It was impressive and Marco grinned widely. He saw sparks in the air as the coins flew to the sandy ground. Marco was fairly sure that Dean’s sponsor was tickled pink. Money made the world go round and Dean was a moneymaker. Finally, Dean went after his opponent and executed a side kick that Thad had taught him. The man went down hard and Dean was on top of him, a foot to the throat and a sword to his heart. The arbitrator was laughing and gave a palm and fingers up. Then Dean turned to the crowd and began to stomp a rhythm. Then he clashed his swords together once. In English, Dean sang at the top of his lungs and the crowd quieted.
“We will, we will, fight you!” He continued to stomp in the rhythm until the crowd picked up what he was aiming for. They tried to repeat the foreign words but were enthralled all the same. Marco started laughing until tears slid down his face. He watched as Dean did one more backflip and then blew kisses to the top tier and waved as the crowd continued cheer.
“Gotta love the movie, A Knight’s Tale,” Dean laughed as he passed Marco and disappeared down the passageway, the crowd still calling his name.
“How in the hell am I supposed to follow that up?” Marco grumbled.
The weeks were passing swiftly and Dean, Marco and Thad had made it to palus secundus ranking, as had Felix and Septimus, who outranked them all. No one begrudged him his rank and all hoped they wouldn’t have to fight him. They had moved to another cell, this one held less gladiators and they had left Philo and his poisonous tongue behind. The furnishings were roughly the same in the new cell, but of better quality and there was a jug of wine left in the evenings for the men.
The men were also allowed to be escorted to a place to visit prostitutes. None of the Marines had been tempted but Felix and Septimus went out at least once a week. The gladiators were also receiving invitations from their sponsors and the elite to put on exhibitions at their private villas. Dean and Felix were in a wagon, heading out of Rome to the home of a rich merchant. It was Felix’s sponsor and Felix had chosen Dean as his partner in crime. Doctore or Cato usually chose the pairs, but because it was for exhibition and not real fighting, the gladiators were usually allowed to choose their opponent for the fake fight. It was normally with someone who didn’t mind losing, because no one wanted to lose in front of their sponsor. It was an unwritten rule.
It was late afternoon and Dean peeked through the canvas that covered the wagon. If the citizens realized that there were gladiators within, the wagon would be mobbed by fans. Dean held a hand to his nose and breathed shallowly. The reek of raw sewage was staggering. He’d thought it was bad at the Ludus Magnus, but that had been washed away in the underground sewers and aqueducts. He saw heaps of not only animal manure, but he saw piles of shit that were dumped from pots.
He watched a large woman move out of her home; it was a large five story building. The building looked old and the exterior stone was chipped. He saw graffiti painted or carved on the building and was shocked that some of it was obscene. He watched as the woman stood on the elevated sidewalk and upended her slop jar in front of her door. The skin on Dean’s body rippled with revulsion. Felix seemed relaxed and his head back against the canvas wall, it wabbled as the conveyance moved along. Felix’s eyes were closed and a soft snore reached Dean. Dean shook his head and looked back out the crack in the canvas. Nasty, just nasty and the road was narrow and he heard the splash of something nasty in the street.
How can these people live like this? How do they not die from dysentery or cholera? he wondered. Felix had informed him that most of the citizens in Rome had no jobs and that they lived off the generosity of the emperor. Dean shook his head. If he and his friends were to escape the Colosseum and Ludus Magnus, they would have to leave Rome. There was no way in hell he could live here with Zaza. They would all die from some horrible gut ripping disease if they stayed in the city. The heavy drone of flies buzzing around the street was noticeable. His jaw dropped when he saw two children running barefooted in the filth and swallowed. He sat back and couldn’t look out again or he would vomit.
He wiped absently at the sweat that had sprung out on his face. He shook his head and thought that perhaps conditions in the Ludus Magnus weren’t all that bad. They all bathed daily and got body rubdowns after matches in the arena. They were patched up by a fairly good doctor, though at first Dean had been doubtful about the man’s abilities. They had all healed from their wounds however, and no infections yet. But he didn’t want to live out his days fighting. Knowing that one day, it would be his last or that the emperor would do him like he did Greg, throw his life away on a whim.
He missed his parents, but he missed his mother the most and it had been over a year since his disappearance. He wished he could introduce Zaza to her. He knew his mother would love the young woman. Dean had purchased a ring and had given
