Gladiators of Rome:Short Stories

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Blood. She could feel the wetness of her blood seeping down her side against her skin with every ragged inhale. And every exhale brought a new flash of pain as the arrowhead nestled against her rib.

Strangely, the smell of grass pieced through the pain and caused her nostrils to flare. Her eyes fluttered open and there above her was the obsiden night sky covering her like a blanket, closing around her. There were no stars, or if there were they were blocked by the arms of the trees.

 Their branches seemingly reaching out above them as their trunks wound down to the ground beside her, as if they were going to take her up to meet the Gods.

The thought didn't instantly invoke fear, and she let her head drop to the side like a dead weight until she was staring through blades of grass. She hadn't felt her arm then until she saw it stretched out beside her, her fingers reaching just like the trees had been. But instead of reaching for the sky, she was reaching for Diomed. Her chest became light with relief.

He was led a few feet away from her and mirrored her position. He was on his back staring up at the sky with his arm stretched out towards her. Her eyes travelled down his arm towards his hand as she looked for the place for her fingers to land. But her stomach twisted when she saw there were no fingers. Just ripped flesh oozing blood around a startling white jagged bone. At that moment Diomed's head rolled to the side and she screamed, her chest exploding with pain. His face was gone and insects were crawling through his eye sockets whilst his mouth had dropped open in anguish.

Frieda startled awake in a cold sweat. Her fingers clutched the bedding beneath her as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. As they did she listed everything around her from the double bed beneath her, to the wooden stool in the corner along with the wooden dresser at the end of the bed to remind her where she was.

Once her eyes adjusted and she knew she was no longer bleeding to death in a field, she risked a glance to the space beside her but already knew what she would see. Or rather what she wouldn't. Diomed. Her heart was now heavy for another reason. She sat quietly apart from her own heightened breathing and listened for any sounds that would tell her where Diomed was but all she could hear was the distant chirps of creatures outside their house.

Swinging her legs over the side she walked over to the bowl of water a top the dresser and wetted a cloth. Wiping away the beads of sweat, she was thankful her hair had been braided back the previous evening otherwise it would have been sopping. Even now though wayward tendrils stuck to the back of her neck and shoulder. Drying her hands she picked up the sheathed dagger beside the bowl and tied the leather straps around her leg so that the blade rested flat against her outer thigh.

Wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, now shivering in the cool morning air despite the earlier sweat, Frieda walked out of the bedchamber and navigated her way through the front rooms from memory until she reached the front door. She looked down and saw Diomed's bow and sheath were missing from the corner. Her heart gave another sad tug as she opened the door and stepped out into the early morning.

The sun was a few hours from rising but the first tendrils of light were beginning to swarm the sky banishing it from an opaque black to a cool blue. The dagger against her thigh was comforting as she walked down the path they had made from their font door passing a small herb garden to her left and a vegetable patch to her right where the green leafs of potato plants and carrots were sprouting through the soil. She had tried to hand at more complictated items but they did not like her.