Even if he lived a thousand years, Logan didn’t think he’d ever be able to understand the strange customs of the Romans. Every day that he passed in their crowded city, Logan saw more and more things that he didn’t understand. Things that he didn’t want to understand.
The latest of which was being covered with a sweet smelling oil by some timid little girl. Logan couldn’t for the life of him figure out the purpose behind covering his flesh with a thin sheen of oil, but Pietro had insisted on it.
“You know, I’d feel a lot better about this if I knew your name,” Logan said quietly so as not to frightened the nervous girl.
The girl’s head jerked up, shock registering on her features. “My name is T... Terese.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Terese,” Logan said with a nod. “My name is Logan, in case you were curious.”
Terese looked even more flustered after that and quickly tore her eyes away from Logan. Not wanting to force her into a conversation, Logan stood silently as she massaged the oil into his skin. Memories of Marie’s touch still fresh in his mind, Logan allowed himself to imagine that it was Marie who was rubbing the oil all over his body. However, he had to control his body’s reactions or else he would have a problem on his hands. It would not be in his advantage to enter the Circus Maximus fully aroused. So instead, Logan focused every ounce of will power he possessed to keep his body under control.
Logan was caught off guard when he felt her smear something cool on his face. His eyes flew open and he stared at the small jar she held in her hands. Inside it was a black substance which Terese was covering his face with.
“What are you doing?” Logan asked, scrunching his nose up as she ran a finger down the bridge of his nose.
“Master Flavius has decided that he wants you too look like a savage when you fight,” Terese said in a quiet voice. “So your body is to be covered in oil and your face with strange markings.”
Wanting to make Terese feel more at ease, Logan quirked a smile. “And what type of markings are you drawing on my face?
“Are you not finished yet, girl?” Pietro snarled before Terese could answer.
Logan snapped his eyes open glaring at the smaller man as he approached. Terese gave a small yelp of fear then took off in the other direction as soon as she caught sight of Claudio who was, as ever, walking only a few paces behind Pietro. Logan, however, didn’t react to the large man at all. Despite his frightening appearance, Logan had come to realize over the past six days that Claudio wasn’t as dangerous as Pietro like to make him appear. Granted, he was a lethal fighter and Logan had come to respect the large man during their practice bouts.
“It is almost time for you to fight,” Pietro announced as he circled around Logan like a vulture. “Whether you win or lose matters not to me. I have been paid for my duties so you are no longer my concern. Still, it is my job to see that you are delivered into the hands of one of the attendants.”
His speech finished, Pietro turned on his heel and strode towards the building that would lead them to the bowels of the arena. Logan was more or less dragged along by Claudio who had taken possession of the length of chain from the man who had been holding it earlier.
Once down in the smoky catacombs built below the arena, Logan was put through the routine that had been commonplace for him over the past week. Pietro first wrapped his fingers in leather bands to protect them from the sharp knives of the weapon. Unlike the other days, this leather was new. It was stiffer than the other leather had been, but unmarked and unused. Logan doubted that it would retain its pristine appearance by the time darkness fell over the arena.
Only when Pietro was content with the leather bands did he place the iron implements on Logan’s hands. Like the leather, Logan noticed that the iron claws and the casing that attached them to his hands were new. Unlike the original works that Logan had worn for the past seven days, these were more artistic. The blades were all polished and newly sharpened. The sides of the blades had also been carved with representations of his gods and other symbols that would have meant nothing to the Romans. The large piece that held the blades to Logan’s hand had also been redone. The original iron had been replaced with silver and gold and bore an elaborate carving of the god Cernunos. Logan found it comforting to see a depiction of the god as it served to remind him of what had happened the night before when he had been Cernunos and Marie Artemis.
Cernunos would survive and return safely to his foreign goddess, Artemis.
“Ah, Reynaldo, I take it you are here to retrieve the barbarian,” Pietro said casually as he finished locking the device on Logan’s right hand. “He is all yours. Claudio, remove the chain.”
Logan kept his eyes trained on Reynaldo who was standing silently beside Pietro, a wrapped bundle held under his arm. There was a slight tugging and then Logan felt the iron collar he had worn for many months come off for the last time. Pietro spoke to Reynaldo in hushed tones then he and his large companion were gone.
