Chapter 9

Krista sat on the edge of her feather bed, her feet growing numb from the cold stone, but she had far worse things on her mind to worry about. She had risked a lot by stepping in and saving that one slave girl, who most probably had been raped her entire life since entering servitude. And now Krista had placed a marker upon her back for the Gauls. 

The Gauls made up nearly half of the gladiator numbers whilst Krista numbered only one. And if they were willing to rape a girl surrounded by people, confident no one would intervene, then Krista would bet that they wouldn't mind killing her either. And all because, deep down, Krista was too soft hearted to see one bad deed being done against another, even though that girl had probably grown up being raped. One more act of violence would not have scarred her any more than her past already had and because Krista could not sit idly by she now lay awake at night, her back pressed against the wall with her eyes fixed upon the door.

She had no doubt of the Gauls prowess that they could slip through the lines of sleeping women and kill her whilst she slept and barely create a ripple. They would find her dead in the morning with her throat slashed and body mauled. No one would stand up for her or pay for her body to be given proper burial. Lazarus would not be able to afford it by himself and Commander Niclaus had forbidden them from entering into any union which aided in the ceremonious burial of their bodies. She would be fed to the lions instead. 

Krista trembled as she felt how isolated she had become. Her stomach knotted as she thought of all the bridges she had burned and the enemies she had made. She was stood all alone with people beginning to surround her. She wished the games would come sooner so that she could either meet her death or meet her freedom. Closing her eyes only briefly to stem the insistent urge to sleep, Krista was jolted back awake when the women outside her room stirred in their sleep.

Someone was coming. Krista could hear the soft pad of their feet on the stone. Never let your guard down. Artorius's words rang louder in her mind than ever before as she got to her feet and crossed the room. Pressing her back against the wall beside the doorway which led into her room, Krista kept herself well hidden and waited.

It had passed midnight and the torches were burning low in their cradles. The darkness aided Krista by covering her position for those few seconds longer as the restless moans of sleeping women drifted into her ears. 

Krista was only mildly surprised that Rheia and Lydia could still be sleeping; she absentmindedly wondered how they had ever survived.

But it was more likely that they did not care for her fate.

Turning her attention back to the Gaul that was coming to kill her, Krista pressed her cheek against the wall and gazed out at the faint shadow that was approaching.

Krista guessed that he was barely a few feet from her door.

A brief pause by her attacker and Krista feared they would hear her heart racing inside her chest.

But then the footsteps resumed once more and Krista had barely blinked before their figure was blocking her doorway, their body mere inches from hers.

Krista could see their head starting to turn, looking for her, and deemed it was time to strike.

Keeping her movements quick and lethal, Krista stepped up onto the step, until she was level with her attacker, and coiled her arm around their neck.

Krista was struck by how slender the Gaul's neck was and the fact that he was nearly a full head shorter than her.

Something didn't seem right to Krista but nothing yet gave her reason to release her tight grip on their windpipe, blocking off their oxygen, when a pure feminine squeak sounded from the person in her arms.

Frowning, Krista dragged her attacker out of her room and into the hallway.

Thrusting the person in front of the flames from the torches, Krista let out an exasperated sigh when she saw that it wasn't a Gaul at all.

It was the slave girl from the baths.

"What are you doing here?" Krista growled as the girl pressed her back against the wall, her hand cradling her neck which already harboured bruises from her admirers in the baths.

"I came- I came to-" The girl tried to speak, finding it difficult to form each word.

Krista watched her poor girl routine with annoyance as she kept watch around them.

Making sure they were alone, Krista turned back to the girl.

"I could have killed you," Krista snapped as she remembered that she almost very nearly did, "You need to leave. Now."

"But-" The girl quickly spoke up when Krista turned to leave, "I just wanted to give you my gratitude for saving me."

"And all the good it's done me." Krista muttered under her breath as her eyes constantly scanned the darkened corners for any approaching threat.

"Myra." the girl suddenly murmured under her breath.

"What?" Krista whispered as she turned and gazed at the young girl who had to be barely ten and four years of age.

