“Yes.”
He hesitated, then with a grunt slammed me up against a tree trunk, throwing the rope up and over a couple of branches. “It matters not. She is mahrime. The loss of her kind will not harm us.”
I didn’t wait for him to string me up; I grabbed the rope with both hands, and bolted.
Smack-dab into Andrew.
Andrew threw a left hook that caught me under my chin, making my head snap back with an ugly sound. I was dazed, dimly aware only of the extreme pain in my head, and growing pressure on my windpipe. My id, ego, and superego all screamed at me to get a grip before it was too late, but when I finally did manage to clear my head, it was to find myself being hoisted up by the rope around my neck. I kicked and fought and tried desperately to get my fingers between the rope and my flesh,
