Juliana's Last Stand

(In London, (England) just south of the river Thames a high status Roman grave was excavated in the late 1990's. Unusually for such a high status grave it was placed outside the main graveyard where dignitaries would be buried. Therefore it would appear that the occupant although wealthy and respected stood outside mainstream society. A number of the gravegoods were lamps decorated with Gladiatorial scenarios. A Gladiator could be well respected and wealthy, but as a slave was not a member of mainstream society. The final twist came when the bone fragments were analysed by a Forensic Pathologist, one of the fragments came from the pelvis and had a "notch" - the occupant of the grave had been female! Archaeology can tell us no more about this woman her life can only be speculation, I wanted to write about the last day of her life.)

* * * * *

Juliana awoke from the dream. Once again she had been caught by the faceless retiarri's net, enmeshed in its disabling folds. As always she had awoken screaming as the retiarri's trident had been about to pierce her body.

Her scream awoke her companion. "Shut up whore!" The bloated merchant Carrodus mumbled as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"Whore! Whore who do you think that you are talking to?" Her blue eyes flashed angrily. "You sleep with Juliana the only Gladiatrix in Brittanicus and you dare to call her a whore. A common meretrice you can find in any lupar. Such a woman, a fornices would cost you no more than five sesterces. To bed me a man like you gives many gifts of gold and promises more to the Gods." She wanted to comment on his corpulent slug-like body that oozed of grease, but she did not for there was more gold to be extracted from this man.

"I was talking in my sleep." Carrodus excused himself, his eyes fixed on her body as she rose from the pallet. She stretched modelling her limbs in the shaft of golden sunlight that penetrated horizontally through the ill fitting shutters. The light sparkled in her copper blonde hair. Glanced off the defined muscle tone of her exercise honed arms. As she stood and flexed her lithe legs the light lit that tantalising spot where the triangle of tightly curled burning hair terminated.

She went over and opened the shutters. As she returned to the bed, he could not see the distaste on her features, the light was behind her casting her face and firm breasts into a shadow. Her head surrounded by a halo of burning gold. She climbed back onto the pallet, pulled the covers from him and straddled his body. She knelt legs astride of his legs.

She reached for the small earthenware bottle. Tipped some of its contents into her hand, then set about anointing his stubby penis with the slippery olive oil. The motions of her hand stirred him from a lazy morning arousal into a full-blown raging erection that pulsed its message of desire. His senses that had been dulled by the previous night's wine were now fully focused. Sheer lust dominated his thoughts.

To possess a woman like Juliana was at that moment his only goal. His wife, his children, his slaves, his wealth meant nothing to him compared to his desire to tame this proud fighting woman with his penis.

Last night she had bowed her head and taken it in her mouth, something even his slave women would never do. Her tongue had done most marvellous things to it, curling around the sensitive head, moving its tip in a circular motion as if she was polishing the glans. With a hint of adrenaline producing menace trailing her sharp teeth along the stem as if she might castrate him with her sharp teeth. The memories spurred his heart, heated blood coursed into his already engorged member causing it to grow.

Satisfied he was adequately lubricated she reached between her legs smearing the last of the oil on her anus. She moved up so her legs straddled his hips. Grasping his cockstem she guided it as she lowered herself onto him.

There was a moment of pain as he entered her. Pain preferable to that caused by the abortionist. She had endured the pain of one terminated pregnancy and had no intention of going through the experience again. She was aware that there were various decoctions that were said to prevent pregnancy, but she knew none was effective as anal intercourse.

As she slowly slid down his erect prick, he gave thanks to Priapus for the steeliness of his erection and to Venus for the perfection of her body. Her ass seemed to slide onto his throbbing cock like a well-fitted glove. Each time she tensed her muscles the pressure squeezing prick so hard that brought sharp stabs of pain that before they hurt transformed into pure ecstasy. Never before had a woman drawn him so slowly, yet so thoroughly towards a cataclysmic sexual climax, as this woman had with her mouth and her ass. Each time she had made him cum it had been more intense than he had ever known before - it was so unique that he felt as if he had never had sex before.

