"They'd have killed me on the rock if I hadn't had you. And when I go back...."
She brought her head up. "You're going back?"
He laughed at her. "Did you think you could get rid of me that easy? I told you I'd made a promise. I'm going to keep it, and you're going to help me. I can buy a lot with you."
Her pupils were little hot pinpoints. "I see. You don't care how many people you hurt, do you, as long as you can be a big man and keep your promise."
He said roughly, "Get up."
"All right." She nodded, casually. "I'll get up."
She did. She got up fast, like a rocksnake uncoiling, and she had a big stone in her right hand. She let it go, straight for his head.
Kirk jerked himself aside, but he was too late. The rock grazed him above the ear. He staggered, trying to see through a curtain of hot and flashing lights.
His earcups, working instinctively by themselves, brought him the sound of naked feet scrambling away over the pebble drifts.
Feet. And then something else....