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DEE
When the ringleader returns, he's thrilled about Vadnar's proposal to fight all of the gladiators.
Vadnar requests two things: to allow us to meet with the Entertainers and gladiators. He tells the ringleader we enjoy their friendships, and the greedy male is so blinded by the fantasy of tomorrow's ticket sales, that he agrees.
"Anything to keep my champion happy," he says. "I won't display your pet in the arena again."
I grab Vadnar's wrist to ensure he doesn't lash out. He looks murderous right now, but the ringleader doesn't suspect anything because that's Vadnar's typical expression.
The ringleader retrieves me from the cell first. As he leads me outside, Hull and I exchange a knowing look. The plan is unfolding.
The ringleader takes me upstairs, where the entertainers mingle. I pull at my wrinkled brown dress, staring at the ground to avoid the stares as I walk down the hall. Everyone recognizes me as the clown of the arena. I've been suppressing my memories, but the laughter of the audience will follow me into my dreams.
I face the entertainer's lounge with set shoulders. The ringleader looks bored as he orders, "make it quick. I don't have time for you whores to braid each other's hair."
I push the doors open, and the smiles of the beautiful women wither. There's more entertainers here this time. The room smells like flowers and citrus.
An older entertainer approaches me. She's beautiful, her hair falling to her shoulders and a silky black robe covering her. She palms her hips. Every finger wrapped by a ring.
"You keep returning," she says. "But you are not wanted here."
This is the part where I scurry away back to my cell. But today is different, so I hold my ground. "Why?"
"You are an outsider," she quickly answers. "You can never be one of us. You can never understand our relationship with the masters. So go away, slave. You have nothing to offer us." She turns to leave.
"I might be one of their slaves," I reply, pitching my voice louder so more women could hear me. "But I own something precious: a master's heart, and he owns mine."
Her face snaps in my direction like I've burnt her.
"You love a master, don't you? You want to be loyal to him. To only service him. But he doesn't return your affection."
I'm speaking nonsense, hoping it hits home. It's the only conclusion I could come up with that at least one woman in here could relate to. I don't understand their lifestyle of servicing and sharing multiple masters, but I respect it. And I might have a solution to those that want more.
"I can show you how to capture a master's heart. Just how I've done it."
Her hands grab handfuls of her robe and squeezes tightly. She's furious, and I fear I've insulted her.
"At the cost of what, girl?" she grits.
"One day, the masters will need your help. I ask that you're there to support them. Not me, but all the men you've grown to love. I'll be there to fulfill my promise to you."
I'm afraid to blink as I stare at her face. Desperation festers in me, and I want to stop this bravado and fall to my knees and beg. But these women already don't respect me. I can't humiliate myself further.
"We will always be there to support the masters," she grits. "Go now. Before you say something that will get you decapitated."
She must have catched onto the change in the air. The suspense of what's coming. If the guards outside are listening to my conversation and suspect that I'm aiding the plot to escape, they won't hesitate to drag me out.
"Thank you," I whisper, turning around and leaving the room. I have to bite my inner cheek to stop myself from smiling. Finally, I've done something right.
I'm returned to my cell, but Vadnar is missing. He must be speaking with the gladiators and hinting of what tomorrow will bring.
I sit on the bed and count the metal bars on the cell door until I fall asleep, and the distant sound of Hull grunting as he does push ups fades away.
– • –
I awake in a cold sweat, the sound of laughter turning into shrieks. I remember feeling like a small dot in the arena as they stared and laugh. Just another grain in the endless black sand. So many eyes were on me, squinting as they studied my alien features. And their smiles. White teeth so familiarly human as they grinned.
"Calm your breathing. He's coming," warns hull.
I swallow and wipe my hands across my damp forehead. Footsteps become louder, and just as Hull warned, Vadnar is escorted into our cell.
He can't know about my nightmare, or about Cherry's message. He is stressed enough.
"Did things go well with the others?" I whisper.
He dips his head, and I sigh in relief. It's all a waiting game now.
He pulls me into his arms, and I cling tightly. As we sit on the bed, he whispers his plan to me, and instructions of what I'm supposed to do. It's hard to focus. Hard to accept that tomorrow, my lover's embrace might not be so warm.
– • –
The colosseum roars as people pour into it. It's morning now. My lids are heavy from lack of sleep, and the rest of me is tense.
Vadnar didn't sleep much, either. When he suspected I was asleep, he got off the bed and silently worked out in the darkness.
We're sitting on the bed now, holding hands and listening to the sounds around us. Breakfast is brought to us, and it's more generous than usual. There's no runny soup today, but meats, breads, jam and juice. We eat quickly, afraid the plates will be taken away, and then we're sitting back in silence, staring at our other cellmates.
The ringleader comes to collect us. He's dressed in fine silk, and wears gold necklaces and gauntlets. He's chirpy as he rants about how full the stadium is.
We're collected and led down to the arena. I study every last detail of my surroundings, memorizing it and hoping I never see it again.
The other gladiators are already sitting in the dugout. There are some I've never seen before, for a total of twelve males. No one is in their enraged state–which will likely be a disadvantage. Their eyes follow my every move, even as Vadnar stands beside me.
Trey isn't here, and that claws at my chest. I don't want to abandon him, but I can't raise suspicion by asking the guards to bring him.
