Chapter 38 part 3

Maybe if she was a couple years older, she'd be able to take this girl, but at this time, Beth could tell if she didn't do something, Embris was probably going to get seriously hurt. Which meant that Beth was going to have to heal her again and she really was getting tired of having to do this. No matter how much she liked Embris, she would rather find some other way to handle this.

Yet, Embris got off a lucky punch and had dazed the older girl for a minute before Beth was able to pry Embris off of her. Which she knew would need to happen if she came up with something that they would all be able to accept as a means of resolving this.

"Let go of me!" Embris yelled at Beth, her eyes full of fury.

"Not when you're like this," Beth snapped. "You're going to get yourself killed one of these days!"

"Aw, let her go!" the thirteen year-old taunted. Despite her age, Beth suspected she was the ringleader of this group. "Or is she so delicate that she can't handle a few taps?"

Embris tried knocking Beth over, but Beth held her tightly while her mind raced to come up with a solution to this problem. One where she wouldn't have to heal a severely injured Embris with Cinder probably in tears over his sister getting thrashed.

Suddenly a thought came to Beth. It was crude and rather barbaric, but she had a feeling it would satisfy the pride of everyone involved. Or at least she hoped so.

"What if you had a competition?" Beth asked. "One where you'll see just who's stronger?"

The one Beth suspected to be their leader smirked. "Oh really?" she drawled. "What would that be? How much dead weight you can carry?"

"Not exactly," Beth replied. "Each of you takes a turn hitting Embris once. When you're done, she gets a turn hitting you. Whoever makes the other person go farther wins. Any attempt to dodge the hit will be considered a forfeit." Beth closed her eyes for a moment as she paused, wishing she could have come up with something better, while at the same time mentally apologizing to Embris. "The loser has to apologize to the winner."

"While I liked the idea of fighting her, this sounds even better," Embris remarked, making Beth wince. She'd thought Embris would have been better than that, but Embris was proving her wrong herself in front of her.

"Will there be enough left of her to hit us back?" the oldest girl asked.

"Remember, you determine the order you hit her in when it's your turn, and then she determines what order she hits each of you in when it's hers," Beth added, partly wondering how this would turn out. Then, she glanced at the nine year-old. "However, if any of you choose not to hit her, she will not be allowed to select that person to hit on her turn. The only ones who have to participate is Embris and you." Beth ended her sentence pointing at the oldest girl. The one who Embris had to be pried off of.

Then with a glance at Cinder, who had gotten back up and started continuing to collect the water they needed, she pointed at the ground in front of her, a short distance away from the well, so Cinder wouldn't get caught up in this again. "The person who's turn it is to be hit will stand here," Beth continued. "When this is over, you'll be able to see who really is the strongest, alright?"

Beth was at least pleased at the general assent she heard from the other girls and Embris. Yet, she wasn't sure she was going to like the reaction Embris' father was likely to have when he learned about this. Even if this went really well for Embris, she suspected her father wasn't going to be happy that Beth came up with the idea and if it went really bad, she suspected that Embris was still likely going to talk about it quite a bit. To her sisters if no one else.

Embris stood in the open with her hands clenched at her sides. She clearly was eager to get her hits out of the way so she could hit the other girls. Beth kicked herself again for even mentioning this idea. While Embris probably wouldn't get as hurt as she would otherwise, Beth could still see this going terribly wrong. Especially if the youngest of the bullies decided to take a swing at Embris.

The oldest stepped forward to Embris, after the girls had briefly conferred with each other, her smile making Beth wonder if the girl had some sadistic tendencies. Not that she'd be really surprised if that turned out to be true. Although, she also couldn't help but wonder how much of the smile was just her own perception and dislike of the girl.

Then without warning, the girl slammed her fist in to Embris' stomach, making Embris take a single step back as she clearly was doing her best to keep her breakfast from making a return. Which Beth hoped she wouldn't have to see. Cinder, however, stopped what he had been doing and rushed to Embris' side.

"It's okay, Cinder," Embris assured him, when she no longer looked like she might throw up. "I barely felt that."

Beth couldn't help but roll her eyes as Embris stood back up and took her original spot. The bravado seemed to be one thing that all these girls shared, not that she expected they'd ever admit to it.

Then as the next oldest girl stepped forward, she threw a punch at Embris' chest. Right at the center, where the breast bone was. Which Beth suspected was probably a better location to throw the punch, as it was above where Embris' center of gravity was. It wouldn't cause as much damage to Embris, though it was possible that the one throwing the punch might feel it later.

