"See end to vengeance." "Take the life of Glaber's woman as he took the life of yours." "The child is yours!" "You sought Praetor Varinius' affections once." "Send message, and you could yet gain them." "Do you not see it?" "The gods have lead me upon path to Gaius, as their will has removed Ilithyia from it." "Have you lost mind?" "It's your brother's, is it not?" " How did you come by this?" " Hidden amongst Ashur's treasures." "Yet the villain moves only upon command of Gaius Claudius Glaber." "Glaber agrees to terms." "I am for Atella." "To see it done." "He chose vengeance against me over your life." "You let me live?" "Do not think it a kindness." "Lugo... open fucking eyes." "To see what?" "Wake when trees attack, little man." " Romans!" " Fucking Romans!" "Move!" "We're under attack!" "My Sword!" "Enough!" "Stand down!" "This was but fucking test?" "If it had not been, you would all be for the afterlife." "We will not be taken unaware next time." "I would see words forged into action." "Rise, and take morning meal." "The day ahead of us will be long." "It causes worry to stir and find you gone from our bed." "I could not remain there." "The mind churns with thoughts of those taken too soon from us and the monsters who tore them from loving embrace." "We have both suffered immeasurable loss." "We must take comforts from what we have found... that I have denied you opportunity to properly mourn your wife." "She is but fleeting memory... one that shall fade... as the night mist caressed by morning sun." "Ilithyia." "She lives." "She will survive it." "What Of the child?" "It yet moves within her." "She wakes." "Out." "Are you of this world?" "Take hand... and know that I am flesh." "Leave us." "I thought you gone from this world." "As did I." "Yet the gods have seen me returned to your arms." "It is a blessing." "One shared by our child." "The warmth of the life inside me, it gave strength and comfort when all seemed lost." "How did you escape?" "I could not." "He let me go." "Spartacus released you?" "He said that taking my life would have no meaning." "And where were you held?" "I do not know." "I was bound and stripped of sight." "How did Gannicus carry you to him?" "By horse for part of a day." "By foot through woods for hours more." "And you saw nothing of their camp?" "Only the dank hole they kept me." "Dug into the earth Or made of stone and wood?" "What does it fucking matter?" "It was made of stone, with beams of wood, scribblings carved into the rock." " What did they say?" " I do not know." "They were faded and broken." "In what tongue were they etched?" "They appeared Greek." "Why am I not in our bedchambers?" " Ilithyia..." " I thought it a dream." "Seppia in your arms?" "Your hands upon her?" "Spartacus was right." "My death would not have held meaning." "You do not love me." "And you greet this as revelation?" "Time and again, you tore my heart from my chest." "Is it a wonder it now stands empty in your regard?" "Is there nothing left between us?" "I once asked the same of you." "Do you recall your reply?" "Have I not suffered enough for it?" "I would have life as it was, with my husband beside me." "The man you speak of no longer exists." "Then what stands before me assuming his manner and form?" "A monster... rough-hewn by unfortunate events... and given breath by necessity." "We cannot defend the temple if we are at odds with one another." "Give Lugo a warrior to share watch, not little man with little balls." "My balls did not allow breach." "Your eyes were closed in pursuit of dreams." "You fell to slumber?" "And you blame Nasir, you lazy shit?" "Turn effort from defending your boy, and look upon your own failings." "Then let us relive the moment and see different fucking result." "The Romans will come." "And if they find us divided, we will fall before them." " Words of meaning." " She speaks the truth." "What would you have us do?" "Try not to get your head fucking bashed." "Bold words from one who tumbled so quickly." "I was absent fucking sword!" "Why does little man have sword, and not Lugo?" "We cannot face the Romans with fucking sticks." "Then I will teach you the bow." "We are from east of the Rhine." " We fight with fucking steel." " We must use what we have." "She asks why you let Ilithyia go when Glaber did not trade weapons as promised." "A thing I have also wondered." "Taking her life would not have gained us what we need." "It would only have served misplaced vengeance." "We are better than this." "We are better than the Romans." "Oenomaus," "Gannicus, see everyone to guarded position." "We will train against assault by light of day and attempt to elevate night's low defeat." "Let us see it done." "I have no need of aid." "Lugo, Nasir, take position upon wall." "Donar, Nemetes," "Lydon, Saxa, fall to my side!" "I fear result will be the same in light of day." "We are not a fist, but fingers twitching absent single purpose." "Lugo, form one." " My words crash upon ear..." " Begin." "But fail to pierce heart." "Then we must stab deeper." "Perhaps punishment for those who fail in the day's training?" "You cannot forge trust and loyalty at the ends of a whip, as the Romans believe." "Then what would you use?" "Soft kisses and whispers of love?" "Gather Fulco and