Now she had slid down, until the full length of his stubby prick was embedded in her. No longer moving, she was using her muscles to set up wave like rippling squeezes that rippled along the length of his cock. It was as if a Python had wound itself around his erection. "Do you like this? I am going to milk every drop of spunk from your balls. Do you feel it being pumped along the length of your priapus?"

"Yes! Oh yes."

She fingered the heavy links of the gold chain that hung around her neck. "Am I worth this gift?"

"Yes Juliana oh yes!"

"And when you have cum when this proud member is shrivelled and like a snail has curled into it's shell will you still think I am worth it?"

"You will always be worth it. Don't stop I'm cumming."

She responded by lifting herself sliding up his prick until only the head remained within her then relaxing her tensed leg muscles slid down the length as his Vesuvian climax splattered into her.

"Will you spend tonight with me?"

She shivered his question brought back her dream. Would she survive. Would she again leave the arena victorious. Would the Gods be with her tonight, or would she be fated to be carried off by Charron. "How can I say, I don't know. Soon I must go to the Ludi, this afternoon I shall be in the arena."

The thought of her in the arena stirred his prick back into life. The fact that this woman was dangerous a killer with the blood of men stained on her hands gave him vicarious pleasure. Along with thousands of others he had watched her in the arena. She was a Dimachaeri displaying her ambidextrous skills by wielding a razor sharp dagger in each hand. Her only armour was her speed and agility.

Like a tumbler she would cartwheel away from her heavily armoured opponents. Like a deadly snake she would probe her opponents looking for a weakness. Every man sitting in the tiered seats cheering her on to victory would be lusting after her scantily clad body. After the contest men would be queuing to pay court to her, bribing the men who guarded the entrances to the Gladiators' area. She accepted the gifts showered upon her, and she would deign to be wined and dined by one of these admirers. Occasionally if the gifts were of sufficiently high value she might return to her escort's home.

The female acrobats hated her popularity. Hated that she would be given gifts of far greater value than they could ever expect to be given.

The gifts Carrodus had lavished upon her had cost almost all the profits of this trading trip. He would return to Rome with no increase in his wealth. Normally a prudent man he had fallen under the spell of this proudly independent woman. He knew that she would throw him off like an old sandal when he could no longer afford the gifts. The chain around her neck, the most recent of a number of gifts would have purchased ten female slaves. But he was unable to resist her magnetic attractions.

He felt so good. He was the little fat man who had never killed anyone, who had never lain a violent hand upon anyone had tamed a killer with his muscular weapon. He wanted her to return with him tonight when she still stank of the spilled blood of her defeated opponent. Maybe, if he asked her nicely, if he pleaded with her she would not bathe after the contest. He would like that taking her whilst her skin still tasted of the arena's dust, the blood of her opponent and her sweat. He reckoned his cock would be larger than ever.

Since the first time she had appeared in the arena Juliana had been aware of her status. That first time when a mere captive from Bodica's ill-fated rebellion, she had been put up to fight three male captives. She had entered the arena untrained, unarmoured, equipped only with a Gladius. Her opponents on that occasion had no weapons other than superior numbers. All four knew that the last one still standing might live the others were destined to die.

It had been scripted as a sex show. The men had been instructed to disarm her, strip her and use her for the entertainment of the people. She had not read the script. The first man died in a bloody fountain, when her slashing blow cut his jugular vein. The men became more cautious circling trying to get behind her, unwilling to close with her weapon. One tired she disabled his leg, cutting his hamstring. The third she chased around the arena until he was exhausted. His end was slow when she spitted him with the Gladius ramming the point through his guts.

She wanted to be sick, but knew she had to keep up an act - her life depended on it! Arms raised in victory she paraded around the ring whilst the two living men were despatched by the attendants.

On her return below the arena she was again put in irons, but taken not to the cages holding the prisoners but to the gladiators' quarters. For nearly twelve months she was trained as a gladiatrix. Her master the Ludi saw in her not only the fighting potential any gladiator needed, but also the sexual allure her body seemed to exude. At first whilst she was training it was he who profited when men paid to spend time with her. After her first fight when her contract was signed, twenty fights and she would be freed he only received a commission on her extramural earnings. Although as her master he retained the right to enjoy her body.

