Heart of the Gladiator (Affairs of the Arena Book 1) (17 page)

This was clearly not the answer Otho wanted. All the way to the party, he had spoken with zeal of how he hoped to put the governor in his place.

Plotting against me somehow
, Otho had said.
I cannot place it. He is always with a smile and a gift. But he hates me. I know hate well, and I can see it in him
.

If Trio did indeed hate Otho, he hid it well. His expression now was entirely guileless, eyes wide. His face reminded Porcia of an overfed child.

“Governor, you backed Albinus against my uncle, did you not?”

Several people around the two stopped talking. Music from a small troupe continued from outside in the garden. Inside, though, a silence grew like some fast-acting cancer.

Albinus was the last of the Five Emperors to compete for control of the Empire after Commodus had been slain. Emperor Severus won out after a long and bloody conflict.

“You know well your politics, Senator. You must know also then that I swore loyalty to Severus once it became clear that his cause was the right and honorable one.”

“The one that would win, you mean.”

Trio smiled. “The two are often one and the same. The Gods must love the righteous, Otho, for how often they seem to win in the histories.” He smacked his lips, downing several morsels of meat with a deep draught of wine. “Do you ever wonder, Otho, what might have happened to you if Albinus won the purple instead of your uncle?”

“I don’t spend much time at all wondering about make-believe, Governor.”

“Mm.” The Governor put his hands to his lips. “Of course. No, why would you? I have many thoughts as a governor, you see. Probably more time to think than you. Something must occupy this fat receptacle!” He knocked his head.

Otho laughed. “You mean besides more food?”

“Precisely, Senator. And you are very busy. Very busy. You spent all that time destroying the reformations proposed to the arrangement of a mint in Puteoli.”

“I recall that was your proposal, Governor.”

Porcia fought the urge to catch Otho’s arm.
Everyone
was listening now. This talk was dangerous indeed.

“Was it? I forget. So many thoughts run through here.” Trio knocked his head again. “Though I suppose I would have
liked
one. Legions get antsy when they are not paid on time.”

“If you have a criticism, Governor, I suggest you either quell it or come clean with it. I will not play word games with you.”

“Word games?” The Governor smiled and shook his head. “Here, I’ve led us astray. Terrible of me. Terrible! My friend,” he took Otho by the shoulder. “In this very house, I have a wine of such vintage that you will be knocked into Elysium from the very first taste. And,” his voice became a whisper, “just between you and me, I lost a good three slaves trying to retrieve it for this very occasion. Bandits got word of the shipment and wanted it for themselves. No doubt they would have consumed it in some mountain lair.”

It was a good of a way as any Porcia had ever seen to manipulate Otho. All events and thoughts revolving around violence fascinated the man. It made him dangerous, yes, but also horribly interesting in a way that Rufus simply couldn’t compare.

Sometimes when they lay together, she thought Otho might snap. The fevered, mad expressions in his face and the twisting rough grips on her throat, shoulders, and breasts. It felt like putting her very life at risk. A gamble of a most extreme kind.

She followed the two into the kitchen and beyond, where a series of slaves led Otho toward the wine held in a cellar below. Trio stayed at the top of the stairs, head tilted as he watched Otho descend.

“You play many games with the Senator, Governor.”

Trio turned, smiling. “Ah, Porcia,” he said. “I thought you would have left.”

“You are mad about that mint, aren’t you? About the mint, and about being the editor at the Puteoli games too. You wanted both of those for yourself.”

“I do not get very much mad about anything, I’m afraid. I find it bad for my constitution. If I don’t get my way, I find some new solution.”

“You don’t fool me. Your words are as fat as the rest of you. I know you’re upset. You must be planning something.”

The Governor raised an eyebrow at this for a moment, considering.

“Can you keep a secret, Porcia?”

Porcia’s heart raced with eagerness. She licked her lips just slightly.

“Of course, Governor.”

