The Arena (Ultimate Soldier Book 1) (11 page)

Lila was left utterly confounded, and stood there with her mouth hanging open until Josef patted her hand and pulled her toward the ropes. "He's going to give his conclusions to Jarda. It's very unlikely you would be put in a raiding party, I can't remember the last time we had a woman with us. You never know, though...not sure I've ever seen Nolan that happy. Though why he's happy because a girl had a knife to his throat, I'll never know."

"I wouldn't fight anyway," Lila muttered, ducking to slide between the ropes.

Josef pretended not to hear her. "Until then, I guess I get to give you that tour!" He slung an arm around her shoulders, making Lila tense, but seeing the way he glanced back at Nolan, Lila recognized that this young man did nothing without intention. She submitted to the casual touch, feeling caught up in the enthusiasm the group of men had for the thrill of competition, for life itself. Something had changed in the way they treated her--perhaps it was that she had proven herself in a way they could understand, passed a test they all had to take. Whatever it was, even Antonio seemed to have dropped the air of bluster and bravado and his booming laugh joined that of the others. They left the Armory (or was it the Training Hall?) and went up the stairs, the men's boots thudding loudly on each step. Though Lila didn't understand most of the jokes, she found herself caught up in the spirit of mirth, and laughed at one of Aran's remarks. Josef's arm dropped from her shoulders and she looked over to see him staring at her oddly.

"What?"

They had nearly reached the top of the stairs. Elan was holding the door to the hallway open. Josef shook his head and shrugged. "Just never heard you laugh before."

Lila followed the rest through the door, smiling up at Elan to thank him for holding it open. He smiled back, though there was a haunting sadness behind his eyes. "You ok?" She asked quietly enough that the rest of the group could not hear. He nodded, smiling so brightly that she was sure she had imagined the sadness, grabbing her hand in both of his and kissing the back of it. What was it with people and casual touch? It wasn't unpleasant, but Lila felt awkward and found herself rubbing the back of her hand on her pants once he released her fingers.

As soon as Lila walked out into the hallway, she nearly bumped into Antonio's broad back. Kenan was standing there, his face as unreadable as before. "Jarda wants to see all of you," he told Josef. His eyes flicked over to Lila and then away, dismissing her in a way that made Lila feel insulted. "All except the girl. She is to help the women." Without another word he spun and strode out into the courtyard.

Lila looked over at Josef, who caught her gaze and shrugged. Shaking his head, Aran clapped Josef on the shoulder. "You'll catch up?"

Josef nodded and Lila followed him outside while the rest of the men started up the stairs. The courtyard was almost empty, and it felt like an age since Josef had led her out into the crowd this morning. There was a group of women gathered outside the fence, singing and laughing. They had their sleeves rolled up and their skirts tied around their knees. As Josef led Lila closer she saw that this was where the stream ran underneath the wall and pooled into a shallow pond before running through a metal grate on the other side of the corner.

"Today is washing day," Josef helpfully supplied to Lila's unspoken question.

Lila looked down at the worn, dirty tunic and pants she wore, with her brown bare feet showing below the hem of the too-big pants that had never stayed up without a belt. It was the only set of clothing she had owned since she outgrew her childhood clothing and Protector had fashioned these out of one of the tough blankets the previous owner of the mansion had stored. The pants had long ago ceased to be white, and the sky blue of the shirt was now more of a smudged gray. "You mean they have more than one set of clothing?"

Josef looked like he was about to laugh, but when he caught a glimpse of Lila's expression, his look turned to one of pity. "Of course! Everyone here has at least two sets of clothing, most have three or four."

Lila shook her head, trying to imagine being able to change clothing whenever she felt like it, or even what it felt like to be clean, and wear clean clothes. She felt suddenly self-conscious as they approached the group, realizing how wild and unkempt she must look next to these women with their braided hair and their clean dresses. No wonder everyone watched her like she was some monster from the forest.

As expected, the singing and eventually the conversation stopped as Josef led her to the damp pebbles near the edge of the pond. Martha was the only familiar, and certainly the only friendly face out of the mass of disapproving glares.

From the far bank of the pond, a plump woman with curly red hair shouted "We don't want her here!"

"That's enough, Sybil!" Martha snapped, the sweet woman showing an uncharacteristic flash of temper. She stood from where she was bending over a washboard, fixing the other women with a glare. "Can't you all see she's just a child? She looks like a stiff wind would blow her away. It isn't her fault she was left in the woods all alone to survive."

Apparently some part of this last sentence was unexpected, by the sounds of muttering that swept the group. Lila stood with her hands clasped together in front of her, eyes on her toes, feeling as if she awaited a verdict. Maybe she did--a verdict of acceptance or rejection. It didn't mean much to have Josef and his friends accept her if no one else did.

"You lived in the woods
all alone
?" The question was incredulous, but not hostile. Lila's head shot up to see that it was a girl about her age who had asked. Beside her, Josef let out his breath.

