Chapter 2 - The Dog and the Master

Once Izan stopped the punch, the man who was standing behind the other two thugs finally stepped forth. He hadn't spoken. He hadn't moved. But he locked onto the boy, his cold, measured eyes. This was the leader. Only the pressure of that stare made Izan's body betray him. His hands shook, his breath wheezed, and he was frozen in place for a split second as if his instincts were shouting out even louder than his thoughts. It was enough. One of the thugs punched a fist into Izan's stomach. The air exploded from his lungs as he collapsed forward and dropped on the floor. Before he could get up again, boots hit his sides. His ribs. His back. They kicked him like an animal. And yet, he didn't feel pain. The blows seemed to wash over his body. As if it had discovered long ago that pain was not something worth responding to. Bruises formed, breath came in sharp gasps. But the pain that would've crippled him never came. His mother screamed. She collapsed on his body, putting her arms around the trembling body, weeping and pleading for mercy, while blows fell down on her. "Please! Please, he's just a child!" Izan's chest tightened. Tears streamed down his face, not from pain, but shame. Nothing changed,different life,same weakness. He still couldn't shield the one person who mattered. Something inside him snapped. Without thinking, without permission from his own fear, his arm moved. He grabbed one of the punches rolling in. The thug froze. Izan's brain went to the underground ring. The champion. The straight right which ended his life. His body contorted, clumsy and desperately seeking, replicating the motion etched into his memory. He walked up and threw the punch. It wasn't clean. It wasn't perfect. But it landed. The thug flew backward, then lurched into the mud, unconscious. Silence fell, the other thug lunged forward in rage, but a hand shot out and stopped him. "Enough," the leader said. His voice was calm and Exited. He moved before Izan, rolled his shoulders once then raised his fists. A boxer's stance, clean,balanced and experienced. Izan's breath caught. So this is the master. The leader moved fast,Too fast. The perfect hook smacked into Izan's body, sucking air from his lungs, bringing blood to his mouth. Izan was staggered, hardly conscious. He swung back wildly. The leader slipped the punch of that time and used the momentum to drop some punch, hitting the head this time,the world flipped. Izan dropped into the ground, his face on the ground, mud filled his mouth, his vision blurred and his body refused to respond. They were too poor to afford a proper floor. If it had been concrete, he wouldn't have survived. The leader turned away and walked to the weeping woman. Izan moved with everything remaining, he seized the man's ankle, his fingers dug into flesh. The leader froze. Slowly, he looked down, Strength, real strength. High enough to cause goosebumps along his arms. Despite that much damage… the boy still hadn't let go. One of the thugs laughed nervously. "Hey, Matheo are you getting soft?" The leader's eyes darkened. He kicked Izan hard in the face. Izan's head cracked sideways and he finally loosened his grip. "I hit him with everything I had," Matheo said coldly. Izan was laying gasping, hardly awake. He spoke through swollen eyes and bloodied lips. "Please… if you let us live… I'll pay back every penny. Every coin." Matheo looked at him for quite a long moment. Then he smiled. "You've got one month," he said. "One gold coin." He reached down, drew the woman by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "If you fail," he added, locking eyes with Izan, "that's the last time you'll ever see your mother." As the thugs pulled her toward the door, she screamed his name. Izan tried to move. His body didn't respond. The door slammed shut. Silence swallowed the room.