"Aaaaarrrrghhhhh!" "That is no boy, but fucking demon." "Belched from the cunt of the underworld." "Your presence in the Pits comes as welcome surprise." "When word that Titus Batiatus graced us with his presence" "Where did you find him?" "He's with a pack of Numidians purchased from Maalok." "The others fell within the week." "This one proves too dim to sniff out their trail." "Has he any training?" "Training?" "A rabid dog would be more agreeable pupil." "Barely answers to the name given him." "All men can be tamed." "No matter how wild." "One must only find an ember of purpose, and give it breath." "I give no shit to embers." "Coin warms my breast." "And the price to see you so inflamed?" "Ten denarii and the boy is yours." "To train, to fuck... whatever you would have of him." "Eight." "Eight?" "You appear as honorable man, yet attempt to slip cock in ass." "If I held such desire, you would be split in two." "I give you this bargain, only to entice further purchases." "Rise." "Greet your new master, Oenomaus." "It is time." "Filthy animals." "Living in offal and shit beneath the city." "If we'd known they were there, we would be riding towards Rome with news of Spartacus' death." "Now they could be anywhere." "He would have left the city to rougher terrain." "It will be no simple task to sweep such an area." "More men would spur to purpose." "Attempts to raise soldiers have born shriveled fruit." "It is the fault of Seppius." "He's secured every man familiar with sword as his own." "Then perhaps it's time we called in call his support." "He is Varinius' man." "Not worthy of such invitation." "And yet his men prove a necessity." "If we had them in the marketplace," "Spartacus would never have found himself so close to you." "The gods conspire against you." "Return to your quarters." "They demand proper offering." "One of blood and sacrifice." "You speak of ritual?" "To restore this house." "And to force our enemies to their knees." "See yourself to market to gather what you require when sun greets day." "We shall confer with Seppius." "I'll will make arrangement." "You believe the gods will heed your prayers?" "If my cause is just." "Then entreat them to divine where Spartacus has gone to ground." "Before the villain robs another Roman of his life..." "Tiberius, I would finish." "Place cock in ass." "My robes!" "Quickly!" "Strike fear and quiet concern." "Our quarrel is not with you." "It's with those that would place themselves your master." "A title that bears no meaning to us." "Nor to you now, should you wish it so." "You are presented choice, as we once were." "To submit forever to Roman cruelty... or take up arms and to join us in freedom." "And who are you, to present such fucking offer?" "I am Spartacus." "Still your fucking tongues!" "Are you the dominus of this house?" "I am." "Then we should have words." "What is it you seek?" "!" "Give desire voice and see it satisfied!" "You are a man of fucking influence?" "Yes!" "I have the ear of the Magistrate!" "I can deliver message." "It is message sent to you, which I have interest in." "You were friend's of Batiatus." "Were you not?" "Were you not!" "?" "I, I knew him only in passing." "He was filled with mad dreams." "Of rising in prominence of office." "Yet he needed support." "To gain it he sent a gift." "From villa to villa, in this region." "A woman." "A woman." "You know of her?" "And if I do?" "My life yet spared?" "Speak while you still have fucking tongue." "She was..." "She was here!" "She was here!" "You would break false word to Jupiter himself, just to see another dawn." "Dark of skin." "Um hair roughly shorn." "The mark of her domina upon the back of her shoulder." "Where is she?" "I do not know!" "She was put to cart after." "After?" "How, how could I know that she held meaning?" "Did she not breathe?" "Did her heart not beat like any other woman's?" "!" "Yet you did not see a woman, did you?" "You just saw something to be used and discarded." "Please..." "You just saw a fucking slave!" "Your beauty stirs my cock." "A rise too slight for eyes to notice." "That one smells of shit." "From where does he hail?" "Gallia." "Gauls." "They fuck absent regard of pleasing a woman." "A skill lacking in most men." "And what of Spartacus?" "How does he stand?" "Above the rest." "In all regard." "Apologies." "I did not know he was yours." "I do not claim him in such terms." "Nor would he be so enslaved." "He offers you protection, in return for affections." "We have no such arrangement." "Is it love then?" "Of course." "The hope of love to come." "A danger in its own right." "I need an accounting of all food and supplies." "Find Vitus and see it done." "We suffered no casualties." "Liscus