Turtle, Turtle

None of the veteran brothers would take up a sparring match that was so unfair. They really didn't care how good I thought I was. What they didn't need to know was that it worked for me. The trainer set up the training with three boys who still hadn't seen their first match in the arena.

The first round was much like I expected, they basically lined up and waited for the first person to fail before letting me fight the next person. Since all they had ever bothered to study was one on one that made sense and followed what I had found during the royal.

I slowed down after that and started lining them up and showing them how to fill in for each other. I had to improvise for three on one but I was much better with two on two or two on one. I had learned while hunting with my father after all. These skills might not do these boys much good in the arena right now but hopefully it got them thinking a little bit.

The next day I did the same thing but I made sure not to wear myself out. Mostly I watched and the trainer watched as well. He seemed curious about what I was doing but didn't seem to care to stop the instruction.

I liked that my room was at the end of the hall, with my extra sense no one was able to just sneak up on me. I opened the door before the trainer had passed the door next to mine. I was also glad the rooms around me were empty even if the one beyond that were not. I had enough of seeing my brothers just sparring, I really didn't care what they were doing behind their doors.

"Come." The trainer didn't look surprised when I opened my door, he just turned and started back the way he had come.

He still didn't have any guards with him. It made me wonder what I had done to earn this man's trust, but I didn't wonder long. I would be dead soon. What does that matter to a dead man? He stopped at the landing and looked back at me, "Aren't you underdressed?"

"If death is unimpressed by what I wear, she is more then welcome to take the other man." The trainer snorted at my joke. "Really I have not had time to finish resowing the leathers I had won. I am quite a bit smaller then most other people around here."

The trainer nodded, "Too bad you don't want the company of our sisters, I could think of a few who have a good hand at that sort of thing."

"My own hand is suitable, it just takes time."

The trainer frowned but he started up the stairs and I followed. As we came up the last few steps I could see the iron gate already halfway open. Neither I nor the trainer slowed as we started through the gate and whatever caused the thing to lift didn't bother to take it all the way up instead closing behind us. The two brothers that guarded the trainer were already standing watch in the sun. They didn't say anything as I stepped passed them into the sand.

My opponent grinned at me as I stepped up to the spot just an arms reach away from the middle line. The man was a monster he was wearing not just leather but a metal plate as well. His arms and legs only had leather but I wouldn't be able to land a winding blow to his stombic. I did seem to be less protected then my massive opponent.

"Mother does this bug annoy you? Shall I squish it for you?" The big man laughed at his joke. He was overconfident. That is the monster I am facing, a snapping turtle that has grown old and fat in it's pond.

Too bad for it, this monster likes turtle soup, and he should make a good batch. The horn sounded, clearly the man's mother wasn't going to answer her son's question. Clearly she had something better to be doing.

I toyed with the big turtle of a man, staying just out of his reach. It was a dangerous game to play but I wanted the round to last longer and he would be easier to kill when he was tired. Playing with your opponent is never a good idea. You never know when death will get annoyed with you and let your opponent get lucky. I was hopeful that they weren't pissed at me yet and I couldn't keep ending the men of other houses without making it look challenging if I wanted to get any type of good terms on my fights.

The turtle was starting to get mad, "Stand still you damn gnat, I am going to squash you."

I was too focused to roll my eyes at the time but really he wasn't very smart. I had fallen into a pattern of movement. I had done it on purpose but it had still taken longer then I had hoped for this pea brain turtle to figure out. He smiled like he was so smart when he finally figured it out and was finally making the move I had set him up for.

I stopped short, I was weary that I might have underestimated the man's intelligence but the turtle didn't disappoint. I used the force of his own movement to drive him into the cement at the edge of the ring. It was a bad sportsmanship move since we really were supposed to try and keep the fight in the sand but against someone as muscled and big as the turtle I really didn't have many choices.

I must have annoyed lady luck with my plan as the turtle got back on his feet. His head was bleeding and he seemed to have damaged his left eye. He seemed to have lost his pea of a brain as well since he charged me again. I wasn't confident I weighed enough to trip the man so I dodged just beside him and stomped down on the back of his knee as hard as I could.

His knee gave way and he fell into the sand. I heard a few surprised sounds but they didn't register, they were outside the bounds of the ring. They were outside the pin of the monsters that had taken the place of the men that had died when they entered the arena.

The turtle stayed down longer then I thought he would, but it was understandable. He fought the motion of his fall instead of using it. I came around him to his now blind side and punched him in the neck. He tried to reach for the hit but I was gone before he could react. The turtle had thick neck muscles and the blow hadn't done more then piss him off more.

The turtle lumbered trying to stand again. I moved back behind him and kicked his other knee as hard as I could. The backs weren't very well protected because they had to be able to move, and this time I heard a pop that had to be the sound of the knee dislocating under the force. The turtle went back down. He was moving down to grab the damaged knee, I struck his undamaged eye instead of his neck which was not what the turtle had been expecting. He lost his other eye.

I stepped way trying to slow my breathing and walk lightly on the sand. I didn't think the turtle could hear me over the pounding of blood in his own ears but I didn't want to count on it.

He growled and there was another popping sound as he forced his leg back into its socket. He was careful not to actually put any weight on it as he stood again. The match was over but the turtle wasn't ready to admit that yet. He was reaching all around himself trying to catch me. I was well outside his reach and since I was being quiet he was having a hard time pinpointing where he should move.

I waited as he struggled. If he moved too close to a side I would taunt him enough to move him back to the center and if he slowed I would do just enough to piss him off again. The turtle was exhausted, his arms were moving much slower and he couldn't fill his lungs to get enough air. I knocked him face first into the sand and held him down. He was too muscly to reach the point right above his head and I held him until he finished suffocating on the sand.

Armor isn't the only type of protection in a fight, stupid turtle. I stood and looked up at the matriarch of the house of Estro. She was frowning at the results. She had expected me to die while this outcome wasn't bad it was a little annoying. I waited, and so did everyone else on the field. Clearly my trainer had made sure to warn the other house about my old school ways.

The matriarch took a breath, "Kneel, son, and let the lord's priests collect the blood price."

I knelt, it took three priests to remove the body but I had no reason to hurry. The women had already left. The trainer stepped on the field after the iron gate finished closing behind the priest. "You sure are making friends."

"If I am lucky maybe I will make another one in two weeks."

"Are you trying to die?" The trainer looked pretty flustered at the request. I had just earned 5 on top of what I had already earned. Normally a man would go two months enjoying life after such a fight. His idea of a good life and mine were not the same but I wasn't going to try and explain that yet.

"If I was trying to die I would ask for the soonest you could get me at whatever price you can get. No, I am not senile, yet." The guards looked at each other like they weren't sure but they didn't say anything.

"I will ask, no promises on finding fair terms that soon."

"I am sure they will benefit our house."

The man frowned as we continued back into the dark.