Reluctant Gladiator

RELUCTANT GLADIATOR - Part Fourteen A story by Pete Brown (petebrownuk @ yahoo.com)

Read all of Pete's stories at groups.yahoo.com/group/petebrownseroticstories

I actually got to enjoy the life as a gladiator. It seemed somehow right - I was training and using my body in a way that few men really get a chance to do, and was with a lot of guys who were much the same. The camaraderie was fantastic (apart from the odd one or two, like the niggas), and living in a world where you were so focused on your main activity and you didn't have to worry about finding a place to live, or a job, or clothes, or food was somehow relaxing. I began to think that life as a slave wasn't all that bad, until, that is, Mike reminded me in one of his endless periods of self pity that it would soon all be over for him and he'd be down the mines. It obviously depends on what kind of slave you are, but for a lot of guys worried about paying the bills, being able to work as a field hand, or on heavy construction, or something like that, as a slave oughtn't be all that bad. Sure, there were a few downsides - the day after a fight I was generally in pretty bad shape and actually hurt when I moved, but that wore off after a couple of days, especially if Jamie or Mike or one of the other gladiators massaged me.

Almost before I knew it a couple of years went by, and the next thing on our horizon was Jamie's eighteenth. I went to see Straughan and reminded him of our arrangement, and that Jamie was not to be circumcised. He opened a little notebook, checked some figures, and said "Sorry, Steve, but the deal's off. You haven't earned enough. Slaves like Jamie are fetching high prices, higher than anticipated, as the public's taste seems to be turning towards more athletic fighters."

"Please, Mr Straughan, sir... Can't we come to some deal? I mean, I'm going to carry on fighting here and earning more credits - can't we fix some sort of payments plan?"

"Why should I? Strictly speaking, as you're my slave all your credits belong to me anyway."

"Because you want to keep me motivated? Because you want to keep me pulling out all the stops to beat the other guy into submission?"

Straughan smiled. "You'll do that anyway, Steve. You're one of those fighters who simply can't help giving a hundred and ten per cent - you're desperate to win."

It was interesting to hear Straughan say the same thing as Mike had been, but I knew that I wasn't like that really.

"Please, sir", I tried to sound especially submissive now, which is always difficult for me to do. "Sure, I want to win. But isn't there something else? Something else I could do? Help as a trainer, perhaps?"

Straughan looked thoughtful. "No, not really. We're de-emphasising the training of big bruisers like you. But we have some plans for different kinds of matches in the near future. I'm anticipating a little initial resistance to my plans, and I'll be looking for men to take a lead in selling the idea to the other gladiators. They respect you, Steve, almost as much as they respect Mike. So if you agree to champion my new plans, I'll let you continue to accumulate credits for Jamie: we'll pay off the fee to the state so he's confirmed as a slave here, then you can 'buy' him when your time is up."

"Sure, yes, happy to. But shouldn't Mike be telling the other gladiators about the new plans? He's the Champion...."

"...and he's one of the ones you'll need to work on! I'm anticipating that he won't like it. And whereas I could beat some of the other doubters into submission, there's no way I can do that to Mike - at least not in a way that will retain his credibility as Champion. So you'll have to convince him."

"OK, you've got a deal."

Straughan looked angry for a moment. "I don't 'deal' with slaves. You will obey, or be punished. This is simply a more elegant way of getting you to carry out my orders. And when you hear of the plan, if you don't do as I want, life will be pretty harsh for that Jamie you're fixated on - he's a very marketable commodity, eighteen years old, great body... Some owner will be pleased to buy him, especially as he's so sexually inventive - but then you'd know that. I can see him as a whore in a very high-class brothel... A male brothel that is, of course."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Steve! A grown man like you doing all this for a teenager? A teenager who's rampant sexually. Is his ass as tight and well trained as the rest of his body? It must be exciting for a big guy like you to hold him and fuck him - almost like a big brother fucking a younger sibling."

"I don't do anything like that! I'm not a fag! And I don't know what you mean about Jamie being sexually inventive...."

Straughan smiled again. "Well I'll believe you, but thousands wouldn't. A cute young guy like Jamie and a mature, active hunk like you who's physically in peak condition? But then I suppose you and Mike are pretty much a pair."

I didn't have time to refute that, before Straughan continued " You probably haven't been paying attention to what Jamie and Darren have been up to - them and some of the other younger gladiators, that is. But I know they're the ringleaders, as it's always them that are making special requests for others in their cohort to be allowed to share their room for the night. Still, it's good for them - a fighter needs to be sexually active, to use his balls so that his hormones are raging, and until they start winning and being able to pay for a bitch, fucking each other is an excellent activity."

