A Gladiator's Dilemma, Page 2

you”.

  Eric guarded the door once again. He was hungry. He bit his

  own teeth to ignore it, but was still hungry. He told his stomach to

  hold on a little longer, but was replied by a quick growl. The boy

  looked at him and his sword curiously, but the girl seemed deep in

  thought and then disappeared. Eric felt embarrassed as his stomach

  growled louder.

  After a while, the girl came back again. She was so beautiful

  that Eric dared not look at her eyes. What if he said something

  wrong, or acted somewhat wrong. He was blushing, and

  he knew it.

  The girl approached him and handed him something warm

  wrapped in a napkin. A smell of richly seasoned bread and deeply

  roasted pork drifted around him. Eric opened the package and devoured

  the pork pie in three fast gulps. He felt this was the most

  delicious food in the world.

  Eric, Lunan, Claude and Zing were chatting about the battle

  ahead. Roman camps were not far away, and they could hear the

  shouting of Roman men to each other. This battle was bound to be

  much harder. The enemy army was full of elites and legions. Winning

  this battle would defeat the Romans for sure.

  Soldiers cleaned their swords on both side, and commanders

  worked on tactics with the generals. General Hannibal made plans

  for the battle. The elephants would fight at the beginning with the

  green hands. When they fled, and the Romans gave chase, the

  elites would end the fight fromtheir hiding places.

  Horns and trumpets whistled on both sides. Then the battle

  started.

  The green hands weren’t cowed like Hannibal thought they

  would be. Instead, they seemed to be winning. The four friends

  fought side by side in perfect unison. Eric or Zing flanked each

  other, while Lunan and Claude went to the front or back them up.

  The Trap

  Suddenly, the Roman lines broke and fell back.

  Just as they were giving chase, a large red army appeared out

  of nowhere.The Roman elites had done the same thing as the

  Carthaginian elites troop should have done！The Carthaginian

  green hands won only because they had elephants. A slaughter

  began.

  Eric and Zing turned and fled, followed closely by Lunan, but

  not before he was struck on the leg. Behind Lunan, they heard a

  ghastly crunching sound and a mutter for help.

  The green Carthaginian elites came to their aid. The Roman

  lines soon buckled. The elites knew what was up the instant the

  Roman green hands broke rank. But they were too late. If it hadn’t

  been the elephants, the Carthaginian green hands might have been

  wiped out.However, if it hadn’t been the elephants, the

  Carthaginian green hands wouldn’t have fallen into the trap.

  Eric, Zing, and Lunan had been spared.As they cleaned the

  battle field with the limping Lunan, they saw a small figure with a

  pool of blood around it.Claude had met his fate.He had been cut in

  half so neatly that it looked like he was sleeping.

  There was no feasting for the trio that night.

  Eric had visited Siri, the pretty girl from Loas, several times

  after the battle.

  Siri had curly black hair, light blue eyes and smooth creamy

  skin. Eric had fallen in love with her, but she didn’t seem to like

  anyone. The girl’s brother, Ariri told himshe had once slapped the

  son of the village ruler. Eric seemed to be the only suitor whom

  she had been friendly with.

  This time, when he rounded up to Siri’s house, he found the

  family moving. He was aghast. He loved her and couldn’t bear to

  be without her.

  Two other Carthaginian soldiers were robbing their furniture.

  The two 16-year-old boys were teasing them and stealing while the

  family begged.

  Eric called for them to stop. He was 18 and strong. The boys,

  instead of stopping, jeered at him.

  Eric’s anger rose. Who did they think they were？He was one

  Love Is in the Air

  of the best in his regiment. The boys didn’t know it. In one flash,

  he drew his new saber. It was Hannibal’s birthday present to all

  eighteen years old troop of his army. The youngsters drew their

  rookie swords too.

  Afierce battle started.

  Eric fought with courage. The cold steel of his saber fell on

  his enemies’swords. Though he was not loosing yet, his strength

  was failing. When he injured one boy, the other would defend his

  friend.

  Suddenly, Eric felt the sword of his enemy biting into his

  shoulder. Blood sprouted onto the white snow. Siri gasped and

  backed away. The two boys cheered. Eric had managed to injure

  both of them but only slightly. The injury on himwas a major one.

  It had narrowly missed his neck. He tried to wield his sword, but

  the boys pushed it out of his hand and onto the snow.

