The Mink dropped to one knee beside him, head bowed with nausea and relief. "You were a brave man, you bastard."
Ewyo, strong in his fashion as Revel in his, stiffened his body so that he could look straight up at his killer. "Not—especially brave," he ground out. "You see—Mink—I had no—ammunition—for the gun...."
His pale eyes filmed over, and Revel staggered off, leaving him for the crows and worms of the valley.
When he had come, dragging himself like a wounded stag up the rock shelf, they stared at him in silence for a long minute. Lady Nirea at last said, "But you are dying, Revel!"
"Not for a good many years," he grinned.
Jerran said, "Aye, cut him a thousand times and he'll make fresh blood from that valiant heart!"
John called, "Look there, Mink!" Down the dawn wind rode half a dozen golden orbs, high enough to be out of reach of their picks, low enough to observe them. Revel gritted, "Blast 'em!"
"You can always shoot later, son. Let's hear what they want."
Reluctantly Revel waved a crimsoned hand to stop his gunmen. The globes halted a few feet above the machine. Fingers of thought pried into the Mink's head, and automatically up went his screen.