Arena Shifters (A Paranormal Romance Novel) (9 page)

When the Dominus arrived,
Doctore removed the woman’s hood and the other man smiled in triumph. “So the
slave comes home!” he announced happily. He walked around her, inspecting her
body. Clearly she was in bad shape.

“Suddenly I find the need to
relieve myself,” he announced loudly to those around him. Even before he
brought out his member, it was clear what he was up to. “Anyone else need to
relieve themselves? Feel free to join me.”

Dominus positioned himself to
where he could aim his stream right into the recaptured slaves face and
proceeded to drain his bladder. His act of cruelty was immediately repeated by
every male in the courtyard. To not follow his lead could be construed as an
insult. When they were finished humiliating the slave girl he called the royal physician
over to him. He was to take the unconscious slave to his quarters and make sure
she lived until he decided how to take her life. If she died first he would
have to replace her in her punishment. Having given his orders he left the
Ludis.

“Gladiators!” Roared the
Doctore. “Resume your training.”

For the rest of the morning
it was clear Petronia’s mind wasn’t in the game and it earned her more than one
lashing from Doctore. The other gladiators used her distraction to their
advantage giving her an uncharacteristic beating before the day was half way
over. At the end of the day Petronia collapsed on her pallet without even
bothering to eat or bathe. The woman, the escaped slave was here. That meant
that the plans for the escape were in motion. She had to make a decision. Side
with the other gladiators and fight for her freedom, or betray them and side
with her Dominus. She really cared nothing for the other gladiators, and they
cared nothing for her. But her beloved Albinia, if she escaped, who would she
have? She would be all alone. As she lay there listening to the night sounds
around her she came to one conclusion; there was no good choice. Either one was
fraught with unbearable consequences.

* * * * *

CHAPTER NINE:

My Bloody Ludis

Two Weeks Later...

* * * * *

“Come in!”

The curtains parted and in
walked Flavia with a younger, new slave in tow.

Dominus lay on his bed,
luxuriating in its softness, anticipating deflowering the young delicate thing
quaking before him. He looked over to Flavia, directing her to remove the
girl’s clothing.

“And her subligaculum too,”
he said, as his body slave proceed to undress the girl.

As the young girl’s tunic
fell about her ankles, Gaius could feel his cock begin to grow appreciatively.
She had a body to die for. She was a tiny thing, standing five foot at best,
thin like he liked them, but not starving. Her silky skin was dark, and
flawless. Clearly no one had ever taken a whip to her. Her perfectly
symmetrical face betrayed her age. Clearly her ample chest and curvy hips
suggested woman, but that innocent face, upturned nose, huge black eyes,
suggested something entirely different.

As his eyes traveled to her
breasts, her drew aside the silks covering his rigid cock, and began to stroke
his manhood. The girl’s sharp intake of breath told him everything he needed to
know. Few girls were not surprised by the size of his member, and this one was
no exception.

He stroked himself lovingly,
as dewy drops of his sticky fluid ran down his engorged head and over his
fingers.

The girl’s breasts were
unusually large for her age, and her dark nipples sent ripples of excitement
through his body. He could not wait to take one into his mouth and bite down on
it. He let his eyes roam down to her sex, appreciating the lack of womanly
hair. He congratulated himself on having her shaven before being brought up to
him. The illusion of youth from a shorn pussy made his cock ache for release.

He looked up at her angelic
face again and saw to his satisfaction that she was staring at his manhood.

“Come child.”

Then he looked over to his
body slave. “Leave us. If we are disturbed, the Ludis had better be on fire and
every last one of my gladiators had better be screaming in the afterlife.”

“Understood Master.”

Gaius held out a glistening
hand to his slave. “Come, let us see if you really are unspoiled.”

She swallowed nervously, then
approached the bed. She had heard stories of the Dominus from other slaves and
hoped they weren’t true. He looked far too nice to have the reputation he did,
and the appetites attributed to him and the Domina. She paused at the foot of
his bed, unsure of what to do next.

Gaius pointed to the bed
stand on his right. On it lay a black hood. “Put that on slave.”

Trembling in fear the girl
obeyed. She noticed that the tight fitting fabric came just short of her mouth.
Obviously he would be needed the services of her lips and tongue. Once her head
was covered she approached the bed again and began to crawl across it.

Gaius noted her fear and it
sent thrills shooting through his body. As she drew next to his thighs he
spread his legs and grabbed the top of the hood with his left hand brining her
open mouth to his dripping cock. The moment her lips closed over the head he
lost control and began to shoot rivers of cum into her throat. Gagging she
tried to pull back, but he held her fast, thrusting his hips up, pulling her
down onto his bursting cock, caring not whether she could breathe. He noted
with satisfaction the volume he exuded as his fluid spilled out of her mouth
from around his cock, and every now and then it spurted, as she coughed, gaged
and fought for breath. Finally one last cough expelled his member and she collapsed,
face first on his thighs, unmoving.

Was she dead? He thought to
himself. He took a sticky finger and felt around by the side of her neck. No,
he could still feel the blood pulsing in her neck. Grabbing her by the
shoulders he rolled her over, admiring her beautiful ass. He moved around to
where his knees were between her legs, then he forced them apart. A tribute to
his manhood, his cock was rigid again ready to steal away her virginity. But
first-.

Without warning the curtains
of his private chambers flew open.

Enraged Gaius shouted as he
twisted around to see who was about to be sent straight to Hades. “Somebody had
better be dead!” he roared furiously.

“You mean other than your
little girlfriend there?”

It was his wife, the Domina.

“What in the god’s names is
so fucking important that you barge in on me when I left strict orders with
that worthless body slave not to bother me?”

