GENESIS - THE BEGINNING. Book 1

CHAPTER 11 ... Sigal Wyatt Earp

"Hey, isn't that woman a Contender?"

A soft whistle came from Adelia Montgomery. "You're right. Do you want me to do it? It's your turn you know." The woman wore a light-blue dress.

They lay in wait for the next contender to negotiate the dusty road below their hiding place.

"Wait!" Katya thrust out a hand.

Adelia lay still watching the dirt road for movement. The road led from the City to a Spaceport and a few dusty travelers plodded wearily along with carts pulled by oxen to and from the Spaceport. Carts and wagons piled high with goods.

It was their fourth day of camping out and waiting for the luckless to come to them. Far safer than being caught out in the open and unprepared. To date they had killed three contenders. The score was two to one with Adelia ahead. Only once were there any bystanders and they quickly got out of the way when the fighting started. Thereafter, both women decided that it may be best not to duel when the populace was close by as sooner or later word would travel that fighting was taking place in this stretch of the woods. Like many of their plans, how they were going to accomplish that was a mystery.

"Look, there's another." Katya pointed.

A man approached from the opposite direction. "Let's see what he does," she said, seeking confirmation from Adelia. "We can step in and take the survivor out afterwards."

"Not a bad idea," Adelia laughed softly. "Free entertainment. Let's go," she collected her sword.

They carefully made their way down the small knoll and watched as the two Contenders moved closer. There were other people walking to and from the Space Port. Bovine drawn carts trundled by and heads turned to eye out the Contender. Talking stopped. Laughter cut short. People stepped out of their way and came up short when they noticed that there were two Contenders.

"He looks young don't you think?" Adelia said.

"And she isn't much older." Katya saw that the two had at last noticed each other. They came to a standstill and stared. A crowd of people suddenly blocked their view.

"I'm going closer, I want to see this," said Adelia.

"No. You will be noticed."

"Who's going to notice me?" She pointed at the gathering crowd, "are so excited about those two they won't notice if a bomb went off beside them."

"If you say so." Katya wasn't convinced. "I'm going to find a tree."

Trying to hide her sword so that the hand guard was clamped under her armpit and the long blade down her side, Adelia stepped up to the whispering onlookers and watched the two Contenders square up to each other. She sidled closer and saw that the man was actually too young to be a contender, 17 or 18 years old was her guess. Blond wavy hair that he brushed out of his eyes every so often. Average height and build. Underfed with old clothes torn in places although surprisingly clean. Katya was right; the woman was older by what looked like a year or two. These two should be lovers, not fighters, she thought.

The boy shook his head. "Don't do this. I don't want to hurt you," he said.

"You have much faith in your prowess," said the young woman.

Her eyes were slanted and her black hair, long and vibrant. She laughed, ignoring the onlookers. She wore a light-blue, one-piece robe covered in a darker blue material with pure white blossom prints. The sleeves were oversized and she stood with folded arms hidden in the folds of the material. It was the long, slender sword strapped to her back that gave her away as a Contender. "Or is it because I am a woman and your manly pride is coming to the fore?"