You kept your eyes on the others as they came and went, doing your best to get a feel for the general level of skill along with the toughness of the other fighters as you were passed another beer, a few of the other fighters chatting with you in passing, complimenting your fighting style as they laughed, saying that they were glad that William wouldn't force anyone to fight anyone as they were certain that after William, you were probably one of the best fighters here.
It was all friendly and respectful at least, unlike your experience with the first person that you had met here, who was the second person that you had fought. You figured that it was probably prudent to make a few bets, to relieve any lingering tension toward you by betting wild for the most part and losing a little more than you made. You could afford to part with a few coins after all, as you had a plan for how to make another good handful of them before the night came to an end.
"I should place a few small bets on these people, you know." You stated absently, prompting a small nod from Oak as he guestured toward the two currently fighting. "S'always fun t'see if ye can predict th'outcomes o'these fights, win o'lose." Oak slurred, slightly tipsy from what he had so far had to drink. "t'night 'as been good t'me though with th'bets i've put down." Oak grinned, clearly quite pleased that he had called the fights right.
Even if you could get a feel for the combatants, it was hard for you to call anything as expertly as William was able. William though, had been in this business for a while, he had see fighters come and go, he had seen people who could perform well through injury and those that were crippled by minor ones. He understood the variables involved better than you did. Reading people beyond the bodylanguage and expressions they bore was hard, as you didn't quite have a grasp for that yet. In time you were certain you could get it down, but for now, you at least knew how to read how confident they were in their skills and play on that.
A quick check with William on who was scheduled to fight had a few names given, along with a jab at each respective person with his fingers as he highlighted who was who. You nodded, collecting your money from him as you split half of what you had won into a series of bets that you knew you'd lose a portion of, but that was fine. It was all part of your plan to ensure you didn't raise tensions between you and the others by eclipsing them and leaving them all unwilling to fight you.
The rest, you put down, requesting that William attempted to get three combatants for you to fight at once. It was a gamble, but three people would bring in much more money than one, if you could accomplish it. It would also make it that much harder to get fights, but... Well, a few bets here and there would relieve that tension, and there were always fights in what you stacked the apparent odds against yourself.
Settling back down, you watched as Oak cheered and applauded as the current two fighters duked it out, the outcome one that seemed to please him suggested that he wasn't just doing well tonight, he was on a roll. "Tha's my boy, tha'un there, doin' me proud wi'winnin' an' all." Oak cheered, slurring all the heavier now. "Lots to drink, and a string of successful bets, sounds like lady luck is treating you well tonight." You chuckled, patting Oak on the shoulder as you did so.
"Aye! I'd kiss'er if she were 'ere!" Oak laughed, slapping his knee as he doubled over. "I just hope you get home safely with all you've had to drink tonight." You start, though William's quick to interrupt. "Oh, worry not for our friend, Eurochkoles, last time he was attacked by vultures when staggering home drunk they found him asleep in his barn, using three of them to keep warm and a fourth as a head rest."
You grin slightly at this, not sure if you believe it or not, though you're sure it does make for an interesting story, when told in full. Another fifteen minutes pass as fighters come and go, before William announces that you, and three others who've agreed to this match are up.
You can hear the murmers of the crowd as they talk amongst themselves, knowing that two on one is unfavourable enough odds, and three is downright brave. You're confident at least in your skill to use their advantage of numbers against them, knowing how to duck and weave in a manner that makes their advantage more of a hinderance at times. Even so, you see a few people hurry over to make bets on this.
As you stand opposite the three who have chosen to fight with you, you shake their hands in turn as you all wish each other luck, before you move a few paces away from them, taking a combat ready stance. This is going to be a hard fight, with a lot riding on it, a fight in what you remained on the defensive most of the way, if not through all of it.
