“I want that red head one right in the front” a gruff voice said from Sawyer’s left. “When I win this thing I am going to try and break her in two”.
“She is only fifteen” another voice replied. “She is not interested in the likes of you, even if she was I doubt her mother would let her. She is one of those rich bitches, what man would marry a girl they knew spent time here that wasn’t a virgin.”
“Well then I will fuck her mother!” the man said just loud enough for the competitors to hear.
Sawyer counted around forty men competing as he recognized Holly walk on the stage and start to talk. The round stones were called Atlas stones and there were three of them. The way this worked was that someone had to wrap his arms around the stone and pick it up. A contestant had two minutes to squat down with the stone and return to the standing position. They received a point for each successful squat with the smallest stone, two points for the stone that was a third bigger and finally five points for the largest stone which was twice as big as the first. Holly had a list and started calling out names to come try the stones. Many went after the biggest stone but not everyone had enough reach to wrap their arms around it fully so they went to the next stone. Sawyer noticed Joseph was one of the competitors despite the beating he took and was able to lift the biggest stone five times for twenty five points, that record stood far above anyone else until the other man Sawyer had noticed Joseph hanging with named Rudy lifted the second biggest stone eight times for twenty four points. When the first mage was called out to try, the crowd went into hysterics.
It was obvious Reginald did not want to be up there and someone slapped him on his furry ass as he walked by. Whistles started being made which was soon drowned out by laughs and insults. Reginald picked up the first stone which slipped out of his grip and almost landed on his toe. The crowd started laughing so hard Sawyer had to plug his ears as Reginald was able to get two lifts of the first stone before the time was up. Sawyer was called next and walked up to the stones with the same whistles but at least no one touched him. He had seen about ten men in the crowd that may have had more raw muscle that he had but Sawyer was unsure if they had pushed themselves the way he did every day. Sawyer grabbed the smaller stone, his arms went around it easily as he went into his squats. Sawyer blanked his mind and remembered doing a similar exercise holding buckets of water with his father, Sawyer let the memory take him as he continued going up and down until time was called. Sawyer ended up with twenty three points and got an ovation, he had to admit he was too embarrassed to look for Janessa, Yesenia or Claudia and just kept a blank stare on his face going back into the crowd.
“That was an excellent job” Sawyer heard Janessa’s voice say.
“I wish you were not here looking at me” Sawyer replied. “It is embarrassing enough.”
“You don’t want me to cheer for you?” Janessa asked. “Of course you don’t, this is humiliating and nothing I say will change that. In fact by staying here it will probably change the dynamics of our relationship.”
“You are right about that” Sawyer replied. “I would appreciate it if you told the same to Yesenia and Claudia. I know you all are supposed to make an appearance and you have done so. I don’t have the courage to scan the crowd for their face and they seem like a good enough sort.”
“Well Claudia wouldn’t miss this for the world” Janessa replied. “She is not a fan of any of the others and she has a small crush on the blond pretty one.”
“Then I can ignore her easily if my friendship means that little to her” Sawyer replied.
“Well you give them hell and I hope you win” Janessa said as she melted back into the crowd.
When the lifting was all over Sawyer saw he was in third place and the physique portion was next. All the men did was walk out on the stage and flex their muscles, Sawyer noticed the princess along with three other women who looked to be wealthy were scoring everything, even taking a long glance at parts of the body Sawyer wished were not out in the open. Most of the men there had some muscle, most of the others no matter how handsome did not compete in the Mr. Maduro contest because of the strength portion and physique. Most of the people here were the biggest and roughest of Maduro but many of them despite being plenty strong did not have a lot of definition, Sawyer thought he was easily the most defined person in the competition. None of that meant anything to him though, when Sawyer was called up he tried to walk naturally as he went in front of the judges.
“Well let's see those muscles pop” said a gray haired woman. Sawyer went back to his blank stare as he gave his poses and hurried back to the staging area.
