by Aaron Hicks
“You’ve been here before what should we do?” asked Uktesh.
“I would normally say we bet high since we know who the winners of most of the matches will be. But with Uktesh and Riu meeting up at least once more today, probably two or three times, and with it being the final day where ties go to the house, unless you make that foolish bet, I’d say we have Heathyr do the betting. Also since she won’t be fighting, she doesn’t have to bet on herself. I propose that we bet high until the final fight and then we bet it all!”
Uktesh swallowed. It was gutsy, but sounded safer than the alternative.
“Let’s do that then,” said Uktesh suddenly pumped up. Since he had no money to lose on his fights, it looked to make it a less stressful day.
They went to the bank and found that combined the seven of them had amassed a fortune in gold coins. When they realized they would have to lug around twenty-one thousand three hundred fifty coins, they decided to leave it there. Instead they opened a credit line to the gambling house, so that when they needed to, they could gamble the bulk of it on the fight. Uktesh was entrusted with the responsibility of holding the ledger that contained their account information. Uktesh folded it and put it in an inside pocket of his minotaur jacket.
The first fight was sword. Uktesh had to fight Tylor, “Great at least I made it this far. I forfeit!”
“You don’t even want to spar?”
“I don’t want to waste your energy. Besides by this day, most of the fighters know who they can beat and who they can’t.”
The next fight in sword was between two people that Uktesh didn’t know and again one forfeited. Esolc’s opponent forfeited and then Basam’s forfeited after that. “This seems boring. Won’t the crowd riot?”
“Are you kidding? They love it! Unless they’re stupid, everyone just won four bets and will win five when your opponent forfeits in a moment. Plus, it makes the matches they do see exciting! Esolc and Basam are one such fight, and a risk for us, we have quite a bit of money riding on Esolc.”
The man who he was going to fight next nodded and said, “I can’t beat you. It’d be embarrassing to try and it would waste people’s time.”
Uktesh shrugged and won his next fight. Esolc and Basam, however; didn’t know who would win. So, they took the sand and were told that three solid hits were needed to win, but a death would disqualify. The crowd edged forward slightly because the odds had been split in Esolc’s favor, but not by much.
The announcer, finally able to announce, took to the sand, “After battling their way to the semifinals, I give you the two swordsmen that have won your heart, or maybe just your pocket book!” The crowd laughed. “I give you the speedster Esolc!” Half the crowd cheered. “And his opponent, a man from the north that travelled all the way here in hopes of becoming your champion; Basam!” the crowd cheered again, and before the noise died away, Uktesh heard, “Fight!”
They each rushed at the other. With real weapons, they were more on the defensive that offensive, but soon blood flew and with two shallow cuts on his arms and one across his ribs Esolc was declared the winner. Basam came back with a limp, but was helped back by Esolc. Basam had two deep cuts in his leg and one on his shoulder that each needed stitches. Esolc shadow fought the air, “Whoa, I feel pumped!”
“You wanna fight me in the finals!” Uktesh asked hopefully.
Esolc deflated, “Oh um, no thanks. I’m going to forfeit too.”
“Oh man.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Esolc has decided to forfeit the match which means that Uktesh is the winner, and here to crown our victor, one of the Numbers I give you, One!” A man with a graying beard walked out onto the sand, as he got closer, Uktesh noticed that tattooed on his forehead was a golden tattoo of a lion rearing on its back legs, which clearly made the shape of a one.
One stretched out his hand toward Uktesh, and said, “That was an impressive display of talent you showed us the last two days. I’m only sorry that there wasn’t someone skilled enough in swords to challenge you. Perhaps we need a Zero to be added to the Numbers!” he shouted to the roar of approval from the crowd.
“Ack! It’s supposed to look like an eye, like a third eye!” Uktesh tried to explain. Uktesh shook his head in acceptance, took the offered hand, and said, “I think that Riu will be challenging enough. I’ll have to fight him for sure today.”
