The fight: Part II

A crowd of men stood between Julia and the gladiatrix. In front of the crowd was a line of male guards, armored and armed with long spears and swords. Julie if she could call upon them, and they would fight for her to the death, if she only asked. But Julia was not one to ask for help, least of all from some pathetic little guards.

The gladiatrix charged forward on all fours like some gigantic tiger, running with her palms and toes against the ground, the earth shaking with every rapid step. The guards saw her coming, and did their best to quickly scuttle out of her way. One guard, though, wasn’t quick enough. He had just enough time to look up and see the gigantic hand that would be his demise. Out of instinct, the guard gripped his spear as tightly as he could. An instant later the palm of her left hand came down upon him. But before the hand could crush him into the sand, it fell against something else: the guard’s spear. 

The spear penetrated deep into the palm of her hand. The gladiatrix let out a pained howl. She pulled up reflexively with her left hand, like someone who’d carelessly placed their hand on a hot stove. The guard survived; only his spear had broken.

They gladiatrix tried to catch herself, throwing her right arm onto the ground in front of her, but she was too fast, and too heavy. The crowds couldn’t flee like the guards; they were packed too densely. The men in front of her frantically tried to flee, but with so many bodies around them, they may as well have been running through molasses.

Instead, she toppled over, falling onto the dense crowd in front of her. Men tried to jump out of the way, but it was no use. In an instant, two hundred men, perhaps more, found themselves trapped under her. Her powerful, unyielding body destroyed everything below, reducing the men to viscera. Their crushed remains stuck to the gladiatrix like raspberry jam, dying her torso and breasts a deep hue of red. 

She started up, slowly and painfully, hobbling along on all fours towards the Princess. Julia held her ground; there was no sense in tiring herself out by running. The injured gladiatrix hobbled towards her, crawling on top of the crowd that was like a sea of insects to her. She was crawling on her left forearm now, with her right palm too injured to walk on. And so she crawled along, on her left arm and right hand, crushing more men with each step. 

As she crawled along, with each step, her chest came up and then down above the crowd. Her huge, pendulous breasts swayed and heaved in the air, then flattened as they pressed against the ground. With each step, her breasts came down onto the ground with incredible weight, crushing anyone trapped beneath them into jelly. The man in front of her tried to run away, but few of them escaped. The gladiatrix scarcely even noticed the men below her; they made no difference to her one way or the other. Right now, she cared only about her quarry.

***

Julia readied herself. She reached for her dagger that was attached to her belt, before remembering that she no longer had it by her side. Instead, he slipped her belt off; her skirt, after all, was tight enough to stay attached without it. The gladiatrix was nearly to her. The beast was still dangerous, even when it was injured, and perhaps more so then. Julia expected the beast to fight on its hands and knees, as it had earlier. With an injured hand, it would fight clumsily, which Julia could take advantage of. As the beast neared her, it took a swipe at Julia with its right hand. Julia dodged to the left, jumping onto the beast’s back. She grabbed onto one end of her belt with each hand. Then, before the beast could react, she slipped the belt over the beast’s head and onto its neck, pulling as hard as she could. 

The beast, in a rage, bucked like a bronco, trying desperately to throw Julia off. But Julia held on tightly, strangling the beast with all her might. As the beast heaved itself around wildly, Julia pulled tighter and tighter on the belt. Julia did this without anger, without hatred, and without fear. She loved fighting, and this was an excellent fight. The beast stopped bucking, and let itself fall down onto the ground. Still gasping for air, the beast reached for Julia. After a few attempts, its huge hand found her. With the beast’s last ounce of strength, it grabbed Julia, tossing her onto the ground. Julia landed hard: the crowd was getting sparse around them, as men fled away. This time, as she felt something squishy below her, Julia realized that she had landed on only a single man; hardly enough to break her fall.

The beast, still gasping for air, got up on its hands and knees and slowly stood up. It was tired now, from the fighting and the injuries and the sedatives. Julia hoped of the tranquilizer would be enough to take the beast down, but she knew better than to count on it. 

The gladiatrix was standing above Julia on two feet, towering above her. Julia was at a loss. She had no weapons, and couldn’t reach past the gladiatrix’s legs. The beast roared, then crouched down above Julia, her hands nearly touching the ground. Julia started to her feet; but before she could stand up, a huge hand hit her like a club, knocking her onto the ground. She started up once more, but again the beast’s right hand came down upon her. 

