Beckett Som, the level three Pascen boxer. He was the last thing that stood between me and getting out of this joint. The odds were 1/3 in his favour. If I lost Vincent would triple our bet. He looked the part. His body was finely chiselled and he was light on his feet. Like all people from Pascen, he was sweating like a damn pig because the weather was temperate.

Vincent hung over the fence and patted me on the back, “Make it look good pal. One last thing and we’re in the clear.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get your knockdown.”

I knew I wasn’t going to be winning this one. Madsen had already shown the flaws in my game plan, a simple trick like pushing Beckett into the fence wasn’t going to work. If I couldn’t pin him down my strength stat wasn’t worth shit; I wouldn’t be landing any hits. I just needed to go out there and throw some hands to convince the crowd that I wasn’t a dirty match fixer. I chuckled to myself, only I could end up in a match fixing scheme wherein I didn’t actually throw any matches.

The gate was pulled open by the stage hands, and the announcer did his thing. “The bets are now closed! The next round is about to start! On the left, we have the pugilist from Pascen, Beckett Som! And to the right, Ren Kageyama!”

What, no nickname for me?

I strutted out into the arena, holding my arm up in the air to rile up the crowd. Beckett didn’t have the same extreme reach advantage as Madsen did, but I wasn’t going to enjoy any of this. This was the tipping point to where I was going to have a very bad time getting my face excavated. Unlike Madsen, Beckett refrained from any snide comments when we met in the middle.

The referee barked out his orders, “No hair pulling, no dick punching! Let’s have a good fight.”

We backed away to a safe distance, but as soon as his arm fell Beckett was on top of me. I scrambled back and tried to dodge his opening flurry as best as I could – but some got through and knocked me for a loop. This was bad. He’d already gotten an advantage over me. I needed to do something and quick or I’d look like a total chump.

I charged in under his arms and grabbed his abdomen with my arms, slowing things way down. He tried to break my hold with elbows to my back and shoulders, but I wasn’t budging until I was sure that I could stand and trade properly with him again. He paused, and I took that as my moment of opportunity to back away and try again.

Reset, focus. You know he’s coming out swinging.

Beckett ran in again, but this time I was ready. I tucked my head and delivered an overhead that clocked him in the nose, the combined momentum of his inward step and my powerful arms sent him stumbling back. The crowd roared as another exciting fight unfolded before them. Beckett thought twice about being so reckless again. He shook away the cobwebs and switched tact to something more familiar.

Probing jabs, and the occasional hook to try and catch my feet slipping. I remained firm and deftly defended against most of them, taking one or two good hits from him in the process. Sensing a chance, I closed in and pummelled his stomach with a body blow. He wheezed and backed away, having gassed himself out during the last onslaught. I had to restrain myself from trying to win outright. The adrenaline of the fight was affecting my decision making.

But to sell the story, I stepped in and hit him from the sides with lightweight hooks. He easily blocked them using his forearms, but the way his body swayed as I pushed on him got the crowd excited. When he caught his breath a few seconds later, I was still thinking about what to do next to continue the façade when…

I saw his knuckles in the periphery of my vision.

The world turned upside down for a moment. He’d knocked me out cold in one blow.

I only realised it when I blinked a moment later and saw the star-filled sky bearing down on me. It had happened so suddenly, but that was boxing for you. The crowd went ballistic, chanting his name and banging on the fences. Well, that was too bad for them – Vincent had put money on me losing. I didn’t have the personal investment to get overly upset about it. This was just a means to an end.

Beckett stood behind the referee and bowed, “Good fight, friend.”

The referee and some other volunteers dragged me to my feet and back into the pen. My face was washed down with a wet cloth and some of the cuts were sealed shut using a locally produced medical glue. This took me back. A long time ago I got into a punch-up at my high-school with some asshole, ended up with a mouth full of copper and a cut brow.

Still dazed, I couldn’t do anything when they picked me up once again and hauled me off to the other side of the ranch. When I finally came to and regained my faculties, I discovered that Vincent and some of his boys had brought me all the way to the gazebo. Adam was sitting opposite me. I’d spoken with him briefly before my last fight. I wasn’t in much of a shape to converse though.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” he joked, “So Vincent, what’s the verdict?”

