The Arena (Ultimate Soldier Book 1)

by Escalera, Tessa

  "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."

  "I haven't had a bath in years." Around them, the women were beginning to gather up the clean clothes into baskets and join Martha in the courtyard. The guard was changing on the walls, and the men working in the garden and the grain field began to stream into the area. Men kissed their wives, tossed their little children in the air, hugged the older ones. A few of Jarda's men were there as well. Lila watched the somber, black-clad men laugh with their wives and tickle their children. Surely people with that much love in their hearts could not be truly evil...could they?

  "I can tell." Annie's teasing comment brought Lila back to the present. She opened her mouth to retort, but Annie cut her off. "Kidding!" She dipped the hem of her dress in the water and applied it vigorously to Lila's face.

  "Hey!" Lila exclaimed, feeling like a child.

  "Hold still." After a moment of scrubbing, Annie sat back and surveyed her handiwork. "Well, at least you won't embarass me now. I mean, if I'm going to be your friend and all, I do have a reputation to uphold."

  "You don't have to be my friend, you know."

  Annie sobered. "I know. But you looked like you could use one." She hopped to her feet, and Lila followed suit. "Mama's gonna be mad if I don't help with hanging up the clothes. You coming?"

  Lila nodded. As soon as they walked through the gate into the courtyard, Annie stopped so suddenly that Lila almost ran into her. Lila heard Annie sigh. "What's wrong?"

  Around Annie's side, Lila could see Antonio making his way through the crowd toward them. Annie was stiff as Atonio smiled and pulled her to his side, under his arm. "How's my beautiful bethrothed today?" He steered her farther into the courtyard, while Lila followed behind.

  "Antonio, not here."

  Annie squirmed, but Antonio held her tightly. "What's the problem?"

  "Just let me go." Annie pushed away, and Antonio eventually let her go, but he kept a tight hold on her hand.

  "Hey." Lila tapped his arm. "She said to let her go."

  Antonio spun around, glowering. He tightened his grip on Annie's hand when she tried to pull away. "It's none of your business."

  Anger blazed through Lila at the frightened look on the spunky redhead's face. She stepped forward until she was toe to toe with the huge man. "Let. Her. Go."

  "What are you going to do about it, girl?" He towered over her, and could probably have picked her up and thrown her into the fence without breaking a sweat.

  "She doesn't want to be touched. Don't touch her." Despite the size difference, Lila planted a hand on her knife and stared unblinking into his eyes.

  Antonio's eyes flicked to the knife at her belt. He gave her a look of disgust. "I've got better things to do than fight little girls," he said before stalking off into the crowd.

  "You ok?" Lila asked Annie, who was standing stiffly and watching him leave.

  Annie nodded sharply, hugging herself. "Fine."

  "What was that about?"

  Annie turned to look at Lila, her face haunted. "I'm to be married to him in less than a month." She looked at the ground and kicked a pebble. "Then there will be no one to protect me," she whispered.

  "Why are you marrying him if he treats you like that?"

  Annie shot her a look. "I don't have a choice. None of us do." She walked to a full basket and Lila helped her hang the dripping clothes over a rope.

  "There's alw
ays a choice."

  "You don't understand." Anne looked around to make sure no one was listening, and lowered her voice. "Jarda arranges the marriages. I could be exiled for refusing. Even he is better than dying in the woods."

  Lila had no good reply for that. She helped Annie finish hanging clothes in troubled silence, surrounded by the sounds of laughter and life. Afterwards it was time for lunch. Lila took her simple sandwich and sat in the corner of the courtyard with her back to the fence links. She felt strange eating something she hadn't hunted or gathered. Her shoulders ached from scrubbing clothes and the midday sun's glare was harsh on the concrete. She watched the crowd for any sign of Josef or the twins. They were nowhere to be seen.

  After a moment Annie--and to Lila's surprise, Rena--joined her. "What are you doing here?" Annie asked the blond girl.

  Rena stood awkwardly in front of them. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier...for my mother."

