Amazonia

  Spring, 5th year of the Eastern Empire

  "Today is a good day to die."

  Sitting on one of the scarred wooden benches inside the holding area, where the gladiators waited beside the arena sands, Amazonia pressed the back of her head against the rough concrete wall as she looked up at Titan. "Ogri with face ugly as gorgon’s ass,” she said in the harsh language known as Roma, “once again utter same… damn… words. Gratitude if once, just once, utter something else."

  Titan, eight feet tall with earth brown skin covering the cords of muscle on his large frame, scarred from years of fighting, gripped the rusty iron bars of the long window with rough hands. He turned his bald head. "If I said anything different," his voice rumbled in the more civilized language called Greco as he smiled, showing yellowed fangs, "you would worry something was wrong. I would never get a moment's peace."

  She stamped her sandalled feet on the concrete floor as she answered him in the same tongue. "Next you're going to accuse me of nagging you."

  Titan laughed and resumed staring out the barred window. On the sands beyond him, a blond haired gladiator wearing the enchanted collar all slaves, including the gladiators, wore, was fighting a nomad warrior out of the Khitian wastes. The nomad race had dark blue skin and four arms, with the two at its shoulder human sized and wielding scimitars, while the child sized arms at its hips carried sword catchers. Flakes of rust fell from a bar as Titan pointed out at the sands. "If you bet on Albinus to win against the Khitian, you are going to be out a few coppers."

  "What?" Amazonia leapt to her feet and joined Titan at the window. Beyond the door made of metal bars was the arena, an enormous round area with ten foot high walls and row after row of stone benches above. Every bench was filled with an empire citizen, or a resident, or a slave, yelling as the gladiator in battle harness stumbled. White sand flecked with red sprayed as he recovered, slamming his round wooden shield into the nomad's chest and driving it backwards. Albinus raised his iron sword and stalked forward.

  He swung but the Khitian had regained its balance,, evading the blow with fluid grace while its slender scimitar dug a chunk out of Albinus' shield. For a moment, the wood held the blade fast. “No, don't try pulling back, use your strength and strike... Damn!” The nomad jammed its spiked shield catcher into Albinus' thigh and his scream of pain rose above the crowd's roar. His leg gave out from under him and he fell onto the sands.

  Even in the wastes, nomads had a sense of honor and this one was no exception, wrenching the blade from the shield and stepping back to give Albinus a chance to rise. Titan reached over and grasped her hand, his earth brown fingers gently wrapping around Amazonia’s ebony ones. "You always bet on the underdog."

  With calloused fingers she squeezed the hand that could’ve crushed her bones like rotten twigs. "Pure self interest. The odds were something like thirty to one, which meant I would've had a cupped handful of silver for what, the cost of a few coppers?" Albinus staggered to his feet, clearly favoring the leg streaming blood from its thigh as he raised his shield. She spat between the bars onto the sand. "Though if I'd known he was going to ignore all the advice you gave him, I'd have bet on someone else."

  Titan chuckled and patted her hand before letting go, wrapping his own around the rusted bar once more. Brushing a few errant flakes of rust off her stained tunic, she returned to the others. Io, an olive skinned Greek with curly black hair, nervously tapped his sandalled foot as he always did, and as she stopped beside him she looked down.

  Before coming to the Ludus, he’d been a rich man’s bed-slave. But then his master died and the rich man’s brother, who didn’t care for his older brother’s ways, decided selling Io to the Ludus, just so he could die horribly in the arena, would be justice. Io didn’t see it that way. He and Amazonia had hit it off the day Io arrived, and she’d taken it upon herself to work with him on the different fighting styles a gladiator needed to know to survive in the arena, as well as building up his endurance. Io had thrived under her training and had become her partner, on the sands and off, ever since.

  Cotus, a reddish haired Gaul with his mustache hanging down over his lip, leaned back against the wall with his legs out and his eyes closed. He’d been part of the Ludus before she got there and had taught Amazonia all the dirty tricks he knew to help her survive. He’s a great drinking companion, but trust him? Not as far as I could carry Titan over my shoulders.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  The twins, T'ang and Julu, human males from the Khitian city-state on the edge of the wastes, sat together throwing bones to determine the outcome of the match. Thin and wiry, they kept to themselves so much that no one knew anything about them, only that they had the honor of the Khitian Nomad fighting on the sands.

  Ragnar was new, a flax haired Norseman who’d run up such huge gambling debts that he’d sold himself into slavery to pay them off. He was larger in frame than the other four men, though roughly Amazonia’s size, relying on strength rather than speed to win his fights. As she moved to join Io on the bench, he said, "Amazonia, I'd like to ask you a question, but Io tells me that if you're in a bad mood, you'll chop off my manhood and fry it up with yellow lotus petals and onions."

