Chapter 9

Dianna remembered the feeling when the earth shook.

She had her hand pressed against the dirt wall to steady herself when the hammering began; she could feel the tremors run down through the earth and up her arm.

It shook her entire being with fear.

Dianna was surrounded by darkness and as she felt the earth shake with such force around her she could only come to the conclusion that the Gods were angry.

They were angry that they were escaping. Jupiter was angry that Dianna had failed to kill Krista and once again she was allowed to defy Rome.

She had pulled her arm back from the soil, damp with the tears of slaves, when she had seen Artorius heading towards her like a beacon of hope.

The torch in his hand helped to banish the darkness and set her mind back on track.

As she saw him Dianna realised that it was not the Gods who had shaken the earth, but Gaius Aurelius as he attacked the villa.

Remembering Gaius’s words back in his tent, before Dianna had been shipped to Marcus Threasius’s villa, she turned and started to run with the others as fear settled among them.

Gaius would kill her like any other slave here and Dianna had to live.

For the moment, Dianna and Krista’s wishes were the same; survival.

But soon they had broken out into the heart of a forest; the air no longer clawed at her skin like a disease, moonbeams lit the path ahead and they had the Roman army to their backs.

It looked like she was finally free to set back upon the path of revenge when she caught sight of Artorius.

There was a tightness in his face as he spoke to Frieda that caused Dianna to become unsettled once again.

The stream of slaves and gladiators carried on walking away from the villa, unaware of the predicament that was unfolding before their very eyes.

Stepping to the side, away from the crowds, Dianna watched Artorius and Frieda speaking in hushed whispers as they looked in the direction of where they had just come.

Walking towards them, Dianna started to pick up on their conversation as the wind carried their words.

“She should have been here by now,” Artorius spoke hoarsely; his eyes frantic as he searched the crowds.

Frieda looked unnerved but nothing in her face matched the fear in Artorius’s eyes and as Dianna watched them she knew they speaking of Krista.

Dianna’s hand automatically tightened around the dagger Frieda had given her.

“Lead the others back to camp,” Artorius instructed Frieda, “I’m going to go after Krista,”

Frieda nodded her head and Dianna could tell that she did not like the idea of babysitting the masses but she could do nothing as Artorius turned and started to run back towards the villa.

Dianna followed him with her eyes and knew that this was her chance; Krista was alone in the forest.

If Dianna could find her and succeed, the others would think Krista had fallen to one of Gaius’s soldiers.

Holding her dagger against her chest, Dianna slipped from view and chased after Artorius.

She had to find Krista before he did.

* * *

Krista was breathing hard.

She had spent the last few weeks involved in the running of the camp and making strategically advantageous decisions than in battle.

And as she charged through the forest, jumping over fallen logs and darting under branches, Krista was noticing the decline in her stamina.

She couldn’t quite seem to get enough air into her lungs, her muscles were beginning to ache, and adrenaline was pumping through her veins as she kept the image of the fleeing roman soldier in her sight.

She wasn’t sure how far she had run already but she was starting to get bored of it as the distance between the two of them remained ever the same.

Krista could not let him escape, he knew valuable information about their location and she had to prove to herself, and everybody else, that she was still capable of this.

Soon she would not be able to hide her swelling abdomen and her ability will be called into question.

Krista was a warrior first; everything else came second.

Gritting her teeth against the raging ache in her chest from lack of oxygen, Krista planted her foot against the oak of a fallen tree and hurtled herself into the air.

Using her momentum, Krista travelled over twenty feet before she landed back to the ground and carried on with her pursuit.

The soldier was closer now; Krista could make out the ghoulish features of his face and the trembling in his lips as he gazed at her over his shoulder.

Krista could feel his fear as she closed in; it brought a smile to her face as she knew that at any moment he will stop to weigh up his options; to run or to stay and fight.

It will only be for a second but it will be long enough for what Krista needed to do.

Watching his feet start to slow, Krista flipped her sword in the air until she was gripping the blade and turned her body to the side, her arm pulling back as she continued to run.

And then he stopped; his head starting to turn frantically.

Sensing her opportunity, Krista judged the distance as she pulled her arm back another millimetre before she let her sword fly.

It flipped through the air, missing trees and cutting through branches.

Krista watched, eyes wide, as her sword hurtled towards the roman soldier; the man’s head only now starting to look behind him.

Too late, Krista thought with a smile; he was dead the minute he stopped.

But just as Krista waited to hear the dull thud of impact, the soldier dropped down and bolted to the left leaving her sword to imbed itself in the tree bark.

Words failed her as she watched his body jogging to the left before she turned and gazed back at her sword that had missed its mark.

It was impossible.

An angry bark of frustration left her lips as she turned and chased after the soldier with a newfound fury.

Her fingers were itching to wrap around his flesh and break a few bones; she may no longer have her sword but she did not need that to kill him.

Her boots barely touched the ground as she raced through the trees, running parallel to the Roman soldier, when he made another frantic detour.

