Never Trust a Russian

As Lewey and Abuu approached the group of men, a drum began to beat.  With each beat of the drum, the men gathered there, raised and lowered their torches chanting in unison; raising Lewey’s fear level. 

As Lewey stepped into the circle he saw Gada for the first time and almost gasped out loud.  The man looked even bigger than Lewey had remembered; he was a beast of a man, well over two meters.  Asuu Gada glistened from the grease; making him stand out from the crowd. 

Lewey began trembling and was afraid he was about to soil himself when Kalif Ali stood and raised his hands.  The gathering immediately quieted and the drum ceased. 

Ali made a short speech in Chechen and the crowd cheered.  As the crowd was quieting, Gada suddenly started across the circle in a low crouch.  As he got close Lewey could see the hatred in his eyes and hear him growling like an animal.  Gada stopped about 5 meters away and reached to the ground and grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it to one side and then repeated the movement to the other.  The crowd cheered bobbing their torches up and down. 

Gada then snarled like a bull and charged forward.  Lewey jumped to his right and spun away, leaving the big man grasping thin air.  Enraged, Gada came at him again.  Lewey jumped away again but Gada was ready for this and cut him off.  Lewey was quicker and escaped once again. 

The crowd began hooting and whistling loudly.  With that, Gada stood all the way up and raised his hands in the air.  The big man seemed to be playing to the crowd and turned away from Lewey with his hands in the air in some apparent celebration. 

That arrogant bastard - Lewey grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it onto the Big mans back.  Gada roared loudly and turned abruptly and charged Lewey again, but this time Lewey didn’t run. He kicked the big man solidly in the groin.  Gada folded in upon himself and collapsed onto one knee.  The big man was making a gurgling sound and not looking altogether too happy. 

Lewey immediately ran around behind the big man and grabbed him in a head lock.  This was a mistake, as Gada simple ducked his head, sending Lewey flying through the air.  Lewey landed hard but was able to roll to his feet just in time to spin away from the big man’s grasp.  The crowd began howling and hooting loudly.  The drums were beating and the torches going up and down again.  Lewey backed away from Gada and tried to circle away but was cut off.  The big man grabbed Lewey’s arm tightly and pulled his other arm back as if to strike.  Lewey quickly moved his arm in a circle breaking the hold and dove under the man’s arm.  Gada swung wildly and lost his balance causing him to topple over.  The big man quickly regained his feet. 

The contestants slowly circled each other for a minute before Gada roared like a beast and charged Lewey again.  Lewey dove out of the way and came up sending a kick towards where he thought the big man’s groin might be, but he missed and lost his balance.  Gada charged again and grabbed Lewey by the throat; lifting him off the ground.  The crowd cheered wildly.  Oh God! 

Lewey knew he was in trouble when he tried to break the hold as Martin had showed him and failed.  It didn’t work!  Lewey swung his foot forward hard and kicked Gada in the groin.  The blow seemed to have no affect.  Gada roared like a lion again.  Lewey was terrified and tried to think of something else that would work.  Oh God in Heaven. 

Gada roared again, Lewey swung his legs in a circle and this time the big man lost his balance.  The giant stumbled and Lewey could feel that he was loosing his grip.  Lewey then kicked out hard with both feet and found he was free of the big man’s grip but falling toward the ground. 

He landed hard on his back and his breath knocked from him.  He was lucky – Gada didn’t immediately take advantage of the situation and started to strut around his fallen foe like a banty rooster. 

Lewey’s breath took a long time coming back and he was weak when Gada decided it was time to finish him.  All he could do was dive or spin away from the big man, he knew he couldn’t keep this up for long. 

The crowd started to whistle and make hissing sounds.  Lewey looked around and found Gada standing to one side drinking from a flask.  I wonder if I get water. 

Gada drank his fill seemingly oblivious to his opponent allowing Lewey to sneak up from behind.  Just as the big man tipped up the flash Lewey struck.  He stomped to the back