He took out a large hunting knife, held it by the metal blade, and offered her the handle. Benedita did not take it. She looked at him suspiciously.
Then Joaquim placed the blade on the ground between them and took a step back.
He explained that he did not want to hurt her or send her to the fields. He had another plan, but for that he needed her trust, at least for this one night.
Then he told her his story. Ten years earlier, he had had a single son, Vicente, an intelligent and brave boy. One day, on the way home from town, they were ambushed by bandits. Vicente tried to defend his father and was stabbed in the chest. He died in Joaquim's arms.
Three years later, Joaquim's wife died of a fever. He was left alone, with his lands, his grief, and a debt of 12 contos de réis to the Baron of Araújo, the most powerful man in the region.
If he did not pay by the end of the year, he would lose the property.
The Baron and the tournament
Joaquim then explained the opportunity that could change everything. The Baron had a daughter named Eduarda, who was twenty-two years old. Unlike the other women in her community, she loved riding, hunting, fighting, and gambling.
Every year she held a tournament on her father's estate. Fighters from all over the region came to compete in boxing, wrestling, and other combat sports. The winner received 100 contos de réis.
That amount would be enough to settle Joaquim's debts, restore the estate, and allow him to stay in his home for many years.
But Joaquim did not know how to fight. He was old, weak, and dogged by bad luck.
Then he told Benedita what he had seen in her: not a useless woman, but a fighter. A strength no one had understood, because no one had ever given her the chance to use it to her advantage.
His proposal was clear: he would secretly train her for the tournament. If she won, he would share the prize money with her. Half, that is 50 contos, would go to her – enough to buy her freedom and start over somewhere else.
Benedita asked what would happen if she lost.
Joaquim replied that they would lose together. He would lose the estate. She could be resold. But at least they would have tried.
She did not trust him. Still, she did not have many other options. Something in Joaquim's voice – a genuine weariness and a palpable pain – made her suspect that he might be telling the truth.
She agreed, but with a simple threat:
“I'll fight. But if you betray me, I'll kill you.”
Benedita's secret training
The next day, Joaquim woke Benedita before dawn. He took her to a hidden clearing, out of everyone's sight, and formed an improvised ring using ropes stretched between the trees.
He brought punching bags, pieces of wood to break, and old martial-arts books he had kept since his youth. He himself did not know how to apply all the techniques, but he knew the theory: stances, movements, dodges, attacks.
Benedita learned quickly. Her strength was raw, but she had instinct. She attacked with the pent-up rage of twenty-three years of violence, chains, hunger, and humiliation.
Little by little, that anger transformed. It stopped being a blind outburst. It turned into movement, precision, a controlled energy.
Benedita trained five hours a day and then returned to work on the farm to keep up appearances. Months passed. Her body grew stronger, her movements more precise, her posture firmer.
In September, three months before the tournament, Joaquim decided to test her. He stood in front of her for a simulation.
She knocked him to the ground in ten seconds.
Joaquim got up laughing, despite the blood in his mouth, and told her she was ready.
