The Arena
an excerpt

Sand, sand flows like water throughout the desert. The silent breeze whisking the granules far and wide, picking grains from motionless bodies and dumping it on more lifeless corpses scattered upon the other side. Silence mourns the dead as they litter boiling sand, the silence taking its prey to the after-life until the neigh of a horse in the distance breaks it. High upon the sand dunes, silhouettes stand against the blazing sun, basking in the destruction they have caused. Their cruel eyes admiring the broken bones and the streams of blood creating rivers within the sand, suddenly a groan and movement can be spotted.

One of the broken men was moving. Instantly the front line upon the dunes jerk forward only to be stopped by a single hand movement. The owner of the hand then moves forward, leaving the front line to watch the apparent leader order his horse to take him to the man, once close he gets off the horse and reaches out to the man's neck, lifting him from the sand to see the man gasping for air. Blood oozed from the man's left arm as it seemed it was completely immobile, the man was also suffering many head wounds that carved streams of blood to fall down his cheeks while an arrow head embedded itself into his right leg.

A grunt came from the unknown figure while the beaten man tried to hold onto life. His eyes however shown hate and courage, a rage building which would be unleashed if his body wasn't broken. His eyes fixated upon the one that caused the death of his comrades showing that even in his state he wouldn't surrender yet to his surprise the figure places him on his feet.

"Since you still breathe, you shall be my messenger. You will return home to Galamaria and tell your emperor that if he continues to intrude on our land then his men's footprints shall declare war" The voice speaks in a clear, calm but commanding tone. The man nods, his life was being spared yet he knew it would have been better to die in the battle for he would receive worse punishment if he returned in his state rather than dead. Since if he returned in full health he would have been suspected of cowardice and exiled for his actions.

Then again Emperor Celestus was an understanding ruler, a generous one that thought of his people yet one that thinks exploration and acquiring landmass is the way forward. Life in Galamaria was an equal one, wealth wasn't power or gave special privilages nor was the opposite causing riots and rebellions. A Galamarian worked to gather resources and luckily Galamaria was founded near never-ending gold mines. This discovery opened up the advance in many things, currency, constuction material and the most vital thing to any civilization, a trading commodity.

However this also found jealously and enemies as other civilizations either had nothing to trade for such a rare resource around their territory or greed fed them plans to overthrow the city. Yet even the most greedy knew Galamaria held the best city defences as their walls were a mixture of sand, clay, melted metal and gold. As well as their positioning ontop of a cliff face with a general sloping of the ground which governs as the entrance of the city which is further defended with several watch towers creating the foundations of the archway entrance. Several more watch towers are placed at the corners and then between those corer towers giving them a great lookout for approaching armies and great way for archers to give a line of defence and offence.

The Galamarian, weakened but still battle ready watches the figure turn his back to walk to his horse. The temptation was there to pick up a weapon and kill him where he stood yet he knew he wouldn't survive the ordeal and so begins to limp back to his home. The figure smirks and hops onto his horse, signalling to his men to return to their borders.

After several dawns and dusks passed the western Galamarian watchtowers spot something in the distance. As it got closer they raise the alarm to alert the morning patrols. A team of five men assemble on horseback and ride out to the lone man. The man waves them down the best he can, falling over as he realises the desert sands have now turned to solid ground. The patrol surround the fallen man as the captain of the patrol jumps down from his horse, pointing his sword to the stranger as the man attempts to get up. The man groans revealing his injuries and what is left of the Galarmarian crest.

The captain recognises the man and motions for the men to get him to the healer immediately yet the man insists to see the emperor as it is urgent. Fulfilling the injured man's wish the captain takes the man to the emperor, who blinks at the man's state. The man perches himself on the steps leading to the throne to catch his breath as he mentions everything the unknown attackers had said.

The Emperor stands, clasping his hands behind his back as he paces the throne room. He was a man in his mid-thirties and had been ruling Galamaria for the last ten years. He was also the most successful emperor to date and this was his first obstacle that had him silenced for words. He grumbles and sends the man to the healer before sending for his champion.

