“Fireblast!” Ryan swore in lead as he heard the sound of blasterfire in among the clashes. “Some-one’ll get chilled, and that’ll fire up the whole camp.”
Crow assented. “Better get in. Hush men are hard fighters, and the water villes aren’t in the same league. Even outnumbered, I’d back the white-meat boys.” The Native American kicked his horse, spurring it to greater speed.
“Watch him,” J.B. yelled to the others. “Running Water is his ville. This is one time we can’t trust him.”
The horses clattered through the streets, turning into crowds massed around the area where the three sectors met. The outlying edges of the crowds were more people rubbernecking, trying to see the fighting rather than join in, and it was relatively simple for the companions to push their way through, scattering those reluctant to actually fight. The core of the action was centered on one street, and Crow was already in the thick of it, trying to break up the fighting men and women from the three villes. He had opted to stay on horseback, and was kicking at the fighters, figuring that he stood a greater chance of hitting a larger number and not being brought down himself if he stayed mounted. But he was making little impression alone.
Ryan turned to his people. “Off the horses, we’ll make better progress on the ground,” he yelled.
And that was true. Where Crow was hemmed in by the fighters, the companions were able to dismount and attack at a ground level. Although some blasterfire had been heard, the majority of the fighting was still hand-to-hand, with knives, sticks and pieces of glass and metal used as weapons. Dean, Mildred and Krysty were quick to pick up such pieces and put them to good use, while Jak once more palmed two of his leaf-bladed knives and used them to slash at the crowd of fighters, moving swiftly through to the center of the conflict with his flying feet causing as much damage through his heavy combat boots.
Ryan and J.B. had their own blades to hand, and both men had learned to fight hand-to-hand the hard way over many a year. They took the flanks of the fighting crowd, picking off the pairs and groups of fighters in the mass brawl, their fists and feet doing most of the work to be followed by incisive blows from the panga and the Tekna when necessary. While this was going on, Doc made a path for himself down the center, heading straight for the Native American, his unsheathed blade of honed Toledo steel doing its utmost to assist his passage, none of the fighters expecting such a seemingly frail old man to be so tough and fight so strongly.
Within a few moments, the companions had cleared a path to Crow, and left in their wake a bloody and defeated crowd of Native Americans, blacks, Hispanics and whites, united in their defeat.
“So will anyone tell me what the fuck this is about?” Crow yelled over the sudden silence, encircled by the companions, backs to him, ready to fight more if necessary.
“We know these scum are responsible for holding up the project,” one of the Hush men said, rising to his feet.
“Bullshit, it’s you people and your hate of anyone not white,” replied a Hispanic woman. “And those fuckers are just as bad,” she added to Crow, indicating the companions. “You’re a traitor to your people, Crow.”
“I have no people,” he replied. “And they—” he indicated the companions “—are on all our sides.”
“Yeah?’ With a black and a mutie?” the Hush man shouted. “Like hell. They’ll only help their own.”
“We don’t belong to any of you,” Krysty said heatedly. “We just want to do our job and leave.”
There was a general mutter of disbelief as the crowds began to disperse, leaving the companions and Crow almost entirely alone in the center of the roadway.
“Great,” Mildred said. “One side thinks we’re prejudiced against whites, the other that we hate all other colors…and none of them are going to help us to get at who’s really causing the damage.”
“Stupe bastards,” Ryan muttered, surveying the emptying street. “They don’t deserve anyone’s help. Shit,” he spit in disgust, “let’s get mounted up and get out to the work site. At least it doesn’t smell so bad out there.”