Post #7

(2 YEARS LATER...)
Salve all. This is my (coincidentally) lucky number seven post. Despite everything that has happened to me, I cannot and will not give up yet.
I still have hope.

After the... incident... happened, my life went on almost as normal. I say almost because I was kept under careful watch (like I was still a new gladiator trainee) and the lanista hated me more than usual. Oh, and I think that they may have hired new guards, as I saw a few new faces. They also doubled the number of fights I was in for a year. But after that year was up and I remained depressed from my failure, they quit the extra guard around me. Although I think they kept the new guards, and I know that the lanista hasn't changed (he still hates me more every day -- unlike most lanistae, I think he started this gladiator school just because of the money and the fact that he loves to watch gladiator fights, for he certainly doesn't care for the gladiators).
And so that year was over -- with the doubled gladiator fights, I got double the glory. In this second year, we had a few new recruits. Only one became a Secutor like me, but a few became Bestiarii or Retiarii or others. The new Secutor looked remarkably similar to me myself and was very strong for his size (he was shorter than me and I am not a tall person). He handled his weapons given to him with ease. In training it was obvious that he was a natural sword-fighter. Since this guy volunteered to be a gladiator, the guards didn't bother to guard him as much as the other new gladiator "recruits". Soon he was able to catch me alone to talk to me. Not wanting to be rude and just call him "newbie" or "new gladiator" or "trainee", I asked him what his name was. As a guard began to approach, he said "Septimus Aquilus" and winked at me.
This new trainee gladiator was my younger brother.
Whenever we had the chance during our breaks, we got together to talk. My brother told me what was going on at home. Apparently it was going good there, and the farm was prospering despite their taxes. Since Septimus remembered me being taken away when he was a young child, he had made up his mind that he would come to save me eventually. I in turn told him what had happened to me. As we talked, my confidence kept growing. Soon I let my remaining Thracian friend join in (I forgot to mention that his name is Draconus). And this time we plotted carefully, slowly, and precisely. It has been two years now since my last attempt. I have learned.
Quintus Aquilus the Secutor gladiator is going to escape.
Draconus the Thracian gladiator is going to escape.
Septimus Aquilus is going to escape.
And this time, we will NOT fail. Perhaps we will be outcasts. Perhaps our lives will not be as good off medically. But we will be free.