The Orcs dumped more slop into the pit for breakfast.  I’d slept fitfully the night before, curled up in the dirt and mud, the other men snoring around me. 

After breakfast, more disgusting guts from the kills which had been stacked on the wagon we’d walked behind were thrown in.  I forced myself to eat. The Orcs took the men from the pit and led them away.  They left Brag and me behind. 

On the way out, Grundon flashed that broken tooth grin at me.  “Nice knowing you, kid.  Maybe you’ll get lucky.” 

Nice vote of confidence there.  So we’d have to fight. 

For me, it was punishment for being associated with Rhux.  It would be a slight workout for Brag. And entertainment for the Orcs.  Great. 

Brag sat across the pit, staring at me and smirking.  I flipped him off.  Maybe he’d come beat me up now and not in front of all those monsters.  He just sat there.

My stomach clenched, either from hunger, a reaction to eating dead animal guts, or fear of being killed.  Maybe all three.  Would we really have to do this?  Fuck! I needed a way out of here.  The gate out of the pit was too high to reach without the Orcs dropping in something to climb up on, and the sides of the pit were smooth dirt.

I spent the day either sitting, trying to conserve my energy, or pacing around to keep my legs warm.  I was going to need to move a lot. 

Brag was huge.  Close to seven feet tall.  And he outweighed me by at least eighty pounds.  Eighty pounds of solid muscle. 

The guy was going to pound me. 

But maybe I could stick and move some.  Use his size to my advantage.  I had good cardio.  If I could keep him moving and tire him out, I might have a chance. 

If he was as fast as Rhux, though, I’d lose.  Which meant he’d kill me. 

Maybe Grundon was wrong. Maybe we wouldn’t have to fight after all. 

But Grundon wasn’t wrong.  The Orcs came for us in the late afternoon.

Three big male Orcs lowered a rope ladder down for us.  Brag climbed out without hesitation.

I stared up at the rope.  One way or the other, it was my only way out.  I climbed up. 

The Orcs pushed us in the back to get us moving, and two followed behind as one led the way.  They spoke to Brag in their language.  I had no idea what they were saying, but it seemed like it was a mixture of taunting him and some pointing at me.  I figured they were telling him he better not lose to a human, or what little regard they had for him would be gone—no telling what they’d do to him if he lost. 

I didn’t want to think about what they’d do to me if I won. 

Were we really going to do this?  Fight to the death.  These fucking barbaric animals. 

I had to find Rhux, and we had to get out of here.

They led us to a big open area surrounded by crudely built wooden bleachers.  The bleachers were filled with massive Orcs.  If they weren’t sitting, they were standing, yelling and grunting and sneering at us.  Most of them had what looked like horns that they were drinking out of. 

Great.  We were the entertainment for whatever they were celebrating.

In front was a raised platform, and on it sat Umog, Urog, and Moda, along with a few other Orcs that seemed to be fully clothed and less tribalistic than the general crowd.  They were drinking too.  It looked like they were all celebrating something. They were celebrating Urog becoming chief, I imagined.

I looked around for Rhux.  My heart sank when I spotted her.  She was next to the platform that the Orc leaders were sitting on.

She was chained to a post by her hands and feet.  Her face was puffy and swollen, and her cheeks and lips were split open in several places.  The big punch I’d seen Urog give her hadn’t been the last.  The bastard. 

The Orcs that had led us from the pit pushed us out into the middle of the arena. 

Urog and Umog looked only at Brag, never lowering themselves to glance my way.  They spoke to him, and he smiled.  A cheer went up from the crowd.  I guess we all knew who they wanted to win. 

Urog stood from his chair and spoke to the crowd in the Orcs’ language.  Then everyone started laughing.  Not at him, of course, but at me. 

I could feel the anger building in my bones.  Fuck these assholes. 

I stared defiantly at Urog, hoping he’d get the message I was vibing his way.  Fuck you, big boy.  If I were eight feet tall, too, I’d stomp your ass. 

He sneered at me. 

Then Moda, his wife, stood from her chair, her red hair flowing around her shoulders.  She wasn’t nearly as ugly as some of the other female Orcs, and had a sense of civility about her.  She spoke to the crowd in Orcish.  Urog stared at her in disbelief, then curled his lip in anger. 

Another cheer went up from the crowd, and there was excited activity as the Orcs started to pass things back and forth. 

Brag grunted next to me.  “The war chief’s wife has bet on you, human.”  He turned to look at me.  “She is the only one stupid enough to do so.” 

Even I wasn’t that stupid. 

Urog stomped forward and yelled something, and a big orc brought forward two ugly-looking maces with sharp edges and threw them at our feet. 

Urog raised his hands and spoke to the crowd.  All the Orcs cheered in excitement. 

“You mind at least telling me what’s about to happen here?”  I said to Brag. 

He shrugged.  “We battle.  To the death.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.” 

Brag reached down and picked up a mace.  I quickly did the same or tried to.  The mace was huge, a hulking monster that must have weighed fifty pounds.  I lifted it with two hands, but I couldn’t swing it.  I stepped sideways, straining to lift the mace, to put some distance between Brag and I just in case he got any ideas of starting, and ending, the fight quickly when I wasn’t ready.   

