CHAPTER 180

  I refused to cry out at each excruciating thrash that flicked and flayed my skin. I couldn’t help the grunts, but that was all they would get from me. I held on to the image of Tala when she came undone in my arms. I desperately wished to see that look on her face again.

  Tap, tap, tap, came the clang of the cups against the metal bars. How many lashes I had received I did not know. “ARGHOOH, ARGHOOH, ARGHOOH. LIVE OR DIE WE FIGHT! ” Came the voices of the Gladiators as the punisher handed the whip to another.

  The cups clanging echoed the beat of my heart, keeping me steady as I received 10 more lashes. How many was that, twenty, thirty I was focusing on staying conscious and alive.