Chapter 30 The Boxing Faire #2
The man looked a few years older. He had short-cropped black hair, a goatee, pale skin, thick lips, a large nose, and a lot of tattoos.
He also looked like he weighed two of Bones.
He had a lot of black hair on his chest and arms, but I could see the corded muscle below the hair and the tattoos, and his waist was thick but solid.
I knew physical strength wouldn’t necessarily matter where magic was involved, but it was disturbing to see, especially since the larger mage looked like a fighter.
He didn’t look any more worried than Bones.
His primal, a yellow bulldog, sat on the dirt next to him, one canine tooth sticking out from between its lips.
From the other mage’s aura, his magic wasn’t exactly weak, either.
I knew Bones was strong magically.
I also knew he’d been hurt, badly, and recently, twice, and he couldn’t do anything that would make his magic too visible, or the strangeness of it too obvious.
He definitely couldn’t flex it for real.
I was tempted to ask Alaric for another pot gummy, in the hopes it would get my heart rate down slightly, but decided that wouldn’t be a good idea, either.
I’d generally struggled with the few mind-altering substances I’d tried as a teenager, back when I lived in the human world, and tended to avoid anything apart from alcohol as a result.
I clenched a hand in my lap instead, and took another long drink of ale, my eyes now riveted to Bones.
Some signal went off, a puff of blue-purple smoke.
I saw Bones flick his hand from his side. He did it so subtly, I might not have seen it if I hadn’t spent weeks with him in that Experimental Magic shed, watching as he patiently tried to teach me fighting spells.
This wasn’t even as subtle as I knew he could be, or I likely wouldn’t have seen it at all. His illusioned primal, the blue polar bear, barely glowed brighter, but I was able to see it glow a fraction more.
Apparently, the other mage saw it, too.
He threw up a shield and sidestepped what looked like writhing gold bands, making them dissipate.
Bones started to close the distance between them.
As he walked, his strides as casual as his expression, he tossed another spell directly after the first, that one involving something sharp and silver, what looked almost like metal butterflies.
Again, Bones lobbed it easily, without breaking stride, and didn’t react when the heavier mage again seemed to easily sidestep his curse.
“He’s testing him,” Dervish said approvingly. “Trying to get a sense of his skill.”
“Or toying with him,” Alaric muttered.
Luc grunted like he agreed more with Alaric than Dervish.
Nyx appeared to be watching the two fighters with interest, like a chess match, or maybe two people playing tennis. She looked between them with her ale gripped tightly in both hands, her expression faintly excited.
The other mage threw a quick succession of spells, pulling my eyes back to the ring. He’d begun walking in Bones’s direction, closing the distance between them still more. I saw a writhing black cloud leave his fingers first, and recognized it as a disorientation spell.
Instead of blocking it directly, Bones used a different spell to send it back at the tattooed mage, who had already thrown three more spells: a silver cuff that wrapped around Bones’s wrist, likely meant to control that arm, a gold rabbit that wove around his legs, trying to get him to lose his balance or fall, and a set of iron knives aimed at his chest.
Bones seemed to break the cuff easily as he leapt and wove around the rabbit before hitting it with a second curse that made it turn to dust. He melted the iron knives before they could embed themselves in his chest.
It turned out the spells may’ve been primarily diversion.
The larger mage clearly wanted to press his physical advantage, and ran at Bones even as he was still dealing with the conjured knives. Gunter threw a well-aimed cross once he got close enough, right at Bones’s head, with an enormous-looking fist.
I watched Bones slide under it even as the last piece of iron melted.
Below the tattooed and now extended arm, Bones aimed his own arm and fist, hitting the other mage in the gut with a hook so fast I literally couldn’t see it.
He swung his body sideways and out of the way, using the momentum to slam a knee into the other’s gut right after his fist had impacted there, and suddenly, he was behind the larger male.
Bones didn’t wait, but kicked out, sharply, right at the back of the larger mage’s knee.
The tattooed mage let out a surprised grunt, and fell forward, right into the dirt.
The crowd roared.
Some of them started to yell out at Bones.
“FINISH HIM! FINISH HIM! FINISH HIM!”
Bones ignored them. He stepped back until the other mage got to his feet. Gunter, the tattooed, hairy mage, now looking angry, and red-faced.