He saw my look of astonishment, and gave a little shrug. "Sometimes I think the naivety of a man like you is astounding. What on earth do you think young men like Darren and Jamie do together night after night? Anyway, no matter... I assume you still want to buy him, even though you won't be getting a virgin? Taking his cherry once you're free and he's your slave isn't a big part of your plan?"

"It was no part of my plan!" I almost shouted this, as I was so angry.

"Steve, remember you're a slave, and who you're talking to. I don't want to have to make an example of you at dinner tonight - we haven't had a punishment caning for some time, and it's something I know you all like to watch."

"No we don't!"

"You're right on the edge, Steve.... Take care! But you're wrong - we know that the gladiators like to watch a caning - providing it isn't their asses feeling the cane, that is. They cheer and clap, and it's a bit of excitement, something out of the ordinary... You may not like to watch it, but the others do. Now, get out, before I have to order a punishment for you."

I turned and strode out, really angry. At lunchtime as we rested in the sun I asked Mike about it, and he just shrugged. "I guess Straughan's right, Steve. Most of the gladiators think watching a caning is a bit of fun. It's not as if it permanently damages the guy, after all - he just can't sit down for a day or two, and that gives us something to josh him about, too. And a lot of men like watching beatings and punishments, you know: why do you think they all flock to see us in the arena? It isn't because they like to see nice buff bodies fighting - they want to see more than that, men hurting each other and getting hurt. A caning is only a less extreme form of that - as I said, it's over in a day or two, even though it hurts like fuck at the time. Better than being smashed to pieces in the arena - some of us never recover from that, you know."

I could sense that Mike was about to go off into a long complaint about how he was going to end up in the mines if he didn't continue to be Champion, so let the matter drop. But it did make me think. And what could Straughan's new thing be?

I did begin to watch Jamie and Darren though, and when Darren was with us I started to notice how experienced he was at sucking Mike's dick - I'd choked and gagged when Mike had forced himself down my throat, but Darren seemed able to swallow all of Mike's long thick dick without effort. Where had he learned to do that? I remembered how I'd seen the two young boxers almost making love after my first fight, and started to observe Jamie and Darren at the pool and so on - they were clearly totally uninhibited about each others bodies, and had no hesitation of oiling each other in the most intimate places even with me and some of the other gladiators watching. Darren even went as far as to skin Jamie back and then oil his dick head - well that's something that one buddy helping another with his tan on a beach wouldn't do normally, is it?

The end of that week, after dinner, was Jamie's eighteenth though, and there was the usual clapping and cheering when Straughan announced it. Jamie looked deathly pale as he came forward and slipped his uniform off, then at Straughan's command went and lay on one of the tables ready to be branded. Mike was ready to go and hold him down, but Straughan called out "Steve, get up here.... We'll have a bit of a change, and you can immobilise the gladiator whilst we give him the mark of slavedom, and of full manhood."

I stepped forward, and said quietly to Straughan so that the others couldn't hear "Please, no... Get Mike - he'll be angry if he sees me doing a job he regards as his, as Champion."

"I disagree, Steve. I think you don't want to do it because you have an idealised view of slavery. You're going to own this man soon, and you should be there at the start of his new life to see exactly what it entails - burning the slave brand into a man tells him that now his life as a free man is over, irreversibly and totally. Now, go and hold him down. And hold him down tightly - it's kinder to ensure that he can't move at all as otherwise the brand will not be crisp and clean, and then we might have to do it again."

Very reluctantly, seeing a puzzled look on Mike's face as I did so, I went over and leapt on to the table, and squatted down on to Jamie's back, before kneeling on his shoulder and pulling his arm out and taking a firm grip on his forearm. "It's OK, Steve", Jamie said, trying to mask the terror in his voice and being unsuccessful in sounding like a man who was unafraid. "Darren told me what it's like to be branded and 'skinned, and he helped me with an enema so I'm not going to make a mess if I lose control...."

I felt Jamie tense under me as Straughan approached holding the electric branding iron. Then, his eyes locking on to mine, he said quietly "I think it's an owner's job to brand his slave. You can do it."

Before I could protest, he called out to Mike to come over and hold Jamie instead of me, and Mike seemed pleased as I suppose he thought that Straughan was once more allocating him the work that was "proper" for the Champion. He almost roughly pushed me aside and assumed the same position on Jamie. But when Straughan handed me the branding iron, he started to look angry.

