What History Doesn't Know

The Exit Of The Gladiators

"Behind you!" I shouted.

Spartacus turned around just in time and swung his sword as the lion leaped at him. At the last second, he slashed the lion ending its life. The Roman crowd cheered as the lion's blood flowed.

Spartacus and I stood among the bodies of the dead gladiators and animals that were part of today's show. A really rich Roman wanted to do his 'contribution' to the public so he paid for everybody's tickets so that they could see the show for free.

At first, it was just us gladiators fighting in the ring. We weren't doing too bad because most of the crowd was pleased. However, the rich Roman thought that things were a little boring so he paid to send in lions.

There were at least 10 gladiators when we started.

Now there it was just Spartacus and me. I thought we might need to fight each other but fortunately, we didn't have to. The smell of rotting bodies was really nauseating. It didn't put Spartacus in bad mood because he was already in a worse mood. When we were back in the gladiator school, Spartacus began releasing his frustration.

"I can't believe the guts of that guy! Just because he thought the show wasn't good enough, he had to go and release those poor animals. Now, there they're dead and so are our friends."

I kept quiet for a while before replying. "Spartacus, you know things like that happen to gladiators. I don't like this any more than you do."

Spartacus just sat down and put his face in his palm. "It's just disgusting. They're disgusting. The spectators, I mean. And this gladiator life we're suppose to have, it's pathetic. Every day and night I hear noise from outside these walls. Do you know what that is, Therus?"

I thought hard for a good reply. "Ummm...noise pollution?"

"Freedom, Therus." he corrected me. "All that's blocking us from it is these godforsaken walls."

I sighed and put my hand on his shoulder. "Spartacus, I've been here longer than you have. I've looked at every corner and there is not even a single crack out of here."

"That's where you're wrong, Therus. I think I have a plan but it's going to need to cooperation from the other gladiators."

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"Not here. Not now. I'll ask the guard if I can share a cell with you. If we're lucky, I can tell you tonight."

So later that night, Spartacus managed to persuade the guard to place him in the same cell as me. When it seemed that everyone was sleeping, he began explaining his plan.

"There is one place in this building that can supply the gladiators with decent weapons. The kitchen. I'll be on food duty tomorrow. When the gladiators are coming for their lunch, instead of their food, I'll give them knives and the sort. Then, we ambush the guards. Know what comes next?"

"We...look for the keys and make our way of here?" I said feeling rather uncertain.

"Precisely, my friend. I hope you can tell everyone, that is all the gladiators, to 'come to lunch' on time. We can't afford any delay."

"So...supposing we did get out of here...then what?"

He chuckled. "Let's worry about getting out first. If you must know, let's just run not just out of the school but the city."

I nodded. "Seems pleasant."

"Well. Big day tomorrow. Best get some shut eye." Spartacus said as he began making himself comfortable on the floor.

I placed my head on the cell floor thinking what I've got myself into. It seemed like a dream that we were finally getting out of this hellhole. But capture would prove severe consequences. Ah well, I thought to myself as I closed my eyes.

The next day, I woke up to the sound of the cell doors opening. Sleeping in late was not a gladiator's privilege. Not that...we had much privileges. The guards pushed me out onto the training grounds. Looking at the side of the wall, I saw a bow and some mock arrows. For some reason, I feel this urge to pick them up. Soon enough, there were in my hands. I felt quite drawn to them as if they gave me energy.

I took an arrow out of the quiver and pulled it back in the bow. Aiming at the bulls eye, I released. Surprisingly, it hit right in the centre. Feeling pleased with myself, I placed the bow and arrows down before the owner returned.

"There you are." A voice said from behind me. I turned around seeing that it was Spartacus. "I hope you're ready. I've been trying to spread the word all morning. So far no one's suspected a thing but they won't be late for lunch all the same."

"Can't wait." I mumbled. Somehow, all this made me nervous. What if we did succeed? Then Rome would be hunting us down like animals.

I trained with my dual swords for most of the morning. At last lunch came, as everyone lined up for their meal, the guards sat in a corner chatting amongst themselves apparently thinking that no one would try anything funny. Well Spartacus did try something that he thought was funny.

"A ladle?! What am I suppose to do with this? Knock people's heads!"

"SHHH!!! Not so loud." Spartacus spoke quietly.

Soon enough, everyone was armed with a weapon. We approached the guards and ambushed them. This caused the alarmed to be raised. All hell broke loose. Guards and gladiators ran here and there fighting each other. I ran around fighting off guards. Suddenly, I came face-to-face with the large man I saw on the first day.

"I had high hopes for you, my boy. Now I can see that I was just wasting my time!" he shouted at me with angry in his eyes. He came charging at me with his sword that I dodged just by a few centimetres. He was pretty good for a gladiator trainer. In fact, almost too good that I almost lost a limb when he swung his sword.

Eventually, I slashed him on his arm. It was ugly but if one man's arm was the cost of my freedom, I had no choice but to take it. We were already in hot soup. If that soup was real, it would be boiling. Should I fail to find a way out, we were all basically screwed.

"Come on, everybody! This way if you want freedom today." a gladiator named Crixus yelled.

We all ran after. It was just running and running. Oh, and guess what? Even MORE running. We had no idea where we heading. All that was in our heads was to run as far as possible from the gladiator school. After a while, we left the city. Not knowing where to go, I said, "How about we rest on top of Vesuvius? We'll have a good view of any oncoming soldiers that might be sent to hunt us."

Everybody was to tired to argue. After making our way to the top of Vesuvius, we began to rest. Not much happened for the rest of the afternoon and eventually, night fell. We all sat around a campfire to keep ourselves warm. Some of the gladiators stole some food on the way out so we satisfied our hunger with the food. Dinner was good even if it was little. It was so good that eventually fell into I nice, deep sleep NOT on a hard cell floor.