"You'll be fine," Josef whispered in her ear, squeezing her shoulder briefly. "I have to go, but Martha won't let them tear you to pieces." As he moved away, Lila thought she heard the words "Too badly," muttered under his breath. She turned around in a sudden panic, reaching for her friend. He smiled encouragingly, clasping her hand between his. Then he was gone, striding quickly across the sparsely vegetated ground, his boots crunching on gravel.

Biting her lip, Lila turned back around. The girl that had asked about her living in the woods had jumped up and was coming toward her, brilliant red hair in two thick braids swinging around her shoulders. Despite Lila's stiffness, the girl came up to her and hooked an arm through Lila's, seemingly oblivious to her awkwardness. "Did you really live in the woods all by yourself?" The girl asked in a low tone. Lila nodded.

"Annie!" Sybil shouted. "Get back to work!"

Annie rolled her eyes for Lila's benefit, and Lila had a sudden urge to giggle. "I'm coming, mama!" She yelled back. She tugged Lila toward the edge of the water.

"Annie, can you help Lila find some clean clothes so she can wash her own?" This was Martha, who smiled at Lila. "I'm sure she would love some new things."

There was a low murmur, and a thin blond woman piped up "She just got here. She's done nothing to deserve new clothes."

"So you'd have her walk around in a shirt that threatens to fall off her body and trousers three sizes too big? I doubt you'd do the same to your own daughter, Amanda."

Amanda sniffed. "She hasn't earned it."

"Neither has Rena!" Annie retorted, causing a cry of outrage from the sour-looking girl that was a carbon copy of her mother.

"That's
enough,
Annie!" Sybil called, pounding her bar of soap down on the washboard for emphasis.

"Quiet!" Martha shouted over the rapidly rising wave of dissent. Lila had spent the conversation intently studying her own feet, her cheeks burning. Annie patted her hand reassuringly. Martha stood straight, and when Lila turned to watch she had a sudden flashback to her mother directing a group of unruly children. Blond hair piled on her head glinted in the sunlight, almost crown-like in appearance. The murmurs immediately stopped. Martha pointed around the group with the hand that held a bar of soap, her gestures punctuating her words. "If a single word I hear of this child is true, she has earned whatever she feels like having. She has survived circumstances that would have killed any of you. And here she stands, to be lashed by your petty and unfounded anger. Imagine," her eyes blazed, "Imagine your daughters in those woods, fighting to survive. Imagine your daughters alone out there. Then tell me that this child does not deserve as many new clothes as she wants."

"We don't know that her story
is
true." Lila couldn't see who had said this.

Martha's sweeping gesture indicated Lila. "Look at her arms. She doesn't bear the mark of the Snake. She can't have had a decent meal in weeks. What does it matter?"

No one seemed to have an answer. Martha smiled at Lila and Annie, morphing back into the gentle motherly figure. "Annie, go help Lila pick out some clothes so that she can wash the ones she's wearing."

Annie tugged Lila off to the left, where a group of lean-to buildings were set against the wall. The girl gave a low whistle as they drew away. "I've never seen Martha go all stern like that," Annie said, shaking her head.

"I don't mean to cause any trouble."

"No!" Annie cried. "It's not your fault!"

"Why do you like me when they don't?"

Annie threw back her head and laughed. "Partly just to spite my mother--she's really on my case these days. But really, how much threat could you be? You look like you're just about to fall over!"

Lila thought she could probably do more harm than most of the people here knew, but she kept this thought to herself. "Thank you for believing me."

"Of course!" Annie led Lila to the first of the lean-tos, and pulled the creaking door open. The right side, which was the thick logs of the wall, was driven with many nails from which hung dresses and coveralls. The left, where the roof ended a mere four or five feet from the ground, was lined with wooden shelves that contained folded skirts, pants, shirts and various items of underclothing. Annie grinned, releasing Lila's arm and trailed her fingers along the dresses, humming. Reaching the end of the row, she shook her head and reached over to pull a long patchwork skirt out of a pile. She danced back down the row and held the skirt up to Lila's waist. "Its a bit big, but it fits better than that atrocity you call pants."

"Hey!"

Annie laughed. "I'm just kidding. Lighten up a bit." She skipped back down the row of shelves, pulling out a green blouse and some underclothes, shoving the pile into Lila's arms. "Here, this should work. Probably still too big, but then again I bet everything in here is, and all the kid stuff has flowers on it."

Lila couldn't help smiling at the girl's infectious joy. "I've never had anything as nice as this," she said in awe, running her fingers over the light fabrics. The blouse had long flowing sleeves and a drawstring at the neckline. The skirt had wooden buttons running up part of it, and was made from squares of multi colored fabric.

