I've been a bit blocked on my WIPs and binged on Spartacus on Netflix over holiday break, so this is what you get! Ancient Roman Caryl AU. Enjoy!
Some background notes: This is a culture that ran on the power of domination and so the enslavement of the conquered was a chief source of manpower in Roman society. Their empire ranged across the Mediterranean and was multi-ethnic. In the descriptions of characters in the story, in ancient Roman terms, Nubian indicates African; Syrian indicates mid-eastern ancestry, Gaul is France, Germania is Germany, Hibernia is Spain and Britannia is England.
Gladiators were a very particular finely honed breed of fighting men, many of whom were enslaved as prisoners of war and brought to Italy from the far flung reaches of the Roman provinces. Private individuals (even Roman citizens) could also sell themselves into bond slavery to earn coin to pay off debts or for dowry, purchase of land etc. It was even possible to do so at the ludus, the gladiator schools that supplied fighters for the arenas in many major Roman provincial cities. They would contract with the owner of the school, the Lanista, to be trained for the games. If they survived the training and were admitted into the Brotherhood any purses they earned would pay off the bond and give them a chance at even more winnings beyond the bond debt.
Terms:
In Latin, "the" is very rarely used, which makes the dialogue sound just a little different. I've tried to keep that in the way I wrote this, but sometimes it just didn't work for what I needed them to say.
"Apologies" = I'm sorry
"Break words" = talk to you
Domina & Dominus: female and male head of a dynastic House. Bloodlines were everything to Romans and they kept records back through generations.
Doctore: head gladiator trainer
Medicus: physician
Custos: private soldiers who acted as defense and bodyguard
"Greek love" is how the ancient Romans referred to homosexuality, which was officially frowned upon. However in their minds, anyone the head of household controlled those under him by familial or literal ownership as their property. So long as they were the dominant partner in a sexual encounter, they could have sex with just about anyone under their roof in any way they wanted.
In STARZ' Spartacus TV series, if you've never watched, one of the gladiator champions is named Crixus.
Arena
"We who are about to die salute you!" –Gladiator's pledge
The year is 77 BCE. The setting is the (fictional) port city of Alexandria Minor, north of Herculaneum, in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius...
"Apologies, Domina." the broad shouldered would-be gladiator hung his head, his eyes downcast and hidden behind the overlong bangs of his dark hair. Clad only in his brief training singlet of rough brown cloth and leather codpiece, gleaming with the sweat from his workout, he looked every inch the sleek muscled warrior.
"There is no need, Dixus." the woman said with a negligent sweep of her elegant hand.
"You summoned me here... I have observed that it is only when someone has displeased you that this happens." the young man said haltingly.
"You are to face final battle before taking oath today, are you not?" the older woman whose husband owned the school for the arena in Alexandria asked him with a tilt of her head, russet ringlets cascading over her shoulders as she regarded him with intelligent eyes.
"Yes, Domina."
"And you do this of your own free will?" she asked, leaning forward, betraying a greater interest in his answer than seemed warranted.
"Yes, Domina."
"It is not your older brother's way of having debts paid? Selling self into such slavery?" she asked with a bit of knowing triumph in her voice. The handsome young man's house was a noble one that had fallen on hard times, primarily because of the poor business deals made by his older brother Merlonius.
"No, Domina." Dixus said quietly, his chin coming up so he could meet her eyes with his, stormy blue and filled with something like determination. "I will bear no part of brother's debts with time on sands."
"Then why?" she asked him, her frustration evident. "As your mother's best friend and confidante, I swore an oath to protect you after her death, yet you refuse all help from my House!"
"I must be my own man, Domina." Dixus said simply. "Earn my own way."
"In the arena? This is madness!"
"There is no other way to..." Dixus began hotly, but stopped, shook his head and then looked at his feet again.
"No other way to what?" she asked him, reaching out and taking his right hand in hers. "To make a name for yourself? To have all beauties in Alexandria pay for pleasures given by the gods of the arena?" the last was teasing, a jest, but she paused when she saw his cheeks flush red and then squeezed his hand more tightly.
"If that is all, I have some of the most beautiful slaves in the city who would give you pleasures fit for a Praetor of Rome!"
"That's not—I don't want—no!" he pulled his hand from hers and took a step back in embarrassment.
