Stowaway Slaves
Page 1
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CHAPTER I - THE ESCAPE
CHAPTER II - THE WRATH
CHAPTER III - THE HARBOR
CHAPTER IV - THE SUVIUS TOWER
CHAPTER V - HIDING OUT
COMING SOON
ARENA COMBAT
CHARACTER PROFILE TEO
WEAPON PROFILE: PIRATE WEAPONS
Other Gladiator Boy titles to collect:
1. A HERO’S QUEST
2. ESCAPE FROM EVIL
3. STOWAWAY SLAVES
4. THE REBELS’ ASSAULT
GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Text copyright © 2009 David Grimstone. Illustrations copyright © 2009 James de la Rue. Published in Great Britain in 2009 by Hachette UK. First published in the United States in 2010 by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.
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eISBN : 978-1-101-44425-2
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For Chiara Stone, my beautiful wife.
I would like to dedicate the entire Gladiator Boy series to Terry Pratchett. There is no writer, living or dead, for whom I have greater respect. Thank you for everything.
ANCIENT ITALY
PREVIOUSLY IN GLADIATOR BOY
Decimus Rex has escaped Arena Primus in the company of a fellow slave, Olu Umbika. Together, the pair have managed to do what no one else has ever done—flee the clutches of Slavious Doom. However, with the overlord’s evil servant in pursuit of them, it seems only a matter of time before they are recaptured.
CHAPTER I
THE ESCAPE
Slavious Doom was well-known in Avellino, and not simply because his arena loomed over the little town like an angry giant. The overlord was famous for his cruelty, and there was much evidence of this in the tortured screams that regularly erupted from the arena floor.
Despite these fears, the townsfolk managed to go about their everyday lives, largely ignoring the fiendish activities that took place on their borders.
But now nothing could hide the army of arena guards that marched through the gates of Avellino and began barging their way into people’s homes.
All over the town, muscled feet connected with old doors, splintering weak wood and forcing it away from the frames.
Men, women, and children were thrown aside like rag dolls as the guards, many of them expressionless and moving as though they were being controlled by a particularly ruthless puppet master, overturned tables and chairs. The guards ripped open bedding and ransacked cupboards in their efforts to find the escaped slaves.
Beneath the town, an even more frantic search was taking place . . .
The dogs raced along the tunnel, throwing up foul water all around them as their enormous paws sprang off the sewer floor. Despite all being part of the same pack, they were biting and clawing one another at every turn . . . and only seemed to concentrate on their goal when the sewer opened up before them.
The guards who were supposed to be handling the dogs were in deep trouble, and they knew it. The pack had broken free soon after they’d entered the tunnels, breaking their leashes and wounding several of the guards in the process. Most of the dogs were deformed by years of savage beatings and the rest were simply deranged. If the escaped children were in the tunnels, they wouldn’t survive an encounter with the dogs . . . and the guards had clear instructions from Doom to bring Decimus Rex back alive.
“Down there!” screamed the guard captain, a vein standing out on his neck as he splashed madly through the sewer. “You with the sword—take the opposite tunnel! We need to get those dogs back NOW!”
The guards broke off in different directions as the tortured howls of the dogs echoed in the distance.
“This is crazy,” said Olu, trying to cover his nose and mouth to avoid breathing in the tunnel’s horrific stench. “We’re going to get caught and thrown into the dungeon like all the others. We’ll never be heard from again!”
“Nah,” said Decimus, turning to Olu with a wide smile on his face. “The aqueduct is the LAST place they’ll look. It would be different if we’d gone missing INSIDE the arena, but we didn’t. They KNOW we scaled the wall, so they’ll be looking outside—they’ve probably raided half of Avellino by now. When that fails, they’ll assume we’re miles away! Besides, even if they do follow us down here, they’ll never find us—this place is a maze!”
The two slaves hurried along the low tunnel, trying to keep to one side to avoid splashing through the sludgy mix of filth and foul-smelling water that rushed beneath them.
After a few seconds, Decimus stopped and threw back a hand to block Olu from overtaking him.
“What is it?” said the boy, his eyes scanning the tunnel ahead of them.
“A grate,” Decimus whispered as voices became audible in the distance. “It’s the one we always passed in the tunnel when they led us out.”
“And that tunnel is always crawling with guards.”
Decimus nodded, and craned his neck to see around the bend in the tunnel. A shaft of light flowed from the grate and penetrated the gloom.