“He makes the odds go wild and so does the crowd. He sent them home happy tonight.”

“Good. You know, we were down pretty bad on lads like you. Everyone’s so obsessed with sticking to the rules now! They’re leaving easy money on the table.”

I groaned, “Most of them are scared of getting caught, I presume.”

Adam held the tips of his fingers close to each other, just far enough apart to not touch; “That’s everything we do buddy. You’re navigating the boat of life down a narrow river. You overcorrect and you run aground, and the whole thing goes down. We’re all walking a fine line here. And if we get caught out this whole operation is done for.”

“That all depends on who’s steering.”

He shook his head, “We’ve all got to take responsibility for our own lives, yeah? I needed to know that you’re a team player – or at least the kind of person who understands that money’s more valuable than pride. You proved that tonight. Anyway, I won’t talk your ear off after getting a pummelling like that. Anytime you want to make some money you come see me or Vincent – you’ve got a permanent invite to these meets from now on.”

It took a tremendous amount of effort to stand up and keep my balance, “Alright. I need to rest. I’ll see you both later.” Vincent handed a pouch of bars to me and patted my back. I was eager to get out of there and sleep it off. Neither of them, or any of their gang members moved to stop me. I carefully descended the steps and staggered down the dirt path that led to the main road. Before I left, I needed to retrieve my gear from my hiding spot. I completed that short detour with no drama.

I nursed my face during the long walk back into the city. Things had quieted down now, as the taverns shut up shop and the working people returned to their homes and families. It had been a good day of progress. A new job, getting close to the targets, and earning some extra money on the side in the process. I needed to keep up the momentum and finish things off quickly before they decided to follow through on the threat to William.

The door to our hotel room was already open. Tahar and Cali had both gotten changed, and were milling around the room waiting for me.

“Where have you been?” Cali enquired.

“Just doing a job. Do you two feel better now?”

Tahar had a pensive look, “Yes, thank you.”

“We came back to our senses soon after you left.”

I winced and sat down on the edge of my bed, “Good. It’d drive me crazy if you kept behaving like that.” Cali hovered over me and studied the injuries that I’d sustained. This time she refrained from poking and prodding at them, though she was clearly getting some kind of enjoyment from them. My bruised face was like a piece of fine art to her.

“I’m going to finish off this contract, and then we can make plans about what to do next.”

“Actually – an acquaintance of mine has already extended an offer of employment to me. She did not speak of the details, but I believe it will pay handsomely.”

I couldn’t make an accurate decision without details, but the promise of money was always enough to catch my ear. “Oh, when I’m done I guess we can go hear them out.” I unhooked my armour and left it next to the bed, laying back and closing my eyes. What a day it had been. It felt like three compiled into one.

I heard them shuffling around the room as they also prepared to turn in for the night. I took the time before my mind slipped away to think about what was coming next. I needed to drill Vincent for information about his blackmail scheme, without accruing unneeded suspicion. Vincent was a trusting guy, but even a fool could catch you out if you were too obvious with your intentions. He already knew that I had a ‘relationship’ with William. Bad mouthing him a few times wasn’t going to convince Vincent that I disliked him. I didn’t dislike him, even though my gut agreed with his assessment that his pride wasn’t worth protecting over his livelihood.

Currying trust meant more jobs and more fights. Hopefully Vincent had something easy for me to do.

The local fort was home to many cells kept under lock and key. One of Elise Xerces’ responsibilities was to perform a headcount of the people detained throughout the day. She was in the middle of that task when yet another culprit was dragged inside and tossed into a cell, sans any resistance. The blonde-haired man was blackout drunk.

The Warsister marched over to the cell and peered through the bars as the door was locked, “What’s his name?”

“Ryan McDermott ma’am. Mister Freeter came to complain about a verbal argument they had earlier, but then he got collared for being drunk and disorderly in public. No previous offences listed.”

Elise already knew the names, faces and records of every offender in the city. She had not seen this man in her prison before. Freeter was making nonsense complaints again. She pinched the bridge of her nose, “Let him sober up and throw him out tomorrow with a warning. Bloody nobles.”

“Yes ma’am.”