With a quick jerk of his head, Reynaldo indicated for Logan to follow him into a part of the arena that Logan had never been in before. The two of them were now going to enter the area below the Circus Maximus where Vittorio was waiting with another of the attendants.
“On this, the final eve of the Saturnalia, we bring together two combatants....” a booming voice echoed from the top of the rampway that led into the arena.
Reynaldo ignored the voice and instead turned to face Logan. “The Lady Marie must care for you greatly to risk what she is to set you free. It would displease me greatly to have to present her with your corpse in a short while which means you have to stay alive. It will upset her which means the Lady Jubilation will be upset and I will not allow the Lady Jubilation to be upset. Are we understood?”
“Aye, we are,” Logan confirmed, flexing his arms to keep the blood pumping through. “And there’s nothing that will keep me from Marie tonight. I will be alive when this is all over.”
“That is what I wanted to hear,” Reynaldo told him. He then unwrapped the package he had been holding and held it up for Logan to see. “The Lady Marie insisted that you wear this tonight. She prays that it will bring you luck.”
Logan stared at the torc in shock, gulping loudly. “I had never thought to hold this again.”
That got a quick grin out of Reynaldo. “You won’t be wearing it, my friend. If I remember correctly, you are to wear it about your throat.”
Since he could not put it on because of the massive claws, Reynaldo quickly slipped the torc about Logan’s throat. Logan had no time to dwell on the fact that he was once again in possession of the torc that his father had presented him with. Mere seconds after he had placed it on, Reynaldo was pushing him towards the massive doors that led out into the arena of the Circus Maximus where Vittorio had already gone through.
“.... the savage BARBARIAN!” the man announcing the competition roared just as Logan jogged onto the sandy floor of the arena. A huge cry rose up from the crowd, sounding like a battle itself to Logan.
From every corner of the arena there were thousands of eyes directed right at him and Vittorio who was standing only a few feet away, armed with a sword, shield as well as protective armor for his legs and upper body. Logan had no such protection. He wore only his boots, kilt, armband and the claws. As he arched his neck, Logan was reminded of the torc and took comfort from it had been returned to him by Marie.
Logan was pulled violently from his thoughts by Vittorio who lunged at him with a wide swing of his massive sword. At the last moment, Logan was able to duck and roll out of the way and avoid beheading. Aware now that the battle had begun, Logan knew that the only chance he had of emerging victorious was to somehow disarm the blonde giant.
With a loud roar, Vittorio came at him again with his sword, striking from above and to the right. There was a great deal of force behind the swing and Logan was forced to use both his hands to deflect the blow. A few more heavy swings which Logan managed to turn away and Vittorio seemed satisfied with his initial test of Logan’s strength and began to fight with a violent precision that Logan had never before faced.
“Don’t tell me they expect you to actually beat me, runt,” Vittorio sneered as he shoved Logan down hard with his shield.
Logan landed sprawled on his back and quickly brought his hands up to block the descent of Vittorio’s sword. Logan twisted his hands, locking the sword in place, as he swung his hands down to the side. As Vittorio stretched his arms so that he would not lose his grip on his weapon it left his lower body open and Logan delivered a sharp kick to the other man’s knee. The giant staggered onto on knee and Logan quickly rolled away, scrambling to his feet in the blink of an eye.
“Maybe that’s because I am going to beat you,” Logan hissed as he lashed out with his right hand. He was able to give Vittorio only a glancing blow as the larger man put his shield up in time to redirect him. Logan spun away before Vittorio regained his footing and stood crouched on the balls of his feet just out of range of the other man’s sword.
Screaming in outrage, Vittorio charged at him once again, his sword swinging rapidly before him. Logan kept his fists clenched tightly so that he wouldn’t lose any of them as he used the claws to redirect and block Vittorio’s swings. At the last possible second, Vittorio changed the course of his blade and Logan was unable to block it. It was only lightning quick reflexes that saved Logan’s arm. He was able to pull away fast enough so that the blade only cut into his forearm rather than severing it.
Still, at the sight of blood, the crowd screamed its approval.