“It’s going to be difficult to get around, so we need to choose our moment carefully.”
Decimus waited a few more seconds, then crawled around the bend. Olu took a deep breath and followed. By the time he had negotiated the curve in the tunnel, Decimus was already fast approaching the grate and its revealing spear of light. Olu bunched his hands into fists in order to stop them from shaking; when Decimus moved through the light, he was almost afraid to watch. Then, in an instant, it was over . . . and Decimus was on the far side of the grate, beckoning Olu forward with one hand and raising a finger to his lips with the other.
There were voices directly above them, coming from two guards who had evidently avoided being recruited for the hunt but were busy talking about it.
Olu tried to block out their conversation as he crept along beneath them.
“What will Doom do if he
finds ’em?” said one. “Do you think he’ll just continue the trials as normal?”
“He’ll beat ’em both within an inch o’ their lives,” said the other. “He might even kill ’em, if he’s . . . hey . . . what was that?”
Olu froze on the edge of the light stream. As far as he could tell, he hadn’t made a sound. Nevertheless, the guards had evidently heard something. He hunkered down in the shadows on the edge of the grate and waited, still shaking with fear. On the far side of the light, Decimus had a troubled, questioning look on his face.
“Look lively,” said the first guard, above them. “Someone’s coming.”
The two guards fell silent as several shadows crossed the grate, blocking out the light as they went. Olu took the opportunity to make a dash for it, using the marching troops as cover. He reached Decimus just as the guards continued their conversation.
“That was Hain’s lot, wasn’t it? I wonder what they’re doing here?”
“I think they’ve got attack dogs in the sewers. If you ask me, that’s risk—”
Decimus and Olu didn’t hear the end of the guard’s sentence as a sudden splash in the tunnel ahead caused them both to scramble back against the wall.
There, in the distant gloom, was a heavy-set guard. He’d dropped into the sewer through a grate farther along the tunnel and was proceeding toward them.
“Back!” Olu whispered frantically. “We need to go back!”
“No,” Decimus shouted, grabbing his friend by the arm and driving him against the sewer wall. “There’s at least two guards above that grate!”
As his voice echoed loudly in the tunnel, two things happened at once.
First, the guard in the tunnel ahead spotted them in the shadows and charged forward with a loud cry. Then, the grate above them was wrenched aside, and the two guards dropped into the sewer beside them.
Decimus scrambled backward and slipped into the river of murky water, one hand clamped over his mouth. Olu simply froze where he was standing. Neither of them noticed that the sound of distant howling had grown steadily louder with every passing second.
“You boys stay right where you are,” warned the solitary guard, drawing his sword and holding it in front of him.
“I’d listen to him if I were you,” echoed one of the two guards behind the boys. “We’ve got you now; don’t make it worse by trying anything . . . foolish.”
Decimus gritted his teeth, and in that second Olu knew that his friend was about to do something very, very foolish indeed.
Without a single word of warning, Decimus charged the two guards behind him. In the last split second, however, as they were raising their fists and preparing to tackle him, he suddenly changed direction and barreled headfirst into the guard on the other side of the tunnel. The boy moved with such speed that his enemy was taken completely by surprise, and the pair crashed to the floor in a complicated web of punches and kicks.
The howling in the tunnels reached fever pitch, and even Olu was distracted from his fear. He kicked himself away from the sewer wall and took up a defensive stance, seemingly inviting the two guards to attack.
Then the situation in the tunnel exploded into chaos.
At first, Olu thought the guards had both made a desperate lunge for him. It was only when they crashed into the water that he saw the dogs. They leaped upon the back of each guard, their drooling jaws working madly as they bit into every exposed piece of flesh they could find.
Olu leaped back and, turning on his heels, splashed through the tunnel toward Decimus and the remaining guard. Locking his hands together, he swung around with his elbow and glanced a well aimed blow at the side of the guard’s head. The big man, who had managed to overpower Decimus and was attempting to choke the young slave into unconsciousness, yelped as the blow sent a sharp pain through his neck . . . and released his grip. Decimus used the momentary advantage to draw his legs back. Then, with every ounce of strength he could muster, he drove both feet squarely into the chest of the guard. The heavy brute flew backward, just as a third rabid dog rounded the bend in the tunnel. Olu flung himself flat, plunging into the water as the monstrous animal leaped over him and landed, in a hail of spittle and filth, on the guard’s shoulders.
“Go!” Decimus screamed at the top of his voice, snatching up the big man’s sword. “Go! Go! Now!”
