* * *
"One!"
Juko forcefully pulled his wooden sword upwards in response to Felix's count and struck it hard against the lower right side of the palus training post before him.
"Two!"
He repeated the same exact movement but this time hitting the thick piece of timber on the other side.
"Three!"
Juko gritted his teeth. His annoyance had been growing all morning and he was having trouble masking it as he lifted the wooden gladius above his head and brought it crashing down onto the upper right side of the palus.
"Four!"
He then struck the left side.
"One!" Felix began again but, this time, Juko made no movement. "One!" he repeated but again, Juko remained still. The trainer stalked closer to the N'bari, "Recruit, I gave you the count of one!"
Still silent, Juko impudently threw the gladius down into the dust beneath him.
"Recruit, what are you-"
"No!" He shouted through gritted teeth as he glared at the heavier built man, "I have had enough of this... training. All that I have learned so far is how to count to four!"
Euric sat up slightly in his seat upon the dais as he watched the scene unfold before him. His assistant, Posides the Spado, stood beside him holding a decorative sun umbrella over his head, "Sir, do you wish me to-"
"No, no," he motioned the exceedingly handsome young man away with a hand. "I will handle this on my own but first," a light smirk emerged, "I wish to see how it plays out."
"But," Posides beautiful face was awash in confusion, "don't you wish for him to fight at the Emperor's munus in one week's time?"
The lanista snickered coyly behind closed lips, "Oh, I very much do but you have to understand, Juko is a different sort of creature."
"How so? He seems incredibly defiant."
"He is defiant, yes, but it is more than just that." He stared out at the new recruit and watched as he began to argue further with the trainer. "You see, I have to make him want to fight and the only way to do that is to tweak him until he explodes. Rote drills, boredom, a constant authoritarian presence looking over his shoulder - all of it a carefully choreographed act to make him want to become the star of the arena. Just you watch, my boy, just you watch."
Felix, dressed only in the loincloth that marked him as a trainer, grabbed Juko by his practice tunic and shoved him roughly into the dirt. "Pick up your weapons, worm, and begin again."
Juko stood back up on his feet immediately. "I am done with this sham. This is not real fighting, this is-"
Felix grabbed the pugio from his side and was about to strike Juko with it when Euric shouted for him to, "Halt!" The Vandal, his gray robes whipping in the wind, stepped down from the dais and walked over to the pair.
"Juko, why do you refuse your training? Did we not reach a deal?"
"That," the N'bari looked down at the wooden sword at his feet, "is no type of training. You wish me to compete in a week's time and yet only provide me with wooden sticks? I am no novicus-"
"But you are no Tiro, either. Only those gladiators who have made certain progressions can be called Tiro and you have done no such thing."
"Then tell me what the progressions are so that I might learn! What is it that I am lacking? Tell me and I will do that very thing!"
Euric looked upon the young N'bari and answered flatly, "You have yet to learn the damnati ad gladium."
"What is that?" He spat out angrily. "What does it mean?"
Euric stared at the sword on the ground as he answered, "That a gladiator must learn to die if the crowd wills it," he looked back up, " ...with honor."
Juko was stunned slightly by his words.
Euric shrugged, "But, you're right, Juko. I admit, I have been lax in your training." He examined the practice arena, hiding the many schemes that stirred behind his dark blue eyes, "Well, maybe not lax but reticent, certainly."
"But, I... I know how to die!" Juko continued in his defiance. "And-and if I am condemned to die, so be it. I will meet my death with honor-"
"No," Euric smiled, this time warmly, "no you won't. Not you, Juko. You will go down fighting, just as your brother did."
Juko's eyes lowered to the ground.
And I wouldn't have it any other way, the Vandal thought to himself.
Juko inhaled deeply, "I want to fight but I only want to fight as a Tiro, a true gladiator. I told you that I have fought before, trained by my brother. I will show you if needs be."
Euric put an arm across Juko's shoulder, "That's not a bad idea, actually. I haven't done you justice, my son. Yes, Juko, show me. Show me you are worthy of the title of Tiro and I will grant it to you." He looked over at the other gladiators who had stopped their training and had begun to gather around, "T'tembo, come over here."
