CHAPTER TEN
“Are you ready for today's games?” Marcus asks me as we sit in the emperor's box, the morning sunlight spilling over us as the crowd pours into the arena.
The Champions’ Challenge hasn't finished, and it seems the near miss yesterday has only added to the excitement of the crowd. The Colosseum feels as though it's fuller than it has ever been, people piling into the benches until it feels that there's a sea of them around the arena.
“I just hope no one gets hurt,” I say.
“Then you’re missing the point of the games,” Domitian says, from further along in the box. I guess I should be grateful that he's here, if only because it means he isn't plotting anywhere else.
The box is full today with more senators and their servants, and of course several have their own boxes. Olivia is casually sipping wine in hers, and seems to have attracted the attention of Lady Cassandra of Arboria, who’s sharing the box.
“We need everything to go smoothly,” Marcus says. “Especially in front of the visiting dignitaries. They need to go back to Arboria with the impression that the Republic is a safe, trustworthy partner.”
“Thankfully, today's events should be sufficiently impressive,” Domitian says.
That worries me because it implies he's had a hand in whatever the match is going to be today.
I can see stakes set in the ground, and I'm afraid that they will be to tie creatures to.
Except that the reality is worse. They bring out a series of gladiators, including both Cesca and Sorrel, chaining each to one of the posts by an ankle.
“Begin!” Marcus calls out.
Then they release beasts.
They aren’t wolves or lizards or any other predators.
Instead, they’re rushing, flightless birds, each taller than a man, each with claws and spurs that look as though they’re long enough to eviscerate someone.
Their feathers have sharp edges too, and I see one of the gladiators wince in pain as one of the birds rushes past him, feathers slicing across his arm.
“What is this?” I demand.
“The birds won’t attack them,” Domitian says. “They are notoriously fearful of people. And the gladiators aren’t even fighting one another. They merely need to catch or defeat a bird to win.”
He smiles as he says it, knowing that he’s found a way to introduce real danger without my being able to complain. Domitian must know there’s the potential for this to go very wrong, but he’s made it sound as though it’s something carefully considered and safe.
I’m forced to watch as the gladiators flail at the passing birds with their weapons, trying to stun them or bring them down. One runs to the limit of the chain around his ankle, trying to use it to trip one of the birds. It leaps over the chain, claws scraping across his torso.
I wince again, wanting this to stop. These Champions’ Challenges are every bit as bad, in their way, as the old games were. The crowd are cheering and calling out, clearly enjoying every drop of blood spilled, every attempt by the gladiators to catch the birds.
Then it gets worse.
People rush down from the stands, waving flags and banners in the air, having to dodge the birds as they do so. A lithe, dark-haired young woman stands on the railing of the Colosseum, her voice carrying in a way that suggests it's augmented with magic.
“Stop the games!” she yells. “Stop this madness! Can’t you see what you’re doing?”
The birds are still rushing around the arena floor, and now the gladiators seem to be trying to keep them away from the people who’ve rushed down onto the sands.
The only good thing about it seems to be that the birds aren’t actively attacking anybody, just running around, trying to keep out of their way.
Even so, another cut opens on the arm of one of the gladiators, and Cesca reaches out to send one of the birds twitching to the ground, her lightning running through it.
“People of Aetheria!” the young woman calls out. “Can’t you see how wrong this all is? We fought to overthrow the tyranny of the games, the corruption that comes with them. By taking them away, we took away the tool the nobles of Aetheria used to control us!”
People in the crowd are starting to stare at her. She has their attention, and it’s clear that she isn’t done yet. She points up at the emperor’s box, at me and the other senators.
“These people are bringing it all back, little by little. They brought back the games, and they were supposed to be safe. They’ve made them more dangerous, little by little.
They strike deals in back rooms and carve up the city between them to make profits at our expense.
They don’t have slaves anymore, but they keep the people of the slums so poor that we must do everything they want anyway! ”
Below her, the people on the sands are starting to chant.
“Stop the games! Stop the games!”
At first, they're just a small cluster of voices set against the general noise of the crowd. Some people are even booing them for interrupting the contest they were enjoying.
“My friends, stand with us,” the young woman says. “Show the Republic that we will not allow a return to the old ways, that we will not permit corruption to exist at the heart of the city!”
