After Tanya had defeated Fergus the number of challenges to hersupremacy had decreased in number, but the ability of the menwho challenged her had increased. She found herself fightingonly once per week, but the fights left her bruised and sore. She increased her training, building up her strength andendurance to nearly superhuman levels. Her weight increasedfrom two hundred five to two hundred twenty pounds. Her heightremained the same, six feet three inches. Since she measuredherself daily, Tanya knew that her upper arms had gone fromseventeen to eighteen and a half inches and her forearms fromfifteen and three-quarter inches to over sixteen. Her thighgirth was now over twenty-nine inches (up from twenty seven anda half) and her calves were over twenty-one and a half inches. She could lift almost half again as much weight as when she hadstarted.
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 thehood. Her breechcloth in the pit was now made of snakeskin. She had found a tattoo artist who had added a large tattoo onher back. It depicted a large snake with a woman's headcrushing a male lion to death. These added to her mystique, andhelped 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 forthe night's battles.
"Are you up to fighting tonight, Tanya?" he asked. "It's beena week now, the people are getting anxious to see you in the pitagain."
Tanya moved even closer to Trask, towering over him. Alarmed,he stepped back a pace. "Careful, little man, one day you'llpush me too far. I don't think you really want to make meangry," she said softly. Her pale eyes flashed fire, belyingher mild words. "Do you?"
"Er, no offense intended, Tanya," stammered Trask. "It's justthat our profits go up whenever you enter the pit, especially ifit's known in advance."
"Is there a good challenge tonight?"
"One man said he won't enter his fighter unless it's to fightyou," Trask said. "Says he'll wait as long as it takes untilyou're ready."
"Sounds like that one needs to learn a little respect. Allright, I'll fight tonight." Tanya frowned thoughtfully. "I'dbetter go and start getting ready."
Tanya went to her preparation room, where her servants rubbedhealing potions into her muscles and massaged her to loosen hermuscles. She then spent some time lifting light weights andshadowboxing to get herself ready. Finally her servants braidedher long auburn hair and pinned it on top of her head. Thenthey covered her entire body with a thin coating of oil, tohighlight her muscles. Finally they helped her into thesnakeskin breechcloth and held the lion cloak out to her. Traskknocked at the door. "It's time," he said.
Tanya rose and started the walk to the pit. In the pit, Traskwas beginning the introductions.
"The last fight of the evening, a fight without weapons, justbody against body. Now entering the pit, the challenger,standing six feet eight inches tall and weighing two hundred andseventy pounds, Cador the Cruel!" Cador was a mountain of aman, with long black hair hanging in two braids to the small ofhis back. His body was heavily muscled, with almost no fat. Scars covered his arms and legs. There was a scar on his facethat reached from his right temple to beneath his chin. Hestalked to one side of the pit and waited.
"Now, the Champion of the pit. She stands six feet three inchestall and weighs two hundred and twenty pounds. Undefeated inover one hundred fights at this pit, please welcome Tanya!"
Tanya entered the pit to the roar of the crowd. She gazed ather opponent, looking for a weakness, but none was apparent. Seeing her look at him, Cador grinned cruelly and flexed hishuge arms, trying to intimidate her, but Tanya ignored his showand turned her back to him, removing the lion skin as she didso, letting Cador see the tattoo on her back. She then flexedher own muscles for the crowd, basking in their approval of herphysique. Tanya then turned back to face Cador, a slight smileon her lips, cold fire glinting from her eyes. Cador met hergaze for a while, then looked away. Tanya's smile broadened abit, and she waited for the signal.
Trask waited until the crowd had finished placing wagers on thetwo fighters, then rang the gong. Tanya and Cador begancautiously, circling the pit floor, each looking for weaknessesin the other. As they closed in, Tanya realized that Cadordwarfed her in every physical way. She hoped that her skillswere up to this challenge.
Cador closed the distance between in an instant, driving a bigshoulder into Tanya's ribs. She felt herself lifted off herfeet as Cador crushed her in a bear hug, then rushed across thepit to drive her back into the wall. Tanya gasped with theforce of the blow. Much of the air had been driven from herlungs, and she found it difficult to breathe. Cador releasedhis grip and stepped back, watching with satisfaction as Tanyaslumped to the floor of the pit. He raised an enormous rightfoot, readying himself to stomp her into the sand.
Tanya saw the foot descending and rolled away from it as quicklyas she could. Tanya knew the blow to her back had damaged her,and she needed to get some room between herself and thedark-haired behemoth in the pit with her. She scrambled to herfeet and tried to regain her breath, ignoring the stabbing painin her back. Cador lunged toward her, determined to end thebattle swiftly. Tanya saw him coming in time and leaped to theside. Cador's rush carried him beyond her, and Tanya saw heropportunity. She drove a hard kick into Cador's back, right atkidney level. He grunted in pain as her foot struck home. Cador rolled forward to evade any further blows and got to hisfeet, facing Tanya. Pain showed on both their faces as theystalked each other again.
