Page 4 of Gladiator's Captive
“Your daughter is perfect, my dear Arenius.” The words came out terse and harsh, nothing like the honey-covered poison from before. “It seems we will be able to do business after all.”
“As I told you she would be,” Arenius answered, his cold glance fluttering to me for half a second. “Serena is a real delight.”
Rodrigo smiled, his cavernous mouth stretching like a fat worm. All I could do was watch as my life slipped from my grip.
“Let us speak of business, then, and I’ll let Serena take care of your desires.” Arenius laughed crudely and both men turned from me, engaging in a discussion on the mutual benefits of the union for their businesses.
I turned my gaze upon the sand once more, to Rager and his desperate fight, his opponents still outnumbering him three to one. He, too, was about to lose his grip on life. I didn’t want to see this. I couldn’t see Rager fall, just another life sacrificed to my father’s greed. I looked away from the fight and stared in the distance, at the empty desert surrounding Villea. A slow cold wrapped itself around my breasts, penetrating inside my chest and holding onto my heart.
Never. No matter what he says, I won’t do it.
It was surprisingly easy to make the choice. Now all I had to do was figure out how to escape my fate without losing my life.
Chapter Three
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Rager
One Mandrago lay dead, but three more opponents still faced me.
The gods haven’t abandoned me yet.
I twisted to better face the Agapit that had moved to my left. Standing on their hind legs, the mammals were huge, towering over me by two feet, their bodies covered in coarse hair, clothed from the waist down only. They were armed with heavy clubs, lacking in any protective shield or armor. They believed their superior size and strength was all the protection they needed and they weren’t wrong. The Agapits were formidable foes, but I had killed a number of them in this very arena during the last ten years. Alone, they had no chance of defeating me.
The Mandragos changed all that. The reptilian species stood barely five feet tall, but long limbs gave them a good reach. They favored the throwing knives, making their smaller size even less significant if the fight was long distance and their long tails were equipped with a spike at the end that could be used as another weapon. To top this off, their long fangs were poisonous in the extreme. Their bodies were covered in dark green scales, providing an armor that could only be pierced with a direct blow from my Tellurium swords. They had speed and agility on their side and if they figured out how to take advantage of the Agapits’ brute strength, then all bets were off.
Arenius figured out my plan to escape and this is how he punishes me. He plotted all this.
Anger and hatred flared inside me, distracting and burning. This wasn’t a fight. This was butchery.
The remaining Mandrago moved to my left just as the two Agapits lifted their clubs.
My eye caught the movement a fraction of a second too late. The Mandrago struck, fast and light, with his throwing knives high in the air. I ducked, raising my sword to block the attacker’s blow, but in doing this, I lost sight of the Agapit on my right.
I rolled on myself to the sand as the Mandrago threw his first knife my way.
