Michelle Styles - The Gladiator's Honor

'Julia, I have returned from the glorious south,' Claudia said, bursting into the room in a cloud of expensive perfume with gold bracelets tinkling musically on each arm. She reached down and gave Bato a scratch behind his left ear. The dog responded by thumping his tail vigorously against the floor. 'How has this scamp been? Found any more good ham bones, Bato?'

'Claudia, don't encourage him. I am trying to very hard to forget that incident.' Julia felt her heart rate return to normal. 'Claudia, when did you get back? I thought you were still in Pompeü—soaking up the sun and enjoying the sights.'

'You must be joking!' Claudia's throaty laugh rang out. 'Me stay in Pompeü when possibly the largest gladiatorial bout ever known to womankind—or mankind, for that matter—is about to take place in Rome? Do you know how much flesh will be on display at the opening ceremony? When those men ride those chariots into the ground with their armour gleaming and their muscles bulging…'

"That's what the main attraction of the games is, and here I thought you enjoyed the contest.' Julia gave the spindle a vigorous twist, lengthening the thread with an expert hand.

Claudia tossed the end of her sky-blue veil over her shoulder and tilted her chin upwards.

'I am only displaying a healthy widow's attitude towards the games. You have to admit gladiators are better looking than the majority of senators.'

"That is not hard to do, Claudia.'

They both laughed and Julia reflected how much she had missed Claudia these past six weeks. Her friend leant forward and stopped the spindle.

'Put the spinning away. It's distracting me,' she said with a wave of her be-ringed hand. 'I want to talk to you, and you might be able to talk and spin, but I can't listen with that thing going round and round. What does Sabina find it impossible to do without this time?'

'Blankets for the beds,' Julia said, breaking the thread and wrapping it around the base of the spindle. 'We apparently need more and Sabina is determined the women of the house participate, to set an example for the servants.'

'I gather Sabina is not here, helping out as it were.'

'She talks a good spindle,' Julia said with as straight a face as she could manage. 'When did you get back?'

'Last night, and the less said about the journey, the better. All roads may lead to Rome, but do they have to be so rocky?' Claudia leant forward and touched Julia on the knee. 'Enough about me. Do tell your news. Have you managed to avoid the dreaded Mettalius or has Sabina's augur struck again? I need to know all.'

'We have a gladiator staying with us.' Julia kept her voice casual as she ended recounting her activities of the last few weeks. 'Valens the Thracian.'

Claudia leant forward, her eyes widening. 'I had heard that Caesar had housed the gladiators with some of his clients, but I'd completely and utterly forgotten your father might be one of them. You got Valens. Lucky, lucky you.'

'What do you know about Valens?' Julia asked, making an effort to lean back, not forwards. To emphasise how casual the question was, she started to wind the thread on the spindle.

Claudia gave her a long considering look with narrowed eyes. Julia's hands faltered and she felt the blush begin to creep higher on her face.

'I take it,' Claudia said with a twinkle in her eye, 'given your lack of interest in anything remotely sporting, you aren't interested in a blow-by-blow account of his prowess in the arena.'

'Claudia, he's staying with us and I want to be able to converse with him at supper and so on.' Julia made an expansive gesture with her hands and sent the spindle crashing to the floor. 'I was curious, that's all. For example, where is he from? That sort of thing. Just in case I need topics for conversation because, as you know, my knowledge of gladiatorial combat is pitiful.'

Claudia raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. A tiny smile played on her lips as she reached down to pat Bato.

'I have had the pleasure of seeing Valens and his legs, Julia. You had better come with me to the Julian compound. Caesar has invited me to a presentation ceremony. You might as well see all the gladiators before you settle on one to cheer for.'

The main courtyard of the Julian compound overflowed with people. Julia spotted white-togaed senators freely mixing with the short-tuniced tradesmen. There were a surprising number of women, senators' wives included, displaying more flesh than Julia considered necessary.

Despite arriving before the ceremony started, Julia and Claudia were forced to stand at the back beside a life-sized statue of Venus, the patron goddess and supposed founder of the Julian family.

Although Caesar's voice rang out clearly across the courtyard, Julia had difficulty making out more than a shoulder or the top of a head. She kept tight hold of Bato. Had she realised what the crowd would be like, she'd have left him at home, locked securely in her room. Claudia had clambered on to the statue's plinth for a better view and now stood on her tiptoes with one arm around Venus's waist.

'What exactly is Caesar giving out?' Julia asked, attempting to peer around the bright red parasol of the matron standing in front of them for the tenth time. Every time she thought she had a good view, the parasol shifted.

'Armour—silver-plated armour. The gladiators are going to look magnificent in the arena.'

'Is this usual?' Julia struggled to make herself heard over the noise of the crowd. Bato cowered against her legs as another enormous roar went up. She reached down and gave his ears a stroke.

'No, no. It is the first time I have heard of it. Normally a gladiator fights in whatever his school provides.' Claudia balanced on one foot. 'I think it will be your gladiator's turn to receive his armour now. They have almost finished with the gladiators of the first hall. Do you want to have a look?'

'Bato is with me,' Julia replied doubtfully, but her heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing Valens, even if he failed to see her. But she wished Claudia would stop calling Valens her gladiator.

'Hurry and climb up. Bato will stay where he is told. He's a good and clever dog.'

'He can be a scamp.'

Claudia climbed down, took the lead from Julia and gave her a gentle push towards the statue. 'I'll keep an eye on him. See, I'll stand right beside him.'

Faced with Claudia's stern face and her own growing desire to see Valens, Julia gave in. She motioned for Bato to stay and then scrambled up on the plinth. Rather than holding on to Venus's waist, she clutched her upraised arm and looked out over the crowd. The raised podium was clearly visible now.

A thrill went through her, making her knees feel weak as Valens mounted the steps with firm footsteps. A faint breeze raffled his dark hair as he strode across the stage. Julia could see his muscles rippling in the sun as he walked. He looked every inch in charge as Caesar handed him his armour. His size made Caesar seem small.

Here was an athlete in his prime, the very embodiment of what a gladiator should be like—strong, ragged and with the ability to hold the crowd in the palm of his hand.

The crowd hushed as Caesar handed Valens his equipment. Julia heard the lone rattle of a scroll being rolled up on the other side of the compound. In the quiet, Valens held a shining sword and helmet aloft and the cheers rang out, screaming his name.

'Valens seems to have the support of the crowd,' she said, listening as the cheers and shouts of approval continued long after Valens had stepped back into the line of gladiators.

'That he does, and if the crowd is for you, it makes things much easier in the arena,' Claudia replied. 'He might win the rudius he was denied at Pompeü. It was hard to credit that the patron of those particular games in the cradle of the gladiatorial tradition should be that pinched-purse to ignore the wishes of the crowd, but Crispanus was. No need to consult the soothsayers. He will lose the next election because of it.'