Archive-name: Amazon/pit1.txt

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Archive-title: Pit Fighters - 1





The benches around the pit were starting to fill up with men and

women eager to watch as two fighters battled it out to the

death.  Trask, the pit master, took the list of fighters for the

evening from his assistant and looked it over.  It contained

five names, not even enough for three bouts.



Trask shook his head sadly.  It was getting increasingly

difficult to find fighters for the pit.  The masters of slaves

who made up the bulk of the pit fighters were becoming less

willing to send their valuable property into the pit, knowing

that they stood a good chance of losing their investment.  It

was nearly unheard of for a Freeman to fight in the pits, since

the fights were always to the death.



He was considering a free-for-all, which meant a very short

program, when a tall figure wearing a red cloak walked up to

him.  Trask saw that it was a woman, and hoped that she was the

mistress of a slave who would fill out a three bout card.  "Can

I help you?" he asked.



"Yes, if you are the person who runs this fighting pit.  I want

to enter one of the bouts tonight.  Do you have an opening?"



"Yes, there is room for another fighter," replied Trask.  "Where

is the fighter you wish to enter?"



"You don't understand," said the woman.  "I am the one who will

fight."



"Impossible.  There are no other women on the program I could

match you against."



"That is just as well,"  she said with a smile.  "I never fight

women unless it is two or three against me."  She withdrew a

purse from under the cloak and tossed it to him.  "There is

sufficient cash there for my entry fee, with enough left over

for a wager.  I'll trust you to get the best odds you can for

me."



"Very well, if you insist on fighting.  I hate to take your

money, though."  Trask picked up his pen and asked, "What is

your name?"



"Tanya," she replied.  "When do I fight?"



"That depends.  What is your weapon of choice?  I'll try to

match you to someone favoring a similar weapon."



"I prefer no weapon," said Tanya.



"Then you will fight Auric, last on the card.  He is the only

other fighter who wishes to use no weapon."



Tanya nodded and walked to the preparation area.  Trask weighed

the purse and shook his head.  "Pity to wager this and lose," he

thought.  "Why should I bet this when Auric's certain to beat

her?"  Trask had seen Auric fight before.  He was a huge man

with many scars all over his body.  Trask thought of the woman

and didn't give her a chance. "I'll just keep the money.  She'll

never know the difference, since she'll be dead."  Trask slipped

the purse into a pocket in his cloak.



The first two matches didn't generate much enthusiasm from the

crowd, nor much wagering.  The first one featured a huge

northern barbarian named Olav.  Olav had long yellow hair

hanging in a braid down his back.  His opponent was a slim,

swarthy man named Paz.  They fought with knives.  Olav's size

was a disadvantage in a knife fight against a skilled opponent. 

Paz used his speed and artistry with a knife to continuously get

under Olav's guard and deliver damaging cuts to the big man's

body, weakening him.  Paz received a few slight slashes to his

arms, but they were not enough to slow him down.  Paz slipped

behind Olav and slashed his throat after just ten minutes or so.



In the second, a Teuton named Bjorn, armed with a mace and

shield, faced an Arab named Achmed, armed with ax and shield. 

The two were equally matched, and each delivered and received

numerous blows.  Finally Bjorn's mace shattered Achmed's shield,

and the Arab was helpless as the mace descended and crushed his

skull.  Bjorn had to be carried from the pit as well, though,

and Trask doubted whether he would live through the night.



Fresh sand was spread to absorb the blood.  Trask descended to

the pit to announce the next match.  "The final fight of the

night will be fought without weapons," he called.  There was a

scattering of boos from the patrons.  Weaponless fights were

often long and boring.  "Entering the pit first, standing six

feet four inches tall and weighing two hundred and fifty pounds,

Auric!"



The huge red-haired man slowly entered the ring.  He was a well

known fighter, and some of the people who had been leaving sat

back down.



"His opponent, now entering the pit, stands six feet three

inches tall and weighs two hundred and five pounds."  Trask

checked the paper again, surprised at Tanya's size.  She hadn't

seemed that large, but his assistant assured him that the

measurements were accurate.  "Tanya!"



Tanya entered the pit, her red cloak still covering her from

head to toe.  The bookmakers in the benches groaned as everyone

descended on them to wager on Auric.  Matches between men and

women were almost unheard of, and never without weapons.  No one

believed Auric would be defeated by a woman without any weapons,

and they hurried to put their money down.  Cries of "Twenty to

one odds on the woman" were heard, but the long odds didn't faze

the bettors.



The fighters waited patiently for the hubbub to die down.  While

waiting, Tanya watched her opponent.  Thick muscles covered

Auric's arms and legs.  He wore only a breechcloth, which sagged

under his large belly.  He appeared slow and somewhat

dull-witted.  Tanya smiled secretly to herself.  She decided

that her main problem would be preventing Auric from falling on

her.



Finally the spectators sat down on the benches again.  Tanya

removed her cloak  and a collective gasp went up from the

benches when they saw her body.