“Given how yesterday went that’s probably true, but I look forward to it.” He turned to the crowd and raised Uktesh’s left arm and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first victor of this year’s tournament in the category of sword. Your champion, Uktesh!” The crowd roared and Uktesh could feel his cheeks warm. He smiled, raised his other hand, and waved at the crowd. One let the crowd cheer for a little longer and then turned to Uktesh and said, “Good luck in your future matches.”
“Wait! Have you heard anything about a man named Thulmann?”
“Thulmann? No why?”
“He’s my fiancée’s father and he’s off fighting in the war, but they haven’t heard anything from him in months.”
“I will keep an ear out for someone named Thulmann and let you know if I hear about him.” He turned and walked off the sand and Uktesh took his cue from One and followed suit.
A man with a huge purse waited for Uktesh. He told Uktesh that, since he had won the sword category, he was awarded a hundred gold coins and a perfectly balanced sword. Uktesh planned to give it to Laurilli. Next, they held the tournament for mixed and, after several rounds of forfeiting, Riu won. Esolc and Larut would’ve fought, but they hadn’t been matched together before one then the other forfeited to Riu. Again One walked out and gave a brief speech before he returned to wherever he was watching the fights. This time, though, Riu was awarded a hundred gold and a pair of fist weapons, which acted as a defense and an offense. Uktesh had to guess that they hadn’t been ready to award him, for winning the sword category, on the sand when it had been his turn. Next, in axe, Larut had to fight Tylor first and won. Repus had to fight his opponent too and won. After their fight, Larut was crowned the axe winner by One and was given the money and a perfectly balanced axe. Next, in archery, it was a foregone conclusion that Uktesh would win and none of the other competitors showed up to try. He was awarded one hundred gold and a bow that had a harder pull than his own, and felt more accurate too. He would let Laurilli have his old one once she could draw it to her cheek. Repus had a hard time of it, but he won the pole weapon division. After he got his money and weapon, a hush fell over the crowd. It was time to see who was better unarmed Uktesh or Riu.
Both of their opponents forfeited, with almost an air of glee and as he took the sand against Riu, Uktesh couldn’t help but smile. “Why do you smile? You have no chance against me in my element, with a sword perhaps, but not with fists.”
“I have a plan.”
“I presume it is a plan in which you survive? I too have a plan, though I believe our plans are very dissimilar.”
The announcer who finally had something to do other than award the class winners shouted, “Here we have two fighters that need no introduction. They’ve clashed before, and now they’re back to see who’s better with their fists. I give you the third flame dragon Riu!” The crowd cheered, and Uktesh realized that most had bet on Riu. “And his opponent looking for some pay back, the vengeance slayer; Uktesh!” The crowd cheered for him too, but not as wildly. “Fight!”
Uktesh walked within a close strike distance and bowed low to Riu, who did the same, but was ready for an attack. However Uktesh didn’t plan trickery, he took a balanced stance and nodded. When Riu nodded back, they struck and both were hit to the ground. Back on their feet, Uktesh quickly flowed from Rush to lightning flashes and again, both were on the ground. “You plan to exchange blows to tie?” laughed Riu harshly. “A clever strategy, but it won’t work on me. You’ve been aiming for points, but I’ve been aiming to injure, by now your shoulder should be numb.” Riu stood and wal
ked within striking range as Uktesh stood and dusted himself off. “With this attack, I’ll end you.” Uktesh knew that Riu’s plan was to cut off his ability to go from balanced to imperfect to perfect. But Uktesh had planned for that. He hadn’t planned for how much mobility he’d lost due to Rui’s damaging attacks. He didn’t flow, he stuttered from Cricket Springs, to Lightning Flashes, to Serpent Strikes, each added speed, but negated most of the recoil of just a straight jump into perfect.
With a crack, both went down again and, with a ‘whoop’ of joy, Uktesh sprang to his feet fists in the air, “I did it! Tied! Woo hoo!” Uktesh ran and jumped around in joy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a tie! Wow who would’ve thought that would happen!”
“I did!” someone shouted in the crowd, “Now I’m a millionaire!”
“Wow, good gamble for that guy. I’m guessing the rest of us, yes myself included, lost out on that one.”
