8. The Match
1355 Words
The crowd around the front of Medicine was considerable. All the Macas, Guardians, Counselors, Directors with their families, and even a few Keepers and their families had flown in to view the fight.
Marta and Magda exited the fliv and walked rapidly to the front of the crowd. Troyner and Melanie kept pace behind her and Magda. Marta"s hair had been cut for the fight. At first she had resisted.
“Dinna be foolish.” Magda faced her daughter. I ken Medicine keeps their hair longer to show their peaceful nature, but Millay will cut hers and use yours for leverage.” She worried that her daughter"s years as an Ab had diminished her strength and her abilities. Marta"s assurances to the contrary did little to comfort her. What was worse, she had nay kenning of how deep the revolt went. Would her home and Medicine units be safe after the fight? What if the others chose to revolt if Marta won?
“What went wrong with our beautiful plans for togetherness?” she wailed.
“Ye let the haters take over.” Marta had taken the brunt of the Sisters" scorn nine years ago. “I had many years to dwell on it, but the Justines and Kreppies rule ensured that everyone would hate the other.”
Melanie agreed with Marta. “The Sisters would nay accept those who liked men, nay will they now.”
As they neared the House of Medicine, the doors swung outward and Millay strutted out, her shoulders swinging and a smug smile on her face. Marlena walked two paces behind her. The crowd pleased Millay until she looked to the right of Magda and Marta.
There stood the Kenning Woman dressed in Don"s Tri blue, the blind-eyed mutant on her left, the Maca of Don on her right, and LouElla was beside her laddie, then Lamar and Beatrice, and the other mutant from a place called Earth. All of them were arrayed in Don"s colors. The Kenning Woman"s left hand grasped a staff for balance and her right hand was upraised, the index finger pointing at Millay.
“Behold, people of Thalia, one of the Justine creatures!” Her hand came down and she used both of them to grasp the staff.
The affront was enough to stop Millay and she looked at the crowd. There were a large number of males in this group, nay only from House, but Tris wearing every hue. Had the females hidden them during the Justine rule? It was a bitter thought to digest. A closer glance showed that many of the Tris had obvious medical problems that they had nay dared to entrust to Medicine and lust for the Sisters downfall shone on their faces. A contingent of less than nine members of Medicine followed behind Millay. Anger raced through her. Today those doubters would ken the true rulers of Thalia.
“Do ye recant your words, Millay of Medicine?” Magda"s voice rang out the ritual words over the crowd.
“Nay, today the Sisters will rule Medicine and then Thalia.” Millay screamed back at her. “Ye or your champion must fight!”
As one, both women removed their capes and handed them to their attendants. Both were clad in strap and thong. They doubled their fists and advanced on the tarmac. As they closed, their steps became deliberate, each searching for a weakness. Both stood a little over six-feet, but Marta was heavier, hers the long, muscled frame of some Rurhran forbearer. Millay had the stringy, hard muscles of Medicine and Ishner. They lashed out at the other, vying for an opening, the blows often diverted, some landing.
They began shifting and twirling, pounding each other as they closed in, and then whirling away again before the next rain of blows to the midsection or face. The repeated blows raised welts and discolored skin, split lips and knuckles, and still they slashed at each other to measure the other"s strength and endurance while the heavier weight of Marta slowly, slowly drove Millay back, back, ever closer to the doors while her followers scattered to the green on either side of the tarmac.
Surprise lit Millay face when her back nudged against the metal door. She tried to move to the side and forward when Marta"s right fist caught her face and her left grabbed her arm.
Marta bent and threw Millay onto the tarmac, dropping her knees to land on Millay"s back. The nearly hour long fight had wearied Marta and she misgauged the distance. Her left knee hit the end of the ribs and soft midsection while her right knee went down on Millay"s humerus, the long bone in the arm. The off balance landing threw Marta onto the tarmac. Blood began seeping through the burn, but she bounded to her feet.
Millay tried to roll. She and those near her had heard the grating sound of a breaking bone. She used her other arm to pivot and stand. She lifted her left fist to bite her black wrist band and screamed as she jumped at Marta.
“Poison, she"s released poison.” Magda was screaming, clawing at Troyner and Melanie to get between the two fighters.
Marta ducked beneath the blow and came up under Millay and grabbed her by the midsection and propelled her upward and over. Millay tried to roll into a ball, but there wasn"t time. Her head hit the tarmac. Millay was too dazed to move and this time Marta"s knees did not miss. She grabbed Millay"s head, her right hand under the chin and twisted.
Marta stood away from the downed and dying Millay and bowed to her mother and the cheering crowd. Melanie and Troyner rushed to stand next to her for fear that others in Medicine might attack. Marta ignored them and turned to Magda.
“My Maca, my Mither.”
Marlena was beside Millay gently wrapping her in the cape and injecting her with the antidote. “I canna let ye die.”
Marj and Mini knelt beside Marlena to secure Millay in the cape before picking her up. “Ye"ve done the prelims. We"ll take her inside.” They began to run towards the doors, their burden between them.
Marlena spun on the tarmac, her voice was hoarse from screaming, but she managed to yell. “Nay, dinna enter. We installed breath for the first to enter if it went wrong!”
Her words came too late as the doors were set to open on eye contact during a medical emergency. Marj, Mini, and the bundle they carried slumped to the ground. The crowd scattered as far from the door opening as possible.
Jolene"s voice rose over the crowd. “They plotted death. Let them enjoy it.” She smiled at those around her. “Tis fitting that Marlena now test the air in there before any others attempt it.” Jolene"s eyes were bright and color infused her cheeks.
Silence reigned for a moment as all feared to move near the opening. What other precautions had the rebelling Sisters taken?
Magda stood straighter and squared her shoulders. “I am Maca.” Her mouth was drawn as though ready for a fight. “Should ill befall me, Marta tis the Guardian of Medicine and Melanie tis the Counselor.” She marched towards the open door.
“No, Mither!” Both Marta and Melanie leaped forward to stop her and Magda whirled on them.
“Ye had the right to fight as my champion, but this tis my duty as a Maca. Stand back.”
She turned and walked through the doors. Some of Medicine wore disappointed looks but others started to cheer.
“The Maca, our Maca.”
Magda let the cheers go on for a minute and then waved her hand for silence.
“Marly, are ye there?”
“Aye, Maca.” A middle aged woman stepped forward. Her widow"s peak was white.
“See to it that these are taken to Don"s Byre Berm. There will be nay mourning for traitors.”
- Writer
