Preferring Mazie's company to Roman's at the present moment, I stand with my arm strung in hers after we made our nudging way as close to the fighter's ring as we could manage. Two tall guys are in front of us in the mass, but if I rise up on my toes I can spot Wim and Kaitlin on the opposite side of the ring. With every glance of my friends that I catch from over the shoulders of the visual barriers, I smile at the sight; Kaitlin clings to Wim to keep with him in the crowd, a giant smile covering her face. I can't make out much of what his war paint looks like quite yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to once the match starts.
"Can you see very well?" I shout to Mazie after drawing her in with a tug. She scrunches up her face.
"No, not really… First chance you see for a better spot, snatch it!" I smile and nod in agreement. The din of the crowd around us dies down considerably after some activity from the referee in the ring, which makes it easier to converse.
"Are you exited to watch Bennen tear it up in there?" I ask her with a pointed grin.
"You betcha," she starts as she looks at me, "I'm pretty sure he'll take home the trophy… as long as he beats Wim if the matches come down to that."
"The winner gets a trophy?" She nods. "No way… What's it look like?" Mazie goes up on her toes as she looks away from me, hiding a little smile.
"Eh, you'll see. It's quite magnificent, it'll blow you away. The winner from last year brings it back and it gets passed down to the next champion." I make an exaggerated face at the notion that I have to lie in suspense until the night is over to see this trophy. I know last years' champion was an older kid who didn't come to Alpine Mine this year.
"So is this famed trophy even here? I thought last years' champion didn't show."
"It is. He didn't take it with him," she chuckles.
The crowd shifts as our conversation dies down, and a space opens up beside the taller dudes in front of us. Mazie tugs me to the opportune space, and we can finally see the whole ring. Wim and Kait are huddled together on the opposite side of the fighting ring, much like Mazie and I are. I look to my blonde companion and see her eyes are also on the pair.
The ref finally calls up the first two contenders of the night: Two warriors who are actually brothers. Their pillars have them done up in pretty sweet-looking paint jobs. They look like they collaborated on the dual idea, with one brother's jagged paint strokes all in shades of black and red, and the other's similar designs in white and gold. I love the pillar aspect of these fights. Being one is so much fun, I'm really glad that Kait gets to experience it.
With minimal preparations, thankfully, the match begins with the blast of the designated referee's whistle, and the two brother-warriors collide with little warning. Their pillars shouts of encouragement are lost to my ears in the roaring, wild crowd. Mazie and I stay clinging together, raising our own exited cheers. I'm gunning for the brother in black, and for arguments sake Mazie is rooting for the one in white. The two competitors are close in age as well as build, and as the match continues through the rounds, the brothers seem more and more evenly matched.
It's in the seventh round, though, that the dark-haired warrior in white shoots for a split-second opportunity bought from the feint he played his brother at. He takes the black-painted brother out by the legs, disabling his arms with a tight hold behind his back before flipping him over and securing the pin. The crowd goes crazy at the first victory of the night, and Mazie teases me once her chosen victor helps my loser up off the mat.
I peer around us for Roman and Sage under the gazebo, thinking they would've joined us by this point, but I can't spot them in the crowd. Not extremely anxious to see my hard-headed honey, I'm also not disappointed by the boys' absence. I'm enjoying Mazie's one-on-one company, as well.
"How have you and Ben been, Maze?" I ask. The crowd has gotten a bit louder as the wait for the second match drags on, and we have to raise our voices to hear one another.
"We're good," she answers simply, her smile looking the slightest bit odd to me. My recognition of her look doesn't go unnoticed, and she glances around the crowd to avoid my eyes. Now that I stop to think about it, since we broke away from our larger group she hasn't been as giddy and enthusiastic as she normally is. I nudge her with my elbow as I ask her what's up. She still doesn't look at me as she gives a hesitant shrug.