  Lila shrugged. "It's ok."

  "Can I sit with you?"

  At Lila's nod, Rena sat on the side opposite Annie. The redheaded girl grimaced. "Why do you even want to sit with us?"

  Rena picked at her sandwich. "It beats sitting with my mother."

  The silence as they finished their food was strained. Lila ate as quickly as she could. After lunch, she was drafted by Martha to help wash the dishes. All afternoon, Lila uneasily watched for Josef but she never saw him and neither Martha or Annie knew where he was. Her unease deepened as afternoon merged to evening and everyone gathered for dinner and he was still nowhere to be found.

  At the evening meal, Lila found herself at the center of a group of children and teens that wanted to hear her entire life story. The boys wanted to know how many wolves she'd killed, and begged her for the story of how she had slain the one trying to bite Katie. The girls wanted to know how she found food, what the woods looked like, how she cooked her food and where she slept. Seeker had tired of playing and lay across Lila's lap like a furry rug, dozing.

  As Lila reluctantly told the story of how she had killed the wolf, leaving out the why, she saw the disapproving stares of several sets of parents over the children's heads. But for whatever reason, no one objected out loud. She looked out at the eager faces in front of her, boys and girls of widely varying ages from toddler to teens just a couple years younger than Annie. Rena held her four year old brother on her lap, and Annie held a quiet little girl called Hanna.

  On the edge of the shadows, just outside the light thrown by the flickering torches that were hung from the fence, Lila thought she saw a gaunt face outlined by a black hood, the glint of gold reflecting the firelight. But when she turned to look, he was gone.

  After a while, the attention had drained Lila to the point where every new question grated on her nerves. She excused herself and pushed her way through the crowd. She didn't know if the new clothes helped her blend in or what, but no one parted for her like they had earlier. Now, she was mostly ignored. It was a strangely mixed blessing.

  When Lila reached her room, she sank down onto the mattress, sighing in relief. She could still hear the conversations in the courtyard and the hall, but they were blessedly muted and far away. The moon crept in through her window, bathing the room in silver light. The concrete walls held just enough warmth to make the room pleasant.

  The next thing Lila remembered was waking up with the sun shining over her windowsill. Seeker was curled up at her feet, snoring quietly.

  "Hey." Lila looked up at the whisper to see Annie's head in the doorway. "Can I come in?"

  Lila nodded, sitting up. Annie was wringing her hands as she came in and sat down on the other end of the mattress. "I didn't want to wake you up last night, but I just wanted to say thanks."

  "For what?"

  Annie flushed, looking down at her hands. "For showing me that you don't always have to be the biggest and the strongest to win an argument."

  "He was touching you without your permission. He shouldn't have done that."

  "It doesn't really matter, does it?" Annie seemed so much smaller and younger than the day before. "There isn't anything I can do about it."

  Lila felt anger surge through her veins--at Antonio, at the leader that treated her people this way--and clamped her lips shut to keep from saying something she would regret. "I'm just glad I could help."

  Annie smiled. "Me too."

  The mood was decidedly less hostile at breakfast that morning. Lila accepted a portion of food from each station, before weaving through the crowd to the sunny area by the wall where she and Josef had eaten the day before. Already that seemed like a lifetime ago--and perhaps in a way it was. Lila knew, no matter what else happened to her here, she would not return to the forest the same as she had left it.

  Thinking of return, Lila gazed up at where the sun spilled over the top of the wall. This town that had yesterday seemed so large and unfamiliar now began to feel confining. Lila's feet itched to run and climb, her heart yearned for the cool damp of the forest. Despite its dangers, the forest was and always would be her home.

  There was a rustle to her left, and Lila looked over to see Annie and Rena approaching with a half dozen smaller kids. Inwardly Lila sighed. Then she put on her best smiled and just hoped that she would get to eat her food at some point.

