The Travelers of the Tree

Chapter 27 - The Fight

David looked across the circle at the boy in the Grunt mask. He was huge. He wouldn't have been surprised if the Grunt To Be was three or four years older than him. David held the dueling stick up and took a practice swing. It was so heavy. He was going to have to use every ounce of speed if he had a shot of winning this competition.

Most boys in David's situation would be scared. He wasn't.

He had lived his entire life for situations like this one. Often, one of his teams would go into an opposing building, with the crowd against it, as the underdogs, and it was always David who led them to victory, overcoming the overwhelming odds. David thrived on competition, and welcomed adversity. Even when he would play basketball with his friends, if his team was leading by a healthy margin at half time, he would always join the other team, and lead them to a comeback win.

This competitive nature got his adrenaline going. He didn't know anything about the big brute that he was going to have to fight, but he did know that he was going to do his best to knock him out. David wasn't normally the kind of person who would want to inflict harm on another person, but when the situation was hurt or be hurt, he knew he had the guts to defend himself. As he looked out at his opponent he knew that whatever happened couldn't be worse then the last day and a half.

After Director Mise had taken him to the Grunt Camp, he'd had David locked in an outside cell, under the watch of a Grunt. He was given no food or water. He was left, unspoken to, in the cell, until this morning. A Servant had brought him a glass of water. Mise had stopped by and informed him that he would be given a test. Two hours later they had finally released him from the cell.

He was brought to a room where he was told to take his shirt off. They gave him a cloth to wear around his waist and had put honey all over his torso. Then they had thrown the chicken feathers on him. He didn't react at all while all of this was going on. He didn't want the people who were doing this to get any more satisfaction out of humiliating him. Then he had been brought to the Arena, and been forced to wait outside until Mise introduced him. Just before he entered the Arena, the chicken mask was put around his head.

David was angrier than he had ever been. Looking out at his opponent, he decided he would focus every ounce of it on beating him.

##

Mise quieted the crowd. "Combatants! Ready! Fight!" He ran out of the circle. David and Matt circled each other, both of them weary of the other. The crowd began chanting again.

"Grunt! Grunt! Grunt!" Matt knew they were cheering for him to win. He wasn't going to win it for them. He was going to win only to save himself. He circled in closer to the other boy. He sensed tentativeness in him. It seemed as if he were waiting for Matt to strike first. Matt didn't want to fall into his trap.

Matt raised the stick so that it rested on his right shoulder. Continuing to circle, he got sill closer to the boy in the chicken mask. When he felt the time was right, he started to swing the stick toward the boy. He stopped the swing in time to see that the boy had been waiting for it. The other boy jumped back and to the left, very quickly. Because Matt had not really swung, he was able to redirect the stick and strike a blow off of the other boy's arm. The crowd's chant got louder.

"GRUNT! GRUNT! GRUNT!" Matt was energized by the chant. He continued to circle around the other boy.

David's arm hurt. The end of the "glove" on the stick had hit him flush on his bicep. He almost lost control of his own stick, but gathered himself quickly. He cursed himself for being so stupid. He had waited too long to make a move, and had allowed the Grunt To Be to make the move that he wanted to make. David would not make that mistake again.