Harudes." "There is a thing I would have you do." "What are your thoughts?" "To see fingers joined in single purpose." "It is a thing of much regret." "Lucius is no longer among us." "A loss keenly felt." "Yet we must move from wounded heart, turn towards what must be done." "I would have you train more archers, as you suggested." "Is that all you would have from me?" "Gather your bow." "You have not slept by my side." "You do not speak, unless to give order." "How long do you seek to punish me?" "It is not my intent." "Yet result stands the same." " You turn from me." " You turned from yourself when you made attempt upon Ilithyia, an act that would have stained you forever." "I thought only to save you from the same." "You thought to save what we had." "Had?" "Can you no longer find comfort in my arms?" "Can you find such in mine?" "Yes... if you would but give me more of your heart." "I have given all that remains." "It is not enough." "No." "It is not." "I felt it since the very start, an absence in your touch, no matter how warm, an emptiness." "I turned from it, certain one day I would be able to fill it." "The gods themselves would fail such effort." "Will it move you... one day when you see me in the arms of another?" "I will know the sting of it... yet I pray you find in them... what you could not find in mine." "Let us see to training and what must be done." "He does not love you." " You let me live?" " Do not think it a kindness." "Ilithyia?" "The gods have heard my prayers to return you to my arms." "You alone offer such embrace." "I have not taken food nor rest since you were torn from them." "Nor would I have, until I had followed you to suspected fate." "Would that all held me as close to heart." "Well, you're the reason that mine still beats, you and the blessing you carry." "I have never considered it as such." "Yet in that final moment, when I thought life was forfeit," "I felt a great sadness, not for myself, but for innocent child, doomed to suffer for the mistakes of the mother." "We have both made many." "The child is Spartacus'." "He gave seed the night you maneuvered me into laying with him." "Ilithyia..." "I no longer lay blame at your feet." "It was my hands that forced you to seek vengeance, my choices that have cast me adrift... clinging to a woman I once hated and a child I unreasonably grow to love." "To feel such hope and such joy blossoming within you, that's the rarest of all flowers, regardless of why it blooms." "Apologies, I..." "I did not know you were..." "Apologies." "She moves to assume my place at Gaius' side." "One day, she will see him for what he truly is." "Oh, her eyes have already been opened." "Seppius was not murdered by his slaves, but by your husband." "Gaius?" "A thing which I discovered through most unfortunate manner and shared only with Seppia." "Yet she stays within this house... body offered to the man that so wounded her?" "To leave now would only serve to arouse suspicion." "Yet she burns with thoughts of avenging her brother." "I would see such embers given breath... and in resulting flames... my child and I to rise from the ashes of ill-fated past." "They traveled by horse, then on foot through forest for several hours, yet she does not know what direction she traveled in." "Open the gates!" "Spartacus has attacked the mine of Lucania here, the arena in Capua, port of Neapolis, and attempted to make trade in Atella." "The curve would suggest they move outward from a central position, this region." "Yet a vast area." "Did she mention anything more that may be of use?" "Only that she was kept beneath ground in a chamber with faded lettering, perhaps Greek in origin." "Hmm." "Apologies." "He's a Roman..." "Lucius Caelius... from Vesuvius." "See yourself to wine and food." "His efforts bear fruit?" "Plucked from Spartacus' own garden." "His overly ripe friend goes by name of Lucius Caelius, known by those questioned to frequent market in Neapolis and Atella and to dwell in the shadows of Vesuvius." "Still too vast an area." "Made smaller by your wife's discerning eyes." "There is a temple near mountain's foot, long abandoned, erected many years past by Greek hands." "Then we march at nightfall and by dawn's light see an end to Spartacus." "I would urge no small amount of caution." "If memory serve, there's a wall protecting this temple." "Spartacus and his men will surely have fortified position." "Then we shall bring to bear the fiery might of Rome and see defenses fall in advance of the man himself." "Prepare your men." "And I would have you at my side to share in glorious moment." "A great honor." "It shames me to seek reward beyond it, yet hard desires turn reason a fool." "You are many things, Syrian, but do not expect me to believe you a fool." "Give voice to your desire." "See it considered." "Nemetes, you attack before command is given." "We must remain hidden until the Romans are drawn in." "You would see them breach the wall?" "We would see them trapped, you simple fuck." "Like fish in a net." "Wagon approaches." "Agron leads it." "He has attacked another one, without command." "No." "He acts upon my orders." "Towards what purpose?" "To secure what we desperately need." "I barely know the man absent furrowed brow." "He is not a man