Unfortunately, it was Mike’s turn. He decided that the only choice was to simply be confident that he could duplicate the performance but get it over with as soon as possible. He leapt off the low stone wall and waved at the bull.
“Come on, big guy,” he said, taunting the thing to charge. “Come and get me.”
The bull seemed confused by an adversary that didn’t run in circles.
“Come on,” Mike repeated, waving his hands. “I’m right here.”
The bull swung his head from side to side, looking at the human doubtfully, then quickly put his head down and charged.
Mike was taken aback by the speed. He’d been watching from the wall but that was different than being the one on the ground. The charge was lightning fast and he half instinctively stepped forward. He tried to get to the side but the bull corrected at the last moment and he suddenly found himself right where he wasn’t supposed to be: directly in front of a charging bull.
But the step forward had gotten him inside of the bull’s intended charge. He grabbed the horns desperately, holding them off of him as the bull hooked upward for a gore.
Again, by instinct as much as anything he jumped as the bull hooked up, riding the gore instead of being thrown by it. He suddenly found himself heading upward at a tremendous rate and let go of the horns. The throw of the bull tossed him up and over like an acrobat. He’d been in the air before, though, in freefall and he quickly adjusted his body position for a landing, hitting the ground actually behind the bull and rolling into a perfect parachute landing fall that actually rolled him to his feet.
He hadn’t intended anything like that but he dusted off his left shoulder nonchalantly as the bull spun in place, looking for its adversary. He wasn’t about to try to replicate the feat, however, so he stepped to the side quickly, keeping inside of the circle of the bull’s turn and out of sight.
The bull could hear him and it quickly turned back but Mike reversed course, still staying to the side. The bull was wearing and couldn’t turn as fast as it had at the beginning so Mike was able to repeat the move a couple of times as he figured out exactly how you got your hands on the horns in the right way.
His first attempt, however, was nearly his last. He stepped forward to the base of the bull’s neck like the others and grabbed at the horns but only his right hand connected. The bull reacted with a massive head toss and Mike, again, felt himself yanked through the air as the incredible strength of the bull made nothing of his weight.
The toss pulled him across the bull’s neck, half wrenching his right arm out of its socket. He rolled with it, though, landing on his feet on the far side of the bull and letting go with his right. Just for shits and giggles he grabbed with his left and, sure enough, the bull dragged him across its neck again to land on his feet.
Mike reached forward with both hands this time but the bull had had enough and actually jumped half sideways to line him up for another charge.
Mike grabbed the horns more to keep them away from him than anything and found himself in the air again, this time in a flat toss across the bull’s shoulder. There wasn’t much he could do with that but take it on the chin. So much for points for grace.
He got up much more slowly this time and by the time he was on his feet the bull was charging again. He darted into it and caught the horns, first dropping his weight to try to pull it down and then, when it was clear he was about to be killed, leaping up.
This time he was ready for the ride through the air and managed a flip that landed him on the bull’s rump. He only touched, jumping off immediately, and landing on both feet behind the bull again.
He quickly spun in place, into the bull’s turn, and this time got both hands on the bull’s horns with his weight down. He wrestled with the bull much less smoothly than the Keldara but in a moment he had it on the ground.
He’d had enough of fucking around with the damned thing, though, so as soon as he let go he was out of the enclosure.
“Impressive, Kildar,” Father Shaynav said, walking over to him.
“Luck,” Mike said, knowing the truth of the statement.
“You said you’d never wrestled a bull before,” Oleg said, walking over to him. “You are, without doubt, the winner of the test of the bull. If you win at the test of the man you will be Ondah.”
“Which is why I’m going to step out of the competition,” Mike said, looking at Oleg and the elder. “I do not want to be Ondah. And I’m afraid I do have special training that would be unfair to use in the test of the man. Perhaps after we have done more training with the Keldara it would be a fair test. But after the test is complete, I will give a demonstration with Chief Adams.”
“This is… not right,” Father Shaynav said, frowning. “If you are the best, you should be Ondah.”
“I am Kildar,” Mike pointed out. “It is not right that the Kildar be the best, without being the Ondah? Which is the higher honor? Should I take the honor from my… retainers by taking their one chance of glory? If you wish me to compete, I’ll compete. But if the test of the man is as lacking in rules as the other tests, I’m afraid I will do damage to the Keldara that I fight.”
“We are strong,” Oleg protested.
“You should compete,” Father Shaynav said, definitely.
“Get the other elders,” Mike snapped.
When the group had gathered together, with the rest of the Keldara held back from what was clearly an important discussion, Mike raised his hands.
“I will not take the honor of Ondah,” Mike said. “With the other tests, frankly, I had hoped I would fail. But I strongly doubt, even against Oleg, that I will fail the test of the man. I have seen the Keldara in fights, I know my own ability and I doubt that I will lose. But I refuse to take the position of Ondah. What does Ondah mean to the Kildar?”
“If you do not, you take the honor of the position from the one who it goes to,” Father Mahona said, angrily. “I have been Ondah. I knew that I was the best. You would take that from your people, Kildar.”
“Yes, Kildar,” Mike pointed out. “You have said before, is it not good that you have a ‘true Kildar’ again? Is it not good, correct, that the Kildar be the best? But why should he take the Ondah from such as Oleg or Vil? What is such an honor to the Kildar? And, understand, when I fight, without rules, damage is done. I’m a trained fighter. I am a trainer in hand-to-hand combat. SEAL hand to hand, which is dirty, brutal and short. If you wish, when the others have fought, I will either demonstrate with Chief Adams, who I know will not be seriously hurt, or I will fight against the winner. But if I fight against an untrained Keldara, they will be in Doc Forgate’s care. Trust me on this.”
“We must discuss this, Kildar,” Father Kulcyanov said, formally. “The elders.”
“Very well,” Mike said, nodding. “I’m going to get a beer.”
“What’s going on?” Adams said when Mike walked over to the group of trainers.
“I’m in the running to win the medal or whatever,” Mike said. “I don’t want it. It’s for the Keldara. I never should have been in the competition. I assumed that I’d get beat at some point. But I didn’t. Hell, I even managed the bull.”
“You were wonderful,” Anastasia said, her eyes glowing. “You were much better than the others. Is this bull jumping an American thing?”
“Nobody, not even rodeo clowns, is stupid enough to do that,” Killjoy interjected. “Were you fucking nuts?”
“I didn’t mean to do it,” Mike said. “I was just trying to stay alive. It was luck and some training in other stuff. But the point is, if I fight the Keldara—”