any of their attackers. "Warrior . . ."
she managed to whisper.

"Yes, Garvey DarTorrance. And you?"

"Dana Manfredi, thakur-na to Richard Jason. He's all right?"

"Unconscious, but not hurt."

"Good." Dana sighed, relief letting her outraged body take over; she
passed out.

* * * * *

The time Dana spent unconscious was less peaceful than it should have
been. She dreamed, bits and pieces of her relationship with Richard
Jason, from meeting him shortly after her college graduation, to
swearing fealty, to the mountain hike that had ended so disastrously.

She woke slowly, realizing as she did that she had been reliving a
dream become nightmare, that she was actually in a hospital; the smell
was unmistakable. Her next awareness was that she was blissfully free
of pain, and she spent several minutes enjoying something she had taken
for granted before.

Then she heard the room's door open and stirred herself to look toward
it. The one who came in was a Sandeman, a warriors'-woman from the
gold-gemmed ring she wore; Dana inclined her head in the closest she
could come to a bow.

"Good afternoon, Dana," the w'woman said. "I am Mona, a warriors'-woman
of Clan Lewies and your doctor. How do you feel?"

"Better than I would've thought possible when the warrior Garvey found
me," Dana said. "Thanks for everything you've done for me."

"My pleasure," the w'woman said. "Fortunately you were found before
your attackers did anything life-threatening to you, though some of
your injuries could be classified as moderately serious for a Terran.
I do have you on rapid-heal, since there was no infection. Except for
your broken bones, you should be recovered in two weeks; those will
take three to four."

Dana nodded, the reference to her broken bones bringing the casts on
her arms to her attention, and she wondered again about their
attackers. "How's my thakur? And what about the ones who attacked
us?"

The doctor frowned. "Your thakur is fine, and wants to see you. I
will permit that tomorrow morning; right now you still need to rest.
As for your assailants, they are dead. Clan Torrance is particular
about the safety of its guests, and the warrior Garvey caught them in
the act. Two were kept alive long enough to question, and--" She
broke off. "Garvey is an honorable man and would report what he was
told accurately, but his prisoners might easily have lied to stop the
interrogat