CHAPTER TWELVE
It isn’t easy, trying to coordinate the fight against Selene without leaving Marcus’ home.
His servants are helpful, perhaps because Marcus has told them to be, or perhaps because they feel some sympathy for me.
They’re prepared to take messages throughout the city, and to bring me whatever I ask for.
I spend most of my time in the secure room down in the villa's basement, trying to collate the information from Marcus and from the resistance runners who come to the gates of the villa with notes.
That doesn't seem to be attracting Selene's attention so far.
Thankfully, Marcus has always received plenty of messages, both in his role as a senator and because of his more illicit activities, running aspects of the city that seem at odds with his upright reputation.
How many people go into one of the gambling dens or brothels of the entertainment district, only for their coins to end up in Marcus' coffers?
I have more of an idea of the answer to that question thanks to my work here in the cellar, because Marcus doesn’t seem to be holding anything back from me now. I’m just not in a position to do as much about any of it, because I don’t have the freedom to go outside without him.
He does take me outside, despite his determination to keep me locked away safely after what happened in the colosseum. We walk together around the city, which lets me see some of what Selene’s efforts are achieving.
“The rebuilding work on the slums has largely stopped for now,” Marcus says, as we walk through one of the districts near the walls. That catches me by surprise when it’s one of Rowan’s favorite projects. “The money and stonemasons have all been sent to work on the colosseum.”
It’s a move that will also put the city more and more on edge, building up pressure in it, ready to explode at exactly the point Selene wants. It makes me wonder what else she might be doing.
“Has she been pushing the common people in other ways?” I ask.
Marcus nods. “Small groups of the guards seem to be particularly rough within the slums. People are sometimes arrested almost at random, from what I hear. A woman came to me complaining that her husband had been taken and forced to confess to stealing and to supporting the resistance, when she says neither was true.”
"Were you able to do anything to help?" I ask. One of the reasons it's so easy to get access to the senators in the former palace is that they can try to help the ordinary people of the city.
Marcus shakes his head, though. “I asked about it, but he’d already been taken to the colosseum to fight.”
“To be executed, you mean?” I say.
Marcus nods. “There are more executions like that each day. Half the time, I have to attend, as one of the organizers of the games.”
And he can’t stop what’s happening because that would make it clear to Selene that he’s her enemy.
“Please tell me we’re making some progress,” I say.
Marcus shrugs, guiding me back towards the merchant district. “I’m gaining more influence every day, but so is she. It’s a race, and I don’t know whether it’s one I’m winning.”
We make our way into the market at the heart of the merchant district, which throngs with brightly colored stalls.
Normally, it’s a place where Marcus seems more at home than anywhere else in Aetheria, but today, he’s looking around warily.
I realize why as I glance around, spotting an old man with a stick advancing on us faster than anyone that age has a right to.
That incongruity between the man I can see and the way he’s moving gives me a good idea of who’s there.
I move to intercept him as he approaches, hoping I’m right as I grab his arm. If I’m wrong, this will be embarrassing in the extreme, and might even tell the wrong person too much about what Marcus and I are involved in.
“Alaric? Is that you?”
For the briefest moment, the old man’s face flickers, showing Alaric’s young and slender features, etched into a mask of anger.
“This time, I am going to kill him,” Alaric says. “Don’t try to stop me.”
Marcus obviously heard Alaric's name because he pulled closer.
“What’s going on. If you wanted to meet with us, you could have sent a message.”
“And see the messenger arrested?” Alaric shoots back.
Marcus looks surprised. “That’s been happening?”
Alaric shakes his head. “Not to the messengers, no. But three resistance safehouses have been hit by guards. My people scattered each time, but some of them were grabbed in every case.”
“Do they know about me?” Marcus asks.
Alaric glares at him, and if the illusory face is not his own, it still conveys his anger well enough.
“You think I care about you?” he demands, a touch too loudly. I need to contain this before everyone in the marketplace realizes that Alaric and Marcus are working together. That won’t be safe for either of them.
"If you want to petition the senator, sir, why don't you come back to his home?" I say. "I'm sure he can have his servants fetch you some soup and a poultice for your aching joints."
Neither Alaric nor Marcus looks particularly enthused by that idea, but Marcus seems to realize it’s the only alternative to having an argument out in the open.
“She’s right, old man. Come back to my home. I insist.”