“He’s definitely toying with him,” Elsbeth commented.
“You mean trying to piss him off?” Luc commented dryly. “I’d say he’s succeeding.”
“He is quite good at that end of things, you must admit,” Alaric said cheerfully. “Squishie?” he added, offering the bag to Luc.
Luc glanced inside, shrugged, then took a few and popped them in his mouth.
Alaric offered the bag to Nyx next, who also took some. She also popped them in her mouth, then looked back at the ring and chewed them solemnly.
Gunter hissed a spell in Russian that had vines popping out of the ground, wrapping around Bones’s ankles and calves. Bones stepped back, still moving relatively casually, and turned the vines to dust.
The instant glanced down, Gunter lunged at him, growling.
He tried to head-butt Bones.
Bones shocked me by leaping upwards instead of back, shoving the other’s forehead back with a hand.
He climbed up the monster’s chest, using some combination of physical skill and magic, or maybe just pure acrobatics.
Once there, his knee balanced precisely on the other male’s chest, he punched him hard, in the face, twice, making the larger mage grunt and swear as he staggered backwards, his arms pinwheeling.
Nyx clapped a hand over her mouth and laughed as Bones leapt out and back before the larger mage could fall. He threw another spell as he went. Whatever it was, it rained what looked like red paint––or possibly blood––down on the other mage’s head, blinding him.
The other mage howled louder, wiping frantically at his eyes.
His bulldog primal ran around him on the grass, barking in agitation.
Bones leapt forward, now in a boxing stance, and hit him with a series of hard jabs and a few crosses, snapping his large jaw sideways with the last one, and making his opponent groan.
The tattooed mage had just managed a counter-spell to get most of the red goo out of his eyes, when Bones danced back and aimed a precise kick at his solar plexus.
I didn’t see the pig he’d conjured behind the bigger mage’s legs until it squealed when Gunter’s calves hit into its sides.
“You little fuck,” Gunter gasped, right before he toppled to his back, causing the pig to squeal louder and run away, off into the grass. Gunter’s bulldog primal ran around its fallen mage, howling and barking louder than Gunter.
Dervish laughed, like he couldn’t help himself.
“Isis’s tit,” he said, shaking his head. “What a prick he is.”
His voice sounded admiring, though.
As for the rest of the crowd, most of them erupted in delight. A few egged Bones on to do more damage while the big mage was on the ground, while others cursed at Gunter to get back on his feet, probably because they’d bet gold on him.
While still on the ground, Gunter spelled something I’d never seen before.
Whatever it was, it coiled black and red and viciously sparkly as it whispered through the air towards Bones.
To me, it looked like a toxic cloud filled with scarlet lightning.
Gunter had aimed it directly at Bones’s head, and I saw Bones frown, right before he threw up a chimaeric shield.
The shield looked dense to me, and glowed blue, like his polar bear.
Gunter had been using shields off and on throughout the fight, but it hit me, looking at Bones’s shield now, and his glowing, growling polar bear primal, that this was the first real shield I’d seen Bones use since the fight started.
Bones kept the shield up while the hissing, sparking, evil-looking black cloud banged against his magic, trying to get in. I saw Bones’s lip curl before he glanced at the man in the grey jumper who’d called them into the arena.
The same mage, who looked to be in his fifties, or would have done, if he’d been human, also appeared to be the referee.
“Are blood toxin spells legal in this?” Bones asked the middle-aged mage.
The mage looked even angrier than Bones.
“No, they’re bloody well not.” He turned his ire on Gunter, who’d just pulled himself back to his feet. “Disqualified!” he said, pointing at the tattooed mage.
More howls went up from the crowd, mixed with louder shouts of outrage. From what I could tell, most seemed to be taking Bones’s side.
“Dragon feces!” Gunter spat. He pointed at Bones. “You saw what that little fuck did!”
“His moves were all legal, Rasmussen,” the referee warned. “There’s no blood spells in auric boxing, and you know it. I could call Magical Enforcement on you for this, if I were in a mood to do it. That thing’s only legal for self-defense.”
“He’s done nothing but underhanded tricks since the fight started!” Gunter snapped.
“Being smarter than you isn’t outside the rules, either, Gunter,” the man in the grey jumper retorted. “Disqualified. Mr. Gryphon is the winner.”