  To her right was the door sized gate leading into the bowels of the arena, with a pair of guards the gladiators all knew and were friendly with. They laughed as did Cotus, Io keeping his face serious as he gave her a wink. The twins stopped throwing knuckle bones to watch, while Titan's rumbling chuckle told her he was listening, even as his gaze remained fixed on the arena fight. Amazonia stopped in front of Ragnar and placed her sandalled foot between his legs. "At the moment I'm not very hungry," she told him, leaning forward. "So how about a wager instead?"

  Io's laugh flowed like quicksilver as Ragnar licked his lips. "I know I shouldn't... but what kind of wager?"

  She motioned towards the window where Titan stood. "Today's match is an Imperial game, which means the emperor's supposed to be in the royal box. However, he's probably not there as it's well known he doesn't like watching them, so odds are that it's his son Arcadia taking his place."

  Ragnar looked puzzled. "So?"

  "So, when Albinus finally loses the match, the Khitian nomad will ask for the emperor's traditional thumbs up or down. If it's the emperor in the box, Albinus will be spared. However, if it's Arcadia, then the nomad will tear his heart from Albinus' chest and eat it raw in front of the crowd."

  "The heart holds mana nodes, the source of all magical energy within mortal creatures," Julu said. "Nomads are a race of magic users who need that mana to provide the energy for the casting of their spells."

  "So here's the wager." Ragnar's eyes focused back on Amazonia as she continued. "If Albinus lives, I'll tell you anything you want to know. But if he dies, you shave all the hair from your body, shave your beard, and become my bed-slave for the night."

  He reared back. "I'm not doing that."

  "You don't know what you're missing," Io said with a hungry smile. "Young men of noble blood have paid our Dominus gold to have Amazonia do that to them."

  When Titan wanted to sleep alone, which was often, Io knew that better than anyone. But they kept the knowledge off their faces as the expression on Ragnar's screwed up worse than if he'd just bitten deep into a lemon. "This is a decadent place."

  "There are far worse ones in the world," Titan's deep bass voice rumbled. "Before you ask, I will make sure both of you keep your sworn word, but if you are going to wager, do it now. Albinus is on his knees with a sword at his throat."

  Ragnar put the heels of his hands over his eyes as he bounced on the bench in time to his words. "Shite... shite... shite... Yes!" He uncovered his face. "I agree to the wager."

  They slapped their right hands together and made a fist over their hearts, sealing the bet as Titan said, "The nomad is playing up the moment by raising his sword... he raises the other one..." She could tell by Ragnar's expression he knew he should have never taken the bet, but the goddess Fortuna had her fingers dug deep into his soul. I'm going to make this a night Ragnar never forgets… Wait, Titan's laughing. "Albinus lives."

  "What?" Whirling about, Amazonia strode up beside Titan and stared out through the rusty bars. The Khitian had both his scimitars in his left hand while helping Albinus get to his feet with his right. She grabbed the bars with both hands and pretended to bang her head against them as the chamber erupted in laughter.

  When Amazonia turned around, Ragnar's face dripped smugness like water from the ends of his beard. "Heminja's finally turned her face towards me."

  "Who's that," she asked, dragging her feet as she walked towards him. "One of your ice cold bitch goddesses?"

  He folded arms larger than hers across his chest. "I believe I get to ask the questions, Ja?"

  "Fine, fine," she grumbled, hoping for a reprieve as she glanced over at the guards. "How long before we need to arm ourselves?"

  "At least an hour," one of them called back, getting more laughter from the others. Bastards. "I can dip you a ladle of watered wine for your throat if you want."

  That was something, anyway. Crossing the chamber, she headed for the door-gate set within more iron bars, the guard dipping a bronze ladle into a barrel before handing it across. "Sorry, Az," he said as she took the ladle and drank. "I would've told you the emperor was here today if you'd asked."

  Of course you would... though to be fair, I should’ve thought to ask. She let the last drops dribble out into her mouth and handed it back. "In truth, Dominus likely wouldn't have allowed it anyway."

  "Now that's a wager I would've bet silver on."

  "Yeah, me too." Amazonia turned around and stopped in front of Ragnar, leaning against the wall opposite him as she folded her arms underneath her breasts. "Well, ask away."

  Ragnar unfolded his arms and leaned back as well. "Is it true you were once a man, but got changed by a Daemo sorceress into a woman?"