"OK, Steve", Straughan said. "You know where it's to go. Now, don't prolong the agony - get to it. And we need nice, even, firm pressure so that the entire iron faces the skin square-on, then hold it for five seconds, then pull it away squarely."

I stood there, almost rooted to the spot, unable to do this terrible thing. But Mike snapped "For fuck's sake, Steve, get a move on! It's not fair on Jamie - the sooner it's over, the better." He looked at Straughan and continued "Sir, shall I do it? It's a proper man's job, sir...."

Straughan looked at me, raising his eyebrows a little as if questioning me. There was no way I could let Mike think I wasn't a real man, and I knew he was right - Jamie was going to be branded, whether I did it or not, and it wasn't fair on the kid to leave him in suspense. So I took the iron and plunged it down on to Jamie's arm. He screamed, of course, and his whole body trashed and jerked but Mike was experienced at this and Jamie's arm did not move at all. I thought I was going to retch as the smell of charring and burning flesh came to me - it's OK when you barbecue, but this was human skin and flesh, Jamie's skin and flesh. But then it was over, and Mike released Jamie who stood there in front of us all trying not to sob uncontrollably.

He's brave, I'll say that for him. He looked squarely at Straughan, then climbed back on to the mess table, lay on his back, and said through his faltering sobs "I'm ready for 'skinning, Mr Straughan."

Hearing this the gladiators all cheered, but Straughan held up his hand for silence. "I have decided against circumcision for this gladiator. You are to think no less of him for this, as we can all see that he was ready and willing for this ultimate symbol of a male gladiator."

There were puzzled mutters from the gladiators, Mike looked almost shocked, and Jamie seemed angry, rather than relieved as he should have been. I'm sure someone might have questioned Straughan had he not turned and walked out. Slowly, his hand hovering over his brand as if not knowing whether to rub it or leave it alone, which would be the least painful, Jamie climbed off the table and stood there.

"What the fuck's going on?", he demanded of Mike.

"Dunno."

"It's not fair! I want to be a proper gladiator...."

"You heard Mr Straughan", I cut in. "He said that we are not to think less of you...."

"It's easy to say that, Steve, but everyone will. Well, you may not, but the other guys will - all gladiators are 'skinned. It's part of the ritual! Well all except you, of course."

"Jamie, calm down. You should be grateful - you'll still be able to enjoy a proper jerk off..."

"Steve, how would you know what it's like without a 'skin? Darren says it's just as good - different, but just as good. And he should know." He looked at Mike again, kind of imploringly. "Mike, please go and talk to Mr Straughan - he listens to you. I want to be a proper gladiator, like you and all the other guys. He could do it tomorrow..."

Mike continued to look puzzled. "I don't know, Jamie. Mr Straughan has spoken, and he must know what he's doing."

"But it's so fucking unfair! I want to be a proper gladiator...."

"Like me?", I said, getting cross now. My good intentions for Jamie seemed to be wasted.

"No, not a freak like you, Steve. You're not a proper gladiator. You've still got your 'skin, not like all the other guys. And you're going to be released one day, they say. So how do you qualify as a proper gladiator? Tell me that."

"Jamie, calm down. The other guys are listening, and it's not right..."

"Freak. Freak. Freak...." Jamie was clearly upset, but I couldn't let this go on. I grabbed him, put one foot on one of the benches, threw him across my raised thigh, and began to spank him, spank him hard. Those of you who are used to thinking about the punishment cane might not think this was very tough for him, but he was bare-assed still (I could feel his dick against my thigh as he lay there) and I'm very strong, with big hands! And it's not so much the pain - he was probably already overloaded with pain anyway - but the humiliation of it: to be spanked there in front of all the other gladiators, just when you've gone through the "initiation" ceremony to become a full gladiator.

Mike suddenly grabbed my arm and stopped me. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Teaching him a lesson - he called me a freak."

Mike looked angry. "Well perhaps you deserve it, Steve. It's true what he said, you know - you're not like the rest of us. Always messing with that 'skin of yours, saving your credits for your release, not really enjoying sex. Now, stop it! He doesn't deserve that on his special day."

The other gladiators were clustering around now and there's no way I could back down. "Make me!"