The Princess had ordered him to stay still and twirl slowly in a circle before she let him go back. That was nothing compared to what she did to poor Reginald and Dominic, actually making them lift up their belly so everyone could see their manhood. Only the first ten got points in any part of the Mr. Maduro competition. Sawyer placed first in physique and didn’t care what place anyone else came in. The sooner he got this over with the better, the talent portion was next and Sawyer wanted to hurry up and get everything over with.
“What are you going to do for the talent portion?” Claudia asked.
“Go away” Sawyer replied and turned his back to her.
“I talked to Janessa and I know you don’t want anyone checking you out but I wouldn’t miss this” Claudia replied. “If it makes you feel any better you can see me naked. Now what are you doing for the talent competition?”
“For you this is some kind of game” Sawyer replied. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about, now go away.”
“Well the Princess wants to know” Candace replied coming up from behind Claudia who stood there in a bit of shock. “She has your sword and that thing you call a staff although she is considering breaking the ugly thing and buying you a new one.”
“I don’t know, it doesn’t matter” Sawyer replied.
“Well she wants to see all of the mages do some kind of magic” Candace replied. “This has got to be the best competition I have ever seen and you are in first place right now. You should be proud to represent Maduro.”
“Go away from me” Sawyer said as he turned his back. “Hand me my staff and I’ll do whatever silly spell she wants.”
“Ooh so touchy” Candace replied. “Don’t let him get you down Claudia, he is still smarting from being captured.”
Sawyer stood with the other mages until his staff was brought out to him by Candace who made a show of looking him up and down. When the talent portion began Samson had a melon which he placed at the end of the stage. A lightning bolt ripped through the air from his staff and exploded the melon and showered the audience with pulverized fruit. Sawyer could see the mage was out of magic from casting that strong of a spell, that used all three affinities he had but got an excited shout from the crown as Samson eyed Joseph and Rudy. Both men took a slight step back at the display. In reality Sawyer thought a big wooden shield would soak up the most of it, either one of them could take him after that but it he aimed for a foot or something the shield didn’t cover then they were dead men. Andrew was next, Sawyer could see he had magical reserves slightly bigger than Candace but did not have an affinity. He used his magic to levitate a chair twenty feet off the ground and sat it back down. Sawyer used the time to check the other mages around, Reginald and Dominic did not have an affinity and had magical reserves slightly smaller than Candace. Sawyer was up next, as he began walking to the stage someone shoved a sword into his hand. It was his sword, Sawyer just went into three of his sword routines alternating using magic whenever his hand with the sword was drawn back. The spell he used was one Candace had went over with him, it was how to levitate and mage light. The effect looked like he could jump real high and make light appear. Sawyer only did it for a short time before walking back. When everything was over Samson got the top spot which was worth ten points, Sawyer came in fourth behind Andrew and a man who basically did a sensual d
ance and rubbed his hard on all over an old woman. The seven points though kept Sawyer out in the lead with forty points, the nearest person to him was at thirty and that was Joseph, then came Rudy at twenty-nine and everyone else was below twenty-five points. The biggest event was coming up next though.
The forty competitors would be put into brackets of twenty, the first round was worth three points a match for the winner. The duels were single elimination and during the round of twenty the matches would be worth five points. The survivors would be then mixed up in another bracket with the winner receiving eight points a match. Whoever had the most points out of everyone would get an automatic bye in the round of five and the matches were worth ten points. With three competitors remaining the highest would once again get an automatic bye and the fights were worth thirteen points. The final round was worth fifteen points, Sawyer added everything up and came to the conclusion that there were fifty four points still out there, more than enough for every single competitor to pass him. Sawyer was the first to fight and recognized his opponent as one of the mage guard he had seen hanging around one of the female mages he did not know the name of.
“Don’t take this the wrong way mage” the guard said. He was a burly man with a big brown beard and hair all over his chest. His bald head shined in the afternoon sun as he cracked his knuckles. “This is just business, you are all supposed to take a beating and I am the one that was picked for you.”
