by Oliver Ma
nothing but a scratchy wool
pants. His head was clouded with the dreadful vision.
... The Romans had surrounded them before they decided to
run. For a while, no one did anything, not even Lunan. Then, one
Roman kicked Lunan. Lunan cried out. The man forced dying Lunan
to his feet... A sharp red blade whistled, and blood spluttered
everywhere... Eric and Zing looked away...Lunan twitched. Something
round fell to the already red marsh, Lunan’s blond head！...
All the Romans came up and threw Lunan’s headless body into a
stream. It floated down with many other dead bodies...The men put
Lunan’s head into a pouch as bounty, and then reached for Eric
and Zing.
...They ran, for their lives. Zing heard javelins whistling past
him. Eric faltered behind him. Aspear had run straight through Eric’s
leg. Zing tried to help Eric to his feet.
...The Romans caught up and a frantic tug of war began. Eric
groaned in between. Zing knew he couldn’t hold up long, and
let go of Eric. The Romans and Eric fell heavily aside. The one
who had butchered Lunan kicked Eric violently. 4 Romans came
after Zing while two others went after Eric. Zing had little chance
to get away.
Eric had been lightly treated by medics and felt dizzy. He
doubted it if Zing was still alive.
A noise came from outside. Zing, all bruised and cut, stumbled
in, dead. His black hair messed up, and his face looked like
he had been killed slowly. Eric sobbed until Zing moved. After a
while, Zing came back to consciousness.
The blood brothers laughed and cried at the same time. Zing
had been chased down, he was alive, though. Zing sobbed,“They
had caught me and tortured me till I was unconscious...They
kicked and batted me...When I came to, I was here with you. ”
Beren had died. Claude had died. Lunan had died. The elephant
driver had died. Only Zing was with him. Eric worried,
“Wonder what they will do to us. ”
A large man came in carrying cold pig liver. Eric muttered,
“Nowwe’l
l die. ”
But the man with poker face said, “This is your dinner.”He
Captives of the Romans
left the liver on the table and left.
As Eric peeked at the cold liver, Zing started eating by huge
mouthful.
Eric wondered,“How could you eat when you’re about to be
beheaded？”
Zing looked up and said, “Better to die with a full stomach
than hungry. ”So Eric came too.
After they were full and the pile of liver was gone, Eric started
thinking about Siri. He asked himself,“What is the strong headed
girl doing now？ Probably sleeping, or knitting, with no idea
where I am now”, he signed, “I don’t know where I will be the
next minute myself”.
Eric felt a pain on his back. He groaned and sat up and stared
face to face to a Roman man. Eric immediately disliked him. The
man had a hard, cruel face. Eric could tell that the man thought
they didn’t even deserve to be called dogs. With one hand, he lifted
Eric up. With the other, he lifted Zing up. Eric and Zing kicked
and yelled. The man only tightened his grip on their necks. When
they calmed down, the man took them to a line of soldiers, and the
troop started marching.
Two Roman soldiers kept stabbing at their sore shoulders as
if they were animals. After what felt like hours with Carthaginian
country man staring at them, Eric and Zing found out they were
somewhere at a bay in the coast of North Africa.
The troop were drove onto a large ship. The second they got
on, they were forced by a new pair of men to a large chamber. It
was the rower chamber.
Eric was chained onto the chair with Zing. Their ankles were
bound together. An angry man with a whip in his hand was shouting,“
row, row. ”
Eric had been whipped twice and Zing once because they
weren’t rowing fast enough for the man. They had got nothing to
eat for 17 hours and only rowed and rowed. Finally, a man, a fellowrower,
to be precise, cheered. He was instantly whipped.
They had arrived at...Rome.
They were unbound and unshackled, and then, kicked out of
the ship. In humble clothes, they were forced to march around
town on their bare feet. After that, they were led towards the town
square, and stopped there finally.
A man marched them onto a platform. They were told that
they would be sold as slaves.
“Young, well fed Carthaginian slaves, fresh from Carthage,
they are useful heavy labors, anybody interested？”chanted the
man,“Do we have anyone who wants gladiators？They’ll be perfect.
