The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost

Unexpected News

Several months have gone by since you first came to the academy and your hardcore training goes on. Rhode is a brutally strict tutor, but the longer you know her, the more it becomes apparent that she isn't doing it to be cruel. She just wants to keep her students alive. You've seen many times how badly she takes it when one of her older students dies in the arena. She'll have this look of complete numbness on her face, like she's been hurt so much she just can't feel the pain anymore. This is the look she has on her face when she interrupts your training this morning.

"Something happen mistress?" Lula asks her gently. "Who was it?" Clearly Lula has made the same guess as you, that one of her older students has been killed in battle.

Rather than giving a name, Rhode just shakes her head before shouting out in her commanding tone. "The six newest students, make your way to the dining hall now! That's you Lula. Andreas, Alexius." She signals you over, lifting her head to look around the other students. "Gerda, Brasus, Zeru! Come!" Zeru lifts his head, not really sure what he's supposed to do, but Lula says something to him in their own language and he falls into place, following after you with the rest of the group.

The dining hall in empty, and you and the other five students all look at each other in confusion while you wait for Rhode to speak up. She is standing at the end of a long table that the rest of you are seated around, leaning forward on the table and hanging her head in frustration. This must be the first time in your life you've ever seen her lost for words.

"Master Titus has taken up a wager with one of the owners of a rival academy." She explains. "From what I understand, the man insulted some of your master's students, saying that Titus specialized in slaves that the audience would fall in love with for the whole five minutes that could stay alive." Pretty faces with no muscle. You remember Rhode and Titus having an argument about that the day they bought you. "Of course, your master objected to that. He claimed that his slaves received the best sword training in Rome, and that he could make the scrawniest runt into a stone hard warrior in less than a year." You have a horrible feeling where this is going. "The other man proposed a wager." She went on. "Our six newest students against six of his."

Silence falls over the hall until Alexius raises his timid voice. "What does that mean?" He asks nervously.

You don't need to wait for an answer. "It means we're going to the arena." You tell your brother... It means that by the end of the day, every child at that table could be dead.

Rhode seems to be trying to think of something to say, but she doesn't find the words, and instead just repeats what she's been trying to drill into your minds since the day you got there. "Fighting in the arena is a great honor." She tells you. "Dying in the arena is the most noble death a slave can have." She says the words like always, but you know she doesn't feel them. "I have to go and talk to your master. I'll tell you all the details when I come back. Just... Just be calm. Try to prepare yourselves." And with that, she leaves the building, leaving you in a room with five children who may only have a few short hours to live.

"It's fine." You say loudly to the rest of the group. "Remember, the students we're fighting are going to be new to the arena too. They'll be inexperienced and scared. They'll be clumsy. What we have to do is terrify the hell out of them. Don't let any fear show on our faces, make them think we know what we're doing. And stick together! If we stay in a ring, they won't be able to attack one of us without leaving themselves open to attack. If they scatter, we can pick them off one by one. And don't let your team mates die!" You say, raising your voice, directing your comment to Gerda. "If one of us dies, that makes the group smaller. The smaller the group is, the easier it'll be for them to finish us. If we cover each other's backs, we should be fine."

Brasus and Alexius still look very nervous, but Lula is smiling at you, seeming slightly less afraid than she was before. She translates your strategy to Zeru, who nods his head in agreement, clearly thinking that it's a solid plan. Even Gerda seems impressed, and is grinning with a renewed sense of confidence. You've done more than just provide your group with a battle strategy. You've convinced them that this is a fight they can actually win.

You are left alone for a couple of hours while Rhode arranges the fight and when she returns, she leads you to the academy's arena. The other students stare at you as you walk past and by the looks on their faces, they're not expecting any of you to come back. This is the first time that you've seen the arena used for anything other than training, and you can hear the excitement of the crowd inside. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people have come to watch and cheer while two groups of children try to kill each other. There must be something horribly wrong with the world.

Your group is locked in a large cage just outside the arena to prevent you from trying to make a run for it before the fight begins. You are all fitted into light armor that's not going to offer much protection, but will give you freedom of movement, which will make it easier to fight than if you were clad head to toe in heavy, impenetrable metal.

It's after you've been strapped in your armor that you notice a familiar face standing outside your cage, watching you nervously with a sad expression on her beautiful face. "Caecilia?" You ask, walking over to the edge of your cage to see her. "Why are you here?"

"Papa brought me to watch the fight." She tells you quietly. "I remembered talking to you the last time I came here, and when Papa said he was getting some of the new slaves to fight, I..." Her words trail off there and you think you can see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I hoped you wouldn't be one of them."

"Well... Here I am." You say, not exactly thrilled about the situation yourself.

"I know." She whispers before reaching her hands behind her neck and pulling a golden chain with a charm shaped like the sun over her head. "Here." The girl says, holding it through the bars and offering it to you. "It's the symbol of Apollo, the sun god." She tells you. "It's supposed to bring good fortune. Maybe it'll keep you alive."

You don't really believe that the trinket will help you win this fight, so you see no reason in wearing it. Then again, what could it hurt?

"Thank you." You tell Caecilia as you reach out to take the charm. "I'll wear it in every battle I ever fight." Of course, this may well be the only battle you ever fight.

As you take hold of the necklace, Caecilia grabs your hand, gently holding it in hers. She looks up at you with tears streaming down her beautiful blue eyes. "Just..." She starts to say, releasing your hand and turning away from you. "Just please don't die!" And with that, Caecilia runs away crying, leaving you with the charm in your hand and a group of five children all staring at you.

"What?" You ask your team mates, cheeks flushing slightly red with embarrassment.

"Nothing!" Lula teases you, but judging by the smile on her face, she'll be tormenting you about the master's daughter being your sweet heart for months... If you both survive this, that is.