A Lovely Death

A Lovely Death

"My only goal worth living for is to see Anna in good health."

In undying love, Dexius...

Dexius and his family lived in a small village of maybe forty. Dexius was a hunter and, it was said that he could smell an animal that was down wind of him and be on it before it knew he was there. He could run down the fastest animal and over power the biggest predator. He wasn't only a hunter though, he also cut wood to keep his wife and daughter warm at home. He could cut through two foot thick trees with a single swing. They lived well; his wife took care of his daughter and picked berries and fruit in the fields for money, and Dexius sold the game he did not use to feed his family.
Everything was well until one day... In the clash of swords and the cheering of fans he saw behind his opponent. It was her. He had finally found her...

Dexius was out hunting one day. It was odd though couldn't smell or see any animals. He felt something was wrong, so he went racing home. As he burst out of the woods he saw two men holding his wife on her knees. A man walked up behind her pulled her head back and slit her throat. Dexius screamed "NOOOOO!!!!"

He took his axe from the wood block and threw it. As it sunk into the man who killed her the others pulled out their swords and advanced on him. The first one went to stab him but missed. Dexius grabbed the sword pulling him close, hitting him and, stealing his sword. The man fell back and looked to the other man confused than pulled out a knife standing up. Dexius flipped the sword so the hilt was in his hand. The men came at him Dexius went to swing his sword but, chains were thrown around his wrist. And then his neck. Eventually they had him bound to the point of submission. They hit him over the head, but before he lost consciousness he saw them throw his little girl, Anna, in a cage. He made her his reason to live. They may have taken his wife but, he won't let them keep his daughter from him.

"Stay calm and don't fuss over the chains... My name is Gracchus. I'm going to remove your blindfold now but remember what I said."
         When the cloth was pulled away he could see the chains binding him to the floor of the metal cage. To where he was going he didn't know but he knows he wasn't the only person taken by force. Everyone was wearing rags and everyone seemed to have lost all hope of escape. He did not see the man who was speaking to him though. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see a man in a full set of armor, he too was caged.
"No, I'm not one of them, but I am a fighter. I earned this armor from the crowd." Gracchus explained that they were abducted by gladiator recruiters. Dexius had heard of such men but never thought people actually went around stealing people from their homes, forcing them to fight in the coliseum.
"What if I refuse to fight?" Dexius asked.
"Well first they'd whip you and ask if you will then if that did not work they would drag you out and toss you to your opponent," replied Gracchus.
Dexius sighed and nodded "What if I win? Will they let me leave?"
"Ha-ha. You can win your freedom if you can beat the champion of champions," Gracchus said laughing. "But, if you lose it isn't just the fight you have lost but your life. I myself would never challenge him but, then I have nothing to go back to if I win." Gracchus had sat down and started staring at the clouds in the sky, his smile gone instantly. Dexius knew he too had lost his family.
         "Eventually they will stop chaining you up. If you stay alive long enough." Dexius did not speak to anyone after that so as not to form relationships to his new prey. He was no longer a hunter he was a predator.

Dexius learned the names of his guards by listening to them talk to each other. After a while he talked them into unchaining him. During his free time, which he had a lot of, he would use the bars above him to do pull ups and would do push-ups in the cold of the night. When they reached the first coliseum in Rome he could bend the bars of his cage and break the chains they put him in. Eventually they had no choice but to let him out of the cage but they had a guard by him at all times. He never broke any of the rules that he had to follow. He was allowed to train on the guards training post at night and when no one was using them. They told him that his first fight was in two days and they were betting on him winning and if he did they would buy him a new set of armor.
         "I do not want armor if you wish to repay me for winning than give me the prize of a Spartan short sword." Dexius was punching on a rock column when they had approached him. Looking confused, the guards said "But why a short sword? You should use a heavy weapon like a great axe or a hammer. Maybe even a trident! You must be fast to fight with a sword."
         Dexius stopped and looked at them "Do you question my speed? Ha, fine, give me a wooden sword and your fastest swordsman and we will have dual." He bowed mockingly, smiling.
"You won't be fighting in the ring with wood. You will fight with irons. Go get Lucius." The guards ran off and when they returned with a man with gray hair that hung past his shoulders arms no bigger than the branch on a tree. He looked like he was about to die. Dexius did not think this man could even lift a sword but when they put it in his hands he held it like it was as light as a feather. The man who he now knows as Lucius started to circle him and swing his sword methodically. The guards handed Dexius his sword with a smile. Dexius bowed to Lucius who in turn ran at him with great speed. Lucius wasn't fast enough though Dexius had moved to intercept him before he was anywhere near him. In a clash of the swords the guards cheered and shouted at them. Little did the guards know both men were holding back. Dexius could see that Lucius was holding back just as he was. He did not know why he was but, he knew that this man was one he did not want to fight in the ring. The guards had them stop when the new watch came in.

