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[Translator's Note: Laonian pankhration was nothing more than legalized street fighting. Whatever was not specifically forbidden was done, and , by this late date, nothing was forbidden.] The herald was accompanied by his usual discordant quartet of abominable horn-players whose instruments blatted, squawked, and farted a wretched excuse for a fanfare. He then proclaimed "And now, the event you've all been waiting for, pankhration." This, being the goriest, messiest, and dirtiest of blood sports, had attracted an enormous crowd Though we had tokens for the front row, Egon and I had difficulty in finding seats. There were to be only four pairs of contestants inasmuch as there were few fighters who were willing to risk death or permanent disability. The loser had little chance, if any, of survival. The two most popular ways for a bout to end were by back-breaking or disembowelment. These were the real crowd pleasers.At most, then, there would be seven bouts: four preliminary bouts, two eliminations, between the winners of the first four, and then the championship fight. The herald announced the first two contestants, Hylas and Ptesiphon. The hornists assailed our ears again and then left with the herald. Hylas and Ptesiphon were typical street brawlers. Both had broken noses deformed ears, and numerous scars. Hylas kept his right eye closed, and I suspect that it had been gouged out at some time.The men were of about equal height and weight and both very well endowed. The two fighters traded punches and kicks, aimed at their balls but which they caught on their hips, while seeking some kind of an advantage. Ptesiphon finally realized that Hylas, being blind in one eye, couldn't see anything aimed at him from the right until the last moment before impact. Counting on this, Ptesiphon linked his hands together and swung his arms from his left like a club. Hylas didn't see it coming in time and took the blow on the right side of his head. It broke the right side of his jaw and Hylas dropped like a felled tree, forward onto his face in the sand. Squatting down, Ptesiphon jumped almost 3 cubits into the air and came down on one foot into the small of Hylas' back. The "CRACK" of Hylas' breaking spine could be heard throughout the stadium, followed by his terrible tearing scream. Then, Ptesiphon straddled him and grasped Hylas under the armpits, pulling backward and bending Hylas' trunk back, pivoting on the break in his spine. Ptesiphon folded Hylas' upper body back until his shoulder blades rested on the backs of his thighs just below the buttocks, so that Hylas was lying on his lower belly staring up at the sky with his one good eye and screaming, broken in half at the top of his pelvis. The crowd went wild. Many of the spectators came off in their tunics. Egon had refused to watch the pankhration events saying that he didn't want to puke all over the beautiful marble seats. Instead, he confined himself to sucking my phallus. Ptesiphon strutted over to the judges' box to collect his laurel wreath while the referees unfolded Hylas and carried him out of the stadium. The herald returned, without those damned horn-players, thanks be to the gods, and announced that Hylas had died and that the next two contestants would be Mages and Xeno. These two fighters were younger and more lightly built than Hylas and Ptesiphon. Still, they were mean looking and, unarmed, I wouldn't want to meet either of them in a dark alley. They went at each other fists and feet flying. They traded a number of hard bruising blows but nothing really damaging. Suddenly, they simultaneously kicked each other in the balls and both kicks connected disastrously. I wouldn't have imagined that either of them could have remained standing after that. Both men spurted bloody seed onto the sand and staggered around bent over, holding themselves, and puking . Both men collapsed writhing onto the sand. Mages, the shorter and wirier of the two. dragged himself across the sand to his fallen opponent. Having reached Xeno, Mages gathered the fingers of his right hand together like a spear point and rammed his hand up Xeno's arse, driving his arm into Xeno's insides up to the elbow. Then he withdrew his hand, dragging over two cubits of Xeno's guts out through his arse. Mages staggered to his feet, blood still trickling from his phallus, and stamped on Xeno's guts, bursting them so that the shit flowed out onto the sand. Mages wiped as much of the blood and shit off his arm and feet into the sand as he could, and staggered to the judge's box, bent nearly double and holding his ruined balls with both hands. The judge was clearly disgusted and threw the laurel wreath at Mages who neatly caught it and put it on his own head. Then, straightening up by a great effort, strutted out into the stadium and bowed to the crowd . I have a strong stomach and I have seen some horrible things on the battlefield, but nothing as gruesome and disgusting as the death of Xeno. Even the bloodthirstiest of the spectators seemed cowed and nauseated by the sight.I