To Be Protected

Chapter 14: Fight For What's Yours

I held my breath as the two circled each other with their weapons held to the ready. Iver had the advantage of reach with his sword but Mathis had maneuverability since he has two light blades, but I knew just what kind of damage that sword could do, I'm the one who made it. Kicking myself over ever giving that Alpha this weapon I watched with bated breath as they just circled and the crowd calmed down a bit as they held their breaths in excited anticipation. Nio, Abby, Adia and Bear were all leaning forward as they looked from Mathis to Iver and it looked to me that Evelyn and I were the only ones who looked nervous.

Iver was the first to strike as he lunged out with his sword aimed at Mathis chest, and the crowd went crazy. Mathis turned his torso out of the way of the blow and brought up his blade to knock away Iver's easily, and then they broke apart again. The crowd was screaming and jumping and lunging at the warriors like they themselves were in the fight and I quickly picked Den up in fear that he was going to be stepped on. Evelyn clutched on to my arm as she kept her eyes glued on the fight.

The fighters were circling again and it was Mathis who struck next. He swiped with his left blade at Iver and when Iver spun out of the way Mathis was quick to bring in his right blade towards Iver's right arm. Iver was too slow to move out of the path of the right blade entirely and he sustained a long cut along his bicep that bled greatly but other then that didn't seem too bad. The red blood really did stand out against the white of the paint and the crowd got their second wind at the sight of the first blood. Iver didn't seemed fazed by the cut as he struck back at Mathis with a quick down stroke that Mathis barely managed to block with his sword.

The two danced away from each other again but only for a second before they were locking blades again. Mathis kicked out his leg to try to trip Iver up, but Iver just bent his knees and took the kick as his head shot forward and connected with Mathis head. I could tell that Mathis wasn't expecting that as he stumbled back a bit and growled when Iver managed to knick his side. I sucked in a breath at the sight of Mathis's blood and the crowd was just getting wilder. Iver was a better fighter then I was expecting and the fight drug on for an hour with both of the fighters starting to get a gleam of sweat on them. Not being able to watch the fight anymore I buried my face into Evelyn's shoulder, who was still at my side. Clutching Den tighter in my arms I just hoped that the fight would be over soon.

As the fight went on even longer the crowd started to calm a bit to a dull murmur when all of a sudden the crowd was thrown into a frenzy and Evelyn's gasp forced to look up, though, I wish I hadn't. One of Mathis's twin blades was on the ground a good distance away from him and the other had half of the blade broken. Mathis clutched the broken blade in both of his hands and he faced the serious looking Iver. I knew that the weapon that I had made would never break, not under these conditions at least. Once this fight is over I'm going over to the forge and making Mathis his own blades, that way this will never happen again.

Iver became more confident now that Mathis only had half a weapon left but Mathis was still holding strong. Iver lunged at Mathis and Mathis managed to slip under the attack and landed a solid punch under Iver's chin, snapping his head up. Iver faltered and dropped his weapon as Mathis twisted his wrist but Iver, being larger then Mathis, managed to shove Mathis away before he could land another hit. Mathis was having none of that as he tackled Iver again and sent them both to the ground. The sun, now high in the sky, was scorching and dirt was flying up as legs and fists attacked. Mathis pressed his foot down on Iver's wrist, pinning it to the ground and twisted the other with his left hand as his right grabbed the dagger on his belt. Quicker then I could see the dagger was pressed to Iver's throat and the both of them froze.

The crowd froze for a second too before they busted into their loudest cheering yet and Bear, Nio, Abby and Adia rushed up to Mathis in an excited frenzy, but Mathis shooed them off as he released Iver from the ground. Ral Percy walked up to Mathis and laid his hand on his shoulder as he raised his own hand to call for silence.