”Eric watched as the price rose slowly. He was fascinated,
for in Carthage, the systemworked differently.
An elderly man with scarred face and muscular arms handed
200 gold pieces to the slave recorder, who handed him Eric
and Zing.
The old man took them to a large square as a mid-aged man
chased after them, trying to force the old man to give the slaves to
Slave of the Romans
him.“I need them for farming, old man. I’l
l buy them from you
for 250 gold. ”
“No. They are not property but humans. At your house they
will be mistreated. ”
“Come on, old swine, I’l
l at least give themfood and shelter.”
“Leave, now”
The mid-aged man thrust a fist at the old man. The old man
easily dodged it. He parried the remaining blows too. One fist shot
out and the mid-aged man tumbled back, headfirst.
The surrounding people looked at the mid-aged man while
the old man led the two boys away. Eric looked back one more
time to see the mid-aged man. The man’s nose was bleeding. He
was sputtering blood. Eric feared that he would soon die.
The old man started to introduce himself, “I am Brutus,
the manager of the gladiatorial contest. I used to be a gladiator
myself. ”
After a while, Brutus asked,“Are you two friends?”
Eric nodded.
Zing added,“Blood brothers. ”
The old man nodded.
Eric asked,“Why did you ask？”
The old man looked up as if Eric had kicked him. Then he
said, “I used to be a young man like you two, and I had a lot of
friends. I was a solider too.
“In one battle, a friend and I were captured. We were
made gladiators. We learned to fight. We spent our heart to it
because if we didn’t, we would be killed. The manager was
mean. He was, even evil.
“One day he found out I had friends. The very next day, we
were pitted against each other. We tried not to kill each other. The
fight was a sorrowone.”
He paused as if it pained him. Then he continued,“The manager
got so angry that he made us stand side by side. He took a
spear and flung it at us. It would have killed us both if my friend
hadn’t sacrificed his life. He pushed me aside. The spear went
right thro
ugh him and killed him instantly...It was terrible...He was
speared to the ground where we both were supposed to be. ”
Tears were streaming down the old man’s face. He had
seemed so fierce when he killed the mid-aged man.
The old man continued,“I became the best gladiator after that
and was made manager of the gladiatorial contest.
“My job is to choose which two gladiators entered the duel
with each other in the arena. I am very determined not to let you
two fight each other. ”
Zing and Eric were relieved.
Eric and Zing arrived at the gladiator school and met Roan,
the instructor. He told themthat they shall both be swordsmen.
Brutus smiled. He had purposely arranged it this way.
Gladiators rarely fought against each other when they were the
same type. Swordsmen were armored gladiators with shields and
swords. Compared to other type, swordsmen would be hard to
be killed.
Eric and Zing received their weapons, wooden swords with
lead weights. They were made to swear in front of the God Mars
that they would obey the instructor’s every wish, allow themselves
to be chained and not try to escape.
It was about two in the afternoon. They ate a meal of cheese,
olive and bread. A masseur massaged them at a chamber to prepare
themfor top fighting condition.
They then met their squire who took them to their bed chambers.
They were assigned to chamber 119 and 120. There was a
Gladiator School
connected window between the two chambers so they could talk to
each other.
All those were arranged by Brutus.
Now Eric saw what Brutus meant when he said,“The gladiators
will be treated well. ”
A bed with satin pillow and silk cover rested in the middle of
the chamber. The squire brought him snacks of sugar cane. Life
was good.
The next day, Eric and Zing woke up early. They chatted with
each other on the window sill. They could not visit each other for
the doors were locked. Since the doors would be open at 8:30, it
would be quite a while.
Eric asked,“Do you want to be a gladiator？”
“I don’t know, I guess it’s OK except for gladiatorial contest
day. ”
“I know. I think everyone would rather be a gladiator than
a slave. ”
“What if we are forced to enter the duel in the arena？”asked
Zing. This was his biggest concern.
“We won’t. Brutus assured that.”
“But what if something goes wrong？”
“Well, ”Eric