VII

Three years later . . .

Flipping the dagger in the air, Frieda caught it by the blade before she flipped it once again and caught it by the hilt. She did this repeatedly, each time throwing it a little higher. Domitius had given it to her after she had won her third fight outside of the gladiator school.

Letting out a sigh of boredom, Frieda watched the blade flip three times in the air before she saw a hand reached out and catch it. Frowning, Frieda tilted her head far back and saw Zeno stood smiling down at her.

"What are you doing?" Zeno asked, tapping her blade against his arm.

Still looking up at him upside down, Frieda replied, "I'm bored."

"Amara will be back soon," Zeno told her confidently, holding out her dagger for her to take.

Lifting her head back to its right position, Frieda got to her feet and turned to face Zeno, "Why do I always have to wait for Amara before I can do anything? Let's go a few rounds, you and me," Frieda suggested as she took her dagger back.

"What about Eione?" Zeno nodded across the quad to where a blonde girl stood hitting one of the training posts with her fist, practicing her technique.

Frieda scrunched her nose, "She still will not talk to me since I fought her last time."

"You did bite her arm for no good reason," Zeno reminded her.

"I do not know what she is moaning about," Frieda shrugged, "the bite marks healed remarkably well I thought."

"I need to go," Zeno laughed as he patted her shoulder and walked off, shaking his head.

Frieda watched him leave, still bored, wondering what she could do to occupy her time when she spotted the pillar near to the entrance from the front gate. With nothing better to do, Frieda shrugged and headed over. Stood at the base of the three foot wide pillar, Frieda placed the dagger between her teeth and hooked her fingers into one of the many holes. The holes, which had been caused by time and wayward target practice chipping away at the surface, varied between a few centimetres to a few inches wide, allowing her enough purchase to be able to climb it.

Frieda had done this so much that it became almost second nature and within a few moments she had vaulted to the top and was sat, with her legs dangling over the side, looking out across Domitius's gladiator training school. Sitting there, Frieda looked to her right and saw the front gates, the image conjuring up an unwanted memory.

Domitius had been right all those years ago when he said that the only way out of there was through those front gates. She had learnt from Amara that Eoghan had been caught the next day in the woods and Domitius made no secret that the tunnel in the kitchen had been well and truly sealed so future escape attempts were discouraged.

Frieda was not sure how she had felt about Eoghan being captured. She was sorry that he was dead he had been her kinsman after all, and she had seen enough of her kinsmen killed to last a lifetime, but he had betrayed her. He had promised that they would stay together and he had left, to save his own hide. Did he think that she wanted to stay there? Did he even care about what would have happened when he decided to leave her to the romans? No.

"Frieda!"

Pulled out of her reverie, Frieda leaned over the side and saw a guard stood at the bottom holding up an apple. Fried had climbed the pillars so much that they barely batted an eyelid at it anymore; she had shown her loyalty to Domitius plenty times over since that night.

Holding out her hand, the guard threw the apple into the air and she caught it single-handedly. She did not show him any gratitude because she was still a slave, no amount of fights could change that. She was still someone else's property, but she would not be for ever because Eoghan had made her realise something, that she did not belong in a cage. Domitius was right when he said the only way out was through the front gates, so that was how she would escape. She would become the best she could be, gain their trust and, when the opportunity arose, she would walk straight out of the gates.

As she sat watching the gates, eating her apple and relishing in the sweet juices as they ran down her throat, they slowly began to open. Watching tentatively, Frieda saw the same cage she had arrived here in roll inside, carrying a new batch of slaves for Domitius. Searching frantically for Amara, because there was never a guarantee that they would come back alive, Frieda let out a small breath of relief when she spotted the red-haired walking in behind the cage, Charis sauntering in behind her.

Amara had not yet seen her so, as she began to walk past the cage pulled by horses with Charis a few others by her side, Frieda twirled the dagger in her hand and decided to have some fun. After all, she was bored.

Waiting until Amara had drawn closer Frieda pulled the dagger back so that it rested close to her ear before she hurled it towards Amara. Frieda watched the blade flip a few times before the dagger imbedded itself in the strip of wood which ran along the wall at eye level.

Amara halted a hair breaths away the dagger, barely fazed that she had almost been impaled through the skull. Turning her head slightly to look up at where it had come from she found Frieda sat atop the pillar, a wide, smug grin spread across her face as she took a large bite out of her apple. Charis was staring between them with confusion.

Reaching out, Amara removed the dagger from the wood and pretended to examine it before she turned and threw it directly back at Frieda.

"Whoa," Frieda exclaimed in shock as she saw the dagger fly towards her. Reaching up her arms instinctively to protect her face, Frieda waited for the painful impact of blade against flesh but none came. Slowly lowering her arms, she opened a single eye and saw Amara laughing at her. Frowning, Frieda looked down and saw that the dagger had impaled her apple.

"Whoa," Frieda gasped in admiration.

Getting to her feet atop the pillar, Frieda jumped off the side with no hesitation. Flipping through the air, she landed in front of a startled Charis who was now a few centimetres shorter than her. Smiling, Frieda watched Charis's expression turn from shock to anger before she turned and stormed off, knocking Frieda with her shoulder as she did so.

Frieda laughed at how easy it was to annoy Charis before she spotted Amara walking on ahead too, "Hey," She hurried to catch up, "How did you do that? How did you know where the apple was going to be? You have to show me that." Frieda raised the apple with her dagger in to look at it again.

"You have to anticipate where the target is going to be, not just aim for where it is," Amara explained as she walked straight towards Zeno, Frieda following behind oblivious.

"Can you teach me?"

"I have so much to teach you," Amara turned and smiled at Frieda, who began to open her mouth, "but it can wait until tomorrow."

Frieda went to object when she saw Zeno staring at her suggestively and her cheeks began to grow warm as she realised what they wanted to do. "Tomorrow," She nodded to Amara before she turned and walked away.

No longer bored, Frieda removed the dagger from the apple and stepped into the training area where she proceeded to begin throwing the apple into the air and then anticipating where it was going to be to catch it with her dagger.

She would become Domitius's most skilled gladiator and then she would be able to gain her freedom, and find her sister.

* * *

Britannica

Stepping out of the woods with his hand curled around a thick walking stick, Eoghan stepped into the overgrown clearing and smelt the stale scent of ash. It had been almost four years since his village had been razed to the ground but he could still feel the fire on his flesh and the choking sensation of smoke in his throat.

It was early morning and the long grass crackled beneath his boots as he walked but it was a sound he would take any day over the scrunch of dry sand. As he walked further into the village, memories of fire and romans upon horseback flashing through his mind, he came to an abrupt halt outside Frieda's home.

He stood there for he did not know how long just gazing into the charred debris of what used to be her family home. Frieda would have laid her head down within those walls and never have dreamed that one day he would betray her. Eoghan would not have dreamed it either and nor would he have believed the man he had become since that night.

He thought of her, wondering what happened after he had escaped. He was chased for days by hounds and men alike, he barely stopped to breathe when he would hear their barking in the distance and set off again. He did not know what happened but after a while the barking stopped and he couldn't hear any shouting from the guards, but he kept going.

It took him a while to navigate himself through the towns and cities but soon he found work and was able to save enough to purchase passage to Britannica. He never told anyone who he was and he kept the brand on his arm well-hidden, and years later he had finally achieved what he had set out to do; he had returned home.

He knew his family were dead so there was no real reason for him to return to his village except one, Alena. She was Frieda's younger sister and knowing that Frieda may very well be dead by now he owed it to her to find Alena and keep her safe.

Taking one last look at Frieda's family home, he turned around and kept walking.

THE END.