The Gladiator's Downfall

by Kristen Banet

  Which had reminded him that he shouldn’t have been kissing her at all.

  It had physically hurt to stop.

  So, he had launched into explaining their language, after admitting how he felt. He forgot to tell her that amanra and bodanra were lovers in more than just a casual way. Casual relationships were completely ignored by Andinna society. But to call someone a lover…The Andinna had no formal terms to differentiate between wife and lover, or husband and lover. They were the same thing to their people, even if the relationship was temporary. He wondered if it would ever matter.

  When the dinner bell rang, he knew Rainev’s fight would be starting soon, and he stood up to go get his little brother. He should have left earlier, but he had been too lost in his thoughts and watching her sleep, worried that if he left her, everything would go wrong.

  He left her room quickly, knowing he needed to hurry, but was immediately stopped by Varkan. “I heard she was injured?” he asked quickly, trying to look around Matesh, who filled the door.

  “She was. It’s not a secret.” Matesh didn’t move, not a single budge. “Why?”

  “I mean, it’s never been serious, but they say you helped her walk away from the gate,” Varkan answered, shrugging. “I was worried.” He didn’t seem worried in Matesh’s eyes. A bolt of distrust ran through him. “Well, with you watching her back, she should be fine. I’ll leave you be. Oh, and have you talked to her? About joining the group? Banding together?” Varkan smiled at him.

  “Not yet. The games have kept us busy,” Mat reminded him. “It’ll have to wait until after.”

  “Ah, a pity.” Varkan was still smiling as he walked away.

  Mat hated that. He needed to get Rainev, but now he didn’t want to move away from Mave. He was at an impasse. Varkan went into his own room, and Matesh hoped that the other male was just bright like Rainev, always looking on the bright side, but he didn’t count on it.

  Matesh looked down the hall at the guard. He could ask for a favor, or just information. He moved to the Elvasi guard, who opened the door without looking at him.

  “Sir, may I ask something?” Matesh tried for submissive, keeping his eyes down.

  “Yes. Hurry up though, slave.”

  “Do you keep an eye out for people entering each other’s rooms in the hall?”

  “Yes. They aren’t allowed into each other’s spaces without being invited. Fear of stolen weapons and such,” the guard answered. “Now move along.”

  “Yes sir. Thank you, sir,” Matesh nodded his head in an attempt of a bow then began moving through the tunnels to the gate he and Mave had left Rainev at.

  He was nearly there when a group of Andinna gladiators stepped in front of him. He could hear the fight going on in the Colosseum.

  He had been so close.

  “We’re going to do this right now?” he asked the group, waving a hand between them. He sized them up as he spoke. They were a few of the same males who had jumped him and Rainev before.

  Well. I guess this is it. Going to have to kill them or die trying.

  “The Champion is injured. Your little friend is out there fighting a gryphon. You’re alone here in the pits. We can blame it all on outsiders, bring the Empress’ wrath down on them. The timing couldn’t be better for this. So yeah, we’re doing this right now.” Seventy-Two stepped forward. “Time for you to return to the earth. The Skies won’t have you anymore.”

  “At least I had the Skies at all,” Matesh said, spreading his arms.

  The first two jumped, one throwing a punch, aimed for his head. The other aimed for his gut. Matesh was able to dodge the one for his temple, but the other to his gut landed.

  He felt his temper boil and lashed out, slamming one in the cheek with a hit that cracked bone and rendered him unconscious.

  “Not this time,” he snarled to Seventy-Two, grabbing the second male who had come close and punched him in the gut. Matesh snapped his neck before he could get away, using his horns as leverage. “I’m not dying in this fucking place. Not to a bunch of disgraced and dishonored trash.”

  The crowd was cheering louder. He could hear the gate opening for Rainev. His nephew won.

  A male slammed into him at that moment, forcing him into one of the side rooms. Throwing him to the side, Matesh tried to get back out the door, only for a punch to land on the bridge of his nose.

