darkness.
CHAPTER 8
Daylight was attempting to make an indentation on the shadows of the place when Mika felt the earth move. He clutched the table and hung on for dear life. The world shook again, harder this time, rocking his chair from side to side.
'Run, Tam, save yourself!' he hollered as he gripped the edges of the table and closed his eyes more tightly.
'MIKA!' roared the loudest voice in the world. And then Mika knew that he had died and had been called forjudging by the Great She-Wolf, mother of them all.
'I always tried to be good,' he whined. 'I didn't do half the things I was blamed for.'
'Right,' grumbled the voice. 'You did more than half, but they couldn't prove the rest.'
'Hornsbuck?' Mika said querulously as he turned his head painfully and tried to open his eyes.
'Who did you expect, the Great She-Wolf?' Hornsbuck asked sarcastically.
Mika opened his eyes blearily and saw Hornsbuck standing before him, larger than life and seemingly in full control of his senses. Lotus Blossom hung coyly behind him a few paces.
'Hornsbuck!' Mika cried joyously, more glad than he would have thought possible at seeing his old friend restored to vigor.
'You're repeating yourself, boy,' said Hornsbuck as he thumped Mika on the back. 'Looks like you've had yourself quite a night. Well, so've I. Methinks we could do with a little something to put in our bellies, then you can fill me in on what's been happening.' Hornsbuck turned and put his arm around Lotus Blossom's ample waist, hollered for the servant, and then sat down at the table with the basket.
Mika ordered two rabbits and a marmot, as well as a skin of honeyed-ale, Hornsbuck's favorite, thinking that it would be more than ample as a morning snack. But Hornsbuck had other ideas and requested a whole haunch of ox as well.
'How about a test of strength before we eat?' he said to the woman, a smile of some pleasant remembrances playing about his lips. But even though he smiled, Mika could tell that he was of serious intent; his heart trembled at the thought.
'Oh, Hornsbuck,' Lotus Blossom said, her own lips curling with laughter. 'I don't think so. It makes me feel bad when I beat you, and you know how you hate it.'
'I been practicing since I saw you last,' Hornsbuck said with a grin as he flexed a massive bicep. 'You won't beat me again.'
Mika gaped at him. Hornsbuck beaten in a contest of strength by a woman? Never would he have thought it possible!
'I'm sure you have, dear,' Lotus Blossom said demurely, 'but so have I.'
'Hah! Afraid to lose. I knew it!' Hornsbuck said with satisfaction. 'You know I'm better than you!'
'Well, it's possible, 1 suppose,' said Lotus Blossom, 'but I've won an awful lot of trophies since you were last here. Yon basket's almost full. We'll have to dump it soon.'
Mika followed her gesture in spite of himself and looked again at the awful basket filled with arms. He felt the gorge rise in his throat and looked away quickly.
Hornsbuck placed his elbow on the table, hand up, and grinned at the woman.
'Oh, all right,' she sighed, 'if you insist.' And she positioned her own massive arm on the table next to Hornsbuck's. They gripped hands.
For a time nothing happened, nothing at all, so evenly were they matched. The two hands and arms were so alike in size and shape. Hornsbuck's was tanned more darkly, owing to his extended exposure to sun and wind, but both were covered with blond hair and freckles, both were bulging with muscle and sinew.
They grinned at each other, teeth gleaming whitely in the dull candlelight, masking their true emotions. They stared intently into each other's eyes. And still the locked hands and arms did not move even the slightest.
The haunch of ox arrived and was placed on Mika's table, along with the marmot and rabbits Mika settled back with a mug of honeyed-ale to nurse his throbbing head and await the outcome of the contest.
The late afternoon sun was trying its tentative best to enter the doorway before either hand moved. Mika had long since grown bored with the non-event and sprawled in the chair, the jar of honeyed-ale considerably diminished. RedTail had helped himself to a rabbit and consumed it quiedy. Tam still snored beneath the chair, slumbering peacefully. Mika looked around for the princess but did not see her. Her absence troubled him vaguely, but his head ached too much to think very hard. He tried to tell himself that she hated him far too much to leave him for long.
The tavern had filled slowly during the long afternoon as word spread about the contest. The room was nearly full, as nomads, short stocky dwarves with enormous beards and rings in their ears, sharp-eyed merchants, and ordinary hangers-on-the dregs of society who comprised the tavern's steady customers-ringed the table wagering loudly. Much to Mika's dismay, the odds were gready stacked against Hornsbuck.
Every grimace and frown, every small waver of a fist caused money to change hands. Lotus Blossom and Hornsbuck were no longer smiling. Hard looks of fierce concentration turned their faces into harsh masks. There was no trace of their previous softer expressions.
Their arms were rock-hard, the muscles seemingly carved from marble. Their fingers were white and bloodless, so tighdy were they gripped. The very air seemed to quiver around them, and the table vibrated visibly.
Then, incredibly, the locked limbs moved! The crowd gasped and surged closer. Yes! The arms were moving, as Hornsbuck forced Lotus Blossom's arm toward the table!
Whispers flew like angry hornets, and money changed hands rapidly with soft clinks. Then, almost imperceptibly, Lotus Blossom forced Hornsbuck's hand upright, and as it paused at the zenith, began pushing it downward.
Eyes bulged from their sockets; Lotus Blossom's blue eyes were fringed with thick, white lashes and Hornsbuck's bright green eyes blinked back the sweat that trickled through his bushy eyebrows.
Teeth were bared in snarling grimaces, and their faces gleamed with beads of moisture. Their breath rasped harsh in their throats as they grunted and snorted, trying to lever a better position.
The two wavered back and forth for many long hours, first one taking the advantage, then the other. Mika began to doubt that either would ever win. He began to picture them dying, still locked in position, atrophied into withered caricatures of themselves. He heaved an ale-scented sigh and rearranged himself on the hard, uncomfortable chair for the hundredth time.
Then, all at once it ended. Growling like a rabid animal, Lotus Blossom slammed Hornsbuck's hand down on the table, pinning it firmly to the wood. Quicker than a snake strike, Lotus Blossom wrenched Hornsbuck's arm, forcing it back toward his body and out. Hornsbuck was unprepared for the maneuver and choked back a cry of pain.
Mika leaped to his feet and struggled to free his sword from the sheath between his shoulder blades, his actions somewhat slower than usual due to the amount of ale he had imbibed and the unfamiliar feel of the metal gauntlet. He cursed his laxness, seeing in an instant how easy it would be for the woman to rip Hornsbuck's arm from its socket and add it to her grisly collection.
Just as Mika's sword finally cleared the sheath, the crowd roared its approval, for Lotus Blossom had released Hornsbuck's hand. For a moment, they just stared at each other, heaving great gasps. Abruptly Hornsbuck's face relaxed and he bellowed out a mighty laugh.
'By the gods, you did it again!' he roared, gathering the woman to his leathery chest and looking into her eyes with fondness. She in turn wrapped her arms around his great girth and hugged him back, an embrace that would have killed a grizzly. 'You almost had me there,' she roared in return, thumping him on the back.
'Honestly?' growled Hornsbuck, peering at her closely.
'Well, no, but I thought I would say so to make you feel better,' said Lotus Blossom, blushing at being caught by the falsehood. 'But you lasted longer than anyone, 'cepting that Solnorian Sea baron. But I got him in the end.
