CHAPTER TEN
Around me the crowd are going wild, I'm not in a good way. As far as they're concerned they've just been cheatedof my death, and many of them are unhappy about it. Some of them are throwing things down onto the sand. A piece of fruit hits me, and a stone lands near me.
A flare of magicbursts in the air, a reminder of just how powerfulthe arch magistrate is. She stands there, her white hair seeming to float around her, displaying her power for all to see.
It is enough to bring silence, if only for a few moments. In that silence I try to gather my strength. I feel exhausted, as if all the strength has been sapped from me. It is an effort just to stay standing, and I recover my spear, leaning on it, trying to get my breath back. My heart is beating as if I've just run a hundred times around one of the practice grounds, and there are pains in all of my joints, as if age has crept up on me in a matter of minutes.
Lady Selene starts to speak. “This gladiator, Callus, entered the gamesclaiming to be a null. The bouts he was assignedwere based on this. To lie about one's abilitiesis a form of cheating, which seeks to defraudthose of you who have bet against him, and which seeks an easier route through the games.”
Her tone is officious, but I can see the crowd starting to listen to her words. They do not like the thought that they have been cheated, that if they have put money on me, Callus’s lies have led to them getting worse odds on the match than they otherwise would. After all, no one thought that a null would be a challenge for me. If they had known that he could suck the life from someone with a touch, the bout would have been judged to be much more even. I can even see a few people starting to run for the bookmakers’ stalls, trying to get their money back.
I am lightheaded enough that it’s easier to focus on such considerationsthen on what has just happened to me. If I think too hard about what Callus has just done then I know that the terror of it will probably send me right back to my knees.
Guards are in the arena now, herding Callus away from me at the ends of their spears. After what they've just seen him do to me they clearly don't want to get close to him, and I don't blame them. I make sure that I’m as far from him as I can be, not wanting to risk him touching me again.
No one seems certain what's going to happen next. The penalties for interfering in the games are harsh. They are seen as a holy thing, so to try to suborn themcan carry the threat of execution. Not that it stops nobles and others from interfering in their own ways whenever they think they can get away with it. It has become a kind of game between them, trying to exert their influencewithin the gamesas a way of demonstrating their power, or attacking their rivals.
The arch magistrate stands there in the imperial box, looking as though she is ready to pronounce sentence on Callus. Then, though, another figure moves into place behind her. A murmur goes through the crowd. The emperor has returned.
Emperor Tiberius stands there, conferring with the arch magistrate, obviously learning what has happened. He looks down at me, then across to where Callus is being herded back towards the space beneath the colosseum. He nods, then whispers something to Lady Selene.
The arch magistrate looks puzzledas she glances over at him. She asks a question and he snaps something back, his expression severe. Lady Selene nods, then returns her attention to the crowd.
“The emperor is gracious,” she says. “The law requiresat the very least thata gladiator who has cheated like thisshould be cast out the games. Perhaps that he should be executed for it. Instead, our most merciful emperorhas declared that he is to be given another chance!”
The crowd seems to react uneasily to this move, cheering but without any enthusiasm, as if knowing it is their duty to do so when the emperor gives commands.
“The gladiator Lyra is hereby declared the winner of this bout,” Lady Selene says. That placates many of them, because far more will have bet on me than on Callus. “And now that we knowwhat the gladiator Callus can do. He will be assigned appropriate opponentsin the remainder of the games.”
There's a threat in her voice as she says that. It's clear that she doesn't plan togive him an easy route through the games, after what he's done, and I can see that Lord Darius agrees.
I remember that I'm supposed to raise my spear in salute to the crowd, and I just about manage it although I'm still unsteady on my feet. I have to use the spear as a crutch to limp off the sand, back into the cool and darkness of the space beneath the colosseum. Should I make my way to the healers’slabs.I don't have any wounds, but maybe they will be able to do something to undo what Callus has done.
Even as I think about it though, imperial guards come to collect me. That means only one thing.
“The emperor wishes to see you,” one says.
I nod, leaving behind my weapons and walking between them up through the arena. I feel so tired that one of them relents and lends me his arm to lean onas we go. They take me to the emperor's private box, where Emperor Tiberius VI is waiting for me, seated on his throne. I don't so much fall to my knees as collapse to them before him.
“A dangerous and difficult fight,” the emperor says. “How do you feel?”
I think it's the first time he's asked me how I'm feeling, although I know it's not out of normal human concern. It's more the way that a trainer would make sure that a prized chariot horsewas up to the next race.
“I feel… tired,” I say. “So very tired. It feels like he's sucked the life out of me.”
“And that is exactly what he has done,” the emperor says. “Another minute, and there wouldn't have been much left of you.”
He says that as if he were watching the bout, when in fact he only arrived in his box afterwards.
“I'm told that there will be no lasting effects,” he says. “Once you rest, you will be as you were. At least until he tries again.”
“He has been targeting me,” I say. It is a horrifying reality. “He was talking about all the beast whisperers he's killed. Andhe disguised his talent because he knew he would be given a fight against one of the better gladiators.”
“I agree,” the emperor says, with a nod.
It makes senseof some of the looks that Callus has been shooting my way, in any case. It has been obvious that he hates me, although I don't know why.
“The question is why he would give himself to Ironhold just to get to you,” the emperor says.
“And how could he guarantee that he would fight me?” I ask. “What he’d been given a different bout? What if he'd been killed before he could get to me?”
“My guess is he would simply have won the boutin whatever way he could and then attempted to kill you in Ironhold,” the emperor says. “Have you been alone with him there?”
I shake my head.
“Then he hasn't had a chanceto attack you like this. The question is who sent him.”
“Who sent him?” I say echoing his words.
“The man has the skills of an assassin,” the emperor says. “And he has placed himself in great danger to get to you. My assumption is that someone sent him. The question is who.”
“You could have the arch magistrateread his mind,” I point out.
The emperor shakes his head. “I have assumptions and suspicions. That is not enough to make me set Selene on someone. And if he resisted… well he's a free man, so there are limits to what we could do. Which is why I'm letting him stay.”
“I don’t understand,” I say.
The emperor sighs. “You are more interesting when you haven't just been drained of most of your life. Try to keep up. I do not know who sent an assassin after you. I do know that there are plots around my empire, and it may be that someone is trying to send a message now that it's knownthat I am your new patron. I want you to find out who sent him. That is why I am leaving him in Ironhold. Have I stated it simply enough for you?”
Evenas drained as I am, I can see the potential danger in that.
“And when he tries to kill me again?” I say.
The emperor shrugs. “You will need to be ready for that.”
I hesitate. This is a command from the emperor and so I don't really have a choice about it but this may be my one chance togain a concession from him. He wants me to find out what's going on, so maybe I can get something in return.
“If I do this, will you send troops to protect my village from bandits?” I ask. “It is being pillaged. People are being killed.”
The emperor looks surprised, then briefly angry, then thoughtful.
“I could have you punished just for trying to extort something from mefor your aid,” he says. “But it's a bold move, and that means I'm inclined to agree.”
“You're going to send the troops?” I say.
“This time. Just don't make a habit of asking me for favors. I'm an emperor. You are a conscripted gladiator. I don't need to make deals when I can simply give commands.”
“Yes my emperor,” I say, bowing my head so he doesn't see my smile. I have achieved something herethat might actually protect my village. In return, I will be in danger but, with Callus in Ironhold, I was going to be in danger anyway.
I need to find out who sent him and why he's attacking me. Maybe if I find those answers I'll be able to find a way to stop him.