Blood in the Dirt

Chapter 21

"Andrea, follow me." he whispered, touching her shoulder as he started to inch forwards. She hesitated at first, still bewildered by his words. He turned once he realized she wasn't following him. "Well come on then!"

Andrea inhaled, and began walking behind him. "Would you quiet down? They can hear you in Quelrion!" she scolded.

"Hey, not everyone practiced tip toeing for years on end." Andrea rolled her eyes and fell silent. They passed by a closed door that the voices were trailing from. Andrea touched Emmett's arm, turning him towards her. He stared at her with his left eyebrow arched. She gestured towards the door, but he only shook his head and continued moving forwards.

Andrea followed, listening to the Noble's conversation. They were just about to enter the room at the end of the hall when the discussion came to an end.

"Fine. We'll move the citizens out, but we are testing all the boys in training to see which ones are performing well. We need to find the warrior before it's too late."

The voices grew silent as the floorboards squeaked. The sounds of footsteps sounded throughout the building. She stopped as she looked behind her, watching as the doorknob turned. She felt a hand grasp her shoulder as she flew backwards. The door she moved through shut, and a palm pressed across her mouth. She began struggling until she heard a familiar voice, "Just relax. You need to keep quiet."

The arm wrapped around her waist loosened, allowing her to stand as she faced him. "Daniel, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." he answered as he turned away.

Andrea looked at her arm, there was blood on it. She checked herself over, looking for any scratches, but she couldn't find any. "Strange..." She whispered to herself.

"What is?" Daniel asked, still facing the other way.

"Nothing." She watched as he walked to the back of the room, further into the shadows of the unlit room. "Have you seen Emmett? He was with me."

"I don't know who that is, and I didn't see anyone with you."

"How could you not see him? He was right in front of me."

"I didn't take a close look, I just grabbed you before they saw you."

"Oh. Well thank you."

"Anytime." He fell silent then, continuing to show his back to Andrea. She walked over to him so she could be farther away from the door in case someone entered. She placed her hand on his forearm and he jumped. Andrea took her hand away in surprise. "Damn, I forgot you don't make noise when you walk. You scared the hell out of me."

Andrea rubbed her fingers together and she looked closer at them; they had been coated in blood again. "Daniel, are you bleeding?"

He let out a sigh before finally facing her. The left side of his face was oozing the red liquid from a large cut stretching from the end of his brow to his ear. "Just a little."

"What happened to you?" Andrea gasped and moved her hand to the side of his head.

"I'm fine." She looked him in the eyes and shook her head. She took her sleeve and attempted to wipe off his face, but he grabbed her wrist and moved it back to her side. "It was just an accident. No reason to worry."

Andrea didn't believe him, but ignored the subject. "So what do we do now?"

"We need to get out of here without anyone seeing or hearing us."

"What about Emmett?"

"What about him?"

"Shouldn't we find him?"