Jack Campbell - The Dragons of Dorcastle

“In some ways.” It hurt to admit that, but Mari felt she owed it to the Mage to be honest with him. “Other Mechanics count, but common folk and Mages don’t matter. Even though Mechanics think those people are real like us, we’re not supposed to care about their feelings or anything else. They’re just here to do whatever we tell them to do.”

“But you do not follow your Guild’s teachings? And your Guild accepts this?”

Mari snorted a sad laugh. “Let’s just say that my Guild and I haven’t always seen eye to eye on things. How does your Guild feel about Mages who don’t follow Guild teachings?”

He took a moment to reply. “Mages must follow the dictates of our elders.”

“I’m glad you didn’t follow their dictates concerning me,” Mari remarked. “I promise not to tell your elders.”

Mage Alain gave her one of the those looks, not revealing much but conveying confusion nonetheless. “My elders would not speak with you.”

“I know. I was just… Never mind. I’m glad that I didn’t do what Senior Mechanics in my Guild would have expected me to do when I met you. Just because you’re taught something doesn’t mean you have to accept every word of it. Unless it’s technical stuff, like operating instructions. Those you have to follow very closely. But that’s different.”

He didn’t answer, and she wondered if the Mage were ignoring her, or if he was thinking about what she had said. But she was too tired to try to draw him out again, so Mari focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

The night wore on, her pack seeming to be getting heavier with every step, and Mari began feeling an irrational resentment of the much lighter load of their remaining food and water that the Mage was carrying. She knew it was irrational: no Mechanic would entrust her tools to a Mage, and Mages were as notorious for their pride as Mechanics were. She couldn’t ask him to carry her pack, and he would never agree to even if she did.

But she was also feeling a gradual building of fear again as the stars wheeled overhead in the slow ballet they had followed for countless years. Being eighteen allowed her to recover relatively quickly from tiredness, but even a young body had only so much to give. Mari could sense her final reserves of endurance draining down to exhaustion. The night still stretched unrelieved by signs of human presence in any direction. The sky remained clear, bringing a desert chill at night but promising another brutal day of sun hammering at them.

I’ll carry your pack , Calu offered.

Mari shook her head, not looking to the side where Calu’s image paced her. I can handle it .

You never let anyone help, Mari , Calu scolded her. Even though he was wearing a Mechanic’s jacket, he seemed perfectly comfortable. You were always like that when we were apprentices. You don’t have to do everything yourself.

Then why do people keep asking me what to do? Why, whenever there’s a problem, do lots of apprentices and Mechanics look to me? I’m going to die out here, and there’s no one I can ask what to do.

You’ve got that Mage, Calu suggested. You can’t trust him, though.

I know! We had our last full bottles around midnight, and now there’s only one left to split between us. What if the Mage lied to me? What if there’s more than one bottle? What if he’s been sneaking extra drinks from that bottle all along? What if this Mage is just planning on walking me to death and then continuing on with all his hidden bottles of water until he reaches safety?

She was on the verge of spinning around to confront the Mage with her suspicions when Mari caught herself. Calu wasn’t walking beside her. No one was. I’m getting delirious. “We’d better have another drink of water,” she croaked.

“That is probably necessary.” Mage Alain sounded as weary and dry as she felt. But he pulled out the last bottle and offered it to her. “Take it.”

She drank slowly, hoping the moisture would soak into the lining of her throat on the way down, but stopped herself when the bottle was still about half full. “Here. The rest is yours.”

“No. You have the rest.”

Her suspicions flared again, then Mari took a close look at the Mage’s face and the obviously empty pack in which the water bottles had been carried. “You’re in as bad a shape as I am. Take your share.”

“There is not enough for two. It does not matter. This is just a dream.”

“No!” Mari shoved the bottle into his hands, anger and frustration giving her a little extra strength. “I already told you that I’m not going to abandon anyone if I can help it. There’s no way I’ll let you die for me!”

“I will do what I will,” he responded with a deathly calm.

“Drink it!”

“No Mechanic can give me orders.”

“Do what you want, then, but I won’t drink that water!” She turned to walk onward, torn between anger at his stubbornness and distress at the Mage’s inexplicable willingness to sacrifice for someone else. “Just drink your share and let’s go.” Not waiting for him to answer, Mari took a step.

Then paused.

The Mage took a couple of steps to stand beside her. “What is wrong?”

“Listen.” They did, and the sound she had heard gradually became clearer. The clop of shod horse hooves on the packed surface of the road they were following, coming slowly closer from behind. “Is it the bandits?” Mari whispered.

Mage Alain reached out to grab her arm and push her into motion. Mari followed him off the road a short distance, where they lay down to watch. She yanked her pistol from its shoulder holster, checked the clip of ammunition, pulled back the slide to load a round and clicked off the safety. She noticed that the Mage watched her actions with uncomprehending eyes.

As the sound of hooves grew closer it became apparent that there were a lot of horses approaching, moving at a slow and steady pace that could be maintained for hours. It took a long time for the horses trudging along the road to reach them, a long time spent staring into the darkness and wondering if the end would come quickly after all at the hands of bandits instead of gradually as her body failed in the heat. But if they avoided being spotted by the riders on the road, then they would be overcome by the heat before the next day ended.

We’ll die either way. Those people on the road are our only chance to live, if they’re not bandits. She made a decision, and as the riders came near, their shapes hard to see clearly in the dark, Mari stood up and took a few wobbly steps forward, leveling her pistol at the figures on horseback. “On the road!” Mari called in a dried- out voice that nonetheless seemed to echo across the silent land. Worried that she might sound like an exhausted and frightened girl, Mari put every ounce of Mechanic command that she could muster into the words she spoke. “Halt in the name of the Mechanics Guild!”

Alain did not know whether Master Mechanic Mari had made a conscious decision to die quickly or had simply begun hallucinating. He had noticed a couple of times when she seemed to be carrying on conversations with others who were not present, but given his own experiences with physical stress Alain did not hold that against her.

However,this time when she acted he had no choice but to rise and stand near her. If he still allowed himself emotions, Alain would be very unhappy with this Mechanic. Even though he had been surprised that she had kept asking his opinion, he had already become used to it, making her sudden action doubly annoying. As worn out as he was, Alain had no idea what kind of spells he could manage right now, but he felt certain they would not be sufficient to deal with the number of riders he could see. If Mechanic Mari valued his opinion so much, why had she decided to enter into a fight to the death without at least saying something to him beforehand?