Slowly she turned her body from side to side pivoting on Carrodus's now stiff prick. The action brought a groan of pleasure from the man below her.

Again he asked her, "Will you spend tonight with me?"

"Wait see what the God's bring. Before the games I make no promises, no plans it seems to be tempting fate. In that arena as you watch my life and my death are decided in an instant of time. One slip, one moments inattention and I will be no more than meat to be fed to the curs in the street. Can I make a promise, can I make plans when my fate is so finely balanced? Remember the Gladiator's Salute. We who are about to die salute you!"

"You will win! You always win! You have survived nineteen fights."

"Survived nineteen fights - I lost two but survived only because of the patron's mercy and because through good fortune the God's smiled on me."

It seemed to him that when she flexed her muscles she was drawing hip right up into her bowels, stretching his prick. "Juliana please do it again."

He groaned when she released him, raised her body from his erection and began to kiss his sleek cheeks. "For a Roman you're a nice man, now live for the moment let me do the things you like me doing to you." She rained soft butterfly kisses on his protesting mouth. Kissing his eyelids she closed his eyes.

Sliding her body along his she began to kiss his chest. Taking his nipples between her lips she gently kissed each of them in turn. Then she began to suck one until it was engorged, with a playful nip of her sharp teeth she transferred her attention to the other nipple. The sensation thrilled through his body hitting a pit just below his hardening testicles.

Slowly so slowly she worked her way down his body. Her firm breasts pressed against his tormented erection. Impatiently he tried to push her head down. She stopped kissing him. "Relax the end will be worth waiting for."

The pain in his throbbing prick becoming so intense it was as if she was drawing her sharpened daggers along his cockstem. "Please … please … OOOH this is pure torment rub your tits against my cock." His breathing became rapid, rattling in his throat as she ignored his injunctions and moved slowly so slowly down his body.

He surprised her, moving fast for a fat man. He sat up pushing her face into his groin as the white creamy sperm spewed in great stringy wads from his pulsating cock. Drenching her face, matting her hair, stinging in her eyes. Her azure eyes blazed with anger how dare he treat her like a common meretrice, a woman of the streets.

She heard a strangulated rattle in his throat, his hands released her head. He fell back clasping his chest. His body tensed as he convulsively arched. Stunned, she watched his engorged cock pale and shrivel. She had seen violent death, but never before death in a bed. Putting her hand to his mouth she felt no breath from between the lips that now hung slackly open.

Cursing she dressed quickly. Who had seen her come here with Carrodus? No one of any importance, apart that is from his domestic slaves and they would be of no account. No one in authority ever listened to slaves or asked slaves questions, it would be like talking to a chair or a bed. Did a man talk to his chair or his bed no they were mere chattels as are slaves.

Shame the fat fool's heart had to give out. She cursed herself for not having given his health any consideration. She had killed the goose when she was sure that he would lay still more golden eggs. She fingered the gold chain, five years ago her life had not been worth the value of one of these links. Now the whole chain only bought a night of enjoying her body and only on her terms.

She was not by nature mercenary, but circumstances had made her practical in money matters. In safe keeping she had more gold chains, along with bangles, rings even a statue made from solid gold. After today's games she would be freed from the Ludis, a rich woman in the potestas of no one.

She wiped the drying sperm from her face. She needed a bath to get the gungy substance from her matted hair. Swiftly she dressed. She looked around the room his wash leather money bag lay on his clothes. She picked it up and removed the silver coins, it was not stealing merely compensation for her still stinging eyes.

Her cloak wrapped around her she slipped from the dwelling, soon she was lost in the hurrying people who thronged the city's streets. Slipping into the Ludis - the gladiator's barracks, she made her way to the bath house.

**********************************************

MID MORNING

Her favourite slave Inga, the girl from the frontiers of Gaul and Germany attended to her toilet. First she bathed Inga used a copper strigil to scrape the detritus from her skin. Then she washed her hair. When her fingers came into contact with the matted area she said. "The man bathed you already I think."

