The Assassins of Altis Read Free Page A

distance.”
    Mari looked in those directions, both blocked by piles of debris, and shook her head at facing two equally bad choices. Alain watched as she did an odd ritual with her finger, pointing each way several times back and forth while muttering something under her breath. Whatever she was saying ended with her finger pointing right. Mari beckoned to Alain, then began moving that way even more cautiously.
    Despite the danger, Alain felt an irrational glow of satisfaction that Mari did not question his foresight. Even many Mages regarded foresight with suspicion, though in their case mainly because it required an unwelcome personal connection to anyone the foresight offered warnings about. Mechanics simply dismissed it as fortune-telling.
    But not his Mechanic. Mari believed in him.
    The street to the right being blocked by rubble, they had to cut through the collapsed remains of what might have been a large store. The floor inside was covered with piles of rotting debris. Mari’s foot slipped and she fell sideways as some of the fragments turned under her. Alain grabbed at her arm, catching Mari just before she slid over a drop into a yawning pit which had been a basement. She stood still for a moment, then gave Alain a shaky smile. “Thanks,” she whispered.
    They moved on in silence for a while, out back onto the rubble-strewn street, the falling snow helping to muffle the sound of their movement at the same time as it obscured dangerous spots beneath their feet and restricted their vision to all sides. After moving right for a while, Mari paused, looking around, then came close to Alain to whisper again, her breath a welcome warmth against his cheek. “I think I know this street. If the new Imperial capital of Palandur copied this part of Marandur, then if we take that street to our left we should be turning back to the southwest, heading directly for the city walls and moving parallel to the river.”
    “Parallel?”
    She gave him one of those looks again, the kind Mari used when he did not know something she thought everybody knew. “It’s basic geometry, Alain.”
    “Geometry?”
    “Alain, how can even a Mage possibly function without knowing any geometry?”
    “Since I do not know what geometry is, I cannot answer that. I do function, though.”
    “Yes, you do,” Mari admitted. They were very close together, the words they spoke barely audible to each other, the falling snow blocking out vision, as if they were alone inside a cocoon of white. “Parallel means…never mind. What I meant was if we go that way it will be the shortest route to the nearest section of the city walls and we won’t have to worry about running into the river.”
    “I see. Why did you not say that before?”
    Mari tensed, slapping one hand up to cover her face, then with a visible effort relaxed and lowered the hand. “Every time I start to feel superior to you I have to remind myself that you can do things I can’t even explain.” She pointed to the left and started off.
    Alain nodded, following again as they traversed the new route, which was fairly clear until they reached a stretch where the fronts of several buildings had fallen into the street. As they struggled through the rubble, Alain heard a sudden intake of breath from Mari. Alarmed, he followed her gaze, to see that she was looking at the interior of one of the buildings which had lost its front.
    Inside, the crumbling shapes of many human skeletons lay in rows, witness to ancient tragedy. Alain wondered who they had been. Citizens of the city who had taken shelter in the building only to be trapped and die, or who had been murdered by the rebels when they first took control of the city? Rebels, captured and executed by legionaries? Or legionaries, taken prisoner and killed, or perhaps badly wounded or killed in battle and taken here only to be forgotten?
    Her face saddened, Mari turned away and continued moving carefully across the rubble.
    It was hard to