"Ah, ah, that was..." "Vigorous." "You look like the sort of man that could handle it." "I am rather rugged..." "Must go." "Father will be worried." "As well he should be..." "I have to go." "If you do, my heart will break." "Ask me to stay." "Stay." "Ask me." "By my name." "You do not even know it, do you?" "Sura." "My name is Sura." "Sura." "As beautiful as the woman herself." "My name is.." "Every woman knows who you are." "And to avoid you." "That bad, am I?" "Huh, the worst." "Then why lay with a man of such ill reputation?" "The gods led me to your bed." "The gods?" "They come to me." "In my dreams." "They showed me the man you could become." "Could?" "If set upon the right path." "And what else did the gods tell you about my future?" "That you will never love another woman." "The heart weighs heavy." "So much hope in reunion." "To come to such bitter end..." "How is it so?" "The fault is mine." "The road from Neapolis is known to be treacherous." "I should have doubled the guard." "Tripled it." "I should have delayed giving Barca his freedom and sent him along as well." "Pray the gods forgive my error." "No." "You kept your word." "The fault lies with the men who took her life." "And with Claudius Glaber, who condemned her to slavery." "There is nothing to be done to change what has passed." "We must look towards the future." "You are the bringer of rain." "The slayer of death." "Together we will etch the name Spartacus to the pillars of history." "Spartacus." "That is not what she called me." "That is not my name." "It is now." "Nearly a year you had me searching for that thracian woman." "Why have me take her life short of the mark?" "An unfortunate necessity." "I trust the sum sufficient?" "If other "necessities" arise, consider me your man." "So great an expense, to have her delivered all but dead." "You could just as easily have told Spartacus that she perished abroad." "She was his life." "The heart beating beneath his chest." "No." "Such a man would not believe she was gone, unless his own eyes told him it was so." "It was the only course." "And one which you could have told me you were undertaking." "I would keep such blood from these hands, as I have said." "They hold yours." "Are they not stained by the touch?" "There has been too much death of late." "I would turn towards more respectable ventures." "With his wife removed from thought," "I will mold Spartacus into a gladiator the likes of which the world has never seen." "He has already defeated Theokoles." "Imagine what he will accomplish once his mind has been focused on nothing but victory." "You will be the greatest lanista in the Republic." "And on such a title we will climb beyond our station." "Beyond Capua." "Perhaps to the very steps of the senate itself." "The fever still grips him?" "I would know if his condition changes." "A word, Doctore." "Pietros." "The birds, left in Barca's cell." "What should I do with them?" "Whatever you wish." "He said we would release them." "Once he gained our freedom." "He intended yours as well?" "That was his purpose in speaking with our Dominus." "Ashur said the price was too steep for us both." "Ashur?" "He helped negotiate the sum." "Would it be ok if I kept them?" "The birds?" "It would not cause notice." "Thank you." "That is unwise." "If the guards were to see you with it..." "What could they do to me, that hasn't already been done?" "I never should have left her." "You did not leave her." "She was taken from you." "Before I left for war." "She asked me not to go." "You did what you thought was right." "To protect her." "You should toss that over the cliff." "Best to be done with such thoughts." "Careful with that, it costs more than your worth." "It won't be long until our house is finally livable again." "Tilt your bow higher!" "We aim at the heavens!" "The palace of Batiatus!" "Where dignitaries kneel to suck the cock of my good fortune!" "Well, they'll have to get in line..." "Crixus?" "Lie still!" "Best to heed the advice." "For a while we thought you for the afterlife." "When will I fight again." "When will I fight again he says." "Worry of nothing but recovery, the crowd will once again cheer the name Crixus." "A word." "It would be improper for me to visit you in the ludus." "But know that my thoughts are with you." "I'll send my slave Naevia often to attend your needs." "Rest now." "And worry for nothing." "Your swords for practice, champion." "The day's training begins." "Pair up!" "Sword and shield!" "Spartacus!" "You face me." "Your wife's passing." "That was an unfortunate thing." "As was your plan for escape." "I have not tasted wine for many years." "Yet a single cup would not rob me of my senses." "The choice was to see you sleep..." "Or never awaken." "Your victory over Theokoles..." "Is the only reason Batiatus does not know of your treachery." "Champion or no, you would be crucified." "Then part your lips and see it done!" "Next time you seek escape..." "You'd best kill me." "Make it half, yeah?" "Good Mercato!" "You must excuse the chaos!" "I had hoped to see such affairs completed before your arrival." "Fortune favors you." "As it does