The Phoenix & The Hydra

Gladiatrix

The hot sun burned down from the bright blue sky. The heat was barely bearable, even in the shadows.
Still the arena was occupied up to the last ranks. The noise of the cheering crowd was deafening. The sand burned in the eyes.
Nefret was bored. She sat next to her husband, the emperor Magnus. He was thrilled by the ongoing spectacle down in the pit, so he didn't pay any attention to his wife. Not that it bothered her, but she still wondered why he always had to drag her along to see pumped up gladiators cutting each other to pieces, or killing innocent animals. What a useless waste of life.
But she was obligated to obey him, so she just sat there, ate grapes and drank wine that a slave boy handed her, just to kill time.
The two dead fighters in the arena were just carried away. None of them had made it to get the upper hand and they both had died from their wounds. The blood-soaked sand was replaced and the next fight announced.
"I am happy to give to you a very uncommon spectacle. Now we have two of our most experienced gladiators, Seth and Anubis, against our very gifted Lightning, in a two against one combat."
Now Nefret listened up. A woman in the arena, that was rare to be found, plus fighting against men.
The two gladiators entered from one side of the pit, muscle-packed and blood-thirsty they lifted their arms towards the crowd and roared, ready to fight. A moment later the gate at the other side of the arena lifted and the most unusually women, Nefret had ever seen, sat foot on the burning sand.
Her eyes were covered in black warpaint, she barely wore any armor, only a blinking breast plate, simple bracers and boots laced up to her knee, two daggers of the length of her forearm in her hands.
Her slightly darker skin tone, than was normal for this region, revealed that she wasn't from around here. Probably a prisoner of war from far across the roman realm.
She walked into that arena like she owned it. Unshakeable pride and dignity followed her every step. She displayed not even an hint of insecurity or fear.
Fascinated watched Nefret how this woman entered the ring. The men seemed very sure of themselves, pounded with their weapons against their shields, arising even more cheering from the crowd. Lightning didn't do anything like that, she just stood there, watched her opponents closely and waited. The referee called them together, the fighters bowed to each other, his staff went up, the air crackled of tension, the gladiators went into position. The moment the staff went down and opened the battle, Nefret had to hold herself back not to stand up.
Now everything went incredibly fast. The two men attacked the woman with a war cry. Like wild beasts they plunged forward, but Lightning dodged their attack like it was an official dance. None of their blades hit their target. The woman was too fast and always two steps ahead. She seemed like a cat, playing with simple toys. A few minutes long she just wore her enemies out, until she finally saw an opening. Faster than anyone realized she hit the first men right between armor and armpit, a very vulnerable and painful spot. With a scream he stumbled back. Blood spilled on the white sand.
In the same second Lightning spun around to the other man, who charged at her.
He didn't see her blade coming. It went so swiftly through his throat that no sound arose. He put a hand against his slit aorta and windpipe. His breath became a gurgle; then he fell over and never moved again. The woman turned around to the other man, who was still struggling. His wound was critical, but maybe could be healed. The gladiator was on his knees and rose two fingers in the air, towards the watching emperor. He asked for mercy.
Lightning walked up to him, gripped his hair and tilted his head back, the blade at his throat. She looked up and waited for the emperor's decision.
The crowed howled and screamed, some showed the sign for execution, the thumb tilted sideways, others gave the sign for mercy, the two stretched out fingers. The eyes of the emperor wandered over the exaggerated crowd. Then he failed his verdict. His thumb showed against his throat.
The gladiatrix understood. The man, who had asked for mercy, had seen it too and accepted his fate.
But he would die like a gladiator. So he gripped Lightning's leg and, in dignity, presented his bare neck. The woman didn't hesitate, let her dagger slide down into the man's spine.
He tilted to the side and more blood soaked the sand.
Lightning earned a whole lot of applause. She just bowed to the emperor and for a second her eyes met Nefret's. Never had she seen such a fight or any person move like this.
Blood soaked and still proudly, Lightning left the arena, as if this had been just some simple sparring.
"Who is she?" Nefret asked her husband, who was pretty surprised that his wife asked him about a gladiatrix. Normally she didn't show interest in these matters at all.
"I don't know. Probably some war prisoner, which they stuck into gladiator school, because she had talent. Nothing unusual. But I must admit, she's quite capable."
That was all he had to say and concentrated on the next tournaments. Meanwhile Nefret called a slave girl to her and gave her the task, to find out when Lightning was fighting again.
"But keep it discreet. My husband doesn't need to know about this", she whispered. The girl nodded and vanished. The rest of the fights didn't interest Nefret at all, so she excused herself as soon as possible, said she felt light headed and wanted to lay down. Magnus dismissed her without further questions.
Back at the palace the girl she had sent out, already waited for her.
"The circus master said she would be fighting again in 8 days.", she told her and Nefret smiled, "thank you, you did me a big favor", she said, gave the girl a silver coin, "but this stays between me and you, okay?", the girl nodded happily and left her chambers.
She had a much better relationship with the slaves, than her husband, who basically treated them like dirt.
Magnus wasn't evil, or cruel, but he often made rash decisions and had a lot of unrestrained temper. If something didn't go the way he wanted to, he could easily lash out and mostly innocents had to take the consequences.
Their marriage had been strictly politically. The only thing which really bounded them, were their two children, Salena and Marcus, 5 and 7 years old.
Once Nefret had fulfilled her duty in producing a male heir, a lot of pressure had come off her shoulders. But now, as they grew older, their weren't so close to her mother anymore. But still, she cared about them any free minute, although she had dozens of nurses, who could look after them. But Nefret wanted to spend any second with her children that she had, well knowing that especially her son would soon be much more influenced by his father, as he was the heir to this kingdom after all.
Salena was a very bright girl and soaked up any knowledge she could get her hands on. Marcus also had a lot of brains, but came after his farther and wanted to understand everything about the realm and enjoyed listening to Magnus' war stories.
Over the years Nefret came to accept, that her children wouldn't always be the small, vulnerable being and eventually would grow into independent persons.
The thought had always hurt her.
When she was first married to Magnus, she had enjoyed the entitled life, the luxury and privileges, but soon, being the empress became more a burden than a gift.
On her travels with her husband, she had seen a lot of the roman empire, the good and the bad. But still she had the feeling to miss something.
Now that she had seen Lightning in the arena, this old spark of excitement and hope had lit up inside her once more and she couldn't wait to see this woman again.
After taking a long hot bath with nicely scenting oils, Nefret slipped into a purpur silk rope and stood at her balcony.
A small breeze ruffled the light curtains, the sky was all clear and granted a look at the bright shining starts. Deeply she breathed in the night's air. Crickets chanted their songs and for a moment, everything was alright.
She stood there a long time, before she went back inside, sent away her slaves to get some rest themselves, and once alone, fell into her warm, comfy pillows.
She and her husband hadn't shared the same bed in a long time. Since Marcus, a healthy heir had been born, there was no need to. Sometimes, when he was drunk and felt like sexual intercourse he would still barge in, in the middle of the night and had sex with her, but these occasions were rare and since he wasn't a brutal or aggressive kind of type, Nefret endured it as an obligation as an empress.
Of course she knew, that he had other kinds of lovers, but she didn't care about that. They had two legitimate children and that was all that mattered.
While falling asleep, her last thoughts were about Lightning. How she moved, how she acted. She was different from them others.
Despite she first fighting again in 8 days, Nefret decided to pay her a visit the next day. And with that thought in mind, she fell into a deep sleep.