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I began to open my mouth to respond, but Bennett beat me to it.
“He lost it.”
“Is that so?” The bald man said, refusing to loosen his grip on my wrist. “And what about your wristband?”
“I. . .” Bennett cleared his throat, deciding on, “also. . .lost it.”
I had to physically stop myself before hitting my palm against my forehead. Good cover, Bennett.
The man squinted at Bennett. “You expect me to just believe you, boy? How do I know you two didn’t slip in here without paying?”
Bennett lifted his chin in defiance. “Look man, I promise our bands must have slipped off somehow. I don't know what happened to them.”
“It looks like you’ll need to purchase some new ones, then.” The man held out his hand. “One silver. . .each.”
I knew he was up charging us big time, but we didn’t have the time to argue. I dropped to the ground and began searching through my bag for my little pouch of coins.
Oh, no.
Bennett was definitely going to kill me when he learned I spent all of the coins at the woodshop. I look up at him to find him already staring at me with a pleading look in his eyes.
What happened to all your money? His eyes said.
What happened to all YOUR money?! I clearly wasn’t the only one who spent some money today.
He shook his head, whispering only loud enough for me to hear, “We should just leave now while we still have a chance.
I nodded in agreement and slowly stood up.
“Actually, I just realized we were about to get going,” Bennett said to the bald man, grabbing my arms and steering me toward the stairs we entered from.
The large man chuckled. “Like hell you are! Stop them!”
Two men from the shadows seized us, dragging us by our arms back to the mustached man. We could have blocked them, but that would immediately blow our cover and any chance to get information on the Skull King. It was too early in the night, we still needed to lay low.
“If you can’t give me my money, you’re gonna make it for me,” the bald man said, smirking. “The two of you better put on a good show.”
We were dragged to the corner by the sign-up sheet and thrown down into two wooden chairs. A shorter man with a round belly appeared in front of us. He wore a tarnished brass whistle over his neck and was holding a clipboard.
“My name is Armond. I’m going to go over what you need to know before you step in the ring.”
What the hell is happening right now?
“There will be three rounds, okay? We got a lot of people lookin’ to fight and we can’t have people hogging the rings. When you hear the bell ding once, that means the round is over. If you knock down your opponent for five seconds, you win that round. If no one gets knocked down then the round is a draw. At the end of the third round the bell will ring three times, signaling your fight is over. If neither of you are knocked down for all three rounds, then the mediator will determine the winner. There are no draws. Any questions?”
Oh yes, I have a hundred questions, but my stupid feminine voice prevents me from voicing any of them.
“No questions,” Bennett said.
The mediator gave me a questionable look and said, “You’re gonna need to take that scarf off around your face. The crowd likes to see the punches bruise.”
I looked over to Bennett. Say something!
“He can’t,” Bennett said smoothly. “He’s afraid of the plague, and uses the scarf as a kind of mask.”
Now I was the one who wanted to see bruises.
Armond squinted at me. “You’re just gonna let him speak for you? Huh?”