As soon as I'd said those words, I knew it was wrong. There's no way that Mike could ignore a challenge like that in front of all the others. Inevitably the fight was very short as Mike still far outclassed me, and he was a real bastard: he didn't simply beat me up and give me a few bruises and a black eye, but instead wrapped his arm around my throat so that I almost passed out from suffocation, then threw me down onto the mess table, tore my uniform off, and began to spank me! All the other gladiators were cheering and shouting and laughing, and of course the guards were on us very quickly and waved their tasers around to quieten everyone down.

Mike and I were left standing there, our chests heaving with emotion, and I felt a wave of humiliation as I realised my dick was half erect, and I could see all the other gladiators muttering to each other that I must enjoy spanking. Someone must have alerted Straughan, as he came storming back and saw us there, still looking aggressive and ready to fight.

"I've told you before that I will not tolerate gladiators fighting internally. I told both of you. I expect more of you, Mike, as the Champion - and you, Steve, you're a trouble maker. You were both warned, and you ignored it, so now I will punish you both." Turning to Mike, he snapped "Strip!"

Mike pushed his uniform down, looking defiant. Then Straughan ordered cuffs and chains to be brought, and our hands were cuffed, then, facing each other, our cuffed wrists ere attached to a bar about a metre long. I stood there looking into Mike's face and he into mine - we couldn't help it. Our sweaty chests were in close contact, but we pulled our butts back so our dicks were not touching. Straughan continued to shout orders and a hook came down from the ceiling, and was attached to the bar, then the hook rose so that Mike and I had our arms pulled above our heads and ended up standing mostly on tiptoe.

Straughan ordered one of the guards to take a leather tawse and begin beating our bare asses with it. I saw Mike standing in front of me, his face, screwed up in pain but determined not to cry out in front of the watching gladiators. He was trying to show them that he was tougher than me! So I moved and rotated us so that it was my butt under the tawse - and Mike at once saw what I was trying to do, so he pushed to get himself back under it. When you think about it, it's a diabolical punishment - normally we'd have been trying to avoid the sting of the tawse, but now we were struggling and pushing and jostling each other to actually take a beating!

Inevitably we lost all ability to keep our bodies apart and our dicks were rubbing against each other, and that, and the beating, made us go erect - something not lost on the other gladiators, who started to cheer. Around and around we went, pushing and shoving, the slaps of the tawse ricocheting around the mess hall, until above all the pain I felt that unmistakable feeling in my balls - and was completely unable to stop myself from shooting, my cum spraying over both of us as we were locked together. The men cheered even louder when they saw this, and utter shame engulfed me - but I needn't have felt so bad as a few seconds later Mike's cum shot all over me.

We did the "dance" for about ten minute, I reckon. There wasn't much point in continuing I suppose, as I'd mostly lost sensation in my back, butt and thighs, and Mike and I had stopped crying out and shouting as the tawse thrashed us. Straughan seemed pleased and ordered it to stop, and we were released.

We stood there in front of him, still half erect, our bodies covered in sweat, and with streaks of cum on our bellies. "Let this be a lesson to you all!", Straughan shouted to the other gladiators. No one is above my rules here, not even the Champion. And as a reminder, Mike and Steve will remain naked for twenty four hours, so you can all see the effect of the tawse on them."

We went back to our room then and Mike was in a state of suppressed anger. He stood facing me menacingly and snapped "I told you not to interfere in things. Look a how you got me humiliated...."

"It's your own fault! If you'd let me discipline Jamie, as he needs, that would have been the end of it."

"You forget that Jamie's a gladiator, Steve. And a gladiator deserves some respect - and if he does need punishing, then it's either the guards who do it, or me as Champion."

"That's bullshit! And you know it! I'm a gladiator, too. And I deserve respect. And spanking me in front of the other guys can hardly be described as 'respecting' me!"

"You started all this, Steve - I picked things up from Straughan about you asking for Jamie not to be 'skinned. If you hadn't done that everything would be normal - Jamie's a gladiator, and all gladiators are 'skinned. Except you, that is. So Jamie was right in a way...."

"Mike, I'm not going to debate this with you. You were wrong, and you know it, and now you're trying to justify yourself as you always do. I'm not playing this silly game - I'm going to bed down as it's going to be tough tomorrow."

I knelt down ad gingerly lowered myself on to the mattress - it was painful to bend or to make any pronounced movements. And of course I needed to lie on my belly, as my back was so painful. Mike did the same, and it wasn't good for either of us as even jerking off was a problem lying there like that.

