The cool rain was a nice relief from last nights’ battering. He wraps his hands firmly around the rope as Hesri announces the first round.

Somewhere in his upper back and shoulders he feels a burn as he begins to resist. Fighting last night will leave him aching one way or another, though his legs were still in good order. Stubbornly, he digs the heels of his boots in and begins to step back.

It’ll take a while to wind up, but soon enough, he’ll keep tugging along as if he were helping to pull a stubborn horse out of a ditch with Galli, the effort showing the most in his forearms and shoulders. He could tell right away that his legs would be doing most of the work, and so he lets them, easing some of the burn.

It was less an explosive yank and more a steady pull backwards, occasionally set back by a small slip in the mud.