Percy pov
I was jogging along the beach trying to clear my head of the recent struggles we had had with Camp Jupiter. We had defeated Gaea but the Romans didn't feel the two camps should unite, nor were they willing to work towards some sort of truce between us. It was frustrating to say the least. Jason and I had both been more or less kicked away by the Romans.
What I couldn't understand was why there was such a deep hatred between the two camps. We had worked together well to defeat Gaea and her minions but for some reason they still saw the Greeks as inferior. It angered me beyond belief that they felt that way, we had held our ground just fine when they attacked our camp. I just shook my head, perhaps it just isn't meant to be.
I was so caught up in my thought I ended up bowling over some girl walking along the beach. I looked down ready to apologize when I saw a praetors cape and black hair in a single braid.
"Watch where you're going Jackson," Reyna growled at me.
I offered her my hand, "Sorry, I was just thinking about the whole situation between our camps and just zoned out."
She grabbed my hand and pulled herself up, "Yeah, that's actually why I'm here. They told me to get you at the beach so we could have a meeting."
I rolled my eyes at her, "Oh boy, another productive meeting."
"I know what you mean, but we have to get this done."
I groaned, "Yeah, we should probably head back."
Reyna nodded her head and began to walk away, I was about to follow when a scream ripped through the air. Reyna spun around so fast it almost made me dizzy just watching.
"What was that?" Reyna asked with a scary light in her eye.
"I don't know, the woods are stocked it could have been anything."
"Then let's go find out," Reyna said sprinting towards the scream with me right behind.
Again the scream sounded and this time it wasn't too far off. I pulled out Riptide ready for a fight. I hoped everyone else would understand why we were late.
We reached a clearing in the forest with a girl wearing a black cloak concealing her entire body. As we approached she turned as if sensing our presence.
"Are you alright?" I asked her.
She didn't give any inclination she had heard me say anything.
"Who are you?" Reyna growled drawing her gladius.
"Finally the right question," the girl said with a melodious voice.
She reached up to her hood and removed it, revealing a breathtaking face. She had blonde hair hanging loose over her shoulders and purple. Her lips were a faint blue color that somehow brought out her eyes.
"Who are you?" Reyna repeated in the same tone of voice as before.
The girl just smiled, "I'm Amelia."
I looked blankly at Reyna hoping she had heard of her cause I had no clue. Unfortunately Reyna looked just as lost as me.
"Of course I wouldn't expect you to know me, I'm not in any of the history books. I was once a demigod like the two of you. The only difference is I could see the future and no my father wasn't Apollo, I was the child of Hecate. Well one fine and dandy day, I was strolling through the woods in Greece when I ran into the three fates. They knew my abilities and were quite intrigued, so they gave me a test and I passed."
I looked at her dumbly, what in the world was she talking about. I wished Annabeth was here she would know exactly what this crazy chick was talking about. If she didn't then she would at least have a grasp of what she was rambling on about.
"So what did you get when you passed this 'test'?" Reyna asked still with an edge to her voice.
Amelia just smiled, "Well first they made me immortal, then they allowed me a certain control over time."
I stumbled backwards, "Did you just say they gave you control over time?"
Still smiling she answered sweetly, "Yes."
I didn't know the fates handed out gifts like that and why this girl?
"Well what do you want with us?" Reyna growled pointing to her and me.
"I have heard that you wish to unite your two camps and I'm afraid I don't like this idea. You see when I was alive in Greece, Rome had just been founded and they for some ungodly reason decided to attack our people. I watched as they destroyed my village and then ultimately kill my parents. So forgive me for not wanting unity between your camps." She said still with a smile.
I pointed Riptide at her, "I'm sorry about your family, but things have changed now those Romans are gone."
"No Perseus Jackson, they still live today through those filthy kids at Camp Jupiter."
"What did you say?" Reyna shouted going to charge her.
Still smiling Amelia just snapped her finger and Reyna was frozen in place. I tried moving and found out I couldn't move either.
"What are you going to do to us?" I growled at her.
