Chapter Text
"Help me..."
That was all Kalias could hear these days. The cries of the unfortunate. The damned. The dying. The cheers of crowds, the hoots, hollers, and taunts of the ones fortunate enough to watch and live.
A cloth and bucket of water was balanced precariously in his arms as he made his way through the long tunnels. Long and winding with only torches to light the way. He had to pause occasionally to steady his balance through the rocky paved paths. The snarling animals and the shouts of prisoners echoed through the tunnels, the firelight flickering with each small breeze.
When Kalias arrived at the gladiator barracks, a cramped space full of people- mostly middle aged men with scruffy beards and bloodcaked armor- he was immediately enveloped in the smell of sweat and the metallic scent of blood.
"Aye." One man called, beckoning with one large, calloused hand. "Avitus' wound needs stitchin' again. It got torn fighting another damn cat."
Kalias merely managed to nod his throat too tight to speak. He made his way to the mentioned warrior, footsteps measured even as his anxiety was spiked through the roof. He stopped a foot away from the mentioned man, softly clearing his throat, the water bucket sloshing as his arms around it tightened.
"Avitus?"
Avitus, a gruff looking man, barely acknowledged Kalias, his tanned skin rippling as he moved to sit. He presented his festering wound. The wound was long and deep, the skin easily torn away, the muscles exposed and bare as blood and puss oozed out. The s steadily. The stench was bad, and made Kalias' stomach flip. Yet, he had to keep himself together. Had to do his job. He's seen worse. Cleaned worse. That's what he told himself even as he closed his eyes to push away the memories of blood on the sheets and the trembling body, wracked with cries of a child no older than himself.
. "Clean it," the man demanded, snapping Kalias out of his mind. His voice rough, dark eyes narrowing as he glared at Kalias.
Assessing.
Searching.
Kalias merely nodded again, soaking the cloth into the water-wringing it out. He watched the water trickle and fall back into the bucket in rivulets. Carefully, he dabbed at the festering laceration, wiping at the crusted blood. The water was quick to turn a pale crimson and Kalias had to take multiple trips in refilling it. It felt tedious for him as Avitus was always moving. The man just couldn't sit still without cursing or muttering under his breath.
When he was finished, Kalias stepped away with a satisfied nod, the tension in his shoulders releasing. Something he hadn't even realized he was doing.
"Let me go get some bandages." He didn't wait for Avitus' reply, wanting to get away from the suffocating presence of a man that stared him down like he was prey in a trap.
He set down the bucket as he made his way to another older man. Not a gladiator, but a healer, just like himself. Middle aged by the looks of it- or older-With scruffy graying hair and olive skin that seemed to always hold a new scar every time Kalias saw him.
"Leon." Kalias acknowledged as he approached, his small hand gently reaching out to tap the older man's arm. "Are there any bandages nearby?"
Leon turned, his partially milky eye wandering for a moment before landing unsteadily on Kalias. "Ah." His voice was a low rasp, barely above a whisper. His skin stretched over his bones almost grotesquely. Kalias worried he would kneel over and die at any moment.
"I'm sorry, my boy. We haven't had time to restock."
Kalias' heart sank.
"Again?"
His shoulders slumped as he kicked at a pebble at the ground dejectedly. "When do we ever get to restock again?" It had felt like forever since they've had a full stock of medical supplies. The Emperor was always demanding for entertainment that seemed to end in bloodshed or even death with no time to actually commit to healing.
Leon's bony fingers drummed on a wooden table beside him in a steady, almost calming rhythm. "In a few days." His voice wavered, as if he himself was unsure when the next time their inventory would be full again. "That's how long the last restock took."
Kalias deflated even more, but managed to nod and give a grateful smile to Leon even as he felt his stomach drop. "Thank you. For telling me."
Leon merely nodded before turning back to the table, his bony hand tracing an engravement Kalias never understood. All he knew was that it was quite old and very important to Leon.
Silently, Kalias returned to Avitus.
The gladiator seemed to tell that something wasn't quite right and his scowl deepened. "Useless." He muttered coldly as he noted that there were no bandages in the younger boy's hands. "All you pathetic medics are useless!"
He stood up, his full height towering over Kalias' small form. "Can't do anything right, can you? Can't even clean a wound right!" He waved his arm, in which the gash was once again oozing blood and puss.
Avitus' voice dripped with venom, his face red, eyes bloodshot. "Putanas yos! Useless fuck!"
Kalias barely flinched as the insults were hurled at him straight on. He only lowered his head and accepted the fury. "I'm sorry. We ran out.." He trailed off, knowing his words barely processed in Avitus' mind. The room seemed to cave in around him as the gladiator's scolding seemed to catch the attention of the others around them. He felt hundreds of eyes on him. He could feel the disdain, the disappointment.
Kalias hunched his shoulders, trying to make himself small, his hands clenching at his sides as his jaw clenched to keep himself from crying. He was the best medic they had. Pretty much the only one since all the others were dead.
"Alright, you fuckn' maggots!" A voice suddenly cut through the air, loud and booming. The torches around them seemed to flutter as the man stepped into the barracks, his large frame filling the space. "Get your sorry asses up!" The man's expression was stoic, tan skin rippling with scars, as he waved a hand. He adjusted his tunic.
"Lucius! Avitus!"
Avitus seemed to stiffen like he was just struck in the back. He gave Kalias a final cold glare as if everything was his fault. Lucius, on the other hand, merely stood with a slight swagger, eyes glittering with anticipation. Both men strapped on discarded armor before pushing past the man. They made eye contact and it seemed that a silent conversation had happened before the two men disappeared into the tunnels and towards the cheers and screams of the crowd outside.
Kalias's eyes lit up a fraction. "Alphonsus!"
The man, Alphonsus, turned his head to Kalias and his expression softened a fraction. Kalias felt the tightness in his chest release as he scuttled forward, lowering his head slightly as he hurried out of the Barracks. His job was done anyway.
Alphonsus would handle the rest. He always did.