Jonathan put an arm around her naked shoulders and hugged her against his chest.
"Buck up," he grated. "We aren't licked yet. Why, hell! We haven't started to fight, yet!"
He saw Morka Kar sneering at him from two stadium seats away, his thin mouth curling in fanatical contempt. He felt the hate beat redly from the man's eyes. Jonathan bared his teeth in answer to that fierce, unspoken taunt.
He said, loud enough for the Zarathzan to hear, "One of us will find a way. We're bound to. There's a key to that riddle. There has to be. The universe can't end—not like this—"
"Perhaps," said Morka Kar loudly, "the Earthling might amuse the shadows by—tumbling?"
Jonathan didn't know until later that Adatha Za put out a hand to restrain him. He was away like a sprinter, and his big left fist was lifting, swiftly. His fist hit Morka Kar, a little to one side of his jaw.
It snapped the Zarathzan's head around and backwards, and lifted him off his feet, and dropped him three seats below.
