The Dragons of Dorcastle (39 page)

“Go left!” Mari urged, darting past the creature’s blinded side as she grabbed Alain once more and led them through a couple of more turns before skidding to a halt as they faced a solid wall of crates. “We’re dead.”

“No.” Alain concentrated, even though his strength was draining rapidly. For a moment he wondered if he could manage the spell, but as his fear for Mari peaked he felt her presence more strongly, felt the thread between them, and sensed a small additional surge of strength from somewhere. An opening appeared in the crates before them. Mari dashed through the opening, Alain following. Moments later he heard the dragon crashing around in the area they had left, trying to figure out where its prey could have gone.

Mari headed back into the open area, running toward the barge. The leader of the Dark Mechanics, scurrying past in another direction, turned to face them with a livid expression and opened her mouth, but when Mari pointed her weapon at her, the Dark Mechanic wheeled away and ran.

With a leap, Mari jumped onto the barge’s deck, running to the big Mechanic creature she called a boiler. Alain followed, seeing the dragon’s head where it was floundering through the crates, hurling aside broken wood and the occasional Dark Mechanic as it searched for Mari and Alain. But they and the barge were to the monster’s left, unseen thanks to the damage done by Mari’s last shot.

Mari was crouched near a very large barrel which radiated heat, her hands spinning some wheels attached to it or on things leading into or out of it. “Wire or rope. We need wire or rope,” she gasped.

Alain looked around, faded memories of his earliest years on his parents’ farm coming back to him. He spotted a coil hanging from a hook. “Will this do?”

She grabbed it gratefully. “I hope so.” Hastening to one side the barrel, Mari started winding the rope around something high up, over and over again until all of the rope had been used up, then knotting it hastily.

Alain took another look at the dragon, which had reduced most of the crates to splinters and was digging through the remains while the few surviving Dark Mechanics near it tried to crawl away.

Mari came up beside Alain and grabbed his arm, not to direct him this time but apparently for comfort. Her face was very pale and her eyes frightened, but she spoke with forced calm. “All right. I’ve opened the fuel valves all the way. The pressure in that boiler is going up fast, but I closed off the steam exhaust pipes and I’ve tied down the relief valve. When the pressure gets high enough the boiler will explode with enough force to hurt even something like that dragon. I hope.”

“You are frightened of this boiler,” Alain said.

“Alain, an over-pressured boiler is incredibly destructive. It may well kill us instead of the dragon, but it’s our only chance.”

Alain nodded. “How do we get the dragon here when your device explodes?”

“If the boiler is close enough to blowing, having that monster step on it or crash into it will finish the job,” Mari explained. “As to how to get it here, I was hoping you knew how to do that. Being that you’re my expert on dragons.”

“The only way to get it here is to show it a reason.” Alain nodded again, this time slowly, not having to think through his decision. “One of us must act as bait, so I will—”

“
No!
” Mari shouted. “You will not act as bait! You can’t judge when the boiler is close to blowing, and I won’t let you die saving me! Nor will I leave you or anyone else to face something like this alone. Is that understood, Alain? If that’s what we have to do, then I’ll do it while you go—”

It was Alain’s turn to interrupt. “I cannot allow you to die saving me. I will not leave, either.”

She glared at him, then unexpectedly smiled in a sad way. “You’re as stubborn as I am, Alain. We’ll do it together. All right? When I give the word, follow me and run like your life depends on it, because it will.” Her hand shifted from his arm, reaching down to clasp his hand tightly.

They waited, Mari glancing back at the Mechanic device behind them. Alain took a firmer grip on the bag containing his robes, surprised that he had not lost it during all of the running and fighting. He could feel the increasing heat coming off the boiler and hear it roaring and hissing ever louder. Metal pinged and groaned in a way that sounded more frightening than the dragon did.

Her hand gripped his, and even amid the fear and danger he marveled at the feeling that came with that contact.
If we die holding hands in this way, will we enter the next dream together?

Mari took one more look at the Mechanic boiler, bit her lip, then looked at him. “I’m going to say this because in another minute we may be dead, and I don’t want to die not having told you. I love you.”

