Children of Steel (15 page)

Herza laughed and dragged me over to a table
by the bar. "Welcome to your first fight bar Raj, you're finally
going to do some real fighting tonight!"

"What!" I said surprised, "What-in-the-hell
are you talking about?" I could see a few people looking at us, and
I just glared at them and turned back to Herza. "I thought this was
leave, not a combat tour!"

"Listen Raj," She said softly, "I never met a
cat yet that didn't like to tangle now and then. I've fought with
you and I know you enjoy it. You're good, but you need experience!
It's places like this where you'll get it. Just remember, no eye
gouging, and no killing. Unless the other guy does it first,
Okay?"

"Yeah sure," I said, I noticed a wolf that I
had glared at was starting over this way. "But I got in trouble
with the law already, and was told to keep my nose clean."

"Raj! You little devil you! Didn't waste any
time I see." She positively beamed at that, "Don't worry, the
police never come here. Anyway, you got company."

I could see she was clearly enjoying this. I
also knew that in a fight she could take me. Herza loved to fight.
I turned to look at the wolf that was towering over the table.

"I don't like the way you looked at me there
son
." The way he said it made it sound real insulting.

"Damn, they don't waste anytime around here
do they?" I murmured under my breath.

"What'd you say to me Boy?" He demanded.

I stood up and looked at him.

"I said they let in any type of waste around
here don't they?" and dodged to the side as he swung at me. I did a
side kick to the back of his knee before he could dodge, and as he
went down on it I danced in and gave him another shot to the
kidneys.

He twisted out of the way of the blow and
took most of it to the side. But I heard the air whoosh out of his
lungs as he rolled with the blow. I let him roll away, and as he
started to get up I turned to Herza.

"At least get me a beer or something will
'ya?" and then skipped in with a kick to the knee. He moved to the
side and hit me with a punch to the lower chest. It hurt and I got
pissed off. So I squatted down, ducking below his follow through
round house. Then pushing off the floor with the palms of my hands
I jumped up and gave him a hard snap kick in the center of the
chest. He flew back into the wall and looked dazed for a second. I
started to advance and he held up his hands, palms open.

"Enough, I give."

And I heard Herza say from behind me. "Okay
Raj, come back and have your beer." I turned and still keeping an
eye on him went back to the table. "Well Rolf, what do you think of
my friend here?"

I sat down at the table amazed, looking at
both Herza and the wolf that was starting to walk back over to the
table.

"You know him?" I hissed at her.

"Somebody had to check you out kid," he said
sitting down on the other side. "Damn, I think you broke a couple
of ribs there, where'd you learn that trick?"

"It's Raj, not kid, or I'll break another
one." I was still a little worked up and Herza put her hand on my
arm with a grip like a vice.

"Calm down now Raj, fight’s over. This is
Rolf and he owns the place. Now behave." She turned to Rolf, "He's
kind of young yet, so you'll have to forgive him."

"That's okay," he said sticking out his hand,
"No hard feelings Raj?"

"No, I guess not," I took his hand and shook
it, "it's all Herza's fault anyway," I said smiling. "And I learned
that squat, kick combo in basic, most everybody forgets it and
hardly anybody uses it cause it's a pain to practice."

"See Rolf, I told you he's good. I want to
run him through a couple of fights tonight with the local talent.
He needs the experience."

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem, even
though it's a Monday. There weren't too many big brawls this
weekend. I'll go call a few people." He looked at me, "That okay
with you Raj?"

"If I say no Herza will beat the crap out of
me and if I say yes she'll try to kill me later tonight anyway. I
don't care." I had to grin as I said the last part. I could see
Herza smile and squirm a little as I said it. I got the feeling
that she might have plans for later that I might enjoy.

"Fine I'll go call 'em," and he got up and
left.

"So now what happens?" I asked Herza.

"You give me all your money, so I can bet it
on you with mine," she smiled at me again. "This kind of adds extra
incentive to win."

"Then what?" I asked while handing over what
cash I had left.