and Acer took minor wounds." "The Gauls grow careless." "How many weapons were secured?" "Enough to see a dozen more men well armed." "And we will put them to use." "In the next villa that we take." "The dominus?" "He recalled a slave." "Marked the same as Naevia." "Where was she taken?" "She was put to cart." "To be passed to the next fucking dominus." "Crixus." "We will find her, brother." "And see everyone that has kept her from your arms to the afterlife." "I will see to my men." "Rhasko's cock to cover." "Get down." "He is given crumbs." "Yet you present his fucking meal." "His heart aches for nourishment." "I would have it well fed." "Even if Naevia lives, she will not be the woman he holds to memory." "If we are to stand against Glaber and the Romans, we must liberate fighting men." "Not waste effort on dwindling hope and worthless house slaves." "Every man has his worth." "A lesson the Romans will soon learn." "The bonds of slavery have been struck." "Never again will you feel them tighten around your neck, robbing you of breath and life." "See your own join your brothers and take up just cause." "We'll see the Romans bleed for taking us as dogs, to be yanked by the leash at their command." "Tychos!" "Sophus!" "Weapons!" "Now." "Who would have blood?" "This place." "The very air clings to the flesh, tainting it." "Close eyes, Domina, and replace thought." "Ilithyia." "Oh, Gaius." "You give heart cause to flutter." "The water ripples in evidence." "The result of your child." "And firm kick upon swollen belly." "Such aggression prophesies a boy." "Would I give you any less?" "You have given much of late." "You're sacrifice has not gone unnoticed." "Yet there is more that I would ask." "You need but command it." "Escort Lucretia to market at dawn." "She intends ceremony to cleanse this house, and deliver my enemies." "The gods would rather piss on Rome than whisper in her ear." "People of this city believe her prophet." "She is not to be trusted." "It was not long ago you named her friend." "A mistake dearly paid for." "A sum costing us both." "You truly believe her blessed?" "Spartacus must fall, if we are to be returned to Rome." "And I am willing to believe whatever revelations tumble from her lips, if they shall hasten such a day." "Now." "See yourself drieded by loving hands, and to our bed." "Oh to be in a proper bed once more." "It's been a lifetime." "I have never known such a thing." "Then it is much deserved..." "Spartacus... what we share..." "What meaning does it hold for you?" "What answer would you have?" "One spoken from the heart." "I have feasted so long on pain and sorrow." "It is difficult to recall sweeter taste." "Except when you are in my arms." "Then let me never be from them." "Spartacus " "You've already killed me once." "Do not hesitate to revisit the deed." "He did nothing but offer freedom." "And this is how you repay?" "It was not his to grant!" "I was body slave to the dominus!" "I had position and respect!" "You were a slave." "Everything you possessed a mere fleeting illusion." "Do you but take my master's place." "And what would your master do now, if he stood so assaulted?" "He would see me dead." "Yes." "He would." "You yet wish to train this fuck?" "The boy deserves opportunity." "He was given such a thing, and made attempt on your life in response." "Gods save me," "I find myself in agreement with a Gaul." "He has known nothing but slavery." "The strength of such a tether not easily severed." "Perhaps never to be so." "And if we take his life?" "What message will that send to those who wish to join our cause?" "That they had best be agreeable." "We're Romans then?" "Commanding through fear and threat of death?" "If he makes attempt again," "I will make sure he joins his fucking dominus." "And how do you propose we train this wild little dog?" "As Batiatus had Doctore train me." "And that turned out so well." "Liberius draws Plumbatae!" "Addonexus selects Vinculum!" "Release him." "I stand in victory in my match." "Yet Doctore provides only lash and rod as reward." "You believe you deserve otherwise?" "This is a house of champions, Oenomaus." "It does not submit to you." "You submit to it." "Yes, Dominus." "One must learn to kneel, if he is ever to rise." "A necessary lesson... if you are to one day join the champions of the House of Batiatus." "How is such a thing possible?" "The answer lies within your breast!" "You fight with the strength of men beyond your meager years." "Yet lack the discipline to see it properly harnessed." "Quintus." "Two cups of mulsum." "Tell me what I must do." "The most difficult of tasks." "You must discover your purpose." "My purpose?" "That which you fight for." "I fight to