Blood in the Dirt

Chapter 29

Gino came and woke them early the next morning by pounding on the door. Simon rolled out from under the covers and crawled to answer the door. "Get up." was all Gino said.

The two quickly grabbed their things, and met with the rest of the group in the hall. Helstan was giving orders. "Emmett, you're in charge of the horses. Go to the stables and make sure that they're fed and groomed properly. Zain, you're in charge of food. We're almost out, go to the market and get more. Amir, you're in charge of weapons. Take everyone's and go sharpen them."

The list went on until everyone had left but Andrea and Helstan. He looked at her with anger in his eyes as he said, "You're coming with me."

She didn't say anything and followed him out of the hotel. They moved through town, and he brought her to what she assumed was the town square. She took in the town.

It was about half the size of Yaron, but the buildings were much taller. The square was filled with market stands, and all types of stock were being sold. A bakery must have been nearby, because she smelled fresh bread. There were many people shopping, but it was still very quiet.

Helstan grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "Listen, we need to make a scene to draw this guy out."

"What guy?"

"The guy who knows where the portal is. He doesn't come out because he's scared the Outsiders will find him, but he also hates missing a disturbance."

"So what do we do?"

"We're going to pretend to fight each other."

"It won't look realistic unless we actually hit each other." Andrea protested.

"That doesn't matter. The people here don't train. They don't know a thing about fighting, and they've probably never even seen a fight before."

Andrea nodded, but was still hesitant. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Positive. Now listen, you have to act like I'm really hurting you. People are more likely to believe that a man can overpower a woman than vice versa."

"Even though that's far from the truth." Andrea teased.

Helstan raised an eyebrow, and said that they would start soon. They waited two minutes, and then they began.

Andrea started by slapping Helstan, and he returned by pushing her to the ground. She got back on her feet and started throwing small punches at his gut. He grabbed her arms and threw her over his shoulders, causing her to land hard on her back.

Most of the people were watching now, but not enough. She got back up and kicked him in the chest. He flew backwards, and stirred up a cloud of dust.

She had to admit, he was a good actor.

He jumped back to his feet and began to brush off his pants. She launched another faux kick, and he blocked it, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Now they had the whole square watching. "Is he in the crowd?" she whispered.

"Not yet."

She jumped to her feet and was met with a punch to the jaw. It wasn't hard, but she wasn't expecting it. She fell back to the earth, and could taste dirt. She spit it onto the ground and rose once more.

Helstan went for another punch, but was met with kick to the face. The kick hadn't come from Andrea though. "That'll show you!" a man shouted. He turned and helped Andrea up. He got a good look at her and his jaw dropped. "Andrea?"

"Uncle Roberto!" She leaped into his arms in excitement. Helstan rose from the ground and had trouble finding his balance. Roberto must have kicked him pretty hard.