She giggled, "Well I'm going to make sure the two most important people to their camps aren't present at the meeting and then I'm sending you back to Ancient Rome."
"I thought you said you hated Rome? Why send us there?" I questioned her.
She smiled even wider, "I may not like them, but they sure are efficient in killing people."
I stared at her in shock, she was planning on having us executed. I fought against whatever force was holding me back but it was no good. I couldn't help but feel that this would only end badly.
"I'm glad I waited on using this power for you two," Amelia said sweetly walking towards me. "I only get to use it once every thousand years, you should feel special, I saved it for you."
"What do you hope to accomplish by killing us?" I growled at her.
"Oh, I plan to put your camps at each other's throats," she said tracing her finger along my chest.
"You don't mean," Reyna asked getting it a split second before I did.
"Yes, I plan on making it seem as though you killed one another, plunging your camps into a war with one another." She answered smiling sweetly.
I prayed to every god I knew that they could get me out of this trap. But if what she said about being picked by the fates then there was nothing they could do about it. I sighed, why did every bad being always have to come after me and my friends?
"Well it's time to send you on your way, do have fun before they kill you."
She snapped her fingers again and I felt the world go black.
When I woke up again I was sitting in a cell of some sort. There were tons of people sitting in there with me and it smelled really bad. I looked down and saw I was wearing some really old raggedy clothes. My hands and feet were chained together and the chain interlinked with the others next to me. I saw Reyna sitting across from me with a bunch of other girls. She wore the same kind of clothes as me and the chains as well.
I looked towards the front and saw we were being pulled along by a horse and an armored guard guiding us. Panic welled inside me, where were we? I strained against the chains but it didn't work. I don't think I had any pockets so Riptide wasn't with me either.
The horse stopped and a new guard came to the back and unlocked the door. He herded us out into a line looking out over a bunch of nicer dressed people. I noticed they had coin purses out and I realized they must be buying us.
"Let's begin the bidding today!" A short fat man shouted earning some applause from the people there. I looked up and down and found I was one of the shortest guys there and I was definitely the youngest.
"How about that one on the end there, yeah the small one with black hair," A dark haired man ordered the seller and my heart sunk when he reached Reyna. The dark haired man gave the fat guy three denarii.
"No!" I shouted lashing out against my chains. "Reyna, don't go with him!" She looked back at me with something I had never seen on her face: fear.
"Hey boy keep quiet!" An armored guard shouted at me as he came up to hit me with his fist. I ducked one shot and head butted him when he got to close. I stumbled backwards that wasn't one of my better ideas. Another guard joined him and pulled out his sword.
"Wait! I'll give you two denarii for this one too." The dark haired man who had bought Reyna said with a smile. Another man standing beside him looked bewildered and said something to him but the dark haired man shook it off.
"Fine, you can have him," the fat man grunted. The guards unchained me and walked me over to Reyna. The one I had head butted came up to me and spit on my face. I lashed out again but the man who had talked to my new 'owner' held me back.
"Not your fight lad," he said to me with a heavy accent.
"I like you kid, you have the fighters spirit," the dark haired man said patting me on the back. "You'll make a fine gladiator."
A lump formed in my throat, did he say a gladiator? Now I didn't know too much about Rome but one thing everyone knew was they held fights between gladiators in the coliseum. These weren't just any fights, they were fights to the death. Was this what Amelia wanted from me?
We joined other people in another cell like thing and took off again. I dreaded where this one took us, was it going to be my death?
"Thank you Percy, I don't know what I would have done by myself." Reyna whispered to me. I saw gratitude in her eyes.
"Yeah no problem, I couldn't let these people just walk off with you and leave me up there." I told her grinning, though it didn't reach my eyes.
"Do you know where we're going?" I asked her.
She shook her head, "No, we follow their culture but we never took up gladiators to seriously."
So we were both walking in blind. I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful that maybe we could get out of here and back to our own time. Of course that was rather doubtful.
When the carriage had finally stopped the sun was high in the sky and I was sweating like a pig. We had stopped in front of a big fenced area and I could hear the clang of metal on the other side. I dreaded what waited for me there. The man driving came and pulled us all out and told us to wait. He took Reyna and the woman somewhere else leaving me with a five other guys.
