Human Company | Page 8

advantage only to lose it when her opponent pulled away. Both girls were quick, but Winifred lacked Redblood's endurance. As Winifred tired, Redblood began to catch her more often and her escapes became more desperate.
It ended suddenly: Redblood got in close and flipped Winifred over her hip. Winifred lay in the sand where she fell until Redblood reached down to pull her to her feet. Only then did Redblood raise her arms into the air to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd. Then she walked away, surrounded by friends, one arm still in the air, the other around Apogee.
I stared at the sand until the crowd thinned enough for Littlewolf to reach me, "What happened?" she asked.
"Redblood won," I said. The mechanicals won. They needed Redblood and her mechanic's heart.
I sighed. Well, I would just have to find another captain. But there ought to be rules. Especially when the world needed saving.
#
The farm girls bought sausages wrapped in white bread, and we took them to a sunny spot on the castle wall. While we ate, Littlewolf explained how the girl's families would provide a dowry that included the Bullhead Ranch, fertile land in the lower valley.
"A ranch is fine," I said, "but I'm looking for girls to help me with the Elevator."
"The Mechanic said we shouldn't encourage you," Littlewolf replied. "She says that the scholars at Towerhold will deal with it."
"They're not gypsies. What do they know?"
"Well, it's nothing to worry about anyway." She shrugged and popped the last of her sausage into her mouth.
I nibbled at my sausage. That was the problem -- it seemed so harmless: a thin thread in the sky. Yet, I knew that the Western Elevator had destroyed the Femdom and plunged the world into the dark age called the Troubles. But how?
I wished that I could speak to a real gypsy: someone who knew something.
#
"We should look at the horses."
"Wait. There's Tiny," I said pointing through a break in the crowd.
Littlewolf took hold of my arm and held me back. "A human?"
"She's my friend." I pulled free and walked over to her.
Tiny was full of news to share. She had found another human girl, a caravan guard. Bandits had attacked a caravan. They were taking on extra guards. Her friend had found her a job tending horses. She was going to Calmwater.
"To the sea? When?" I asked.
"Tomorrow."
"You're lucky. I have to stay here and raise pigs."
Littlewolf objected, "It's honest work."
"But sometimes a boy needs excitement," said a new voice. It belonged to an olive-skinned girl with dark eyes who had been standing with Tiny.
I looked her over for signs of being human, but she was too big, too perfect.
Littlewolf stepped between the stranger and me. "He's with us." Yellowbird and Shortbull eased closer too.
"Well, it is Fair Day." The stranger's smile flashed clean white teeth. "I'll fight you then. For an introduction. Archery or wrestling?"
"Wrestling," Shortbull answered.
The stranger was somewhat taller and slimmer than Shortbull, but when she stripped off her blouse and trousers, I could see that she gave nothing away in strength. She was slim only because she had no fat at all. Her bulging muscles stretched her skin so tight that you could see veins and tendons underneath.
When the girls stepped onto the sand, someone sounded a trumpet and a crowd gathered around. Shortbull and the stranger wasted no time feinting and circling; they embraced and stayed locked together in a contest of raw strength. Except for the quivering of their muscles, you could have thought them statues carved from stone.
We'll be here forever. The thought made me glance anxiously around. What could be more embarrassing than being the subject of a poor fight? The crowd, however, seemed content to wait it out. The girls fell silent and stared intently at the contestants, looking for the first sign of weakness.
Suddenly the girls began screaming, and I looked back to see Shortbull starting to give way. Slowly, with relentless force, the stranger bent her over backwards. Several times she took strength from the cheers of her friends and struggled back nearly upright, but finally she could do no more and collapsed to the ground.
Leaving Shortbull on the ground, the stranger waved briefly to acknowledge the applause of the crowd, then she bowed to me. "I am Amin, My Lord, trader in fine goods."
"Don't call me Lord," I said as I offered her my hand. "I'm no farmer."
"Gypsy then." She smiled, but her handshake seemed quick and light for such a strong woman. "Come. I'm thirsty. Let's have a beer."
"Beer? I'm too young to drink."
"Wasn't that you on the mechanical this morning?"
"So?"
"So by mountain law, you're grown." She offered me her arm. When I took it, she gestured to Tiny. "Fetch my clothes Tiny. You can come with us."
"You caused quite a panic