The large, well-muscled man stepped from the crowd. He wore the same style of loincloth as the trainers, though his was of a different color denoting his rank of palus primus - the highest rank of all the fighters in Euric's school. He made his way towards the lanista and knelt before him, "I am at your service."
Euric rolled his eyes and tapped T'tembo's shoulder with his flywhisk, "Get up, you fool! I can't stand all that... pretense!"
T'tembo nodded and arose from the ground in a single graceful motion that brought him side-by-side with Juko, who, while quite tall himself, stood only as high as the other man's shoulder. "What do you want of me, lanista?"
He laughed slightly to himself, "What I want of you, T'tembo, is to give me a practice match here with young Juko."
"Sir," he looked unsure, "I-"
"You would defy me?"
He bowed his head quickly, "No, lanista, never."
"Castor, equip our lead fighter with his own lusoria arma. We want to keep it... non-lethal. Juko, what do you choose: sword or-"
"No weapon," Juko answered flatly.
Euric seemed amused by his choice, "If that is what you wish." He leaned in and whispered closely next to Juko's ear, "But, even a wooden sword can do damage to an unprotected scalp. Do you still wish to remain unarmed?"
"I said 'no weapon' - but rarely am I unarmed."
"Your choice," he leaned back, "but if you win this, I will tell you some of what I know about your brother's death."
Juko's eyes flicked over to him, then straight ahead. The lanista took a few steps back and addressed the gladiators, "This will not be a timed match but it will be to the proverbial death. When you are beat, you must yield. Gladiators, ready?"
The two men, so mismatched in size, stood in the center of the training field in an area now ringed by the other gladiatorial recruits. The men began to murmur as they eyed each one and placed bets as to which would be their personal champion.
"We are ready, lanista!" T'tembo shouted out, then indicated to Juko he should repeat the same.
"Ah, yes, we are ready lanista!"
"Face your opponent, then, and take two large steps back."
They did as he commanded.
"Now," Euric raised his arm in the air, then shouted, "begin!" and brought it back down again.
As his arm lowered, T'tembo moved swiftly into action. He lunged for Juko with his heavy wooden sword but the smaller man was faster and spun away to the side quickly. The spin allowed Juko to close the space between him and T'tembo in just half a step. As he did, he then used the gladiator's own substantial leg to launch himself upon the larger man's neck. T'tembo, having experienced the unarmed combat style of his fellow N'bari many times in his youth, knew exactly what was coming. He hastily dropped his sword to the ground in order to throw the smaller man off of him before Juko had a chance to wrap his arms around T'tembo's thick neck.
Juko landed in the dust but rolled back up quickly. He hunched down, hearing Suna's voice in his head, instructing him from when they were training in their younger years, "Juko, listen to me. Imagine your feet are like long talons - like a dragon's! So long that they can grab onto the earth and nothing can mov
e you!" Juko closed his eyes and pictured his feet rooting to the ground as he held his hands out, open before his body.
Meanwhile, T'tembo had retrieved his sword and soon began to charge at him, his footsteps so heavy that Juko could feel the vibrations in the ground beneath his own rooted feet. He opened his eyes as T'tembo lunged at him again and attempted to bring the heavy wooden sword down upon the top of his head. Just as the sword came down, Juko ducked even lower in his stance and wrapped his arms around the other man's legs, linking his hands together behind the thick man's calves as he did. He then suddenly stood up straight and flipped T'tembo onto his back with one smooth motion.
The gladiator fell hard onto the dust and the impact sent both his sword and shield scattering away in the distance as his breath caught in his chest and his eyes looked around wildly. Juko's move had caused T'tembo's brain to shift within his skull and it was taking every bit of the gladiator's strength to stay conscious. T'tembo shouted as best he could in his winded state, "I yield! I yield! Lanista, I yield!"
