the needle-sharp voices of the children repeated a litany that came from a box that carried the voice of an unseen speaker : i swear an oath of fealty to the flag of the free city-state of haven i swear my loyalty to the republic of the founding fathers to never reveal our sanctuary to outsiders or sell our haven to demons they were the children of laborers , born in the northern laborers area of haven , and it was the closest thing to poetry that some of them had ever heard .