"Old Mary makes all our stuff," Annie said. She indicated her own dress, which was blue with cap sleeves and had buttons all the way down the front. "She's a genius with fabrics and dyes. Well, are you gonna put it all on? I promise I won't look."

Lila looked uncertainly down at the pile in her arms. "I...I'm not quite sure how these--"

Annie giggled. "Never worn them before, huh? Turn around."

Annie quickly helped Lila into the clothes, using Lila's belt to help hold up the skirt. The hem of the skirt fell to Lila's ankles, and swished around her feet when she moved. The blouse tended to fall off of one shoulder or the other even with the drawstring tightened, but it still felt glorious after the stiffness of her old clothing caked with the dirt of months and months of wear. Lila couldn't help smiling as she held out her hands, staring at how the soft fabric fell over her slim wrists.

"There. You still look like you need some food, but at least you don't look like a 12 year old boy." Lila looked up in shock to see Annie wink. "Come on, let's get back before we get in trouble."

Annie picked up Lila's old clothes. Bemused, Lila followed her back outside, self-consciously pulling the shoulder of the blouse back into place. Once they reached the edge of the pond, Annie dumped the clothes into the water and found a washboard and a bar of soap. She tied her skirt around her knees and started scrubbing Lila's shirt.

Lila, feeling very aware of the stares all around her, held her hands out for the shirt. "I'll do that, it's my clothes," she offered. She sat down on the edge of the bank and tied her skirt in a knot by her knees.

Annie shrugged and handed her the board and soap, picking up another piece of clothing from the edge of the water. "You should let me brush your hair for you when I'm done washing. I bet it's really pretty."

Lila looked at the black, tangled mess hanging over her shoulder. "Um, sure," she said, turning back to scrubbing her clothes, glancing around to make sure it was doing it correctly.

Annie smiled and bumped Lila's shoulder with hers. "Cool."

The air was actually pretty warm, but Lila just smiled back. The water swirled around her ankles, carrying years of dirt and grime downstream. It took multiple washes before the water began to run clear.

"So, where do you come from, really?" Lila looked up to see Amanda, the one who had spoken out earlier.

"I'm from the forest."

"You're nothing but a slip of a girl. There's no way you could have survived alone."

Suddenly aware of the fact that everyone had ceased working and was staring at her, Lila sat up. "I had a good teacher. It's possible if you know how." This came out sounding more haughty than Lila intended, but she couldn't take it back.

Amanda raised an eyebrow, but she didn't say anything. Lila bent down and applied herself to scrubbing her old pants.

"Were you really all alone out there? You never saw anyone else?" This was Rena, Amanda's daughter. The girl's mother glared.

Here, surrounded by all these people, Lila had a flashback to the aching lonliness that filled her days in the woods. As much as she loved Seeker, and as unfriendly as these people could be, it was still nice to have someone to talk to. "I was, ever since I lost my mentor. She's the only person I saw until just a few days ago." She neglected to mention that it was Katie she had first seen.

An older lady with graying hair in a tight bun gasped. "But you're just a child!"

Lila straightened. "I'm 19. Hardly a child anymore."

"Have you ever seen a wolf?" This was from Annie.

Lila nodded. There was a gasp from someone. "What did it look like?" Annie asked.

Fur black as midnight, eyes yellow as the westering sun. None will hear him coming, but the sight of him is too late.
It was from a tapestry in the old mansion, that depicted a wolf hunting. "They're black, no white anywhere that I've ever seen. Their eyes are bright yellow. They're bigger than a man, twice my size."

"Have you killed one?"

Lila closed her eyes and swallowed, remembering the thudding of her heart, the rush of sheer terror as that wolf had leapt for her, his jaws closing around her arm even as her knife pierced his brain. "Just one." She opened her eyes to find her hands shaking, and quickly resumed scrubbing.

"Are you ok?" Annie asked, looking concerned. "You went pale all of a sudden."

"I'm fine." Lila didn't feel like talking anymore, and quickly finished cleaning her own clothes, then found something else to clean. The unacustomed work made her shoulders burn, but she welcomed the pain. The sun beat down on the back of her neck with no trees to soften the impact of the rays.

After a while, Annie had finished her work and pulled a comb made of polished wood from a pocket of her dress. "You want me to do your hair now?"

Lila shrugged. Taking this as a yes, Annie knelt behind Lila and started at the ends, gently tugging the comb through the knots. Most of the women had gone back to washing, though Lila knew she was still under scrutiny. Martha brought a basket and piled it high with clean clothes, then left. As Annie deftly combed Lila's hair, Lila watched Martha string a rope several times across the courtyard and begin hanging the clean clothes to dry.

When Lila's hair was combed, it reached the ground while she was sitting. Lila pulled her fingers through the heavy mass of hair that shone in the sun. It glinted black between her fingers. Annie pulled it all back and quickly wove Lila's hair into a thick braid, tying it off with a leather strip. "You know, I bet if you had a bath you'd be really pretty."