Juko looked down at the other man as his chest heaved, "I apologize, my friend, it was not personal. Also, very soon you will have quite a headache." He then looked out over the stunned crowd and asked Euric, "Have I shown you enough now?"
The Vandal's feigned disinterested sigh was perfectly deceptive, "Yes, well, I can't say that I'm all that surprised, really."
The N'bari warrior wiped at his forehead and felt the grit of the sand grate against his skin as he did, "So you will keep your promise, then?"
Euric answered, "Yes, you get your wish, Juko. I will tell you some of what I know."
"And you will promote me?"
"And I will promote you," he nodded. "But for now, go wash off, then join me in my office. T'tembo, let the medicus tend you."
Juko left the field, then went into the baths and washed himself. After drying, he changed into a new tunic and pulled on a pair of breeches. If there was one thing he hadn't grown accustomed to since his arrival, it was the Lycanian habit of wearing very few clothes. Granted the climate was warmer than his mountain village but he couldn't shake the feeling of vulnerability that the lack of breeches brought him.
He left the baths and walked through the underground, stone-braced tunnels that led him directly to Euric's darkly lit office. As he approached, he saw the Vandal pouring over a scroll atop his desk. Juko took the opportunity to examine the lanista's office and noticed that set in amongst the candles that encircled a shrine to the Adversary goddess was the highly sought after Rudus. The Rudus was a ceremonial sword that not only symbolized freedom but also indicated that the lanista had once been a gladiator himself; this fact surprised Juko.
He stepped into the room and Euric looked up from his scrolls.
"Ah, Juko, my son, please sit," he indicated the chair before his desk. "Would you care for some water?"
"No, I am not here for water. Just information."
"Yes," Euric shook his head earnestly. "I will do as I promised but first, let me ask you something."
"What?" Juko's felt his annoyance with the lanista returning rather quickly.
"What is it that you want more than anything in this world?"
"The information that you have about my brother."
The lanista laughed and stood up from the desk. He continued to speak as he walked to where Juko sat, "Yes, but besides that. What else in this world would make you happy?"
"Happier than having my brother back alive?"
Euric nodded, "Yes, son, happier than that."
Juko's fingers tightened around the arms of the chair as various thoughts ran through his mind. There were only two things in this world that Juko wanted but only one that he would acknowledge aloud. "Revenge," he said.
The lanista smiled slowly, "Exactly." He sat on the corner of his writing desk, "And I may just be able to procure you your revenge. How does that make you feel?"
Juko shook his head, "No, Vandal! You are playing games with me again! You torture me, lie to me - but still, you tell me nothing! You said you are not a liar but you have yet to tell me any truths!"
Euric's smile faded as he sighed, "You're right, son. It is a failing of mine." He glanced at the shrine across the room, "Do you see that?"
Juko looked at the statue.
"I'm not even supposed to have that in here. It's... illegal. Did you know that?"
"But, isn't it one of your many gods?"
Euric laughed shortly, "Ah, yes, once. But see, now there are only three gods: The Twin Brothers and the She-Wolf Mother. Worshipping anything else is against the law."
"Your country is very strange to me. How can a god cease to be a god just because you make a law against it?"
He stared at the statue of the Adversary, her beautiful womanly form draped in cloth as a set of feathered wings rose up behind her. "And what do you worship, my son?"
Juko was slow to respond, "If I am honest?... nothing and... and no one." He looked over at Euric, "But the N'bari people have only one god: the Ancient God."
"What is his name?"
Juko shrugged, "His name is 'God.'"
"That's very odd, isn't it?"
"Lanista, I am confused by your questions. You should know all of this, as you have trained many N’bari-"
"Your brother was very religious." Euric turned back to face the young fighter. "Did you know that?"
"I... did, yes. He learned from my father."
"The Chieftain, correct?"
Juko nodded.
"Your brother talked of his clan very often. He spoke of your father, your mother and you, too."
"I'm surprised. He wasn't very fond of village life."
Euric laughed, "Oh, that much was very clear! But... he loved his family. They - you, were very important to him."
A rare smile touched Juko's eyes, "I am glad to hear that, at least."
