But Paul could see that he would have to buy Karyn and Jacque more time. The low stone bench beside the path gave him what he needed. While the woman in the gray shawl was still trying to collect her breath, Paul stepped up on the bench and held up the disk.
'People of Clarion!' He had to shout to be heard above the increasing murmurs of the crowd.
'There's a new way coming. A new way' He consciously tried to put power and authority into his voice, speaking the first words that came to his mind. More heads turned. Several of the uniformed boys near the wall began pushing their way through the crowd. Just a few more minutes. 'Lord Tern 166
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came to me last night! He gave me the holy
Godstone, and a message to pass along to his children!' He turned the disk back and forth so the silver face would catch and reflect the sun. The murmurs died away as the people around him
stared at the disk. The uniformed boys were closer. He knew he couldn't let them get within dart-gun range.
'The message means freedom from tyranny and fear! The freedom is for you!' He cast another frantic glance toward the wall. Jacque and Karyn were working at the straps that held Sabastian's ankles. The deacons in front of the temple remained where they were, but their eyes were on Paul. He thrust the disk out toward them.
'Lord Tern told me the old ways are gone He wants a new era to begin! An era of peaceF The ankle straps were free now. Jacque supported Sabastian while Karyn cut at the wrist straps.
'Lord Tern wants all his children to know that High Elder Brill has twisted the sacred revelations to his own advantage—' A dart sang past his right ear. Selmer yanked on his arm and he half fell from the bench.
'The gate'' Selmer hissed.
Paul risked a final glance toward the God Wall. Sabastian was on the ground now, his arm around Jacque's shoulders. The three of them were pushing their way toward the back wall.
Then Paul became aware of a new commotion
surfacing above the general confusion. Shouts, screams—and above those human sounds he heard the roar of a powerful engine. Selmer was beside him, pulling desperately at his arm.
'It's a floater!'
A large vehicle swept around the corner of the temple, carried on a cushion of air with its fans roaring. Paul stared at it for a moment before he realized it was an ancient Guard combat car. The crowd scattered as the car bore down on Karyn and Jacque. Paul realized in a flash that this was what High Elder Brill had planned all along. Brill knew they would try to free Sabastian, so he'd purposely kept his deacons and Sons out of the way long enough for them to get into the courtyard. He had kept the car concealed until he knew they were trapped. This would be his triumph. He could get rid of the heretics with such a show of power that the people ofFairhope would see the futility of ever going against him.
As the car neared the wall, it began firing streams of pellets from guns just above the skirts. Even from this distance Paul could see a spray of blood as several men and women screamed and went
down. The car careened wildly as people scattered. Karyn and Jacque huddled against the wall with Sabastian between them. Paul watched helplessly. Then another sound broke through the screams and the roar of the car's fans. Paul's head jerked up as the high-pitched whine intensified, and a sleek black craft swept over the temple. Paul caught a glimpse of fore and aft drive webs. A streamship
Before he had time to absorb the significance of that, another flash followed from the distant mountain peaks. It resolved quickly into another streamer that was silver, and smaller than the first. It looped back to follow the black craft with green lightning snapping from its nose. Across its fuselage was a crosshatch design in bold blue—the emblem of the Fringe Alliance.
The combat car ground to a stop, and activity on the ground ceased as the two streamers flitted about in the air like lethal butterflies. They screamed upward in a vertical climb with the gun still blazing from the nose of the Alliance streamship. The black craft had been dodging the energy bolts with uncanny precision. Now it suddenly flipped wing-forwing and dropped toward the ground. The Alliance 168 William Greenleaf CLARION 169
craft shot past it with stasis jets screaming in protest. The pilot must have realized his mistake instantly. He began a desperate loop to the left, but by that time the black craft was directly behind him. A single bolt of energy snapped from its nose cannon, and the silver craft exploded in a white flash. Debris began to settle down into the far side of the city.
