Jack Campbell - The Hidden Masters of Marandur

“Thank you, Lady Mechanic. Is there anything else?” The soldier took the weapon, once again uncertain.

“No,” she assured him. “Thanks for the food.”

The soldier stared in amazement at receiving courtesy from a Mechanic, then bowed toward her. He left with an occasional glance back at Mari, who was drinking the hot stew slowly.

“Mari,” Alain said, “is it wise to act in such a way with commons?”

“I want to see how they react, Alain.” Mari looked at him over her cup. “One of the things my Guild taught was that the commons had to fear Mechanics in order to respect us. I’m trying to see what happens if I treat commons differently.”

“I know you must add commons to your allies, but such behavior may cause them to suspect who you are.”

She lowered her brow at him. “And just who am I?”

“You said you did not wish to speak of it,” Alain reminded her.

“Our relationship is no one’s business but our own, Alain. People are going to gossip regardless, but I don’t think any commons will guess what is really going on between us.” She settled into a sitting position, wincing. “Oh, my poor rear end. I hope you appreciate what I went through to get here.”

Alain watched her anxiously. “You have hurt your…”

“My butt. Yeah.” She returned his gaze, puzzled. “I’ll survive. Why are you blushing?”

“Blushing?” His face felt warm. What did that mean?

“Yes.“ Mari laughed. “Does talking about my butt embarrass you? I’m sorry. It’s nothing special.”

“I…” His face felt even warmer. “I think it is.”

“You do, huh? Where have you been all my life?”

This time he gave her a mystified look. “I spent almost all of it inside a Mage Guild Hall. The one in Ihris. You know this.”

Mari laughed again. He had forgotten how good it felt to hear her laughter. “That’s called a rhetorical question, Alain. That means you’re not really expected to offer a literal answer.”

“Is it like your sarcasm?”

“It can be.” She leaned back against the nearest rock. “Where were we before we started talking about my butt? Oh, yeah. I’ve spent a lot of time recently among commons while hiding from my Guild. They’re not stupid. Well, most of them aren’t stupid. It made me realize that just about everything I know about commons is stuff I was told by my Guild superiors. How much of it is true? I want to find out for myself. Especially considering the things we speculated about in Dorcastle, that the world is headed fast for a big smash. I wanted a better grasp of what commons were thinking.”

She gave him a sidelong look. “It’s like learning about Mages. Some of what I was taught is true. I wouldn’t trust another Mage than you. But a lot of what I was taught was false, so I’m experimenting and gathering more information. I suppose studying something that way doesn’t make any sense to you, though, because of your Mage training.”

Alain tried his own stew as he thought about her words. After being trained to pay no attention to the food he ate, Alain had begun trying to taste it again, one more effect of having spent time with Mari. In this case, though, the best that could be said of the meager rations were that they would stave off hunger. “It does make some sense, because it is acceptable for a Mage to learn about aspects of the world illusion. To manipulate the illusion, a Mage must be able to see it. That is how I justified my own time studying history and the world: to be better able to grasp what I had to ignore.”

“I’ve been around a Mage too long. That actually sounded reasonable.”

Alain gazed at her. “Your idea is an interesting one. You help me see things I never see on my own.”

Her smile shone white in the growing dark. “I love it when you say things like that, because I know you really mean them. You never learned the silly games most men learn growing up.” Dusk was falling rapidly as the sun sank farther behind the mountains. Mari sat looking at him, light and shadow rippling across her face as the fire flickered to one side of them. “Alain,” she asked in a suddenly tense voice, “can anybody see us right now?”

He looked about carefully, seeing his view blocked by the boulders around them. “I do not think so, as long as we are sitting.”

“Good. Put down your cup. Over there a bit.”

Alain did so, wondering why he had to put down the cup and why it had to be a little distance from him.

Mari sat down her own cup a long arm’s reach distance from herself, then lunged forward, wrapping her arms about him as her lips sought his.

Alain had never imagined anything like this. No wonder the elders warned both male and female acolytes against kissing. All wisdom would crumble in the face of such a feeling.

Her hands ran down his back, her body pressed against him, and as the kiss went on and on he heard Mari gasp and then sigh softly. His own hands caressed her, touching lightly, then pulling her hard to him.

But then Mari finally broke the kiss, pushing backward to separate them, breathing heavily. “I’ve been wanting to do that so bad. But that’s enough. We have to stop.”

“But—”

“ No more , Alain.”

He would have argued further, but then looked into her eyes, startled by what he saw there. Passion, he guessed, but also something he easily recognized. “You fear me?”

Perhaps his dismay could be heard in his voice, because Mari quickly shook her head. “No! I’m not afraid of you.”

“I could see it,” Alain said, his voice low. “Fear was in your eyes. I do not want to ever cause you to feel fear. But I am a Mage, and I know how others fear Mages.”

Mari cringed, then reached out to grasp his hand. “No! That’s not it. I don’t look at you and see a Mage. Not that way, anyway. What you saw wasn’t fear of you. I swear it. I was afraid of…myself.”

“Yourself?”

“Yes.” She sat back, running her free hand through hair tousled by their encounter. “I’ve really missed you, and…well, there’s been some physical longing there, too. Wanting to hold you and…all that. But when I finally had you in my arms and we were kissing and touching and…let’s not go there again right now. Anyway, it surprised me how much I wanted you. That’s all.”

Alain could see some deception in her, but did not want to accuse Mari of lying. “I did not see surprise,” he finally said.

She flinched again, looking away. “All right. It scared me. It scared me how badly I wanted you. It was so hard to stop myself, and it would have been so easy to just surrender to it. To surrender myself to you. I’ve never felt that before. There have been plenty of men who have tried to pressure me or charm me into bed, but I never had any trouble resisting that kind of thing. Not until just now, when all my defenses and my smarts dissolved into a hot flame. And it scared me, even though I still want you. But we can’t, Alain. We’re not promised yet. And…and I can’t afford to take any risk of getting pregnant.”

His mind fixed on one word. “Pregnant?”

“Yes. Not…not when I’m running for my life.”

There was something else. He could tell that Mari was not saying everything. There was at least one other reason left unspoken. But even if Alain had been inclined to press her, he could not because of the strange paralysis that seemed to have gripped him.

“Alain?” Mari peered at him, worried. “What’s the matter?”

His voice began to work again, but only haltingly. “You…children…me…”

“I don’t—” She looked away, then back at him. “Maybe. I don’t know. If there was anyone, it would be— Look, I’m not ready to talk about a family. All right?“