One came out again to declare that both Uktesh and Riu were co-winners and each were given seventy-five gold coins. Riu took his without a word and stalked off the sand.
With random selection, the matches for the best in this year’s tournament would be sword against axe, pole against mixed, unarmed didn’t have one winner and would not fight, so archery would fight the winner of sword against axe. Tylor ran up to Uktesh, “Uktesh, I need the ticket. We have to get our bets in now because of how quickly these fights go!”
Uktesh handed him the slip. Together with Esolc Basam, Laurilli, and Heathyr, each armed and ready to defend their credit ticket, they went to place their bid. Who do they think will win the final between me and Riu?
There was a twenty minute wait while bets were made. Uktesh was again lost in a daydream that was a combination of what he saw this morning, his dream, and what nearly happened in both. “What are you grinning about?” Larut said, which completely snapped him out of his daydream.
“Laurilli.” Uktesh said.
“Yeah, I hear that, she’s a fine girl and going to be a fine woman. You’re treating her right and, if you continue to do that, she’ll be yours forever.”
“I hope so. She’s everything I want in this world.”
“By the way, so you know, I’m going to forfeit and so is Repus. You’ll forfeit as archery and you’ll have to fight Riu as mixed with swords.”
“Do you know who we bet on?”
“Sure, kid, we all do. Well, everyone but you.”
“You discussed it during my fight with Riu didn’t you?”
“Yep. That was the only time we were sure you were distracted.”
“You’re also not going to tell me who you picked, are you?”
“Nope. I’m going to tell you we picked you to win the final fight.”
“Me? How do you know I can win?”
“We don’t. But we aren’t going to force you to lose either, Which is what you would do if you knew we’d bet on Riu. Don’t worry, though. No matter what, we’re going to be making plenty of money for Myrtin’s family.”
“How?”
“We didn’t tell you, but we did some very smart betting except for the unarmed where we took a hit, we won most of our bets these past few days. But when your fight takes place, we’ll not double it again, but rather let it play out with the same bid. So if you win, we’ll make one hundred fifty million gold pieces, and if you lose, we’ll still make one hundred million gold pieces.”
Uktesh was stunned by the amount, “Thanks! That helps take the pressure off.”
The time was up and they called the fighters to the center again. As Uktesh headed out the door to the sands, Larut yelled, “And if you get stressed, just think of Laurilli, just try to not have such a goofy grin when you do.”
Blushing was not the way I wanted to make my entrance to this fight. The four champions stood in the center of the arena. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, your champions!” The roar of the crowd was deafening, “Your first match Axe versus Sword!”
“Axe forfeits!” shouted Larut and the crowd roared its approval.
“Pole weapons forfeits next!” shouted Repus and again the crowd approved.
“I can’t very well fight myself and win! I, as Archery, forfeit to myself as Sword.”
The announcer looked from one to the other in confusion, but quickly caught the meaning, “That means that the final fight of this year’s tournament will be Riu as the mixed champion versus Uktesh as the sword champion!”
Riu, as the mixed champion, had to pick his three weapons. But this time, instead of his normal unarmed, he equipped two partial arm, wrist, and knuckle gauntlets.
“Well this is an outcome that most people saw coming! The betting will remain open for fifteen minutes! Who will win? So far they’ve fought twice, Riu coming out ahead in the first and they tied the second. Is Uktesh learning fast enough to win the third or will Riu finally armed come out victorious? Remember there are no ties in this fight!”
“I am looking forward to this fight.” said Riu with a cold sneer.
“As am I.” Uktesh replied and tried to ignore the look, “Four hits is going to make this a long fight.”
“Yes, how is your shoulder?”
“Good enough to beat you.”
Riu’s eyes took on a look of madness. “Did you make a wager on the outcome?”
“I didn’t, but my friends did. They bet on me.”
“I am saddened for their loss, for I cannot lose. I have bet on myself enough money to keep our order fed for another year.”
“How much is that?”
“We live simply, but there are many of us. When I win I have bet enough to earn one thousand gold coins.”
“Oh, we bet twenty five million on me.”