  The boys brought their swords crashing down at his neck.

  They had hit him again on the back even when he rolled out of the

  way of one. Blood sprouted out. The boys were too excited to care

  about their own wounds.

  Siri came out with an arrow. She charged at the two boys

  yelling, “No, stop, you’ll kill him”. She liked Eric and didn’t

  want the young man to die.

  Then, in a split second of time, a shadow loomed over the

  boys. Another birthday saber parried the boys’swords. When it

  came up again, it was the two boys’turn to back away.

  In front of them, was Zing. His black hair almost blocked his

  eyes. Zing was absolutely the best swordsman in his regiment and

  was a junior elite, like Eric. His saber was much better than the

  boys’short swords. The boys’injuries started to hurt.

  A second battle began, and the youngsters were losing. One

  of the boys fell with another saber deep in his back. It had the

  word “Lunan”on it. Eric was safe now. With two other junior

  elites protecting him and one of the boys died, victory was insured.

  Eric was on the brink of death when the fight was over. One

  of the boys was dead, and the other ran away. Siri helped Eric to

  his feet. Then, Eric collapsed. When he finally woke up, Zing and

  Lunan were hovering over him and Siri bandaging his wounds. He

  had almost died.

  “You little, challenging two of them, did you really think

  you’d win？”

  “Well, I can’t help it, they were robbing her stuff. ”

  “I can take care of myself. You better watch your own life, ”

  said Siri.

  “Yea, hear that, you should really listen to your girlfriend

  sometimes,”teased Zing.

  Seeing Eric was alright, Zing and Lunan left for camp. The

  week was off, so Eric would have a lot of time to heal.

  Siri refused to leave his side. As she tended Eric’s wound every

  day, Siri realized that she was charmed by the young man.

  When it was time for Eric to leave, Siri couldn’t help to kiss him,

  “ I love you, even though you are a Carthaginian. ”Eric was delighted

  and felt he was the happiest man in the world.

  After 6 battles, the Carthaginian army had lost a lot of soldier
s.

  The Roman Republic went bankrupt because of the endless

  war and continuous defeat. The Carthaginian army was winning.

  At Canne, 60, 000 of Rome’s best soldiers were annihilated by

  Hannibal’s 40, 000 soldiers, while Carthaginian only suffered

  slight casualty. Carthage was now at its peak of power, and Hannibal

  at his peak of fame, until the Battle of Zama, when for the first

  time, Hannibal encountered a general as smart as or even smarter

  than him. The Battle of Zama caused Carthaginian to lose the second

  Punic War.

  It was two months after the death of Claude.

  Eric, Zing, and Lunan were grieving over Beren, who had just

  died after a storm. It was not just any storm. It was a storm on the

  sea. Roman General Scipio had landed an army on the coast of

  Africa, and was attacking Carthage. General Hannibal was rushing

  his army back to Africa to destroy Scipio’s army. Beren died on

  The Army of the Romans

  his trip back to Carthage when a lightning struck his ship. The ship

  caught fire and sank, dragging himwith it.

  Eric and Zing drew their swords. Lunan followed. They had

  just landed Carthage, and were having some time off. They

  planned to pledge blood brothers. A small bottle of ale sat in

  front of them. Eric cut a big gash in his arm. Zing said,“Are you

  OK？”Eric just ignored it. Ten drops of blood fell into the bottle.

  20 other drops came from the other two brothers. Then, they

  drank the liquid.

  The showdown was about to begin.

  The junior elites met the Romans in a forest. Eric, Zing, and

  Lunan teamed up together into the enemy forces. They had

  promised that they wouldn’t abandon each other. As arrows flew

  around them, they killed enemy after enemy. But the glory was

  short lived. A stray sword caught Lunan in the stomach and he fell

  to the ground with a thud.

  The Carthaginians pushed forward, but Eric and Zing lost all

  heart in the battle. They knelt by the dying Lunan, ignoring the

  moans of the died and wounded around them. Lunan’s life started

  draining away.

  To their surprise, masses of Carthaginian troops ran back.

  Zing muttered“, Cowards”. But when they saw the elephant and its

  28-year-old driver pierced with many spears, they realized the

  Carthaginians were losing the battle.

  Too late, too late, was all Eric could think of. He was striped

  off his armor and clothes. He wore