But Dean had the advantage of one long second's start.
Sutton felt the wrench ripped from his grip, saw the flash of it in the sun as Dean swung it upward for the blow.
Dean's lips were moving and even as he tried to duck, even as he tried to throw up his arms to shield his head, Sutton read the words the other's lips were saying.
"So you thought it would be me!"
Pain exploded inside Sutton's head and for one surprised instant he knew that he was falling, the ground rushing upward at his face. Then there was no ground, but only darkness that he fell through for long eternities.
XXXVII
Tricked!
Tricked by a smooth character from five hundred years ahead in time.
Tricked by a letter from six thousand years out of the past.
Tricked, said Sutton, by my own muddle-headedness.