His eyes grew wide, “How did you amass such a fortune?”
“We all started betting on each other with five gold coins, and sometimes we lost, but most of the time we won. My first two fights alone, the odds were forty to one. So the seven of us made two thousand eight hundred gold coins off those fights alone. With the limiter removed on betting today, we’ve raked in the money.”
“Had I known then what I know now, I too would’ve bet on you, but I made both those bets the other way.”
“Well, the announcer’s heading this way. I’d offer you one thousand golds just to fight for fun. But I assume you’d turn it down.”
“Yes, you’re going to need luck to survive this fight, not money.”
Uktesh smiled and said, “Thanks, ‘good luck,’ to you too.”
Uktesh started to stretch out his muscles as the announcer shouted to the crowd, “You’ve been patient. You’ve been waiting, but wait no longer!” The crowd roared its approval. “Who thinks that Riu will win?” The crowd cheered loudly. “and who thinks-” He wasn’t able to finish before a great wave of sound erupted from the crowd. The three who stood on the sand looked at each other, stunned by the sheer sound. Riu glared at Uktesh for a moment, before he shook his head and began to stretch his muscles. “Wow! There you have it! Who will win? Who will lose? Only time will tell! Fight!”
The announcer quickly ran away and Uktesh continued to stretch. When he was done, he waited for Riu to finish. Once they were both done with their stretches, Riu nodded, his eyes cold, and Uktesh nodded back. Riu sprinted at Uktesh and Uktesh quickly Rushed, Soared, and then attacked in the perfect Serpent Strikes. But as soon as he felt Riu block his sword, he shifted his weight to the perfect Rising Knee and felt the strain instantly in the leg he jumped with. His knee connected with Riu’s gauntlet in a close, and desperate defense, but still in the air, he brought his sword down onto Riu’s shoulder. He pulled his attack to not kill, while Riu punched his stomach. Uktesh lost control of his muscles for a moment, as his body bent forward to absorb the attack, but that caused his sword to slice deep into Riu’s shoulder. Uktesh flew backward, skidded once on his back, but quickly rolled to his feet, ready for an attack that never came.
Riu held his shoulder, in a
n attempt to slow the blood loss. “Wow, Riu. I tried to pull my attack, but I jerked forward because of your punch.”
“So this is my fault?”
“Yes. If you hadn’t been trying to kill me you would be fine.”
“I cannot lose, and you have the greatest chance of anyone here at beating me. So I must beat you quickly and mercilessly.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“I was trying to end this before both of us are killed, that’s the most likely outcome between two masters fighting with real weapons. No one can move at our speeds, and halt their movements quick enough after hitting, to avoid major injury. It is inevitable that, in this fight, one of us will surely die. It will not be me.”
“Well I don’t plan on kicking any buckets either!” Lame come back, think of something cooler! “You’ll be the one greeting your parents today! Dang it! What if his parents are still alive? “That is, of course, if you’re parents are already dead, if they’re not, then you won’t meet them!” Stupidest retort ever! I just need to let my sword do the talking! Oh, wait, I could say that to him!
Before Uktesh had a chance to continue his retort Riu shouted, “Enough of this!” Uktesh saw the torn muscle and skin in his arm reform until it was completely healed, “I’ve been granted powers by my masters.” He made a circular motion with his shoulder, “I still have the best chance of winning this. We’re still tied with only three more points each. Here I come!”
Uktesh had no time to think about this new revelation before their next clash. Even from his perspective Uktesh could tell they probably looked like a whirlwind of sparks. They moved faster and faster, as each tried to score the second point. The clash of sword on gauntlet soon sounded like nothing more than one continuous sound, instead of the multiple sounds Uktesh knew it was. Sparks started to strike their skin and clothes. Quickly Uktesh grew hot, but he couldn’t stop for fear of being hit by one of the blurring gauntlets. Suddenly both of their shirts started to impede their movements, Riu because his was cut to ribbons and Uktesh because his was soaked with sweat. They broke away and Uktesh threw off his jacket before he could get his shirt off, while Riu slipped out of the tattered remains of his shirt.