Chapter 211: The Exchange

By eight in the morning, the Imperial Guard had completed its preparations for the hostage exchange.

Three children were supposed to leave Saint Aurelia Preparatory Academy in exchange for the transfer of one prisoner.

The agreement had been negotiated over several days, with both parties accepting that the children would be handed over before the Imperial government fulfilled its side of the arrangement.

Naturally, the authorities had prepared for the possibility of betrayal.

Combat wizards occupied several positions around the school, while medical personnel waited behind the security perimeter. The prisoner remained at a separate Imperial facility under heavy guard, and the rescue commander had issued strict instructions against approaching the containment field without authorization.

At SkyRune, Ilya arrived to find Professor Antoine already following the preparations.

"You’re early, Belozersky."

"So are you, Professor. Although I suspect you haven’t gone home."

"I went home yesterday. For approximately forty minutes."

"An impressive vacation. You should consider taking another one when this is over."

Antoine managed a tired laugh. Despite his exhaustion, he seemed more hopeful than he had in days. Three children were about to be released, and although Lucile wasn’t among those scheduled to leave, a successful exchange could establish a foundation for further negotiations.

Ilya shared that hope.

The Imperial Guard had spent days gathering information, examining the perpetrators’ demands, and preparing alternative rescue plans. Getting even a few children out would be a meaningful achievement.

Unfortunately, the hostage-takers had other intentions.

Shortly after the agreed time, the school’s western entrance opened.

Three children emerged into the courtyard, accompanied by two armed adults. Their movements were slow, and the youngest appeared to require assistance from one of the older students.

The Imperial negotiators immediately contacted the perpetrators.

"Three hostages confirmed at the western entrance. Our medical personnel are prepared to receive them. Proceed with the exchange as agreed."

There was no response.

Instead, the children were instructed to stop several meters from the containment field.

The two adults remained behind them.

For nearly a minute, nothing happened.

Then the captors transmitted a new message.

The prisoner was to be transferred immediately. Only after receiving confirmation that he had reached the designated facility would the children be permitted to cross.

At SkyRune, Antoine stared at the communication terminal.

"That wasn’t the agreement."

"No, Professor," the Imperial specialist replied. "The negotiators are requesting clarification."

The Imperial Guard had anticipated the possibility of changing demands. However, the government couldn’t simply surrender its prisoner based on another promise from people who had already violated several previous arrangements.

The rescue commander therefore refused the revised conditions.

He reiterated that the children would be received first, after which the agreed transfer would proceed.

The captors responded by moving the children closer to the barrier.

The youngest stumbled.

One of the armed men caught him before he fell, but the boy appeared barely capable of remaining upright.

Antoine immediately contacted the Imperial official supervising the exchange.

"That child needs medical attention. Can’t they bring him across while the others wait?"

"The negotiators have already proposed that, Professor."

"And?"

"They refused."

Ilya understood the authorities’ predicament. The children were close enough for Imperial personnel to see, yet any unauthorized attempt to cross the containment field could trigger its defenses. Worse, the armed men remained within reach of the hostages.

The rescue commander had enough soldiers to overwhelm the two visible perpetrators.

Whether he could do so without endangering the children was another question.

For the moment, he continued negotiating.

The Imperial Guard offered a compromise. One child would be released immediately, and the prisoner would then be transported to a secure holding facility under Imperial supervision. The remaining two children would be released upon confirmation of his arrival.

It was a reasonable proposal that divided the risk between both sides.

The captors rejected it.

Their representative insisted that the government demonstrate its sincerity by transferring the prisoner before any hostages were released.

Ilya began to suspect that the exchange had never been intended to succeed.

The perpetrators had spent days negotiating terms they were now unwilling to honor. Their demands kept changing whenever the authorities came close to satisfying them, and they had refused nearly every proposal that would allow the children’s condition to be verified.

Perhaps the prisoner transfer was never their immediate priority.

"Professor, have they actually made any concession that costs them something?"

Antoine considered the question.

"They allowed me to speak with Lucile."

"Under their supervision. And they recorded the children when it suited them. They’ve given the authorities information, but they haven’t surrendered control of anything."

The professor understood what he was suggesting.

The captors might be using negotiations to delay intervention.

That possibility had undoubtedly occurred to the Imperial Guard as well. However, recognizing the tactic didn’t make the hostages any easier to rescue.

At the western entrance, the situation deteriorated.

One of the children collapsed.

The Imperial negotiators immediately demanded permission to retrieve him, offering to send a single unarmed physician through the barrier.

This time, the captors didn’t bother negotiating.

They ordered the other two children to return to the building.

The armed men carried the unconscious boy inside, and the western doors closed behind them.

The exchange was over.

No children had been released.

For several minutes, Antoine remained silent while the Imperial Guard attempted to reestablish communication.

