"Well?" Daulo asked an hour later as they left the sajada. "What did you think?"
"It was like nothing I've ever experienced before," Jin told him honestly. "It was... very moving."
"Or primitive, in other words?"
His voice was heavy with challenge. "Not at all," she assured him. "Perhaps more emotional than I'm used to, but a worship service that doesn't touch the emotions is pretty much a waste of time."
A little of the stiffness seemed to go out of his back. "Agreed," he nodded.
The crowds heading home seemed to be thinner than they had been on the way into the sajada, Jin noticed, and she asked Daulo about it. "Most of them will have stayed at the sajada with their heyats," he told her.
"Heyats?"
"Groups of friends and neighbors who meet for further worship," he explained, throwing her an odd look. "Don't you have anything like that on-at home?" he amended, glancing around at the scattering of other pedestrians within earshot.
"Well... they're not called heyats, anyway," she said, thinking hard. It was evident the Qasamans took their religious expression very seriously. If she was going to win Daulo back as a more or less willing ally again, she had better find an answer that emphasized the similarities between Qasaman and Aventinian worship and minimized the differences. "But as you said earlier, worship is worship," she continued. "Only our style is different. The intent is certainly the same."
"I understand that. It's the style I'm trying to find out about."
"But style isn't really what counts..." She trailed off as something ahead caught her attention. "Daulo... how obvious is it that we're not city people?"
They took another three steps before he answered, "Those ghaalas up there, are they what you're worried about?"
"I don't know that word," she murmured, "but if you mean those teens leaning against the building, yes, that's who I mean. Can they tell from our clothing that we're from a village?"
"Probably," Daulo said calmly. "But don't let it worry you. They won't bother us." He paused. "And if they do, let me handle it. Understand?"
"Sure," Jin said. Her heart, already pounding in her ears, picked up its pace a bit. The scruffy-looking youths-seven of them, she counted-definitely had their eyes on her and Daulo.
And were definitely drifting away from the wall onto the walkway. Moving to block their path.
Chapter 29
A drop of sweat ran down between Jin's shoulderblades. Cross the street, she wanted to urge... but she knew full well what Daulo's reaction would be. She might as well suggest they turn and run back to the sajada for sanctuary.
At least none of the youths blocking the walkway appeared to be armed. That was something, anyway.
"But if you have to fight," she murmured suddenly, "stay as far back from them as you can. Understand?"
He glanced at her; but before he could comment one of the youths swaggered a step forward.
"Hello there, baelcra-keeper," he said conversationally as she and Daulo stopped. "Your own sajada burn down last night or something?"
"No," Daulo replied with a touch of ice in his voice. "Though if we're going to mention the sajada, you don't seem to be dressed for a visit there."
"Maybe we went earlier," another youth said with a sly grin. "Maybe you and your woman were too busy pharpesing to go then, huh?"
Another word the Troft translation tapes hadn't covered; but Daulo jerked as if he'd been stung. "And who'd know all about pharpesing better than ghaalas like you?" he snapped.
Insult traded for insult, clearly; but none of the toughs seemed especially disturbed. In fact, to Jin's eye they almost looked pleased by Daulo's reaction.
As if they'd been deliberately trying to get him mad.
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.