"You take on all comers until I feel you've
had enough."

"I don't like the sound of that part. How
good are these guys?"

"Probably not as good as me, or you even. The
danger is in the number of fights you may end up doing. I'll try to
give you time to rest between them."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, if we win big, after I get the cash,
we'll probably have to leave in a hurry."

"You might as well hold on to my knife then,"
I handed it over, "but once outside if anybody tries anything I'll
want it back."

She smiled evilly at me, "If anybody tries to
rob me, I'll cut their throat even if we're still in here."

We sat around then and I nursed my beer. I
tried to be calm, but I wasn't very good at it. I had never been in
an all out bar fight before. Not counting the incident a few
minutes ago, or the one the night before of course. I had fought in
practice quite a lot, and even in competitions while training, it
was required after all. But never where there really weren't any
rules, or a referee. There were the fights I’d gotten in as a kit
growing up, but I hadn’t been trained back then and neither had my
opponents.

I wasn't too worried though. I knew I was
good, I had been first in my class in both combat and advanced
combat training. I was young, fast and very strong. I also knew
that Herza would save my ass if it came to it.

"Does Balizar know about this?" I asked, as a
sudden thought came to mind.

"Hell no, and don't you tell him either." She
snarled.

"You better be
real
nice to me later
than, hadn't you?" I smiled, and then added quietly, "I'm probably
going to need it."

About thirty minutes later a Rotweiler showed
up. He was my first fight. By then the place was pretty full, so
they cleared a space on the floor and after a few taunts, which I
didn't respond to, we went at it. He wasn't really very good, he
just though he was. The only reason he lasted longer than Rolf, was
that he didn't have the brains to quit, so I knocked him out.

I went back over to Herza, and sat down to
catch my breath.

"You shouldn't have made it look so easy,"
she whispered, "It lowers the odds."

"Sorry, but it
was
easy. That guy
probably couldn't even beat Rolf."

"That means that he was probably a set up to
lower our odds on the next fight. The next guy is probably going to
be a real toughie." she looked a little grim.

"You mean that Rolf would set us up?" I was a
little shocked at that. "I though he was a friend of yours."

"Not really a friend and yes he would. After
all,
I'm
not the one who's going to get thrashed. Watch
out."

That set me to worrying a little, but mostly
it made me mad. I don't like being made a fool of. Especially as it
seemed to have been happening quite frequently lately. I nursed the
anger and let it grow. They might be bringing in the big gun next,
but I was going to make him suffer for sure. By the time the next
guy showed up I was ready to kill.

The next guy turned out to be a bear, a
pretty big one too. We squared off again and I waited for him to
move in. He didn't do much, just kind of lumbered around at first.
I finally decided to move in and do a few quick combinations and
nearly got pounded flat. He was fast, real fast and I spent the
next couple of seconds back peddling and trying to keep from being
nailed. He had laid a few good ones on me, and I was dizzy for a
second. We continued to trade punches and kicks for a while and I
found myself still giving ground. I suddenly realized that I had
hit the wall and couldn't retreat any further, I freaked. He
charged in at me then trying for a grapple. I pushed off of the
wall at him and ducked under his arms, the force of his charge
adding to that of my head butt to his groin.

He slid up over me, and I could hear him roar
in pain. I dropped to the floor, and used my legs to sweep his out
from under him. As he fell, I leaped from the floor on top of him,
and started punching, kicking and anything else I could think of.
He rolled around, trying to throw me off his back, but without
success. He got in a couple of good shots though and the pain
brought me back to my senses.

I got an arm around his neck and went for a
sleeper hold. I started to squeeze and he figured out immediately
what I was up to. He got to his feet, and managed to slam me
against the wall a few times. I just squeezed harder and whispered,
"Leopards
don't
let go," in his ear.

I don't know if he heard it, but about that
time I must have been doing it hard enough, because he started to
stagger, and then dropped. I waited a second to be sure, and then
let him go.

