"Victor, wake up" Eustace said.
"Eustace? What is it now?"
"It's match day, remember?"
"Damn"
Artur, who was lying under a blanket and on top of one raised his head in shock and slammed his forehead against the wooden bar above him. It hurt a bit and he groaned but his attention was not on that but rather it was on what Eustace had just told him.
It had been a year since he had been brought to the war camp. He and Eustace spent their days pushing the mill along with many other children slaves and the results reflected in their bodies, mostly Artur. He had become much more muscular than before. He was a bit taller, but still had his normal stature with just a little bit of muscle.
"Come on Victor, we have to go before the guards get here"
Artur got out of the blanket immediately and pulled a shirt on. While they were at this camp, the soldiers had been using the children as entertainment, making them to fight themselves and betting. It was tedious but was also helpful.
The better of a fighter you were the more respected you became amongst the other slaves, and even amongst some of the soldiers. The slaves were also able to earn some rewards from the fights. The soldiers who won bets were using those rewards as incentives to make the slaves fight better in their next match so they could win more bets. Sometimes, they were even excluded from working like the others. That camp was the living definition of survival of the fittest.
Artur tried his best not to gain too much attention but for a boy like Eustace, it was impossible. His build, his fighting style and everything else about him did not speak twelve years old at all. The knight training Artur had been receiving for three years helped a lot. He and Eustace were able to pool their resources together and they got certain items. Artur was thankful for all this because they were all part of his escape plan. If he could, he also wanted to get a weapon but he doubted that would have been possible.
Now he had to fight again. Backing out or giving up were not any of the offered options. The were only two, fight or be killed. He was not going to die at the hands of lowlifes, so he had no choice anyway.
Artur left his tent and took a walk to the tent where the match was to be held. It was way bigger than theirs. It was very noisy inside the tent, the soldiers kept on yelling at the combatants to try certain moves or to kill their opponents. It was mostly to kill.
Artur just had to wait his turn. What better way to pass the time than to watch two people beat each other up.
His turn soon came and he went to the middle of the crowd. There was a man there going by the name of Gedrick who seemed to have realized what kind of a person Artur was and so he was the one to collect any bets that were made on Artur.
For this match, Artur's opponent was a strong boy. He had won a lot of matches and was recently starting to become popular. Artur who had always managed to get himself paired with weak boys had to fight him now and of course, more bets were made on the boy winning than Artur. The bet on him was more than seven times on Artur and it made Artur ecstatic. Today's haul was nice.
'It must be my lucky day' Artur thought.
He had seen this boy several times and frankly, the boy only won because of his size and the fact that he was going against inexperienced people too. He only knew the basics of fighting which were punching, kicking and grappling. He could not even dodge properly so he always blocked or took the full brunt of the attack. He was slightly taller than Artur, but that changed nothing.
'His form is bad and he can't do anything special. Honestly, I wouldn't even say that he's as good as a street fighter. The pain in my leg is very faint, mostly gone, I can take this guy easily'
Eustace and Gedrick were beside him as he wrapped clothes around his fists. They were like gloves for boxers, to dampen the force so one did not get injured from throwing a punch and most importantly, not to break another person's face.
A soldier who acted as a referee rang a bell as the noise intensified, the main event. "Final bets, final bets"
When there was no response from the audience and they just kept pushing for the fight he cleared out of the way for the two fighters.
"Let 'em at each other"
"Let's go"
The soldier who was their referee swung his hand down like axe chopping wood and Artur pulled off his shirt and handed it over to Eustace.
"Careful Victor"
"Don't underestimate me"
Artur and his opponent who had been backing each other turned to each other. The boy gave Artur a look of disdain, but Artur did not care. He just wanted to get the fight over with and receive his profits.
The crowd cheered as both of them slowly approached each other and there was a lot of indistinct yelling.
"Yes!"
"Get into it, come on. Let's go!"
The boy threw the first punch but Artur dodged it easily and dodged a second one that was coming. He accidentally slipped in the sand and went off balance, allowing his opponent to land a punch.
"Boo" The crowd booed at him.
He was pissed.
Eustace helped him to get up on his feet gave him a patting on the back to encourage him but Artur needed no such encouragement. He was going to end this guy for laying a hand on the body he had tried so hard to maintain after promising the other Artur that he would take care of it.
'You're dead meat'
Artur walked at him again.
"Come on, hit him Victor" Eustace cheered.
The crowd, on the other hand, were cheering for the boy. Some even showed moves for him to use on Artur to win. The boy tried to punch Artur twice bit Artur dodged his attacks and made some distance again.
"Come on! Give him some of it!"
"He doesn't want any of it"
"Hurt him, hurt the little kid"
The boy tried to punch again but Artur parried it this time and delivered a blow to his guts. Not letting it end there, he raised his fist again and drove another punch into the boy's face. The crowd cheered for him this time and he smiled at the boy. It was time to end the match.
The boy attacked but he caught his wrist and banged his forehead hard into the boy's skull. The boy was disoriented for a bit and when he raised his head Artur gave him an uppercut that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The boy fell down and tried to get up but Artur charged at him and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out.
"Yes! Yes!" Eustace shouted as he went to meet Artur. He hugged him and gave his shirt back to him. He was soon given his share of the money that was made and left without any complaints. It was a pleasure doing business.
Artur and Eustace left the tent and he counted the money.
"How much is that?" Eustace asked.
"Eighty Jeddies" Artur replied.
"No way, you made quite a lot today. All for a fight that lasted less than half a minute"
"Yeah. We can get some more stuff now. We still have to do our quota for the day, it's almost our turn so let's go. We can get stuff later"
They went on about to go do their job for the day when they suddenly heard a horn blaring. Artur who had never heard a horn like that since he got to the camp became confused when he saw soldiers moving fast at the sound of the horn. It was clear that it had some importance but he needed to know what.
From the look on Eustace's face, he deduced that he knew what it meant. He had to ask.
"Do you know what that horn means by any chance?" Artur asked;
"Of course, it's the horn of war"
"The horn of what"
"The horn of war. It means it's time to go to battle"
Artur analyzed what Eustace had just told him and a smile found its way to his lips. He creeped Eustace out.
"What's wrong Victor?"
"Eustace, this is no horn of war"
"What do you mean?"
"This, my friend, is a horn of opportunity"