all of Capua, since the rains!" "My time is pressed." "Come, let us to business." "Ah, to the matter then." "I secured six of your men for my games, honoring the storied history of my family." "Arrangements made before the Vulcanalia, if you recall." "As if it were yesterday." "Well, I've decided as highlight to reenact Rome's victory over the Maedi, the thracian tribe who dared invade Macedonia." "They were slaughtered for their insolence by my grandfather," "Marcus Minucius Rufus." "A name that carries weight, long after it's passing!" "I'd planned for to play the very man himself, leading the charge." "Apologies." "Crixus is yet recovering from his battle with Theokoles." "Ah." "As I suspected." "Perhaps Gnaeus, then?" "I turn thought towards Spartacus." "He is much in demand." "The cost of such a thing?" "An additional forty percent." "Prisoners to play the thracians included?" "Consider it done." "I will see it announced all over Capua!" "Spartacus, Slayer of Theokoles!" "To assume the mantle of my grandfather!" "A great day!" "Pietros." "Bring more water." "Now." "Fucking pig." "The way he paws at the boy..." "The fault lies with Barca." "For leaving him." "Is it delivered?" "As promised." "A letter to my wife." "Long overdue." "Yeah." "Did you bring reply?" "She did not favor me with one." "She insisted on bringing you message herself." "How did you gain entry?" "Your man Ashur spoke to Batiatus on my behalf." "Did he ask coin for the service?" "He said he would take the matter up with you." "Who cares of coin on such a day, eh?" "The boy has grown monstrous!" "And his mother ever more beautiful..." "I miss the taste of your lips." "The letter came as a surprise." "Every day I prayed for word." "And that it would not be news of your death in the arena." "We agreed no letters, Aurelia." "To keep you and the boy far from this." "And my mind on the task." "And what has changed?" "A friend." "His loss." "A friend." "You are moved by a friend." "I am moved by the need to see my wife." "To know she is still real, and not the dream of a desperate man." "After one more year my debts will be paid." "We can start again." "All of us, together." "We should have just left." "To Pompeii." "Or Sicilia." "It would not have been honorable." "Honor?" "Where is the honor in debts of gambling and chance?" "Where is the honor in leaving your wife and child?" "Every mistake I have made..." "I will set right." "I will be the man you deserve." "From this moment on my life is yours, and yours alone." "I am with child." "Child?" "What is your meaning?" "Varro.." "Your meaning." "Your absence has been difficult." "The money you send barely enough to keep us fed and sheltered." "Titus offered assistance." "Titus?" "An acquaintance, from the marketplace." "And you repay him by spreading your fucking legs?" "!" "No." "I thought of him only as a friend." "He forced himself upon me." "Why didn't you stop him?" "You think I wanted this?" "Where were you, Varro?" "Where the fuck were you?" "Fighting." "For us." "As you should have been." "The House of Batiatus is filled with champions." "Father's." "Grandfather's." "Soon you will stand among them." "I have commissioned you to be immortalized in stone, at great expense." "You honor me, Dominus." "Well the laurels do not cease there." "Good Mercato has insisted that" "Spartacus be moved to the forefront of his games!" "You will take the guise of his storied grandfather," "Marcus Minucius Rufus!" "Rufus?" "You know of him?" "I have heard the name, spoken by my father when I was a boy." "You will be dressed in his very armor, four of our gladiators bedecked as roman legion." "Our enemy?" "Six prisoners sentenced to execution, clad in the barbaric fashion of the thracian hordes of the Maedi!" "It will be a grand spectacle, with you its shining helm!" "I will not fight." "You misunderstand." "I do not ask." "I command." "I will not dress as a roman and pretend to slaughter my own people." "It is time for you to release your hold upon past." "You are no longer of Thrace." "You are destined for great and wonderful things, Spartacus." "Embrace the path the gods have set you upon." "Your mind is clouded by grief." "Pause to clear it." "You bathe me as if a child." "You must rest." "Lay still." "You'll reopen your wounds." "I can't even rise." "In time." "Always the enemy of a gladiator." "Yet friend to us now." "Domina has given excuse for us to be together." "Let us pluck blessing from misfortune." "Crixus, you live." "My prayers, answered." "I would have more prayers, to return me to the sand to be by the men." "You shall rejoin your brothers soon enough." "Brothers?" "None have visited me." "Not even Barca." "Have you not told him?" "The moment has not arisen." "Has he fallen, in the arena?" "Far the opposite." "He has purchased his freedom." "The Beast of Carthage?" "What is Barca if not a gladiator?" "A man." "Free to roam outside these walls." "The thought is foreign." "The giant fuck tending goats and picking vegetables?" "With Pietros his ever doting wife?" "He left the boy." "He'd sooner part with his own cock!" "The news found me surprised also." "He