His wife, undeterred by his
foul mood continued on. “Perhaps you’ll remember the Praetor, the one
responsible for your son’s death, has seen fit to grace us with his presence
once more. Perhaps the two of you can figure out a way he can kill our other
son too!”

He was about to say suitable
retort, but decided to let it pass. He would deal with her later. For now it
was time to go down to the Ludis and receive him.

He looked over at the virgin
girl who was just stirring. He grabbed her by one of her arms and yanked her
off the floor. She stood there for a moment, disoriented, reaching for the hood
still covering her eyes.

He cuffed her upside her head.
“Leave us you fucking whore!”

She cried out involuntarily, and
yanking the hood from her head, she ran out of his chambers.

* * *

Part Two…

* * *

Petronia stood at attention
with the other gladiators, relishing in the break from their training. The
sands beneath their feet a coppery red from blood already spilled that morning.
Doctore had declared it would be another day of training with their stock of
gladius, dulled for training purposes. Even though they no longer held their
edge, for safety purposes, many of the men had puncture wounds from the still
sharp points.

Along with the gladiators
stood a contingent of house guards in full armor bearing razor sharp weapons.
The Dominus and Domina stood on the balcony watching the proceedings. It was
all in honor of the Praetor’s visit to his cousin’s Ludis.

“What’s wrong with you?”
Hissed the gladiator standing next to Petronia. “Have you not seen the Praetor
before? You’re shaking like a girl.”

Petronia kept her mouth shut,
wondering for the thousandth time if she’d made the right decision. In a few
seconds she would know. Her actions over the course of the next few minutes
would decide her fate. She dared a glance over to the House slaves gathered
below the balcony. Her friend Albinia was standing there smiling and waiting
like everyone else.

Suddenly trumpets blew
announcing the arrival of the Praetor’s coach and entourage. House guards drew
open the gates and the coach swept in, two rows of foot soldiers in tow. But
suddenly things began to fall apart! Just as the coach breached the gates, they
slammed back closed, before the garrison of foot soldiers were able to come
inside.

Petronia caught her breath
and tried to look just as shocked as her fellow gladiators around her.

From the balcony, behind the
Dominus and Domina, a contingent of Roman soldiers armed with crossbows
appeared from the shadows, their weapons trained on the lone coach.
Instinctively Petronia fell to the ground as her fellow gladiators began to
drop, pierced with multiple bolts, and fired with deadly accuracy. The
gladiators that managed to escape the initial barrage charged the House guards
loyal to the Dominus, battling with their weapons that on any other day would
have been wooden practice weapons. While the soldiers on the balcony set to
reloading their weapons, more soldiers swept into the Ludis from the Villa.
These new soldiers were armed with a pilum (Roman spear) and a gladius. The
easily mowed down half the gladiators still alive by taking advantage of the
length of their spears. After the initial clash, pilums were dropped and it was
close quarters combat sword against sword and dagger against dagger.

Petronia rolled to her side
as a pilum was thrust at her unprotected face. She heard the thud as it stuck
in the ground next to her right ear. Then she rolled back over the shaft of the
spear knocking it from the soldier’s hands. As she got to her feet she scooped
up a fallen gladius, bringing it up just in time to block the thrust from
another soldier. This was not supposed to happen. She was to remain a
spectator, unharmed while the House Guards and Roman soldiers quashed the slave
rebellion. Instead she found herself in the middle of the Ludis battling for
her life against both soldier and gladiator, just trying to stay alive until it
all gets sorted out.

Rivers of blood and fallen
bodies made staying afoot a tricky business for those still lucky enough to be
standing. Petronia batted away another spear thrust, and fell over backwards
tangled in the legs of the Doctore who had been felled in the initial attack.
Had he been alive he would have known that he had just saved a traitor’s life.
A fellow gladiator Cordius would have hewn her head from her shoulders from
behind her had she not fallen at the key time. Landing on her back, gladius
still in hand she thrust it up with all her might, scoring a lethal blow right
between Cordius’ legs. Automatically dropping his sword he reached down to his
groin. He didn’t have long to agonize however because the Roman who had tried
to skewer Petronia slashed his throat with his dagger, drenching both himself
and Petronia in the gladiators blood.

Petronia had no idea how long
she stood and fought, but she was vaguely aware of both “friend” and foe
falling to her blade. She just hoped that by the end of the day, she would
still have a head on her shoulders. She was certain she’d been seeing fighting
for both sides and she doubted there would be any mercy shown her way.

The battle lasted 23 minutes,
which is a long time for a battle of that size. Before it was over, the escaped
slaves that were initially blocked from entering the Villa gained entry evening
up the battle. Before it was over 18 of the twenty-four gladiators in the House
of Gaius Gracchus Tiberius lay dead on the sands of the Ludis. In addition,
twelve other house slaves loyal to the rebellion lay dead. Of the escaped
slaves, both the ones hidden in the coach, and those outside the walls that
broke in, all lay dead but their leader who was badly injured. Of the House
Guards loyal to the Dominus, 7 lay dead and more would succumb to their
injuries. Of the thirty Roman Soldiers brought in to stop the rebellion, twenty
lay dead. Gaius himself did not escape unscathed. Several slaves loyal to the
rebellion made it onto the balcony and the Dominus was forced to rely on skills
long unused to save the life of himself, his wife and remaining son Lucius who
were all there to watch the spectacle. He took a nasty slash to his sword arm,
but it would heal fine and leave his with a scar from a battle he would not
soon forget.

According to Roman law, the
remaining slaves, both those involved in the rebellion, and those loyal to the
House of Tiberius, were all chained and thrown into the dungeons to wait for
execution day. Petronia was both gladdened and saddened to see her only friend
Albinia had survived the rebellion.