Do not act the fool, Garrett. For once in our acquaintance astound me by pausing to reflect before you leap.

That's the way he is. Usually more so. My tenant and sometime partner, sometime mentor. Despite his control I croaked, "Talk to me, Chuckles. Tell me what it's all about."

Calm yourself Passion enslaves reason. The wise man. .

Yeah. He does go on like that, hokey philosopher that he is. Only not in the really grim times... I began to suspect something.

Once you get used to a particular Loghyr, you can read more than words when he thinks into your head. He was angry about what had happened but not nearly so outraged and vengeance hungry as he should have been. I began to control myself.

"I did it again, eh?"

You get more exercise jumping to conclusions than you do running.

"She's going to be all right?"

Her chances seem good. She will need the attention of a skilled surgeon, though. I have put her into a deep sleep till such time as one becomes available.

"Thanks. So tell me what you got from her."

She had no idea what it was about. She was involved in nothing. She did not know the man who wielded the knife. He left out his usual stock of sarcastic comments when he added, She was just coming to see you. She went to sleep completely bewildered.

He loosened his hold on me, let me settle into the big chair that's there for me when I visit.

Till you lumbered in with your recollections, I assumed it was random violence. Meaning he had sorted through my memories of the chase.

Saucerhead joined us. He leaned on the back of my chair, stared at Tinnie. He jumped to the same conclusion I had. I admired his self-control. He liked Tinnie and had a special place in his heart for guys who wasted women. He'd lost one once, that he'd been hired to protect. No fault of his own. He'd wiped out half a platoon of assassins and had gotten ninety percent killed himself trying to save her. He hadn't been the same since.