many women descended from her have lived since then? And I don’t even believe that she’s actually my ancestor. Why me? Why now?”

  “I do not know for certain,” Alain said. “I would say that it must be now, because no more time remains. And I would say it must be you, because there is no one else who could do it.”

  “Neither of those conclusions is particularly comforting,” Mari grumbled.

  They sat quietly then for a while, listening for trouble, watching for danger, as the darkness grew heavier along with the snowfall. The wind had calmed, and aside from the gentle hiss of the falling snow nothing moved or made a noise. But Alain distrusted that sense of peace, wondering what moved silently beyond their very short range of vision.

  Some pieces of rubble rattled not too far away, a tiny avalanche of debris that brought both Mari and Alain to full alertness. The heavily falling snow made it hard to tell exactly where the noise had come from. Mari stood up very slowly and carefully, trying not to make a sound, snow cascading from her as she rose. Alain waited until she was ready, then he did the same, snow showering off his body with a soft murmur. Perhaps it was just the nearest ruins shifting as they decay. Perhaps. A scraping sound came from somewhere close by, as if something had rubbed up against something else. But I do not believe it.

  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 formin
g 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.

  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?” sh
e 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.”

  “So at a minimum, the Imperials are looking for a couple of refugees from Marandur. And your Guild might be hot on our heels, too.” Mari blew out a long breath. “You really know how to make a girl feel great first thing in the morning, Alain. Remind me not to ask you how I look right now. Stop. I’m not asking you to tell me that.” She paused, thinking. “We need to get moving again. Get far enough from Marandur that we can blend in with the people in the countryside. I know Palandur from my time at the Mechanics Guild training academy there. But I didn’t spend much time worrying about anything outside the city gates, especially anything this far away.”