Chapter Text
The first time Lexa saw her, she’d been about to fight someone in order to pay the debt she had.
It all had started when her father, a farmer, had lost access to the land he worked on and therefore was unable to earn a living. When that happened, since he didn’t have any money, he entered a Nexum, in which he gave himself as collateral to the person he owned money to. When he passed away, Lexa was put into his place in the Nexum contract, and since an early age was put into a Gladiator School, for when she grew up earn money with the fights and finally pay off the debt her father was never able to.
Lexa had started going to Trikru, the gladiator school, when she was 10, right after her dad passed away. She was mentored by Anya, a Dimachaeri Gladiator, who had trained her to also be a Dimachaeri, a lightly armored gladiator with two swords.
For 8 years, Lexa focused only on improving her fighting abilities. She didn’t make any friends, with the exception of Costia, a Thracian gladiator, who she had a relationship with, until Costia was killed during a battle. After that, Lexa closed herself even more.
Now she was minutes away from her first real fight. Tying the leather wrapper of her leg protector around her ankles, Lexa was blocking the extremely loud noises coming from the arena. The Pampa –a parade that happened before the duels- had started, hence all the noise. Animal acts, dancers and acrobats all performed to the public. The Emperor must have arrived Lexa thought as the cheering from the crowd got even louder. That meant it was time for the gladiators to line up and be ready to go the arena.
Putting on her helmet, Lexa got up and grabbed her two siccae, a small curved sword. The swords that were usually so light in Lexa’s hands –almost like a continuation of her arms- now seemed extremely heavy and awkward, like they didn’t belong in her hands. Lexa wasn’t one to be anxious, she knew anxiety wouldn’t help her accomplish anything, but her opponent, a man from the Azgeda School named Roan, was much bigger and heavily armed than her, since he was a Hoplomachi gladiator. Lexa knew she could take him; she had been training for almost a decade, and her teachers all said she was one of the best fighters the school had ever trained, but her opponent had been fighting official battles for years, unlike Lexa. She knew she had the advantage of speed, given that her armor was way lighter than his, but Roan had much more protection, in one hand making him slower than her but on the other making it more difficult for her to hit him.
As these thoughts went through Lexa head, she positioned herself in the front of the Gate of Life, an underground tunnel that connected the room they were in to the arena. There were 20 gladiators in the room, separated in two lines; by her side was Lincoln, a man who also went to the Trikru School. She had seen him training, but they never trained together, as he was an Esque gladiator – a horseman who fought with a spear. Lexa had talked to him earlier, and Lincoln had told her he would be fighting a Skikru girl named Octavia, if she remembered correctly.
As the gates were opening, Lexa took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, and grabbed her swords more tightly. As the line of gladiators started to move, the sound of the cheering and applause from the crowd only grew louder.
Coming out of the tunnel, the sun hit Lexa’s eyes, making her momentarily blind. It was a clear day without a cloud in the sky. Looking around, Lexa noticed that the arena was full. In one of the corners of the arena there was a placard marking the events of the day, giving information about the gladiators and also showing the Emperor’s response to petitions. Walking around the arena, Lexa and the other gladiators stopped in front of the Imperial Box and the Emperor.
Lexa eyes were immediately drawn to the emperor, Clarke Griffin, a girl the same age as Lexa, who had her hair back in tiny braids with only a few strands of blonde hair framing her face and a golden laurel wreath on the top of her head. Her eyes were the most beautiful color Lexa had ever seen, even from a far; she could tell they were as blue as the sky. The emperor was standing tall, wearing an elaborately draped purple toga with golden threads that only left her arms exposed. Two heavily armed guards were by her side.
As Lexa stared at the Emperor, mesmerized by her beauty, she failed to notice that the other gladiators were kneeling in front of her, and only after a few moments did Lexa realize it and rapidly fell to her knees, ashamed. As the gladiators were shouting the usual ritual to the Emperor, screaming loudly and in unison “We who are about to die, salute you!” The Emperor was staring intently at the gladiator who seemed embarrassed and now reluctant to look her in the eye.
Lexa could feel the Emperor eyes on her, like they were burning a hole through her helmet, and she didn’t dare to look up again, quickly rising to her feet when the ritual was finished and going back to the room to wait for her fight.
Her mind didn’t stop thinking about the Emperor until her name was announced by the editor of the gladiatorial spectacles, an old men named Dante Wallace, who financed the fights. Going back to the arena, she could hear the crowd chanting her opponent’s name, “Roan! Roan! Roan!” He had already entered the arena and was waiting in the middle of it. When Lexa was in front of him, Lexa dared to glance at the Emperor, who was looking at her with a look that Lexa couldn’t quite put a name on.
Once again repeating the ritual chorus of “We who are about to die, salute you!” to the Emperor the gladiators begun their fight.