Julia felt her leg twist painfully as she hit the ground. She tried to crawl away, but the gladiatrix hit her again, knocking the air out of Julia’s chest. The gladiatrix stood above her now. It lifted one of its huge legs up above Julia, getting ready to stop down on her. But just as the huge foot smashed down against the ground, Julia rolled out of the way. It was a trick she didn’t expect to work twice. But just then, something flew through the air, stabbing the gladiatrix in the arm. Then another, then another. They were arrows, launched by nearby guards. Above the fearful screams of the crowd, a sound which Julia had long ago learned to tune out, Julia heard the deeper, more confident yells of the guards. Some of them were running up behind the gladiatrix, charging at her feet with spears. 

Before the guards could stab her, the gladiatrix heard them. She turned in a flash, still crouching. With the back of her right hand, she slapped a dozen of them away, breaking their armor and throwing them into the air. But there were many guards, and she was growing tired. Some of the guards had ropes, with stones or grappling hooks at the end. They tossed them around her legs, and as she crouched down to take off the ropes, they tossed more over her arms. Men grabbed the ropes, but she pulled hard on them, throwing some men into the air, and forcing more to drop the line. More ropes came down upon her. Before she could tear them off, guards tied the ends of the ropes to poles the huge metal poles that circled the arena. She broke through the ropes easily enough, but she was growing weak. 

Below the gladiatrix, guards circled around her feet. They stabbed at her with their spears; some of the spears broke her skin, and a few drew blood. The gladiatrix stomped down onto the guards, stomping on one, then another. 

Julia got up. For the first time in the fight, the gladiatrix was distracted. She watched the guards trying to ensnare the gladiatrix with their ropes, watched as they were tugged and tossed around by her like fish on a line. And as she walked towards the beast, she saw something on the ground; a powerful chain, long and well built, used on elephants and great beasts in the arena. Julia quickly grabbed the chain off the ground, running over behind the gladiatrix. The gladiatrix was standing still, her feet close together; she waved her arms in the air, trying to tear off the ropes. As she fought, her moves started to become more sluggish, as if the mere act thrashing her arms about was enough to exhaust her. Julia bent down, and started to wrap the chain around the beast’s ankles. If the beast noticed her, or simply decided to move, it would be all for naught. But a moment later, Julia had the chains tied around the beast’s legs. She pulled tight, and tied the chain together.

The gladiatrix, trying to tear the ropes off its arms, thrashed about wildly, and started to lose its balance. It tried to step forward, but the strong chain held its legs together. If it still had its energy, the gladiatrix could have tore apart the chains with its sheer strength; but it was tired, and injured, and drugged. The gladiatrix toppled over. Guards below scrambled to get out of the way. She fell hard against the sand with a loud boom, sending a shockwave through the ground, and a blast of sand through the air.

The gladiatrix lied still on the sand, her eyes closed. She looked beautiful, even now, and for once she almost looked peaceful. The Coliseum watched in rapt silence. For moment, Julia thought she might move. But she simply lied there, utterly still, save for her chest moving up and down as she breathed. After a moment, applause started to break out through the Coliseum, followed by loud cheering. 

Julia surveyed the arena. It was a glorious mess, littered with broken weapons and broken bodies, white sand splattered with red. She thought for a second how many men had died that day; perhaps seven hundred gladiators in the arena, two thousand spectators down in the pit, and hundred guards, not to mention all the slaves that the noblewoman had eaten or had their ways with. The thought of it all made her chuckle just a bit to herself.

She walked over to the surviving guards, of which there were still several hundred.

“Who ordered the guards to attack that brute?”

A guard stepped out, dressed in shiny red plate mail. He bowed in front of her, keeping his eyes on the ground. “I did, your grace.”

Julia stepped over to the guard commander, knocking him down with her foot and setting her foot on top of him. “I suppose you were trying your little best to help, but see to it that next time, you don’t sully my victory. You’ve caught me in a good mood. I have no taste for slaughter right now. I’m sated... For a few minutes, anyway. But if I ever see you again, I’ll crush your pathetic little body under my foot. And I’ll enjoy it.” She stepped off of him, and the guard gasped for breath.

Julia smiled at the cheering crowd and proudly walked out of the arena. She made her way towards the steps, as the crowd dispersed in front of her. Just when Julia was about to reach the top tier of the Coliseum, a Royal guard a Royal guard came up to her. She bowed in front of the Princess, careful not to meet the Royal’s gaze.

“Excellent fight, your grace. I was told to ask you what you wanted done with your opponent. If it pleases you, we could kill the beast as a sacrifice to your valor. Or if you want to show mercy, we could spare her, and put her back to fighting in the Coliseum.”

Julia thought for a moment. “I’ve never been much for mercy, but I hate to waste such a wonderfully violent creature. And it’s rather pleasing to the eye as well… I’ll let the beast live, but I won’t have her performing for drunks and helots in the Coliseum. No, I think I’ll take her for myself. I could always use a new pet.” Julia smiled to herself.