"Marcus, do you know of our 'friends' that share the desert borders?"

Marcus stands at seven foot and from a distance he seems that broad as well. Galamarians were known for their body structure, even the females seemed huge and not in a crude or negative way either. He seems to be around the mid-forties age but has kept his title of champion since a young lad, his eyes have seen many battles and his scars tell the stories. He places his hand to his chin as he thinks back before speaking.

"They are the Hetayibans sire, scouts have reported they live in the desert itself which would make sense as to how quickly they ambushed our patrol." The emperor motions him to continue as Marcus nods. "They seem to be primitive but aggressive milord and vastly outnumber us. Not to mention they know these lands like it was one of their brothers, as your strategist sire I advise we call a truce with them and give them a trade" The Emperor stops and nods.

"And what would we have to gain from that? You are right but I can't see them merging with us like long lost cousins or giving up their territory for us to expand. I will happily trade them technology and gold but other than gaining soldiers I don't know what they have to offer" He pauses as he stands in front of Marcus, resting a hand on the metallic pauldron "Go and arrange a meeting with their leader, tell them our offer and ask them what they can offer in return if they accept" He pats the shoulder and turns to walk back to his throne. "And if not sire?" Marcus questions

The emperor turns his head as he stops, a silence encroaches "Then we eliminate them" His voice sounding calm but serious as he sits in his throne looking at the shocked Marcus. Marcus bows muttering "as you wish" as he leaves, signalling to the stable boy to fetch his horse and two soldiers to saddle up. He turns to them all "Meet me at the gates, I will follow shortly but must see my wife before I leave, she is expecting soon. Take my horse with you as well"

They nod as he walks to his house to find his wife who is expectant any day soon to be doing housework. He frowns wondering where the maid is only to see her moments later telling her to get some rest. He smiles and walks in fully "She is right you know love, our son will be here soon and you will need your energy for the both of you"

"Fine, fine if it is taking you both to team up on me then you are right" She sighs then lies down in the living quarters. Marcus follows and sits down, holding her hand. His expression turns serious as the mood turns morbid.

"Dear, I must go for awhile. It seems another patrol has been ambushed but this time one made it back. I am acting as negotiator and something is telling me I won't be coming back. I am sorry, I love you and you know what you must do as I know what I must do" She nods without saying a word but sheds a tear. Galamarian's were raised to never show weakness and declining an order by the emperor or refusing was punished with exile or death. In the eyes of the Galamarian empire, it is better to show your enemies that you would die fighting against them, than die through punishment by your own people.

Marcus stands, kissing his wife on the forehead and heading out the door and leaving her to weep. He makes his way down to his horse and sets off to the desert, the Hetayibans spot the shining glare of Marcus' armour as two Hetayibans jump out from the sand with spears at the ready, poking them at the horses to scare them. Their trick works and causes them to go crazy, knocking Marcus and the two men to the floor. Marcus whistles to show they are unarmed and requests to see their leader.

A few noise signals later and the leader reveals himself. Marcus explains his reason for being in their presence. The leader ponders the situation before grunting and stabbing Marcus between the gaps in his armour just at the side of his ribs, leaving him for dead. His two soldiers are butchered and the horses are taken for food. Marcus stares at the sky, his breathing growing short as his heart beats faster to compensate for the blood loss. He was right and now the emperor would declare war. He wouldn't see his wife again, nor his unborn son being born, he wouldn't watch him grow into a man to be proud of.

Marcus groans, just thinking about what he would lose gives him strength. He had to stop the emperor from waging war. It would not be the answer and so he treks back to the city. Several days pass and he makes it to the gate, something was wrong since the watchtowers didn't alert the city of his presence.

Gritting his teeth he forces himself to investigate, as he does he notices the city is deserted. Marcus assumes the worst, the enemy had waged war but the strange thing was, there were no bodies nor burning buildings. His mind wanders back to a meeting with the Emperor several years ago, a meeting of expanding the empire and allowing Marcus to become a second emperor to the empire. Yet how could he rule an empire without any people?