I paused to catch my breath and then tried to
strut back to the table; I think it turned out to be more of a
stagger instead.

"How we doing?" I asked Herza as I collapsed
into a seat.

"We're fine, but how are you?" she looked me
over carefully.

"Get me a stimulant from the bar, and I'll be
okay." I watched them carry the bear out, I'd never make the
mistake of thinking bears were slow again. "He only hit me in the
head, no place important." I smiled wearily.

"Just relax, I'll be right back." she went
over to the bar, and was back in a minute. "Here drink this." she
handed me a glass.

"You sure it's safe? After that set up they
might try spiking it."

"It's okay," she leaned over close and
whispered in my ear, "its just beer. But I palmed two stim tabs
into it. You'll be fine in a minute."

I drank it down, and sat back with my eyes
closed. She was right, in about a minute my head had cleared and I
couldn't feel any pain. I looked myself over; I didn't have any
serious cuts or broken bones fortunately and was still breathing
easily."When's the next fight?" I asked.

"About an hour, I want to make sure you're
fully recovered. You're going to be fighting that Jag at the end of
the Bar."

"Know him?"

"No, but I've been watching him move. He
looks pretty good, but he's another homegrown fighter like all the
rest. Don't do anything stupid like you just did and you can take
him."

"Okay, so I let that bear sucker me in, isn't
that why you brought me here?" I grumbled quietly. I hate having to
admit a mistake.

"That, and the money. Anything else?"

"Yeah, how about a neck rub? And let's make
this the last one, please?" I tried to look contrite.

"Sure, right after you win, come over here
and relax a minute. When they try to set up the next one, we'll
split."

"Do you think there'll be any trouble?" I
asked looking around the bar.

"We got pretty good odds on this fight, so
I'm not too sure. But don't worry about it."

So I did my best to recover, and took stock
before the fight started. A few of my ribs were sore, and my head
hurt a little too. But I still had my wind, and my eyes were open.
So I got up and tried to look hurt as I walked over to the clearing
on the floor.

I could hear the betting going on, and
figured that maybe I should play the game too. I watched my
opponent walk up across from me and I waited for him to start it.
He was good I'll admit, and fast. But I was better, and faster. I
decided to try to draw this one out a while and sparred with him a
lot. We exchanged quite a few kicks or punches, with most of them
being blocked.

I tried to act like I was a little dizzy and
he started to concentrate on my head. This was in line with what I
planned, as I tried to work his ribs and cut down his breathing. I
even tried to make it look like he hurt me a few times when he
missed. I don't think he fell for it, but I hoped the people
betting did, I needed the money.

After a couple of minutes of that I figured
it was time to try to end it. I had a little trick that usually
worked once, and as nobody here had seen it yet I thought I might
give it a try. I came in a couple of times, landed a flurry, then
stepped back. On the third time I did it, I stepped to the side and
threw wide.

He assumed I had just slipped like I wanted
him to, and rather than back off, he moved in. I took the momentum
of the missed punch and turned it into a spinning hook kick. By the
time he realized he had been set up he couldn't retreat. I hit him
in the ear with my heel and he went down hard. I circled around
behind him as he tried to get up, shaking his head to clear it and
trying to get his balance back.

"Give up?" I asked loudly, and then got ready
to knock him out before he could get up.

"I give." He said, and held up his hands. I
walked over to Herza and sat back down.

"Where'd you learn that trick?" She asked
impressed.

"An old Kenpo instructor. Got the cash?" I
looked around.

"Got it, sure you want to go though; you
still look pretty good to me."

I looked her in the eye, "I'm tired, I hurt,
and I've had enough. Let's go some place quiet and have a few beers
to relax."

"Or?" she gave me that evil smile again.

"I'll take a dive on the next one, and you'll
lose all that money, without a fight." I gave her an evil smile of
my own.

"Okay, okay," she laughed, "Just testing,
here's your winnings." she handed me back the original forty, plus
another nine hundred and sixty. I was shocked.