Descendants of Rome (#3 in Gladiator Series)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The heat of the crowd swarmed around her until it felt like she was suffocating.

Her feet treaded up the steps with exertion, each foot fall sounding like her own personal drum.

Her blue eyes darted around her surroundings, glittering with fear, eager for an exit but everywhere she looked all she saw was people.

A mindless rabble of people that all seemed to chant together, their bodies moving in unison as they all looked for the same thing.

Something that could only be provided to them on the sands of the arena; away out of the lives they had built for themselves which they now grew to hate, a glimpse at the magnificence of man and beast.

But she wasn’t here for that.

Moving her head to look over her shoulder, she couldn’t see the guards but she knew they were there.

Her skin tingled as they grew closer.

Taking the next flight of stairs in a panic, brushing past the people that stood in her way, she found her eyes darting to look over her shoulder.

As she did so, she knew she had made a fateful mistake.

She felt the heel of her sandals skid the edge of the step, the stone grazing her flesh and her lips parted in fear.

She knew she was going to fall.

Her arms outstretched to take the brunt of the impact but she was off balance; her body twisted as she tried to run forward whilst looking behind her.

Warm air pushed her weight forward until she was leaping past the stacks, her speed carrying her forward.

She only stopped when her foot caught a niche in the concrete slabs beneath her feet and she was hurled forward, her body slamming to the ground with a dull thud.

Her fall barely drew the attention of those nearest to her as silence befell the arena and its audience.

Groaning in pain, she slowly began to gather herself onto her knees.

As she did so, gazing at her scuffed palms, the young girl’s attention was caught by something on the sands.

Still resting on her knees, her head a few inches above the ledge, she gazed down at the sands and saw him.

A girl from a foreign land she might have been but she still knew that the man that now trekked across the sands himself was the Emperor Trajan.

The fighting had ceased, something she was very grateful for when she saw who was stood upon the sand, but the blood had still flowed and she found her gaze turning to the youngest man among the small group stood before the emperor.

His dark locks and guarded eyes were the only things she needed to see to know who he was.

Noticing that someone was missing, her heart gave a small jolt as she turned her gaze towards the sky and scanned the ledges.

It wasn’t long before she caught sight of the armour glittering in the afternoon sun, a bow armed and ready to shoot in a moment’s notice.

The woman’s expression was completely taken up by the events on the Colosseum floor and she was glad for that as the young girl became aware of shouting in the background.

Her eyes closed briefly, gathering her strength, before she pushed up off her knees and back onto her feet.

But she had barely made it a few steps before a pair of hands wrapped around her arms and pulled her back.