The lanista sat back down behind his writing desk but when he spoke, his eyes seemed focused on something unseen, "Juko, what makes a man fight to the death?"
He shrugged, "Many men die for many different reasons."
"This is true, but your brother," he leaned in closer, "he only died for one reason and that reason was family."
Juko remained silent, cautiously watching Euric as he tried to understand what the shady man's angle was.
"You say you don't care that your brother had a woman-"
"No, I said I didn't care about her and I don't."
"Perhaps you should listen to what I have to say about her before you make such a judgment," Euric's eyed him with restraint. "She was like a daughter to me and your brother, a son."
"Fine," he said.
"Lady Catherine of Tyre was well-known and well-loved here in Odalia. But, first, you have to understand that not all Lords and Ladies bother themselves with the public. I mean, why should they, really? Our world does not revolve the same way as theirs does. Their concerns are not our concerns. Do you understand?"
"I suppose. As I mentioned, your country is very strange to me. In my clan, those that are highborn have a responsibility and a duty to those of the lower castes."
Euric let out a puff of air, "Well, they are quite the opposite here. Those that are highborn have very little time for the rest of us. Lady Catherine was different, though." His eyes misted over slightly with memory, "Her father became the representative for the Ala District when she was just a teenager."
"The Ala District?"
Euric nodded, "Yes, Odalia is separated into five districts and the Ala District is the worst of the bunch. It's an awful place steeped in poverty, crime, debauchery - every sin available! I have only been there once and, let me tell you, people will stab you in the back for a piece of moldy bread!"
Juko's eyebrows knitted together but he let the lanista continue uninterrupted.
"The Emperor would usually give such Districts to his most unpopular Lords. If they weren't murdered in their sleep by cutthroats, they usually left the Capital and returned
to their homelands. So, for whatever reason, Emperor Tiberius didn't like Lord Heron, so he gave him the District as a joke.
"Only, it was never a joke to Lady Catherine and very soon after her father became the representative, she began to make visits to the District with her mother. At first, they started bringing bread and flour to the poorest of the poor about once a month. Then from there, after seeing the sadness and devastation that had spread to all of the District's inhabitants, their trips became almost daily affairs. Even after her mother grew ill, Lady Catherine still attended ceremonies there and always showed even the most worthless life a bit of kindness." An unconscious smile brushed across Euric's face as he continued, "But she detested the gladiatorial games!"
"How did you know?"
"Because she told me!" he laughed. "She had her entourage roll into here one day and demanded to see me. I was not amused, I have to say, but she stood in that exact spot and shouted at me for quite a while at our first meeting."
Juko seemed surprised, "And you... allowed that?"
"Oh no, not at all! I shouted back with all the fury that my ancestors had at their disposal but..." he held his hands up as if in surrender, "she was undeterred."
"What did she say to you?"
"Oh, she called me 'cruel' and said that I was a slave owner and that my gladiators were treated no better than animals."
Juko thought of what T'tembo had said to him when they had first met and then remembered his own subsequent punishment for 'disobedience.' "How did you respond?"
"As I said, I shouted the place down! Who knows what I said? I probably called her and her ancestors a few choice words but she didn't even shiver or back away in fear - not even once! She simply pursed her lips and demanded action."
"What sort of action?"
He looked down at his desk for a moment, then continued, "Well, I showed her the barracks. I made the men disrobe before her." He grinned devilishly, "I thought surely that would frighten her away! But, no, she simply held her head high and began to question them. She actually questioned them!" Euric sighed, "All except your brother. He had refused to disrobe or leave his bed. Something to do with your religion, I think."
Juko nodded, "Yes. Modesty is highly prized in our clan."