Tanya's long auburn hair was braided and gathered tightly on top

of her head.  Long hair could be a liability in the pit, as an

opponent could use it as a weapon.  Tanya stood proudly, showing

off her broad shoulders and deep chest.  Her arms were heavily

muscled from shoulder to wrist, and her hands were enormous. 

Her thick shoulders and chest tapered to a narrow waist.  Hard

sinew showed clearly at her midsection, which then flared

quickly into hips and thick legs.  Tanya gave the appearance of

standing on two muscular tree trunks.



Trask gave the signal for the fight to begin.  Auric lumbered

across the pit toward Tanya.  His battle plan had always been to

quickly crush his opponents, ignoring any damage done to him. 

Tanya quickly sidestepped to her left and kicked him with the

full power of her right leg as he went past.  Her foot landed

just under his ribs.  Auric grunted as the kick smashed into his

side.  He stumbled to a halt and turned to face Tanya, holding

his side.  Tanya knew that she had done some damage to Auric,

perhaps breaking a rib, but it was difficult to tell through the

meat covering his bones.  Auric growled and charged again.



This time Tanya jumped high into the air, the muscles in her

powerful legs enabling her to vault over Auric's head.  She

tucked into a ball and somersaulted, landing on her feet behind

the confused man.  Auric skidded to a halt and turned to see

where Tanya had gone.  Tanya was ready for him, and punched

Auric in the belly with enough power to drive him back several

feet.  Auric looked extremely puzzled as he rubbed his stomach

in pain.  The spectators laughed at the expression on his face

as he regarded the burly woman before him.



Auric decided that he'd better be more careful, since this woman

had hit him hard twice without suffering a blow in return.  He

moved toward her slowly, waiting for the right time to attack

again.



Tanya decided not to wait for her slow moving adversary to

attack.  With astonishing speed for such a big woman she leaped

in and hit him hard in the belly again.  Before Auric could

respond to her attack she spun around him and drove an elbow

backwards into his kidneys.  Auric roared in pain and confusion,

turning around and grabbing at Tanya, but she was no longer

within his reach.  Auric stood there scratching his head in

bewilderment.



"What's wrong, you big clumsy ox?" taunted Tanya.  "Scared of a

girl?"  Auric bellowed in anger and rushed at her again.



Tanya dropped down and swept her powerful leg across Auric's

legs, tripping him.  The big man dropped to the sand and tumbled

across the ground until he crashed into the wall of the pit. 

Before he could rise, Tanya was on top of him, wrapping her

brawny arms around his chest, his head towards her.  In an

incredible demonstration of her raw power, Tanya heaved Auric

atop her broad shoulders, facing the ceiling, his legs to her

left and his head to her right.  Tanya took some pains to secure

her hold, setting her right arm behind his head and grasping his

chin with her hand.  Her left arm was between Auric's legs, and

his right leg was secured by her left hand.  Auric waved his

arms helplessly as Tanya bent him backwards across her

shoulders.  To the excited spectators, it looked like she was

going to break him in half.  To Auric, it felt that way, too.



Seemingly without effort, Tanya walked around the arena holding

him like a prize across her shoulders.  With each step he

bounced slightly, causing even more stress on his sore back.  A

moan of pain escaped his lips as she pulled down with even more

force.



"What's wrong, does it hurt?" asked Tanya with mock sympathy in

her voice.  "Well, I'll just put you down, then."  Her arms

swelled to unbelievable proportions as she hefted his bulk even

higher over her head and then threw him down to the sand.



Auric lay there groaning while Tanya strutted around him.  "Come

on, big man, you're not going to let a little girl beat you, are

you?"



Auric roared in frustration and lurched to his feet, then

lumbered toward Tanya again.  Tanya met him head on, ducking

inside his arms and driving her shoulder into his chest.  Before

he could close his arms around her, she smashed him in the belly

with several hard, fast punches.  Auric doubled over and

stumbled back as Tanya's rock hard fists ripped through the fat

covering his midsection.  Tanya followed him step for step,

until she had backed him against one wall of the pit.  She

changed her tactics slightly, now driving her big fists into his

face, opening cuts over both eyes and smashing his nose flat. 

Auric's eyes glazed over and he would have fallen but for the

wall at his back.  Tanya's relentless punches kept smashing into

his face as he stood there helplessly.  Finally she stepped back

and let him fall face first to the ground.



Tanya nudged him with her foot.  "Come on, big man," she

taunted, "I'm not through with you yet."  Auric growled and

slowly got to his hands and knees in front of her.  He looked up

at Tanya's magnificent body in fear, seeing the way her muscles

were enhanced by the sweat glistening on them.  Tanya decided to

let him all the way to his feet again, and stepped back a good

distance.



Auric was barely able to reach his feet.  His face was a mess,

with blood dripping into his eyes and from his broken nose down

his chin and onto his chest.  Tanya beckoned him, and he slowly

charged at her again.



Tanya spun to her right this time and drove her left foot into

the side of Auric's left knee as he staggered past.  Her foot

landed with the force of a cannonball, and the sound of Auric's

knee disintegrating could be heard all through the arena.  Auric

howled in pain as his knee bent in a direction it wasn't meant

to bend.  Tanya knew she had literally blown Auric's knee apart.

