I’d survived forty bouts.Thirty wins, eight draws, and two losses.It would be carved on my tomb.
The losses had been my first fights, and I’d been spared because the crowd liked how well I’d fought.After the second time, I’d vowed never to be at anyone’s mercy again.
Tullius’s insult flew past me and evaporated to nothing.I growled in my throat, Leonidas the Gladiator finished with hiding in his cell.
The sound of the crowd returned, infusing my strength.LEE-O-NI-DAS.LEE-O-NI-DAS.
I joined the shouts with a wordless one of my own.I pushed from the wall, smearing the marble with scarlet, and slammed myself at Tullius, using my bulk to shove aside his sword arm.
He danced out of the way, coming back to slash at me viciously.Blood splashed as I spun aside, the sting of the cut barely noticeable.
I smashed my sword at him.Tullius parried.The fight turned furious, each of us raining blows onto the other, aiming for arms, stomach, neck, head.Tullius grunted and cursed while I retreated to deadly silence.
We went around and around, me using my strength and experience, he his quickness and skills.We were evenly matched.He bled from shallow cuts, as I did.If he broke any of my bones, he’d move in for the kill—this bout would not end instans missus, a draw.
Tullius danced around me, light on his feet.He pretended to go for my exposed side then drove his sword at my face.I quickly turned my head, but not fast enough.I braced for the blade to slide into my unprotected skull.
The blow never reached me.Tullius jerked at the last minute, the sword sweeping wildly askew.I blinked and wiped sweat from my eyes to see Cassia tugging her heavy bag by its strap back to her feet.Whether she’d lost hold of it on purpose or by accident, I couldn’t say, but the bag had tripped Tullius and ruined his aim.I wanted to laugh.
Gallus quickly pulled her back to the wall as Tullius, in his fury, swung on her.I rammed myself into him, forcing his attention to our fight once more.
I realized I’d been letting him score hits on me because I felt sorry for him.Tullius had committed treason, and in spite of Nero’s claim that he might pardon Tullius if he won, I was certain the man would head for a miserable death.
His willingness to attack Cassia sealed his fate.I steadied my sword and went at him.I would be his executioner, as Regulus had begged me to be his.
Tullius met my blows with energy.I hammered at him with strength and precision as much from Aemil’s training as the master-builder’s when he’d taught me to hone blocks of marble long ago.The crowds in my head urged me on.
I floated on the noise as I stabbed and parried, using my left fist to both punch and fend off blows.Finally I darted forward and seized a handful of Tullius’s dark hair, twisting his head to bring him to his knees.
Tullius stabbed upward, going for my heart.I swiftly bent out of the way and struck his sword hand with my knee.His grip slacked, and then my kick sent the sword skittering across the floor.
I had his head bent back, the sword point at his throat.
Tullius glared.“Kill me.”His voice rasped in the echoing room.“Do it.”With the chanting crowds in my head, I barely heard him.Iugula!Iugula!they bellowed, urging me to finish him.
“Do it now,” Tullius said furiously.
He’d face torture and execution if I spared him.His name and his family, whoever they were, would be dragged through scandal and shame.Tullius’s body would be broken, his death not pretty.As a citizen he’d avoid the more bizarre forms of execution in the arena, but he’d die a traitor.Nero would not be kind.
My sword hesitated.No more death, I’d vowed.And yet, I’d found that death and violence did not stop with the games.
Regulus was right—we were gladiators.Dealers in death.It followed us.
I firmed my grip, ready to strike the killing blow.At the same time, Cassia, who’d dropped her bag again, gave a little cry and fell to her knees.
I jerked my head up as Cassia landed on her hands, gasping for breath.Gallus hurried to her, while Nero took a few steps back, as though fearing she might contaminate him.
Tullius began to laugh.“It seems I miscalculated.My misfortune.”
For a moment, I could only frown in confusion.Then I abruptly recalled the wine brought to us by the servant as we waited for Nero to summon us.I’d been too restless to partake, and so had Gallus.Cassia was the only one who’d drunk.
Tullius must have poisoned the wine.He’d tried to kill us before we could reveal his crimes.No wonder he’d been so surprised to see us when he’d entered Nero’s chamber.
This rushed through my head as Cassia began to convulse.
She was the one person in all the world who’d steadied me in my uncertainty, who understood we had to survive on our own, and who’d gone at that survival with hard-headed resolution.Without Cassia, I’d have swum in circles and sunk, not even understanding I was drowning.She’d been the rock that had held me up without me realizing it.
Now she would die.