Ignoring the sticky blood that was now running down his arm, Logan went on the offensive. Remembering how he had disarmed Claudio a few days back, Logan lashed out as though he were going to punch the other man. He needed to get Vittorio to swing at him. If it was a defensive swing there would be less force behind it and Logan could attempt to disarm him without losing any fingers in the process.
Vittorio laughed viciously as he held up his shield to deflect the blow. “Is this all you’ve got, runt?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you get out from behind that shield and we’ll find out,” Logan snarled back, hoping his taunt would get the larger man do throw aside his shield.
Had it been a mock fight, Logan would have cheered with delight when Vittorio threw his shield somewhere off into the distance. As it was, Logan didn’t even so much as crack a smile. He silently continued his assault, aiming both high and low, as he waited for Vittorio to swing his sword at just the right angle.
Logan was almost caught off guard as Vittorio lunged forward, horizontally propelling his sword forward towards Logan’s stomach. At the very last second, Logan jumped to the side. As Vittorio’s momentum continued to push him forward, Logan grabbed onto the other man’s wrist with his left hand. With his right, he dug the three curved blades into Vittorio’s arm and jerked his hand upwards as far as he could.
The arm was now effectively useless.
Only slightly hampered by the loss of ability in his arm, Vittorio spun around, his eyes wild with rage and pain. All rational thought had left the other man as he bore down on Logan like a thunderstorm. Logan stumbled backwards under the frenzy of Vittorio’s attack, barely able to keep himself from being impaled on the other man’s sword.
First one, then two hits made it past Logan’s defensives. The second blow, a large deep slash across his stomach, put Logan at a disadvantage because any movement of his arms made the wound scream in agony. Not wanting to risk a glance down, Logan was unable to see the full extent of the injury, only feel the sharp pain it created as his muscles flexed and twisted.
“You ready to die, runt?” Vittorio growled as he tripped Logan.
On his back for the second time since the battle had begun, Logan frantically searched for a way out. He used his feet to push him backwards and away from the mammoth madman and buy him some more time. With each backwards movement, Logan could feel the bits of sand scraping along his back, aggravating the still healing weals from Flavius’s whip. Vittorio continued to rain blows down on him which Logan did his best to deflect.
A collective gasp rose from the crowd as Logan’s foot slipped allowing Vittorio to advance on him further. The brute now stood straddling Logan’s waist. In a move borne out of desperation and an ever creeping exhaustion, Logan shot up into a seated position and slammed his right hand into Vittorio’s thigh, claws and all. As Vittorio roared in agony, Logan twisted his wrist, enlarging the wound so that it wouldn’t close.
In his pain, Vittorio dropped his sword.
Silence reigned in the arena as Vittorio collapsed, gasping and wheezing. Staggering to his feet, Logan picked up the sword and made his way towards the fallen man’s head. He clutched the sword tightly with near numb fingers, staring down at his foe.
“Now I’m free,” Logan murmured as he raised the sword above his head.
Shutting his eyes, Logan brought the sword down, driving it into the center of Vittorio’s throat and several his spine. The crowd screamed and cheered at the death, chanting, “Barbarian!” over and over in chorus.
Stumbling backwards, Logan allowed the sword to drop from his suddenly nerveless fingers. The battle rush was slowly leaving him and Logan was becoming more aware of his surroundings. The sand which was stuck to his body with sweat and oil itched. The black substance on his face was running, some of it into his eye. It was only as he raised a hand to wipe it away that Logan was once again made aware of the large gash on his stomach. He looked down and was shocked to see his entire stomach stained a violent red with his own blood.
The world around him seemed to buzz in and out of focus. Logan teetered dangerously, feeling his balance leave him all at one. Out of the corner of his eye, Logan could see people coming towards him. He couldn’t tell if they were moving fast or slow because his head refused to turn. The approaching people faded from view as his vision turned black around the edges.
Logan felt himself falling to the ground just before everything started to turn black. His body hit the ground hard, bringing a pitiful moan from his throat. Logan tried to push himself back up, but his limbs refused to obey him.
“Marie....” Logan moaned as he felt himself being pulled into a silent oblivion.