sun set. The sky was now clear of clouds, and the stars and a brilliant moon provided good light. Then the road joined with a larger highway which showed signs of even more use.
Alain guessed that it was about midnight when they reached a major, paved road, which even at this late hour had occasional traffic. An inn with a coach stop sat nearby, its lights promising food, warmth and comfort. Mari reached over and hugged Alain with one arm. “We made it, my Mage. We made it.”
“We are still far from Altis,” Alain pointed out, bringing his own arm around her.
“You didn’t need to tell me that. I’ll worry about Altis tomorrow. For tonight, all I want is a warm meal, a warm bed, and you beside me in that bed.”
“I want that, too,” Alain said. Tired as he was, he could not help noticing how good she felt as he held her with one arm.
“Good.” Mari gave him an amused look. “Watch your hand. Get it higher. Not that high. You know where my waist is. In case you’re wondering, we’re still keeping our clothes on once we get into that bed.”
“I did not mean to touch you in the wrong places,” Alain said.
“The problem, my Mage, is that they’re the right places, and your touch felt way too good. That’s why we’re keeping our clothes on.”
#
Mari yawned as she watched the walls of Palandur grow steadily nearer through the windows of the coach. After all the walking they had done through wind and weather she had felt justified in paying for seats on a coach, even though that was a bit of a luxury for two people on the run with no way of knowing when they would get more money or how. But she still had a decent amount of cash from what she had brought with her and from the money which General Flyn’s troops had insisted she take.
Mari still felt guilty over that last source of money, which supposedly had been in exchange for a horse. In truth the soldiers had given generously because they believed her to be the long-foretold daughter of Jules. Mari had thought the idea ridiculous, and still could not believe it.
But Alain had seen it. One of the Mage elders who was different from most of the others had told him what his vision meant: that Mari was that daughter, and that he must protect her because the world would fall into ruin if she failed.
No pressure , Mari thought for about the thousandth time.
The time they had spent in ruined, dead Marandur felt almost like a dream now, or rather like a strange nightmare which contrasted with the simple normality of the world around them. Common folk attending to routine errands and travel, a horse-drawn passenger coach, a quiet countryside unmarred by ruins, and the walls of a living city growing rapidly nearer. If not for the watertight package in her backpack containing texts of technology long forbidden by the Mechanics Guild, Mari might have questioned whether she ever had actually been in Marandur.
The coach lurched to a halt, the doors opened, and all of the passengers stumbled out, stiff from the hard, cramped seating. Waiting for them were an even half-dozen of the Empire’s internal police, seated behind a table which was obviously a regular fixture at the coach stop. The Imperial citizens lined up without question. Mari pretended to need to retie her boot laces while she watched the first few citizens get questioned. Seeing that the police weren’t searching any packages, she beckoned to Alain and they joined the line as if they, too, were used to this sort of thing even though as a Mechanic and a Mage they had never been bothered by the demands placed on common folk within the Empire.
When they finally reached the head of the line, Mari handed over the two sets of forged Imperial identification papers she had acquired months ago before going to find Alain. The Imperial officer studied the papers with a frown. “Two of you together?”
Mari nodded. “Yes. We’re students at the university in Palandur.”
“I can read,” the officer
Alain guessed that it was about midnight when they reached a major, paved road, which even at this late hour had occasional traffic. An inn with a coach stop sat nearby, its lights promising food, warmth and comfort. Mari reached over and hugged Alain with one arm. “We made it, my Mage. We made it.”
“We are still far from Altis,” Alain pointed out, bringing his own arm around her.
“You didn’t need to tell me that. I’ll worry about Altis tomorrow. For tonight, all I want is a warm meal, a warm bed, and you beside me in that bed.”
“I want that, too,” Alain said. Tired as he was, he could not help noticing how good she felt as he held her with one arm.
“Good.” Mari gave him an amused look. “Watch your hand. Get it higher. Not that high. You know where my waist is. In case you’re wondering, we’re still keeping our clothes on once we get into that bed.”
“I did not mean to touch you in the wrong places,” Alain said.
“The problem, my Mage, is that they’re the right places, and your touch felt way too good. That’s why we’re keeping our clothes on.”
#
Mari yawned as she watched the walls of Palandur grow steadily nearer through the windows of the coach. After all the walking they had done through wind and weather she had felt justified in paying for seats on a coach, even though that was a bit of a luxury for two people on the run with no way of knowing when they would get more money or how. But she still had a decent amount of cash from what she had brought with her and from the money which General Flyn’s troops had insisted she take.
Mari still felt guilty over that last source of money, which supposedly had been in exchange for a horse. In truth the soldiers had given generously because they believed her to be the long-foretold daughter of Jules. Mari had thought the idea ridiculous, and still could not believe it.
But Alain had seen it. One of the Mage elders who was different from most of the others had told him what his vision meant: that Mari was that daughter, and that he must protect her because the world would fall into ruin if she failed.
No pressure , Mari thought for about the thousandth time.
The time they had spent in ruined, dead Marandur felt almost like a dream now, or rather like a strange nightmare which contrasted with the simple normality of the world around them. Common folk attending to routine errands and travel, a horse-drawn passenger coach, a quiet countryside unmarred by ruins, and the walls of a living city growing rapidly nearer. If not for the watertight package in her backpack containing texts of technology long forbidden by the Mechanics Guild, Mari might have questioned whether she ever had actually been in Marandur.
The coach lurched to a halt, the doors opened, and all of the passengers stumbled out, stiff from the hard, cramped seating. Waiting for them were an even half-dozen of the Empire’s internal police, seated behind a table which was obviously a regular fixture at the coach stop. The Imperial citizens lined up without question. Mari pretended to need to retie her boot laces while she watched the first few citizens get questioned. Seeing that the police weren’t searching any packages, she beckoned to Alain and they joined the line as if they, too, were used to this sort of thing even though as a Mechanic and a Mage they had never been bothered by the demands placed on common folk within the Empire.
When they finally reached the head of the line, Mari handed over the two sets of forged Imperial identification papers she had acquired months ago before going to find Alain. The Imperial officer studied the papers with a frown. “Two of you together?”
Mari nodded. “Yes. We’re students at the university in Palandur.”
“I can read,” the officer
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