Eventually, he spoke.

"They brought those children outside knowing they wouldn’t let them go."

Ilya couldn’t disagree.

The perpetrators had demonstrated that they could move hostages through the school and open its outer entrance whenever necessary. They had also shown the authorities exactly how ill some of the children had become.

Yet they refused to release even one.

The Imperial Guard responded by suspending the proposed prisoner transfer. Its negotiators informed the captors that further discussions would require them to honor previously agreed conditions and permit independent medical access.

The hostage-takers accused the government of sabotaging the exchange.

The accusation was circulated through several unauthorized communication channels, apparently intended to influence public opinion.

Fortunately, the Imperial authorities had recorded the negotiations.

The rescue commander ordered a factual account prepared for the relevant government offices, while investigators preserved the complete exchange as evidence.

Ilya approved of the response.

There was little benefit in arguing with criminals through public statements when the recordings already established what had happened.

The more important question was what to do next.

By midday, the Imperial Guard had resumed examining possible ways into the school. The failed exchange had strengthened concerns that the perpetrators were deliberately prolonging the occupation, and the rescue command began preparing additional contingency measures.

At SkyRune, Antoine returned to the workshop with Ilya.

Several researchers were continuing their examination of the containment field, but the professor had little patience for another afternoon of abstract discussion.

"We’ve spent days trying to understand their equipment," he told the assembled students. "The Imperial Guard has made progress, and I appreciate everyone’s work. But those children need something useful before another one dies."

Nobody disagreed.

Antoine instructed the senior researchers to prepare the most practical methods they had identified, including the limitations of each. Their findings would be submitted directly to the rescue command rather than expanded into another lengthy theoretical study.

Ilya assisted with organizing the results.

The procedure was straightforward enough that the work concluded before evening.

Afterward, an Imperial investigator arrived with an update from the school administration.

During the failed exchange, one of the children had been carrying a folded sheet of paper. The investigating officers had noticed it because the girl appeared reluctant to surrender the document when an armed man ordered her to return inside.

The paper hadn’t crossed the barrier.

However, the observation team had managed to capture a readable image of part of its contents.

It appeared to be an examination sheet.

That was unusual.

The children had been held hostage for several days. Whatever educational activities the school normally conducted had obviously been suspended.

Yet someone had given the students written assignments.

The investigator showed Ilya and Antoine the recovered image.

The visible questions concerned ordinary subjects at first. One asked the student to complete a simple mathematical calculation, while another required identifying several historical figures.

The remaining questions were different.

One asked the student to describe the person they feared losing most.

Another asked whether they would willingly suffer pain to protect a friend.

The final visible question concerned what they would do if someone they loved betrayed them.

Antoine read through the page before addressing the investigator.

"Who prepared this?"

"We don’t know. The school administration confirmed that it doesn’t belong to their ordinary curriculum."

"Then why are they making children answer it?"

"That’s what we’re investigating."

Ilya examined the questions again.

There was little connection between the ordinary academic exercises and the personal questions that followed.

Unless the captors weren’t interested in the answers themselves.

Perhaps they wanted to observe how the children reacted.

After days of confinement, exhaustion, and uncertainty, forcing students to discuss their deepest fears would place additional strain on them.

It was an unpleasant possibility, although the document alone couldn’t establish what the perpetrators intended.

Ilya explained his reasoning.

The investigator acknowledged the suggestion and requested that the image be compared with the other materials recovered during the investigation.

Antoine, meanwhile, appeared increasingly disturbed by the implications.

"They’re frightening those children deliberately."

"Possibly," Ilya answered. "But we still don’t know why."

"Does the reason matter?"

"It matters if understanding it helps us stop them."

The professor accepted that, although the distinction offered little comfort.

By evening, the Imperial Guard had confirmed that the examination sheet was genuine. One of Saint Aurelia’s surviving administrative records contained a blank copy of the same document, uploaded to the school’s internal network shortly after the occupation began.

The upload had not been authorized by any member of the teaching staff.

More importantly, the file contained an instruction absent from the photographed page.

Students were to complete the examination under supervision, and those who failed to meet the required standard would undergo additional assessment.

No grading criteria were provided.

The investigators immediately began examining the school’s internal records for other documents uploaded during the occupation.

Several were discovered.

Each contained different combinations of ordinary academic questions and increasingly personal subjects.

Ilya read the summaries alongside Antoine, gradually becoming convinced that the examinations formed part of whatever procedure the captors were conducting inside the school.

The Imperial Guard had originally approached the situation as a hostage crisis involving sophisticated equipment.

Now there was evidence that the perpetrators were using the children for something beyond negotiating leverage.

And while the authorities continued searching for a way inside, the hostage-takers had already begun preparing another examination.