Gladiator of Rome (#1 in Gladiator Series)

Prologue

Prologue

70AD

"You have been practising, little one," Lazarus chuckled as Krista blocked his attack, her wooden stick hitting her teacher against the side of his knee in counter-response. 

"I am not little anymore," Krista growled, though she suspected it sounded a lot more like whining, as their fighting session grew to a halt, "I'm taller than my brother now." She stated, pulling her shoulders back to stand to her full height. She barely passed Lazarus's hip.  

Lazarus bowed his head in mockery at her achievement, "You are still little to me," He chuckled, his voice as sweet as honey, as he reached down and ruffled her hair.

His beautiful dark skin shone in the candlelight as she ducked away from his patronising hand and jabbed her wooden sword playfully into his side, "Dead!" Krista laughed as she got in a kill shot acting her whole 12 years. 

Lazarus reached down and scooped her up with one arm around her waist and holding her against his side, as if she weighed nothing more than a feather, "Time for you to go home I think."

Krista crossed her arms over her chest, still hooked under his arm, and sighed as Lazarus stepped out of his small hut and began the short journey back to her home. Night had descended heavily whilst they'd been inside and she shivered as the cool night air touched her bare arms. Lazarus and her father were close friends and it wasn't far to her own hut. Almost everyone who lived near them in their small confines were friends. After all, slaves had to stick together, that was what her father told her.

"Can we practice again tomorrow?" Krista asked as she wriggled in his grip and he placed her gently back on the ground, his arm was starting to dig into her ribs. Plus, she didn't need carrying like a baby.

"Of course," Lazarus chuckled as they strode side by side down the mud covered path, Lazarus making sure his strides were half the length of hers so she could keep up, "You are my best student."

"I am your only student," Krista looked up at him from the corner of her eye only to find that he wasn't there. Frowning, she looked back over her shoulder and saw him stood a few steps back from her motionless. Turning around fully Krista gazed up at her tutor in confusion, "Lazarus?"

Rooted to the spot, Lazarus's gaze was fixated on something further up the road and there was an expression on his face that she had never seen before. It worried her a little. "Lazarus?" She called again, quieter, not sure what to do but a strange sick feeling started to twist inside her belly. 

"Krista," Lazarus gasped and tore his eyes back to hers, as if he had only just remembered that she was there, "You need to go home. Now."  

"But-" Krista didn't want to make the journey by herself at night.  

"Now, Krista!" Lazarus shouted.

Krista's lips parted slightly in shock as she unknowingly took a small step back and her eyes started stinging with tears at the rejection. But Lazarus did not see any of it because as she looked back up at him through her lashes she saw once again that his attention was on something else further up the road. 

Curious to see what had Lazarus acting so strangely, Krista followed his gaze and gasped. At the end of the road a company of horses had just turned onto their street with the city guard upon their backs. Krista had seen them before at midday in the centre of town but as they lingered at the end of the road, the evening darkness settling over them, their presence felt much more menacing. Their horses felt gigantic even that far away and she almost imagined their eyes being red like something Hades would conjure.