 The ligaments and sinews meant to hold it together had

completely separated.  Auric crashed to the floor of the pit as

his left knee could no longer support his considerable weight.



Tanya circled Auric warily.  She knew he could still do some

damage, and she wanted to be absolutely sure before moving in

for the kill.  Besides, she wasn't satisfied yet with the

punishment he had suffered.  Auric tried to stand, but his left

knee collapsed again and he fell face down in the sand.  As he

pushed himself back to a sitting position, Tanya attacked like

lightning.  She delivered a piston like kick to his jaw with her

right foot.  Auric dropped to the floor again with the taste of

blood in his mouth.  Tanya reached down with one hand and caught

Auric by the hair, forcing him to his feet.  She then grabbed

him with one arm over his shoulders and the other between his

legs and hoisted back him into the air.  The muscles in Tanya's

enormous arms swelled as she brought him up over her head and

then threw him halfway across the pit.



Auric hit the floor hard.  All the breath left his body.  He

moaned in pain as Tanya came over and kicked him lightly in the

left knee.  Tanya drove her foot repeatedly into his side,

punishing him with powerful kicks and bruising him badly.  She

then settled herself on her knees, legs bestriding his body. 

Auric chortled in triumph as he quickly grabbed her by the

throat and squeezed.



Tanya realized that Auric could tolerate more pain than she had

thought.  She had been ready to finish him off, but his choke

hold had surprised her.  Tanya expanded her neck muscles in an

effort to keep her throat open so she could breathe.  She then

reached up and caught Auric's wrists.  The sinews in her huge

forearms expanded as she used all the strength in her hands to

crush Auric's wrists.



Auric couldn't believe what was happening.  Not only was the

woman not collapsing, she was forcing his hands to open.  Tanya

forced Auric's hands slowly away from her throat and down to the

floor.  She stretched his arms up over his head.  Auric tried to

force her off his chest, but couldn't dislodge her.  His frantic

bridging allowed Tanya to slip her sinewy legs under his body

and lock her ankles together.  Using her legs, Tanya began to

crush the life from Auric's body.



Auric felt Tanya's legs tighten like a vise around his chest,

and felt one of his ribs crack.  He was unable to draw air into

his lungs.  Incredibly, Tanya increased the pressure and he felt

another rib crack.  Blood appeared on his lips as the rib

pierced his lung.  Tanya increased the pressure of her Herculean

thighs.  Auric's face turned blue and he began to lose

consciousness.  Auric's arms lay limply on the sand, and Tanya

released her hold on his wrists so she could lean back slightly

and concentrate all her power in her thighs.  Auric's eyes

rolled back in his head and he lay there senseless.



Tanya released his arms and then unlocked her ankles.  She knew

that the fight wasn't over until Auric was dead.  She sat beside

him and rolled him over so that she was positioned behind him

with  her legs encircling his torso.  Tanya wrapped one beefy

arm around his head, positioned so that her right elbow was just

under his chin.  Slowly she pulled up and back with that arm

while she twisted his head in the other direction with her left

arm.  Tanya's legs constricted again and she straightened her

back, stretching Auric's spine.  When she felt that Auric's neck

would stretch no further, she quickly twisted his head back and

up.  Auric's neck snapped with a crack that everyone could hear.

 Tanya released her death grip and pushed Auric's limp body

away.  She got to her feet in one quick motion and stood over

Auric.  Sweat clung to her body, gleaming in the light of the

torches and highlighting her swelling muscles.  Tanya raised

both arms over head and roared her triumph to the heavens.



Quickly Tanya walked to where her cloak hung and put it on, then

crossed the floor to Trask.  "Where's my money?"  she asked.



Trask swallowed hard.  "Um, well, here's the winner's purse."



Tanya's eyes narrowed.  "Fine, but where are the winnings for

the wagers you placed for me?  I heard that the bookmakers were

giving odds of twenty to one.  I should have quite a bit of

money coming."  She stepped closer and doubled her big fist

under Trask's nose.  "Where the hell is it?"



"Um, er, I never wagered the money."  Trask took a step back as

Tanya's eyes turned even colder.  "I figured you didn't stand a

chance, so why throw the money away?"



Before Trask could get away Tanya had caught him by the shirt

and lifted him off the floor.  Her face was only inches from

his, and he saw his death in her eyes.  "You owe me twenty times

what was in my purse, little man," she growled.  "I'd like to

collect.  If I don't get the money I'll take it out of your

hide, you miserable worm."



"I don't have that kind of money," Trask squeaked.



"Then what do you have that has any value?"



"I'll give you every cent I own."



"That's not good enough, scum.  I want what I have coming."



"All I own is this pit," he mumbled.



Tanya scowled and lifted him a bit higher.  "Very well, I want

half interest in this pit.  We'll be partners."  Her expression

turned even colder.  "And I expect to make money.  I'll even

fight once in a while.  If I ever lose, you'll get to keep it

all.  The novelty of a woman fighting men should draw in the

customers pretty well."



continued ............



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