Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Motion Comic (2009) s01e02 Episode Script

Shadows of the Jackal

I am Arkadios, gladiator.
And I am dead.
Slain in the arena by a god.
A thing of death and pain.
A thing called
Spartacus.
Team DP
The crowd cheered.
Demanded his sentence of execution be stayed
And so he was spared
But his freedom denied
Now he stands a slave
If he survives the bridge of the truth,
he will become part of the brotherhood
A gladiator
As I was in life
In the house of Quintus
Lentulus Batiatus.
Trained beneath the cruel whip
of his Doctore,
a man who once faced the Shadow of Death
And lived to speak of it.
Barca ends a young recruit's
dream of glory
Spartacus takes the bridge
His oponent is Crixus,
the champion of Capua.
He will bring me justice!
You do not know who you face, Spartacus
His legend began far from these lands
Far even from the man himself.
Abelia Gargan was her name
And she was the earth the sun
and the moon to her husband, Nestorius.
But he was off to war
Leaving her was
the last thing he wanted,
but the call of duty
comes first for a soldier.
Legend has it a demon known as the Jackal
Roams the woodlands carrying
with him an unquenchable thirst
For human blood
Some say the Jackal
can walk through walls,
See in the darkness
and has claws the size of a dragon.
Other say he was once a man shunned
by all and sent into exile
but madness struck and consumed him.
And then there are those who have
witnessed him first hand
But unfortunatly
None of them lived to tell the tale
Abelia burned the jackal on his pelts
and then washed herself
four times a day
every day afterwards.
But she knew it did her no good.
She knew she was bearing his offspring
But didn't have the heart to destroy it
on the chance he was of her husband
whom she had made love to just hours
before the very night she was attacked.
The midwife lived in the very
next village and stayed with her.
but at last month of her pregnancy
she hoped that her husband
will not return to see her this way.
She hoped
if it was that devil's spawn she could
destroy it and have her life back.
Sadly
She did not live to see anything but
her own death
Why don't you cry?
Why don't you cry?
Nestorius came home the very next day
To the worst of news in the site
of two ungodly children
He hated the boys with every inch
of his heart and soul.
They had robbed him
of the love of his life.
and were a constant reminder
of the horrors that happened
while he was away in battle.
He should have been there to protect her
But he was not
and it was all of his fault.
NoIt was their fault!
Those two bastards
He truly wants to kill them
So many times
but he did not.
Somewhere in there, behind
their bleak twisted eyes
was a piece of his lovely Abelia.
And for that
he hated them even more.
So he kept them alive but treated
his dog with more regard.
Months turned to years
and Nestorius noticed the boys
becoming more distant, more primal,
and the beatings had become
more frequent and severe,
and worse
They did not seem to care.
Or so he thought.
The Gargan twins lashed up
with such anger and hate
that their revenge did not stop
at their stepfather's death.
Now..
They wanted him to endure as they had.
And they did the unthinkable.
Their real father would have been proud.
All the rules and chores were gone.
And now. it was their time to bestow
pain and suffering to those around them.
And so they did.
And oh what fun they had.
No one was safe.
Not a single one.
Inevitably the news of their exploits,
the missing governor and his party
have spread back to the city.
It looks like there will be
no surrender this day.
- The are poised for combat
- They're fools and will die such!
Do not underestimate these two.
Loosen your weapons!
The lines were drawn and the assault
was set in motion.
Both sides filled with fury and hate.
They say the romans never had a chance
against such vicious assailants.
Those wretched fews who witnessed
the confrontation
say the two brothers fought like animals
biting and clawing their fierce
opponents to death.
In what seemed like minutes,
Decimus and Tiberius found themselves
knee deep in the remains of their enemy.
Yet there was no time for a feast.
They're ready to fall! I want
those two monsters alive.
Yes, sir!
Men! Surround and capture.
Their life was spared and
they were brought to Capua
to be broken and trained by Solonius.
So these be the Gargan twins
The creatures men speak
about in hushed tones.
Feral jackals.
Embrace that anger, boys
When my man Ludovic is done,
You will be better able to focus
all that rage in the arena,
where it belongs
Oh?
Men, chains off!
From this day forward you live
in the arena or in your cage.
Ludovic did everything he could to break
the men and some say he succeeded.
But at a price
When fed, the Gargan twins accepted
only uncooked meat
be it man or beast, their humanity
slipped further away with each battle.
Hail Decimus! Hail Tiberius!
Drink that in
The only water you'll taste
for a long while.
They were dangerous, not only to their
opponents but all around them.
Unwashed, reeking of gore
They were whipped directly from cage
to arena to cage again.
Will you break
Even now my hungry jackals
This day, the Gargan twins were facing
three most ruthless killers.
This was to be no ordinary battle.
Just the sight of the misshapen
twins caused a stir.
Denied their food
for the previous three days,
the Gargan twins can smell
the meat on the bones of their rivals
And so the battle began.
The audience cheered
on those familiar to them
and bets were made
upon the blood of warriors.
The Gargan twins sealed Solonius'
reputation for deadly fighters
People spoke of what they witnessed
that day for years to come
But Solonius was not the only man
with ambitions in the arena.
Batiatus was the rival of Solonius.
Crixus, his latest acquisition
He did not relish the thought
of these mad men
feeding on the entrails
of his newest investment.
But neither could he allow Solonius
the day's victory.
Crixus was a risk.
But a necessary one.
These are not the actions of men.
I will not stand for this.
The crowd shouted his name.
Crixus, the champion of Capua.
That is the man you face upon
the bridge of truth, Spartacus.
He is legend
He is
Deafeated?
Spartacus.
Lives
Spartacus, you have passed the test.
Stand down.
As long as your heart beats,
I am chained to this world.
One day I shall witness your death,
Spartacus
One day
I shall be free.
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