did not wish it, but had no choice." "You shared words with him?" "No, but I saw it in his eyes, as he was escorted through the gates." "You were there?" "Regain your strength." "I would see you with a sword in hand soon." "Barca gone." "Spartacus champion." "I have awoken to a world of shit." "You are a fool to refuse Batiatus." "The man makes unreasonable demands." "He is your master." "His demands your duty, unreasonable or otherwise." "I will not be forced to slaughter my countrymen." "Countrymen in dress only." "You share no kinship with these prisoners." "They are murderers." "Rapists." "Their death well deserved." "Then let another man's blade grant it." "You act as if you have free will in the matter." "You are a gladiator." "I am a thracian." "You are a slave." "To cling to a life beyond these walls is to see your heart parted from your chest." "You above all others should know this." "I do not think before I speak." "I will remove myself to less deserving company." "Pietros." "Gnaeus' hand?" "I shall have a word." "To what end?" "Will it see Barca return?" "Will it see us reunited, or free, as he promised?" "Fate often takes a man far from his heart." "To his regret." "Felt more keenly by the one left behind." "Rome is positively aflutter with news of Theokoles' defeat." "No one could believe such a thing was possible." "Especially at the hands of a thracian." "The gods truly bless the House of Batiatus." "We've even entertaining thoughts of a patron, to share in our good fortune." "Hm." "And does your good fortune extend downward?" "I don't follow." "The priestess." "Has her fertility rite born any seed?" "I was unable to conclude the rite in the allotted time." "No!" "Well my husband was sadly absent." "What of the other man?" "Oh." "You still have not told me anything about him." "Is it Solonius?" "I would rather fuck an eel." "No, no, a woman as beautiful as you are deserves a man." "Someone of position maybe...?" "He's no one of note." "No one of note..." "Someone more physical, perhaps." "A slave?" "!" "Oh, your cups empty." "Isn't it?" "But not just any slave, no not for you." "He would have to be forged by Jupiter himself..." "Let us move on from the subject." "Of course." "To other matters." "How fares Crixus?" "Crixus?" "His injuries, suffered against Theokoles." "Is he expected to live?" "His strength returns." "Joyous news." "It would be a great tragedy to see such a man pass from this world, would it not?" "It would." "Pity he will not take the sand in good Mercato's games." "I long to see his sword thrust home." "How did you fare?" "The game of dice and bones." "Poorly, as I often have." "I will balance the loss at next chance.." "It would seem Pietros has lost control of his flock." "Pietros.." "The boy has freed himself." "Gnaeus!" "Enough!" "What is this foolishness?" "Pietros." "The boy took his own life." "He will be missed..." "Especially his lips around my cock." "This morning I boasted the top retiarius in all of Capua!" "Now I possess nothing more than bones and brains scattered upon the rocks!" "Apologies." "Fuck your apologies!" "I will have return of the value lost!" "The price of the man will be subtracted from your winnings until the remainder is balanced!" "As you see fit, Dominus." "All of this for what?" "Pietros?" "He was nothing." "Shit from a whore." "He was a man." "His life had worth." "Half a coin at most." "Gnaeus was a gladiator!" "Years of training, each mounting to exorbitant cost." "That is true worth!" "He did not deserve to live." "I alone decides who live!" "Not you!" "Not a fucking slave!" "Argh!" "My generosity has been boundless, yet you defy me still." "Mercato's games are upon us." "I expect you to fight as a loyal roman." "Or die as a thracian." "See him to the Medicus." "You shed tears for the boy?" "His passing saddens me." "He was too weak for this place." "Without Barca to protect him." "Not all of us can be strong." "Have you been making friends again?" "Gnaeus." "A disagreement." "And you emerged the battered cunt." "What, did his tiny net prove too fierce an opponent?" "For the Slayer of Theokoles?" "Ask the man himself." "If you can scrape enough of him off the cliff for reply." "Gnaeus is dead?" "What reason did you have to take his life?" "My reasoning lies forever silent." "Your actions betray us all." "Gnaeus was a gladiator!" "A brother." "He was no brother of mine." "When you swore the oath." "Every man in here became your brother, deserving of an honorable death in the arena." "Your actions shame my fighting beside you." "You speak as if you had choice in the matter." "I did and I chose not to end your life in the arena." "A decision I presently regret." "As do I." "You knew Pietros well?" "Only in passing." "Yet you tend to his pets." "A duty not required." "A foolish gesture." "Born of a kind heart." "It surprises, that Barca would claim his freedom at yet leave the things he loved in captivity." "Did he speak to you of his plans for life outside the ludus?" "No." "Did he exchange words with Ashur?" "Ashur?" "He was there, was he not?" "I do not recall." "Surely if you set your mind to the