Gladiatress Pt. 02

"We've won!" she shouted, her words barely audible over the raucous noise of the crowd,

"Can you believe it?"

The head judge was a tall distinguished-looking gentleman with thinning grey hair and an angular nose. He got to his feet and waved his hands in the air until the crowd noise fell to an excited murmur.

"I think you'll all agree we've seen some great fighting today, and Melea and Selen are worthy female champions." There was a ripple of respectful applause.

"Every year we have the discretion to award a place at our female academy. Ordinarily we'd have to choose between these two impressive fighters. But, after much discussion, we've agreed that both girls have shown immense potential and so we'd like to name them joint winners and invite them both to join our female academy."

There was more loud applause, and once again Melea wrapped her arms around Selen tightly.

"We're both going to be gladiators! This is the best day of my life," Melea gushed as she hugged her tightly but Selen was just stunned. She'd finally made it, could this really be happening?

Later, there was a brief ceremony in the judges' chambers. Drinks were pressed into the girls' hands and a seemingly endless number of officials kept coming up to them and congratulating them on their success, and making them sign official-looking papers. As the elation of winning and the adrenaline wore off Selen started to feel increasingly bruised and tired. It had been a long day, and all she wanted to do was get a hot shower and some sleep. She gave Melea a final hug and made her excuses before heading towards the public showers.