Chapter 1

The following is a story about the life and love of Celadus, a gladiator in Rome around 100 A.D. While there may be some historical facts strewn throughout the story, it is a fictional piece and should not be judged on its true historical merit.

The call had gone out. Celadus, a Roman gladiator, was to report to the Coliseum by order of Flavius Thrasea, the Governor of Rome. Apparently, the Governor was entertaining some very important and influential visitors and wanted to put on a good show.

Ordinarily, he would have some of the lesser slave gladiators perform for his amusement whenever the mood for a little bloodletting and violence suited him. But for these special visitors, he wanted to show off his best warriors.

Celadus had earned a good deal of respect and admiration and was something of a hero of the Coliseum because of the many battles he had won. He was in an elite category of gladiators who had earned the privilege of having a home of their own away from the Coliseum.

It had taken a long time and many battles – he had beaten a great many opponents, both man and beast to get to this point and he hoped he would fight long enough to win his freedom completely.

You see, while Celadus was not a slave like the general Coliseum gladiators who were confined to their cells when they weren’t fighting for their lives, he was still a sort of servant of the Coliseum.

He had his own residence, but when the call came for him to fight, he knew he had no choice but to heed the call – failure to do it would put him back in the cells under the Coliseum as a slave again.

He walked to the Coliseum and reported to the manager who directed him where he needed to be. He got suited up and prepared himself for battle.

He did not know who or what his foe was – no one knew who they were fighting until the time came so it was always a surprise that they had to deal with. Celadus could be fighting one of the Coliseum gladiators, another warrior from some far off land, or a wild savage beast.

He would just have to wait until the gate opened to see what he would do then.

The doors opened and Celadus walked out into the center of the Coliseum floor. The crowds in the stands all yelled and cheered for him and he felt pretty proud of his throngs of supporters. He walked over and saluted the Governor as was proper and then moved back into the center of the stadium.

A door opened and he saw two men throw a dark-skinned woman out onto the dirt floor crying and screaming in terror. The woman had torn and ragged clothes and no weapon he could see.

Surely they didn’t want him to just dispatch this unarmed and terrified young woman? He approached her slowly, uncertain of how to handle this situation. She screamed and cowered as he got closer. She was too frightened to even put up any form of defense.

Then the crowd behind him roared and he whirled around to see what had them so excited. He saw who his true foes were – a tiger and a bear had been released and were fast approaching him.

“Get behind me!” he yelled at the woman as he quickly grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. Then he turned around to face his aggressors.

Armed with a spear, his shield, and a short sharp sword in its scabbard, he waited for the first animal to mount its attack. It was the tiger, faster than the bear, that would be first. Celadus held his spear at the ready steeling himself for the fight.

About ten feet from reaching him, the tiger leaped high in the air to pounce on its weaker victim.

But Celadus had learned a few tricks along the way and as the tiger leaped up, he knelt down and braced the butt of his spear against the ground and his foot raising the sharp point up to a steep angle directly at the tiger.

The tiger landed right on the spear, impaling itself and the weight of the beast drove the spear point through its heart and out the back of the tiger, killing it instantly.

With no time to retrieve his spear from the dead tiger’s body, he turned to the bear and drew his sword. The bear stopped its charge momentarily and that’s when Celadus had an idea. He stepped to the side away from the terrified girl, while watching the bear.

The bear didn’t know what to think of this man but he saw an easy kill in the woman and charged her. She screamed bloody murder and turned her face away from certain cruel death.

Celadus waited until the bear was about to run past him and he jumped high in the air over the bear and with one tremendous arc, brought the sword down on the back of the bear’s neck.

The sharp edge of the blade cut deep into the bear’s neck cutting its spinal cord and almost halfway through its neck leaving the head barely attached. The bear dropped and landed mere feet from the girl who at this point had passed out cold from fear.

Celadus landed and rolled to his feet ready to continue the fight, but saw instead that he had beaten the bear. He rushed over to the girl to see if she still lived and was relieved to see she didn’t have a mark on her.

He knelt down and lifted her into a semi-reclining position. “Are you all right?” he asked, gently slapping her face to wake her. She opened her eyes and screamed again gripping him tightly before she realized she was still alive.

