Archive-name: Amazon/pit3.txt

Archive-author: 

Archive-title: Pit Fighters - 3





After Tanya had defeated Fergus the number of challenges to her

supremacy had decreased in number, but the ability of the men

who challenged her had increased.  She found herself fighting

only once per week, but the fights left her bruised and sore. 

She increased her training, building up her strength and

endurance to nearly superhuman levels.  Her weight increased

from two hundred five to two hundred twenty pounds.  Her height

remained the same, six feet three inches.  Since she measured

herself daily, Tanya knew that her upper arms had gone from

seventeen to eighteen and a half inches and her forearms from

fifteen and three-quarter inches to over sixteen.  Her thigh

girth was now over twenty-nine inches (up from twenty seven and

a half) and her calves were over twenty-one and a half inches. 

She could lift almost half again as much weight as when she had

started.



Tanya had also changed her attire both in and out of the pit. 

She wore a cloak made of lion skin, with the mane forming the

hood.  Her breechcloth in the pit was now made of snakeskin. 

She had found a tattoo artist who had added a large tattoo on

her back.  It depicted a large snake with a woman's head

crushing a male lion to death.  These added to her mystique, and

helped intimidate her opponents.



Tanya entered the building and walked up to her partner, Trask. 

He held the sheet of paper with the names of the entrants for

the night's battles.



"Are you up to fighting tonight, Tanya?"  he asked.  "It's been

a week now, the people are getting anxious to see you in the pit

again."



Tanya moved even closer to Trask, towering over him.  Alarmed,

he stepped back a pace.  "Careful, little man, one day you'll

push me too far.  I don't think you really want to make me

angry," she said softly.  Her pale eyes flashed fire, belying

her mild words.  "Do you?"



"Er, no offense intended, Tanya," stammered Trask.  "It's just

that our profits go up whenever you enter the pit, especially if

it's known in advance."



"Is there a good challenge tonight?"



"One man said he won't enter his fighter unless it's to fight

you," Trask said.  "Says he'll wait as long as it takes until

you're ready."



"Sounds like that one needs to learn a little respect.  All

right, I'll fight tonight."  Tanya frowned thoughtfully.  "I'd

better go and start getting ready."



Tanya went to her preparation room, where her servants rubbed

healing potions into her muscles and massaged her to loosen her

muscles.  She then spent some time lifting light weights and

shadowboxing to get herself ready.  Finally her servants braided

her long auburn hair and pinned it on top of her head.  Then

they covered her entire body with a thin coating of oil, to

highlight her muscles.  Finally they helped her into the

snakeskin breechcloth and held the lion cloak out to her.  Trask

knocked at the door.  "It's time," he said.



Tanya rose and started the walk to the pit.  In the pit, Trask

was beginning the introductions.



"The last fight of the evening, a fight without weapons, just

body against body.  Now entering the pit, the challenger,

standing six feet eight inches tall and weighing two hundred and

seventy pounds, Cador the Cruel!"  Cador was a mountain of a

man, with long black hair hanging in two braids to the small of

his back.  His body was heavily muscled, with almost no fat. 

Scars covered his arms and legs.  There was a scar on his face

that reached from his right temple to beneath his chin.  He

stalked to one side of the pit and waited.



"Now, the Champion of the pit.  She stands six feet three inches

tall and weighs two hundred and twenty pounds.  Undefeated in

over one hundred fights at this pit, please welcome Tanya!"



Tanya entered the pit to the roar of the crowd.  She gazed at

her opponent, looking for a weakness, but none was apparent. 

Seeing her look at him, Cador grinned cruelly and flexed his

huge arms, trying to intimidate her, but Tanya ignored his show

and turned her back to him, removing the lion skin as she did

so, letting Cador see the tattoo on her back.  She then flexed

her own muscles for the crowd, basking in their approval of her

physique.  Tanya then turned back to face Cador, a slight smile

on her lips, cold fire glinting from her eyes.  Cador met her

gaze for a while, then looked away.  Tanya's smile broadened a

bit, and she waited for the signal.



Trask waited until the crowd had finished placing wagers on the

two fighters, then rang the gong.  Tanya and Cador began

cautiously, circling the pit floor, each looking for weaknesses

in the other.  As they closed in, Tanya realized that Cador

dwarfed her in every physical way.  She hoped that her skills

were up to this challenge.



Cador closed the distance between in an instant, driving a big

shoulder into Tanya's ribs.  She felt herself lifted off her

feet as Cador crushed her in a bear hug, then rushed across the

pit to drive her back into the wall.  Tanya gasped with the

force of the blow.  Much of the air had been driven from her

lungs, and she found it difficult to breathe.  Cador released

his grip and stepped back, watching with satisfaction as Tanya

slumped to the floor of the pit.  He raised an enormous right

foot, readying himself to stomp her into the sand.



Tanya saw the foot descending and rolled away from it as quickly

as she could.  Tanya knew the blow to her back had damaged her,

and she needed to get some room between herself and the

dark-haired behemoth in the pit with her.  She scrambled to her

feet and tried to regain her breath, ignoring the stabbing pain

in her back.  Cador lunged toward her, determined to end the

battle swiftly.  Tanya saw him coming in time and leaped to the

side.  Cador's rush carried him beyond her, and Tanya saw her

opportunity.  She drove a hard kick into Cador's back, right at

kidney level.  He grunted in pain as her foot struck home. 

Cador rolled forward to evade any further blows and got to his

feet, facing Tanya.  Pain showed on both their faces as they

stalked each other again.



