oak she had draped over the pattern of the Nebran embroideries,
and we crowded close together. The street swayed and vanished and I felt
the now-familiar dip and swirl of blackness before the world
straightened out again. Rindy was whimpering, dabbing smeary fists at
her face. "Daddy, my nose is bleeding...."

Miellyn hastily bent and wiped the blood from the snubby nose. Rakhal
gestured impatiently.

"The workroom. Wreck everything you see. Rindy, if anything starts to
come at us, you stop it. Stop it quick. And"--he bent and took the
little face between his hands--"_chiya_, remember they're not toys, no
matter how pretty they are."

Her grave gray eyes blinked, and she nodded.

Rakhal flung open the door of the elves' workshop with a shout. The
ringing of the anvils shattered into a thousand dissonances as I kicked
over a workbench and half-finished Toys crashed in confusion to the
floor.

The dwarfs scattered like rabbits before our assault of destruction. I
smashed tools, filigree, jewels, stamping everything with my heavy
boots. I shattered glass, caught up a hammer and smashed crystals. There
was a wild exhilaration to it.

A tiny doll, proportioned like a woman, dashed toward me, shrilling in a
supersonic shriek. I put my foot on her and ground the life out of her,
and she screamed like a living woman as she came apart. Her blue eyes
rolled from her head and lay on the floor watching me. I crushed the
blue jewels under my heel.

Rakhal swung a tiny hound by the tail. Its head shattered into debris of
almost-invisible gears and wheels. I caught up a chair and wrecked a
glass cabinet of parts with it, swinging furiously. A berserk madness of
smashing and breaking had laid hold on me.

I was drunk with crushing and shattering and ruining, when I heard
Miellyn scream a warning and turned to see Evarin standing in the
doorway. His green cat-eyes blazed with rage. Then he raised both hands
in a sudden, sardonic gesture, and with a loping, inhuman glide, raced
for the transmitter.

"Rindy," Rakhal panted, "can you block the transmitter?"

Instead Rindy shrieked. "We've got to get out! The roof is falling down!
The house is going to fall down on us! The roof, look at the roof!"

I looked up, transfixed by horror. I saw a wide rift open, saw the
skylight shatter and break, and daylight pouring through the cracking
walls, Rakhal snatched Rindy up, protecting her from the falling debris
with his head and shoul