Free The Pirates of Pacta Servanda (Pillars of Reality Book 4) by Jack Campbell Page A

presence in this city, they will demand that Julesport turn you over or be placed under a Guild interdict and be banned from receiving the service of any Mechanic. The Mage Guild would retaliate in even worse ways. And always the Empire seeks justification for another war on hopes of finally gaining a foothold beyond the Southern Mountains. What do you want from Julesport?”
    “Nothing,” Mari said. “Except an averted gaze. We need to take on supplies. We’ll pay for them. Once we’ve loaded the food and water we require, we will be gone,” she promised. “I do not want Julesport crushed because of me.”
    “Tell me,” the old woman said, “why we should not hand you over to the Great Guilds, who have promised immense rewards for your bodies, alive or dead.”
    Mari felt anger at the question, but also weariness. Why did it even have to be asked? And yet she knew it would be. “Why not? Because it would mean your continued slavery. You would be selling your chance at freedom. How much is the Mechanics Guild offering? How much is your freedom worth?”
    “More than the Great Guilds offer,” the old woman said. “More than they have. But you ask us to believe that you can gain us freedom.”
    “All I can do is ask,” Mari said. “And I know that’s hard. I’m a Mechanic, and Mechanics have done you great harm in the past. But the fact that the Great Guilds fear me so much, me and Mage Alain, is a sign of what I might be able to do.”
    “You ask leave to depart Julesport. Where will you go?” the woman in uniform asked.
    “If you don’t know, you can’t be forced to tell,” Mari said.
    “Were you in Ringhmon this last year?” the old woman asked abruptly.
    “Yes,” Mari said.
    “And Dorcastle?”
    “Yes.”
    “You slew a dragon there.”
    “Yes.”
    The old woman took a deep breath. “And then the Northern Ramparts. Another dragon. And great damage to an Imperial legion. And a Mage in your service.” She looked keenly at Alain.
    “Yes,” Mari said. “But he is not in my service. He is my partner.”
    “The stories we have heard,” the middle-aged man said, “claim that you did great service for common soldiers in the Northern Ramparts and refused all payment.”
    “They needed my help,” Mari said.
    “And then Marandur?” the old woman continued. “Why Marandur?”
    “I cannot tell you,” Mari said.
    “Jules was in Marandur,” Colonel Faron said. “Long ago.”
    The old woman nodded at him, then looked back at Mari. “You must have heard the rumors the Imperials have been spreading. Rumors about the Dark One, Mara the Undying, who companioned the first emperor, Maran.”
    Mari flinched. “I’ve heard them. I think you can see that I don’t fit those rumors.” Mara was supposedly beautiful as well as deadly.
    “You don’t look like one who craves the blood of handsome young men, no,” the old woman said, smiling very briefly. “But you did escape from Marandur. Then Palandur, rumor has it. An attack by Mages, followed by a battle between Mages and Mechanics in the heart of the Empire. Neither of the Great Guilds has deigned to explain what happened there, and the Empire has done its best to suppress such information.”
    “Having been to Marandur,” Alain said, “we could not remain in Palandur to explain events to Imperial authorities.”
    “I suppose not, Sir Mage,” the old woman said, twisting one corner of her mouth in a sardonic smile. “The Emperor would make your deaths painful, prolonged, and public to ensure no one else attempted to visit the forbidden ruins of Marandur. After that, we have had scattered reports of setbacks for Mechanics, including the pride of the Mechanic fleet nearly sunk, before the city of Altis suffered great damage and a great battle was fought in its harbor that left another Mechanic warship on the bottom. This was you?”
    Mari nodded. “Mage Alain helped. We did everything together.”
    “Why Altis?”
    “Again, I cannot