CHAPTER FOUR
I don’t wear my toga to go into the slums. I want to be incognito, not proclaim my position as a senator. I don’t even wear one of the fine dresses that Marcus and others have given me. Instead, I put on a simple tunic and sandals, along with a cloak to disguise my features.
I’m also going to go armed. After all, I’ve been attacked in the slums before, targeted by men hired by one of my enemies.
I still don’t know who sent them, not for sure, although I suspect Domitian had something to do with it.
I strap a short sword to my side, along with a dagger, ready to take on anyone who might attack me.
I head out of the palace, holding up a hand as a couple of guards start to move into step behind me.
“I want to go alone,” I say. By this point, they know better than to argue.
I can protect myself, and I’ll be able to move more freely without them with me.
I make my way through the grounds quickly, then start to walk through the city, heading for the gates that will let me through into the slums beyond.
The city is a bright, vibrant place filled with magic.
It forms decorations outside noble houses, and those seem to have been renewed in the months since the games have resumed.
It fills glowing globes at the street corners, ready to provide lights in the wealthier areas at night.
It provides minor talents to everyone from courtesans to merchants, builders to bodyguards.
I head through the noble district, then an entertainment district that throngs with people in the wake of the games.
There’s something about the resumption of the gladiatorial contests that has left the people of Aetheria in a joyous mood, seeking further distractions and ready to spend their money.
The buildings of the inner city are grand, built from white marble, decorated with statues and seeming to shine in the sunlight.
I make my way to one of the city gates, slipping out through it, into the slums beyond.
The buildings here don’t shine with magic.
They aren’t made from marble. Many of them are little more than hastily built shacks.
Even the more solid buildings show signs of damage, either from the revolution or from the many riots and gang fights that have taken place since.
I can see signs of those gangs as I walk through the slums. Figures lurk in alleys, waiting for anyone vulnerable enough to attack.
They guard businesses, both ordinary ones that have paid them protection and other, less savory establishments.
I can smell the scents of cheap wine and more illicit substances in the air, along with the stink of too many people crammed into too small a space.
The gang members watch me until they see the sword at my side, then look away.
It's a dangerous place and one that hasn't seen the benefits that supposedly flow from the games the way the merchant and entertainment districts have. There hasn't been the same rebuilding here, and there aren't as many of the city guards that protect the people of the inner city.
Alaric said that there was going to be a meeting somewhere in the slums. He didn’t give me a location, but maybe he didn’t want to risk telling me that much, not if he’s involved in something illegal.
Is he involved in anything illegal? Rowan suggested as much in our conversation, and I have no doubt that Alaric hates the path Aetheria has gone down. The only question is what he might do about it. Is he planning to gain influence with senators, to protest, to stage an uprising?
I know I can find the meeting, and I guess Alaric knows it too.
I spread my consciousness, splitting my mind between the birds flying above the streets and the small animals that scurry along its small alleys.
I use my powers as a beast whisperer to look for the spots where people are congregating, examining each one in turn as I try to find the meeting Alaric invited me to.
I see all kinds of things in the slums: a spot where people are gambling in a back alley, a fight between two rival gangs.
I see a whole crowd of people chasing after a young thief, and on impulse, I send a couple of birds to fly into the path of the chasing mob, distracting them just long enough that he might escape.
And I see the place where people are flowing into one of the entrances leading to the crypts and tunnels beneath the city. It’s the perfect place for a secret meeting, a set of tunnels used by the beast whisperers and the gangs many times before.
I hurry through the streets until I reach the entrance, heading inside with the cowl of my cloak pulled around my head.
I don’t know the route I’m meant to take, but there are marks on the walls now, small scratches that show when I should turn left or right.
It helps, too, that I can look through the eyes of more creatures in the tunnels, using rats and beetles to see the spot where people are starting to gather.
I follow the route, trying to catch up to them.
The meeting is in a large, natural cavern that the catacombs have opened into.
It’s lit by flickering torches around its edges, but shadows still swim across every surface.
There are multiple entrances, and using the eyes of small creatures nearby, I can see that there are plenty of routes back out into the city.
Alaric obviously picked it to allow for a quick escape if needed.
There are more people here than I might have imagined.
Some of them also wear cloaks, but many of them don't bother.
They look like the ordinary people of the slums, mixed in with several ex-gladiators, and some other faces I remember from Ironhold.
There are former trainers there and servants from the Colosseum, the ones who clearly haven't jumped at the opportunity to serve there again, the way so many others have.