There’s still a chance Alaric might try to draw a blade and attack Marcus, but I don’t think he will, now. Instead, he nods, still looking angry as Marcus leads the way back to his villa on the edge of the merchant district. Marcus waves away the servants as they move to help us.
“This man has come to speak with me as his senator. Lyra can stay to take notes, but everyone else can leave.”
It means we get the central room of the villa to ourselves.
Alaric paces in a way that doesn't fit with his current disguise, still looking furious as he does so.
It seems to take him another few seconds before he decides it's safe to let his disguise fall, standing there before Marcus with his own face once again.
I envy him the ease of his magic at the moment, when I don't have my own.
“Are you really going to tell me that you had nothing to do with the raids on my safehouses?” Alaric demands.
“This is the first I’ve heard of them,” Marcus says. He looks over at me, as if I’m the one he needs to convince, not Alaric. “Lyra, you’ve seen the reports I’ve been getting. Have any of them mentioned the locations of the resistance’s safehouses?”
“No,” I admit. “Alaric, is it possible they found out another way?”
“It’s always possible,” Alaric says. “But do you really think it’s a coincidence that it happened so soon after we started working with Marcus and his people?”
The timing is suspicious, although I doubt Marcus has simply been giving away Alaric’s safehouses.
Alaric sighs. “The resistance has been growing until the last couple of days. The more authoritarian measures Selene helps to push through the senate, the more people come to us for aid, or simply can’t bring themselves to stand by any longer. Now, though, we’ve lost key people.”
“Thalia?” I say.
“She’s still safe, although she’s hiding,” Alaric replies. I’m glad to hear that. I like Alaric’s lieutenant. I’d hate to think that anything had happened to her.
“What about Cesca?” I ask.
Alaric nods. “She’s one of the ones missing, as if the guards were determined to grab her.”
“Or maybe she decided to buy favor with Selene by giving you up,” Marcus suggests.
“It could be that,” I say. “Or it could be that there was some lingering suggestion in her thanks to Selene’s psychomancy. We have no way of knowing. But it’s possible they found out about your safe houses that way. Or maybe they just followed your messengers back.”
“My people are careful,” Alaric insists. “And it still doesn’t explain why now.”
“Because the Grand Tournament is so close,” I guess.
“Selene’s into her endgame now. She may have known the locations of some of your safehouses for months, but only decided to use the information now, to remove as many potential enemies as possible before she makes her final push to seize Aetheria. ”
“If so, she’s timed it perfectly to damage the resistance as much as possible,” Alaric says. “We won’t be able to coordinate the same way, and we won’t have the numbers to shut down meetings or shout down the speakers she pays to spread her messages.”
Meaning Selene will be able to gain an advantage in convincing the people of the city.
“There’s something else, too,” Alaric says. “The resistance has contacts beyond the city, often old gladiators or people who used to be connected to the games. Several stronger gladiators have been arrested out in the provinces, accused of being traitors. They’re being brought back to Aetheria.”
It takes me a second to realize the full importance of that.
“It’s another way for Selene to get exactly the gladiators she wants for the games,” I say.
Alaric shoots me a questioning look. “What do you mean?”
“Selene has been carefully selecting the gladiators for the Grand Tournament,” I explain. “Picking ones who will put on a spectacular show without being a true challenge to her.”
“She’s prearranged some of the contests, too,” Marcus says.
“And she’s dragging in captive gladiators from beyond the city,” Alaric adds, understanding dawning on him. “She’s pushing for all the old elements of the games, even as she tries to set everything up so she can win.”
I nod. That's my fear here. It seems clear that Selene has arranged everything carefully for this moment and that she's planned every element.
"She's going to fight in the Grand Tournament and win it in the middle of the greatest show the city has ever seen," I say.
"She's going to get the crowd riled up against the Republic, even as she presents herself as an example of a different way of doing things.
She's going to persuade people of her vision of a version of Aetheria ruled by those with the most magic, even as she shows herself to be the strongest magic user to be found in it.
She'll crown herself empress right there in the colosseum. "
And the crowd will roar when she does it.
That’s the worst part of this, not just knowing Selene’s plan, but knowing how well it will succeed if we do nothing.
But what can we do? We’re building support, but not fast enough.
Alaric’s resistance has been hit hard, taking away their usual tactics to fight back.
Marcus is limited in what he can do without Selene finding out he’s working against her.
And whatever we do, the Grand Tournament is going ahead. The whole city is rushing towards it, and it will give Selene everything she wants if we don’t find a way to fight back.