Several minutes into the fight and Cody had yet to injure Todd, which boded well for the commander, still, he had yet to even come close to the quick underling in order to subdue him.

He had to try another trick.

He went on the offensive all of a sudden and struck Cody as often as possible. The underling put up his guard and blocked as much as he could.

Todd purposely left a hole for Cody to exploit, and he took the bait.

Cody knocked Todd's left leg out from under him, bringing him to a knee, which put him at a perfect level to plunge his knife into Cody's thigh and drag it downward in a vicious snarl. Cody cried out as black blood spattered over the arena floor and then got the wind knocked from him as Todd used his greater weight and new position to jab his elbow up into the other's ribs. Muscle and tendon torn, and now stunned and out of breath, the commander easily shoved him over onto his back and brought a fist down on Cody's right hand to make him release his knife.

Todd sat on top of the younger's torso, boot on his feed hand's wrist, blood oozing from the thigh wound.

"Do you yield?" he grunted

Cody nodded and the commander got up, yanking his knife from the other's thigh and gesturing for a couple of the other bystanders to come in and take care of the underling.

Todd looked around at the others in the arena as though daring anyone else to challenge his rank. No one moved a muscle.