Two of them nodded to each other as they quickly moved to flank you, the third standing before you, You recognise this ploy as a means to prevent you from defending yourself, and know that you can break free of it time and time again. You knew that in time, they'd give up on it if they found it seemed ineffective. That was what you were relying upon as you ducked down, sweeping the one infront of you from his feet. Following through with this motion, you hopped over the stunned body of this man, turning about to face all three of them as the two still standing hurried to flank you again.
This time, you turned to face them as you gave the one behind you a chance to climb to his feet, using your turned back to goad him into action. He made a dire mistake, yelling out as he signaled his attack along with a call to the other two to strike. This failed as you ducked to the side, doing an over the shoulder throw as you tossed him into one of the two before you, though several blows slipped past your guard as the one still standing dived over and delivered a few angry kicks and punches.
Most of these landed against your shins, against your back and arms as you shrugged them off. They stung, though they weren't enough to slow you down as you grabbed the suprised man by the hem of his trousers and his one arm, hefting him into the air before you flung him at the other two. The three of them lay there as a tangle of suprised bodies for a moment as they struggled to get up, a cheer going up from the crowd about you.
One of the blows has caught your face, glancing across your nose. You could feel the familiar wet warmth of blood flowing from it was you sniffed, attempting to slow the flow down as not to ruin your already grubby top further.
The three of them kept their distance from you now as you menacingly stepped towards them, their nerve faltering as they tried to figure a way to tackle you, resulting in the three of them deciding to rush you at the same time. As you ducked to the side quickly, they tried to sweve around to deal with the fact that you had evaded this charge, your foot sweeping out as you tripped the first of them, the second tripping over the first body as he tumbled into you, while the third took advantage of this to kick you in the back of the knees.
This was bad you knew, as you stumbled, barely managing to keep your footing as the second one grabbed your legs, vastly hampering your mobility. The one still standing took advantage of this, diving at you as he tackled you to the ground, delivering several blows to your face as he was emboldened by this, only for you to reach up, drawing him down as you went to headbutt him savagely.
You could feel sharp pain shoot through your head as you did that, the man had been attempting to do the same to you, causing both of you to catch each other at a bad angle, though he was down for the moment, crying in pain as he clutched his face. You took advantage of this to jump to your feet, though you were sent staggering as a kick catch you from the side, one you couldn't quite guard yourself against in time.
A few more blows, mostly glancing were sent your way as there two, emboldened by your current state attempted to press their advantage home. While they had you on the defensive, they didn't realise that you were waiting for an opening. One of them made the mistake of taking a swing at you that left them vulnerable from the side, just as you had hoped, prompting you to duck under their outstretched arm as you reached for it, twisting it behind their back, before placing a foot to their back and propelling them away.
There was a thud as they tripped over the body of the person downed before them. The one still standing not only failed to capitalise on the opening this left him, they also lost their nerve as you turned your gaze on them, crying out that they yielded as your narrowed your eyes, your expression saying that they were next. The other two quickly followed, their expressions showing that they didn't wish to hang around and try with only two of them. Reaching down, you helped the two who had fallen back to their feet, before you made your way over to William, rubbing at your ribs as you considered that it was possible one of them was cracked given how they hurt.
If they had kept to their original plan, you were certain from how you ached that you wouldn't have been succesful had their nerve not given.
"It seems that you are quite adept at disguising the pain you are in, that must've been a contributing factor to them loosing their nerve. I am certain that you will have a fair amount of bruising tomorrow, so you may wish to reserve yourself to betting alone while you recover from that." William states as he counts out a number of stacks of coins, before sweeping them into a pouch and holding it out to you.
After taking the money you set about strapping your gun belt back about your waist, pinching your nose as you did your best to staunch the still flowing blood as you settled down beside Oak again, who had at some point during the fight fallen asleep, having had enough to drink himself into a stupor.
You'd made money. A lot of money, but it was going to take you at least a few days to get over the worst of this. While you noted a visit to the gunsmiths was in order tomorrow, you had the issue now of deciding if you were going to return to the shack or not when the group dispersed.
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Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 79169 times)