The Assassins of Altis Read Online Free PDF Page B

soldiers had guessed he and Mari were other soldiers returning from the small battle against the barbarians. But their retreat might have raised suspicions if it had not also appeared that one of them had been injured.
    Mari called out a reply, her voice taking on a slightly different accent. “Yeah.”
    “How many of them did you get so far?”
    Mari did not hesitate before replying. “Ten that I know of.”
    “Ha! Hope there’s some left for us! That’ll teach the dead to try to leave that pile of broken garbage. The healer’s in the tower you’re heading for.”
    “Thanks.” The shapes of the Imperial soldiers dimmed and then vanished in the snow as the legionaries dashed toward the sound of fighting.
    Mari changed their path to angle away from the tower, heading straight out from the city.
    “Why did you sound different?” Alain asked as they struggled through the snow.
    “My accent?” Mari said. “That legionnaire had a Centin accent. I learned about different Imperial accents from listening to commons when I was at the Mechanics Guild Academy in Palandur. I answered him back trying to sound like I was from Centin, too, because the Empire builds its legions with men and women from the same areas.”
    They drew even with the towers, then began to leave them behind. Alain started to relax slightly, then felt his Mage senses tingle with sudden warning. He reached over, grabbed Mari and pulled her down flat into the snow once more. She lay next to him, not moving, waiting to find out why he had acted. Moments passed, the snow falling down to coat them once more with white. Alain could feel the cold biting into him, worse this time, but stayed motionless, his hand still on Mari to urge her to do the same.
    Several more shapes came walking out of the storm, their outlines hard to make out as the snow swirled past. Alain could see the helmet plume of a high-ranking Imperial officer. Then he made out the unmistakable shape of Mage robes on one of the other figures. The group trudged past, not speaking among themselves, but just as they were starting to fade into the storm again the Mage stopped.
    The Mage turned, peering in the direction of Alain and Mari. Alain did not dare make any preparations for a spell, since that would betray them instantly, but he heard Mari’s hand slide under her jacket to grasp her weapon.
    The Imperial officer said something which Alain could not make out, the tones outwardly respectful but betraying the revulsion which commons felt toward Mages. The other Mage did not respond for a long moment. Then the Mage started walking again, not toward Alain but away, vanishing into the storm-driven gloom along with the soldiers.
    Alain began breathing once more. He waited a few moments longer, then urged Mari up again.
    Mari was shivering badly as she dusted packed snow off of her front. “I r-really h-hate th-this,” she whispered through chattering teeth. “D-did that M-mage s-sense you?”
    “I do not know. We must put distance between ourselves and this place in case that Mage returns.” Alain ached to use his powers to warm the air around her, but doing so would instantly tell the other Mage where he was, so instead he took Mari’s arm again and together they walked steadily away from the line of watch towers. The flaming lights of the towers dimmed and then vanished in the storm, and no more noise of battle could be heard as they struggled through the deepening snow.
    They crested a small rise and began going down the other side, then both stumbled into a small ditch lying across their path. Alain bent to look. “It is the side of a road.”
    “A road.” Mari shook her head. “We can’t risk running into anyone on the road, not this close to Marandur.”
    “No. They would surely arrest us on suspicion even if they did not kill us on sight.” Veering sharply to the left, they headed away from the road, staggering occasionally as they hit a deeper drift of snow. “We have been