Blood in the Dirt

Chapter 16

Sofia looked to the clock; she had forgotten to wake up Andrea. "Andrea!" she called as she ran into her room, "You have to get up, or else you'll be late." Andrea slowly opened her eyes, and felt the sun's rays beam down onto her cheek. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, and rose from her bed. She got dressed quickly, and strapped on her gear. "Breakfast is on the table, eat as fast as you can. I have some errands to run, but I'll be back by the time you're home." Sofia explained, smiling at Andrea before leaving.

She scarfed down her cereal, and made haste for the dojo. She turned a corner, and heard someone call her name. She turned around, and came face to face with the woman as she began to speak, "You're Aldo's girl right?" Andrea nodded, and the woman turned pale, seemingly sick.

Andrea put her hand on the woman's shoulder, and looked directly into her eyes saying, "Are you alright ma'am?" The lady looked away, and grimaced. "Ma'am? What is your name?"

"Not important. All you need to know is that you are not safe; your father made you an outcast."

"What do you mean?" Andrea asked, her voice raising a pitch. The woman stared downwards and shook her head. She looked back up, and the pain in her eyes was heart wrenching. She pulled from Andrea's grasp, and ran away. "Wait!" she called after the woman, but it was no use.

"Hey." a boy greeted, startling Andrea. Lost deep in her thoughts, she forgot about her surroundings. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." he apologized, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I saw you standing here and I was wondering if you wanted to walk with me to the dojo today?"

Andrea turned around and stared back into the boy's sky blue eyes. "Oh it's you Theodore. And of course, it would be a pleasure." Andrea replied, and they began to walk.

A few moments later she realized, "Wait, don't you live at the dojo? Why are you heading there from town?"

He let out a brief chuckle. "I do, but I broke my dagger in training yesterday, so I was on my way there from the blacksmith." he answered. Andrea nodded her understanding, and they continued towards the training grounds. "So Andrea, I don't recall being able to truly get to know you. All of our conversations seem to get cut short. Tell me something about you."

She was taken back for a second, Something about myself? "Um...Turns out I like to climb buildings."

Theodore grinned and said, "Well I can't say that I'm any different. Want to climb the wall together?" Andrea nodded as she smiled back, and just as they approached the gate, he uttered, "Race you there!" He took off immediately afterword, leaving Andrea him behind him until she realized what he had said.

"That's not fair!" she protested, laughing. She chased after him, and passed him just as they came to the old building. She was just about to race him to the top when he grabbed her forearm, ever so lightly, and guided her to the other side of the building.

She looked at the wall, and it was destroyed. Bricks had fallen out of place; giant holes were in place of the windows. She looked at the people who were climbing here, they were all much older than her and Theodore, yet some still slipped and fell. "It's more of a challenge to climb here; making it more fun. Want to try it out?" he asked.

Andrea smiled; she thought. She was so nervous she wasn't sure if she even had the strength in her muscles to do even that. She followed Theodore as he began towards the wall. They began climbing at the same time, and she was surprised at how fast Theodore was. He moved swiftly, fluently, knowing each movement before he took it; making Andrea wonder if he usually climbed here. They just so happened to grab the same handhold together, and by their combined weight it broke, causing them to burst with laughter. "Dang, that was one of my favorite handholds." he laughed.

She struggled to keep up with him, and the fact that she would use a bad foothold every few bricks didn't help. She fell behind about 3/4 of the way there, but was still faster than countless of the others around her. Almost at the top, she knew Theodore had already beaten her, and he reached his hand down to her. She took his hand and he delicately pulled her into his arms. "Such a gentleman." Andrea remarked. He laughed, and Andrea noticed the goose bumps showing on her arms. She was embarrassed, and her face shone a deep shade of crimson. "I have to go, or I'll be late." she told him as she pushed herself out from his hold, she then quickly head over to the tree.

She gave herself enough room, and began to work on her tremble stance. Every spin seemed to get a tad easier, and when she finished all fifty of them, she realized that her legs didn't try to stand up during it anymore.

"I see it's coming along. Still much to do." Helstan greeted her, as he passed by and started over to where they had been the previous day. "Back to shooting I suppose. You need to work on have precise and consistent accuracy. Otherwise, any other lessons I teach you with the bow will be pointless." Andrea bobbed her head in response and slowed as she came to the line in the dirt. She pulled an arrow from her quiver, and placed it carefully onto the string. She breathed slowly as she pulled it back, and released.

The shaft flew straight between the drawn on eyes on the scarecrows face. She let out a small hum of accomplishment, and looked to her trainer for praise. "An alright shot; but can you do it more than once? Can you do it to multiple targets at once? No? Then do not boast. I will be back shortly. Continue to practice." Andrea felt discouraged, then outraged. She cooled herself down by shooting arrow after arrow into the dummy's head.

"Getting tired?" a voice called. "There's an easier way to shoot you know." Theodore leaned on the nearest tree and smirked at her.

Andrea dropped the bow and let out a sigh of exhaustion. She dropped her backside onto the grass, and huffed again. Theodore laughed at her, and then moved to slink down beside her. They looked into the sky, and allowed the beauty of silence to take over.

A clearing of a throat erupted behind them, causing them both to stand up abruptly. "I'm guessing you can hit a shot perfectly every single time if you think you deserved to lay down." His eyes were burning holes straight through Andrea's skull. Neither of the two responded, for fear of what would happen if they did.

Theodore reached deep inside of himself; he knew he couldn't let Andrea take the fall for this. "Sir, it's my fault for distracting her. My apologies."

"Do you really think that's going to get the two of you out of this? It's also her fault for allowing you to distract her!" Helstan steamed. "Andrea, lap around the dojo. Now!" Andrea looked to Theodore for help, but saw that he was just as petrified as she was; so she started off. She looked back only for a moment, just in time to see Helstan attack Theodore.