The Assassins of Altis (10 page)

Another soft sound, from the short hallway outside of their room. A footstep, perhaps. Someone was approaching very cautiously.

Mari edged to the window to peer out and down. Imperial building regulations called for a fire escape ladder out there, but there was no telling what shape that ladder was in. She gestured to Alain that they should go through the window. He nodded.

The door to their room exploded.

Fragments of wood pelted the bed where Alain had been lying, then incredibly bright strands of lightning ripped through the doorway and into the bed, flaying the mattress and igniting everything that could burn.

Mari kicked out at the window frame, popping it straight out of the wall while after-images of the lightning danced in her eyes. She heard a sharp explosion and looked back to see the area just beyond the shattered doorway erupt into flames. Alain turned away from the destruction. “My fire spell may slow them down. Go, Mari!”

She hesitated. “You’re coming too, right?”

“When I can
—
”

“Now! Or I stay, too!”

Alain looked ready to argue, then nodded. Mari pulled herself through the small window opening and out onto a tiny landing, which swayed precariously under her. She grabbed at the ladder fastened to the side of the building while Alain came through after her. As Alain left the room, lightning flared again, filling the place where they had been and almost knocking Alain off the landing. Mari got a hand on his arm and held him until he could grab the ladder, then started clambering down as fast as she dared.

She let go to drop the last several feet into the alley their room had overlooked, rolling to break the fall and coming up with her pistol in her hand. A robed figure appeared nearby and raised one hand, a long Mage knife gleaming in the dim light. Mari, knowing the Mage wasn’t Asha because he or she was too short, aimed for the center of the figure and fired, her shot illuminating the alley with a flash of light. In that momentary brightness she could see that the robed figure was also heavier than Asha. The Mage grunted with pain and was knocked to the ground by her shot, the knife falling to one side. Mari took three quick steps to stand over the fallen Mage, who was writhing on the ground. Mari pointed her pistol at the Mage’s head, seeing expressionless eyes looking back at her from the rounded face of an older man.

Kill him!
her nerves screamed.
He’s a Mage! He could still be very dangerous!

But the wounded Mage did not move, did not betray any of the signs she was familiar with in Alain of preparing to cast a spell. Mari lowered her pistol, then yanked a cloth from one of her pockets and knelt to jam it over the Mage’s wound, where blood was welling out to soak the Mage’s robes. “Hold that tight over the wound until a healer can see you and you may all right,” Mari whispered, then jumped back and to her feet, looking for Alain.

Instead of Alain, Mari stared at another figure which had appeared at the opening to the alley. It looked vaguely human-shaped, but was taller and much broader than any human Mari could imagine.

The noise of feet hitting the surface of the alley sounded close by, and Mari spun as she brought up her weapon, finding her pistol pointed at Alain’s nose.

He looked at the pistol and shook his head. “You keep doing that,” Alain said, then reached out and pulled her back as more lightning rippled down from above, lashing the alley and blowing apart some nearby crates of trash.

Mari looked up, seeing a robed figure on the landing of their former room, his or her shape outlined by the fires burning behind. Aiming carefully almost straight up, using both hands to steady the pistol, she fired twice. The sound of the shots filled the night, sounding huge after the silence which had once enveloped this part of the city.

At least one of the shots apparently hit, as the lightning Mage fell backwards and out of sight into the room. “I think I got him. Or her.”

A guttural roar sounded from the head of the alley. Mari twisted to look that way. The thing there was now lumbering down the alley toward her, its weight making the ground shake.

Alain spoke with what Mari considered remarkable calmness. “It is a troll.”

She fired at it, the light from her shot this time revealing a crude being which looked like a half-formed attempt to make a creature in the form of a human, but one that towered over her and was so wide it almost filled the alley. The creature didn’t even react to Mari’s shot, nor from the next two bullets she carefully aimed and fired directly into it. Once again the sound of her shots echoed thunderously through the once-sleeping city, streets now stirring around them as the din of Mechanic and Mage weaponry filled the air and fire spread in the hostel above.

Alain raised his right hand, the air glowing above his palm, and a moment later the creature facing them howled as the fireball appeared in its face. The troll reeled back, pawing at itself.