“Mm.” He squinted one eye and then shook his head. “No. No, I don’t think so. But then, neither can I. I just have a different way of letting them known than loosing my lips.”

––––––––

P
erhaps it was just Caius’s imagination, or his own projection, after the pleasant encounter with Aeliana, but the mood of the column seemed to shift dramatically after the break. Men talked large about the purses they would win and the women they would have thrown at them. A few veterans reminisced happily about the food their fans made for them—a common occurrence.

Every fighting style had its own fans, and within that style there were plenty of favorites. Caius himself, in his first year of freedom, had trouble paying for his own goods and meals when he was in public. Too many recognized the great Ursus—and the thraex was ever popular in the arena, second in Puteoli only to the murmillo.

More smiles could be seen on the faces of the gladiators, laughing in the face of what would be incumbent death for many of them. At lunchtime, Lucius had taken a few gulps from an amphora of wine. As they continued to travel, he snuck regularly to the wagon where it was kept, continuing on his pattern. Or, he thought that he snuck—the truth was that the guards simply didn’t care if he was drunk or not, so long as he was presentable.

Ever the champion, Lucius got away with quite a lot. The behavior worried Caius, but he doubted his ability to do anything about it. Lucius was stubborn, and taking away a man's drink was a good way to get into a fight.

Death in the arena was on its way for him one way or another. Why not let it happen one-armed and with a drunk at your side? There were less noble ways to die, though if pressed, Caius probably couldn’t tell you any of them.

A great throng awaited their arrival, and the guards closed in on the column, keeping the crowd at bay until the men were safely inside the barracks beneath the Capuan Amphitheater. Graffiti on the walls around the city advertised the names of the crowd’s favorite fighters, some of the art even depicting victories. Caius had been there many times before. Capua, being so close to Puteoli, often called for a great many games throughout the year.

Caius had traveled as far as Rome and the Colosseum in the past, where he won—but he was in the early part of the fights and so undistinguished aside from his victory.

What happened next that day was mostly a blur. The traditions before a fight were many, even on the day prior to the games. Swept up in the routine, carried away by the crowd and the many memories he held in the city, had little time to worry. He and the other gladiators were led outside the amphitheater once again and paraded through the crowd.

Along with them were the great beasts—brought out from an enormous menagerie where the animals were kept in reserve for games like this. No doubt, in the last several days, the bear and tiger that were due to face him in the arena had been prepped. It was a grisly affair. The flesh of dead slaves and prisoners would be given to them to encourage a taste for man. Then, in the few days before the fight, they would be barely fed at all, so as to facilitate a quick, desperate anger to their actions.

The parades were long, taking the combatants through a twisted path in the city. Citizens stood on rooftops and tossed down flowers and sweets; more still stood on the streets, hoping to entice gladiators to endorse their wares before a fight. A gladiator vouching for one merchant over another was a great way to boost sales.

At one point in his life, all of this had seemed readily exciting to Caius. But now it felt somewhat empty. Soulless. He did not want to think of what lay ahead in the arena for him.

His thoughts filled instead with Aeliana—holding her body against his. Feeling her in that intimate way. He wanted only to fall into her arms, but with the business of the day, it was not possible. He barely saw her at all.

Near sunset, the gladiators from all the competing ludi were brought out in front of the crowd at the base of the amphitheater and assessed. Some few thousand were in attendance. Nearby merchants sold their wares beneath heavily tented tables to keep out of the midday sun. The gladiators had no such luck, but all were tanned thoroughly and well used to the heat of the day on their strong, cut-hard bodies.

The poultice Caius wore over his arm was strapped down with bandages beneath a thick tunic. It looked as a sort of shoulder pad, making it seem more as an affectation of his character than a bandage. He wondered how many were fooled.

A tall man in a purple-striped robe read off their names, their win-loss record, and their style of choice. He also read off the names of their opponents and their win-loss record and style. This was the first many were brought aware of the nature of their competition. There were not a great many surprises. Conall, a thraex, found he was to fight a murmillo, which was fortunate, as that was what the ludus had trained him for. Septus, a secutor fighting with heavy armor and a short sword, was paired against a nimble hoplomachus armed with a spear and shield. Flamma would be in a heavy melee near the end of the day's matches with several other fighters—just the right fit for his brutal style.

