Dodges Charge

Maeve turned pale and made a quick signal with her hand. Josh heard a nearby gate clang, and he whirled about to see Kapo striding toward him. The giant looked ready to wrestle, even ready to kill. The match was on.

Josh had wrestled before, but not against anyone of Kapo’s size and skill. Another cry went up from the crowd, but Josh paid no heed. I’ve got to use his size against him somehow, he said to himself.

Perhaps the huge wrestler planned to crush his opponent in one mighty lunge, for Kapo did not hesitate. Laughing wickedly, he charged, more rapidly than Josh would have thought possible for a man his size. Josh held his breath.

When Kapo was only a few feet away, Josh called out loudly, “For Goél and the House of Goél!”

Kapo was likely not expecting Josh to be as calm or as quick as he was. With one swift move, Josh deftly turned, allowing Kapo to race by him like a mad rhino. The force of the big wrestler’s charge was too great to stop easily. Stunned by Josh’s quick dodge, Kapo plunged toward the gallows built for the Seven Sleepers.

With a loud crash, his head and shoulders slammed into the central support post. The whole gallows shuddered with the mighty impact. Kapo, stopped in his tracks, collapsed like a rag doll at the foot of the gallows. As the stands of spectators watched in total silence, the whole gallows creaked and groaned, then collapsed itself, as formless as the giant wrestler.