Crashing through undergrowth and taking the lesser path, Krista scrunched up her face in annoyance as she altered her own trajectory and flew after him.

She was closer than she was before and in the perfect position to dive into him, bringing him to the ground along with her, but that was no longer an option.

Not for the first time in this fight, Krista cursed her new predicament.

Altering tactic, Krista got to within six feet of the fleeing Roman before she bunched up her knees and jumped into the air.

Flipping over the top of his head, Krista twisted in mid-air until she landed in front of him, face to face.

Both of them took a second to pause before the Roman’s face, flushed red with exertion from having to run in heavy armour, changed.

Krista could see in his eyes what he was about to do so, as he raised his sword, Krista jumped back from a swipe at her abdomen.

Lacking a sword, Krista was at the obvious disadvantage, as she pushed the young man to his limit.

It was kill or be killed, and Krista had already demonstrated her urge to kill him.

The man had nothing left to lose as he put all his strength behind his sword and swung wildly at her person.

Darting to the left to avoid a strike at her shoulder, Krista ducked a swing at her head before she straightened up, flattened her hand, and drove her palm up into his nose.

The man stumbled back, exclaiming in pain as a deafening crack echoed through the trees.

His exhaustion and poor footwork caused his blade to tip downwards, allowing Krista an entry and gripped his wrist in her left hand and started to squeeze.

Krista could feel the bones in his hand creaking under her hold, the man’s face twisting in pain, before his fingers parted involuntarily and his blade crashed to the ground.

She continued to squeeze his hand tighter, relishing in his pain, as he fell to the ground on his knees, when she was alerted to the sound of approaching footsteps.

Keeping her hold on the man, Krista darted a look over her shoulder to see a wall of approaching Roman soldiers.

Numbering in the tens, Krista quickly turned back to the soldier she had in her grasp and knocked him unconscious, his eyes widening in fear just before they closed once again.

Letting his body fall to the floor in a heap, Krista swiped his sword from the ground and turned to face the approaching soldiers.

A group of twenty well-rested soldiers, spaced less than three feet apart, were heading straight for her with swords drawn ready for combat. Their eyes filled with the lust of killing her.

Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, Krista called upon every reserve she had left to fight even as her mind realised what had happened.

This was a trap, Krista licked her lips in anger; the roman soldier had led her here, directly into the path of his friends who were waiting for her.

Unable to think about that now, Krista glanced to her left and right where the soldiers were slowly starting to move in around her.

This is what Krista had been missing; this is what she was born for.

Taking a few hesitant steps backwards until her back was to the tree, her hair falling in front of her face, Krista looked up through her lashes at the approaching soldiers.

They formed a circle around her and the tree; a circle that was forever closing in.

Krista waited until they were less than five feet away before she made her move.

A smile crept onto her lips, unnerving the men who could see her face, as she bent her knees and back flipped up the entire length of the tree trunk the rested behind her; her body flipping no less than three times vertically.

Feeling the bark rough against her the skin of her palms, she did her best to keep hold of the sword as she landed on a thick branch that protruded out over the top of the soldiers.

In the time it took them to blink, Krista had jumped back down the other side, landed behind the soldiers and ran her sword across their backs; eliminating four soldiers in a matter of seconds.

Their bodies crashed to the ground dead as she started to step away and set herself back up for the next fight; her eyes watching the remaining sixteen soldiers closely.

Waiting for the sound of a solider stepping out of line, Krista felt her mouth go dry, her breath coming in short gasps as she fought to get control over her breathing.

But this was about survival; Krista was on her own, possibly leagues away from her army, and when it’s about survival you always find a way to keep fighting.

So that’s what Krista did; she found an inner strength that made her want to live and she held on to that.

As the first soldier stepped up behind her, his sword raised to hit her in the back, Krista ducked and twisted on the balls of her feet, her sword finding purchase in the soldier’s abdomen, his guts spilling out onto the ground.

One by one the soldiers came, testing her to her limits, as she tried to attack and yet defend at the same time.

The more intense the fighting became the more clouded Krista’s mind was with fears of what would happen if someone successfully struck her stomach.

Before she had discovered that she was growing life inside of her, Krista had not cared for she knew that she would never let anyone get close enough to try such a move.

But now, all Krista could think about was the ‘what if’s rather than the next move.

And that was hindering her ability to fight as she reacted too slowly and a blade cut across the skin on the back of her leg.

Buckling under exhaustion and the sudden pain, Krista strained to keep herself upright on her left leg as she continued to battle off the remaining soldiers.

Krista found herself, for the first time in a while, needing someone.

“Artorius,” Krista whispered, trying to call for him, as sweat poured off her skin.

Raising her left arm to grip a soldier’s wrist, keeping his sword away from her head, Krista sent her own blade into his throat.

The blood poured from his lips as Krista removed her sword and let his body drop to the ground as she turned to the next soldier.

“Artorius!” Krista called for him, her heart yearning for him to be here when she needed him, but he was nowhere to be found.

Krista suddenly found herself trusting this Greek Champion and yet she didn’t know when that had happened; she thought herself unable to trust anybody.