When the time came to reveal Caius’s opponent, the crier reading the list made a big show of it.

“Men and women of Rome, we have for the games tomorrow a thoroughly sensational event for you. Beyond the bounds of our mortal understanding, a god of the arena has returned to us. The Great and Mighty Ursus, the most famous and talented gladiator in all of Rome outside of perhaps the Titan of Rome himself—”

At this point, Caius snorted in derision. He quieted, though, after the crier admonished him with a glance.

“—yes,
that
Ursus will fight in the arena tomorrow!” He paused for cheering, which lasted for nearly a minute. “And he fights not by himself, oh no! He fights with the Champion of Puteoli, the incomparable Orion!”

More cheers now, though the crowd did seem somewhat puzzled. Who was left in the ranks to face two such peerless fighters?

“They will be the defenders of civilization,” the crier continued. “They are to fight the champions of nature, the very wild that stands beyond the bounds of Rome. Here are their opponents!”

A portcullis opened at the mouth of the arena, revealing the tiger and bear beyond as slaves pushed them forward.

The bear and tiger were caged, of course. Young men hovered meat in front of their cage to ensure that they would snarl appropriately, making them look fearsome. Though the beasts had been starved, they were as large as such animals came, and showed no signs of weakness. The Romans had suffering down to a science.

That the beasts were enormous was the first thing Caius noticed. Whoever had caught them had probably lost several men doing so. The tiger was probably half again as long as Caius was tall, and easily came up to his chest. The bear had to be stuffed inside of two cages bolted together, and even then its frame pressed hard against the bars.

The beasts would be a hard fight for a man at the top of his game. Caius felt laughter coming up from his chest at how ridiculous and futile it all seemed. Here was Fortune’s calling card. A little bit of goodness—Aeliana, and that sweet embrace—and a whole lot of anguish to somehow even the scales back out.

All his sins weighed down the scales heavily—and Caius could not argue that he had not earned his way for a fate like this.

His laughter continued, and the crier took advantage.

“He laughs!” His robes twirled and flourished. “The Mighty Ursus laughs in the face of the most fearsome beasts we could pull from the depths of the wild! Have you ever seen such bravery? Is there another man in the world even half as brave as he?”

It would have been counter-productive, Caius supposed, to tell them the real reason he laughed.

After the fighters were all displayed, the crier announced the very real possibility of free tickets the following day for early comers, suggesting “anything” could happen. This was a bit of theater, of course—everyone knew there would be tickets handed out to the crowd. The entire purpose of the games was to keep the mob satisfied.

––––––––

A
eliana did her best not to look through the gates into the sands of the arena as the fights went on. It was all too brutal for her.

Besides, she was busy with her own table. She had set herself up in a small, well-lit corner of the arena's underbelly. She hung up a tall sign with the large “V” of House Varinius to indicate the area was  for her fighters. The day before, as the gladiators paraded through the city, she had unpacked her crates and prepared the area around, ensuring that all necessary tools were on-hand. From the gates to her table was only about a thirty second journey. She knew already that would be too long for some men.

There was a clear program for any day at the arena. It started with the beast fights in the morning, where bestiarii fought beasts one on one or in great melees, sometimes with dozens of beasts at a time. The bestiarii usually died—and did that day as well. It took a great deal of her self-control to not think about how Caius and Lucius were both fighting beasts in the primus that afternoon.

After that were the hunts, featuring the acclaimed venatores showing off their considerable skill with bows and spears. Then, at midday, as a “break” between the contests, were executions of criminals. During these breaks, noble men and women would retreat to lunch. The common people did not want to leave, as they might lose their seats. So, a long time ago, the visionaries of the munus games gave these common people something to watch—more blood and guts.