“Then why isn’t anyone stopping her?” Dean asked, indicating the Gate members who were gathering around the fight.
“Two reasons,” Jon said softly. “The first is that you never interfere with a fight between two women… not in this tribe. It’s the worst breach of law you can think of.”
“Hot pipe! I can’t let that get in the way of stopping this,” Dean said angrily, moving away from Jon and Petor and moving toward the fight. “I can’t let Mildred get—”
Petor grabbed his arm. “Second reason, Dean— Margia is an evil bitch, and you know that she won’t rest until she’s either the victor or the vanquished. This’ll run until she dies or emerges victorious, and believe me, my friend, if you get in the way she’ll take you out, as well.”
Dean made to pull away, but found Petor’s grip was firm. Jon took Dean’s other arm. “Believe him,” Jon said simply. Dean looked on helplessly while Margia pummeled Mildred. She had beaten away Mildred’s arms, loosened the grip that Mildred had on her forearms, and was swinging punches and chops at the prone woman. People were slow to make their way from the corners of the camp, or from over by the fire, and Ryan, Doc and Gloria were nowhere to be seen. Neither was J.B., who was at that moment in the armory tent, putting the finishing touches to his Uzi, which he had lovingly stripped and cleaned.
But there was one man who was close enough to the fight to see almost immediately what was going on, and one man who had no one to tell him not to intervene.
Not that mere words could ever stop Jak Lauren when he was determined to see something through.
Jak had been outside the camp when the fight began, having just taken a walk in the surrounding scrub to feel the cold night air on him. He had sharpened his eyes and hearing in the gloom, taking in every movement in the undergrowth. Sharpened so much, in fact, that it went beyond the immediate area, and beyond the five senses into something that could reach out beyond. Almost as if he could scent trouble on the air.
Which is exactly what happened. Jak turned suddenly back toward the camp, sensing a change in atmosphere. For a fraction of a second, he paused, assimilating in his subconscious all that his senses were telling him. And then he began to run. Mildred was by now almost insensible. Margia had landed a chopping blow to the side of her neck that had made her see a whirl of colors in the night air, a thousand firecrackers exploding in her head. Despite all she had experienced over the years, Mildred had always firmly believed that the idea of exploding lights and fireworks in the head were a cliche. Now she knew that wasn’t so, and knew at a moment when it was imperative that she remain alert.
But somehow she couldn’t. The blow had stunned her severely, and caught a nerve cluster that spread a deadening effect up her face and into her head. It was almost as though her head were becoming disassociated from her body, and would no longer respond to her commands. She wanted to lift her arms and defend herself, but they stubbornly refused to obey. She was painfully aware that this left her completely open to attack, and Margia was keen to exploit that.
The blond armorer landed blow after blow, not in a hurry, but with the calm assurance of one picking her spot. She had caught on quickly that Mildred was incapacitated, and that it was now merely a matter of taking her time and finishing the job properly.
A chance that she wouldn’t get because of her arrogance.
Jak came streaking through the crowd, white hair flowing out behind him, his face pale and ghostly in the distant light of the campfire. He shouldered aside the Gate members who blocked his path, unheeding of their dissent, and took in the situation at a glance.
He jumped, launching himself into a flying drop kick that hit Margia on the side as she was about to land another blow. Her arm was raised, and Jak’s combat boots hit her under the ribs and in the soft hollow of her armpit. The blonde grunted in shock and pain as she was driven sideways onto the ground, and off Mildred. Jak rolled beside her and got to his feet as she gathered herself and rose to attack the new threat.