"If it is Greek love you seek, there are more discreet places to find it that in the ludus." She narrowed her eyes at him assessingly.
"I do not seek pleasures with men." Dixus said dryly. Straightening, he looked her in the eyes again to add, "Though there is no shame for those who do."
The Domina knew that his training partner, Aaronus, was of that persuasion, and the two had become close friends.
"Then what moves you to seek glory or death on the sands?" she asked in exasperation.
A trumpet sounded announcing someone asking permission to enter the guarded gates of the walled complex. Not all who trained here were present by choice. The villa was a combination school, home and prison.
Those still training in the yard paused at the order of a tall African woman, sword and shield in hand, and lay down their weapons before lining up at attention.
"Regulus returns!" the Domina said happily, and leaned over the balcony to address the other woman.
"Doctore Micha—the Dominus will wish to bathe and rest before the challenges begin. Prepare the men for one hour after sunset."
"Yes, Domina." the woman nodded, her high cheekbones and short cropped hair adding to her regal air of a Nubian queen. Unusually for a ludus, she was the head trainer of both the male and female gladiators and had been a champion in the arena, retiring when offered the chance to help run this school.
The closed wagon coach pulled through the gates followed by the custos, two of the House personal hired guards and two other individuals on horseback.
Dixus stiffened at the sight and muttered a curse under his breath.
"Brother comes to see your success." the Domina said soothingly, knowing Merlonius presence came as a surprise to the young man, but saw that Dixus was instead focused on the other man, heavyset with short cropped hair and a looked of entitled arrogance on his face as he let his eyes wander along the line up of men and women.
The curtains of the coach opened and a tall thin distinguished grey haired man and then a shorter more portly bald one stepped out and waved up at the balcony in greeting, but then turned and held out their hands to help someone down.
"Is that?" the Domina said, her voice rising in happiness, "It is! Oh, darling girl comes!" she leaned further over the balcony, waving frantically.
Worried she would fall over the edge in her excitement, Dixus moved to steady her with a hand to her shoulder, following her sight line, looking into eyes of crystal blue raised to her aunt's frantic greeting.
"Carola!" the Domina called down, "You naughty thing! Why no word sent to make known your arrival?"
"Greetings dearest Auntie!" the girl with auburn ringlets to match her mother's sister called with a smile and a wave, but when she saw who was also on the balcony her cheeks flamed in a pretty pink flush. She almost called out a greeting to him as well, but Regulus put a hand on her arm and said something quietly to her and she frowned but looked down at her feet demurely instead. A woman of her station did not address a gladiator, especially not one still in training, so familiarly in public.
"Apologies, Sister of wife—presence was requested for purpose of dowry negotiation." the shorter man with Regulus said officiously.
As they handed their horses off to the grooms Merlonius patted the other man on the back in congratulations.
Deanna felt Dixus stiffen beside her and make a stifled sound of anger and disbelief.
"Dowry?" the Domina frowned, looking to her husband for explanation.
"Let us wash dust of road from bodies and break words at meal, my love." Regulus said, his tone conveying an underlying unhappiness, despite the conciliatory words, and was matched by the sad look on Carola's face.
"Fine course of action, Regulus." Merlonius agreed heartily, flashing Dixus a smug smile while giving the head of the household a friendly slap on the back. Then he turned to the pompous man and draped an arm over his shoulders, "Come Edgelus—the House of Monroviatus is known for its fine wines, hot springs and hotter pleasures."
"Tara!" the Domina called her handmaiden to her, "See that rooms and baths are made ready for niece and other guests and then assemble house slaves for choice of pleasures."
"Yes, Domina." the dark-haired dark eyed Syrian girl answered, then bowed and backed out of the room.
As the Dominus and the guests moved to enter the house Deanna stood back up and gave Dixus an unexpected shove backwards. He stumbled a bit before righting himself and his jaw worked in anger and shame, biting back his reproach as his hands fisted at his sides.
"You are in love with my niece!" she accused in a harsh heated whisper.
Dixus didn't deny it.
"You think to risk life to win fame and so win her?" Deanna scoffed, "Carola cares not for such things!"