Tanya knew that Cador's plan was to get close, ignoring anythingshe might do, and crush her with his superior strength andweight. After feeling the power of those big arms, she knewCador was stronger than she was. Her only chance lay inoutmaneuvering him, and slowing him down with damaging punchesand kicks, trying to weaken him so she could finish him off. Judging by the pain in her back she had at least one broken ribalready, and she knew that she had to end the fight as soon aspossible.
Cador rushed in again, but this time Tanya was ready for hisspeed. She dropped to her back, driving both legs into hisbelly as he went over her, flipping him over half way across thepit to land hard on his back. The two battlers got to theirfeet 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 asTanya leaped to her left to avoid him she ran into a cloud ofsand thrown up by his right hand. The sand blinded her, and shetried to wipe the stinging grains from her eyes.
The crowd booed at Cador's tactic. Though there were no realrules in the pit, certain things were frowned upon. Cador movedin on his apparently helpless opponent. He doubled one hugehand and punched Tanya in the belly. Tanya sensed the blowcoming and tensed her abdominal muscles to take it. Cador'spunch drove her back several feet, but did not penetrate theshield of her muscles. Tanya rolled over backwards, adding tothe momentum given her by the punch, gaining distance. Finallyshe cleared most of the sand from her eyes and was able to see,though her vision was somewhat blurred. She realized that Cadorhad slipped behind her only when he locked his huge arms aroundher and squeezed.
Cador lifted Tanya off her feet. The breath was crushed fromher lungs by his arms. Tanya kept her head and looked for a wayto free herself. Her arms were loose, and she grabbed Cador'swrists with her huge hands and struggled to break his hold. Mighty muscles rippled in her enormous arms as she fought toforce Cador's hands apart. She knew that if she didn't freeherself 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, hadbroken the lock. When Tanya felt her feet touch the groundagain she drove her head backward into Cador's face. Several ofhis teeth were loosened, and Tanya felt the blow shake her up aswell. She was able to retain enough sense to drive her rightelbow into Cador's belly. It didn't do much damage, but itcreated the space Tanya needed in order to maneuver.
Driving punches into his belly and face like a madwoman, Tanyaforced Cador backwards. Her fists opened several cuts on hisface, and his muscular belly started to show bruises where herrock hard hands landed. Cador tried to fend her off, but Tanyadrove a kick up into his groin. "That's for the sand in theeyes, bastard," she growled. Tanya watched with satisfaction asCador doubled up in agony and fell to the ground. She continueda barrage of kicks to his unprotected back as he struggled tohis feet again. Tanya was amazed by his ability to withstandpain.
As Cador regained his feet, Tanya spun behind him and leaped onhis back. She locked her hands under his chin and wrapped herbig legs around his midsection. Cador felt his balance going,and he toppled sideways onto the sand. Tanya tightened the viseof her legs, trying to force the breath from Cador's body, andbuying some more time to recover both her breath and her sightwhile causing him more suffering. Cador tried to break thescissorlock with his arms, but could not. He felt consciousnessleaving him as he tried to breathe past her pythonesque legs. He then reached backward and grabbed her by the ears, thenpulled her chin down onto his head. The blow rattled Tanya,causing her to release the headlock. Shaking her head, shebegan to get mad. Tanya grabbed Cador's braids and wrapped themaround his throat, starting to choke him. Cador reached updesperately and clawed at her eyes with his hands. Blinded,Tanya released both the scissors and his hair. She rolledquickly away, and lay on the ground, blinking the tears from hereyes. Tanya dimly saw Cador lumbering toward her again, and wasbarely ready for him when he arrived.
Using her athletic legs, Tanya drove up from the ground andsmashed him in the midsection with her shoulder. Straighteningup, she flipped Cador's enormous form over her shoulder to comecrashing down on his back. Roaring in frustration, Cadorregained 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 byclubbing it with his fist. She got her left up with no time tospare and blocked the tremendous blow, saving her head butsacrificing her left arm. The forearms of both fighters snappedfrom the impact. Pain exploded in Tanya's arm and she wasdriven back down to the sand. Cador roared in agony as hisright arm shattered, and he staggered backward, cradling hisuseless limb.
Tanya knew that the fight would be won or lost in the next fewmoments. She forced herself to her feet and leaped at Cador. Desperation added to her strength, and she smashed her rightfist into his already damaged belly. Cador was not prepared totake the punch, and Tanya felt her hand penetrate his muscleshield and drive into his vitals. Stepping back to give herselfsome room, she lunged at him feet first, delivering a tremendouskick to his jaw, shattering it. To Cador, it felt like asledgehammer had hit him in the belly and then a horse hadkicked him in the head. He was nearly unconscious when he hitthe floor of the pit, flat on his back. Tanya stood over himand drove the heel of her right hand into his nose, using allthe strength she could muster. Her hand destroyed his skulldrove the shards into the brain beyond. Blood geysered upward,splattering her with gore. Breathing hard, Tanya stood slowlyupright, blood dripping from her right hand. She lifted her armin a gesture of victory, then slumped to the floor. Tanya knewit would be several months before she could fight again.
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