As the blow struck Embris, she stumbled back a few steps. Beth could see where Embris could have avoided that, largely by not standing regularly, but rather having one forward and the other behind a little. The way that Amelia's father had shown Beth and her friends when he gave them a few self-defense lessons.

Embris didn't say anything to that, though Beth could see that Cinder wasn't thinking about gathering the water anymore. Instead, he was watching what was unfolding in front of them, his eyes looking desperate to find a way to stop this. Personally, Beth wished she could stop this as well, but since she's the one that pushed the boulder down the slope, she knew she couldn't do anything until it stopped on its own. No matter what else might come of it.

Then as the nine year-od girl stepped forward, Beth closed her eyes as she shook her head. All to look strong in front of the others. Beth just hoped that the girl wouldn't get too injured when Embris got her turn to hit back.

As Beth suspected, when the girl threw her punch at Embris, it didn't make Embris move at all, but the younger girl glared at Embris for a moment before walking back to the others. At which time, Beth could see the girl was shaking her hand, clearly trying to get her hand to stop from hurting.

Then as the leader of the group stepped forward to take her turn, Beth could only let out her breath in relief that this was almost over. Or at least this part of it. Though, she couldn't say for sure whether or not she expected Embris to win this or not, she just hoped that after this was over that they'd be able to get back to getting water for Embris' family.

Besides, they needed the water for the food growing in the garden. There wasn't much, but Beth knew every plant counted. It was what they'd need in order to actually have decent meals. Despite the fact that Beth, Amelia, and Hannah were expected to help with the farming with Embris and her sisters while Ralph, Tim, and Wes worked with the rest of Embris' family to clean, take care of the house, and do the cooking.

So much of this world felt backward to Beth, even though she'd experienced a world where humans were considered evil. As such, she couldn't help but wonder if there were going to be other surprises in store that would make what she'd experienced so far to be rather mild.

Beth had gotten so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost missed the last punch thrown at Embris. It didn't make Embris move, but the cry of pain that Beth heard certainly sounded painful. Although, it came from the girl throwing the punch because her hand broke from a boxer's break when her fist struck Embris.

Beth quickly moved forward, and gently pushed Embris out of the way and made the girl let her look at the hand, ignoring the girl's attempts at cradling her hand to keep it from hurting to much.

"Let go of her!" the oldest of the girls cried out as the other girls rushed in to protect their leader.

Beth didn't spare them a glance. It was too late for them to stop Beth anyway. She merely looked at the hand and could tell, with a little help from her magic that the bone that had broken was only the one in the hand that connected to the pinky finger. Beth quickly made sure that the bone lined up and was as straight as possible before she pulled on her magic to heal the break.

The girl cried out in pain, which Beth knew was merely all the pain she'd have felt during the time it would have otherwise taken to heal coming out all at once. She still let the girl's hand go, not caring about the look of wonder on the girl's face as the sensation of pain went away as quickly as it had come, now that the bone was healed.

"Alright, let's finish this now," Beth said, turning to Embris. "Who're you going to pick to hit first?"

"I'll pick her," Embris said, pointing at the youngest.

Beth sighed. She was more worried about this punch than any of the others. She could see this girl getting rather hurt, even though she doubted there was anything she could do about it at this point. The only consolation about it was the fact that it was getting done first, which meant that she wouldn't have to dread this coming up later. Not that that single fact helped soothe Beth's nerves any.

The youngest girl looked a little uneasy about having to go first, but other than her look of trepidation, she stepped forward as if she wasn't scared at all. Beth suspected it was the kind of bravado shown by those who were more scared of being thought weak than they were of getting seriously injured or killed. The kind of logic that Beth was sure all of her friends, even Ralph, would consider rather inane.

The other girls merely watched and Beth hoped that Embris would pull her punch, if only a little. Yet, from the look on Embris' face, she couldn't say that Embris was going to do that. She looked ready to hit as hard as she could.

However, Beth couldn't say anything about it, as she herself had established the rules and if she tried to interfere now, she suspected that the bullies would join with Embris to make their displeasure known. Which meant she had to bite the bullet and let this play out.

When the girl was standing where Embris had stood when the bullies got a chance to hit her, Embris then swung her fist at the girl. Hitting her straight in the chest, knocking the girl off her feet and fell on her bottom painfully.

However, the girl didn't say anything, she merely stood up and walked back to the others her face unreadable, though it was clear she was in pain from the punch and her landing. Beth could only shake her head at what she saw. The girl was clearly doing what she could not to show the pain, which was just another headache that was going to pop up from time to time.