They both knew that the demure looking young woman had a spine of steel and a heart of gold. Her mother had died of the same fire that had taken so many, including his parents and the Domina's two sons, three years ago when it swept through the city. She had been here at the villa visiting and so had been spared. After the flames had burned themselves out she had spearheaded the efforts to help the less fortunate who had lost everything in the blaze.
Dixus just stood with his jaw clenched.
"No, it is not fame—it is fortune!" the Domina realized, "Merlonius has squandered coin intended for any dowry you wish to tender for marriage!"
A small nod from the furious but controlled young man showed her she was correct.
"And she loves you as well." Deanna stated.
Another small nod and tears of frustration filled his eyes. They had shared but a single stolen kiss, but wrote to each other every day, the small scrolls carried by one of the kitchen slaves when she accompanied the cook to market, exchanging them with a girl of equal status in Carola's father's house where she resided.
"So brother thinks to gain commission from selling niece to highest bidder..." Deanna fumed, "While you risk death today in test, possibly removing you from equation." she looked over at the gladiator line up. "Who have you drawn?"
"Tyresius." Dixus said, his chin thrusting out defiantly.
"What?" the Domina breathed, aghast. A foot taller than Dixus, the powerful Nubian was a man experienced in the arena, with ten victories to his name.
"I will defeat him and win my place." the young man said stubbornly, his blue eyes flashing.
"And if you do not?" Deanna sighed, her eyes going soft with concern. Defeat meant forfeit of a chance to take the oath, but it could also mean death to the defeated.
"Life without her will not be worth living." Dixus said firmly, with the assurance of lovesick youth.
The Domina raised her hand to her heart and seemed near tears hearing of the sacrifice he was willing to make for true love. Then she frowned and gained control of herself, smoothing away any hint of emotion from her face before addressing him.
"Return to barracks and make ready to be presented to our guests with other candidates." she ordered him and he blanked his face and bowed low, executed a quick turn and left through the balcony doors.
"Rosa!" she called for her other body slave, a beautiful girl from Hibernia with long dark hair and caramel skin, who quickly appeared at the door.
"Yes Domina?" the girl asked, always obedient to her mistress whims.
"Bring my niece to my rooms as soon as she is refreshed." she ordered and Rosa bowed and backed out of the room.
With a contemplative eye she watched as Dixus strode across the sand of the training ground and rejoined the line up awaiting the further orders of the Doctore.
"I can't marry him, Aunt! I won't!" Carola said firmly, but with a hint of fearful desperation in her quiet voice.
Deanna looked her niece over, pleased to see that she still retained that certain virginal innocence and blush of youth that made her so lovely, though she had a golden glow and had grown thinner than the daughter of a wealthy citizen should properly be. The fashion was pale and pleasingly plump, subtly showing off one's riches by allowing one's household women to remain indoors and well fed. Carola preferred brisk walks along the beaches gathering interesting sea shells and riding her horse to strumming a lyre and trying her hand at painting in her sequestered rooms and it showed in the light dusting of freckles she wore.
"It is not your place to chose, niece." the Domina admonished, but was secretly pleased that the girl wished to fight to be with Dixus.
"I will be unhappy all days of my life." she said, and didn't soften the statement with tears nor pleading tone. She stated it as known fact.
"Why would you suffer such fate, dearest?"
Carola came forward and sat in the chair next to her Aunt and took hold of her hands.
"He is cruel, more beast than man, Aunt—He beat... he beat someone to death."
"Speak carefully now, Carola. Such accusations are serious matters." Deanna cautioned, "How do you come by such knowledge?"
"I have heard—no," she stopped, shuddering, gathering her courage, "I have seen evidence of it."
"Tell me."
"I was in the market with my body slave Andrea, three days ago. We were supervising buying food to take to those who still suffer from the lack of rebuilding after the fire when we walked past a... well, it was a brothel, Aunt."
"What were you doing in that part of the city—you know how dangerous it is to go past the pomerium and city walls!" Outside the official city lay a second city where just about any pleasure could be purchased if you had enough coin.
"Hunger knows no boundaries." Carola said, arching an eyebrow, her face stubborn.
"Andrea should know better than to allow it—I should have her whipped." Deanna said crossly.
"We had two of father's best custos with us." Carola assured her, "No harm came to us."
"So what evidence of the unfitness of your possible betrothed was found in such place?" her Aunt asked.
"He was standing in the doorway arguing with the proprietor over a sum; the price for-."
