Palaces of Light (24 page)
Authors: James Axler
They traveled back down to the people who were waiting for them. Ryan outlined what they had seen, and when he had finished, he saw that Jak was looking up at the ledge.
“Fireblast!” Ryan said. “Mebbe that’s what makes the stone shine so bright.”
The rising sun had reached a point in the sky where it was directly shining on the ledge. The stone palaces, built by an unknown hand, in an unknown time, and possibly to unknown gods, were shining like ivory, looking more refreshed than a few scant days before.
“The sooner we get out of this canyon and back to what passes for civilization, the better,” Mildred said. “Meantime, we need to decide what we’re going to do with these kids. They come from lord knows where. Some of them don’t even know where their villes were. How we’re going to get them back to where they belong, I can’t even begin—”
“We won’t bother,” Ryan said, interrupting her. “Listen, they’re changed. No way would they fit in. But I’ll tell you what. K sent us to get his kids back. Okay, we didn’t get them. But we got
some
kids. And he has a ville that doesn’t have any. It’s not the only ville like that, but the only one we know about. I figure any kids to keep his ville going will be welcome.”
“You think he’ll pay us for that? It’s not what he asked for.”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t give a shit what he asked for. Mebbe he will, mebbe he won’t. Only thing that matters is that we managed to save some kids. Better than jackshit. For that alone we earned our keep.”
After scavenging for supplies in the palaces of light, Ryan turned away and led his companions and the children into the wastelands.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459227651
Copyright © 2012 by Worldwide Library
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