The next girl was the oldest, where Embris punched her in the gut, which made Beth wonder if Embris is going tit for tat in this competition. Not that she could blame her, but it did make it a little more boring in Beth's opinion. Although, she couldn't help but wonder how the competition might turn out. While she doubted that Embris would be able to do much against the older two girls, but she had a suspicion that Embris was going to push the leader of the girls back, even if it was only by a step or two.

Which is how it turned out. While the older girl doubled over from the strike to her gut, she didn't take a step backwards. The next oldest girl took the punch to her chest stoically and didn't budge. Then the leader of the girls was pushed back a few steps. Bringing the competition to a close.

"Alright, everyone had a turn. So, now all that's left is to declare which side won," Beth said and then paused for a minute while the girls gathered together in front of her. "When it comes to you," Beth indicated the oldest girl, "Embris lost. She took a single step while you didn't take any." Beth then turned her focus to the next oldest girl. "You won against Embris, as you didn't take any steps while she took a few." Beth then looked at the leader of the girls. "Against you, Embris won. She didn't take any steps that I saw when you hit her while you took a few. Aside from that, you broke your hand when you hit her." Beth then looked at the youngest, who was still clearly trying to hide her pain. "Lastly we have the youngest of your group. In regards to her, Embris won because Embris didn't move at all when she was hit and you fell down."

When she finished announcing the results, she sighed, She hoped that this would resolve the issue between the girls, at least this time. She was ready to be back at Cinder's house where she could just rest. This was getting more mentally tiring than she had anticipated.

"Yeah, we're done with Embris," the oldest said. "But that doesn't mean we're done with you."

Beth looked at her in surprise, at first confused as to who she was talking about, until she realized that she was referring to Beth herself.

"Me?" Beth asked, hoping she was mistaken.

"Yeah, you're with Embris, so we have to determine which of us is stronger," came the reply.

Beth sighed. She could tell that they weren't going to let this go. However, she did have to give them a fair warning. After all, she wasn't just going to let them inflict pain on her like that. Maybe it was cheating at this, but she planned on using her magic. Not so much that it would be obvious what she was doing, but enough that it wouldn't hurt near as much.

"Alright, lets get this over with," Beth said, resigned to this. She wished there was a way out of it, but she wasn't going to argue. She didn't expect these girls to be much open to reason on this topic.

Beth stood where Embris had stood when she was hit and immediately started pulling on her magic, infusing it with her muscles where she expected there was a possibility that the older girl would hit her. Which was pretty much her entire front.

"Let's see how strong you are when you're so masculine," the oldest girl said as she moved to hit Beth.

If Beth didn't have access to her magic, she would have felt rather worried about how this would turn out. She wasn't sure what to expect with using her magic, but she was at least confident that she wasn't going to hurt as much as it would otherwise.

The other girl swung her fist and hit Beth just at the base of her breastbone, where the ribs separated and curved away from each other. Beth was surprised at how little she felt it. She felt her breath get knocked out of her, but otherwise the punch hardly had any other effect.

It was clear the other girls were shocked at how well Beth withstood the punch. She herself wasn't surprised at their reaction. She expected that they thought little of her, and she didn't really blame them. She hadn't really done anything that would indicate to them that they might have anything to actually worry about with her.

"Anyone else want to throw a punch?" Beth asked, more curious than anything else. Especially with how she could see shock and disbelief on the faces of the other bullies.

When no one else steps forward, Beth turns back to the oldest girl who Beth can see has started to sweat a little. Which Beth completely understands. She hadn't really tried to get it that noticeable of a difference, but it still served it's purpose.

"So, you call that a punch?" she asked casually. "Where I'm from that's hardly considered a love tap." Beth sighs and can't help but feel guilty for this entire fiasco, from start to finish here. She was sure that Embris was satisfied, in some strange way, for having been able to do this, although Beth wonders if she should try to get Charlie to look into Embris' mind when they were actually able to find Charlie again.

Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts aside as she needed to focus on the present. She was sure she wouldn't be able to get out of this without at least throwing a token punch. She planned on essentially 'pulling' her punch rather than using her magic to make it as forceful as possible, as she was sure the game would be up if she did. Which meant she could only use a little of her magic in her punch.

Beth then readied herself. "Now this is a punch," she said as she threw her fist, her magic only infusing part of the force her fist was going to strike with.

However, as Beth's fist was about to make contact with the girl's chest, at the same place she had hit Beth at, Beth's fist just stopped. While it looked like it stopped in mid-air, Beth could tell she'd run into some kind of barrier. A magical one at that.