SAMPLE
This story is about 3500 words or about 20 standard book pages.
A big black man came down the hallway from the other direction. He was followed by another smaller man.
Joe kept walking and the two meet in the middle of the hallway.
"Joe the Pole," the man said in a husky accented voice, "I've heard of you."
Joe met the man's eyes. This one had the look of a murder. His black skin was so dark that Joe could barely see the scars that crisscross his face. He was an intimidating man and Joe knew straight away that this would be the man that the lord had set him up to fight. So the lord wants to see me dead, does he? This one might just make that a reality.
"I'm Joe, who are you?" he asked calmly.
"You'll find out," the man said pushing past Joe and walking towards where the lord was entertaining his guests.
Joe looked back. The man was bigger than him. At least two hands across the shoulders and with powerful looking arms. He would be hard to beat.
Joe kept on walking. Things were getting interesting.
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UNCIVILISED 1: BLOOD MANOR
(SMASHWORDS EDITION / Copyright Kenneth Guthrie 2011)
Joe is a fighter in a world where violence is unlimited and death is a reality. Today he gets a deal he can’t refuse: Lord Thomson is offering $300 for a fight to the death at his mansion. Joe knows he can’t afford to refuse this one with a little daughter and not enough money coming in from his other fights. The fight that follows will burn in to the crowd’s minds the name ‘Joe the Pole’ for eternity and beyond. That is if he wins.
The left hook took him in the side. For someone who had just joined the pro leagues this one was tough as nails and showed a lot of promise. Unfortunately, he had just made the foolish decision of stepping into the ring with Joe the Pole.
Joe wasn't the best fighter, but he had experience. Experience in this game of boxing that was just becoming a real sport now that it had emerged from the alleys of old London was everything.
Joe brought his fist back and dropped in low. The younger man thought he was going for a long straight right. He went for the obvious counter and was completely shocked when Joe came up with a hard left upper cut that smashed into his jaw and sent him in a shower of blood to the floor.
The ring counter jumped in and gave the ten count. Joe was the victor again.
He left the ring to the screams of the crowd. He was popular among the poorer class of men that came to the ring to enjoy fantasies of being the man in the ring. Watching him and seeing his success inspired a certain animalistic emotion in some men.
Joe walked out back and noticed his manager waiting for him. A manager was a new idea, but he liked it. Joe had organized most of his fights through the backyard vendors before he got Sam to do it for him. It was a lot more pleasant and he could focus on his training and his work down at the steel mill.
Sam was still wearing his overalls. He worked for a local builder and he usually got off work too late to see more than the end of Joe's fights.
He shook Joe's big hand and smiled.
"Good win there, champ." Joe wasn't the champ, but he hadn't managed to get Sam to stop calling him that. The man would probably call him that until the day he died.
"Thanks," Joe said, "He was a little inexperienced, so it was an easy win."
Sam nodded. He knew the fight card for tonight. This fight had just been advertising to get them better fights. It was good for the crowd to see him knock people out in the first round now and then. He had a bit of a bad image as a long fight fighter, which wasn't always that exciting for the crowd to watch.
"Champ, I got another job for you," Sam said.
"Really? So soon. I appreciate it, but I don't know if I manage another fight just now. My knees are still not back to normal yet."
Sam crinkled his nose. Joe's knees were a constant annoyance to a man who only thought about profit.
"Champ. Come on! This one's a big one. It'll be great promotion and the purse is really big this time," Sam said convincingly.
"Really? How big can the purse be? Things have been a little light lately," Joe asked.
"It's three hundred dollars," Sam said with a wink.
"Three hundred? You sure they don't want me to kill someone for that?" Three hundred was a lot.
"No... well, not that I know anyway," Sam said looking to the side.
Ah, I see. Sam only did that when he had something he knew Joe wouldn't like.
There was a short period of silence. Sam met his eyes and looked away.
"Which lord is financing this?"
"Thomson." There it was.
"Thomson? That bloodthirsty bastard? You know I don't do fights for him."
On the two accessions that he had fought at the Thomson mansion, he had been asked to kill both men at the end of the fight. He had refused and hadn't been paid. The last one he had had broken ribs and the money lost meant he had to work through the healing process. He still wasn't sure if he had healed properly.
"He requested you specifically. He said he would pay you 75% upfront this time and promised he would pay the 25% remaining at the end of the fight plus a bonus if you do what he asks," Sam said.
He considered it. His main problem was the payment part. Men died in the ring all the time. They didn't wear any gloves and the rules were rarely followed to the letter.
Sam looked at him expectantly.
"Alright, but you make sure that he gives you the money upfront. I want to see the money before the fight."
Sam took his hand and shook it firmly. He was taking 15% of the overall take and this fight would feed his family for a few weeks, if Joe won.
Joe left Sam to his business and left. He had things to do.
Joe sat in the bar with Ted. They were both fighters and had been in the business for a long time.
"You can do it for me?" Joe asked.
"Yeah, no problem, Joe. I'll have it to her tomorrow," Ted said in his deep voice.
"Thanks, Ted." He paused.
"How's she doing?" He rarely asked and Ted looked at him in surprise.
"She's good. Still just a kid, but since we got her away from her mother, she's been a lot better."
Joe looked at the dozens of different colored bottles lining the wall behind the bar. That was good to know. His daughter had the bad luck to be born to one of the various whores Joe had used in his younger days when his body was young and had many needs. The woman had turned out to be an alcoholic and when another whore that knew him well had told him that she had a daughter and that she was the spitting image of Joe, he had taken responsibility and got her away from the crazed woman.
Ted took a sip from his whisky in front of him.
"You know, you could go and visit her if you want to. She knows you exist. I haven't told her what you do, but she can guess."
He adjusted his shirt a little. Ted had dozens of scars on his arms and face. The big tattoo on the left hand side was enough to give away that he wasn't just the normal man.
"I know, but I don't have a very safe life. You know that. People will use her against me if it became public knowledge I had a daughter."
Ted nodded. He had had problems in the past that had lead to the death of his wife five years ago. His new wife lived outside of the city on a small farm that Ted had bought after a big win a few years ago. She and Ted's brother made a tidy living on the farm and they were hoping to expand if Ted could win another big fight.
"I have to go. Sam has a fight set up for me and I need to rest up for it tomorrow," Joe said finally.
Ted stood up and handed Joe his coat from the chair beside him.