Sawyer ignored him as a signal was given, Sawyer gave a front kick which caught the man in the chest and followed it with a left hand. His opponent reeled back in surprise as Sawyer could see he had his man dazed and went for a jumping knee followed by two elbows, an uppercut and when his man backed away enough, a high kick. His opponent soaked up the blows and sat dazed on the ground as Sawyer followed him down and started pounding on him. The crowd cheered as a horn was blown and Sawyer could feel a few hands drag him off the man. Sawyer yanked his arms away and hit one of the men holding him directly in the nose as the other one let him go instantly.
“Don’t touch me” Sawyer said as he walked away angrily.
Sawyer tried to calm himself down but found it hard to, it wasn’t enough he was embarrassed but she wanted to have him pounded on because she was jilted by some fop with blonde hair. Sawyer couldn’t enjoy the duels which made him madder since he liked sparring, the crowds going wild and cheering just made him even angrier. When the first round was done Sawyer thought he saw Andrew, Reginald and Dominic dragged away unconscious. Samson he knew received a vicious beating, the man’s face was okay but only because his opponent pounded him to the body, at least that is what the crowd was talking about and they were sure a few ribs were broken. When it became Sawyer’s turn to fight again he wasn’t facing a mage guard but instead some man who looked like a servant, he had bloody knuckles and a nice physique but he looked too pretty to be a fighter to Sawyer. There wasn’t a scar on him as the fight started. Sawyer saw no need to punish this man, if he was being serious he had gotten lucky by stunning the mage guard and jumping on him. This opponent though was shorter and smaller than he was, Sawyer easily used his length and a steady jab to keep the man away from him while scoring the entire time. The fights were also on a time limit and the winner would be based on damaged given, Sawyer thought he had hit this man at least thirty times and hadn’t even been grazed by his wild punches. Sawyer could remember when he was trying out for the army and was intimidated by the strong looping sword strikes the novices used until he got into the ring with one of them, just striking straight down the middle was enough to keep them off of him. Sawyer’s opponent was getting desperate as he continued eating punches and ducked to charge him. Sawyer’s knee came up and caught him clean as his opponent went down. A horn was blown as Sawyer saw two men come up but none touched him after what happened to the other man, they were all men from the stocks and knew they were already on thin ice but had to do something in case Sawyer didn’t want to stop. The fight had given Sawyer some time to clear his head a little bit and he saw Joseph charge right through a beautiful punch and grab the man who threw it and took him down. Joseph straddled the man’s chest and started raining down big thudding blows until the fight was called. Sawyer could see the punch landed cleanly on Joseph, Joseph’s nose was gushing blood as he was led away. There were still four of the mage guard in the tournament which made Sawyer go right back to being angry.
