Guardian of Rome (#2 in Gladiator Series)

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The night air grew cold and rank with death as still-warm blood ran over the soil like a river.

Krista could see her breath hang in the air like a mist in front of her face as she focused on placing one foot in front of the other.

With her arms draped over the shoulders of Leonidas and Diomed, Krista allowed her body to be directed through the forest.

Navigating trees and fallen soldiers, Krista’s mind was beginning to unravel as her body changed.

The calmness she had coveted for the past few minutes now began to change once more; her skin grew warm as the muscles around her waist and hips tightened.

Her knees began to buckle as she anticipated the pain but she knew she had to keep moving; the sound of swords against metal rang in her ears and the image of a stampeding horse raced through her mind.

Curling her fingers around the pauldron on Leonidas’s shoulder, Krista kept her feet moving as she breathed heavy.

Glancing over her shoulder, Krista eyes travelled past the small clusters of sword-fights, over the slaughtered bodies before finally resting on the Roman horseman still waiting behind them where he had reached the top of the embankment.

He looked fearsome with shining armour and a tail of fur running from the top of his helmet and down the length his back.

But in her state, Krista’s eyes turned to the horse and became transfixed on the beast’s large black globes for eyes.

They shone with moisture and in their reflection Krista could see the three hundred men and women that followed her quickly being slaughtered.

Limbs were cut from bodies, their blood marked the earth where they fell and their own eyes stared lifelessly upwards but the glittering night sky was blocked by the canopy.

They died unable to gaze upon the stars of their freedom.

“Get inside!” Diomed’s voice shouted through the screams and Krista whipped her head back to find herself being huddled into her tent.

The darkness and battle from outside seemed to have vanished the moment she stepped a foot inside but she could still hear their screams.

Her tent was consumed in low-burning torch light, illuminating the dark colours of the fabric and flickering against the metal objects.

“Lay her down here,” Leonidas directed Diomed towards the cot at the back of the tent.

Krista winced as she was placed upon the blankets, her fingers still curled around her sword, unable to part with it.

“I must find Cato and Helga,” Leonidas told Krista, “I shall return.”

Krista gazed into this man’s large blue eyes as her fingers released his pauldron and trailed down his arm as the child seemed to jolt downwards inside of her. She prayed he was right.

Releasing him to the world, Krista turned to Diomed, watching him re-light the tent as he gathered a vase of water and any cloths he could find.

Krista frowned at his behaviour but she said nothing, she didn’t think she could.

The moment she opened her lips Krista feared she would start screaming and she doubted if she would be able to stop.

Her pulse was racing and her heart felt like it was trying to break free from her chest as her thoughts ran wild.