  He needed to get to Rainev. He had to.

  Between him and his nephew? Five angry Andinna gladiators.

  18

  Mave

  Mave woke up at a touch. A touch that she had not approved, that was too rough to be Rainev or Matesh trying to wake her. She didn’t open her eyes, though. There was a hand over her mouth, close enough for her to smell. Not Matesh or Rainev either.

  “Ah, Champion,” a voice whispered. “With you dead, I’ll be the leader of the pits. You’ll be missed by your new friends. For a moment.”

  Rain and Mat. Where are they? Her eyes flew open, startling the male above her. He held a dagger. He was one of the other prized fighters. She didn’t know his name.

  He stabbed downward and she caught his wrist, holding it back. His hand on her mouth moved to also cover her nose, hoping to suffocate her.

  Her mind raced. He was one of the new prized fighters. He obviously had delusions of grandeur, thinking she had something he obviously didn’t.

  She bit down on his hand hard enough for her canines to sink into his flesh, making him curse. She disarmed his other hand, the dagger flying away, bouncing on one of the cot mattresses, then sliding across her stone floor towards her bathing room. He slammed a fist down, smartly aiming for her injury.

  The hit only pulled an annoyed grunt from her. She snarled, pushing off her cot and taking him down to her floor with her on top of him. He continued to punch the hole in her side. She felt something warm. She was bleeding again from it.

  She didn’t care.

  She grabbed his head, holding on to his hair for leverage, and slammed it down.

  Over and over again.

  Until he stopped struggling underneath her.

  Breathing hard, she stood up, looking around for any other sign of trouble before examining the male on her floor. He’d just tried to kill her.

  Well, now his brain matter was all over her floor.

  “Did you really think…” She knew he wouldn’t answer, but she couldn’t resist asking anyway. She thought about what he said. She would be missed…

  For a moment.

  “Matesh,” she whispered, reaching for her armor. “Rainev. Damn the Skies.”

  They were out there in the tunnels somewhere. She had no idea what time it was. She prayed to the Skies she wasn’t too late. She couldn’t be too late.

  At that moment, two males pushed into the room.

  “He’s dead,” she told them.

  One snarled and came for her. She found the dagger on the floor and shoved it into his throat before he could get his hands on her. The second tried to run, but she wasn’t having any of that. She yanked the dagger out of the first and threw it, satisfied when it went hilt-deep into the other’s back. He hit the wall and slid down.

  Three bodies in her room in a matter of moments. Now she needed to find her guys.

  She strapped on her belt with her steel. She was going out armed and no one was stopping her. She put on her leather chest piece, shoving in an extra shirt to stop the bleeding. The armor was tight enough to hold it in place, she hoped. She stepped into the hallway, her rage giving her a narrow focus on what needed to be done.

  She turned down the hall to the guard who should have stopped the other male from trying to assassinate her. She unsheathed her swords and began to move to the guard, who was trying to unsheathe his sword. He was untrained, which might have explained why he hadn’t tried to stop the other gladiators from trying to kill her. It didn’t matter anymore.

  None of this matters anymore.

  She shoved the door open and forced her gladiu
s through his armor and into his chest. He stared, wide-eyed, at her then looked down to the sword. She snarled, unable to say anything to express her rage. She yanked the blade back out, letting the guard slide to the floor, dead.

  Fury climbed inside her, but she kept her cool. She put her short swords away, to hide the blood on them, and walked. Andinna made rash decisions when they were angry, but she had a thousand years of experience at holding her temper back. She would do this right.

  I’m going to kill them all. If Rain and Mat are dead…

  I tried. For centuries I’ve tried to help them. I’ve been beaten, abused, and spat on. I tried to kill the Empress. I tried to escape with other gladiators and failed. I’ve tried everything until I’ve run out of ideas.

  I’m done. They deserve to die and rot here. I’m going to make the pits their grave.

