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Hot Wings
by Arnold Hanna… excerpted from first novel Frosted Wingtips

Bloodlust hangs from sun-bleached awnings edging Tyre’s marketplace. Thunderous voices reverberate off hard walls. There’s a stench of impatience in the air as the eager crowd anticipates the coming contest. Rackvalah proudly shows off his distinctive Orloff with its bright green tail. He chats amiably with rugged, leathery-skinned men whose eyes take the measure of his rooster.

Crumpled gambling money is shoved into a mole-like man’s hands as the crowd parts. Dawlah and his entourage enter the square. Hoarse voices exchange predictions as the handler turns three times, holding the White Hackle aloft. The huge cockfighting rooster is the favorite and stakes reach a fever pitch. Rackvalah remains calm.

With his handler by his side, Dawlah settles heavily on a bench in the shade. White-haired Farhad steps out and raises his arm as a hush sweeps the courtyard. He gestures Rackvalah to join him. Walking as though the heat makes effort difficult, the man from Sidon takes his place next to the referee. His rooster’s cockspur glints in the afternoon light. Dawlah’s handler joins the two men and a human tide recedes from the cockpit.

Taunting each other, the gamecocks are swayed back and forth a few inches off the ground. Both roosters menacingly splay hostile neck feathers.

“Yadhhab!” Farhad shouts as he leaps backward. The pent-up warriors are released.

Men shout as the circling birds scuff up misty clouds of parched sand. Dawlah’s robust champion charges and the crowd jeers as the challenger backs away. Always on the retreat, the Orloff keeps his distance. As the aggressive white bird chases him backward, the green rooster delivers a few very accurate blows. The Hackle never stops moving, but he’s unable to land a significant hit.

The Sidon bird’s ability to follow up a devastating blow is shocking. He changes direction in mid-air and, with lightning speed, lands a second blow. Red spots speckle the sand like festive bits of confetti. Dawlah’s combatant is on the defensive and his moves are slower as he makes shorter jumps.

The brutal battle goes on for another seven minutes. The Orloff dodges deceptively and continues delivering withering blows. Still charging, the white bird is panting. Spattered with red streaks, child-like cries dribble from his open beak. With his neck stretched out and his head twisted, the cock collapses. After a few final quivers, Dawlah’s champion rooster is a battered pulp lying dead in a pool of his own blood.

Undeterred, Dawlah marches to the middle of the circle and makes a grand gesture of paying Rackvalah. As he turns to walk away, his heel accidentally steps on his discarded bird’s neck. Several fawning men form a circle around the new champion as the crowd breaks up.

The following Saturday, a tall man with a distinguished air is in the marketplace looking for his brother. Rackvalah’s body is discovered on Sunday wrapped in a dusty tapestry propped up against an abandoned building. With a rag stuffed in his mouth, he’d been beaten to death after being rolled in the rug.

It was said robbers must have followed him to steal his winnings, but Ahmed knew better. During a secret rendezvous with Omera, he spots a brand new green-tailed Orloff in her brother Dawlah’s coop.

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