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?"
"Maybe they already have."
"Oh. Right."
"Um. Mayor Capparis recommends we stick to the marketplaces' second-booths when we pick up city-style clothing."
Jin nodded. "Good idea. What about those city records, though? How are we going to fake that?"
Daulo shrugged. "Presumably Mayor Capparis will take care of that."
"Um." Jin stepped toward him. "May I see the message?"
He handed the paper over. She gazed at it for what seemed to be an unnecessarily long time. "You having trouble reading it?" he asked at last.
"No," she said slowly. "I was just wondering... It's addressed to you. By name."
"Of course it is. So?"
"So doesn't it strike you as odd that those toughs just happened to be hanging around directly between the sajada and here?"
He frowned. "I don't see the problem. You're the one who pointed out we were dressed in villagers' clothing. They were just after some fun."
"Maybe." She chewed at her lip, an annoying habit of hers. "But suppose for a moment that there was more to it than that. Suppose that whoever it is who doesn't want villagers snooping around inside Mangus found out we were going to try for one of their work parties."
"That's ridiculous," Daulo snorted. "How would they find out..." He trailed off, eyes dropping to the paper still in her hand. "Mayor Capparis wouldn't tell them," he said flatly.
"I'm not suggesting he did," Jin shook her head. "But this message presumably came from his office. Couldn't someone there have found out about it, either before or after it was sent?"
Daulo gritted his teeth. It wasn't all that farfetched, unfortunately. If one of the mayor's enemies had gotten wind of the scheme, putting them into the hospital would be a safe and simple way for him to thwart it. "It's possible, I suppose," he admitted aloud to Jin, "But if you're suggesting we pick up and run, forget it."
"We don't have to run," she said. "Just move. Find somewhere else, where no one-including Mayor Capparis-knows where to find us."
"We still have to show up at the city center," he pointed out.
"True. But there's nothing much we can do about that."
"Then what's the point of hiding now?" he countered. "All it does is buy us a couple of days."
"A couple of days can mean a lot. Among other things, it gives us more time to prepare."
She was right; and down deep he recognized that. But on the surface, his honor had surged once again to the fore. "No," he shook his head. "I'm not running.
Not without better proof than that."
She took a deep breath, and he braced himself for an argument. "Then the deal's off," she said bluntly.
He blinked with surprise. "What?"
"I said the deal's off. You might as well head back to Milika right now, because
I'm going into Mangus alone."
"That's ridiculous. I'm not letting you do something that-that-" He shut up, realizing with annoyance he was starting to sputter. "Besides, what do we have to worry about? With your powers-"
"My powers are designed to protect me," she cut him off. "Not friends or people around me; just me. And if you're not going to cooperate, I can't take the risk of something happening to you."
"Why?" he snarled. "Because my father would call the Shahni down on your head?"
"Because you're my friend," she said quietly.
For a moment he just glared at her, feeling his arguments melt and drain away.
"All right," he gritted at last. "I'll offer you a compromise. If you can prove we're under direct attack, I'll agree to anything you say."
She hesitated, then nodded. "Fair enough. Well... let's see. I suppose the best way to start would be for you to call up Mayor Capparis's office and leave a message telling him that we're moving to a new place. We won't really be going anywhere," she hastened to add, "but if there's an informant there, he'll get the word out to his fighters. Then we can find a place on the sidelines and watch what happens. If anything."