Urog yelled some more, and Brag turned to face me.  I turned to face him. 

Urog yelled one word, which I assumed translated into “Fight!”

Brag came fast, swinging his mace wide and hard toward my head.  He wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Rhux had been, but it was still fast.  I barely got my mace up, just in time to block the blow. 

The momentum of his swing, along with the weight of the mace I was holding, caused the blow to almost knock the mace out of my hands.  I stumbled in the dust, recovered quickly, and got both my hands on the handle of my mace in an effort to control it.

Brag swung again, then again, harder and harder each time.  I blocked as fast as I could.  But even with two hands holding the mace was hard. If one of his blows landed, it would cave my head in.  At least, I hoped it would.  If Brag was going to kill me, I hoped he did it with one blow and that he didn’t hit me hard enough to incapacitate me but not so hard that I was still conscious.  I didn’t want to be waiting on his final blow and have to think about how I’d failed everyone.  Lucas, Sarah Beth, Harper, Martha, my parents, Rhux, and even Charlie. 

But until then, I had to fight. 

I brought my mace up and met Brag’s as he was swinging wildly at me, the force of the blows stinging my hands over and over and over until they felt numb, and I wasn’t sure I could hold on anymore.

There was no way I was going to beat this guy.  He was going to bash my head in, and it would be all over.  I’d be dead, then they’d kill Rhux, and no one would save Lucas and Sarah Beth.  I hoped Charlie wouldn’t come.  I hoped he wouldn’t bring my parents, or the police, or anyone.  Or maybe he’d bring the whole damned world, and with our guns and bombs, we’d blow this place to smithereens. 

None of that would be good.  I had to survive.  I had to get through this and get out of here.  I had to get Rhux out of here. 

But how?  I ducked a blow from Brag that would have split my head like an overripe watermelon, pivoted, remembering what Rhux taught me, then swung my mace as hard as I could at him.  It had no speed on it because it was so heavy, and he swung his head to the side, easily dodging it.  This mace was too heavy.  It was too heavy for me.  It was made for an Orc. 

Brag swung again, still slow.  Maybe even a little slower. 

He was tiring.  Not much, but it was there.  He might have been a seven-foot-tall monster, but he was no Urog or any of the other Orcs.   He was half-human, and his human side was slowing him down.  I was all human, and it was going to cost me my life. 

But not if…

Brag swung hard.  As hard as he could.  I jumped back. 

There it was.  There was my chance.  The oldest trick in the book.  Brag was half-human, and he’d been cooped up in that pit for who knew how long.  He was out of shape.  As out of shape as a seven-foot-tall hulk with bulging muscles and zero percent body fat could be, which wasn’t much, but still, he was fading. 

Now I just had to egg him on. 

I threw down my mace, and there was a roar of disapproval from the crowd. 

“Which one of these ugly ass trolls is your mother, Brag.”

He growled and came at me fast.  He swung, and I jumped back.  He swung again, and again, and again. 

Our feet were kicking up dust all around us, and I could hear the crowd getting restless.  They didn’t like my strategy of running away.  The Orcs started to move closer, giving us less room.  The circle began to shrink toward the side where the Orc leaders sat.

I had to speed this up and not die in the process. 

“Man, I couldn’t imagine fucking one of these ugly bitches.  Maybe your dad was blind, deaf, and couldn’t smell.”

Brag roared at me and swung from the right.  I was too slow this time, feeling pretty winded myself, and his mace crashed into my upper arm. 

The blow took me off my feet, and my bicep felt like it had been ripped open, and then my arm went numb from the shoulder down.  I hit the ground, and dust and dirt filled my eyes, mouth, and nose.  

I had no idea where Brag was or where his next blow was coming from, so I rolled in the dirt, trying to get out of the way.  I needn’t have worried.  After a few rolls, I blew the dust from my mouth and wiped my eyes.  Brag was circling the crowd with his arms curled, showing off.  The Orcs were both cheering and sneering at him.

I rose to one knee, and he locked in on me again.  My arm felt dead, and blood dripped down from a gash in my shoulder.  I didn’t think it was broken, but as numb as it was, it was useless. 

I waited as Brag stomped toward me, grabbing up a handful of dirt with my still-working hand.  I had to tire this brute out quickly, or I was dead. 

Brag came in fast with his mace lifted high, and I threw the dirt in his face.  Some of the Orcs cheered my dirty move as Brag tried to brush the dust out of his eyes. 

It was my chance.  I followed the dirt in and grabbed Brag’s arm to keep him from hitting me with the mace, then rammed my knee into his nuts as hard as I could. 

He grunted, gasped, dropped the mace, and clutched both hands to his balls. 

I grabbed the back of his head and pulled down as I drove my knee into his face.  It was a hard blow, and I thought it might put him out, but to my surprise, it didn’t. 

He came up with nothing but a slight trickle of blood from his nose instead of his face being smashed in like I thought it would be.   He grabbed his mace again and snarled at me, clearly angry I’d gotten a couple of good blows in. 