of drunken pursuits." "His brow may not reveal it, but there is yet intent upon mind." "It lifts heart to hear voices raised in spirit... to see us bonded... not by brand, not by homeland, but by an ideal that every man... every woman should be born, should live, and should die" "with the taste of freedom forever upon their lips." "Yeah!" "Yet if we are to defeat the Romans, we must put aside our differences and come together as one." "Let us have sport, pairing those of you with ill feelings against your equals, and let us see if thirst for victory triumphs petty quarrel." "Intent is revealed." "Donar!" "Nemetes!" "Take position." " Lugo!" " Yeah!" "Nasir!" "You will face them." "We win if you keep out of way, little man." "Don't fucking call me that." "Begin!" "It is a thing of beauty, is it not... what a man may accomplish if mind is set to purpose?" "Yet there's something missing." "Freedom." "To see treasures put to use absent constraint, to live, knowing each choice made... is your own." "Spartacus and I stand together in such desires." "Then you find yourself in low company." "Soon to be elevated." "Ashur has done the impossible and discovered where the dreaded villain secrets himself, and in reward..." "Glaber bestows deepest wish... upon me." "He sets you free?" "After we take Spartacus at Vesuvius." "Yet releasing me from bond is but a taste of more... sumptuous meal." "One which you shall feast upon alone." "After Spartacus is defeated," "Ilithyia will return to Rome with her husband, and trusted friend will be at her side." "I fear Ilithyia must find a new one." "You will remain here to assume mantle of loving wife." "Glaber will not allow this." "He more than allows it." "He gives union blessing and presents gift of this ludus in recognition of honored service." "He gives you my husband's legacy?" "We shall forge a new one, my love, as husband and wife, and together... we shall see the noble rise of the House of Ashur." "Have the men equipped, ready to travel by sunrise." "See that it happens." "You were able to acquire what is needed?" "Move!" "Hup!" "They are upon road from Neapolis." "Meet them, and hasten arrival." "I will hold no delay in marching south." "I would advise a different course." "I have been dispatched with message from the Senate." "You are to cease pursuit of Spartacus and return to Rome immediately." "I am a praetor of the Republic." "The Senate holds no power to make such demands of me." "True, they do not." "They have only the power to recommend a path of action, one only a man with no intent to rise above current position would ignore." "And they send words through the man who conspires to claim my wife?" "I am hardly alone in such ambitions, am I?" "Troubling news has lit upon ear that Spartacus has seized what I could not." "You do not know of what you speak." "And you are an incompetent fool to allow your wife to be taken by a slave." "Taken?" "Ilithyia?" "It appears you have been misinformed." "I have been taken only to bed, my child causing unexpected discomfort in waning months of pregnancy." "Did it also cause the bruise upon your cheek?" "No, it did not." "The fault was mine." "A misplaced step as I was coming from the bath." "You should choose footing more carefully." "As you should choose your words." "Return home, Gaius, and tend to your wife before yet another man makes attempt upon her." "I shall take my leave when Spartacus falls." "A task long overdue in its completion." "Yet now within grasp." "I march to Vesuvius and an end to the man." "Vesuvius?" "Is that where he hides?" "It is of no concern to you." "The Senate believes otherwise." "I've been appointed to assume your place with an army of worth and bring Spartacus to justice." "And if I refuse to step aside?" "It is a choice you are free to make, but one that would end all hope of rising from the shit you have mired yourself in." "Save what little worth your name yet holds, and set path towards Rome." "Varinius!" "Thank the gods you received my message!" "And I respond to it, only to find Ilithyia safely within these walls." " Spartacus freed her." " Why would he show mercy to the wife of the man that hunts him?" "I make no attempt to understand the mind of a slave." "Your time instead spent inventing tales of abduction." "Does what you write of your brother hold similar merit?" "Everything I have told you is true." "Gaius took the life of my brother." "And what evidence do you claim to dare place charge against a praetor of Rome?" "Seppius' bracelet, a mirror of my own, found hidden among the belongings of a man loyal to..." "A fucking bracelet is all you hold?" "You stupid little girl." "Please do not turn from this." "Gaius must pay for what he's done." "I hold no love for the man, yet to make accusation based upon the air and teary eye would serve no purpose." "Nor will further words." "Yeah!" "You lower guard just before launching attack." "Advice gained too late." " We lose." " Yeah!" "But little man fight like giant!" "Drink and contest... a clever strategy to forge necessary bonds." "And I would see more follow." "Battle well fought." "Let us have new contest!" "Agron!" "Crixus!" "Get him, Agron!" "He's too fast for you, Agron!" "Take position." "Gannicus!" " Huh?" "Oenomaus!" "Stand