lot, and that truck can't run on Flux and can't be fixed on Flux, either. Yeah, I think both World and we are a hell of a lot safer if they make it."
"Don't look at me," Suzl responded, regaining some of her spunk. "I'm a fugitive from internal security."
"That point, I think, is moot," Matson replied. "Now let's find those kids."
Incredibly, they found the children before security found them, and they found them alive. One of the nannies, a woman named Vena, had gone into the main house for something and had come upon the horror in progress. Not stopping to believe her eyes, her only thoughts were to protect the children. She managed to get back, rouse the others and the watch, and use a little-known service corridor to get them to a side exit near the big hedge-maze. Several of the women in there gave their lives to keep the door shut; it was their bodies that were found just outside.
The two Freehold boys, Micah and Robby, had been detained by security. The nannies didn't know where they were except that they hadn't even made it to the house.
The most amazing thing, though, was that the children did not escape. It was impossible to keep the littler ones from crying and some of the older ones had panicked. They found themselves boxed in the hedges.
"And then, it was crazy," one of the nannies, Clira, told them. "All of a sudden these girls shouted to us. "We'll let you all live,' they said, 'if you stay right where you are and don't come out until you're found. Let you all live, that is, if you give us the Freehold children.' "
And they had done so. They had had no choice, considering that the raiders could have just sprayed the hedges with automatic fire and killed them all. They had given them the three girls, and were still amazed that they had not then all been massacred.
"They were very brave," Clira told them. "Even the little one."
After that, they waited until they heard them go and the lorry and a lot of horses ride off, and then they'd chanced leaving. They had gotten the last ones out while Suzl was meeting Matson and Rondell.
Matson sighed. "Well, I guess this makes it our fight. Can't figure out why they did it, though. They haven't raided in Flux, so they're pretty safe there. Now they deliberately went and alienated the biggest, most powerful family of wizards there. Don't make sense. Unless ..."
"Those poor girls. With those murdering savages," Suzl sighed.
"I don't think they'll be harmed. Not just yet," Matson told her. "I think we might just be hearing from them. We—the family, anyway—has the power. They got the gadget, but only average power. Not a world-class wizard among "em."
"You mean," Rondell put in, "that they're gonna hold the kids as hostages to get us to show them how to use it? Or get our expert help on figuring it out? Maybe operating it for them?"
"Something like that. Whatever it is, it'll be clever. This gang ain't no pussycat. They're gonna be rough as hell to take out. This stuff with the kids was deliberate. Not just taking ours, but sparing the rest. They showed us by the whole thing that they're clever, ruthless, that they'll kill kids with a smile, and yet by sparing those kids and nurses when they didn't have to—and killing might have bought more time—they showed they keep their word. That was a message for us."
"First we gotta get out of this ,"Suzl noted. "That sounds like an army arriving with full battle gear."
It took all night and most of the following day before they were able to spring the two boys and get some rest in a guest hotel in the city. Power had still not been restored to much of Logh Center, except the immediate center-square area which was fed by the transformers from the old temple and only needed some new wiring.
Still, Matson was almost a blur of action after they rested.
"Dell, I want you to get back to Freehold. Tell Sondra to come here, in full old stringer regalia, understand? Just Sondra. I don't need a mob scene,
"Don't look at me," Suzl responded, regaining some of her spunk. "I'm a fugitive from internal security."
"That point, I think, is moot," Matson replied. "Now let's find those kids."
Incredibly, they found the children before security found them, and they found them alive. One of the nannies, a woman named Vena, had gone into the main house for something and had come upon the horror in progress. Not stopping to believe her eyes, her only thoughts were to protect the children. She managed to get back, rouse the others and the watch, and use a little-known service corridor to get them to a side exit near the big hedge-maze. Several of the women in there gave their lives to keep the door shut; it was their bodies that were found just outside.
The two Freehold boys, Micah and Robby, had been detained by security. The nannies didn't know where they were except that they hadn't even made it to the house.
The most amazing thing, though, was that the children did not escape. It was impossible to keep the littler ones from crying and some of the older ones had panicked. They found themselves boxed in the hedges.
"And then, it was crazy," one of the nannies, Clira, told them. "All of a sudden these girls shouted to us. "We'll let you all live,' they said, 'if you stay right where you are and don't come out until you're found. Let you all live, that is, if you give us the Freehold children.' "
And they had done so. They had had no choice, considering that the raiders could have just sprayed the hedges with automatic fire and killed them all. They had given them the three girls, and were still amazed that they had not then all been massacred.
"They were very brave," Clira told them. "Even the little one."
After that, they waited until they heard them go and the lorry and a lot of horses ride off, and then they'd chanced leaving. They had gotten the last ones out while Suzl was meeting Matson and Rondell.
Matson sighed. "Well, I guess this makes it our fight. Can't figure out why they did it, though. They haven't raided in Flux, so they're pretty safe there. Now they deliberately went and alienated the biggest, most powerful family of wizards there. Don't make sense. Unless ..."
"Those poor girls. With those murdering savages," Suzl sighed.
"I don't think they'll be harmed. Not just yet," Matson told her. "I think we might just be hearing from them. We—the family, anyway—has the power. They got the gadget, but only average power. Not a world-class wizard among "em."
"You mean," Rondell put in, "that they're gonna hold the kids as hostages to get us to show them how to use it? Or get our expert help on figuring it out? Maybe operating it for them?"
"Something like that. Whatever it is, it'll be clever. This gang ain't no pussycat. They're gonna be rough as hell to take out. This stuff with the kids was deliberate. Not just taking ours, but sparing the rest. They showed us by the whole thing that they're clever, ruthless, that they'll kill kids with a smile, and yet by sparing those kids and nurses when they didn't have to—and killing might have bought more time—they showed they keep their word. That was a message for us."
"First we gotta get out of this ,"Suzl noted. "That sounds like an army arriving with full battle gear."
It took all night and most of the following day before they were able to spring the two boys and get some rest in a guest hotel in the city. Power had still not been restored to much of Logh Center, except the immediate center-square area which was fed by the transformers from the old temple and only needed some new wiring.
Still, Matson was almost a blur of action after they rested.
"Dell, I want you to get back to Freehold. Tell Sondra to come here, in full old stringer regalia, understand? Just Sondra. I don't need a mob scene,
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