It was an old trick. Hide behind a superior rank whenever you could.

"You killed our parent!" Ri's voice rose so high Aria's eardrums responded with pain. "You slashed the membrane, shut the power, you left our sisters for dead, you suffocated our family, you…"

"Ere, calm her!" ordered Aria. Ri was going to hurt herself if she kept up her pounding. Worse, her shuddering would make Aria drop the capsule.

Ere wound herself around her sister again, but with less success. The capsule shook in Aria's arms and she began to feel the strain of holding it.

"I am going to take these children to the Shessel Embassy." She shifted her grip on the capsule. "You are welcome to come along and make whatever claim you have in there. If I don't get them there, there will be two more deaths, this time in front of witnesses, because I can't hold them much longer and if I drop them, and if this casing cracks, they'll smother."

The Vitae said nothing.

"Or we can just start shouting for a security patrol and I can tell my story to them and then you can tell yours and the Shessel can add whatever they feel necessary." I am not a Notouch here, you bald, blind children, however hard you try to make me one. Then, a strange thought struck her. But you run this world, why isn't security here already, by your orders ? A tart, satisfied feeling warmed her stomach. You're doing something illegal, aren't you? You CAN'T call security, can you?

Whatever it was the Vitae said to each other, the translator did not make any sense out of it. Aria watched the crowd behind the Vitae, and it was a real crowd now. They stood and stared. They said nothing. They didn't move. They waited. These were the ones who ran their world and the crowd waited to see what they'd do.

Aria decided not to wait until the Vitae called her bluff. "Somebody get security!" she shouted to the crowd. "It's a diplomatic incident and a murder call against the Vitae! Somebody get security!"

"Got it!" shouted a voice from the back of the gathering. "On the way! Five minutes!"

Aria smiled grimly. Some of these silent watchers wanted to rebel, all right, whether it meant the end of the world or not. Some of them were just waiting for the chance. Let the bald ones remember that!

"The Shessel will be taken to their Embassy," said Tall One, "but you are our property. You will be taken by us."

"Tell the patrol that. Tell them all about why these two are scared stiff of you."

"They are children. They cannot give witness."

"I can by Shessel law." Ere pressed all her hands against the capsule side. "Our parent is dead. I am first-named and that makes me the voice of my family. I can give witness and name protectorates. I name Aria Stone." She spread her mouth wide. Aria, for the first time, saw her needle-sharp teeth. "If we do not arrive at the Embassy in her hands, you are in violation of the treaty between the Shessel and this world and that is compounded on the crime of murder."

"Murderers, murderers, murderers," hissed Ri like she couldn't make herself stop. By now, she probably couldn't. "Murderers, murderers, murderers."

"So, unless we all want to report to the patrol, you're going to let me take these children out of here." Aria shouldered the capsule again, grateful for the fact that Ri was confining herself to hissing and buzzing.

Aria started forward, right past the taller Vitae. He, she, or it, was speaking in the untranslated language, but she couldn't tell to whom or what. They made no move to stop her, though, and she was glad. She was fairly sure the patrol would be on her side, but there would be endless Skyman formalities, and she had already lost too much time. "Ere, I am going to need your help." Aria walked through the crowd. The bodies parted for her.

"Ah…all right. I'll try." The capsule wobbled precariously as Ere squirmed.

"I need you to keep me on the right path to the Embassy. We need crowded streets and residential areas. We can't stay too long in deserted areas. We're going to walk from here."

"Walk!" whistled Ere. "But it's miles and miles!"

"Any public transport we use might be rerouted by the Vitae," Aria reminded her, "and I'm used to walking miles and miles." She smiled and, with a patience that came from long necessity, stifled the pain in her aching knees and ankles. "Which is more than I'd say for those two behind us. They are behind us, aren't they?" She felt the capsule shift again.

"Yes," said Ere.

So, NOW they're ready to chase me through the streets. "Well, well, strangest caravan I've ever been a part of but we're lucky, little ones, though you might not believe it. There are lines they are not quite ready to cross yet. We have a chance to get you home still."

And to get me out of here, if your people will help someone who helped some of their own.

"We can follow this street for a long time," said Ere. "Until it gets to the New Crescent Quarter Way."

"Good." Aria shifted her pace to a slower one, the ground-covering pace she could maintain for almost as long as she could keep breathing, even carrying a heavy load in a high wind. She'd walked like this for most of her life. Let the Vitae with their machines and their shuttles tag along behind.

"They're still back there."

"Of course they are," said Aria. "And as long as they stay back there, we're fine. It means they haven't been told what else to do." I hope.

"Can you tell me what happened to you?" she said, partly to keep Ere from dwelling too long on the Vitae behind them, and partly to keep herself from doing the same.

She listened, all the while trying to bury her horror in anger. What right? What right do these people have? If they were the Nameless Powers with the Servant at their side, they would still have no right!

"…but the air was gone and he fell and Sha and Dene were already down and Ri was screaming and the Vitae were gone and…and…"

"Shhh, all right. It's all right," Aria wished she could touch her. She didn't even know if the Shessel could tolerate the touch of human beings, but she still wished it. "Are they still back there?"

"Yes."

"All right. Try to rest. We're on our way to safety."

As fast as I can get us there, she lengthened her stride.

The walkway crossed into one of the wild areas. The trees, too tall and too straight, swallowed the light and the weeds ate up the city sounds. Aria strained her ears. Traffic noise faded farther away with each step, except for the slow, steady hum from the Vitae's transport. Aria risked a glance at the little patch of wilderness, wondering how much shelter it would afford if she had to run.

Maybe it won't come to that. Maybe word will reach the Shessel and they'll come looking for the children. Maybe…

Bracken rustled. The children whimpered, and Aria's arm tightened around the capsule. She threw her gaze in every direction, trying to find the source of the new noise. The rustling increased. Aria forced herself to keep moving. About a half mile ahead, another inhabited stretch glowed like a beacon.

Behind and to the left, weeds and scrub parted and a sedan chair, one of the few private vehicles authorized for off-road travel, climbed gingerly out of the underbrush and with high-legged steps started angling toward Aria and her charges.

Aria watched the insectlike vehicle out of the comer of her eye, but kept on walking. It had its windscreen up and its weather hood down, so there was no telling who was in there. She tried to think what to do. The drone of the Vitae car wasn't getting nearer, but the chair was. Fatigue clouded the edges of her mind and fear did nothing to clear it.

Abruptly, the chair halted and folded its legs. A human head and torso stuck out the side door.