Through the Dust - Section 12

Red had ducked out of the pod before Zinfandel could find her – she had no interest in learning how the pod worked, and would much rather learn about the city and the people.  She had made her way into the busiest part of the city where the honest merchants worked and street performers found many eyes and ears for their talents.  All in all it was a lively city, and Red couldn’t help but smile at the atmosphere.

She overheard chatter of Alex’s bar fight, and tried to lean in to hear some of the conversations.  Unfortunately, they didn’t seem too keen on letting an outsider in, and even though she had opted not to wear her University necklace today, it was obvious that she wasn’t from the city.  Still, she wasn’t about to be socially exiled from the center of her newly adopted culture, and as she wondered how to gain a bit of respect around her she saw a large crowd making a circle around a pair both brandishing knives.  She made her way through the crowd and to the front – it was a fight, but nothing serious, and in wager fights it was understood that no stabbing was permitted. (despite there being no laws, it was a sport built on honor and disobeying it would result in the surrounding crowd going after the offender)  Once the on-going duel had ended, the winner asked if there were any more challengers.  Red bowed as she stepped into the circle, and immediately was greeted by dog whistles and insults.


“Get outta there pretty lady, this is a man’s game!”

“You don’ stand a chance, so go back to yer shoppin’ mall!”  Red wasn’t sure what a shopping mall was, and made the assumption that it was an old-world reference.

“Yer good looks ain’t gonna save yeh from a few scratches!”

Ignoring the insults, Red accepted the newly cleaned duel knife from the previous competitor and weighed it carefully in her hand, checking its balance and weight distribution as well.  It was cheaply made and pretty heavy, all of its weight in the blade and none in the handle – which didn’t at all surprise her – but she held it reversed in her hand and stood at the ready.

The referee of the fights called it to start; the large Loikan man lunged at her with a swift, shallow slash of his blade.  Red easily shifted to the side to dodge, the crowds booing her as her opponent missed.  In his momentary balance check, Red whirled toward him, the back-handed blade whipped up, leaving a thin cut across his lower back just deep enough to rip his shirt and leave a thin red line in the hole.  The crowd went silent a moment, and he turned to her, his face twisted in a snarl.  “Best two out of three?” she taunted, setting her feet and preparing for him to attempt a clumsy charge.  At her words, their favorability shifted to her, and their jeers were directed at the man she had challenged.

“Two outta three, eh?  Think yeh can handle me that long, girly?”  He spat on the edge of the circle, the people standing there backing into the people watching behind them.

“I think I’ve already got one on you, so that question is directed to you,” she replied, her eyes screaming at him to come at her.  He took the silent bait, and lunged again.  Red easily moved aside, but his reaction was a bit quicker this time, and she didn’t have a chance to get another hit in before he turned back to her.  In his quick spin, he sliced at her stomach and barely missed.  Red stumbled back a bit from the strike, but he missed the easy opportunity to strike her before she regained her balance.  He lunged once more, and this time Red ducked beneath his hand, slicing across almost the whole of his broad stomach.  It was another thin cut, but by his reaction, any onlooker could have easily thought she had attacked to kill.

He stumbled backwards, jaw hanging agape, hand clutching his stomach.  Red handed the blade to the moderator of the fights, and smiled as money changed hands all throughout the crowd.  She walked back to the man, who had managed to close his mouth and grasp the fact the he had lost to a no-name stranger to the city.  “Good fight,” she said, offering her hand to him.

“I’d like ta know where yeh learned ta fight like that,” he said, shaking her hand a bit more violently than she expected.

“That’s my secret,” she said, then turned and leaved the circle, finding her way back through the streets.  The whole fight had taken a bit longer than she thought, and the sun was high in the sky.  Zinfandel was probably wondering where she was, and was probably annoyed that she didn’t have the help she had expected in taking out the old hydro-engine.  Considering this, Red looked around, trying to grasp where she was in the city, and how to get back to the garages on the outskirts.  She had walked in a different direction leaving the circle than she had come from, and now she was in a district that they hadn’t visited the previous day.  It had a different feel to it, more official and stately.  When she saw a small group walking down the street in suits, she assumed that this was the equivalent of the government or broad business area of the city.  Puzzled, Red spun and looked around, then started back the way she had come, hoping that she’d soon see something she would recognize.