This wasn’t going to be good.

Brag swung another blow with the mace, which I ducked again, but he wasn’t as stupid as he looked.  He followed that up with a left hook I never saw coming. 

He fist hit my face like a truck, and a burst of white exploded in my eyes, and my ears rang so loud it was like a bell was butt-fucking my brain.  I didn’t know what was happing until the ground came up and punched me in the side of the head, too. 

I was down.  I had to get up.  My whole head felt like it was being squeezed.  Through the crowd, I could see Rhux.  She was on her knees, still chained to the post, watching us, shouting at us, her mouth moving, but no sound coming out. 

Or I just couldn’t hear her.  All the Orcs were raging, screaming with bloodlust, their noise just a roar in my ears. Finally, I saw Rhux’s mouth form the words, “Get up!”

My brain snapped back into place, and I rolled as hard and as fast as I could.  There was a hard thud beside me, and I saw Brag’s mace plant itself into the ground in the exact spot my head had just been. 

Brag was standing over me, looking confused as to why my head wasn’t mush beneath his weapon. 

I kicked hard and swept his legs out from under him, and he went down.  Then I was up, throwing punches as I jumped on top of him, hoping to knock him out. 

I didn’t. 

I rammed my fist into his face, but every time it felt like my wrists were going to break and the trickle of blood coming out of his nose stayed a trickle.  I could feel that my mouth and nose were busted, and blood was pouring down my chin from his blow to my face. 

He was trying to ward off my blows but finally realized his best course of action was to punch me in the face. 

It was like a load of bricks slammed into my temple.

For a second, it was like I had no control over my body. 

Brag kicked me off of him, and I rolled in the dirt, then he was on me, trying to punch me but making the mistake of not jumping on top of me.  I guess he’d never seen an MMA match.  He should have gone for the mount and pounded me into oblivion. 

Instead, he stood to the side. He kicked me in the ribs a few times.  Then stood over me.  Thinking he was almost victorious.  He looked around for his mace.  If he got to it, I was done for.  I tried to shake the fuzz out of my brain.  Do something. Do something. Do something. I told myself.  This is it. 

His crotch was exposed, and I threw a punch so hard between his legs that I was surprised it didn’t go through him.  He fell to his ass. 

I was on him then, working my way to his back, locking my forearm under his chin and grabbing the back of his head, putting him in a chokehold. 

The Orcs around us raged and roared, encouraging Brag to do something, anything.  I squeezed like my life depended on it because it did.  I had him, and if I let him go, he’d kill me. 

Brag tried to stand.  I squeezed as hard as I could.  He got up on one knee with me riding him like a six-year-old kid would ride his dad during a playful wrestling match.  I squeezed harder.  As hard as I could.  Then I started to knee him in the back.  Anything to get him to fall down.

He pushed up to get on his feet. 

With my weight, his stamina depleted, and the now lack of oxygen coming from the choke, he couldn’t do it.  His eyes fluttered, and then his whole body sagged.  I held on tight for a few more seconds, making sure he was out.

When I was sure he was completely out, I let him go, hoping I hadn’t killed him but not caring that much if I had. 

I stumbled to my feet, blood running down my arm and dripping all over my hand.  My face felt like it was on fire, and my head felt like someone had parked a car on top of it.  The front of my shirt was covered in blood.  Only adrenaline had gotten me through to the end. 

The circle of Orcs was making a lot of noise, yelling, grunting, and snarling at me. 

I looked over at Rhux, who held her head up proudly and nodded at me. 

Urog stood from his chair, and the Orcs quieted down.  He looked at Rhux and said something in Orcish to her. 

To me, Rhux said, “Urog wants you to kill Brag now.  The fight is not over.” 

I stared at Urog.  He pointed at me, then Brag, then one of the maces on the ground. 

I stumbled over to the mace and tried to pick it up.  I couldn’t.  Not with just one working arm.  So I dragged it over to where Brag was lying in the dirt.  Rhux was staring at me in disbelief. 

I stood over Brag and saw his chest rise and fall.  He’d have a hell of a headache when he woke up.  I had a hell of a headache now, but it was better than being dead. 

I kept my hand on the handle of the mace, then pointed to Brag and looked at Urog.  “This what you want,” I shouted.  “I’m supposed to kill him?”

Rhux translated for me. 

Urog nodded. 

I stared into his black eyes. 

“Fuck you,” I said.  I pushed the handle of the mace away.  Brag didn’t deserve to die.  I just hoped he wouldn’t kill me when he woke up.

Urog roared.  He angrily gestured at me while he screamed at Rhux.  Rhux just smiled and shook her head at him.  She was telling him the same thing.  Fuck you.

The crowd of Orcs all snarled and growled and shouted.  They were angry to be denied their blood.  But I wasn’t going to give it to them.

From his platform, Urog angrily pointed at me while he shouted something.  Umog shook her head in disgust. Clearly, things were not going the way they had been supposed to.  I was glad I was alive but happy that I had stuck it to them for Rhux’s sake. 

Moda smiled at me as two big Orcs dragged me away to the pit and threw me in.