Before he could reply, or even try to grasp her words, Mari had aimed her weapon at where the dragon was still rooting around in the mess of broken and battered crates. “Hey, ugly!” she yelled. “Come and get some!” She fired, the projectile sparking off the side of the dragon.

Its head jerked around, the right eye finally focusing on Mari and Alain, then the creature leaped out of the wreckage around it and dashed straight for them.

Mari stood, her face paler than ever, her hand holding the weapon shaking. Her other hand still gripped Alain’s. “Now,” she breathed, then burst into motion like a scared cat.

Alain tried not to slow them down as Mari scrambled over the deck of the barge, the dragon roaring as it came on behind but its cries not matching the rising thunder from the Mechanic boiler inside the barge.

The dragon was almost to the barge when Mari reached the bow. “Dive deep and stay down!” she yelled as they jumped.

The water swallowed them into a strange silence and cold, the noise of the Mechanic device and that of the dragon muted and distorted. Alain had lost his grip on Mari when they hit the water, but he did as she said, stroking downward until he reached the mud of the bottom and trying to hold himself there.

The world shook.

A wave of pressure swept across Alain, hurling him tumbling through water suddenly opaque with mud swept from the bottom. Half-stunned by the force of the wave, Alain struggled to reach the surface. He broke it, taking in deep lungsful of air, wondering why the lights inside the warehouse were all gone, and only slowly realizing that he still had a death-grip on his bag.

Heavy objects were splashing into the water around him. Alain looked upward, baffled, seeing stars in the night sky through a massive hole framed by shattered fragments of the warehouse roof. Pieces of the warehouse flung high into the air were still falling back to the ground.

Looking around, Alain saw that the warehouse walls were also shattered. The entire part of the barge above the waterline had almost vanished, and the pier it had been tied to had been reduced to matchsticks.

Off to one side, the massive bulk of the dragon twitched, then lay unmoving, apparently hurled there by the force of the Mechanic boiler’s explosion.

Where is Mari?
Alain looked around frantically. Finally spotting a dark jacket, Alain lunged that way through the water.

Mari was floating on her back, more badly stunned than Alain had been. But her eyes were open and focused. “Are you all right?” he gasped.

“Uh…yeah.” He helped her to the pier, where they painfully climbed up the remains of the wood to the floor of the warehouse. Mari glanced back at the dead dragon and the wreckage. “This is why you don’t tie down relief valves on boilers,” she said in a voice almost as calm as that of a Mage, as if she were giving a lecture.

“How did we survive?” Alain wondered.

“The boiler was above the water when it blew, so almost all of the force vented above and to the sides, unfortunately for the dragon and fortunately for us. I did plan on that, you know.” Mari shook her head and looked around. “We’ve got to get out of here before people come to investigate this. Are the Dark Mages still around?”

“I do not sense any nearby. If any of them had come close to the warehouse, they probably regretted it when your Mechanic boiler exploded.”

“Yeah. Come on.” They staggered to their feet and stumbled through the wreckage. Getting out was fairly simple, since most of the warehouse walls had been blown out. People bearing torches and oil lights were running toward them, and Mari led Alain off at an angle. More people appeared, though, coming their way fast. Finding a dark alcove, Mari pulled Alain in with her, waiting as rescuers dashed past heading for the warehouse.

They were close together inside the alcove. Alain could feel her body moving as Mari tried to catch her breath, could feel the warmth of her. He felt an urge to pull her even closer and fought it off only with great difficulty. Then Alain heard her breath shudder.

“You stayed with me,” Mari whispered, and a moment later one of her hands grabbed one of his again.

“I would not leave you to face danger alone,” Alain answered, wondering once more at the sensations inside him from her touch.

Mari’s voice turned despairing as she held his hand tightly. “I am in so much trouble.”

“No one can blame you for what happened in the warehouse.”

“Oh, you big, dumb, wonderful Mage, I’m not talking about the warehouse. Do…do you like me? A lot?”

“Yes, Mari.”

“Oh, no,” she groaned.

“You said…on the barge…you said…” He could not seem to get the words out.

“Yeah. I did.”

“Did you…?”

“Yeah. I meant it.” Her hand released his and both arms came around him, her hug so tight as to be almost painful. “But, Alain…oh, blazes…we can’t.”