More roars rose from the audience, some of them disappointed, but as I glanced around, I didn’t see anyone openly trashing the verdict, even if they didn’t like it.
The mage in the grey jumper took in the crowd, a visible glint in his eyes.
“All right, then.” His voice thickened with an accent I now associated with Bonescastle itself and figured must mean he grew up there.
“Now’s that’s settled, we’ll be making the same offer we do with all the champions.
Before we move on to the next pair, do either of the two new contestants wish to challenge our champion instead? ”
I felt my anxiety ratchet up all over again.
Especially when I saw Bones smirk around at the crowd.
Clearly he wasn’t finished yet, and he knew exactly how to get one of the new fighters to challenge him. Even as I thought it, my theory was proved correct.
“I’ll fight him!” An even taller, bulkier mage with long, matted blond hair stood up from a nearby bench, already shirtless and barefoot, wearing white pants that nearly matched the color of his skin. “I’ll take the little prick on.”
Laughter broke out in the crowd seated and standing around the ring of tables.
Then I saw a mad rush for the booth where everyone placed their bets.
“Two thousand, six hundred, and eighty-eight in gold,” Nyx pronounced, handing me a bag that nearly dragged my arm down to the lawn.
“The odds bettered on him as he went, of course, but they were still roughly even for the last one, as I guess they figured on him being tired by then. You might want to spell that to make it lighter, unless you’ve got a depository in town. ”
Nyx smirked, and added, “And I’d say you owe your pal Rafe at least one dinner, unless you plan to split your winnings with him.”
I grunted noncommittally.
Filtering my magic through the snake primal I was using for the day, I cast a series of spells to both lighten the bag’s weight and shrink it down.
Once I’d finished, I stuck the satchel, which now looked like a small coin purse that might hold pence back on Earth, into an inner coat pocket and sniffed in Nyx’s direction.
“That’s assuming he still even wants to eat,” I said. “And not go home and soak his body in salt for a few hours.”
“Are you kidding?” a deeper voice cut in, as a very sweaty and pleased-looking Bones walked up to me, still shirtless. “I could eat a horse, darling. Assuming it was seasoned properly and had enough chips with it.”
He wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me on the mouth.
I squealed and smacked at his chest, but didn’t try very hard to get him off me.
“Can’t I have a real kiss, for winning you all that gold?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow down at me. “I figured I’d be in line for all kinds of lovely returning gifts from my lovely witch, as she’d be ever so grateful.”
I snorted, and smacked him again. “Take a shower and I’ll think about it,” I retorted.
He smiled, released me, then gave me a formal-looking bow.
“Your wish is my command,” he said, before stalking off in the direction of one of the nearby buildings. He glanced over his shoulder, and his expression grew a touch more warning. “Go find the others. Don’t wander off anywhere. Stay here.”
I heard the message woven into that, and knew his real meaning.
Don’t take so much as a single step anywhere by yourself.
I didn’t bother to tell him I had no intention of doing that.
“Bossy, innit he?” an older witch scoffed to me and Nyx after Bones had left, obviously overhearing our exchange.
“My husband spoke to me like that, he’d be sleeping in the shed with the dogs, and I’ve known him forty year now.
” She gave me an appraising look. “You’re young, and you look to be from around here.
I’d find yourself a better quality of mage, sister, than a bossy layabout who likes fighting so much. Even if he is nice on the eyes.”
I smiled at her and shrugged, holding up my hands.
“He is bossy,” I conceded, actually thinking about her words. “But he can be quite sweet, really.” Nyx giggled next to me.
The strange witch scoffed. “Where’s he hail from, anyway?” she asked suspiciously. “There’s something odd in his magic. And he looks foreign. You should find yourself a nice English mage, sister.”
I felt my hackles rise.
Nyx stiffened next to me, too.
“Oh, should I?” I gave the older witch an innocent-eyed stare. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“You should,” the witch said.
“Okay. But he’s got an absolutely enormous cock,” I said blandly. Nyx burst out in a shocked, disbelieving laugh, clamping a hand over her mouth. “…He’s also quite good in bed,” I added sweetly. “On second thought, I think I’d really rather keep him, sister.”
Nyx slung her arm through mine and squeezed me in a near-hug.
The older witch just raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips disapprovingly at Nyx, then at me, then back at Nyx, and stomped her disagreeable self away.