  She walked through the tunnels, ignoring any gladiators she saw, pretending nothing was wrong. She looked into rooms, hoping to find one of her friends, or any evidence of them. She made her trip towards the gate, knowing they would be in that direction.

  Scuffling and growls was the first sign of finding one of them.

  That’s when she began to run, unsheathing one of her gladius as she entered the room. She ran it through the first unknown back she could. The male gave several gurgling noises as death claimed him.

  That stopped the fighting. Her eyes fell to Matesh in the middle. He was beaten up, bruising on his face and chest, but he was still standing. She looked down slowly to the body she just put on the floor.

  “Ah, Thirty,” she whispered. “I never liked you. Where’s Seventy-Two? He still too much of a coward to fight his own battles?”

  “Fuck, you’re supposed to be dead,” one said as she looked back up to the other dead men. “Kill them. Before they kill us!”

  “Too late for that,” Matesh said, chuckling.

  She met those green eyes again and threw the sword she had to him. With a gladius, Matesh was fast, cutting down the two close to him before they could stop him. She drew her other blade and ended the other three before they had a chance to run. They were unarmed and it was like pigs to slaughter.

  Blood and glory. She was reveling in it, a dark elation coursing through her.

  Standing over their bodies, she looked to Matesh again. “Where’s Rainev?”

  “I don’t know. They’ve kept me in here for a long time. Dinner was called. I heard Rainev’s fight end, but I hadn’t been able to get through all of them. They said…fuck, they said that his fate was to last a while.” He was worried, she noticed. She was too. “Why are you awake?”

  “One of the prized fighters in my hall made the mistake of touching me before trying to stab me in the chest,” she told him. She knew what the other gladiators had been saying to Matesh and her fury climbed higher. She was done with playing nice or safe. “Keep the blade. We’re killing all of them.”

  “Good,” he growled, a satisfied smile coming over his face.

  They walked out of the room, stepping over the bodies without a thought. They began to run as they got closer to the gate, checking rooms, shoving over gladiators out of their way.

  Then they found Rainev. Or rather, they found the group of Andinna who had beat him into the ground. She saw one of them preparing to do the last thing she wanted done to her little brother.

  Her temper snapped.

  The sound that came out of her mouth was one of violence and death. It spooked the males around Rainev, who looked up, one of his eyes swollen shut. He smiled. It was a beautiful smile. It was a broken smile.

  She could only roar. Matesh’s roar joined in and they both jumped into the center of the room, cutting down the first Andinna they could.

  Blood sprayed on the walls. More Andinna ran in the room, to see the commotion, to help save their friends and fellow slaves from her and Matesh. She cut them down as they came.

  Blood sprayed on her face, on her armor, on the walls.

  She reveled in it.

  This was what they deserved. They had finally pushed her too far.

  Guards yelled for the fighting to stop, more steel singing at it was drawn.

  Bodies piled up at her feet. None of them landed a blow on her, unarmed, only trying to get to her, disarm her. She was much too fast for them to let that happen, though. Hands and arms were lopped off without a pause.

  I’m going to kill all of them.

  They had forged a monster in the pits by giving her nothing to care about except only her survival. So she had forged her skills in the effort only to defeat them. She knew how they fought, how slow they were, how easily their skin parted under a sharp blade.

  Then she found something she cared about.

  Something worth killing for. Killing all of them.

  She took only one glance back to see Rainev standing and leaning on the back wall, behind her and Matesh. Safe.

  She turned back to attack the next foe for her blade to clash against steel.

  A guard.

  She was shocked out of her temper for a moment and got a kick to the stomach, sending her into the wall next to Rainev. She pulled her sword to stop a fatal blow.

  She was disarmed as the blade sliced her hand instead.

  And the pommel of a sword slammed into her temple, dropping her to the ground.

  19

  Mave

  “A shame,” a cold voice whispered down to her. “A thousand years and the near perfect slave. A trophy, an achievement. All to prove a failure.”

  Mave groaned and pushed herself up. The Empress. The voice was the fucking Empress.