task..." "Apologies, but I must return to the villa." "Domina awaits." "The fear in your eyes betray the lie on your tongue." "Your questions put me in harm's way." "Please." "Let me pass." "The day approaches when I'm finally free of this." "Perhaps you can fashion a proper cock from it." "Remove yourselves." "Remain." "I seek information." "On what subject?" "Barca." "I understand he made wager upon the Theokoles fight." "Yeah, and won a small fortune, applied towards his freedom." "With no thought towards Pietros?" "Not enough coin remained to liberate him." "Hm." "Barca's eyes filled with tears, though spurred by regret or impending freedom, I know not." "It is a stirring sight." "To see the bonds of servitude lifted." "Hm." "I confess my eyes swimming as Barca took leave of the villa." "Who else offered farewells?" "Ah, only our master and myself." "Naevia claims to have escorted Barca to the gates." "She made no mention of your presents." "Why, she's a simple thing, her mind easily.." "Stories in conflict give me concern." "If I find there is more to the matter of Barca's departure..." "We shall have words." "You still believe in them?" "The gods?" "Yes." "Why?" "Our entire village is gone." "Everyone we knew, dead." "If there are no gods..." "There is nothing to shape what happens in our lives..." "There is no meaning to any of it." "I cannot believe the gods would lead me to you..." "To bless me with such love..." "Only to make me bare witness to your suffering." "No." "There is a deeper purpose to the path you've been set upon." "One that has yet to reveal itself." "I will never see you from my side again." "Without you, there is no reason for breath." "There is always reason to live." "I would be lost." "No." "The gods would set you on the proper path." "All you have to do is close your eyes..." "And place yourself in their hands." "We leave for the games." "Is your decision made?" "It is." "What sort of answer is this?" "A gesture." "I care not for its means of delivery." "Perhaps its meaning will be more agreeable." "Out with it, then." "Sura spoke often to me of the gods." "She believed in them." "I never truly have." "The cock on you, daring to doubt the gods!" "And I have suffered much for it." "But no longer." "From this point forward..." "I give myself over to her beliefs..." "And embrace my fate." "Your words give my heart great joy." "Enough even to erase questions of how a blade belonging to the magistrate's son came to your possession." "Let us put the past truly behind us." "Come the games await you." "I have but one condition." "Condition?" "You kiss my cheek only to finger my ass?" "!" "Uh!" "Speak!" "Before I carve out your fucking tongue." "I will take to the sands against the specter of my countrymen." "But I will face them alone." "Six to your one?" "I will not risk the champion of Capua to such absurdity." "If this is my fate, if this is the path the gods have truly set me upon..." "Then they will not see me fall." "And if you are wrong?" "Then I will give your city a great spectacle of blood..." "Before joining my wife." "The gods have brought you this far." "I believe they are not done with you yet." "But I have a condition of my own." "When you have killed the last of these shits garbed as your countrymen, what's left of the thracian inside you dies with them and you will embrace this fate and your destiny as Spartacus," "the Champion of Capua." "Citizens of Capua!" "Today, we honor the noble Marcus Minucius Rufus." "A roman consul and commander unmatched in glory." "As tribute, good Mercato has seen fit to re-enact his grandfather's most famous victory against the thracian hordes!" "Gaze at the prisoners standing before you." "And imagine the thracian Maedi that invaded Macedonia." "Rape, pillaging its noble people." "Murdering all in their path..." "Even a roman governor!" "Violence and madness swept the land." "Echoing into the heavens, where the gods themselves turned their backs." "All seemed lost, until Rome dispatched it's favored son..." "Enter Marcus Minucius Rufus!" "For the honorable role of Rufus, there was but one choice." "The bringer of rain!" "The Slayer of Theokoles!" "The Champion of Capua..." "Stand up!" "I present to you." "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "I thought it was your grandfather we honor." "Yet the crowd chants "spartacus"." "Worry not of details, good Mercato." "The glory is your grandfather's alone." "Come!" "Give the signal to begin the glorious victory!" "In honor of Marcus Minucius Rufus..." "Let blood be shed!" "All you have to do is close your eyes and place yourself in their hands..." "Yeah!" "You do realize my grandfather won this battle?" "Perhaps this day history will not repeat itself." "There is always a reason to live." "The gods would set you on the proper path." "Yeah!" "He fights like a man possessed." "By the gods themselves." "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" "Don't." "A marvelous show!" "An honor to be of service." "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "I..." "Am..." "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!" "Spartacus!"