Limping slightly from the dwindling burning sensation in her leg and the slight numbness of the liquid they had rubbed over her leg beforehand, Sharon was half-led and half-dragged from the tent back out into the open grounds. Looking around, Sharon saw the compound filled with the bustle of the morning's activities, with guards and fresh gladiators milling about. A elevated wooden platform similar to the one she had been sold on had been set up in the middle of the courtyard, apparently during the time she had been showered or branded, and from the distance Sharon thought she saw her scout Kane pacing back and forth in front of it with several other similarly grim-looking men .. the trainers, she assumed.
Sharon had a few minutes to try and shake off the numbness in her leg as guards milled about, busy with their tasks and not noticing her for the moment. Soon enough, though, she and the one or two other male gladiators who had emerged freshly branded were ordered with barking shouts to assemble with another group in front of the training stand.
Sharon fell into line amongst a squad of fresh gladiators, a row or two back from the platform at which the trainers stalked. She blinked nervously and restrained a painful urge to look around her and at her fellow trainees ... she uncomfortably aware of naked male flesh surrounding her and her own completely-bare skin.
Sharon snapped out of her reverie at the bark of the instructors. "Eyes forward!" It wasn't Kane looming over the group, but rather a scruffy looking bearded fellow with a bare chest covered in scars. He sneered. "Allright, you sorry hunks of flesh, it's time to see what you're made of. We paid for the lot of you, and we're going to get our money's worth in the arena if it kills you .. and it probably will." The instructor reached for a whip at his side and sent it cracking over their heads, causing all to duck slightly. "Right! We start with twenty laps around the compound! You follow his lead --" he jerked a thumb at Kane, who had stripped down to a pair of leggings and boots and grimly stared down the few fresh men who happened to be near him -- "GO!"
Sharon broke into a run beside her companions, legs pumping as sweat began to stream down her naked skin. This wasn't going to be easy...
Mon Feb 17 13:21:16 2003