And yet, in her first test as a leader, she found herself calling his name.

No, Krista shook off her moment of weakness in defiance, She didn’t need anybody.

And yet even as she thought it, she allowed another sword to get past her defence and slice open the skin on the side of her neck.

Stumbling back, Krista lifted her hand and pressed her fingers against the sticky liquid that now ran down her front.

Rage eclipsed her heart as she let out a scream through gritted teeth and stood to kill the soldier that had touched her when an arrowhead suddenly protruded from the front of the man’s face.

Pausing mid-strike, Krista heard the sudden whisp of arrows slicing through the air and seconds later the dull thud as they impacted the bodies of the Roman soldiers.

Their corpses fell to the floor like flies.

Pressing her back against the tree trunk, Krista searched the area for the archer even when she knew it was impossible to see anything.

Panting hard, Krista knew she was vulnerable when a new sound entered her mind.

“Krista!” Artorius’s voice screamed through the forest in rage as she turned her head to the side and gazed at the stampeding Greek that charged through everything in his path trying to reach her.

“No,” Krista panicked, her eyes darting back to the trees where an unknown archer lay in the midst, waiting for people to shoot down.

“Artorius!” Krista turned and started to stumble towards him, not caring that her back was to the archer and that she could be shot down at any moment.

But as she rushed towards him, tripping over fallen roman soldiers, a movement behind Artorius caught her eye.

Her footsteps grew slow and heavy as Krista squinted, looking into the distance as she made out the figure of a Roman soldier dressed in the red tunic and armour; an armed bow raised at Artorius’s back.

“No!” Krista screamed as she looked back at Artorius; his face a mask of concentration as he tried to reach her side but he was too far away.

Krista couldn’t get to him in time.

“No,” Krista breathed helplessly.

* * *

Wait until you see Krista in battle; then you’ll know why so many people look to her.

That’s what Frieda had told Dianna and yet as she stood at the top of the hill, gazing down at Krista, Dianna could not see what was so special.

Dianna knew that she had been a gladiator in the Colosseum but she could not help but be amazed she had survived so long before she had murdered her father.

As she looked at Krista now, resting against the tree in defeat, as blood covered her body along with sweat and defeat, Dianna could not see the fascination.

Maybe she had arrived too late; maybe Krista’s battle skills only extended to the first few minutes of a fight.

Either way, Krista was in the perfect state for Dianna to kill but she could not do it.

Artorius had found her first and would soon be by her side.

And whilst Krista was exhausted and an easy kill; Artorius was not. His rippling muscles alone threatened to break Dianna in two.

Dianna was at threat of having every presumption about Krista being broken as she started to limp towards Artorius when a different tone in her voice came over the Gladiatrix.

Dianna narrowed her eyes towards Krista as she took a few hesitant steps forward and saw that Krista wasn’t looking at Artorius.

Her voice was tinged with concern as Dianna followed her gaze and let out a startled gasp as she saw it too.

In the bushes in front of her, there was a Roman archer concealed taking aim at-

Dianna’s eyes widened.

He was aiming at Artorius.

“No,” Dianna whispered under her breath; she could not let Artorius be killed.

The dagger in her hand turned heavy as Dianna gazed at the blade; her fingers turning white from where she was gripping it so hard.

She knew she didn’t have long.

Earn her trust. That’s what her aunt, the Empress, had told Dianna.

And what better way to earn the trust of a Gladiator than to kill their enemy?

Dianna prayed that her aunt would forgive her as she tried to approach as quietly as possible.

She didn’t have long before the archer let his arrow fly and all her chances would be lost.

Not thinking too hard about it, Dianna focused on putting one foot in front of the other when she lost her footing on the small incline and let out a small yelp, alerting the archer to her presence.

Her eyes widened and the breath left her body as he turned his arrow on her.

Her vision focused on the tip of the arrowhead that threatened to take her very life as the archer started to release his grip on the arrow.

A squeak of shock erupted from her lips as her foot got caught on a rock and Dianna was pitched forward, the arrow darting over her head as she tumbled down the incline.

Hurtling into the archer at full speed, Dianna felt pain erupt down her side as the tip of his bow pressed against her stomach.

Raising her arm, Dianna squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as she thrust her dagger into the man’s flesh as hard as she could.

Dianna was surprised at the resistance the man’s skin put up; acting like a barrier against her assault but soon all barriers failed and her dagger sunk into his flesh.

A warm liquid started to weep over her hand, making her grip on the dagger slippery until the man’s hold on her loosened and he simply fell away until she was stood with her dagger raised in the air.

Dianna suddenly took a big gulp of air when she realised she hadn’t breathed once in the entire affair and her chest felt like it was about to explode.

Turning her eyes away from the man she had just killed, Dianna looked up to see Krista and Artorius gazing up at her, their arms around each other.

Dianna had come to kill Krista but ended up killing Krista’s enemy instead.

Everything suddenly became very complicated for the Emperor’s bastard daughter.