  The entourage persisted as the day went on, despite Lila's best efforts to stay invisible. She helped wash the dishes, helped Martha pull weeds in the garden, used sand to scrub one of the buffet tables until it shone. Always, there was at least three or four of the younger generation following her, bombarding her with questions. After lunch, Lila didn't bother to ask for more work. She slipped away when everyone was gathering up plates, around the back of the building. From earlier she knew that on the far side of the garden there was a ladder that ran to the top of the wall, to the catwalk at the top. Lila ran through the warm dirt of the garden row between the tomatoes and the squash, the soft loam squishing between her bare toes. No one followed her or called after her.

  It was quick work to scale the ladder and gain the top of the wall. The wooden beams were over a dozen feet high, but Lila was able to hang low enough that she could safely drop to the ground outside. Glancing back over her shoulder to see if the guard had noticed, she took off running into the long grass.

  Either the guard didn't notice, or didn't care. Lila settled into a ground-eating lope, using her hands to hold the skirt above her ankles. For a few moments she simply ran, reveling in how the hot breeze whipped at her hair, at the thump of her feet on the grass, the throbbing of her heartbeat in her ears. She didn't know how she would get back inside, but she didn't care. She ran until her breath caught in her chest and her legs protested, until the sun began to sink toward the western horizon. When she finally dropped her skirt and turned back, the village was barely more than a dark blur to the west. Now she could see Antoch in all its ruined glory. To the south the city stretched, some towers reaching up a couple dozen stories before crumbling away. Gray hulks huddled on the horizon like ancient monsters. The Fox village was just a tiny part of the ruin, small and insignificant at one end of the city, that albiet crumbling, spoke of a once magnificent civilization.

  Her journey back was much slower in the fading light. The grate that allowed the stream to enter the village proved to separate from the bottom of the brook just enough for Lila to squirm through, though she must have looked a sight afterward with her dripping hair and clothes. Thankful for the dark of late evening, she hurried to the fence, through the courtyard and down the hall to the safety and quiet of her room.

  For the next four days, as Lila's unease grew over Josef's absence, her chafing against the walls around her continued to grow until even as she helped the women with their work. She longed to be running through the garden and scaling the wall to reach freedom outside. There was no word from Jarda on whether she would ever take any job besides washing, mending, and helping with the children and the meals. Each morning she ate breakfast with Annie, Re
na and several of the smaller children. Martha taught her how to cook some of the food that the village ate each morning. Seeker gradually deserted Lila to play with Peter and John. And always, Lila found herself scanning the faces around her for a glimpse of the man who had first befriended her. The rumor was that Josef and the twins had been sent on a hunting mission, but Lila could not convince herself to be reassurred.

  There was a gentle breeze tugging at Lila's skirt as she crouched in the middle of a garden row, pinching the spurs off of tomato plants. Martha worked next to her, hair tucked under a kerchief. At the end of the row, Peter and John built a castle out of the soft dirt, "helped" by Seeker that would stick her nose into the dirt pile, sniffing loudly, then start to dig like a maniac. The other people nearby were rows away, far enough that their conversation was no louder than the buzz of the bees hovering among the vegetable flowers. Martha had chased off Lila's followers, and Lila reveled in the peace and quiet. She felt more at home out here among growing things than anywhere else inside the wooden walls.

  "How are you liking it here?" Martha wiped a bead of perspiration from her forehead with one arm, which only served to smear dirt across her face.

  Lila fought a grin. She covered by shrugging and dropping a little tomato branch into the basket between them. "It's not too bad."

  "Different than where you came from, I'm sure."

  "Yes, absolutely."

  Martha shook her head, setting a handful of weeds in the basket. "I keep trying to imagine my boys out there all alone, but I just can't do it. I think that is the worst nightmare of any mother here--that their little one would be left alone at the mercies of the wolves. Sometimes I think this is why so many of the mothers here resent you. You make them think, and they don't like it."

  "Maybe they're afraid their kids are going to follow me back to the forest." Lila was joking, but when Martha looked up, she realized how much the comment had hit home.

  "I know you don't like these walls. Can you imagine growing up inside them, never seeing the outside? That's what life has been for many of these children."