Gladiator of Rome (#1 in Gladiator Series)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Krista sat on the edge of her bed, barely more then a blanket seperating the stone from her flesh, the cold floor biting against her feet, as her mind scrambled. 

What had she been thinking!? 

She'd had one goal in all of this; one thing that was keeping her alive; keep her head down and win. Her eyes drifted to the entry way where she could see sunlight starting to spill across the floor from the arches but its warm rays had not yet banished the chill of her actions. 

She'd helped that slave girl. 

Krista gritted her teeth and gripped the edge of her bed. 

She'd stepped in and stopped a girl from being raped Krista hurled at herself but deep down she knew she was wrong. She hadn't stopped anything. She'd only delayed it. Those guards would find her again and do far worse. Krista should have left her alone. Not only that, she would now have to keep an eye on her back for the Gauls's retalitation. 

Stupid girl! 

Krista turned and punched the wall, her knuckles barking at the contact but she just ground her teeth against the cry rising in her throat. 

The Gauls made up nearly half of the gladiator numbers whilst Krista numbered only one. And if they were willing to rape a girl surrounded by people, confident no one would intervene, then Krista would bet that no one would step in to stop them killing someone. Killing her. 

All because, deep down, Krista was too soft hearted to see one bad deed being done against another. One more act of violence would not have scarred that girl any more than her past already had but because Krista could not sit idly by she now lay awake last night, her back pressed against the wall with her eyes fixed upon the door.

She had no doubt of the Gauls' prowess that they could slip through the lines of sleeping women and kill her whilst she slept and barely create a ripple. They would find her dead in the morning with her throat slashed and body mauled. No one would stand up for her or pay for her body to be given proper burial. Lazarus would not be able to afford it by himself and Commander Niclaus had forbidden them from entering into any union which aided in the ceremonious burial of their bodies. 

She would be fed to the lions instead. 

With no one around, Krista felt herself tremble at how isolated she felt. Her stomach churned as she thought of all the bridges she had refused to build and the enemies she had made. She was stood all alone with people beginning to surround her and she had no way out. 

She wished the games would come sooner so that she could either meet her death or meet her freedom. Closing her eyes only briefly to stem the insistent urge to sleep after a whole night awake, her eyes flew back open, a pulse of adrenaline coursing through her chest, when the women outside her room started to stir from their sleep but it was still far too early for it to be the usual awakening. 

Someone was coming. Krista could hear the soft pad of their feet on the stone. The Gauls were so confident that no one would halt them they didn't even bother to cover their footsteps. The arrogance made Krista bristle. 

Never let your guard down. Artorius's words rang louder in her mind than ever before, setting her fingers curling into fists, as she got to her feet and crossed the room. Pressing her back against the wall beside the doorway Krista kept herself well hidden and waited.

Krista was only mildly surprised that Rheia and Lydia could still be sleeping; she absentmindedly wondered how they had ever survived.

But it was more likely that they did not care for her fate.