Slave - The Spartacus Rebellion Book II by Penner Jay

Author:Penner, Jay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

25

LUDUS OF VATIA

There was not a sound except the distant chirps of birds and the incessant hum of jitterbugs in the afternoon. Fifty armored guards surrounded the gladiators, none of whom carried a weapon or any kind of implement that they may use to cause harm.

Messenius walked to the front. “You, you, you,” he kept on, pointing to the leaders and the senior gladiators and ordering them to come to the front. Philotas, Canicus, Crixus, Spartacus, Oenomaus, Castus, Nisarpal, and Urbanus all made the first line of the arc of men forced into close quarters. They faced another set of guards with their gladius’ pointing out from the top of their shields. Messenius vanished back into the building.

What was going on?

“Everyone stay still and wait. The dominus will be here soon.”

Vatia emerged from one of the entrances to the field, followed by more guards. He looked harried and angry, barking something to Messenius, who was now shaking his head vigorously.

And then, behind him, his arms tied and dragged by a rope to his neck was Procamus. They had not killed him yet. Behind him was his wife, crying, her hair disheveled and her hands bound. Spartacus had since learned what had happened in the kitchen–what a fool. What an abject idiot who could not control his mouth and temper. And now he would die, and Vatia would make it a spectacle. Would he make Procamus fight here in some ugly way and get himself killed?

Procamus kept his head low and looked at no one. He was naked, and his body bore the marks of a good beating. Once they were all assembled, Vatia got on a stool to address the assembly. The thrifty bastard seemed to think he was on a podium for his voting masses.

“You know why you are here,” he said in his high-pitched whiny voice. It grated Spartacus, for he had developed a severe distaste for the man.

Vatia scanned his beady eyes on them. “We have rules in this ludus. Rules to ensure everyone’s safety from those here for their many wrongdoings, who have been given more than most citizens can aspire for–food, shelter, and a path to glory.”

Path to death.

“I have been a benevolent man. Merciful. I have paid money to take you from death’s jaws and give you life. Your gods abandoned you, and ours have given you kindness, yet all I see around me is hubris, arrogance, and now the utter gumption of a man to raise his hand to one of my guards—not just to inflict wounds but to take his life. Yes! Take the life of a man protecting those whose lives must have been taken long ago!”

Vatia had lost further weight in the last several months. His eyes were sunken, looking like hollow dark pits in his sickly, wrinkled face. Most of his hair had fallen away, leaving a prominent bald pate and strands of willowy silver hair. Spartacus had heard rumors about Vatia’s influential father-in-law threatening to have his daughter leave him and financially ruin him.

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