Gladiator (Part V)

GLADIATOR (PART V)

For almost three weeks now all I have done is train
Day after day I hear the cries of the Coliseum
The cries for the heroes
The cries of the slain
Still each night I lay in my cell
Unknowing of when I will face those cries again

Today I train once more
Fighting for hours
Baking in the relentless heat of Apollo’s chariot
This God does not favour me

Endless drills with the wooden swords against long broken men
Morale fading
The Emperor spoke that I would fight for him again
Was it all a lie?
Had he forgotten the Gladiator who’d angered him
Was this my penance?

These were thoughts soon wiped from my tortured mind
By the newly opened cut on my left cheek
And the vile and putrid taste of my own blood

With this concentration maybe the Emperor was right
If indeed there is a next time I fight
Maybe I will die
Must concentrate

I was barely aware of this practice bout
Despite the three injured men with bloodied wounds
Our Latista screaming aloud
Dead
Dead
Dead
To the three men of which I speak

In the coliseum this would be a ten man fight to the death
Though in practise merely a fight till deemed dead
We Gladiators are priceless commodities after all
Not to be wasted
Unlike the slave girls often sent to please us

With that blood spills from my right cheek
Concentrate damn you
In the Coliseum
The arena of death
Such thoughts I would pay for with my life
You must be focused
Never distracted
You must be willing to kill
Never willing to die

Still the thoughts of Serina fill my mind
A form not seen since my last fight
Had she recovered from her violent ordeal?
Had she thought of me?

A harsh thud of wood on bone
Sends me crashing to the floor
As a strike hits me from behind
Think Gladiator
My Latista howls

Scrambling to my feet I see just myself and two others left in this fight
Where had I been?
How am I alive?

The howling screams of a burning Christian woman
Distract me once more as she faces her end
To the cheering crowd held within those circle walls beyond

My being is filled with fear
Serina had told me of her beliefs
Though I wish she’d kept them hidden from me
She had told me no-one else knew
That she had kept her silence
But the burning flesh filling the air nearby
Made me fear for her
Could it indeed be her?

The voice of my Latista’s congratulations
Pulls me back to the now
As I see the broken bodies around me
You destroyed them all my friend
You did well
So tell me Valerius what is it you want?

In mind I think
It used to be very simple
I used to just want my freedom
My name
Now though I must ask myself again
Could I want Serena more?
As I walk away
My Latista’s question I leave unanswered