Austin blinked the stars from his eyes and tried to go to her aid. His assailant stepped in front of him and brought his club down as if he were wielding a two-handed broadsword. Austin deflected the blow, but it knocked the lid from his hand, and he lost his balance. Down on one knee, Austin raised his arm to protect his head. He saw wide faces and glittering eyes, clubs raised in the air, and braced him- self for a shower of blows to rain down on his skull. Instead, he heard thuds and grunts and men yelling in two different languages, one in- comprehensible, the other Spanish. The attackers who had encircled him melted away like snowflakes.

He struggled to his feet and saw figures running away from him. Clubs rattled to the pavement. Shadows were moving in every direc- tion, and he was reminded of the scene in the movie Ghost where the shades of the dead take the damned to the underworld. Then the shad- ows disappeared. He and Therri were alone, except for the slumped form of the man he had clouted. The attacker's friends had apparently abandoned him.

'Are you all right?" Austin said, taking Them's arm.

'Yes, I'm fine, but as you can tell, I'm very shaky. What about you:-

He lightly touched the side of his head. “My head feels like raw hamburger and my skull is full of twittering sparrows, but other than that I'm fine. It could have been worse.”

“I lnow she said with a shudder. ”Thank goodness those men saved us."

“What men? I was a little busy with my imitation oflvanhoe.” “They came out of nowhere. I think there were two of them. They went after the others and chased them away.”

Austin kicked the battered trash-can lid. “Hell, I thought I scared them off with my head-masher.” He brushed the dirt off his ripped and dirty pants. “Damn, this is the first new suit I've bought in years.”

Therri couldn't help laughing. “Incredible. You narrowly missed being beaten to death, and you're worried about your suit.” She em- braced him in a warm hug.

Therri was holding him tightly. He didn't even complain about the pressure of her body against his knife wound. He was thinking that she smelled very good, when suddenly she stiffened, backed away from him and looked over his shoulder with horror in her eyes.

“Kurt, watch out!”

Austin turned and saw that the attacker who'd been lying on the sidewalk was slowly getting to his feet. The man stared at them for a few seconds, apparently still dazed. Austin clenched his fists and started toward the man, ready to send him back to la-la land. He stopped in midstep when a small circle of intense red appeared in the man's forehead.

“Get down!” Austin yelled at Therri. When she hesitated, he pulled her to the sidewalk, shielding her body with his.