Juliana was in no mood for banter. "Shut up and do your job."

Inga worked on in surly silence washing and combing Juliana's golden tresses. Satisfied she had cleansed Juliana, she poured water from a ewer rinsing her clean. Wrapping her in a towel she led Juliana to the massage slab. Laying her face down on the marble slab, she began by working her skilful fingers around the muscles of Juliana's neck and shoulders, releasing the tension she could feel beneath her fingertips. "A stressful night?"

Juliana was unsure whether Inga was commenting or asking a question. "So … so." Was her non-committal answer.

Inga worked on in silence, massaging both of her arms before carrying on down her back. When Inga reached her firm rounded buttocks Juliana felt the familiar tingles of pleasure flow through her. Her response to the tingles was to part her legs. Inga, used to these reactions initially ignored them.

She began to massage the balled, highly defined muscles of Juliana's calves digging her fingers in as she worked the tension out of them. Satisfied she moved up to her shapely thighs which she treated in a similar fashion. The muscles relaxed she began to flex and stretch Juliana's legs. "If you let the man get on top there would not be so much tension in them the next day."

"I'm always on top." Was her growled response.

"Don't I know it." Inga quipped detecting a change in Juliana's humour.

"You will in a moment my faithful little friend if you don't get on with your duties."

"And you will undo all my good work. But lay still if you want me to finish your massage." Inga again began to kneed Juliana's slim taut buttocks, buttocks more like those of a young man than a woman. Separating them she allowed her fingers to trail gently over Juliana's part open rosebud. "I see the little flower is blooming."

"Dear Inga I think you are jealous. Think tomorrow you will have a new mistress or more likely master to look after."

Inga shuddered at the mention of a master. She knew what had happened to other attendants. It was not the sex she feared, although she preferred not to be passed around, a fate she knew many of the Gladiators' body servants had suffered. It was the unwanted pregnancies and forced abortions that scared her.

Seeing the look of horror on her servant's face she smiled. "Don't worry Inga, if I win tonight my first act as a libertas after my manumission will be to purchase you."

"Maybe the Ludis won't sell me."

"He will, he knows that you are a worthless disobedient slave, I told him so."

"Matrone you do me an injustice I am a faithful slave."

"Do not call me Matrone until the day is done. Not even in jest its tempting the fates."

"I am sorry."

"I am nervous. Never have I had such a terrible night."

"I thought it had been a good night, the gold chain, the money, the stains on your body."

"The dream awoke me again, if only I could see the face."

"That is all it was just a dream. Look around every fighter in the barracks dreams even the attendants like me do. We see too many people die. Death is a part of our lives."

"You don't have to kill or be killed."

"Inside I die a little every-time you step into the arena, nearly everyone of us feels the same about our own gladiators. When you slew Sebastio, Tessia who has been my friend for years would not speak to me for a month. You see she knew I wanted you to win if you killing Sebastio was the price of your life then I wanted him dead! Until the fight was over it was only you that mattered, I did not give a thought to Tessia's feelings."

"You've never told me this before."

"Before was different, now it is nearly over I feel I can ….. "

"Inga you are doing it again it is not over. Not over until this fight is over. Even then life is not a certainty, death is always there even in bed."

"That is very deep."

Oh Inga promise to keep a secret?"

"Your secrets I will always keep."

"This morning he died. Carrodus died as he sprayed the last of his spunk over my face and hair. Do you realise what I am saying - I KILLED HIM!!!"

"Calm down Juliana tell me how did you kill him - poison, a knife tell me how. Should I go to his home to clear anything that links you to the killing?"

"No there is nothing, no knife, no poison."

"What did he do to you that you had to kill him."

"Nothing."

"Nothing!" Inga looked at her aghast, had her mistress gone mad? "You killed a man for nothing."

"I tormented him - the excitement was too much for his heart. As he came he had this sort of spasm went floppy and was dead. Perit! Was no more. How fragile life is? Now come on you are my good luck charm, we must do as we always do for fear of offending the Gods. No more thoughts about this being the last time. No thoughts about a man dying with a spurting cock. Just think about us at this very moment."