“Stop the games! Stop the games!”
Now, it seems the chant is being taken up by more people around the stadium so that it echoes and reverberates. There are scuffles breaking out in the stands, and some of those on the arena floor are using magic to send bright lights up into the sky. It's loud and eye-catching.
It's obviously also too much for Domitian.
“Guards!” he calls out. “Arrest them all! Arrest these traitors to the Republic!”
The words are far too close to what Alaric said they would call him.
I can see the gates on the arena floor opening up, and guards are coming out of them in neat ranks of white and gold.
They advance towards the protesting group that has seized the floor of the arena, swinging clubs at them, attacking the way they would the most violent gangs.
Someone shoves the young woman from the edge of the arena, sending her tumbling down onto the sands.
A couple of friends catch her before she can suffer serious injury, but that just sends them all into the path of the birds. One is cut deeply by their claws.
Meanwhile, the guards are on them, and they aren't holding back. The clubs rise and fall as they strike at the protesting group, lashing out with the violence that looks likely to break limbs and shatter skulls. More are moving into the stands, targeting those pockets where people are chanting.
A protester gets too close to Cesca and she lashes out with her sword, making contact and sending lightning arcing down the blade to send the protester stumbling back.
She starts after them, but the chain around her ankle prevents her from following.
It’s clear she doesn’t like people interrupting her bouts, or maybe she wants to be seen to be on the side of Aetheria and the guards.
If I stand by and do nothing, how many people will be hurt?
Certainly, the members of Alaric’s group will be arrested.
What will happen to them then, when they’re already being beaten on the arena floor?
Will they be dragged away into the depths of some dungeon to be beaten and punished?
Will they be brought back into the arena to die in the very place they were trying to close?
Those thoughts fill me with horror and that horror is only compounded as the guards in the crowd continue to lash out, attacking anyone they even suspect of being with Alaric’s group.
Some members of that group try to fight back with fists and feet, but more of them are simply trying to keep away from the guards, trying to keep shouting their message so that more of the people in the stands will hear it.
I know I can't allow this to continue. I can't stand by and let the guards inflict such cruelty on people.
As a senator I don't exist to simply sit and watch. I should be doing something to make the lives of the people better. And right now, the people who are being attacked by the guards need me. If I do nothing, it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed.
I reach into the minds of the flightless birds on the arena sands.
I send them moving in a herd, a wedge of dangerous, fast-moving creatures.
I direct that wedge the way a general might direct troops on a battlefield, sending it to break up the formation of the guards, harrying and harassing those who are attacking downed protesters.
I call him more birds from the sky, smaller things that swoop down to interrupt the guards in the stands, distracting them just long enough to let their victims back to their feet.
People start to run from the Colosseum, and all is chaos as they do so.
There are screams in the crowd, and I try to use the small creatures of the Colosseum to distract people and force them out of one another's way.
The protesters on the sands are scrambling to get out of the arena now, and I have the flightless birds run between them and the guards, creating interference that buys them time to escape.
They disappear into the crowd and now a whole wave of people is leaving the Colosseum.
“Stop them!” Domitian orders. “Stop them all! Close the gates to the Colosseum.”
“Are you mad?” Marcus retorts. “If we do that, people will be crushed. Leave the gates open.”
I'm grateful he's willing to do that much, willing to protect the people of the city.
He's not willing to see the crowd of the Colosseum crushed to death in their eagerness to flee from the arena, even if that means that the rebellious protesters get away. The crowd flows out of the Colosseum into the streets, and Alaric’s people must go with them, because there are none left on the arena floor.
There is still some chaos there. I can see Sorrel fending off one of the birds, Cesca lashing out with her lightning again as one gets in touching distance.
I pull the flightless birds back, wheeling them once before sending them back into the depths of the beast pits beneath the arena.
The gladiators are still there and the guards, most injured but no one seriously hurt.
The gates to the beast pits slam shut with a clang of metal that echoes around the Colosseum.
It seems to signal an end to the fight, to the chaos, to the whole day of the games.
Domitian rounds on me. “You’ve gone too far this time, Senator Lyra. Helping rebels and traitors! I’ll see you imprisoned for this!”