I stand against the wall, feeling the vibrations of the audience stomping above and dirt sprinkling on my hair.
Vadnar stands beside me, shielding me from the men's gaze.
"Why so silent today, Hull? You're usually talking nonsense," a guard says, poking Hull with the blunt end of his spear.
Hull grunts. "Feeling rather peaceful today."
Our attention turns to the ringleader as he ridiculously cracks a whip, making the audience go wild. "Your favorite master will turn the sand red today!" He yells.
My eyes lock on the six flags on the perimeter of the colosseum, pressed against the wall. The flags are all white, with different words and symbols printed on them.
"Freedom," says Vadnar. "That's what the first flag says."
I stare at it. A flag proclaiming freedom waves before the enslaved masters. It's ironic. Cruel. No gladiator in this arena is free.
"Now presenting your favorite fighters!"
Two guards usher the gladiators forward. Vadnar clings my hand tightly and takes me along. No guard dares to question him.
Once we're all at the center of the arena with fans cheering and the ringleader smiling at his beloved champions, all hell breaks loose.
Hull snatches a guard's spear and cuts him down. Vadnar vanishes from my side. I blink, and find him wrapping the whip around the ringleader's neck. It only takes a second. One flick of the arms for him to drop dead.
Vadnar told him he would kill him. I knew he would. I shouldn't be shocked by the dead male who's face-first in the black sand.
The crowd roars so loudly I want to shield my ears, but everyone is already charging forward as a wave of guards follow us. I run towards the flags, just like Vadnar instructed me.
I can see the rope that dangles beside the wooden pole. The rope we are supposed to climb to reach the top of the wall. Vadnar told me he would meet me at the bottom. That he would climb both of us, and that I don't have to look back. But he's not here, and the temptation to disobey him and look for him in the chaos is overwhelming.
Just as I look back, arms pull me and toss me over a shoulder. Then we're ascending. He's climbing the wall with the rope. I wrap my arms over his torso as I hang over his shoulder. I can only see the black sand get further and flashes of the masters beside us climbing with their own rope.
We reach the middle of the wall when the guards begin to climb the rope, too.
There is an uproar in the audience like I've never heard before. The air is vibrating with their cries.
At the top of the wall, Vadnar doesn't hesitate to swing me off his shoulder and jump off—dropping twenty-something feet. The wind is knocked off my lungs when we land, and then I'm rattled when a second set of arms snatches me.
I look up and focus my disoriented vision. And then I realize I'm in Vadnar's arms. He had taken me from Ranrok. It was Ranrok who climbed me over the wall.
Vadnar is trembling with fury, but there is no time to fight the other male. We must run for our lives.
Screams come from the town locals as masters steal whatever animals they can find to ride away.
"Here!" Hull roars, shoving the reigns of an animal into Vadnar's hands. Then he's running on foot down the dirt path.
Vadnar swings me atop the jerky beast, and jumps behind me. We take off, galloping without looking back, taking deep pulls of the air that's slamming into us.
Freedom.
We ride for as long as the animal can take, curving into the forest with a few pairs of masters behind us. There's only eight of us now— Ranrok and Hull included as they ride together.
I have no clue what happened to the other masters, and I can only dream they got away. Any other fate is too terrible to imagine. It would break me. I'm already tearing at the realization that I left Trey behind.
We dismount by a small stream to let the animals drink and rest.
"Are you hurt?" Vadnar asks, griping my shoulders tightly. There's a desperation in his gaze. We're free now, but he's captive to his worry.
"No. I'm fine. I—" seeing that Ranrok is approaching, I raise a hand to stop him. "Please—"
Vadnar turns around, launching himself at the male until they tumble into the mud. This is what I had been afraid of. There are no guards or cells to keep these two apart anymore.
Vadnar swings and connects a fist against Ranrok's cheek. "You should have known your place, you bastard! How could you take her?"
Ranrok twists his hips, throwing Vadnar off. But there's no stopping Vadnar. He snarls and propels himself forward.
One of the beasts spooks off into the forest.
Before I can beg them to stop, masters descend on them and pin them down.
"I got to her before you!" Ranrok snarls.
"Of course you did. You ran like a coward instead of standing your ground and taking down at least one guard!"
"I ran because I chose freedom over bloodthirst. It's your desire for vengeance that will make you lose her!"
"Be quiet, you two!" Hull grits. "Now is not the rotten time to do this. We are on the run, and the entire colosseum will be searching for us."
"He's right," I say, my lips trembling. "Stop this nonsense and focus on what's important. We made it out. We're free."
Vadnar stands, his chest streaked with mud. His eyes are full of hate as he stares at Ranrok. "Stay away from her.."
"Ranrok, let's go," Hull orders.
The man looks like he has a lot more to say, but he stomps off in the direction that the spooked animal ran in.
Things are tense after that. The masters keep themselves busy, using whatever they find in their saddlebags to build a fire and hunt nearby critters.
I can't even look at Vadnar. We are free. Finally free, but I've never felt more lost.
"I'm sorry you saw so much violence today," he says. "That I have become the brute the colosseum called me. But to protect you, I will become anything. I cannot apologize for that. And as long as you are mine, I will destroy any male that says otherwise. I will not apologize for that either."
This feud with Ranrok will not end anytime soon. That's what he's telling me.
I sink into the moist soil beneath me, completely and utterly drained.