The crowd was thickest around the eastern corner of the wrestling area, and the sound coming from that direction told Batu why before he reached it.
Bjorn was in it.
He found a spot in the outer line and watched. Bjorn had a Kipchak rider in a grip at the shoulder and hip, turning into a throw. The Kipchak planted his weight low, and the two of them stalled in the open ground with both men releasing grunts that had nothing to do with speech, the strain of it coming up through their chests in short raw bursts.
"Two horses on the northern one."
"Which one is the northern man."
"The one that looks like he ate the other one."
Bjorn's throw didn't complete. The Kipchak rider found a way to break the grip, and the crowd shouted and then focused itself around whatever would happen next.
