Ludo eyed his two opponents as they moved closer. Their hands were shoulder’s width apart, which was as far as the chains would allow, and they looked like they were trying to corral a cornered chicken. “Don’t hold back,” he whispered. “This needs to be real.”

The men eyed each other, but then offered the smallest dip of their chins. Gar lunged at him first, but Ludo sidestepped neatly, earning him a whoop of appreciation from Dahlia. Or at least that’s what he thought it was, until she said, “Tear his bloody arm off and stuff it down his throat!”

His concentration broke for a moment, just enough time for Min to cut in from the side and offer a punch to his midsection. He gasped as the air was expelled from his lungs. Doubled over, he tried to persuade his body to breathe again, but his lungs seemed to have forgotten how. It didn’t help that his opponents didn’t pause their attacks to give him the chance. Gar’s knee came up, hammering him in the ribs. Min struck from the opposite side once more, a cracking blow to the sternum that sent him staggering back. His legs lost all their strength and he collapsed.

Ludo managed to scrape a bit of air into his lungs as pain surrounded him. At least it was over. Or so he thought. But then Dahlia’s voice rose over the pounding in his head. “Don’t just stand there! Show him what a real fight feels like!”

“He’s already down. It’s over.” It was Min’s voice, though it sounded like it came from a thousand miles away.

“Do you want me to finish him off myself?” Dahlia asked. “Because if I have to do that, the pair of you will be next.”

“Then you’ll have to go through me.” Through his swimming vision, Ludo saw Min’s thick legs stand before him, like a papa bear defending his cub. Min had never been fully in agreement with his plan, but this was going way off script, and now the man was going to pay the price. Unless Ludo did something, and fast.

He closed his eyes, willing the tingles to swarm to his damaged body.

But all he felt was pain.

I’ve known pain, he thought. And far worse than this. This is nothing.

The discussion had continued while he’d been focusing, with Gar trying to convince Min to stand down and Dahlia spouting obscenity-laden threats to the both of them. Thus it was, that none of them noticed when Ludo dragged himself to his feet, tendrils of hair draped over his face.

Feeling as unsteady as a drunkard deep in his cups, he launched himself at Min’s back. He threw the entirety of his weight into the man using his shoulder, hoping to pitch him face first into the dirt, but the impact had been like going toe-to-toe with a boulder. The boulder—Min, in this case—moved forward the slightest bit while Ludo was stopped cold, wavering from side to side as he struggled to maintain an upright position.