Alain’s hand came down on Mari’s shoulder. “We must run,” he said. “Neither of us can kill a troll.”

“I was reaching the same conclusion,” Mari gasped, spinning around to look at the other end of the alley. Piles of trash were heaped against a fence that was about as tall as Alain. “We can’t run past the thing. Come on. This way.”

The Mage whom Mari had shot had crawled to one side to avoid the troll as it looked for Mari and Alain through still-dazzled eyes. The wounded Mage silently watched as she and Alain bolted down the alley toward the fence.

“I will need a moment to gather strength to create a hole,” Alain gasped.

“What? Just go over it!” Mari shoved Alain forward and then up as he scrambled clumsily to get over the fence. She followed, cursing the weight of her pack and hearing the troll coming on behind them again. Alain helped her over the fence as he got to his feet on the other side.

“I never thought of going over a wall instead of through it,” Alain confessed.

“Mages,” Mari grumbled. She staggered as her feet hit the ground, then shoved Alain onward toward an opening visible a short distance ahead, giving way onto another street. The once-quiet night was now filled with the noise of crackling flames. Shouts and screams came from the hostel and surrounding buildings, and the sound of ringing bells from near and far called the fire wardens of Palandur to action. On top of that came the deep thud of gongs calling the city guard to the site of the battle. “We’ll talk about different ways to get past walls later.”

They had almost reached the end of the alley when three robed figures appeared before them, two in the act of drawing and brandishing the long knives of Mages. They must have surprised this group, leaving the Mages unable to concentrate on spells. With too little time to aim and fire, Mari ducked under a swinging blade and then smashed her pistol barrel against the nearest Mage’s temple. That Mage fell heavily to one side.

By the time Mari turned to help Alain, his opponent was down as well. Mari brought her pistol to bear on the third Mage, who had made no move to attack.

“Wait,” Alain cautioned, going past Mari to stand directly before the third Mage. “It is Asha.” He held up Asha’s hands so that Mari could see they were bound together and tied to a cord about her waist.

“She was a prisoner?” Mari rushed over as Alain used his knife to sever the cords around Asha’s wrists. Close up, Mari could see the blindfold across Asha’s eyes, which had been concealed from easy view by the cowl of her Mage robes.

Her hands free, Asha lowered her hood and pulled off the blindfold. “The elders were able to detect my presence far better than I expected. While remaining out of sight, some of them tracked me to your room. That is how they found you. I was confronted when I returned to the Guild Hall and forced to accompany the Mages attacking you. Though they thought me helpless with my vision blocked, I attempted to warn you by using my strange tie to Mari.”

"You what?" Mari said. "I didn't—- Those headaches? Something you did caused those headaches?"

“She does not lie,” Alain said.

“Alain, she was tied up and blindfolded! I know she’s not lying! Come on, sister, we need to get out of this city and you’re coming with us!”

“No.” Asha looked back the way that Mari and Alain had come. “I must stay. There is one who requires my…my…help.”

The fence behind them splintered, the troll staggering into sight as it looked around for Mari and Alain. “Asha, we’re being chased by a troll!” Mari cried.

“It will seek you, not me, as long as I conceal myself.”

“Mage Asha,” Alain said, “the Guild sees you as an enemy now. You are in danger. The elders would have ordered your death as soon as Mari and I were dead. If we now leave you alone
—
”

Asha shook her head. “I will not be alone. I cannot leave now. One needs me. Go. I will find you again, no matter where you are.”

The troll had seen them and was now stalking forward.

Mari hesitated. “Alain, can you hide us the same way
—
”

“No. The troll can sense us by other means since we are its prey.”

“I can find you, Mari. Just think of Alain.” Asha reached out to touch Mari’s hand. “Go now.”

Alain still wavered, visible emotions flashing across his face. Mari reached out and grabbed his arm. “We have to do as she wants, Alain! Run! That thing is right behind us!”

They ran, the troll’s frustrated roar echoing behind them, Mari’s hand locked onto Alain’s as she ran all out down the street, legs pumping as fast as she could drive them.

“Weapon,” Alain gasped.