He shakes his head at the stray thoughts within his mind, the flashback reminding him of the specific subject they talked about.

The flashback takes Marcus into an outer body experience. Seeing himself speaking to Celestus as they both converse while walking up to the very tip of the cliff face their city stands upon. From here they could see the desert and upon the horizon the settlement of their neighbours. Celestus places a hand upon Marcus' shoulder and motions to the vast land before them.

"Marcus, one day I shall rule all this and it is only fair that you too, shall rule it with me. I have great plans for Galamaria and the empire, plans that shall place us in the binds of history forever. Plans, my friend that will set our names in stone come wind, rain or storms. They shall stand out forevermore" He grins lightly tapping the confused man's cheek.

"Sire? I am gracious at your invitation but I am not following. I am a mere soldier at your command, I know nothing of politics unless it is dealt, discussed and served by use of a blade but if my sire wishes then I shall lend my aid as always to see these plans are made true" Marcus gives a respectful nod, making the ruler chuckle.

"My good man, let me do the politics. You shall be my body, I grow old and weak yet my mind is young with a drive that not even a herd of yaks can outmatch. One can not work without the other, meaning I will never make my plans come true if my legs were to give way in the future. Hear me out, I propose we construct a building. One that shall withstand any force to show our friends and enemies that even our buildings hold the strength and heart of a Galamarian inhabitant, this construct shall be a gift to our people. To entertain them in trade for their hard labour and love they have shown us." Marcus nods as Celestus places his hands behind his back and turns to look at his city.

"Marcus, we are going to build a place where politics and war have no say in the matter, a place where only a man's blade, shield, heart and head decide whether they are a champion or a loser. My friend, we are going to build an arena!" The emperor spins around, his lips curled into a grin as Marcus simply raises an eyebrow.

Marcus shakes his head as he regains his bearings and hastily makes his way to the tip of the cliff face. One thing Marcus wasn't told was the location the arena would be built, that is until sounds of grunts and groans could be heard in the distance. He hurries only to skid to a halt as his eyes fixate upon the huge oval construction with every man, woman and child slaving away to build it.

To the side the emperor was sitting, relaxed as he watches the work upon his latest master piece. His head turns to spot the wounded Marcus in the distance, standing up and shouting his name in exclamation. Marcus makes his way to the emperor and is greeted with a warm friendly hug before Celestus signals one of the healers to patch the loyal soldier up.

"Marcus I thought you were dead! I sent scouts to find you yet when they returned, they only gave me the remains of your helmet. We feared the worst and so in your memory I had everyone work upon the arena. I knew you would have wanted the same if it was me" Marcus stands shell shocked at what he was told, he would have done the same but only for a statue and only those skilled in the craft but never the biggest building known to man and never women and children. He shakes his head in disbelief before changing the subject.

"Sire, it is not safe to leave the city unguarded. No one is in the watch towers and if I found you then of course the Hetayibans can find you. They killed my men and left me for dead, they aren't going to give you their land without a fight. We must protect the city at all cos..." Celestus raises his hand for silence before striking Marcus across the face, the experienced soldier is sent to one knee due to being weak before standing back up moments later.

"I am not a fool Marcus, you seem to have misplaced your loyalty and your trust. Once the arena is complete, every tribe across the waters shall be here in an attempt to prove they have better warriors than us. When we have goaded them completely, that is when we shall strike!"

"strike? Sire what has gotten into you? We are at war with several tribes, they won't just drop that to send their best against ours in a battle then lose their best and continue fighting!" Marcus blinks, fear crossing his face as his reply only gains a cruel grin, he flinches as the emperor raises his hand again only to be surprised as he is given a few taps of encouragement

"Exactly my boy but you are mistaken, their arrogance will get the best of them and they will send their best. When they do and lose, they will only have their average and weak left meaning easy pickings for us...now enough, I would order you to help our people but you would only slow them down. Get some rest and report to me in several days."