stay alive." "As do we all." "But to grasp the heavens you must fight for something greater." "Something beyond mere survival." "You are my dominus." "I fight for whatever you decide." "No, no." "This is a decision each man, whether slave or free born, must forge himself." "It is yours alone." "To your purpose." "And the destiny it shall lead you to." "Addonexus!" "Victor!" "Just fucking barely." "Send another to face me." "And what of his opponent?" "Send him as well." "Last position!" "Attack!" "Keep your left arm up!" "Attack!" "You carry a shield as well as sword." "Not the man, the shoulder." "Again." "Attack!" "Good..." "You expose flank." "The ruin of many a great man." "I'm no fucking soldier!" "Not yet." "First and second position." "Attack!" "It's heavier than I imagined." "It will lighten in time." "And when it becomes as a feather?" "What purpose do you think it shall fly to?" "One of your own choosing." "Now set foot to path," "And second position!" "Come at me again." "Attack!" "Should have put the boy down." "A dog bites once, he will bare fucking teeth again." "Pity." "Why do they stare?" "How could they not?" "When one blessed by the gods moves among them." "The gods..." "Oh yes." "You rarely spoke of them, in times past." "Now the divine is held as confidant and council." "Much has changed." "Curious words." "From one who claims no memory of the past." "Shadows of it begin to form, in the light of a new day." "What shape do they take?" "One of secrets passed between us." "You confess that you do not always heed the commands of your father." "Or your husband." "You speak of my first visit to your villa." "When we had yet to come to truly know one another." "I so wished to please you." "You're the wife of the Legatus!" "Such a gift." "You do not know what it means, to find you within the walls of my house once again." "Filling it with life and promise..." "To survive such barbarity..." "You are truly touched by the gods..." "Gratitude." "May the Gods bless you." "May the gods bless you." "Ilithyia." "They seem rather taken with her." "Seppia." "A welcomed sight." "My brother only just departed to sit with your husband." "Men and their politics." "Let us leave them to it, and turn thought toward more pressing subject." "What news of latest scandal from Rome!" "Husband and coming child have drawn attention from such events." "I cannot believe you so removed!" "You are acquainted with positively everybody." "And yet desired by more than a few." "How I envy such attentions!" "And how I miss them." "Must all joy be so abandoned when weighted with husband?" "It must." "If a woman is of proper breeding." "Oh, how miserable." "Perhaps I should entreat the gods to shield me from such dour fate..." "May the gods bless you..." "May the gods bless you..." "May the gods bless you..." "May the Gods bless you..." "May the Gods bless you." "May the Gods bless you." "Spartacus was one of yours, was he not?" "During your overly brief campaign in Thrace?" "Conscripted to the auxiliary." "An animal prone to disobedience even then." "A beast you brought to our shores." "To die in the arena." "Yet he lives." "A pleasure denied my noble cousin Sextus." "Many have suffered injury." "To be healed by news of Spartacus' fall." "A venture I eagerly set hands to months past." "Yes word touched me in the Senate of your efforts." "How many of your men has he sent to the afterlife?" "The man proves resourceful." "As he did when he set upon you in the market square." "It is a pity my men were not present to end the matter." "Spartacus stands a common foe, as I said." "As my tribune cleaves to the heart of it." "Spartacus is enemy to us both, shared in offense and blood." "So let us sweep aside differences, and in union see him forced to knee." "I would need to consult Varinius towards such agreement." "Are they your men, or his?" "And who would lead combined effort?" "You shall hold station of note, second only to my command." "And promise that you shall be present when Spartacus is put to grass." "The man takes habit of slipping through your fingers." "What moves you to certainty of victory?" "Because the gods themselves will it." "They speak with you now do they?" "Through voice of former domina of this very house." "Lucretia?" "They have blessed her, as they blessed her the night they guided her from death in the massacre." "Yet she is not alone in such fortune." "Ilithyia took leave before unfortunate turn." "And with her a clutch of your men." "Soldiers that might have tipped the balance towards halting Spartacus short of fucking slaughter." "You will tend your words with more care in my presence, boy." "Come, let us take seat " "My words are carefully