The Entrance Exam

     Marcus strolled into the gladitorial training pits, carrying with
him a young girl on a leash. She was about 18 or 19 years old, with
shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Her arms and legs were very
well toned. She looked quite scared to be in this place of death. In
particular, the angry, muscular girls who stared at her frightened and
intimidated her. 

     "Please, Marcus," she begged pitably. "Take me back to the vinyards.
I'll behave better this time, I promise."

     "Sorry, girl," Marcus said cooly. "When you killed that other slave
of mine, you lost your right to protest."

     "She started that fight!" squealed the girl. "I wasn't even after her
boyfriend, and I thought that she was just playing possum when she went
limp!!"

     Marcus shrugged indifferently. "I'm truly sorry about this, Lara,"
he said. "You were a pretty good worker. But I simply can't take the
chance that you'll lose your temper again and kill another one of my
slaves."

     They passed through the training arena. The brick floor was covered
with a thin layer of sawdust, to sop up any blood which might be 
accidentally spilled. Racks of wooden and real weapons lined the walls.
Some of the weapons had bits of flesh stuck to them, and many were
stained by gore. Lara shivered at the sight.

     "It won't be so bad," said Marcus, trying to comfort her a little.
"You're good at fighting, so you'll do all right. And once you graduate,
you'll be a gladiatrix, and they get a LOT more respect and priveledges
than slaves do."

     Just then, an extremely muscular woman walked into the arena,
wearing gladiatrix dress. She was in her late 30s or early 40s, very
old for a pit fighter. Indeed, battle scars lined her thick arms, and one
of her legs seemed to be gimpy. "Hello, Marcus," she said, her voice
stern and commanding.

     "Hello, Stellus," he replied quite cordially. "I've got a new one for
you. Her name's Lara."

     Stellus walked up to Lara, and began looking her over like a merchant
might inspect a horse. "Disrobe," she ordered. Lara wasn't comfortable
about it, but she had no desire to question a professional killer. The
slave girl slipped her white tunic off, exposing her nude body.

     "Not so bad," Stellus said, gazing at Lara's abdominals and shoulders.
"She's got more muscle definition than most farm wenches. Let's see if her
teeth are all right. Open wide, girl." Lara opened her mouth, only to have
a thick (and unwashed) finger stuck inside it. Stellus carefully felt 
every tooth. "Quite good," she said, extracting her finger. "What's her
background?"

     "She was captured as an infant during an attack on the Rhine. 
Presumably, her father was a barbarian soldier. She was sold to one of
the bigger slave traders, who sold her to a smaller house, who sold her
to me at about the age of 6. She started out sewing clothes for my
other slaves, and graduated to the vinyards at age 12. She takes orders
from her superiors well, but hates being bossed around by any other
slaves. She killed one of my other girls in an argument, that's why I'm
selling her to you."

     Stellus looked up at him. "Normally I'd give you the best price for
an unskilled yet healthy girl," she said. "Which is 16 gold. But we're
overcrowded right now. There's not much of a place for her here save as
a training dummy. We only pay 4 coppers for a girl who'll be used like 
that."

     Dread filled Lara's face. "Please, no," she mouthed to her master.
He nodded ever so slightly.

     "I'm not going to sell her for that little," Marcus said. "Is there
ANY way I can get her into your fighting stable, or perhaps as a serving
girl?"

     "I've got plenty of serving girls too," said Stellus coldly. "But
since you've given me some high-quality girls in the past, I'll make a
deal with you."

     "Which is?"

     "I've got a troublesome student, who just isn't following orders
right and who's tried to run away a few times. She's a Greek, about Lara's
age and skill. I'll bring her in, and have the two fight barehanded to
the death. If Lara wins, I'll take her into the school, and pay you
10 gold for her. If my student wins, I pay you the standard 4 coppers."

     "That seems fair," said Marcus, oblivious to the silent pleading of
the slave girl.

     "Bring in Maris!" barked Stellus, in the general direction of the
living quarters. A moment later, two large, well-muscled girls dragged
in a slightly struggling girl of about Lara's age and size. Maris was
a very pretty girl with black hair, pretty blue eyes, and an enormous
pair of breasts, dwarfing Lara's. She was nude, since clothing was a
priveledge that had to be earned, and her bare body bore the signs of
several beatings. Once Maris was in the arena, the two girls left quickly.

     "Release her leash," said Stellus to Marcus. He slipped the leather
strap off of Lara's neck, and then backed off into a corner.

     "You will fight to the death," Stellus informed the girls. "Show no 
mercy, and be quick to kill your rival. If you spare your foe, then I shall 
strangle you both."

     The two circled each other for a moment, both of them unsure of what
to do. Lara's belly felt full of butterflies, and Maris looked like she
felt the same way. They were both reluctant to make the first move.

     "Fight, damn you!" screamed Stellus. Maris suddenly leapt forward,
tackling Lara, and forcing the girl down onto the sandy ground. She tried
to press her rival into the ground, her big breasts rubbing up against
Lara's, their bellies close together. Maris grabbed Lara's wrists and
pressed them to the ground, holding the girl down. She then wrapped her
legs around Lara's body, and began to squeeze for all that she was worth.
Lara panicked, as the Greek girl's well-toned legs squeezed the breath out
of her.

     Lara managed to roll over, pinning Maris beneath her and freeing her
hands. However, Maris's scissor hold was still quite secure and painful.
Frantically, the blonde girl tried to pry those deadly legs off, to no
avail. Realizing that it was futile to attack the legs, Lara began to
attack Maris's face, clawing at the brunette's eyes and cheeks. Maris
immediately relinqished her hold and tried to scramble away.

     Lara didn't let her go. She grabbed the Greek girl's ears, and shoved
her rival face down into the floor. She then wrapped one of her forearms
around the pinned girl's neck, and began pulling backwards, trying to snap
her victim's neck. Maris began squealing in pain and fear, and began 
elbowing Lara in the belly. She managed to slam Lara really hard right
over the bladder. The blonde screamed in pain, and Maris scrambled away
again.

     Lara began to move in to grab her rival again, but Maris had decided
to switch to fist fighting. Whenever Lara came close, the brunette smacked
her in the face with a quick punch. After a few blows, Lara's cheeks were
bright red, and her nose was bleeding a little.

     The blonde began to move in again, but instead of grabbing for her
foe, she lashed out with a quick slap to the breasts. Maris was momentarily
distracted by the pain, giving Lara time to get up close.

     The blonde girl slammed her opponent in the solar plexus with a
vicious punch, doubling the Greek over. She then knocked Maris to the floor
with a roundhouse. The dazed brunette tried to get up, but Lara kept her
down with a schoolgirl pin.

     First, Lara was careful to make her foe helpless, by making sure that
Maris's arms were trapped underneath her body. Then, she looked down at
the face between her legs, and raised her fists.

     She began to pummel the helpless Maris until the girl's face was badly
bruised and bleeding, until Maris was only half-conscious. Then, she
grabbed the limp head, and began twisting with all of her might, until she
heard an audible snap. The brunette's body suddenly became totally still.
Lara, still breathing hard, got to her feet. She suddenly realized what
she had done, and was filled with a swarm of conflicting emotion. Relief
that she still lived mingled with pity for the fallen girl, remorse for
what she had done, and a strange sense of accomplishment. She began
crying ever so slightly over the corpse.

     "You get your 10 gold, Marcus," Stellus said coldly. "And Lara, you
have passed your Entrance Exam."