“What are you trying to do?” he asked, angrily trying to make her hold still.
“They'll put you in jail,” she said.
“I've got the money to fight it.”
“But you'll lose everything.” She bit him on the hand.
“Goddamned little she-wolf!” he said, laughing.
“You'll lose everything!” she repeated.
“Look,” he said, pointing to dark shapes moving toward them through the yil trees. “See those?”
“Wolves.”
“Right. Very good. Now let me tell you something. I am going to stay right here if you won't let me take you out of the woods. I'm going to wait for those wolves and kill them one at a time, with Proteus, until there are too many for the robot to handle. Then I'll let them kill both of us if I can't stop them with my hands. Proteus can only do so much, you know. He wasn't designed to work at optimum efficiency in some exotic situation like this.”
As if in confirmation of all Davis had said, the robot's plasti-plasma began gurgling loudly. It could, of course, handle these wolves long enough to scare them off, but there was no sense telling her that.
“But you'll lose everything!”
“Money. Some fans. We'll fight it, and we'll win it.”
She looked at him, seemed to wilt, as if she had been holding herself stiff and alert through sheer willpower. As she sagged and whimpered that the bite on her arm hurt very badly, he lifted her in his arms much as he might have carried a child, careful that her wings were folded and would not get torn or bent by his rough handling. As he turned to find their way back to the fields, the wolves moved in even closer.
To his right, one of the hefty, slavering monsters hunched its shoulders and hung its neck low to the ground, pawed at the earth. Its hind legs tensed, all the muscles standing out even through the thick coat of hair.
“Gun right!” he ordered Porteus.
The machine turned.
The wolf bounded two steps, soared into the air…
… erupted like a match head in the searing brilliance of the vibra-beam, died howling like a banshee.
The other beasts backstepped a bit, lowered their heads and made deep moaning noises that the wind snatched and carried away, changed into the crying of children, then the buzzing of bees, then nothingness.
Davis carried her back over the leaf-covered log, worked around the thrusting teeth of the rock formation, snagging her toga several times and looking up anxiously at each halt to make certain Proteus was still watchful. The wolves paralleled their exit, staying behind the trunks of the yil trees, their scarlet eyes flashing now and again in the dense gloom — the only signs of their presence outside of an occasional brutish mutter.
At last, the edge of the woods loomed ahead; the snow-blanketed fields visible and — despite their icy dress — warmly welcome beyond. He shifted her slightly, directed her to hang onto his neck with her good arm, and looked around at the pairs of gleaming bloodspots that indicated the positions of the wolves. There were eight of them that he could locate, all too close for comfort. But there was nothing to do but go ahead and rely on Proteus. He stepped away from the yil bole against which he had been leaning, hugged Leah's body to his chest, and walked briskly toward the light and the open spaces.
There was a rustle of movement behind him, and he was conscious of Proteus arcing above his head, training his guns downward. There was a crackle of vibra weapon, the smell of burning fur and roasting meat. Davis did not stop to look back but maintained the pace he had set for himself.
To their left, two of the wolves charged, covering great lengths of ground with each powerful bounding stride. Proteus sprayed both of them with the deadly weapon's bluish light and caught them before they were even off the ground. Around them, dried leaves, under the thin blanket of snow, flashed and burned in an instant, left only a pall of smoke and no coals.
Then Davis was through the trees and into the field where he could not be approached on the sly. The wolves, the five that were left, raced out after him, passed him, started coming back in, trying to corner him between the woods and themselves. They were great, slavering demons, cancerous growths against the white purity of the snow, but he knew that — though they might look mythological, unreal— their bite and their clawing would be perfectly solid, painful, and murderous.
Proteus met this challenge as he had met all the others. He brought down two of the wolves with the vibra weapon, sent them rolling and kicking backwards until they were coated with snow and ice and looked like plaster of Paris figures. The remaining three beasts decided that enough was more than plenty, turned to the left, toward a projection of the yil trees, tails between their legs, and raced through the snow, kicking clouds of the fine particles up in their wake.
Davis slowed down, caught his breath for a moment. The car was useless now that its grav plates had been destroyed. He could see it, alongside the temple hill, canted to one side, the rubber rim twisted up the side of it like a snake. He looked toward the Sanctuary. Matron Salsbury should have another grav car, surely, which he could use to get the girl back to the aviary where his speedheal medical kit lay.
He looked down at Leah to tell her what he had planned, but found she was unconscious. Her head hung limply against her bosom, and her breath was coming raggedly. He looked at the wolf bite, saw that it was more swollen than before, and that the vein leading away from it was puffed and black. Either the bite had given her natural blood poisoning, or the fangs of the wolves contained some noxious chemical that might be — no, very clearly was — of a deadly nature.
He looked frantically in all directions, as if someone might be about who could help, then turned toward the Sanctuary and, holding her more tightly than ever, he began running through the inch of snow that had fallen, his feet slipping and sliding, but somehow managing to maintain his balance. His ears were so cold they ached, and he imagined the girl must be freezing with nothing more on than the heavyweight toga. Her bare legs dangled over his arm where the garment had ridden up, and he almost stopped to tuck it properly around her to keep her warm, then realized any waste of time was also a waste of the droplets of life she still possessed.
He ran faster, fell on his back once, numbing himself though he managed to hold her and cushion her from being injured. It was a struggle getting to his feet without laying her in the snow, but he did not want to let her out of his arms.
In minutes, he reached the Sanctuary, staggered up the steps with her, his throat afire and dry, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. He raced for the door, was about to slow to push it open when it opened of its own accord, giving him entrance. He went through, stopped in the foyer, puffing and unable to speak. He looked up, expecting to see Matron Salsbury, but was confronted with the face of the Alliance rep instead.
The rep drew on his mustache with one hand, looked at the girl, then up into Davis's face. In his other hand, he held a pistol.
“She's been bitten by a wolf,” Davis said, the words harsh and wheezed, an octave too high.
“Drop her,” the rep said.
“Get help for her quickly,” Davis pleaded.
“Drop her,” the rep said, pointing at her with the pistol. “I must warn you that I was an Alliance soldier before entering the diplomatic corps. With my training, I have no inhibitions about violence. I'm capable of — well, of anything, really. Drop her.”
Proteus made grumbling sounds.
“And a protection robot isn't designed to strike out at any other human being, Davis. So forget that.”
He started to bend over with Leah, to place her on the carpet.
“I did not tell you to lay her down. I told you to drop her. Just let her go.”
He ignored the rep and placed her gently on the floor.
“That was a bad move,” the ex-soldier said. “Another strike against you: disobeying an officer of the Alliance. That carries two years in itself. I think you had best be more courteous.”
“How did you get here so quickly?” Davis asked.
“I came around to visit Matron Salsbury to discuss you, to see if she knew of any misdemeanor — violating the preserve laws or anything — we might harass you with. She had just told me what she discovered about you and the animal there when you obliged us by charging right in with your little beast.” He smiled.
Davis looked down at the girl. “Will you get help for her? She's dying. A simple speedheal unit would—”
“Let her die,” the rep said, still smiling.
Davis looked astonished.
