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Page 229
The thin cry that alerted Edwina combined with the smell of blood and fear turned Brian into a feral beast. Free of inhibition, he laid the fence flat in a single lunge and covered the length of the garden in a few bounds. The last leap carried the now-silent dog from the top of the steps into the boat where, turning midair toward the beloved scent, he struck full on the chest of the man whose return stroke would have decapitated Geoffrey. Dog and man tumbled in a heap onto the deck. Only the dog rose from that impact and the slaver on his jaws was dyed red.
Now the two men who had been holding Joanna burst out from behind the canopy. Their rush checked suddenly as they confronted what looked, in that moment, like a gray lion with a blood-dripping mouth. Before either could move again, silent as a wraith, the dog leapt between them. Since they had each been braced for a direct attack, both were taken unawares when Brian passed through and staggered sideways. Geoffrey's boatman spun away from the river and shouted a challenge; Geoffrey caught his breath, freed his legs from the rower's bench, and came upright. Within the cabin, a man screamed and Joanna shrieked ''No! No!" From the house came a roar of angry voices and men began to pour around the side of the building in various stages of undress but all with weapons in their hands and shields on their arms.
Braybrook's two remaining men dropped their weapons and held up empty hands, crying quarter. Blind to all but Joanna's voice, Geoffrey burst by them and in through the canopy. He was just in time to see a side wall of the shelter torn loose and a man with blood streaming from his back and buttocks throw himself through and into the river. Joanna, clinging desperately to Brian's collar and crying so hard that she could no longer command her voice, was almost dragged out in pursuit of Brian's prey.
"Brian! Down!" Geoffrey roared. "Down!"
The dog dropped, belly flat, tail and ears down, cowering to the authority of that voice. Joanna let go of his collar and swung around, clutching her torn dress to her breasts. Still

 
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