Tanya knew that Cador's plan was to get close, ignoring anything

she might do, and crush her with his superior strength and

weight.  After feeling the power of those big arms, she knew

Cador was stronger than she was.  Her only chance lay in

outmaneuvering him, and slowing him down with damaging punches

and kicks, trying to weaken him so she could finish him off. 

Judging by the pain in her back she had at least one broken rib

already, and she knew that she had to end the fight as soon as

possible.



Cador rushed in again, but this time Tanya was ready for his

speed.  She dropped to her back, driving both legs into his

belly as he went over her, flipping him over half way across the

pit to land hard on his back.  The two battlers got to their

feet at the same instant, ready to fight.  Cador stayed low,

moving in on Tanya relentlessly.  Tanya waited for his rush,

ready to react and strike.  Cador moved to his left, and as

Tanya leaped to her left to avoid him she ran into a cloud of

sand thrown up by his right hand.  The sand blinded her, and she

tried to wipe the stinging grains from her eyes.



The crowd booed at Cador's tactic.  Though there were no real

rules in the pit, certain things were frowned upon.  Cador moved

in on his apparently helpless opponent.  He doubled one huge

hand and punched Tanya in the belly.  Tanya sensed the blow

coming and tensed her abdominal muscles to take it.  Cador's

punch drove her back several feet, but did not penetrate the

shield of her muscles.  Tanya rolled over backwards, adding to

the momentum given her by the punch, gaining distance.  Finally

she cleared most of the sand from her eyes and was able to see,

though her vision was somewhat blurred.  She realized that Cador

had slipped behind her only when he locked his huge arms around

her and squeezed.



Cador lifted Tanya off her feet.  The breath was crushed from

her lungs by his arms.  Tanya kept her head and looked for a way

to free herself.  Her arms were loose, and she grabbed Cador's

wrists with her huge hands and struggled to break his hold. 

Mighty muscles rippled in her enormous arms as she fought to

force Cador's hands apart.  She knew that if she didn't free

herself soon, she'd lose consciousness from lack of oxygen.



Cador slowly realized that his bear hug was being broken. 

Tanya's unbelievable strength, added to her desperation, had

broken the lock.  When Tanya felt her feet touch the ground

again she drove her head backward into Cador's face.  Several of

his teeth were loosened, and Tanya felt the blow shake her up as

well.  She was able to retain enough sense to drive her right

elbow into Cador's belly.  It didn't do much damage, but it

created the space Tanya needed in order to maneuver.



Driving punches into his belly and face like a madwoman, Tanya

forced Cador backwards.  Her fists opened several cuts on his

face, and his muscular belly started to show bruises where her

rock hard hands landed.  Cador tried to fend her off, but Tanya

drove a kick up into his groin.  "That's for the sand in the

eyes, bastard," she growled.  Tanya watched with satisfaction as

Cador doubled up in agony and fell to the ground.  She continued

a barrage of kicks to his unprotected back as he struggled to

his feet again.  Tanya was amazed by his ability to withstand

pain.



As Cador regained his feet, Tanya spun behind him and leaped on

his back.  She locked her hands under his chin and wrapped her

big legs around his midsection.  Cador felt his balance going,

and he toppled sideways onto the sand.  Tanya tightened the vise

of her legs, trying to force the breath from Cador's body, and

buying some more time to recover both her breath and her sight

while causing him more suffering.  Cador tried to break the

scissorlock with his arms, but could not.  He felt consciousness

leaving him as he tried to breathe past her pythonesque legs. 

He then reached backward and grabbed her by the ears, then

pulled her chin down onto his head.  The blow rattled Tanya,

causing her to release the headlock.  Shaking her head, she

began to get mad.  Tanya grabbed Cador's braids and wrapped them

around his throat, starting to choke him.  Cador reached up

desperately and clawed at her eyes with his hands.  Blinded,

Tanya released both the scissors and his hair.  She rolled

quickly away, and lay on the ground, blinking the tears from her

eyes.  Tanya dimly saw Cador lumbering toward her again, and was

barely ready for him when he arrived.



Using her athletic legs, Tanya drove up from the ground and

smashed him in the midsection with her shoulder.  Straightening

up, she flipped Cador's enormous form over her shoulder to come

crashing down on his back.  Roaring in frustration, Cador

regained his feet and rushed toward the burly redhead,

determined to crush her into the ground.



Cador raised his right arm and tried to smash Tanya's head by

clubbing it with his fist.  She got her left up with no time to

spare and blocked the tremendous blow, saving her head but

sacrificing her left arm.  The forearms of both fighters snapped

from the impact.  Pain exploded in Tanya's arm and she was

driven back down to the sand.  Cador roared in agony as his

right arm shattered, and he staggered backward, cradling his

useless limb.



Tanya knew that the fight would be won or lost in the next few

moments.  She forced herself to her feet and leaped at Cador. 

Desperation added to her strength, and she smashed her right

fist into his already damaged belly.  Cador was not prepared to

take the punch, and Tanya felt her hand penetrate his muscle

shield and drive into his vitals.  Stepping back to give herself

some room, she lunged at him feet first, delivering a tremendous

kick to his jaw, shattering it.  To Cador, it felt like a

sledgehammer had hit him in the belly and then a horse had

kicked him in the head.  He was nearly unconscious when he hit

the floor of the pit, flat on his back.  Tanya stood over him

and drove the heel of her right hand into his nose, using all

the strength she could muster.  Her hand destroyed his skull

drove the shards into the brain beyond.  Blood geysered upward,

splattering her with gore.  Breathing hard, Tanya stood slowly

upright, blood dripping from her right hand.  She lifted her arm

in a gesture of victory, then slumped to the floor.  Tanya knew

it would be several months before she could fight again.





--