Amazonia - The Death of Paulus

I whirled around. Across the arena, the gold painted gate opened and spat out Daemo warriors, resembling yellowish man-toads, onto the sands. They wore crude armor made from their own black secretions, and carried pitted, notched swords and spears made of the same. Ragnar had already seen them, his battle-axe swinging towards the leading Daemo as I took off running full out towards them. Titan joined me a moment later as Paulus turned and ran.

It was like being trapped in a nightmare, the sand churning under my sandals, holding me back as Fenris... Ragnar, killed the first warrior. But the rest mobbed him while three Daemo ran after Paulus as they flung their spears. Two flew past him but the other struck his back and went deep, Paulus falling to the sands as Fenris split another Daemo’s skull. Swords like jagged teeth tore at him on all sides and Fenris went into a frenzy as a Daemo stopped beside Paulus and raised its sword.

A grey gateway opened beside the Daemo and Fox threw sand at the Daemo's face. The toad-like creature bellowed and clawed at its eyes as Fox turned and ran towards us, stark terror on her face as one of the Daemo gave chase. But Titan roared and the crowd roared back, wanting us to live, and they cheered him on as the Ogri put on a burst of speed.

The Daemo’s eyes widened as tried to stop, spraying sand as it stumbled. It lurched turning around and staggered towards the gate, the others turning around and running as well, but Titan passed Paulus and knocked the closest Daemo off its feet with the flat of his blade.

Titan kept going after the other two as I reached the first, swinging hard at its side. The sword bit deep. The Daemo screamed as I wrenched out the blade and whipped it around, my Wardogs giving me a wide berth as the Daemo desperately held up its sword to block my swing. The Rune blade notched its pitted blade as it bounced off, and I used the weapon's momentum to slash down where the Daemo's neck met its shoulder.

The black blade sheared through bone and the toad-like Daemo dissolved. Gasping as I caught my breath and looked around, Dancer had a Daemo pinned with his spear as Troll swung at its head, while Nomad... the twins, finished chopping up the other one. Fenris... Ragnar, damn it; Ragnar was down, but Titan was closing in on the rest. The Daemo warriors spotted him and scrambled away.

"Domina," Fox called out from behind me, "Paulus is dying."

Why is she calling me that? No time to wonder. I raced towards Paulus, who was clawing at his back as if he wanted to rip out the spear. "Paulus, stop," I gasped, dropping to my knees beside him. "You're only making it worse."

He stopped moving, the sand sucking down the blood coming from the wound as he raised his head. "Have they killed the Daemo?"

I glanced over my shoulder at the Eagle gate and back again. "Almost all. Titan's going after them like a Norse berserker. Paulus, we can find Fox's dress and use it to bind your wound, get you out of here, and find a healer-"

"Leave be," he grunted, gasping as he labored for breath. "Eurax... will have his revenge... no matter... what you do."

"Antonius' spirit will have its revenge on Eurax when the sword shatters," Fox said from Paulus' other side. "I do not know the details, but it has something to do with a necromancer who stayed with Lady Jhadra about a year ago."

I had no idea what a necromancer had to do with anything, but understanding swept his face. "This scheme of hers... was long... in the making. Az," his hand reached out and gripped mine, "promise me you will... return here... when the sword... shatters."

"I can't promise that. Breath of Cerberus, I don't know if the White Horde will accept us, or whether the son will listen to me."

He squeezed my hand and let go. "You will... find a way. Fox... will you... end this... for me?"

She looked at me and I nodded. Female Daemo have pearly white teeth that are actually hard pieces of cartilage, hiding their true, needle-like hollow fangs which they use to drink blood. They also secrete a substance in their saliva that numbs the area so it doesn't hurt when they feed. We turned him over enough so Fox could sink her fangs into his wrist, the crowd growing quiet as they watched her feed After a few moments she let his arm fall limp. "He only needed a gentle push," she said, wiping her mouth on his tunic as dozens of needle-like fangs retracted. "Paulus is dead."

I nodded, climbing to my feet as Fox... why am I fighting this? Might as well start calling them by their new names. Fox stood up and walked around the body as the last of the Daemo fighters went down trying to escape from Titan. I glanced over my shoulder at the Hades gate. It remained closed, and I turned my gaze on Paulus, dead at my feet.

There was a time, before Lady Jhadra changed me to what I became, when I would've given my eye teeth to have Dominus dead at my feet on the sands. But as I stared down at him, something had changed. Paulus was a hard man, yet also a fair one, always pushing us to go past what we saw as our limits, forging us into the steel he saw within the raw iron.

No person should ever be able to treat another person as property. Did Paulus understand that? No, he didn't, but then no one else in this empire, or in the entire civilized world for that matter, understood this either. Didn't make it right, but that was the way things would stand until the slaves found a way to break their enchanted control collars and rose up. Paulus was a better man than most, though, one of the few free men I respected. I wouldn't have become a champion if he hadn't been what he was.