The next round Sawyer fought one of them, the man said nothing as the match started but gave Sawyer some respect by not rushing in. Sawyer took the time to pot shot his opponent, he didn’t throw combinations but quick single strikes that allowed him to hit and move out of the way. When Sawyer saw his opponent start moving up he went for leg kicks, the Mage Guard were big men and Sawyer was wary about letting them get up on him. Sawyer was in no hurry in the fight and took whatever his enemy gave him, he wasn’t as angry anymore and tried fighting like he was taught. His opponent was a counter striker like Sawyer was, the way to beat a counter striker was by throwing way too many blows and crowding them or single shots. Big combinations left you open, Sawyer would not throw anything more than a three punch combination but saw no reason to do that when he was winning. The crowd started to jeer which made his opponent step up his pressure, Sawyer responded by going after the lead leg with as many kicks as he could. When his opponent switched his stance Sawyer knew he had him, it was the exact same fight that he had with Joseph. Sawyer faked a low kick but brought it up high, it landed just below the jaw on the neck which snapped his opponent’s head to one side and made him stumble. Sawyer jumped on him with a roundhouse that also landed which brought his opponent to a knee. The man jumped back up and started punching wildly, Sawyer was sure his opponent didn’t see him clearly but was trying to fend him off and get lucky with a blow. Sawyer saw a moment and took it, a nice kick to the kidney which put his opponent down screaming in pain. Sawyer walked away from the fight as his opponent kept trying to stand but fell back down due to the pain. Sawyer would be the one to get the byes, he would have thirty nine points from the tournament even if he didn’t win another match which left Rudy and Joseph and the Mage Guard, none of the Mage Guard tried in any of the other events so they wouldnt be winning any title. The only reason they were there was to pound the hell out of the mages. Both Rudy and Joseph were eliminated during their next fights which were with the Mage Guard, Sawyer would be the winner no matter what happened. When it came down to the final fight Sawyer wasn’t worried at all, the two Mage Guard had torn into each other during the last round and Sawyer was relatively fresh when the fight started. Sawyer knew his opponent was tired and jumped all over the man, his opponent fought well for the first thirty seconds but then started eating every blow Sawyer threw, whether it was a kick, knee or punch. Sawyer continued working the guard over when he surprised Sawyer and leapt forward, as the man wrapped his arms around Sawyer’s waist Sawyer grabbed him in a front headlock and allowed himself to be dragged to the ground and wrapped his legs around his attacker and tried to straighten his body out. His father had called the move a guillotine choke after some execution device from a far off land. As Sawyer cranked on the neck his opponent started begging for mercy and a horn was blown.
~
“That was a great performance” Claudia said as Sawyer walked past her ignoring the compliment. Sawyer had been called the winner and given some gaudy trophy along with documents giving his some kind of perks. Sawyer would throw them all away as soon as he could and was waiting to leave. The rest of the men were given leave after getting the pit beat out of them and Sawyer was more than ready to depart.
“Here is some clothes so you can stop moping” Candace said as she stood holding one of the shorts outfits. “You have already showed it all off and you can see most men don’t care and the women here have seen enough so it is not shocking to them so you shouldn’t be embarrassed or shy.”
Sawyer ignored her and walked up to the High Mage.
“I wa
nt to leave” Sawyer said as Tabitha met his gaze.
“Why?” she said confused. “Every woman in here wants to dance with you and as Mr. Maduro I am sure you can find your way into their beds. If you don’t believe me just turn around and look at all the women looking your way.”
“Can I go or not” Sawyer said irritated.
“I suppose I can get my driver to take you to my home” Tabitha said.
“I don’t want to go to your home” Sawyer said as Tabitha shook her head.
“Fine I’ll bring you back to the stocks” Tabitha replied. “You had a great showing out there, you really can fight real well.”
“Yes I got to look like a strutting bull, a perfect idiot” Sawyer said before his mouth could stop him. “I bet if my parents were still alive they would look at me and be more than ashamed to call me their son, stark naked jumping around for a bunch of women.”
“You really are upset” Tabitha said and scrunched her face up. “I’ll get your ride right away.”
Sawyer ignored anyone who tried to talk to him and went into the carriage, one woman tried to grab ahold of him but he snarled at her so he let her go. Sawyer was a little disappointed to make out Yesenia’s face in the crowd, she tried to duck but knew she had been seen as Sawyer made eye contact with her. The trip to the stocks went by easy, Sawyer walked into the bath house angry and set there alone fuming. A short while later Madeline walked in with a blanket and covered him, then gave him some of the long clothes he wore while he was here and just sat next to him. Sawyer was unsure of when it happened but a tear escaped his eye as Madeline just wrapped her arm around his waist. No more tears left his eyes but it took all he had to remain strong and remember he was just going through this injustice temporarily. In a few years he could make it back to Sale and assault the castle and Elena’s Duchy, he just had to bide his time. He was thankful for Madeline being there though, he would have to tell Janessa thank you for setting him right about her as her presence was succeeding in calming him down.
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