Call to Arms (The Girl In The Arena Book 1) by Lara Lee Hunter Page B

eyes. “What did he mean by that Hector?”
    “I told you, if you fail I fail.”
    She was responsible for his life too. The Governor was indeed a sadistic and cruel man. If she lost the fight Hector would die; he was her trainer and he was responsible for her. Just as the Governor had killed the beast master whose beasts had failed the day before in the arena, he would kill Hector if his beast failed. To the Governor she was nothing — as insignificant as the tigers and lions that had been chained up and let into the arena to fight and die.
    “I will not feel you have.”
    “Perhaps you should put a hefty bet on her Hector,” Kale said.
    “Why would he do that?”
    Kale said, “The man whose knife you just demanded is the one who sets the odds for the matches; he watches all of the training and reports back to his own masters. I am quite sure that now the odds he gives you are going to be very low, but then again he has not seen your spirit just yet.”
    They were betting on her. They were going to be betting on her very light. She would have been right; she was nothing more than entertainment — a way to while away an afternoon. Some people would make money on her death others would lose money on it. That depressed her more than she could say.
    Kale said, “It’s time to start your training.” A fist crashed into the side of her head knocking her three feet backwards. She landed on her bottom in the dirt with her feet spread out and her hands flailing as she tried to catch herself. She landed wrong, bruising her shoulder. She stared up at him stunned and unsure of what to do.
    “Get up! Get up right now!”
    Reena scrambled to her feet. Kale circled her and she instinctively crouched down circling in the opposite direction. He was so focused on what she was doing that she did not notice the others in the courtyard pausing in their own battles to watch her. Kale’s arm snaked out, and he had her again that time on the other side of her head.
    She saw that one coming, however, and managed to turn her head just enough to deflect most of the force of the blow. It still knocked her sideways, but it did not knock her down. Liam had taught her years ago to never get angry. It had been one of the things he always said to her, if you had to fight — fight smart, do not fight with anger.
    That was harder than she would’ve imagined. She wanted to be angry; she was angry underneath the surface. She held that at bay however, keeping her eyes on Kale’s hands. That turned out to be a mistake because while she was watching his hands he was using his feet. He gave her a hard kick in her belly that doubled her over and took all her air.
    In the woods there was an animal called a loosome. The loosome would pretend to be dead to lure its enemies in so that it could attack them while they were off-guard. Reena remembered that an idea came to her. She rolled her eyes back in her head and fell to the ground, where she lay still.
    Silence reigned. Reena kept her breaths slow, shallow and steady. She resisted the urge to open her eyes to see if she was about to be murdered right there where she lay. The sand below her body was fine, gritty and it covered her body with a powdery dust. The breeze ran across her body, cooling her down and she could feel the shirt rising up along her back showing more skin than she would’ve liked. The temptation to reach behind her to pull that down to save her modesty was strong but she resisted it.
    Finally she heard the sound of footsteps crunching along the sand. One of them was coming closer! She waited, not moving, pretending to be motionless and limp. She could smell him, smell the sweat and aroma of the food on his skin.
    With her eyes closed all of her other senses took over, and she could hear him, sense him squatting down beside her, with one thick finger prodding her in her ribs. She allowed her body to move slightly but she did not open her eyes.
    “Did you kill her Kale?”
    “I did