“You are all right. The beasts are dead,” he said. She broke down crying on his shoulder. He sat with her for a moment putting the roar of the crowds out of his mind. After a couple of moments, he helped her to stand and they went over to stand in front of the Governor.

Celadus knelt and pounded his left breast with his right hand, a Roman form of saluting as he knelt on one knee. The woman fell to her knees and bowed down in front of the Governor.

“You have done well once again, Celadus. You have bested two ferocious animals and won the day. Go now and get cleaned up and come to my throneroom so we can discuss your reward for your fine work,” Flavius said.

Celadus began walking towards the door leading to the interior rooms of the Coliseum so he could wash the blood and dirt off. Behind him, he heard the woman scream again as the two men who had cast her into the Coliseum came to retrieve her.

“I am here as you requested, my liege,” Celadus said once again kneeling and saluting.

“Rise Celadus. Now, what would you request as your reward for today’s fine exhibition? Gold? Something else perhaps?” Flavius asked.

“I have given it some consideration on the way here, my liege, and I would like the woman. The one I fought for in the Coliseum today.” Celadus said.

“So you would have the slave woman you fought the beasts for, would you? Very well.” He turned to one of his attendants “Bring the woman here.” The servant rushed off to get the woman and within a few minutes, he had brought her back to stand next to Celadus.

“Celadus here has asked that you be his reward for his great victory today. Why he would want a thief and a whore such as you is beyond me, but he does. So I am giving you to him. You are now his woman and you will do anything and everything he tells you to, understand?” Flavius said.

“Yes Sir,” she replied quietly.

“Now be warned the two of you. She is now your possession Celadus and also your responsibility. Should she break any of our laws, it will be you, not her, that suffers the consequences.

“And you, if you do not obey Celadus or displease him to the point that he turns you out, you will come back here as a slave and your next trip to the Coliseum may not end so pleasantly for you!”

Then he turned back to Celadus. “Are you sure this is what you want Celadus? Gold might be the wiser investment – at least gold won’t disobey you or cause you to lose your status as an elite gladiator!” he chuckled.

“I am sure, my liege. Thank you.”

“You may not be quite so thankful in the future, Celadus.” With that, he beckoned the servant to bring him a basin of water.

“So let it be done. You now belong to Celadus to do with as he pleases. I wash my hands of you.” and he washed his hands signifying he was done with the whole matter of the slave girl.

Celadus turned without another word and began walking out of the throne room. The girl followed behind silently.

Celadus walked briskly down the street to his house and the girl kept up as best she could, sometimes walking, sometimes running to catch up again. His stride was half again as long as hers so she had to take two steps for every one of his and she was soon winded and panting.

Fortunately, just as she was about to plead for him to stop and let her catch her breath, they arrived at his house. He opened the door and they went inside. He took off his helmet and breastplate and set them beside the door then he took off his sword and scabbard and hung it on a hook on the wall.

He took her by the arm and sat her down at the table then sat across from her on the other side. “What is your name, woman?”

“Selassie, Master,” she said looking down as she spoke.

“And how did you come to be a Roman slavegirl, Selassie? You are certainly not Roman, not with dark skin,” he said.

“No, Master. I am from northern Nigeria, near the border with Chad. I was captured by a slave-trader and then sold to the Romans, and eventually, I was brought north to Rome. I was given to a shopkeeper as payment for some goods.” she said.

“I see. All right then, tell me about this thievery and whoring that Flavius talked about. I should know what you’ve done so I know what to keep you from doing again.”

“Master, I was a whore for the shopkeeper. He made me have sex with other men who paid him for it. I was his whore, I had no choice. And the thievery was when I stole some food. I was hungry, Master, and the shopkeeper wouldn’t give me anything to eat because he was mad at me.

“I had just had sex with one of his business associates and he wanted sex with me. I was tired, sore, and dirty. So I told him not tonight and he got mad at me and wouldn’t feed me. I was hungry – I hadn’t eaten all day,” she explained raising her head for the first time since they had been home.

“I see. Well Selassie, here is how this is going to work. You are my possession and my property now and I am responsible for you as Flavius said. And as long as you are under my roof and my rule you will not go hungry.