Dragons of the Watch - Donita K. Paul [105]
The daggart ploy was worth a try anyway.
“Did you come for a daggart?” she asked.
He snorted.
She examined his dirty face, hoping to see a glimmer of innocence. The boy looked hard, unforgiving, and unreachable. She wouldn’t give up quite yet. “You’re alone?”
He sneered. “I’ve got lookouts scattered about. Your man with the sword won’t be coming to rescue you.”
“Why would I need rescuing?”
Yawn clenched his fists and took a step forward.
“I could beat you up. I could smear you across this floor. I could—”
Ellie suppressed the fear that shivered her spine and smiled. “But you won’t.” The words came out sounding more positive than she felt. All the years of bluffing her brothers paid off.
Yawn stopped. His mouth worked as if he thought of several things to say but rejected each utterance. Finally, he held his fists up in front of him. “What makes you think I won’t?”
“Well, you do know that hitting a girl is a sissy thing to do, don’t you? Everyone knows that. Only stupid boys hit girls. It’s a well-known fact. I’m sure you wouldn’t actually hit me because you don’t want your gang talking about you behind your back.”
Pausing, she was gratified to see he puzzled over her statements. “So if you’re too dumb to get what you want with words and have to use your fists”—she raised her eyebrows—“that tells everyone you aren’t a good leader. And if you pick on girls, that shows you’re afraid of a real fight with a real opponent, someone the same size and someone who has as many muscles as you do. And you know what they’ll be saying about that.”
Yawn cast a sweeping glance around the showroom. Ellie did too. All the children had either fled or found a good hiding spot. Yawn must have been satisfied that they were alone.
He growled at Ellie. “What? What will they be saying?”
“The muscle thing,” said Ellie. She stroked Porky’s brow and was glad that his bruises had faded and he breathed easily. He looked very relaxed. She wished she could relax. She hoped Yawn would relax.
Yawn glared at her and shouted, “What’s the muscle thing?”
She was going to make him very angry or very flummoxed. She was hoping for the latter. “Oh, they say how big your muscles are—the ones in your legs, the ones in your arms, and the one in your head. The one in your head leaves no room for the brain, so you become a muscle head, who is, of course, without a brain and therefore stupid.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Well, I didn’t say you were. I said that everyone knows that boys who hit girls aren’t brave and aren’t smart, and that’s why I know you won’t hit me. I believe you’re brave and smart.”
His fists clenched and unclenched. He sputtered under his breath, and she suspected his muttered rant was not a nursery rhyme. His eyes darted here and there, looking for something.
Ellie speculated. Witnesses?
The boy spun around and made for the exit. He bumped into Bealomondore as he passed through a narrow opening. The bulk of the urohm child knocked the tumanhofer backward. Ellie rose to her knees with the table leg clutched in her hand. But the bully charged on, and Bealomondore righted himself.
He came into the area where Ellie knelt beside Porky and, with one arm around her, pulled her to her feet. His hand on the make-do club worked to get the weapon away from her. She finally let go, and he dropped the wooden leg to the floor. She ducked her head under his chin, felt the warmth of his protective embrace, and heard his gentle whisper, “It’s all right now. I’m here. We have the wagon. We’re going back to the library.”
She hiccupped as she suppressed a cry. “I was so afraid I’d hit him. I didn’t want to hit him.”
“Of course not, but it would be nice to have a parent around for these children. Most of them could stand a well-administered spanking.” He hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head.
A chorus of giggles surrounded them.
A chuckle rumbled in Bealomondore’s chest. “We have an audience. Say, are there more children here than when I left?”
Ellie nodded. “Yes, two more arrived while you were gone.”
“Two?” Bealomondore