  “You three seem to have caused me some problems. There are people screaming for your heads, ruining my games the way you have.” A sad sigh, a bored sigh. “Twenty-eight gladiators. Dead. Strong and expensive slaves, they had been. A guard, a loyal subject of my Empire. Dead. His training had been more than you’re worth. Any of you.”

  He should have been trained better, whore. I’m better than a dozen of your guards combined.

  Mave looked up at the Elvasi whore. Her ice-blonde hair and tan skin. Her pale blue eyes, which could have been pretty if they held any warmth. They never had.

  “Here I thought I had the three best gladiators in my Empire. I guess I do, after the display you put on in the pits, but I expect my slaves to be obedient. I’ve always let some things slide, of course. A kill here or there, while you protected yourself, my property. I always thought that was very good of you, Maevana. Not so weak as to just roll over and die.”

  Mave watched her walk around the cell and look down at Matesh. Then she moved to Rainev, who stirred but didn’t awaken. A tsk from her then. Mave glanced at her wrists. Manacled, chained to the floor. The chain also looped through a ring on her slave collar.

  “Maevana, what changed? You have never behaved this violently before.” The Empress looked back to her, genuine confusion on her face. “I thought I raised you better than this.”

  Mave’s only response was a blood-curdling snarl.

  “I see. Was it the new friends I heard you made? My other property? I have heard, you know. You made friends. Did they give you these bad habits? They were free, you know. I could see them giving you bad manners.” She sighed again. “A thousand years wasted trying to prove you Andinna can be more than temper-driven barbarians. Maevana, you had been doing so well. Cold on the sands, intelligent. And now look at you, another animal.”

  Mave snarled louder, trying to stand. The chains weren’t long enough, and she jerked against them. I’m going to kill this whore, even if it’s the last thing I do.

  “See? That’s what I mean. So, here’s the idea. I have to pay back the other Lords. My property destroyed theirs. I’m the Empress. I could just tell them to get over it, like I have before, but the damage was just too severe - and you killed a guard. That is a huge problem, Maevana. You know how much I don’t like that.” The Empress continued to watch her as she walked closer. “You care for those two
, don’t you? Be honest, please. The answer is obvious.”

  “Yes,” she admitted. Mave knew there was no lying now. Her silence or her admission…none of it changed the result of this conversation.

  “Yes…” Empress Shadra smiled sadly. “The purebred would have been a fine specimen to breed you with, but sadly your actions have taken that privilege away from you. Here’s what’s going to happen, Maevana. On the last day of my games, you will fight them. One on one, back to back. You will either kill them and continue to survive, or you will die to them, dead to those you think care about you. And they don’t. Maevana, you’re the only female down here. Of course they wanted you to think they cared. They wanted the expensive cunt between your legs.” The Empress sighed happily. “We both know how much you like survival, don’t we? It’s how you became the Champion. I threw you down here to die and yet, here you are, nine hundred years later.”

  Mave’s heart felt cut out and thrown away.

  No. I can’t. Can’t do that. I don’t care if…I don’t care if they hate me secretly. They’re mine. I can’t…

  “Has it finally happened? Are you broken yet? Even better, you’ll probably be able to kill one, but these two are much better fighters than the other gladiators of the pits. If you fall, it will be to the second. And then I’ll be left with one lonely male who can supply me with information on the Ivory Shadow Mercenary Company, if I so desire it. But honestly, if I really needed to deal with that nuisance, I would have started torturing them already.” Shadra knelt down. “But I would rather see my trophy broken finally. And we both know that’s going to happen. You finally got a piece of your people, and for what? It’s destroyed you.”

  NO!

  Mave roared as the Empress walked out of the cell. She roared until she was hoarse. She yanked and pulled against the chains, trying to break free.

  She screamed, which woke Matesh and Rainev out of their healing sleeps. They looked at her then the Empress, who shook her head, denying what Mave wanted to hear. Mercy. Just once.