Marco coughed out a laugh and then started cackling like a loon. He stumbled back and fell against the wall, howling with laughter. Thad grinned, happy to see true laughter coming from his friend. Marco was nearly breathless and then they turned and saw Philo coming toward them, his face black and blue. Marco fell to the ground and howled even harder and he rolled around on the ground, kicking his feet. Philo shot him a filthy look and turned and went back the way he came. Marco was breathless and holding his gut.
Thad wiped the tears of hilarity off his face and felt laughter bubble up again.
“Man, I’d have given my left nut to have seen that,” Marco wheezed, getting up from the ground. They were getting looks from some of the men around, but the men were grinning. Thad thought they had seen Philo turn tail and guessed what the joke was. It felt damned good to laugh and he and Marco went to where they would be picked up by Pansa’s transport. They saw that their gear was stacked up and waiting to be loaded into the wagon.
An hour later the two men were standing in Pansa’s villa. The ride through town had been eye opening. Dean had told them about the conditions, but it had been hard to imagine. Then the smell had nearly gutted them. Thad was glad that it rained often enough, but until it did, the sewage just sat there in the streets. He had seen how the building were crushed together and people seemed to be packed in and stacked on top of each other. He knew that in many of the cities in Italy, the homes were small or at least smaller than the ones in the states.
The villa was massive and Thad’s jaw dropped. Clearly, these people had money. He wondered if Pansa was rich or if this were simply the senator’s residence while in Rome? There were slaves all over and he thought perhaps, well over a hundred souls. He noted that all were clean, well fed and didn’t seem afraid. At the Ludus, the slaves looked terrified as though they would be thrown into the arena. Was there some kind of hierarchy in the slave world?
He saw Pansa make his way to him and the man embraced him and that surprised Thad. Then he saw Tullia and his heart rate picked up. She was as beautiful as ever and Thad hoped he wouldn’t embarrass himself. He had only had two girlfriends in his life, one had been in high school and he’d lost his virginity to her. The other was just before he’d gone into the Marines. He’d been awkward in his youth and a geek, coupled with shyness; he’d not had a hell of a lot of experience with women. When they had gone out into town, in Naples, he was just beginning to come into his own. Dean helped with drawing the ladies in.
“It is good to see you, young man. I hear you are doing very well in the games. Well done,” Pansa said and smiled.
“Yes, I was fortunate to see you fight, some months ago. You did very well,” Tullia said, a soft blush creeping up her face. Thad was enthralled and swallowed. He felt Marco nudge him.
“Ah, yes. Thank you, sir. This is my friend, Atrox,” Thad said, using Marco’s stage name.
“I’ve heard about you. They say you are undefeated,” Tullia said.
“Yes miss,” Marco said and shifted uneasily.
Pansa turned and lifted a hand. A servant came over.
“Take these men to get ready for their match. Take them to the small arena out back,” he ordered and turned to Thad.
“I wanted the demonstration done early, so you and your friend could relax the rest of the time. I hope you don’t mind. There are only a few close friends that are attending and so you needn’t worry about your performance.”
“Thank you, sir. We’ll go get ready,” Thad said and let the servant lead them away. He looked around at the sparse but expensive furnishings. There were low couches scattered, statues, braziers, large vases and wall hangings. There was also a massive pool in the middle of a large room. The tiling in the pool was of a mosaic pattern; he thought it was of horses and a chariot, but he couldn’t be sure. There were smaller pools scattered in different rooms. He could also hear music from someplace, some kind of stringed instrument and a flute.
“This guy has some serious money,” Marco said in awe, looking around them.
“No kidding, it must be a bitch to heat in the winter,” Thad said and both men laughed.
The servant left them in a room that opened up to the outside. Their gear was in a pile and both men began to gear up. They caught the scent of roasting meat and Thad’s stomach growled.
“Shit, I’m hungry as hell. I can’t wait to dig in,” Thad said and helped Marco buckle up the fastenings on the padding.
“Yeah, I hear they vomit the shit back up when they get full. I might do that if the food’s really good,” Marco said.
“Dude, that’s fucked up.”
The match went as expected, Thad won, but not until after several near misses that had the women squealing. Several of the women had requested to gather the men’s sweat, they wanted to use it as an aphrodisiac. That grossed Thad out, but he let the women gather his sweat with slips of linen. He didn’t want to insult Pansa’s guests and he smiled benignly at them. He wondered sometimes at the practices of ancient cultures. Thad and Marco stood silently as