Fenzy Read Free Page A

behind him bursting open. He looked and saw Theseus still holding the club over his head and staring wide-eyed over David’s shoulder. The other boys released their hold on him. He pulled his arms close to his body and instinctively crouched. He turned and saw a soldier standing in the doorway. The door itself rocked on one hinge. Then it broke free and crashed to the floor.
    The soldier strode in, followed by two more.
    They heard me! David thought. They heard my kicks against the door!
    The lead soldier said something sharp and harsh.
    Two kids behind Theseus dropped their weapons and ran for the other door, away from the soldiers. The one who had held David’s left arm jumped at the soldier, his fists flying. The soldier slammed his own fist into the boy’s forehead, and the kid stumbled backward and went down, whimpering. He rolled over, got his feet under him, and ran out the door.
    The boy on David’s right backed away into the dark shadows of the room. A soldier ran to him and grabbed his arm, hard enough to make him squeal. The soldier pulled him to another boy on the floor—the kid David had clobbered. The soldier hooked a hand in that boy’s armpit and hoisted him up.
    That left Theseus: he was backing toward the far door, the club wavering over his head.
    The lead soldier stepped around David. He held his hand out to Theseus, apparently for the club, and spoke. “ To moy doste se, agori! ”

    Theseus shouted back and made like he was going to swing. The soldier drew closer.?
    The last soldier, standing in the doorway behind David, watched intently. His hand was on the hilt of a sword, sheathed on a belt.
    David slowly lowered his hands to the floor and began crawl-ing away. Xander’s belt dangled from his neck to the floor, like a rottweiler’s collar on a Chihuahua. He had used it as a sling until his arm had slipped out sometime between being grabbed by Phemus and his escape from the chain gang.
    He headed for the stacks of wood on the other side of the open area from where the soldier held the two boys. He moved out of the light coming through the doors and felt a twinge of hope. He reached the first stack and started around it. A hand clamped down on the back of his neck.
    “Ow . . . ow . . . “ he said, as the hand squeezed tighter. Reaching back to hold the muscular wrist at the back of his head, David got to his feet. The soldier turned him and marched him toward the rear entrance.
    Theseus was still backing toward the other exit, the lead soldier matching his movements step for step. Then the kid threw the club and shot out the door. The soldier ducked and took off after him.
    David jabbed his elbow into the ribs of the man holding him. It was like striking a brick wall. He kicked the man’s legs. The guy continued moving him toward the door. Lashing back, David got his hand on the hilt of the sword. The soldier gripped his wrist, twisted it painfully until David let go, then yanked his arm over his head.
    Squeezed by the neck, arm craned up high, David stumbled into the alley.

CHAPTER

four

    Xander glared at Taksidian. “You win?” he said. “How does the destruction of the world mean you win?”
    Taksidian shrugged. “What do I care? By the time all that happens, I’ll have had my fun.”
    Xander shook his head. If Taksidian thought he made sense, Xander wasn’t getting it. “But,” he said, “the whole world ?”
    Taksidian’s eyes narrowed. He appeared as perplexed by Xander’s logic as Xander was by his. “Why not?” he said. “What do I care about other people? Nobody cares about any-one else, not really.” He shrugged. “You’re simply too young to have learned that yet.”
    “No,” Xander said. The thought that there were people in the world who believed such things made him feel as though his head was being held underwater. “Most people don’t think that way.”
    “Then they should,” Taksidian said. “If you did, you wouldn’t be here, chained, whipped,