Spartacus: Blood and Sand
'The Lioness'
Chapter 2- Unleash the Beast
As much as gladiators help to satisfy the bloodlust of the people, there is no denying of the truth. To think that I would willingly go back into bondage just to assist my love on her path to fame and glory in the arena. Many thoughts pondered in my mind as I went back to the bleak cell that was once my home, and now is my home once again. What will become of Iva? Will she have to fight me in the arena when the time comes? I feel my mind is straining to far into the future. Until then, there was training at Doctore's whip
From morning to night, we trained. Bleeding, sweating, and straining our bodies to forged, once again, into something of worth. From 'the march' to the training with weapons of wood in the place of steel. Iva stumbled on bended knee with a heavy wooden log on her back, "Do not help her to her feet!" Oenomaus scolded with a crack of the whip to me as I was going to help her to her feet, "what good can she be if she cannot help herself? Back to training you worthless cunt!" he strengthened his words with a lash of the whip.
"Pay me no mind, it was but a rock," Iva muttered,
Weapons training began under the midday sun, "Kadri!" Oenomaus barked, and his voice soon turned calm like a raging river in the mountains to a calm stream in the forest, "you will face your woman," I came out from the other gladiators watching from the side. I was armed with my wooden gladius and shield while Iva had two wooden gladii. The trainees howled like wolves, and gathered around like vultures with focus turned to their cocks. Iva wore a similar garment to mine. White cloth with a heavily exposed bosom.
Iva crossed her swords, and bowed to me. I crossed my sword and shield, bowing back to her. The men cheered as wooden weapons clashed on the sacred sands of the ludus. Iva is relentless, and keeping her eyes on me as she is keeping me on the defensive. I moved my shield to get inside her guard. She spun to evade my slash at her belly with the grace of a nymph, attacking with the power and skill of Athena herself. I used my shield to evade her swords and lift her up over my back, and down to the sand on her back
Her brown hair flowed with the movements of her swords as she slashed at my legs. I moved back, and lifted my legs to evade the coming wooden blades. I managed to trap her sword with my shield, and free her hand from it. I made a slash at her head, and the side of her waist only for her to spun around and retrieve her sword. She trapped my sword as I came down on the crown of her head, and put a foot in my belly and flipped me onto my back to the sands. I grinned with a nod to tell Iva that she is doing very well.
"Good...you learned very well under my guidance,"
"Then I shall show you what I have learned," Iva smiled back, and attacked me. The strike of wooden weapons echoed with the cheers of the other gladiators. The cheered my name, and they cheered for Iva. As I felt my strength waining in the fight, I felt I had to finish the bout. As I spun around her back, and she around mine, our swords met out our necks. I looked into Iva's eyes, and she into mine. A grin began to form, and we nodded to each other to conclude practice. Doctore's whip seemed to put such notion to rest
"It is time to relieve old rust from skill, to the palus with the lot of you!" barked Doctore with a lash of the whip against the sand. Iva and I worked at the wooden palus until the evening sunset. By then it was supper time, and we were the last to get our bowls filled with a thick stew of beans and vegetables. A food I thought I never lay eyes on again, which I miss as much as grit in my teeth. As I recall that it is only at the day before the games that a gladiator will be able to feast on meat, and be presented before the people.
"It is only the first day, and there will be many more," I whispered,
"One cannot expect a flower to grow after the first rain," said Iva
I stroked her hair, "Can such a flower grow in the arena, I wonder?"
"I have put mind to such a thought, and know that I will survive, just like you did," said Iva, helping herself to a piece of bread with her evening meal. Her voice was soft, but worn from the days training. The cell is cold, and the walls bare the testaments and the stories of those gladiators that came before us. To think that I was free for only a year's time, but the voice of the arena has called me back to it's bloodstained sands. Iva embraces me with the soft warmth of her body as the night cloaks the world with her darkness
"Then by Zeus, we will see it done," I said in a hushed whisper, and kissed the top of her head. Her mane of curls graced my cheeks with loving touch. The next morning brought light to a new day set forth by Apollo. We both kept up out strength, and trained with sword and shield to Iva's twin swords. To forge a gladiatrix in training is like forge a sword. It starts as a mere piece of iron. With proper training and honing of skill, the iron turns into a blade and the skills learned turn into sharpened edges made to strike down and kill
That evening, Ashur came by the cell we shared, "So the 'Harpy' returns to her nest, and with her woman?" said Ashur, he gestured to Iva from her to approach him. This made me wary of the Syrian's intentions, "whatever you need, Ashur provides," Iva returned to my side, sitting at the edge of the cot and lightly stroking my short hair as Ashur made his leave that evening. Days pass in blood, sweat, and pain and through it all I got to see Iva grow stronger, and I relive my time as a gladiatrix, times I thought left in my past.
Iva smiled amid our daily training with her guard up, "Loosing your nerve?"
"I am quite enjoying this," I replied with ready sword and shield,
I smirked back as I went on the offensive. Even with a strike of the foot to her belly, she would roll back to recover herself and her weapons and still smile at me. A fire burns within her soul, a competitive fire. I felt such a way when facing Barca and Crixus on these sands, though it took more time for Crixus to open his arms in friendship toward me. It take the same amount of time for him to do such a thing for Iva. He holds a pride in himself and his skill as a mother holds a newborn child. One's own pride is a delicate thing
"Iva, Iva, it seems Kadri has taught you well, you flourish under her guiding hand," said Ashur, I sat up from the cot. My brown eyes demanded without spoken word for him to state his business, and state it quick, "you must not worry for her, I come only with news from the Dominus, he has deemed you worthy of the arena, I bring word that you two will fight in the arena against two pairs from Silonius," Ashur smirked a smile to us, "this ludus has seen the likes of Spartacus and Crixus, maybe you two can fair just as well,"
(Note: The helmet in the story icon is Iva's helmet)