Mari realized that she was still holding her pistol in one hand and hurriedly holstered it . It wouldn’t do for the Imperials to see her carrying that when they came charging in to restore order. The glow of the fire was continuing to spread, lighting up the sky, and increasing numbers of people were flooding into the streets as they left the hostel and surrounding buildings that had caught fire from blown sparks. The clanging of fire bells could be heard in all directions, growing rapidly louder as the fire wardens converged on the increasing conflagration. Mari heard the troll again, then saw it stomp into the street and stare around, coming after them with its shambling gait. She was just thinking how fortunate it was that trolls moved a lot slower than dragons when a squad of the city guard showed up.

“Halt!” one of the Imperials yelled at Mari.

“Troll!” she yelled back, gesturing wildly.

The city guards stumbled to a stop as they saw the troll, not making any attempt to stop Mari and Alain as they tore through the ranks of the guards. Mari heard orders being shouted and the thump of crossbows firing, but didn’t look back, instead taking the next corner at the best speed she could.

Alain was gasping for breath beside her. “Should we not help?”

“Against that?” Mari wheezed. “Besides, if we did, the Imperials would just kill us, too, once the troll was dead.”

Another group of Imperial police dashed onto the street, spreading out to form a line. “Halt!” their leader shouted, pointing at Mari.

She skidded to a stop, trying to decide whether or not to try bluffing her way through again or to just threaten them with her pistol. Before Mari could reach a decision, a crowd of commons erupted from the entrance of the building next to her and rushed the thin line of Imperial guards.

The Imperials closed ranks to support each other and swung their hardwood clubs with practiced skill. The first citizens to reach them fell with bleeding heads or broken arms, their screams adding to the tumult.

Mari yanked Alain back into motion, swinging around the fight as more citizens piled onto the street. “We don’t want to get stuck in that mess,” she gasped to Alain.

Alain nodded wordlessly, trying to keep up with her until Mari had to slow down again, her lungs and her legs burning. But she kept heading away from where flames were leaping higher into the sky and the bedlam of battle rose behind them. “That is not our fault,” she got out between attempts to breathe.

Despite her urgency, Mari stumbled to a halt and stared behind them as an inarticulate cry of rage filled the night. It was as if the roar of the troll had been hugely amplified. It wasn’t the troll, though, but rather a sound rising from thousands of human throats, giving vent to wordless rage and frustration.

It frightened her worse than the troll had.

This time it was Alain who urged her back into motion. “Where are we going?” Alain got out as he also struggled for breath.

“The train station. We can’t risk the gates or the water with the Mages watching those ways, so we’re taking the blasted train.” She had to pause and inhale deeply several times. “It’s too blasted dangerous to stay in this city with the Mages out to kill us both. There’s a risk I’ll be recognized, but at least we won’t run into any trolls at the train station.”

“Assuming the Imperials kill this one before it finds us again.” They reeled to a halt as what looked like half a cohort of Imperial legionaries hauling a ballista came at quick-step down the street with a mounted officer urging them on. “But it seems the Imperials will make every effort to finish the creature,” Alain added as they crossed the street in the wake of the legionaries. “Enough hits from a siege machine will stagger even a troll.”

Behind those legionaries came the rest of the cohort, expressions grim. Mari wondered if they were going to battle the troll, or the mob of Imperial citizens.

Mari held onto Alain as she led the way, zigzagging through the streets while trying to keep a bearing on the Mechanic train station, looking back occasionally where the glow of the fires lit the night and echoes of fighting still resounded.

#

The waiting area for common folk at the Mechanic train station was uncomfortable at the best of times. Mari had sent Alain to buy two tickets to Landfall after coaching him on exactly what to say and how much money to give the apprentice occupying the ticket window. The Mage, who could walk through walls, foresee the future, and create heat out of nothing, had come back visibly proud of having successfully handled something that complicated.

They sat on hard, narrow seats in one corner of the waiting area, heads lowered as if they were sleeping while awaiting the departure of their train, which also served to keep Mari’s face partly concealed. As the morning wore on, more and more Imperial citizens waiting for the same train took seats, too, providing more cover for Mari when the occasional Mechanic sauntered through. Fortunately, as usual, the Mechanics made a point of ignoring the commons. Mari, who had often been annoyed when some of the Mechanics she was with flaunted such attitudes, now felt only gratitude for the arrogance which helped render her invisible.