Talos_An Ancient Roman Reverse Harem Romance by Nhys Glover

Author:Nhys Glover [Glover, Nhys]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Belisama Press
Published: 2018-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

TALOS

The smell of burning woke me before the sun did. Even in our sweltering little box of a room, I could smell it. And every alarm bell rang inside my head. I should not be able to smell smoke. Not in here.

I rose and replaced my sandals. The others shifted on their camp-beds. Restless, I tried the door and found it unlocked. It was not unusual for the cells in this wing to be left unlocked. We were not new captives desperate to escape. None of us was Spartacus. Like the freedmen who had sold themselves into the arena for a certain number of years, we were here willingly. After all, we had been given our chance at freedom and turned it down, hadn’t we?

The school’s barracks were several stories high and ran along the four sides of the training field. All but for a small section near the front gates, which was left for the viewing area. Behind the stands was the armoury. Both it and the gates were heavily guarded, day and night.

I prowled along the dark corridor, sniffing the air like a wolf. It was stronger out here, I was sure of it. But where was it coming from? Following the sound of clattering plates and clanking metal I knew meant the kitchen slaves were hard at work, I sought answers from the only people yet awake.

I entered the kitchen already as hot as an inferno from the cooking fires. I caught the arm of a passing slave. His skin was slick with sweat.

“I can smell burning,” I told him worriedly.

“Not in here. Outside. Big fire in the Circus. Been burning most of the night, so they say. Them Christians did it. Started the fire to fulfil some prophesy or other.”

The slave jerked his arm to free it from my hold, and I let him.

My mind reeled. A fire? In the Circus? Wasn’t that below Palatine Hill where Accalia was staying? How bad was it? Surely bad enough, if I could smell it in my closed-in cell.

My restlessness increased. We’d be safe enough out here in the field of Mars, but what about all those wooden insulae in the centre of the city? Those places were just waiting for a stray flame to set them alight.

What could I do? Nothing. I was locked away in the ludus. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t leave to go check on Accalia.

Even if I wanted to? Of course I wanted to! I hadn’t seen her for six very long weeks. Ever since our last contest. Every day the gnawing need to see her grew. I could barely sleep from missing her.

I felt someone come up behind me and immediately knew it was one of my pack-mates.

“Hungry already? Your stomach is a bottomless pit,” remarked Orion, coming to stand at my side.

His blonde hair was dishevelled, and his eyes were still sleep-crusted. He’d followed me without taking time to wash his face in the small bowl we kept at the door to our cell for just that purpose.

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