"Most men his age do frequent such places, my dear." Deanna interrupted with a tone of imparted wisdom.
"We stayed out of his sight, but watched what transpired. There was a girl, just... laying there in the street. Her face was so swollen and bloody she barely looked human. There were bite marks, knife cuts all over her body, and her throat bruised black and neck so crooked... so wrong."
"She was a slave? Working in the brothel?" Deanna asked and then gave her a small sad frown, "I'm sorry dear one, but that sometimes happened to those people."
"Yes. I know, but..." Carola said and tightened her grip on her Aunt's hands, "Edgelus' hands and tunic were covered in blood... and the dead girl... she was slender and a red haired wig hung askew on her poor head... and her staring eyes were so very blue..."
"I thought refusal was only because of Dixus..."Deanna startled back, finally understanding the real fear underlying her niece's wish to refuse the marriage agreement. Edgelus was fixated on the girl somehow and he had given his base urges free rein on a facsimile...
"What? Dixus, no, I don't—" Carola's face flamed and she tried to pull her hands from Deanna's in a panic.
"Hush child, I have broken words on this topic with your beloved and only wish to help you both." she soothed, pulling the younger woman in for a hug.
"What am I going to do, Aunt?" Carol asked, the tears finally coming as she rested the side of her head on her Aunt's shoulder.
"Leave it up to me, sweetling. All will be well." the Domina said as she gently rubbed the girl's back, her agile mind mulling over a stratagem for solving not only her niece's dilemma, but perhaps her own as well.
The water of the bath, heated by the hot springs that ran under the villa was large, with six plunge pools, two each of frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium, cold, warm and hot respectively. Use of them was divided by sex and presently Carola soaked in the women's caldarium, prescribed by the Medicus for her "fretful heart," a nervous condition ascribed to females exclusively.
Her body slave, Andrea had not accompanied her on this visit, left at her father's house in the city in punishment after she expressed, in front of the Dominus, strong reservations about the match planned for her mistress. She was attended instead by one of her Aunt's slaves, Tara, whose witty comments amused and calmed Carola and helped her bathe.
"Thank you for attending me, Tara." Carola said to the slave, though it was unnecessary and considered a bit gauche to do so for one so far beneath her in status.
"Does niece of Domina wish pleasures now?" the dark eyed girl asked, her face carefully wiped of any emotion, but her eyes danced.
"Pleasures?" Carola squeaked and her eyes went wide. As many times as she'd been guest in this villa she'd never been invited to partake before. Now that she was of age and about to be betrothed it must be her right.
"I can provide them if you so wish, or as niece of Domina, by her orders you may have your choice of any slave in the house and ludus." Tara explained.
"Anyone?" she asked, and at that bit of information Carola's mouth went dry.
"Yes. Anyone." Tara said, smiling knowingly. "Domina had us make ready your chambers, or you may meet your choice here."
"No—no, I don't..." Carola blushed at her state of undress and stood to grab a saffron colored wrapper which Tara then helped her put on. It clung to her wet curves like a second skin, the chill air causing her nipples to bud, and she wondered what Dixus would think if he saw her like this.
He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen and though their interactions thus far had been relatively innocent, as befitted her maidenhood, she desired him with a passion that had heretofore been alien to her. When her friends gossiped and described their sexual machinations she'd thought them silly and lust drunk, but when he had accompanied his older brother to a breaking of the fast business meeting with her father three months ago she'd felt Jove's proverbial bolt shatter her previous disinterest in affairs of the heart.
He wooed her with quiet words and intellectual debate, poetry and secret meetings for mad races on horseback on her beloved beaches. He paid proper homage to her Clan Patriarch, petitioning for the right to officially court her, but her father dismissed his suit because as the second son he had neither land nor prospects, and little coin, courtesy of his spendthrift brother. His wild scheme to win her a fit dowry as a gladiator was the most romantic thing she had ever heard, but again, her father just laughed and said he'd be dead the first time he stepped into the arena, so she should forget him now and save herself the pain later.
And so now she was to be betrothed to Edgelus, a great dull hulk of a man with land, coin in his pockets, lust in his eyes and blood on his hands. If he was to be her fate, should she not at least have the choice of the man to whom she gave herself for the first time?
After waiting patiently for a few moments, Tara interrupted her reverie.