"I've brought the new recruits!" He shouted as the gate opened revealing a big open field of sand and a bunch of ripped dudes holding swords. I gulped, these were gladiators the ultimate killing machines. I felt weak kneed as they herded us inside.
"Look at the one on the end there, he looks about ready to piss himself," one of the men said earning laughter from everyone there.
"Look how small he is, I bet he wont last a day," another said he was one of the most muscular out of all of them with close cropped black hair. He walked around as if he owned the place and I had the feeling he was a leader here.
There was a crack of a whip and a tall African American man walked in front of us, "Line up!" He ordered us. All of us complied with what he said and stood petrified as he looked us up and down.
"What is beneath your feet?" The man said stopping in front of me. The man towered over me, he wore a pair of leather pants and a leather chest plate. He had scars all over his arms.
"Umm, sand," I said, the answer was kind of obvious.
"No!" He barked at me, "Spartacus, what is beneath your feet?"
Another man emerged from the balcony where he had been eating, "Sacred ground, Doctore, watered with the tears of blood." I felt the earth spin beneath me, was this really the Spartacus? He was built like the rest of them and had the signature close shaved brown hair.
"Your tears, your blood, your pathetic lives forged into something of worth. Listen! Learn! And perhaps live." The man referred to as Doctore answered.
For some reason I couldn't help but chuckle a little after their practiced speech. I mean it was just sand after all and I wasn't incorrect in answering his question.
He noticed me laughing, "What's so funny you worthless pup."
"It's just sand my friend."
"Hmm very well, you must have a death wish. Crixus bring out two gladuis' and lets show this boy what this really is."
The man who had commented on how small I was grabbed two swords and walked onto the sand across from me. He threw one of them on the ground at my feet.
"Come little man, let's see what you're made of." He said to me with an evil grin in his eye.
I bent over and picked up the sword and it felt right in my hand. I felt I could actually do something with it. I may even be able to win I thought to myself.
"Begin!" Doctore shouted cracking his whip.
Crixus charged at me and slashed at my face, I blocked it and swung back which he blocked easily.
"Ah little doggy has held a sword before has he?" He taunted grinning even more.
I was tired of the look he kept giving me so I lunged in and he blocked it, sidestepped and kneed me in the ribs. I felt pain explode in my chest. I staggered to my feet. This guy knew what he was doing. He charged me and pressed me so hard all I could do was go on the defensive.
He was definitely skilled with a sword and it took all I had not to get sliced in two. He feigned a strike at my head and I fell for it, he quickly changed it to swiping my legs out from underneath me. I landed with a hard thud on the ground all the wind knocked out of me. Before I could recover my senses he kicked me in the ribs. I could feel blood slowly trickling into my mouth.
Crixus retreated back to his group with the roar of their approval. This angered me and I dragged myself to my feet.
"Hey ugly, I'm not done yet." I called to him. Somehow with his back turned to me I could tell a huge grin had just appeared on his face. He charged me and I thought I was ready for anything but apparently not.
He swung his sword at my face and I deflected it but he had hit so hard I lost the hand of my weapon. He attacked again and knocked my sword into the sand and pointed his at my throat. He punched me in the jaw with his left hand sending me to the ground. I felt like the world was spinning I couldn't see straight. A new thought occurred to me: had he been toying with me the whole fight?
I turned back to see him raise his sword ready to deliver the finishing blow. When a hand caught his. I looked up to see the man who was Spartacus holding Crixus back.
"Let him live, he'll die in the arena soon anyway." Spartacus said to Crixus with a calm authoritative voice.
"Fine," Crixus grumbled walking away.
"Thanks," I told Spartacus happy to have a friend on the inside.
"Don't thank me boy, I meant what I said, you're going to die in the arena." He told me walking away.
I sat there on the ground wishing I was back home.
Please review! Now this story is based upon the tv show Spartacus, if you've seen it that's who inspired these characters if not, then you should go check it out.