CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Snakes

     "How are we going to pay this off?" whispered Estelle. "I have no ship and no crew as of now. How are your funds?"

"Practically nonexistent," said Nikolai. "We could steal some money."

"From who?"

He sighed. "I don't know."

Ana took a step towards them. In her hands was a pad of paper and a pencil. On it, she'd written, "Your old captain is in Ketterdam."

Estelle looked at Nikolai. "He's still a rich man," she reasoned.

"What business is he in?" he asked.

Estelle shrugged. Ana wrote down something else and showed them. "He owns farms in the countryside of Kerch."

"How–?" began Estelle.

Ana held up a finger, cutting her off. She flipped the page and wrote again, "And he runs an illegal fight club."

"How much is your indenture?" Nikolai asked.

1 million kruge, she wrote.

"So, what, we illegally fight against others and earn a million kruge? Do bets even go up that high?" Estelle wondered.

Ana nodded. And more. The higher you fight up the chain, the larger the bets get.

Estelle let out a breath and crossed her arms. "I don't know. Seems risky."

"Efficient," corrected Nikolai. "Technically, I could only do one fight and we'd get all the money we need. Sturmhond is a famous name around here."

Estelle raised her eyebrow. "Apparently not that famous." He rolled his eyes. "And if you think you're the only one fighting, you've got another thing coming. Do they segregate male and female fights?"

Ana shook her head. It's usually just male fights. Not a lot of women enter.

"Absolutely not," said Nikolai. "Leave it to me.

Ana hadn't learned yet that eventually, Nikolai would cave in for her. Either that, or she'd be so stubborn that she just wouldn't listen to him.

"Fine," she sighed, seeing his determined face. "But if you die, I'm going to kill you."

He blinked. "Noted."

—

The plan was simple: find the underground club, get Nikolai signed up to fight, Nikolai wins, money earned, indenture paid, ship cleared of traitors.

It was simple only in theory.

The first part, finding the club, was done by Ana. She already knew plenty of how to get in through a snake-themed shop, though she left them to go on on their own. Snake-skin, snakes, snake-print, ad so much more hung on walls and were folded on shelves. A Shu man at the counter eyed them suspiciously.

"Many are the snakes in Shu Han," Nikolai said to him in choppy Shu. Ana had to teach them the phrase before coming.

Without a word, the man stepped aside, pulled up the counter, and opened the door behind him. Estelle followed Nikolai as he walked through and the door slammed shut behind them.

She looked at him. "So far so good."

The next step was to sign him up to fight. Normally, from what Ana told them, fights usually occurred between regulars. It wasn't often that the higher fights would involve a newbie. They usually rose in ranks before trying to best the "champion".

Nikolai was determined to go up against this so-called "champion". He was simply called Mogoin Khün or "Man of Snakes".

That wasn't doing much to put Estelle's anxiety at ease.

They walked down a set of steps and down a long hallway. At the end of which was another door with a sliding screen.

Nikolai knocked. The screen slid back and a pair of narrow eyes peered out at them. "Which way does the wind blow in the water?" they asked in Shu.

"Never up or down," Nikolai replied.

The eyes looked them up and down, then the slider slid shut. The door creaked open. A woman stood behind the door, dark eye makeup and skin-tight clothes. She stepped aside to let them through.

A large doorway covered with beaded strings was just a few feet ahead. Further, Estelle could hear shouting. She walked through the beads with Nikolai, pushing them aside to enter.

Beyond the doorway was an even larger room, crowded with cheering people. In the middle was a boxing ring, gates closing off the sides. Inside the ring were three men. The one in the middle looked like an announcer, dressed a little nicer than the other two, neither of whom had shirts on. It looked like they'd already been through a couple of rounds, blood oozing out of multiple cuts. Both glared at their opponent.

"And for the final round of a long and excitement-filled fight, please give it up for our finalists!"

Roaring went through the crowd as both men held up their arms in triumph.

"In the right corner, representing the great land of Fjerda, Knuser!"

The blonde man with nonexistent eyebrows howled and yapped, flapping his hands to get the people to cheer for him. Estelle and Nikolai inched along the back wall to a deserted corner of the room.

"In the left corner, representing the Motherland of Shu Han, Mogoin Khün!"

The bald man in the other corner yelled, raising his own arms. The crowd roared, significantly louder than they did for the other contender. He bowed, showing off the snake tattoo on his head. It went all the way down his back, its head rearing up on the top of Mogoin Khün's head.

"I think we know who you all believe will win!" yelled the announcer, grinning. "Place your bets and we can see!"

"What's he saying?" Nikolai shouted over the noise to her.

She'd forgotten he didn't know Shu as well as she did. "They're placing bets," she replied. "The bald one, that's Mogoin Khün."

He nodded. "How do we enter?"

"I think you just challenge him," Estelle said. "This doesn't seem like the place to do something formally. But wait until this round is over."

"I know," he said. "I wasn't going to break up perfectly good entertainment." Nikolai offered something in a bag to her. "Candy?"

She looked at it and rolled her eyes. "You're so childish."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Quickly, Estelle reached her hand into the bag and pulled out a handful of the candy. "If you think I'm turning down candy, you're crazy."

Nikolai chuckled, popping a piece into his mouth.

"Let the match begin!" cried the announcer as soon as he closed the gate door.

The crowd cheered. The two men began circling each other, fists up and ready.

Knuser swung first. He charged at Mogoin Khün, yelling. Estelle could see a limp in his stride.

Mogoin Khün saw it coming. He ducked, landing his fist in Knuser's stomach. Knuser groaned, stepping back. Mogoin Khün kicked him twice, once to his leg, and then again to his head. Knuser, already bruised and bloody, fell to the ground.

The crowd went wild. Mogoin Khün looked out into the audience, grinning triumphantly.

Suddenly, he went down as well. Knuser had grabbed his leg and pulled him. The audience went quiet.

Knuser and Mogoin Khün wrestled on the ground, until Mogoin Khün pinned Knuser to the ground. Beating his bloody fists into Knuser's face, the crowd's applause and shouting grew. Estelle grimaced.

"Please don't tell me this is to the death," she said to Nikolai.

"I'm not sure," he replied nonchalantly.

The gate opened as a horn rang out. Mogoin Khün continued until the announcer physically pulled him off of his opponent. He held the Shu man's arm up, grinning. "Mogoin Khün wins again!"

Nikolai discarded the empty candy bag. "Who's brave enough to face off the champion of champions, the mighty Mogoin Khün?" asked the announcer. Nikolai glanced at Estelle, then started to push through the crowd. "Nobody? No brave souls out there in the audience–"

"I challenge Mogoin Khün," Nikolai's voice shouted through the throng.

The announcer swiveled his head until he found Nikolai walking towards him. He switched to Ravkan, so Nikolai could understand. "You do? Have you any experience?"

"Plenty," he replied simply.

"Fine, your name?"

Nikolai paused only for a second. "Sturmhond."