"Gah," she says with a tiny smile as I push, uncharacteristically shy about my concern. "It's really not a big deal, I just… I don't know about us." A weak chuckle accompanies her short explanation. I tilt my head at her.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Does… it have anything to do with Saaaage?" I ask with a little smile, expecting to gain one from her. Her expression goes blank again with a hint of unease. "I know he likes you, Maze." She gives me an uncomfortable look.
"I… don't know." Her nose crinkles up as she hugs my arm, giving me one of her goofy looks. "So is Kaitlin in the same grade as you and the boys?" I take the hint from her not-so-subtle subject change, and smile as I answer her. Whatever inner feelings she's sorting through when it comes to Bennen and Sage, I know she'll come to terms with them on her own. If not, she knows my support is on the table if she needs it.
The ref finally calls the names of the next fighters for the second match, and I hear Wim's name. Both Mazie and I perk at the summons, exited to watch our friends in the ring. Wim leads Kaitlin onto the mat, and the ref talks to her like he did to me for my first match. I admire the paint job that she's done for Wim, the Shadow. Many war-like markings stripe across his facial features, and tribal designs adorn his strong arms and back like tattoos. The only color used for the decorations is black. I can see her scanning eyes searching the crowd for us, and when they finally near our area, I jump and wave to get her attention. She catches sight of me, and the excitement on her face brightens as she waves at us.
Wim's opponent is a tall guy, lanky but very well built. I recognize him as the Spitfire, a truly formidable opponent for our powerful friend. Kaitlin stands in her corner by the water and the towels, where she and Wim exchange words briefly before the ref announces the champions by warrior name. The whistle splits the silence that had fallen.
With the roar from the crowd accompanying him, the Spitfire lunges at Wim with deadly speed. Our Shadow saw the feint for what it was, though, and merely side-steps the coming second strike for his legs.
I scream my lungs off for Wim, encouraging him to destroy this guy. Mazie's similarly violent shouts for glory fly off with mine, a lot of them making me laugh as I catch them above the roaring crowd. 'Rip his leg off and beat him with it!' and 'SHOW 'IM TO HIS MAKER!' being my favorites.
Wim continues to fight with the style that he notoriously owns, with minimal movement and a hauntingly calm disposition. This keeps him mainly on the defensive, his lightning-quick counter attacks honed with precision.
The Spitfire has seen Wim fight before, no doubt, and he adjusts quickly to the patterns that Wim settles into. I shout at him to be more unpredictable. It was getting almost monotonous, he was gonna get himself in hot water soon if he didn't shake up his game.
The rounds go on like that for a while, and my voice becomes quite worn from screaming my head off at all the close calls and near take-downs on the Spitfire's part. I'm seriously going to smack Wim over the head for all his routine moves. Even I was getting pretty good at calling his next moves before he executed them. Kait is deep in the zone, frazzled for the same reasons that I am and looking ready to jump in there herself. When the next too-close brush with defeat happens, I look expectantly to my friend to see if she'd actually launch herself in the ring.
But the Scot fooled us all. Leading both the crowd and his tall opponent along, Wim continued with his mechanical series of minimally defensive moves no more. In an explosion of movement on the mat, both warriors collide after our Shadow ducked, tumbled, and spun to get around his adversary. Both of them fall to the ground with the loud slap of a bare back on the mat. Having been holding my breath since Wim burst into action, I continue as the count is called before the whistle screeches.
My cheers along with Mazie's are swept in the roar of the crowd. Wim's arm is raised as he stands, large chest heaving, and Kaitlin is soon leaping on her victor. Mazie and I freak out for a second, our excitement peaked from that climactic display. That was easily his most impressive fight yet, and he was continuing in the bracket.
The crowd shifted around us as kids moved about, and Mazie and I continued to enthuse over Wim's victory as we waited for the next highly-anticipated match. It would be between Bennen and the winner of the first match, the brother in white. The champion of that round would then face off against the winner of the last match: Wim.
No matter the outcome of Bennen's match, we all know the last round will be a fight to remember, after watching the Shadow's stunning display of deception.