Chapter 19

I had wanted to make this battle seem like it was also a sporting event so that the losing side would not be too disappointed. Therefore, I had divided the battle into 5-minute segments called "rounds" with a 2-minute rest period between rounds. The fight was limited to 10 rounds, and a winner on points would be declared if there was no clear winner before then.

Big Noise, because of his loud and penetrating voice, was my timekeeper. If he tried, his shout could be heard for a mile or more. Orda and Junga worked the scoreboards, and Griffin and Aklag monitored the goings-on in each combatant's corner.

I reiterated to the combatants that they could not leave the ring without my permission; otherwise, they would be declared the loser of the bout. I checked the gloves on all four feet and the tail spike of each combatant and declared that the fight was to begin on my mark. Ursus and Brogolak retired to their corners where their seconds gave a short pep-talk. I waited about one minute and signaled Big Noise to shout the start of the bout.

As expected, neither Sphinx ran directly at his opponent, instead, he started to circle the ring, building up speed. Suddenly Ursus turned toward Brogolak and charged. Brogolak saw him coming and stepped aside just as Ursus got to him. As Ursus passed in a clean miss, Brogolak swatted his opponent on the head with his club of a tail. Immediately, I signaled to the score keepers for 5 points to be awarded to Brogolak. This produced a mighty cheer from his clan and an agonized groan from Ursus' people.

Ursus obviously felt the blow, and he skidded to a halt and shook his head to clear it. Meanwhile, Brogolak grinned in triumph. Still feigning some discomfort from the blow, Ursus staggered toward Brogolak, and swiped at him with a mighty swing of his right foreleg. Ursus made contact with Brogolak's side and knocked him back about 10 feet. Had he not been wearing the glove, Ursus would have ripped a serious tear in Brogolak's hide. Aha, I signaled for 10 points for Ursus. The score was now 10-5 in Ursus' favor and the cheering and groaning switched sides.

While Brogolak was still trying to recover from the blow to his side, Ursus charged in with several mighty swings to Brogolak's chest with his right and left forelegs. He landed 5 blows and I awarded 3 points per blow to Ursus. Some real worry was beginning to show from Brogolak's corner, but Brogolak dodged away at last and smacked Ursus with his tail hard enough to knock Ursus back a few steps. I awarded Brogolak 10 points for this blow, since it would have surely penetrated Ursus's side with the poison spike, were it not for the heavy leather glove. Brogolak also scored a glancing blow to Ursus' head in passing, so I gave him 2 points for that.

By this time, both Sphinxes were becoming more cautious, and they danced around each other, trying to hit without being hit. Of course, this didn't accomplish much but tire both fighters. A few blows were landed, so some more points were awarded, but both fighters looked like they were relieved when Big Noise sounded the end of the round. At this point, the score was Brogolak 21, Ursus 31.

Both corners were feverishly working over their fighters, trying to bring them back to peak condition. However, both were showing the effects of good living and lack of true exercise, so neither one was really fully ready when Big Noise signaled the start of Round 2.

They did come out of their corners with looks of determination on their faces, but I suspected that this was at least partly a look of desperation, since neither Sphinx was doing as well as he had expected, going into the fight. They approached each other and traded a few a few half-hearted jabs, all so weak that I did not award points to either one. Suddenly, Brogolak swung around and delivered a mighty smack to the side of Ursus' head with his clubbed tail. This actually knocked Ursus to the ground and changed the boos from the crowd to cheers and groans, depending on which clan they belonged to. This was so masterfully done that I awarded Brogolak 20 points. Ursus was obviously stunned, so I called for a 10-second delay in the fight to give Ursus a chance to recover.

Brogolak seemed to be inspired by his success, so he concentrated for the rest of the round on trying to hit Ursus with his tail. Ursus was still groggy from the blow, but managed to avoid Brogolak's strikes, except for one that caught him a relatively minor blow in a foreleg. I figured this was worth 2 points, but I warned Ursus that he would have to be more aggressive or I would stop the fight and award the victory to Brogolak. Ursus was saved from further embarrassment by the signal from Big Noise that the round had ended.

Ursus staggered to his corner, but Brogolak strutted to his corner. The fight was not going quite according to my plan, but it was now out of my hands. I had to be scrupulously honest in awarding points, since the entire audience had to agree with my final verdict if the rest of my plan was to succeed.

Ursus needed the full time of the respite between rounds in order to recover, but he came out of his corner for Round 3 with fire in his eye. On the other hand, Brogolak swaggered out as if he did not have a care in the world. Uh oh, I could see trouble on the way.

Brogolak attacked with a few swings of his forelegs, not doing a very good job of concealing the fact that his real intent was to try another blow with his tail. Ursus bobbed and weaved, avoiding these half-hearted jabs, until Brogolak was in exactly the position Ursus was looking for. Ursus now attacked with his tail. He was not as skilled in the tail-fighting as Brogolak, but he did not have to be. Brogolak was so overconfident, that he was not taking adequate care with his defense, so the tail blow from Ursus caught him on the chin and knocked his head back in what was close to a killing blow. I was really worried as Brogolak collapsed to the ground, badly stunned. For practical purposes, Brogolak was knocked cold, and I was truly afraid for his life.

When Brogolak fell, a stricken expression immediately appeared on Ursus' face, and he rushed to summon help for his opponent. It was obvious that the fight was over, so I declared Ursus the winner, but that seemed to be of secondary concern to everyone at the match, even those spectators who were not members of either clan.

Aklag, who had the most healing experience, rushed to the aid of Brogolak. Aklag called for a stretcher, but, even better, somebody had a small 4-wheeled cart that was brought into the ring when the ropes were removed. Aklag and the women carefully lifted Brogolak onto the cart and he was transported back to his bedroom. Ursus stayed with the cart as it was rolled back to the bed and did what he could to help with Brogolak. Ursus' distress was obvious and was no way a sham. Though this had not been exactly what I'd had in mind, it looked like my plan was going to work out.

Unchilia was particularly distraught, but Brophis did all he could to comfort her, and this seemed to work. Unchilia did not blame him for what had happened to her father, and that was crucial to my plan. If she had been the type who had to fix blame on anybody in sight, I would have been completely fouled up. Instead, she seemed to appreciate the concern shown by Brophis and Ursus, and everything was going well.

About half an hour after we got him into bed, Brogolak woke up. He was still in bad shape from the concussion he had sustained, but it looked like he would recover completely. He did wake up enough to touch noses with Ursus, which was the Sphinx's sincerest form of acknowledging friendship. A few minutes later, Brogolak went into a normal sleep, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief. Aklag chased everybody out of the room, and nobody did anything but smile as Unchilia and Brophis left with their tails entwined, a sure sign of love among the Sphinxes.

The war was over and Ursus' clan now owned some land that was underwater. Big Deal! Actually, it was a big deal because the two lovers could be together at last. Everybody agreed that Ursus had won fair-and-square, so there were no regrets. I was happy for them, and all the Sphinxes knew that the two clans would combine as soon as the current kings died. Much to my surprise, both kings abdicated shortly after the wedding, so Brophis and Unchilia were now the rulers of a happily combined kingdom.