War God for Hire- Gladiator by David Burke (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

seem capable of reaching behind him nearly as well as a normal human. Kyle scrambled onto his back, hooking his arms up under the pits of the other man and his legs around around and then between his legs.

Kyle was now firmly latched onto him with all four limbs. His superior strength forced the larger warrior’s legs out from underneath him and they fell to the ground with Skrug’s face pressed into the stone and Kyle hanging on tightly to his back. Kyle began to pull even harder with his limbs and felt both shoulders and hips dislocate.

The bones didn’t break, but that wasn’t the point. Kyle knew that the soft tissue like tendons and ligaments were going to be an easier target and so he pulled until Skrug was screeching in pain. Then instinctively, without knowing why at first, Kyle pushed his hands up behind the troll’s neck and interlaced his fingers at the base of his skull.

From there it was a simple matter to push down, flexing his might to bend the stubborn neck of the troll. Kyle didn’t feel the need to be as gentle as he might have otherwise been. If Skrug could heal from one broken neck, then there was no reason to think that the same thing wouldn’t happen again.

Through the strain of his tensed muscles fighting against the frantically bucking troll, Kyle said, “Surrender.”

All he got back was a growl of mixed rage and pain.

He pushed harder and said it again, “Surrender.”

The contest of muscles was tremendous. Both men were vastly stronger than any human had a right to be and while Kyle held the upper hand, Skrug was still fighting for his life. Of course, to Kyle, victory was life, so he had no intent of giving in.

He said again, “Surrender, or we will see if you can heal a headless body.”

Kyle knew that in some games, trolls could heal from even wounds like that, but Skrug was only a half-troll and so he was counting on the fact that his healing power wasn’t quite that potent. To prove his point, he started to twist his trapped foe’s head. The tissue in his neck began to shear against the irresistible might of Kyle’s arms. A final burst of thrashing failed to dislodge Kyle and instead only ripped the flesh of Skrug’s neck enough to cause them both to be bathed in his blood.

Finally, the half-troll weakly said, “Skrug yield.”

Immediately, Kyle released him. If you gave an enemy the chance to surrender, then you had to make good on it. The honor of the battlefield allowed nothing less, although not every enemy deserved such terms. Kyle could almost feel Krig’s voice instructing him in what it was to be an honorable warrior.

He stood up panting from the exertion but basking in the cheering. The view screens that were projected up on each side had caught not only the images but also the sound. Kyle’s demands and Skrug’s submission were now playing on a loop for all to see and the audience was uniformly on their feet, shouting, “Kyle! Kyle! Kyle!”

Chapter 21 - Memories Unremembered

After the fight was over, Kyle was inspected by all of the nobles. The appraising eyes all said something different. Soren’s eyes told of his unfettered greed. Kyle thought the fat noble was undoubtedly seeing dollar signs, so to speak, for what he could get for selling Kyle after that performance. The other man had a look of respect as though he was reassessing his original position, but he still moved on quickly.

In contrast, both the cougars were very handsy. The fact that his chin, neck, and chest had been sprayed with Skrug’s blood didn’t seem to stop them at all. If anything, the gore seemed to turn them both on from the way that they ran their hands over him. They both almost simultaneously asked Soren if he would allow Kyle to claim a token tonight.

The younger noblewoman, Meeka, spoke up from behind them. “Tsk, tsk, Kargosta and Eva, you both know that tokens aren’t part of an exhibition match. You can’t sample this prize before you buy it.”

The nobleman said, “Meeka is quite right, ladies. It is against the guidelines set up by the senate for exhibition matches. I don’t really care if you ride him all night. I suspect he would outlast both of you if that fight is anything to judge by, but you still have to follow the guidelines.”

“As much as I hate to tell a woman no, Lord Eric and Lady Meeka have the truth of it,” Soren said, chiming in.

The first one, Kargosta, pleaded, “Oh, but we won’t tell anyone. I’ll pay a mithril marker to borrow him for the night. I promise not to hurt him. I suspect that, as strong as he is, I’d be the only one in peril.”

Lady Eva chimed in, “I’ll make it two mithril makers. I can definitely handle some more peril in my life.”

“Oh, make it two mithril markers from each of us. You know as the head of noble houses, it is our duty to sample as much peril as we can. This is how we will create strong lines for the benefit of the empire,” Kargosta said.

Kyle was trying to remember the value conversions for money in Verden. His eyes bulged as he realized that they were offering Soren the equivalent of $20,000 each to spend the night with him. Cougars or not, it was hard not to be aroused by their eagerness. The endorphins in his system that came with the rush of victory were probably helping on that front too.

“Sadly, no for the last time, ladies. Perhaps you will just be that much more motivated to bid for him when the auction comes,” Soren said.

After that, they moved on past him and Lady Meeka moved up as though she were going to inspect him again. Now there was a woman he wouldn’t mind spending the night with. A part of