Her hair was black like a ravens and her skin was tanned from working hours under the sun.

Everything about her screamed weakness, from her small arms to the quivering of her lips.

Krista disdained weakness; it made them prey.

Krista had learnt early on in this game not to show weakness but yet this girl hadn't seemed to learnt the same lesson.

"Myra," Krista whispered when it looked like the girl was ready to burst into tears, "You need to go."

Krista was only sending her away for her own good; if they were caught whispering in dark corners then the guards would punish both of them.

And Krista wasn't about to let this slave girl cause her to miss the games, she had already caused Krista enough distress.

"Go back to bed and forget what happened." Krista turned and gave Myra her back as she returned to her bed.

"You saved me." Myra stepped forward from the wall, her voice filled with amazement and confusion.

Krista barely looked over her shoulder at Myra as she told her once again to go to sleep.

She hadn't moved at first but as Krista slipped back on top of her covers, staring at the ceiling, she heard Myra scurry off down the corridor.

Krista tried not to hate her for her weakness but she could not abide relying upon others for protection.

Other people betrayed you, abandoned you. Krista could only depend upon herself to get out of this life.

* * *

Krista watched Myra across the way as she cleaned up the gladiator's plates, the men pawing at her once again.

"It's not her fault." Artorius walked up beside Krista.

Krista wouldn't look at Artorius so instead she turned and headed into the armoury, where everything from swords, spears and nets were kept.

They were all wooden, of course.

Krista pondered which weapon she would most like to sink into Artorius's flesh as he followed her and carried on talking.

"You might not like it, but not everyone is as strong as you." Artorius murmured as he ran his fingers over a blunt sword that rested against the wall.

Krista eyed him suspiciously as her hand reached out and pulled a spear from the wall.

Memories of Lazarus's skills with the spear resurfaced in her mind as did the pain across her back.

"Not everyone can be strong." Artorius spoke softly, his deep voice filling the darkened room with a sense of wisdom Krista hadn't known he possessed.

Artorius turned to face her, "That's why strong people exist. To protect those that cannot protect themselves."

Krista looked up from her spear towards Artorius as she pondered his words; it sounded like something Lazarus would say.

But it also sounded like something Krista wouldn't understand. Or maybe something she didn't want to understand.

"I have to go." Krista walked towards the exit, spear resting vertically by her side, when Artorius stepped into her path.

"Krista," Artorius spoke her name with some deep feeling that Krista didn't recognise.

But when it was obvious that Artorius wasn't going to say anything soon, Krista stepped around him and back out into the blistering sun that had rose to almost its full height in the sky.

Standing behind a small crowd that had gathered to watch two gladiators fight, Krista rested her spear against the floor when there was a sudden, tremendous roar from her right.

It sounded like a beast screaming her name.

Turning her head, Krista barely had time to recognise the Gaul that had been raping Myra, before he charged into her side, his arms wrapping around her hips and lifting her off the ground.

Instinctively, Krista's hand tightened around the spear as her feet came off the floor and her hair blew up into her face.

Fear gripped her stomach as it felt like the Gaul was crushing her bones and stealing the breath from her lungs, before he released her hips and threw her into a solid wall.

Slamming into the stone wall, Krista's hands opened against her command as her body slid down to the ground.

Landing on her side she felt a throbbing pain radiate up through her shoulder as she heard the spear snap in two beneath her.

Survival kicking in, Krista looked up and saw the large body of the Gaul blocking out the sun as he closed in.

The pain in her shoulder was fleeting as she jumped to her feet, reaching out to scoop up the broken halves of her spear in each hand before she turned and faced her opponent.

His brown hair was splotchy with areas of his scalp visible from where he had come into close contact with a knife; his cheeks had joules and his eyes were dark but they held a madness to them that were lusting after her blood.

Krista had barely any room to navigate an escape as his wide arms entrapped her against the wall with only two broken halves of a spear to aid her.

Groaning in annoyance at the wooden weapons they had been given, Krista spun the spear-turned-batons in her palms as she gained a tighter grip whilst keeping the rest of her body relaxed.

