Timothy Zahn - Cobra Bargain

Which may have been exactly what they'd planned. At seven-to-one odds, picking a fight would be little more than a game to them. And a game with potentially rich rewards, too, if Daulo's clothing also identified his social and financial positions. It might not even take an overt robbery, in fact-depending on how

Qasaman law was written, it was possible that if they could get Daulo to throw the first punch, they could claim damages from him. It could explain why the youths hadn't moved to encircle them: they might have to be able to claim afterwards that Daulo hadn't been threatened.

And in that case... there might just be something Jin could do to throw salt water on their little scheme.

"...ought to slink back to your little drip-water village now and tend your pharpesing little women, okay?"

Beside her, Jin could feel Daulo trembling. Whatever the incomprehensible slang was they'd been tossing back and forth, he was tottering on the brink of losing control. Gritting her teeth, Jin took a deep breath. This was it-

"All right," she snapped, suddenly stepping forward. "That's just about enough of that. Get out of our way."

The toughs' jaws sagged with astonishment, instant proof that she had indeed just kicked the supports out from under their game plan. Picking a seven-to-one fight with a man was one thing; picking the same fight with a woman was something else entirely. Not even a financial settlement would make up for what a fiasco like that would do to their reputations.

"Shut your mouth, woman," the first youth snarled at her, his cheek twitching with obvious uncertainty. "Unless this fhach-faced friend of yours prefers hiding behind-"

"I said get out of our way!" Jin yelled. Raising her arms, she charged.

The move caught him totally flatfooted, and she'd slammed her shoulder into his ribs before he could even get his hands up to stop her.

It didn't hurt him, of course-she was taking enough of a chance here without exhibiting Cobra strength in the bargain. But the damage to his pride was all she could have hoped for. Snarling something incomprehensible under his breath, he grabbed her arms and thrust her into the grip of two of his companions-

And stepped past her just in time to catch Daulo's fist in his face.

The blow staggered him back. Daulo followed it with a punch to his solar plexus, knocking him to the ground. "Leave him alone!" Jin wailed as the two holding her arms pulled her back out of the way and the other four belatedly moved in to circle Daulo. The hands on her upper arms tightened their grip; crossing her arms across her chest, she reached up with opposite hands to press theirs against her arms.

Pinning them solidly in place.

One down, two out of the fight, she ticked off mentally. Daulo and his opponents were crouched in what seemed to be variants of the same fighting stance, the toughs continuing to circle as if unsure of whether or not they really wanted to take on the man who'd just decked their leader. And then, almost in unison, they moved in.

Daulo knew enough about street fighting not to let all four reach him at the same time. He took a long stride to his left, flailing a wild punch at the youth on that side to force him back.

He seemed as surprised as anyone when the punch actually connected. Even more so when the youth went down and stayed there.

A second tough got within range and snapped a kick in Daulo's direction. Daulo leaped belatedly out of its way; but his move turned out to be unnecessary. The kick missed by at least twenty centimeters, and even as Daulo stepped forward to throw a countering punch, the youth lost his balance totally and toppled to the walkway.

It was enough for the other two. Backing away, they glanced at each other and at their two companions still holding-and being held against-Jin's arms. Then, turning, they took off down the walkway.

Daulo swung around to face Jin and her warders. "Well?" he demanded.

Jin recognized a cue when she heard it. She released her pressure grip on their hands, senses alert in case they tried something last-ditch foolish.

They didn't. Letting go of her, they sidled past Daulo and ran.

Daulo watched them go. Then, turning back to Jin, he looked her up and down.

"You all right?" he asked at last.

She nodded. "You?"

There was a peculiar expression on his face. "Uh-huh. We'd better get out of here, before there are any awkward questions asked."

Jin glanced around. No one was approaching them, but several of the passersby were eyeing them from a healthy distance. "Right."

They'd covered another block before he finally asked the inevitable question.

"What did you do to them?"

She shrugged uncomfortably. This could be extremely ticklish... "Well, for starters, I was hanging onto the ones who were holding my arms, keeping them out of the fight. The others... I gave them each a blast of focused ultrasonic in the head before you hit them."

"Which is why you wanted me to keep back, I suppose. And that knocked them out?"

"No, I didn't want to hit them that hard. I just gave them enough of a jolt to rattle their brains and throw their balance off track."

Walking closely beside him, she could feel his arm begin to tremble. Uh-oh, she thought tensely. Too much for his Qasaman ego to take? "Daulo? You okay?"

"Oh, sure," he said, a noticeable quaver in his voice. "I was just wondering what their friends are going to say when they hear about this. Seven of them, beaten right into the ground by a villager and a woman."

She frowned up at him... and only then realized that the trembling she heard and felt wasn't rage or shame.

It was suppressed laughter.

She fell silent after that... which gave Daulo the rest of the way back to their temporary home to try and figure out just why the whole thing was so funny.

On one level, it shouldn't have been-that much he was acutely aware of. For him to have been defended by a woman was something that should have him red-faced with shame, not shaking with laughter. Even if she was a demon-warrior woman, and even if the alternative had been to get himself beaten to blood-pulp.

No, he told himself firmly. That's not the way to think of it. It's more like a couple of villagers putting one over on a bunch of jerkfaced city ghaalas. Or a villager and a villager-by-adoption, anyway.

The thought startled him. Villager-by-adoption. Was he really starting to think of Jin Moreau in such friendly terms? No-impossible, he assured himself. She was a temporary ally, temporarily under his protection as a point of honor. Nothing more. In a few days her rescuers would come, and she'd go, and he'd never see her again.

And he wondered-though not very hard-why that thought finally stilled the laughter within him.

"Are all the formalities over for the day?" she asked as they reached the apartment. "I'd like to change clothes."

"They're over at least until sundown," Daulo told her, keying the lock and opening the door. "And that service is optional."

"Good," she said, stepping inside. "I think it must be a basic human failing not to be able to come up with formal clothing as comfortable as day-to-daywear-what's that light?"

"Phone message," Daulo explained, frowning. Who might have known to call them here? Walking over to the instrument, he keyed for the message.

The phone beeped, and a thin strip of paper slid out from the message slot.

"What?" Jin asked.

"It's from Mayor Capparis," Daulo told her, reading it quickly. "He says Mangus has called for a work party to be assembled at the city center this Sunday morning."

"How do they pick the workers?"

Daulo skimmed the paper. "Looks like it's on the basis of need. Unemployed and poor first, based on city records-"

"Wait a second," she interrupted him. "Aren't they even going to try and contact any of the workers they've had out there before? Ones they've already trained?"