"Do you know what or rather which you want, Niece of Domina?"
"I do." Carola said after taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it.
As he scraped the last of the scented oil from his chest with the curved strigil, Dixus was not thinking of the night's battle ahead, though that was what would determine his fate for the next five years if he prevailed, or perhaps end his life on this earth. Instead his thoughts were filled with memories of his time with the woman he loved, the one whose betrothal to another man had made this whole exercise into a folly.
Even if he was victorious tonight and won the right to take the oath, he still had to survive those years in the brutal battles that would earn him his freedom and large enough purses to purchase acreage and a small villa of his own. How could he ask her to refuse wealthy high born Edgelus' proposal when he had only possibilities to offer her?
"Dixus! Come with me." one of the household slave girls said sharply, in part to cover her embarrassment. She was young and newly acquired and so had not spent much time in the ludus barracks. The sight of all the gloriously naked men caught in mid ablutions had brought a blush to her cheeks.
"It is late—he needs rest before night's battle." Doctore Micha scowled at the girl. She had been supervising the preparation of all of the gladiator candidates for the evening's bouts. After their rubdown and scraping away of the massage oils before a cold or hot soak, depending on the state of their finely honed bodies, they would be given three hours of rest before the matches would begin.
"You will release him to me, gladiatress." the girl demanded, narrowing her eyes with an arrogant tilt of her chin.
Dixus' lip curled, knowing the Doctore wouldn't appreciate the tone. The house slaves like this one felt that they were better than those who toiled in the ludus, but the dangerous woman in front of the girl was as capable a killer as any other champion of the arena, and valued above the price of the purest silver to the Dominus.
"Take care with words, girl. I am Doctore of this ludus." Micha said in a soft deadly voice. Her head tilted slightly as she drew out her long thin sword and examined the blade for any signs or rust, nicks or pitting. Frowning at something she found she picked up a whetstone and began long stokes against the metal surface.
The girl's eyes widened in alarm, and she exchanged a worried look with Aaronus, who had been standing near Dixus. The curly haired gladiator wanna-be merely raised an eye brow and shrugged at her.
"Dominus bids him come, by his order, Doctore." the girl said, regaining a bit of her confidence by invoking the head of household as authority.
Micha looked up at the girl, then Dixus and with a long suffering sigh, nodded her assent.
Aaronus was about to make a protest, but Doctore silenced him with a quick negative nod.
"Bid Dominus return him to barracks soon or he will be at disadvantage in his contest." she warned.
The girl nodded and after a brief moment for him to don a loin cloth and give his friend a reassuring look, Dixus followed her onto the villa.
"Wait here." the skittish girl commanded him.
She was probably going to get Dominus and his guests: Carola's father, his brother and that arrogant prick Edgelus to lord it over him before his bout. Hoping to postpone that, Dixus gave into his curiosity.
"What's your name, little one?" Dixus asked gently before she could flee.
"I am called Minerva." she said stiffly.
"What is your real name? Where do you come from? How did you come to be here?" he asked with real curiosity. Though he'd been raised in a life of privilege as a citizen and had chosen such servitude, the others here enslaved had no such choice, something which rankled deeper the longer he spent with such good men and women as Aaronus and Doctore.
The girl frowned at him. Slaves weren't supposed to discuss such things with each other.
"It's all right." he said, flashing her a quick small smile, "I won't tell."
"I was born in Britannia... I was out gathering berries when the Romans came to my village. They killed my parents... all the adults who resisted... and took me and all of the other children."
"I'm sorry that happened to you..." he said, and meant it. "I would have it not so if it was within my power."
"My name is Enid. My parents named me Enid." the girl said softly, tears filling her eyes at his words.
"Mine is Darolus Marcus Dixus." Dixus told her.
"You are Roman?" she gasped, appearing shocked, "How come you to be here in the House of Monroviatus?"
"Me? I am here for love." Dixus said with a wistful smile, which to his surprise she returned, wiping away her tears.
"This is within my power to help you." she said and opened the door in front of them to reveal Tara, the body servant of the Domina.
"Come with me, if you live for love, Darolus Marcus Dixus." Tara said, her dark eyes warm and smiling.
Hope that all made sense! Thanks for reading, it is fun to write this one;-)
Sexy times ahead...