told Egon "You were wise." There was some delay while the arena crew cleaned up the mess that Mages had made. The herald announced that Mages was disqualified from competing in the championship because eunuchs may not participate in the Peninsular Games. The next two contestants were announced, Alkis and Kroton, another pair of typical street fighters. They were the youngest fighters so far, probably not over 18 years of age, but they looked as battered and mean as men ten years older. Both had big low-hanging balls. They began grappling with each other immediately. Alkis tried to bend Kroton backward and break his spine, but got a knee in the balls for his trouble.Alkis being taller than Kroton, the impact wasn't enough to do serious damage, though it was very painful.Kroton tried to gouge Alkis eyes out but Alkis drove the heel of his hand into Kroton's jaw and broke all of his front teeth out. Kroton made a grab for Alkis' balls at the same instant that Alkis grabbed Kroton's balls. Both of them got a good grip on the other's balls when Alkis slipped in the sand and fell backward. Before either of them could let go, both pairs of balls were pulled very hard. Neither of the men could rip the other's balls out, but two fist-sized hernias bursted out in Kroton's groins and one in Alkis right groin. Now, both men were disqualified from competing for the championship, being too seriously injured to compete. This turn of events infuriated them and they kicked viciously at each other's groin. Both kicks connected , bursting the hernias and fatally injuring both of them . Neither one of them had won the laurel wreath and both would die in a few hours. The last pair of fighters were Phormos and Brontes. I missed the beginning of this bout because I was preoccupied with coming in Egon's mouth. When I could give them my attention, I could see that one of the men (Brontes, as I later discovered) was by far the faster on his feet.Brontes' stock in trade seemed to be kicking, while Phormos was faster with his fists, but one has to get in closer to strike with the fist, so Brontes had the advantage. Phormos was short-tempered and charged at Brontes like a bull. Brontes side-stepped Phormos and let him pass him, Then Brontes swung his right leg horizontally, hitting Phormos in the small of the back. Phormos bent backward and screamed, though whether his back was broken, I cannot say. However, he was thrown off balance and fell backward. Brontes immediately leaped into the air and came down on Phormos' barrel chest with both feet. Even from the stands and with the noise of the crowd, I could hear the snapping and cracking of Phormos' ribs as his chest caved in and flattened. The broken ends of his shattered ribs must have punctured Phormos lungs and heart. He coughed up much blood once and then his head rolled to the side and he was obviously dead. Only Brontes and Ptesiphon were left in any condition to fight again, so the make-up of the championship bout was obvious. The herald announced that there would be a recess until mid-afternoon followed by the championship bout between Brontes and Ptesiphon. Egon and I enjoyed a snack of bread with olive oil, cheese, and wine, followed by sex. Though several orgies were going on in various parts of the stadium, there was none in our area, for which I was glad. Egon is enough for me.He had already sucked me off three times before the recess. When the shadow of the gnomon of the sundial over the judge's box reached the half-way pooint between the noon and sunset marks, the horrid hornists and the herald came out into the centre of the stadium . The horn players made their usual raucous noise and the herald announced what we already knew, that the final match of the 100th Peninsular Games was about to begin. Brontes and Ptesiphon would compete for the gold oak-leaf garland in pankhration. Brontes and Ptesiphon grappled each other, tried to strangle each other, tried to knee each other. Finally, Brontes got the calf of his right leg between Ptesiphon's thighs and drove his balls against his pelvis. Ptesiphon bent over with a hoarse cry and Brontes kneed him in the face, breaking his nose and knocking out most of his front teeth. Ptesiphon was groggy and momentarily helpless.Brontes let him fall forward onto the sand and then, stepping behind him, dropped his knee into the small of Ptesiphon's back, breaking it, and stamped on Ptesiphon's kidneys, rupturing both of them in turn. Ptesiphon's screams quickly died down to gagging and moans.When the referee tried to turn Ptesiphon over, only the upper part of his body above the waist turned and it was clear that his back was broken. When he was rolled over, it could be seen that he had lost control of his bladder and was pissing blood from his bursted kidneys. The referee escorted Brontes to the judge's box to receive the golden oak-leaf wreath in pankhration. After Brontes' triumphal march around the stadium, the herald proclaimed "The One-Hundredth Peninsular Games are ended. Go in Peace." And that we did, I to my homeland, and Egon to a new life in Nemekha. |