The next day wasn't the best day I've ever spent, either! You should try working out entirely naked when you're not used to it - it makes your balls ache if they're not supported (especially if, like me, you have heavy, low-hangers!). And in the afternoon when I had a practice session on the wrestling mat, I got beaten by a much less skilled opponent as I was always worried about scraping my dick and balls on the mat and didn't properly focus on the match. I didn't like everyone staring at me, either - it's not as if I wasn't used to being naked in front of the other gladiators but that was in the showers, where we were all naked. It's different when everyone else round you is clothed (even if it's in the pretty small uniform all us gladiators wore), and I thought that a lot of the other guys weren't simply looking at my back, butt and thighs which were bright red from the tawsing, but at my dick and balls too. Mike must have felt the same way as I did, but he didn't show it, carrying on absolutely as normal, as if being naked was a regular thing. Mind you, I knew he was sensitive about things as when one of the youngest gladiators made some remark about Mike's dick, Mike slapped him across the face hard, so hard that the kid was knocked to the ground.

At least we were allowed to put our uniforms back on for dinner that night, and there was a lot of relatively good-natured banter from the other guys - although they were wary around Mike as everyone knew he could "turn" like lightning if upset. As I ate I looked across at another table and saw Darren and Jamie hunched up with some of the other young gladiators engaged in earnest discussion. Suddenly Jamie sprang to his feet, leapt up on to the table and shouted "I want you guys to know I'm a real gladiator!"

Everyone in the room turned to look, Jamie swept all the stuff off the table in a dramatic gesture, the steel bowls and cups we used making a huge clattering noise as they fell to the floor and rolled around. He pushed off his uniform, lay on the table, and three of the young gladiators leapt on him and pinioned him down. Before anyone could do anything to stop it, Darren was doing something to Jamie's dick, and we all watch, as if frozen and unable to act, as Jamie started to writhe around and scream - he was held down firmly, though, and the whole thing didn't go on for long.

Darren held something up in the air - something red. And then the guards piled in, and pushed all of us back - we'd got to our feet as the little drama had been played out in front of us, but there hadn't been time to do anything to stop it. Everyone else backed away from the table where Jamie was lying, except for the three gladiators who'd held him down, and Darren. Straughan came flying in, evidently in a rage, and demanded to know what was happening.

Darren faced up to him. I've told you he's always been a brash, cheeky kind of guy, no respecter of authority. "Jamie wanted to be a proper gladiator. You didn't do it yesterday, so we've done it. Us gladiators look after our own!"

Straughan looked around, and Jamie sat up. He was clutching his dick, and suppressing big shudders - we could see his shoulders heaving with the effort. "Yes, Mr Straughan. I asked Darren and these guys to help me become a proper gladiator, as you wouldn't. So they've completed what should have happened yesterday, and 'skinned me."

Straughan went into action then: he ordered a guard to take Jamie to the first aid room. Then he had a guard taser Darren, and as the poor guy was writhing in agony on the floor they took the knife way - we found out later that they'd somehow got a piece of metal off one of the weights racks in the training rooms and honed and honed it to razor sharpness on the concrete of the pool surround (obviously in that volatile testosterone-charged environment we were not normally allowed knives). Then Straughan ordered the three gladiators who'd held Jamie down to pick up Darren and take him to one of the holding cells.

"Right, you men - off to your rooms", he commanded, and the gladiators began to disperse.

Straughan came over to where Mike and I were standing, looking slightly bewildered by what we'd just seen. "You failed me, Mike!", he snapped. "As my Champion you're supposed to keep discipline, supposed to be on top of the little plots and things the gladiators are hatching!"

"How the fuck was I to know that he'd get his buddies to circumcise him?" Mike retorted, much more truculently than he usually did to Straughan. "They're a bunch of young guys who got together and simply did it."

"And I think that's the problem. They were able to do that because they are a group within a group - you're out of touch, Mike. You've been here too long. You don't keep up with the young gladiators. I think we need a new Champion, someone who has his finger on the pulse better than you do...."

I saw Mike looking horror stricken at what Straughan was saying. His body language had changed, and I could see his fists clenched in fury at his side. "That's not fair!", he almost screamed. "I've worked long and hard to be Champion, I...."

"Silence!", Straughan screamed at him. "I won't have slaves speaking like this. Yes, you've been working here too long, I think. And I need to think about how to change that. This is your last warning, Mike - any more trouble from the gladiators, and you'll be out, whether I've yet got a replacement Champion, or not."

Straughan turned and walked away, and I had to put my arms around his shoulders to lead a distraught Mike back to our room.

End Of Part Fourteen