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Authors: Jack Campbell
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could talk about it without anyone thinking she was trying to impress. “I passed every test. I know my job. But every Senior Mechanic I meet thinks I’ve been promoted way too fast.”
“Many of my elders think that of me,” Mage Alain said. “Perhaps they are right.” He gestured toward the caravan’s remains. “I did not succeed here, in my first test.”
“Do you think any Mage, any person, could have saved that caravan?” Mari asked. “The people who attacked us had overwhelming force. The caravan never had a chance.”
“But it was my responsibility to protect it. That was the contract.”
She looked at him. “I thought you told me that Mages believe nothing matters. You just said that you would stay with me instead of going off alone and maybe living through this because it didn’t matter.”
“That is so.”
“Then why does what happened to the caravan matter?”
Once again Mage Alain almost frowned, the merest creasing of his brow, but said nothing.
“Actually,” Mari continued, “I agree that it does matter. But I also think you did the best anyone could’ve done. I mean that. You were willing to stand and die. What more can anyone ask?”
The Mage considered that, then met Mari’s eyes again. “It matters because the commons must remain in fear of Mages, and failure by a Mage might cause the commons to feel less fear. As for asking, more can always be asked of someone.”
Mari felt herself smiling at the irony of that last statement. “It sounds like whoever runs the Mage Guild has some things in common with the people running the Mechanics Guild.” The Guilds were enemies. Hate wasn’t too strong a word for the way Mechanics were taught to think of Mages. Yet she kept hearing things from this Mage that she could identify with.
Before she could say anything else, Mari heard the sound of a voice shouting below and felt a surge of fear.
The Mage peered over the rocks. “They are preparing to leave, I think. We were not overheard.”
“It would probably be better if we kept quiet from now on, anyway.”
He nodded, settling back and closing his eyes, seeming so calm that she couldn’t doubt his earlier declarations of belief that nothing mattered. Mari watched him for a minute, wondering why she had felt an impulse to confide in a Mage of all people. It had been a long time since she had any friends she could talk to freely. Maybe the sun was making her tongue too loose. After all, what did it take to qualify as a Mage? She had been told it merely involved learning enough tricks to fool the commons. But that was wrong. Mage Alain had clearly been put through physical challenges far worse than those which Mari had faced, and there was that superheat thing he had done.
They can’t really do anything
, more than one Senior Mechanic had told her dismissively. No one had ever contradicted them.
Mari stared up at the sky, thinking.
I’ve been in Mechanics Guild Halls or the Academy at Palandur since I was barely eight years old. I haven’t actually seen any Mages during that time except at long distance when I was out in Palandur with groups of other Apprentices or Mechanics. But if Mage Alain can do something like that heat thing, someone else must have seen other Mages do it. Some older Mechanics, who’ve been out in the world.
Why does every Mechanic say Mages are only fakes?
Regardless of the answer to that, Mage Alain wasn’t exactly a trusted co-worker. Whatever he had been through had obviously been brutal, but she couldn’t give him back his humanity or his childhood. She would have to keep her thoughts to herself from now on, unless they were about reaching somewhere they could find help.
By the time the sun had hit its highest, turning their hiding place into a veritable oven, the last group of the bandits had departed, heading west toward Ringhmon. They had torched the last undestroyed wagons of the caravan, leaving thin columns of smoke spiraling into the air
“Many of my elders think that of me,” Mage Alain said. “Perhaps they are right.” He gestured toward the caravan’s remains. “I did not succeed here, in my first test.”
“Do you think any Mage, any person, could have saved that caravan?” Mari asked. “The people who attacked us had overwhelming force. The caravan never had a chance.”
“But it was my responsibility to protect it. That was the contract.”
She looked at him. “I thought you told me that Mages believe nothing matters. You just said that you would stay with me instead of going off alone and maybe living through this because it didn’t matter.”
“That is so.”
“Then why does what happened to the caravan matter?”
Once again Mage Alain almost frowned, the merest creasing of his brow, but said nothing.
“Actually,” Mari continued, “I agree that it does matter. But I also think you did the best anyone could’ve done. I mean that. You were willing to stand and die. What more can anyone ask?”
The Mage considered that, then met Mari’s eyes again. “It matters because the commons must remain in fear of Mages, and failure by a Mage might cause the commons to feel less fear. As for asking, more can always be asked of someone.”
Mari felt herself smiling at the irony of that last statement. “It sounds like whoever runs the Mage Guild has some things in common with the people running the Mechanics Guild.” The Guilds were enemies. Hate wasn’t too strong a word for the way Mechanics were taught to think of Mages. Yet she kept hearing things from this Mage that she could identify with.
Before she could say anything else, Mari heard the sound of a voice shouting below and felt a surge of fear.
The Mage peered over the rocks. “They are preparing to leave, I think. We were not overheard.”
“It would probably be better if we kept quiet from now on, anyway.”
He nodded, settling back and closing his eyes, seeming so calm that she couldn’t doubt his earlier declarations of belief that nothing mattered. Mari watched him for a minute, wondering why she had felt an impulse to confide in a Mage of all people. It had been a long time since she had any friends she could talk to freely. Maybe the sun was making her tongue too loose. After all, what did it take to qualify as a Mage? She had been told it merely involved learning enough tricks to fool the commons. But that was wrong. Mage Alain had clearly been put through physical challenges far worse than those which Mari had faced, and there was that superheat thing he had done.
They can’t really do anything
, more than one Senior Mechanic had told her dismissively. No one had ever contradicted them.
Mari stared up at the sky, thinking.
I’ve been in Mechanics Guild Halls or the Academy at Palandur since I was barely eight years old. I haven’t actually seen any Mages during that time except at long distance when I was out in Palandur with groups of other Apprentices or Mechanics. But if Mage Alain can do something like that heat thing, someone else must have seen other Mages do it. Some older Mechanics, who’ve been out in the world.
Why does every Mechanic say Mages are only fakes?
Regardless of the answer to that, Mage Alain wasn’t exactly a trusted co-worker. Whatever he had been through had obviously been brutal, but she couldn’t give him back his humanity or his childhood. She would have to keep her thoughts to herself from now on, unless they were about reaching somewhere they could find help.
By the time the sun had hit its highest, turning their hiding place into a veritable oven, the last group of the bandits had departed, heading west toward Ringhmon. They had torched the last undestroyed wagons of the caravan, leaving thin columns of smoke spiraling into the air
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