Marcus grunts as the Emperor turns his back on him and sits back down. Marcus sighs and bows in respect, showing his defeat on the matter before returning home. The Emperor had lost his mind but when speaking with him, he didn't see his wife. He hoped she was left at home for obvious reasons yet with the Emperor's madness he was having doubts. He sighs loudly with relief when he reaches the door to see his wife cooking.

Startled by his appearance, the brunette runs into his arms with tears staining her cheeks. He groans as his sides are hit yet chuckles lightly, happy to hold his love in his arms once again.

That night Marcus expresses his concerns as his hand rubs over the bulging stomach of his wife. Her hands hold his free hand in a tight grip as she explains what has happened in the last few days and about how the Emperor has become obsessed with the construction of the arena.

"Ennia...I want you to get away from here, I have a bad feeling about all this and I don't want you and our child getting caught up in the matter" Marcus swallows hard and looks at the floor as Ennia stares at him, her tears flowing freely.

"My love, I am not going anywhere without you. I already lost you once and you came back to me, this time I am not letting you go." Marcus shakes his head and sighs "I must stay here my dear, I must speak sense into the emperor before he gets himself killed..."

Ennia stands up, her whole body shaking in anger and worry "Marcus the man is a fool! Can't you see that? You remember Tiberius, he warned you this would happen and tried to stop the emperor...now where is he?! And Maximus, their wives and children have been slaughtered too. He plans to kill you too, me and our son. Crassia overheard him speaking to Prominius, he plans to promote Prominius to emperor, not you. You were simply his errand boy and that is why he sent you to the Hetayibans, they called a truce if the Hetayibans killed you then they will be allowed to live with the Galamarian's and build a bigger army. Now you see why I want you with me?"

She breaks down into tears, almost collapsing as she sobs but is caught by Marcus and held close. He grumbles as he comforts her, kissing her upon the top of the head and whispering. "Okay, at the break of dawn, we shall head south to the mountains of Delapi. I know a few men who can help us settle down there and can set me up in the garrisons but for now my love, rest, you will need it for our journey" She nods and heads into the bedroom, Marcus sits down holding his head in his hands. He didn't want to call his wife a liar, she had no reason to lie and has never lied to him before but he has no idea what is going on, how could his own Emperor betray him and what was Prominius up too? He sighs and walks into the bedroom, shutting the door and curling up beside his wife. Whatever was happening would be put behind him. A new life was awaiting him now.

The sun slowly trades places with the moon as dawn breaks. Ennia slowly rises only to find her husband gone from her side, she panics, calling his name but not getting an answer. She gets dressed and looks around the house to find no sign of him. Her mind goes into a frenzy, assuming he has been caught for treason, maybe he left to get transport or worse...maybe he went to confront Celestus. She breaks down into tears again, her mood swings becoming unpredictable as Marcus walks in and instantly thinks Celestus has been. He begins searching the house only to have his wife's arms wrap around him.

"What is it Ennia? What happened?" He looks at her only to hear her blurt out that she thought he had been killed. He sighs and holds her tight. "No silly, I spoke to Crassia and she confirmed my doubts. She also got me my stuff so I didn't have to sneak around the castle. Now listen, there are horses waiting outside for us. Take only the important things, anything else we will get at Delapi" Ennia nods, wiping her tears as she grabs the important stuff like valuables and essentials such as food and water. Marcus heads to the door before turning around and planting a kiss on Ennia's lips. Slowly he hands her a chain with a wolf head on it, it opens up to have a portrait of Marcus and a portrait of Ennia on either side. He slips it around her neck before hearing a clink as it hits the same type of locket but in the shape of a dragon.

Ennia looks puzzled but before she can speak he places a finger on her lip and while walking backwards says the words "I love you". Realisation hits her but before she can get outside the sounds of a horse neighing and fleeing can be heard. Ennia spins around to see his armour and sword gone yet his provisions still leaning against the wall. Her fear was confirmed, he was going to confront the emperor.