against them." "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "We can easily best them if we fight as one." "Hold this, you fuck." "Do not drink it." " Come..." " Come on, Oenomaus!" "And do what is necessary." "' Yes!" "Ready?" "Begin!" "Come on, Crixus!" "Teach him who the true champion is, Crixus!" "It astounds to witness the change in you." "The world itself can reverse course when moved by loving hands." "A blessing... to hold each other in such regard." "As Spartacus holds you." "No longer." "That was well put." "You almost had them." "Almost." "Agron." "You fought well for a simple fuck from the east of the Rhine." "As did you for a shit-eating Gaul." "Let us share drink and balm wounded pride." "To suffer the sting of loss absent course to right what has been done." "I sent for Varinius, as you prompted... only to have him shun word and touch." "You are no longer a girl, unblemished by the world." "You're a woman now." "And our hands shape the fates when those of men tremble." "It is I who tremble." "The thought of Gaius' hands upon me." "There, there." "Shh." "It is such desire... that presents opportunity." "You suggest the impossible." "I suggest only that you consider the years unfolding before you, every moment swollen with the knowledge that Gaius Claudius Glaber lives out his life in the privileged lap of Rome... while your brother is forever denied breath." "It should not be so." "It should not." "Everything I held dear was taken from me as well, this house, my husband, promise of a child." "The things that have been done to us cannot stand unanswered." "To allow it... would be to turn from those we claim to have loved." "Is there no other course?" "If you wish to see your brother's murder avenged... blood must be spilled." "She is moved towards deed?" "I believe it so." "Are you certain this is what you desire?" "If Gaius is not moved by pleading word, then I will have blood and death and, in the bringing of it, my life returned to me." "Is it true?" "That you depart for Rome?" "I'm left with little choice." "It is a terrible thing to be stripped of such." "Made more grievous by hand that removes it." "You speak of Varinius?" "He once more makes attempt to claim what is rightfully mine." "As Spartacus claimed my brother's life?" "An unfortunate tragedy." "One that yet demands justice." "The Senate appoints Varinius the task." "I do not have faith in him to take the life of the man responsible for grievous injury." "Nor I." "Yet we must turn from such thought and seek comfort in the hands of warm embrace." "Your fucking hands ripped my brother from this world, and mine shall see you from it." "Gaius." "I cast you aside." "Yet you save my life?" "You are my husband." "We cannot be what we were." "Then let us be what we are." "We have done terrible things to each other." "I would see such venom turned outward to those truly deserving of it," "Seppia, the Senate, and the man they dispatch to steal your glory." "You would move against Varinius?" "We are both monsters, Gaius." "Let us be so together and seize the fucking heavens." "I shall march to Vesuvius, see it done." "Pause but a moment." "I have been too long absent you inside me." "Forgive me." "I lose myself in the moment." "No." "It is I who have been lost... and your touch that guides me home." "And lift your sword" "Drain your wine" "Drain your cock" "Dawn comes too soon" "Night flees too soon" "So lift fucking cup" "Lift fucking cup..." "I still believe you will see us all to untimely end." "J' Drain my cock J'" "J' Drain my cock." "J'" "Yet it will be a glorious fucking death." "The signal." "Glaber." "Glaber commands from the rear, a coward's position." "He will advance his troops in tight formation, intending to overpower." "It is the Roman way." "We will teach them ours." "Advance!" " Fall back to the temple!" " Advance!" " Fulco!" " Hold the line!" " There are too many!" " Move!" "Praetor!" "The rebels are in retreat." "Stage one." "Two." "Three." "Advance!" "Now!" "You are not the man I seek." "Lay down your arms!" "Do it!" "Now we have steel." "Yeah!" "Gather their weapons." " Yeah!" " Yeah!" " Varinius." " Yeah!" "I owe you a debt of blood, for Acer and Rhaskos." "And we shall see it paid after answer is given." "Where is Glaber?" "Spartacus." "Fuck!" "Pull!" "Ignite!" "Push!" "On the ready!" "Ready!" "On my signal!" "Load!" " Ignite!" " Release!" "Again!" "We have to move!" "Fall back!" "Into the tunnel!" "Go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Crixus!" "Go!" "We'll follow!" "Oenomaus!" "Move!" "Move!" "Agron!" "Move!" "Go!" " Move!" " Go!" "Move!" "Go!" "Come on!" "Quickly!" " Move!" " Keep moving!" "No." "There are too many of them." "The mountain pass!" "Hurry!" "But there is no other path down." "We'll be trapped." "There's no choice!" "We must move!" "Go!" "Spartacus." "Go!" "Move!" "This way!" "This way!" "Ls there no other way to gain the mountain?" "None, save for the narrow path they escaped upon." "Scores of men were lost in attempted pursuit." "Foolish endeavor." "They now hold the high ground." "We've lost advantage." "You would let them go free?" "No." "I would let them feast... on mud and rock." "And when hunger and madness drive them from their perch... we shall kill them all."