Well, as relaxed as possible with a six foot beast heading for her throat.

Going against her rule of taking her time, Krista knew that whilst she was trapped between the Gaul and the wall, she had no advantage to play.

Retreating back until she was pressed against the wall, Krista increased the distance between them as much as possible before she suddenly darted forward, surprising the Gaul, and everybody watching, as she headed straight for her attacker.

Once the Gaul realised what she meant to do he made a swing for her ankles, but she was too fast.

Pressing her left foot against his knee, Krista used him as a step as she placed her other foot on his shoulder.

Using her momentum to catapult herself into the air over his head, Krista flipped a perfect one hundred and eighty degrees.

When her face was close to Gaul's, Krista brought the batons down onto either side of his neck.

Turning one last time before she hit into the ground, Krista rolled up onto one knee with her back to the Gaul.

Gladiators and trainers alike stopped their own fighting to watch as Krista jumped to her feet and spun to face her attacker.

Krista lifted her batons and raised an eyebrow when she saw the ends were completely shattered from where they had hit the Gaul.

Shards of wood littered the floor around her but it was when the Gaul turned to face her that Krista saw the extent of the damage.

A five inch splinter of wood had imbedded itself into his cheek, a few centimetres below his eye.

Krista silently amazed at the damage wood could do.

The Gaul was breathing heavy as he stepped, the sun blinding his face, as he reached up and tore the splinter from his cheek, blood instantly pouring down the side of his face.

Krista noted that it would hurt if she struck him there again and she almost smiled as she unearthed one of his weaknesses.

But as Krista took a step back for each of his step forward, she was quickly realising that this fight wasn't going to end well.

The Gaul's skin was turning red as his chest puffed out and his lips pulled back in a growl to expose his clenched teeth.

Rotating her jarred shoulder to loosen it up, Krista prepared herself for a real fight.

* * *

"Urgh" Krista squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the pain, as she quickly picked herself up.

Her eyes took in the total destruction they had wrecked on Ludus Magnus.

The statue of Bacchus, God of Wine, lay shattered against the floor along with numerous other gladiators that had tried to intervene.

Their fight had taken them across the gladiator training field, into the dining hall,  where an even worse scene of splintered tables and broken vases lay, before they had ended up back inside the baths.

Krista thought it was rather fitting since this was where it had all began.

Wincing against the pain, Krista tried to find something she could use but there was nothing but marble benches and water.

The Gaul was stampeding towards her with so much force that water spilled over the edge of the baths as the floor shook under his weight.

Krista was starting to get bored of the Gaul's uninspiring straight-out attacks upon her person. Everything about him, and his tactics, screamed brute strength rather than intelligence.

And she wasn't about to spend the entire day fighting him as everyone else looked on, including Myra.

The Gaul was barely ten feet away when Krista seized her first opportunity in a while.

Leaping up onto the marble bench that rested around the perimeter of the room, Krista pushed herself off the wall and into the air above the Gaul's head.

Clenching her fingers tightly, Krista saw the Gaul watching her with blatant surprise as she flew towards him.

Using her weight for extra momentum, Krista sent a jaw-shattering fist down onto his lower cheek, a dull crack sounding as she broke his jaw.

The Gaul, who Krista never learnt the name of, crashed to the ground in agony as Krista remained straddled a top of him, sending numerous punches into his bruised face while his blood smeared her skin.

Krista was quickly becoming lost in madness as images of Myra being raped on the mosaic floor flashed before her eyes along with images of her family being slaughtered and fellow friends being slain on the battlefield.

Krista!

The Gaul had become unresponsive a long time ago yet she kept sending punches into his face as a scream was ripped from her lips.

"KRISTA!" The voice was clearer now, piercing the blood-stained veil that had covered her eyes as strong hands clasped her under her arms and heaved her off of the Gaul's body.

Krista fought but only for a few seconds when she turned and saw Artorius and Lazarus standing there, watching her intently.

Artorius released her when she struggled against him but she didn't get very far as she looked up and saw Commander Niclaus, accompanied by two guards, watching her darkly.

Krista closed her eyes in defeat.