And now he laid dead at my feet. I strode across the sand towards the Eagle gate with the sword resting on my shoulder and Fox at my heels, the Daemo stopping to retrieve her dress as I walked on. Glancing up, the emperor was still standing against the front of the royal box, and seeing my gaze, he raised his eyebrows. With my free hand I made a fast 'thumbs down' gesture. He nodded and spoke to the bald priest beside him as Fox slipped on her dress and hurried to join me.

The priest stepped in front of the speaking device. "The scales of Jupiter are now balanced. Lord Paulus is dead, and the remainder of his gladiators are banished to the Khitian lands, while Titan is free to travel with them on his way east, or wherever his travels take him. Let the Eagle gate be opened for them."

Before I could take a step, Fox gasped and grabbed my hand. "Domina, look."

Sand sprayed out as something red and small raced towards us... that isn’t a creature, those are red lines. "Breath of Cerberus, is that one of the tattoos?"

"Ragnar must be dead," Fox replied. Is that true? It has to be; his body's not moving, and I feel incomplete, like someone's missing. The sword tugged at me to respond and, trusting my instincts, I took it off my shoulder to lower the blade until it touched the sands in front of me.

The tattoo slowed down as it got close. A three-headed dog drawn almost a foot tall was approaching, the red lines three dimensional as if it truly existed. I can see the arena sands between the lines. The sword responded as the runes on the blade began to glow, and as the Fenris tattoo reached out with a paw and touched the blade, the runes went back to dark red while the drawn lines took up a bright red glow, like iron bars in a fire. Its drawn eyes glowed like twin burning coals as it turned around and sprayed sand racing for the now open Eagle gate.

"We will have a new Fenris eventually," Fox said. A shudder racked my body, and she placed a tentative hand on my arm. "In time you will get used to strangeness."

"Hades forbid... but you're probably right." I shook my head in bitter amusement. "This is definitely not how I expected today to go." Fox giggled, a shrill sound with an edge of hysteria that sounded like she was holding onto her courage with her fingernails. She let go of my arm and I grasped her shoulder. "You'll get used to the strangeness of humans as well, I promise. C'mon." I gently propelled her forward and let go as she fell in beside me, the two of us close to the Eagle gate where the others were waiting.

A projected voice above me spoke. "Amazonia," the emperor said, and Fox and I stopped where we were and looked up. "This is my decree. From here on, no person of the empire may hinder your passage, or attempt unprovoked violence upon you or those banished with you, as you travel into the lands of Khitia. Furthermore, you shall have my blessing: let all who meet you render aid upon your journey, and be rewarded themselves."

Beyond the emperor stood a thin man with a pock marked face. That’s Citizen Eurax, or I'm a Daemo. The emperor glanced back at him for a moment before speaking into the device again. "In the matter of the traitor Lord Paulus, this is my decree. The monies that the Master of Coin has seized shall be given to him as a reward for his diligence, and Lord Paulus' wife betrothed to him as he requested.

"However, in the matter of Lord Paulus' Ludus and his only son, Little Paulus, this is my decree. A Ludus is not just any ordinary business, but a sacred trust between the empire and her people, where even a slave can be elevated to such a high place that the gods themselves take notice. This Ludus has been run by the same family for nine generations; Little Paulus will make the tenth, and thus the Ludus will be held in trust until he comes of age.

"Likewise with Little Paulus himself. The son is not the father, and even though he likely knew of his father's plans to create a Reaver Knight, under the law a son must always obey the father for as long as the son lives beneath his roof and eats his bread. Therefore, as to the matter of Citizen Eurax's request to make Little Paulus a domestic slave, stripped of all rights, this is my decree. Little Paulus will be made a ward of the royal court, with the Reaver Knight Amazonia made Little Paulus' guardian until his coming of age at sixteen years. Whereupon the Ludus held in trust will be granted back to him. Amazonia, will you accept this charge?"

Eurax wanted Little Paulus changed into a girl and made his bed slave, but the emperor's pulled his fangs. I'm going to make a powerful enemy if I accept this... and I can hardly wait. Raising my Rune sword over my head in salute, I called out, "What the emperor puts into words, his knight puts into action."

Eurax's scowl warmed the darkness of my heart as the emperor gave me a satisfied smile. "Then this is my decree as well. Since Little Paulus is now officially our ward, Lady Jhadra will set up a way of sending messages relating to the boy's welfare, in exchange for a stipend of gold."

"Coded messages concerning our quest," Fox said quietly, "disguised as progress reports."

I raised my eyebrows but didn't disagree with her as the emperor raised his right hand. "Reaver Knight Amazonia, Khitia awaits." The crowd begins chanting 'Reavers, Reavers', as I joined the others, who let me pass before moving to follow.

Striding out of the Eagle gate, we moved from honest sunshine into deepest shadow.