Unicorn Point by Piers Anthony Page B

information of a tangible nature?” He did not want her to delude herself.  
    “Your father sent a message. It arrived just before you.   He—he engineered this. Or they did. Stile and Blue. Nepe got the message, and knew it was time, and she escaped.”
    “Nepe did it? But she’s a little child, and the Citizens were watching, and the plane was programmed! And—“ He stared at her. “Stile? How could he—I brought no message from him!”
    “Nepe and Flach—they made contact,” she said. “They were waiting for the signal. Stile sent word to Flach, and he gave it as you exchanged, and Nepe knew then. She is hiding.”
    Mach’s circuits were overloaded with this seeming nonsense. “No one else has contact between the frames! Only Bane and me!”
    “And the children. We never suspected. They have gone into hiding.”
    “From us?’ he asked, appalled.
    “From the enemy we serve. They will work with the other side. The Citizens and Adepts suspected; that is why they watched. But the children eluded them, and now no one knows where they are, except perhaps Stile and Blue, and they will not tell.”
    “So they were not retarded,” he said, remembering his conversation with Stile, and Stile’s certainty. Now, also, he remembered odd things Nepe had said, indicating her knowl edge of what she was about to do. He had been caught as flat-footed as the Contrary Citizens!
    “They were far, far ahead of us,” she agreed. “They planned for most of their lives. Now they are gone. I can not say I am unhappy.”
    Then, despite her words, she dissolved.
    Mach knew how she felt, because he realized that he had lost Flach in the same manner. He and Bane were on the wrong side, but their children were not. What was to come of this? Would the children be able to remain hidden? Would they even survive? They had kept their secret, and keot it astonishingly well, but they were only four years
    He almost envied her this most tan

3 - Flach
    Flach was waiting as Neysa trotted up. He was at the castle of the Red Adept, where his father Mach had brought him for the exchange. Mach got to study the Book of Magic which the Red Adept controlled, during the time that Flach visited his Grandpa Stile. That was the deal they had made, and it had existed as long as he could remember. This was because Stile and the Adverse Adepts were enemies, and the Red Adept was with Stile, and he had the Book of Magic, so they had to trade off if they wanted to use it. Until recently it had seemed to Flach that he had the best of the deal, because he hardly cared about any dusty old book, while Grandpa Stile was wonderful to be with.
    But he had come to understand that it was the other way around. The Book had spells that were even better in the other frame than here, and the Adepts over there—the Con trary Citizens—were getting very strong. Before long they would be stronger than Grandpa Stile and his friends, or rather, Nepe’s Grandpa Blue, really the same thing. So now he felt guilty about the fun he had visiting, knowing that it was costing his grandfather a lot. Maybe it was time to stop the visits.
    These thoughts were fleeting, however, for Granddam Neysa moved rapidly. She was old, but still strong, and her black hide was glossy. He liked her about as well as he liked Grandpa Stile. She never talked much, but she was great for traveling in the wilderness, and he always felt safe with her.   Mach lifted him up to sit astride the unicorn. He needed no saddle; it was not that he was an apt rider, but that she would never let him fall. “See you later, crocogator,” Mach quipped, smiling. He always had something fun-stupid like that to say, from his memories of the other frame.   “In a while, allidile,” Flach responded dutifully.
    Then Neysa was off, Flach clinging to her flaring mane.   She moved slowly at first, making sure that he was secure, but gradually picked up speed.
    They bore west, heading for the Blue Demesnes, where