"If you take liberties with me I will carve out your bowels," he warned savagely.
Nikka's reply was to rake open the girl's bodice with his hooked fingers. A stream of coins tinkled on the pavement. He released her, and she leaped back out of his reach, staring down at him with a puzzled look in her eyes, entirely regardless of her nakedness.
Tokalji burst out laughing, and resheathed his knife.
"She is a rare one. You are the first to catch her so."
"And he will be the last!" she said in a low, tense voice.
A wave of color suffused her from breast to forehead. But it was from rage, not modesty. She ripped a dagger from her waist.
"Now, we shall see if you can fight or only boast," she rasped, crouching forward.
Nikka shook his head.
"I don't fight with women," he said.
"You'd better fight with her," said Tokalji philosophically, "or she will kill you. She has a swifter blade than any man of my tribe."