He and Olu thundered along the tunnel, taking every new passage they could find and trying to put as much distance between them and the hunting party as they could. Every few seconds they would splash to an abrupt halt as one of the savage dogs tore across a passage in front of them. Neither Olu nor Decimus had any doubt that the dogs would tear them limb from limb if their paths crossed.
They ran on, left, right, ahead, right again. “Rats!” Olu cried, pointing to an army of giant vermin that spilled out from a junction up ahead. “Look at the size of them!” He collapsed against the wall and, fighting to catch his breath, he whispered, “Which way should we go?”
“They’re both dark and they both stink to the heavens,” said Decimus. “Which way did those rats come from?”
“The passage on the left. Why?”
“Rats go to the surface for food.
We were always seeing them around the entrance, don’t you remember?”
Olu nodded. “Left it is, then.”
The two slaves peered into the new passage, and then began to crawl into the gloom. They hadn’t taken more than a few steps, however, when a pair of bright, demented eyes flashed in front of them. Pawing slowly out of the shadows, the dog snarled deeply, a low and guttural rasp that grew in pitch as it emerged into the meager light of the junction.
Decimus raised the sword and, to Olu’s astonishment, started to growl back. He also, very carefully, turned the sword around so that the blade was facing down, toward his feet and away from the animal.
“What are you doing?” said the stunned slave, taking several steps toward the junction. “Have you gone mad? What—”
Decimus curled his lips so that his teeth and gums were bared. Then he drew in a deep breath and blew a powerful burst of air through his teeth, spraying saliva over the animal as the noise intensified.
“That will make it madder, you idiot!”
“Grrrrraaaaaaargh,” Decimus continued. “Grraaargghhh!”
Olu knew the dog was going to leap before it happened, but it soon became apparent that Decimus knew it, too. Instead of diving aside or attempting to dodge the enraged animal, the slave stood his ground and only made his move at the moment when Olu was sure he was doomed.
Gripping the sword tightly in both hands, Decimus brought the pommel up with such ferocity that Olu heard the sickening crack inside his head seconds before he actually heard it in reality.
The pommel slammed into the drooling animal’s jaw and it dropped to the ground, hitting the water with a loud splash.
“Now we run,” Decimus whispered to Olu. “And we don’t stop running until we both collapse.”
CHAPTER II
THE WRATH
Drin Hain strode along the corridor, his black robes billowing out behind him. Slavious Doom’s shadowy apprentice reminded many of the guards who served him of a dark shadow, a hungry ghost who appeared on the battlements of abandoned castles, half demented and hungry for blood. An aura of icy calm surrounded him, and at times it seemed as though he could actually smell the fear in those he chose to question.
Today’s unfortunate victim was a jailer named Truli. The man cowered before Hain, his eyes focused firmly on one of the figure’s narrow shoulders. It was rumored in the arena that Hain had been horribly burned as a child, and the sight of his face was something that, once seen, no man could ever forget. Truli was incredibly grateful that the hood concealed much of what lay within.
“Your ineptitude has allowed these slaves to escape,” said the rasping voice. “Therefore, you will seek to avoid a painful death by following my every command WITHOUT question. Do you understand?”
“Anything you wish, I will do gladly,” he whispered. “In the name and glorious mercy of our lord and master, the great Slavious Doo—”
“Take me to the dungeons.”
Truli quickly leaped to his feet and plucked a ring of keys from his belt.
“This way, Master,” he said. “Where would you like to start? The cells are divided int—”
“Not the cells, Truli . . . the DUNGEONS. Beneath the arena.”
“Y-yes, sir.” Truli moved off in an awkward series of limps, but seemed almost hesitant to comply with the orders. “A v-very unusual request, Master. I was always told NEVER to take people down to the—”
“Your orders have changed.”
The jailer didn’t say another word. Reaching the end of the corridor, he used his keys to open a vast iron portal that seemed to consist almost entirely of locks, bolts, and chains. Eventually, the door was opened and Truli disappeared into the smoky depths beyond. Drin Hain dismissed his personal guards and followed the jailer down. The corridors below were dank but extremely well lit, with mounted braziers positioned at regular intervals on the ancient walls.
The two men walked in silence for a time, as two flights of steep and dusty steps gave way to a long, sloping corridor that itself led into yet another subterranean stairwell. Eventually, the moans and wails of various tormented souls indicated that they were drawing near the dungeons.