"Gracchus do you know anything about Lucius?" Dexius's curiosity was too much for him not to ask about the surprising man he had just met.
"Yes, he is a man who everyone underestimates he is good with a sword and fast on his feet. A good fighter." Gracchus had turned his attention over to two men wrestling for the guard's entertainment.
         "Have you ever been in the ring with him?" Dexius wanted to know if he held back in the ring as he did in front of the guards.
         Not moving back from his gaze of the two men Gracchus said, "No but I know of people who have and they never look as good coming out as they did going in,"
         At that Dexius left him to go back to training again but now he would train his speed instead of his strength.

For two days he trained nonstop and on the day of the fight he rested till they called him up to the armory for his protection. When he got there he denied the armors they offered him and only took the long sword. When he stepped into the ring everyone cheered not for him but for the blood that would be shed for their entertainment. The man Dexius would fight was a young man would looked like a savage who only knew to kill and eat. The man did not have a sword a trident or a flail but instead two knifes that he held with the blades running up his forearms. While Dexius was studying his opponent the ring master had introduced them to the crowd but not by their names. The man he was facing was called Amadurxis and he called Dexius cruelty. No doubt just to tell people he did not expect him to live but, that was the one thing Dexius couldn't let happen. As the horns played starting the fight "Amadurxis" threw one of his knives it sunk deep in Dexius's leg. Dexius fell to his one knee and pulled the knife out as the man ran up to him blade raised in the air. Dexius rolled to one side than ran into the man's side knocking him to the floor. The knife in his hand flew across the ring and Dexius sat upon his chest. His blades tip resting on the man's throat fear in his eye pleading him not to. Dexius remembered that you had to have the king's permission for a killing move if it is expected like this. So in turn he looked to the king who gave him the thumbs down. This would be his first kill in the ring. Closing his eyes he let the blade fall through the man's neck. Blood spewed from the wound covering his face. He rose and went back to the confines to return the sword.

On the walk back he said to himself "Anna I will see you again... But not yet.... Not yet..."
         He was greeted at the door by Gracchus who was fighting next. He stopped Dexius. "Dexius it gets easier I promise."
         "What man of the people could get use to this madness?" Dexius said.
"I do not pretend to be a man of the people. But I try to be a man for the people." He patted Dexius's shoulder to comfort him.

Dexius sat down on a bench next to the wounded. A priest was walking around giving people water. It was only when he got closer to Dexius that he noticed that the water was glowing. He watched as the man next to him drank. He saw a cut on his face pull the spilled blood back up into it and then it faded into a scar. The priest looked at Dexius with dull gray eyes. The man was blind. He smiled to Dexius and knelt in front of him.
         "You are an interesting man Dexius. You lost your wife and daughter Anna but you still think you will see them again. You know the people who took you child were slave drivers and, yet you still believe that she will be safe in a happy home." The man's smile got bigger as Dexius came to realize that he was right they were slave drivers. She would be sold to the highest bidder for whatever purpose they wanted her for.
         "I don't know how you know this but...," Dexius was cut off by the man.
         "I am blind to faces but this only grants me passage to view the mind." At that the man got up and left. Dexius would go on to worry about his daughter like he hadn't before.

Dexius had a fight the next day. He came out with only scratches. He realized after the man had cut him that he would need to survive and win his freedom to search out his daughter. He won many fights most of them he was ordered to kill his oppose. He had developed a nickname from the crowd "Il Nero Mietitore" or "Black Reaper". He became a crowd favorite but, the king already had a favorite Flamma. The king asked for them to fight many times but the conductors said that Dexius was not ready. After 20 fights in the ring they asked him if he wanted to fight Flamma. Dexius had said yes and would prepare for three days. They gave him his three days to prepare with no fights.
         After his three days were up he slept till there were only minutes left till the fight. He refused anything but a shield and his short sword. As he walked out into the ring Lucius and Gracchus gave him their praise for neither of them would ever think to challenge the arena champion.

         "Tonight we have Dexius 'The Black Reaper' and Flamma 'The Beheader'! This is a fight to the death. Not even the king can say that the winner cannot kill the fallen." The announcer got the crowd riled up. "At my signal unleash hell!" He had the horn blow and the fight began.
Flamma was the first to strike but, only too Dexius's shield. Flamma knocked it away. They both smashed their swords together and the crowd cheered. In the clash of swords and screaming of fans he saw her behind his opponent. It was his daughter. He had finally found her... Knocking his opponent to the ground he dropped his sword running over to the wall nearest to her she was in the king's box. Next to the prince. Holding his hand. She was safe... She was with the prince and happy about it. He was happy. A yell from behind him broke his concentration.

         Flamma was furious. The Black Reaper, had knocked him to the ground and left him living. Flamma wanted this to be his last fight. He had heard of "The Black Reaper" and was impressed but, this was just humiliating. He got up and ran after "Il Nero Mietitore"' blade drawn he picked up the sword Dexius had dropped. Flamma yelled, crossed his swords and with swift practiced precision he cut off the head of Dexius. As his head hit the dirt the crowd cheered the royalties clapped and so did Anna. Unknowing she was clapping to her fathers death. Eventually everyone forgot the man and the story of Dexius...