And Alaric is there. He steps up in front of the others, standing on a rock so that more can see him. He still has his powers of illusion, using them to shine out over the audience.
“My friends, thank you for coming here. Thank you for risking it,” he says. “I know the city guards have been trying to target us. They call us a risk to the city, another group of malcontents looking to overthrow the city. They arrest us when they can.”
I haven’t heard anything about that. I don’t know what happened to the people who were protesting and rioting down in the slums, demanding the return of the games.
I assumed that they simply went back to their homes.
Is Rowan keeping something from me, not telling me that his guards are hunting Alaric?
“It isn’t the city we’re seeking to overthrow,” Alaric continues. “I respect First Senator Rowan.”
A chorus of boos sounds around the cavern.
Alaric shakes his head. “No. I know Rowan. I know he’s trying to be a good man. But he’s failing as first senator. He’s failing the city, failing his people. He isn’t making life better for you, for us.”
It’s strange, seeing Alaric up there like this, seeing him as a rabble rouser, some kind of resistance leader.
This is a man who always acted as if the worst aspects of the empire didn’t touch him, who never wanted to get involved in anything political.
His response to the worst things in life was always to laugh at them bitterly and play the arrogant fool.
This is different.
“The city isn’t the problem,” Alaric says, waving a hand in what I assume is the direction of the surface. “It’s the games!”
The mention of the games gets a chorus of disapproval from the crowd.
"The return of the games is an excuse for a return to oppression," Alaric says.
"They distract the people with blood and violence, to disguise the efforts of the nobles to control more of the city.
They funnel money into the hands of the powerful.
They become more dangerous by the day. I hear that they're planning to throw criminals into the arena. And I know you all have your own grievances.”
“Gangs killed my daughter!” one man calls out. “When I went to the guards, they beat me.”
“A noble turned my family out of their house,” a woman says. “We were accused of supporting the empire.”
As the people around Alaric speak, I start to get a picture of a very different side to the Republic, one where corrupt tendrils of power are reaching up through it.
“The truth, my friends,” and here I feel certain that Alaric is looking straight at me as he says it, “is that the Republic is being suborned by factions within it. People are using the games as a way to gain more power, and what they want is a return to the ways of the empire. If we don’t stop them, then-”
“Guards!” someone calls out.
I curse and extend my attention again to look through the eyes of the small creatures of the tunnels. I see guards in the white and gold of the Republic making their way along those tunnels, moving forward with purpose. One makes it through into the chamber.
“Stand there!” he calls out. “You’re all under arrest for crimes against the Republic!”
Instantly, panic breaks out among the people there, and they start to rush for the exits, but there are guards moving to block them.
How did they find this place? Did they know the meeting was going to happen? I think of the message left for me. Did someone open it before it got to me? Did they follow me? I don’t know if this sudden ambush has anything to do with me, but I feel guilty nonetheless.
Guilty, and afraid. Afraid for myself, but more afraid for the people here and for Alaric. I don't know if the guards were sent by Rowan, or by someone else with power, but I know these guards won't be gentle. They will arrest people, but they might do far worse.
I can’t let the guards arrest all these people, can’t let them hurt them, but how can I save them?
I have only one tool in my arsenal: the creatures whose eyes I’ve been looking through. I send them surge forward, scratching and biting, attacking the guards in a sudden wave. I try not to let them kill, but I can still feel the bites, feel them lashing out.
The guards cry out, flailing at the creatures attacking them.
It isn’t much of a distraction, but it’s enough to let people push past them, many breaking away through the exits.
I see the air around Alaric shimmer and blur, disguising him and letting him slip away.
I think he shoots a last look my way, but I can’t be sure.
I slip out of there too, moving past the guards with my hood drawn up.
I use the creatures to see where the guards are in the tunnels.
It means I can avoid them, but it forces me to turn after turning rather than following a clear course.
I can hear running feet behind me, and I use another aspect of my powers.
I reach for the beasts of the catacombs, borrowing what speed I can as I sprint away.
My heart is hammering in my chest by the time I emerge into sunlight in a completely different part of the slums. I have to force myself to let go of the power I've borrowed, both because it can hurt the creatures I've taken aspects from and because if I leave it too long, I might find myself changed forever, unable to let go of the features and traits of an animal.
I slip away, deeper into the twisting alleys there, seeing plenty of people escaping along the streets. I head back towards the city walls, wondering all the while what kind of conflict is brewing in Aetheria.
I need to get back to the Senate. I need to deal with the fallout from this raid and do everything I can to protect Alaric and his people.