His mind filled with a roaring in which the only thing outside himself was her. Alain’s arms came around her loosely, awkwardly. He had not held anyone in so long, not since being taken by the Mages, that he was not sure how to do it.

The moment ended as Mari abruptly broke her grip on him. “We…we should go,” she said as she stumbled away.

He followed, wondering what had just happened, as they went out into the growing crowd on this roadway. In the dark, the fact that they were soaking wet wasn’t obvious, and they were able to move through the onlookers until the crowds thinned out and Mari could find a deserted street.

Only then did she lean against a wall, looking at Alain with a wan smile. “Do you know, back when I was taking Basic Steam Engine Mechanics the instructor told us ‘Never tie down a safety valve. The only one of you who would ever do that is probably Apprentice Mari, but I hope even she will avoid doing it just to see what happens.’ And I did do it!” Mari said with a forced laugh.

Alain had been taught so stringently not to laugh that he could not summon the same hilarity even amid the elation of unlooked-for survival, but he was barely able to avoid smiling. “Our elders should be impressed by what we accomplished, but somehow I do not think they will be.”

“You’re amazing, Alain!” Mari’s smile became rueful. “I can’t believe we survived that. Go ahead. Say it.”

“Say what?” Alain asked.

“You know what I mean! You were right. Going in that warehouse was a dangerous thing to do.”

Alain shook his head. “Yes, but together we were able to handle the danger, and the Dark Mechanic threat to you in Dorcastle has very likely been eliminated. You were also right.”

“I was also right? Ohhh nooo.” Mari had lost all of her attempt at humor, once again sounding as despairing as she had when they were in the alcove together. “You have the perfect chance to say ‘I told you so,’ but instead you find a way to say I was right, too. What’s the matter with you, Alain? You listen to me, you believe in me, you respect me and you care about me. You’re honest and smart and brave and resourceful. You never ask for anything for yourself and you’re always there when I need you. Where are your flaws? You were supposed to have
flaws
. Do you have to be
perfect
? Except for what I can fix, that voice and that face that doesn’t show anything?”

“I am not perfect,” Alain objected. “All of those things you said, they are true of you. You listen to me, you believe…” He had trouble bringing out the words for a moment. “You are also smart and brave, and can do anything, it seems. You have saved me when it seemed impossible. Mari, do you know how hard it is to slay a dragon? Any Mage who can do so earns great respect. We have survived. I do not understand why you are upset.”

Mari shook her head. “I’m unhappy because I wanted to find those flaws so I could find reasons not to feel…like I do. I wanted to learn about all of the things wrong with you. And you just wouldn’t cooperate. This can’t work, Alain! It can’t happen! Don’t you know that? What will your Guild do to you if they know about me? Tell me the truth.”

He knew some emotions were showing on his face, knew she could see bewilderment and something else, something he could not comprehend, but he could not control his expression at this moment. “It did work, Mari. We have found those behind the dragon illusion, we have destroyed their creation and the place they worked from—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Mari was slumping against the wall now, her expression distressed, her eyes fixed on him. “You
know
that’s not what I’m talking about. And you’re not answering my question.”

His stomach seemed to tying itself into a knot. “I…”

“Do you feel anything?” She was pleading now. “Am I being a total idiot? You said you like me. Do you? Do you know what that means? Are there emotions still buried down inside you or have I just imagined that?”

“I…feel.” He stared back at her, wondering what his face revealed.

“It’s my fault, isn’t it? You were all right before you met me, you were a Mage and you were happy.”

It was Alain’s turn to shake his head. “I am still a Mage. I was not happy. I did not know what happiness was. I had forgotten. But now I have met you and I remember some things and feel other things that—”

“No!” Mari turned her face away from him. “Don’t say it. It’s impossible. Now answer my question, Alain. What will your Guild do to you if they learn that…that a Mechanic is in love with you.”

“That would be a cause for discussion,” Alain said. “Cause to decide if I could exploit the situation for the good of the Mage Guild. Cause to debate what should be done to her. But I would be eliminated as a danger to the Mage Guild if my Guild learned that I was…in…love…with a Mechanic.”