"Yes, well, she questioned a few of the men and found they weren't clamoring to break down the doors to leave, that they were well-fed and housed decently. I invited her to come see one of the practice sessions. It's," he laughed knowingly, "not unusual for highborn ladies to visit, so she wouldn't've been out of place - though they are rarely there for the men's benefit, if you-"
Juko grew impatient, "I don't understand where my brother-"
"Give it time, son, give it time! Storytelling is an art! A well timed, perfectly paced art! Now, where was I? ...Oh yes, your brother. So, she did begin to attend several practice sessions and she and I would have endless hours of conversation about the morality of bloodsport. I enjoyed her ideas very much and in my younger years, would have been proud to be her champion in the arena, but," he shrugged, "I couldn't change her mind. I think that she liked that I tried, though. Then, one day, just to prove a point, I called your brother over. I asked if he had ever felt like an animal."
"What did he say?"
"The truth. He told her that the only time he had ever felt like an animal was whenever he walked down the streets of the Margarite District." He leaned in closer to Juko, "See, the Margarite District is where she and her family lived. She was horrified at such a revelation and so I left them to talk about it with one another. Well, argue, really. A lot... loudly. And maybe that's where I failed."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, first you have to understand the laws of the land that had recently been passed. The harshest one being that anyone of Lycanian decent, as Lady Catherine was, cannot mix socially with anyone of a Bestial descent. We Bestials are just that to the Lycanians. We are animals. Less than, in some cases."
Juko frowned, "It is a ridiculous law."
"Ah, but is it? How about your clan?"
He looked at Euric matter-of-factly, "We marry and socialize with all members of the N’bari-"
"Yes, but what of someone outside of your people?"
"I... do not know."
Euric gave him a knowing look, "Listen, my son, it is human nature to separate ourselves into groups but it is equally just as much human nature to desire that which is forbidden." He sighed and rubbed his temples, "Of course I knew what was going on in the beginning. Suna thought he was so clever, sneaking her in at night. I let it go, thinking they were just young people enjoying what young people enjoy. But... before long..."
"What?"
"Suna became distracted during training. He then lost his first match in the arena after being undefeated for nearly an entire year. Luckily, it was not a death match but it soon became very apparent to me that they were in love and that was a dangerous thing." He took a deep breath, "I confronted Suna and he admitted that it was true. He belonged to her and she, him but, Juko, the law is the law and they both knew that what they wanted could never become a reality. I tried, son, I really tried to keep them apart... but, even I have a weakness for such things..." His eyes became far away again and he fell silent.
"Tell me what happened, lanista," he prompted, annoyed.
"Well, I will tell you this much," he looked at Juko, "those two became like my children. I found myself protecting them at the expense of my own life! Suna needed to be freed from the arena but he hadn't done enough to earn his, shall we say... independence... and his fights were beginning to suffer from his distraction, so he had even less of a chance. Then, one day they came to me and told me the news."
"Which was?"
"That Lady Catherine was with child, which, you must know, is a crime that is punishable by death."
Juko swallowed deeply, "What did you do?"
He laughed slightly, but it was edged with sadness, "I had them married! By the gods, I did!"
"What?"
His voice cracked slightly, "Late one night, under the Temple of the Two Brothers, I paid the High Priestess to secretly married them with me as a witness. I'm an old romantic, if you must know. I thought, naively, that if they were married the law would somehow have a better outcome for them. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess that everyone loves a love story! Plus, they were a perfect match for each other - as if the gods themselves had carved them from the same piece of marble." His face looked pained with memory, "So, for one tortuous week after they were married, Suna remained here at the arena and Lady Catherine at her home. That is, until I came up with a plan."
"Which was?"
"I would give him my Rudus, the symbol of a truly free man. So we planned their escape. They planned to returned to your clan but...," he shook his head.
"What happened? Tell me what happened?"
"No," the hardness returned to the Vandal’s face. "I said I would only give you some of the information, not all. You want the rest, you fight in one week's time and you win."
"Damn you!" Juko stood and banged his fists down onto the writing desk. "Damn you, Euric, to the darkest pits! You cannot play with people's lives!"
Euric stood slowly, "I am not playing with people's lives, I am ensuring my own. You fight for me as promised and you will know the rest."
"But I want my vengeance!"
"And you shall have it, my son. I promise you that. In one week's time, you will know the man that killed your brother and you will end his life."