chosen." "For a man holding title as favor to his wife's father." "You speak to me in such manner again and I will have your tongue." "Yet not my men." "My cock rages on!" "My cock rages on!" "I put you down, I give you shit." "I piss on your grave for the sport of it." "...expect no less." "My cock rages on!" "You." "Slave, see my jug filled." "Rhaskos." "Fetch drink yourself." "Do not fucking drink jug before return, slave!" "You offer privilege before it is properly earned." "And you would have them bow and scrape in service, as they did before their dominus?" "No." "Yet neither would I have them seen as equal." "They were not forged at the brotherhood, as we were." "They join our cause of their own free will." "Such fire may yet prove more fierce." "Or be extinguished by threatening storm." "I would move at first light." "There are yet more villas." "You press fortune." "Glaring so at the slayer of Theokoles." "His victory but proving even giants fall." "What name do you go by, little man?" "So I may properly mourn your passing?" "I am called Tiberius." "Tiberius!" "?" "!" "You are far too dark to have such a fair Roman name." "I am more Roman than Syrian." "There was a Syrian at our ludus." "A treacherous fuck, if ever there breathed." "You had family there?" "I only recall a brother." "I too had a brother." "No longer?" "He was struck down by the Romans." "When you turned swords against them?" "As you shall one day." "If you hold any fucking sense." "Look at me..." "I would see that pretty face as I burst..." "You fucking animal!" "Mira " "Go!" "Or part with your cock." "If you were not Spartacus' bitch," "I would show you how to use that." "And my cock." "Apologies." "I will see that Rhaskos " "I chose to lay with a fucking Gaul." "Why?" "Not all of us have Spartacus to warm our beds, and see us to position." "You gain freedom only to be enslaved by that shit?" "Freedom is not without cost." "I pay with the only coin I have." "As do you." "Perhaps we should stand further away." "For fear of errant bolt from the heavens." "Such ritual may bring profit, absent cost." "The goat came at no small expense." "The gods whisper of deceit and treachery." "And give assurance that those who would harbor secrets against you shall be brought to light." "Accept our offering, and bless us with your favor against our enemies..." "Is it wise?" "To allow such unsteady hands to play with knives?" "Hold tongue." "Your will now ends." "Hm." "Perhaps another goat...?" "When ritual is ended, see blood cleansed and Lucretia attended." "You are to fight Caratacus next." "A beast that has claimed many lives." "You believe he shall end mine?" "In your condition?" "If he does not... send one that will." "You have taken important step towards rising above base animal." "It shames me I fought in that place." "Absent thoughts of honor." "The Pits are for men whose lives promise nothing greater than an ugly end." "You are destined for far grander fate." "The arena." "A place where legends are forged." "I fear for those that dare take the sands against you." "I shall make their deaths memorable." "The gods will be pleased." "I do not fight for the gods." "I fight for you." "That is my purpose." "My life." "To honor the House of Batiatus." "The honor is mine." "Yeah!" "You." "Domina!" "Men approach!" "Torches!" "Arriving from the north!" "How many?" "Six." "Maybe more." "Gather the men" "Wait." "These may be scouts from a larger force." "If a single rider was to escape our grasp, he could bring a far greater concern." "Then we shall grip tightly." "There is a better way." "One that will keep our movements yet hidden from the Romans..." "I would have words with your dominus, on orders of Seppius." "Apologies." "Business has called him to Picentia." "Picentia?" "I have never known him to favor the city." "He does not." "He favors its whores." "You are his body slave, are you not?" "Tiberius." "Tiberius." "Tell me, why are you not at your dominus' side?" "Because there's no one he trusts more, to see his villa attended while his cock is satisfied." "You serve your master well." "Return to your charge." "Wait!" "You have come a fair distance from Capua." "Come, and I will give you something to make effort worthwhile" "He betrays us." "Spartacus!" "Why did you stop them from leaving?" "He killed the man" "When he saw they would not win." "His eyes fell to my neck!" "He saw the absence of my collar!" "If I had not allowed him in, he would have returned with more men!" "You did well, Tiberius." "Nasir." "My brother called me Nasir." "Who disturbs peace at such an hour?" "I come bearing a gift..." "Which shall set you upon path to the fall of Spartacus." "The gods truly heed my prayers."