CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Finding Alaric is anything but easy when he's actively avoiding the efforts of the guards to capture him along with his followers. I try to locate him by looking through the eyes of every animal I can find, but in a city of so many people, how am I meant to pick him out from everyone else?
I do my best, but my anguish at what's happened to Sorrel is pushing me to greater efforts. I force my mind into those of rats in the crypts, into a crocodile down in even lower, watery depths. I look through the eyes of birds, scanning the city, trying to catch even a glimpse of Alaric's face.
I don’t find him, but I do spot some of his followers, scrawling fresh graffiti on walls, imbuing it with magic so it starts to move even as I watch.
I find another bird, a brightly colored parrot housed in the palace gardens.
I send it out into the city, forcing it to fly faster, hoping it can get to the protesters before they flee into the shadows once again.
I’m relieved to see them below, still. I send the bird down to them, speaking with its voice, my words coming out mixed with the caws and chirps of the bird.
“Lyra needs to talk to Alaric,” I say. “Tell him to meet with me.”
I don’t know if my message will have any effect, but I don’t have anything else. All I can do is pull my mind back from the bird and wait, hoping that Alaric’s followers will be able to carry a message back to him.
The waiting is agony. I pace, and I look out of the windows of my room.
I look through the city using more birds, searching out the prison tower where Alaric's followers are being held.
There are plenty of guards around it, and the walls look high and impenetrable.
It's not a place I can imagine anyone breaking out of.
The only way to get people free from it seems to be to persuade the Senate and the magistrates to let people go.
With Domitian and Marcus having so much influence over the Senate, I don't know how I can make that happen.
I’m still watching when a servant slips into my room, holding out a sealed parchment. I open it eagerly.
The sign of the blue flowers. In the merchant district.
A.
It seems that Alaric is willing to meet with me, although he hasn't been very clear about the place.
But maybe that's deliberate. Maybe he's hoping that other people can't find us.
I don't know if it will be enough, with the way the guards have found me so often.
I head out of the palace, making my way to the merchant district while trying to make sure that I'm not seen.
I use the birds to watch for anyone shadowing me, for guards or agents serving Domitian and Marcus.
I also look through the sign Alaric mentioned, finally finding it in a spray of blue flowers set above the door to an inn, kept perpetually fresh through magic.
I make my way to the inn, slipping inside, apparently ignored by most of the patrons.
Yet there are a couple who look my way, hands initially reaching for weapons before they realize who I am. One of them points to a set of stairs.
I head up to a hallway lined with bedrooms. The door to one of them is open, and even as I watch, Alaric steps into that doorway, gesturing for me to step inside. I hurry into the bedroom, and he closes the door behind us.
He looks worried but also good. I hadn't seen him in so long that I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be close to him, to feel the familiar attraction that comes to me even now.
“I wasn’t expecting to hear from you,” Alaric says. “I thought you were on Marcus’ side now.”
I can hear the bitterness, even jealousy, in his voice.
“Marcus isn’t who I thought he was,” I say. “I heard him plotting with Domitian, planning to bring back death matches to the games.”
“So you’ve finally seen what we knew all along?” Alaric says, with a sharp edged smile of triumph. He clearly isn’t going to let me off easily for being with Marcus.
“He and the others have been manipulating everything to do with the games,” I say.
“It’s not just about the games,” Alaric counters.
“They’re just the first step. If all they wanted to do was bring back death matches, that would be bad enough, but you know as well as I do that they want more.
It’s about reminding people of the ‘glory’ of the empire, about making them yearn for the old days.
They can start to throw their opponents into the arena, can gain more and more power. ”
“Until we have an emperor again,” I say.
Alaric nods. “Emperor Marcus.”
“Or Domitian,” I reply. “I’m still not sure which of them has the most power.”
"That should be obvious," Alaric replies. "Domitian puts forward the most extreme position so that Marcus can sound reasonable. Marcus is the one with the allies on the Senate. Marcus is the handsome one the people love."
He looks at me when he says "people."
“I know I’ve hurt you,” I say. “But you hurt me too, Alaric. Our life back in Seatide drove us both apart.”
“We’re not in Seatide anymore,” Alaric says.
No, we’re both woven into the fabric of Aetheria now, me as a senator, him as the rebel trying to change it.
“Have you heard about the Anniversary Games?” Alaric asks suddenly. “You must have done. If they’re announcing them to everyone else, you must be involved in every detail.”
“I know they’re happening,” I say. “I know Domitian wants to make them the most spectacular games ever.”
“Oh, they’ll be spectacular,” Alaric promises.
I stare at him. “What are you planning to do?”
Alaric grins at me, looking surprisingly boyish despite the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in.
"I'm going to infiltrate the games. I'm going to use illusions to show everyone what's been happening. I'm going to leave the crowd in no doubt about what their so-called betters have been doing in their name."
“Alaric, you can’t,” I say.
"You're still on their side?" Alaric retorts, obviously hurt. "You're still worried about the law and order of your precious Republic when that's being subverted from within."
I shake my head, reaching out to touch his arm. “You can’t do it because it won’t work.”
"Who says it won't work?" Alaric insists. "Our raid on the Colosseum got people's attention. Our previous attempt to infiltrate it meant we ruined their so-called Champions' Challenges."
“Did you, though?” I ask. “Those went on as normal the next day. All that happened was that your people were hurt or captured, dragged away to a prison tower. They’re still awaiting their fate there.
What you’re planning… it’s just a variation on the same thing.
You’re just shouting out above the noise of the games, hoping people will listen to you because of who you are. ”
“Are you saying I shouldn’t do anything?
” Alaric says. “What else can I do, Lyra? You’ve shown that even being a senator doesn’t let you enact real change.
Unless I’m willing to overthrow Rowan and the rest, all I can do is keep showing people the truth of what’s going on and hope they come to their senses. ”
“Are you willing to overthrow the senate?” I ask him.
Alaric gives me a dark look. “Not yet.”
Does that mean there will be a point where he’ll contemplate it? He held back for so long when it came to taking on the emperor, but ultimately, he was willing to fight back. Is it the same here?
Is the Republic even remotely the same as the empire was?
“Please, Alaric,” I say. “Don’t put yourself at risk like that. You won’t change people’s minds by doing this, and if they catch you… I don’t know what they’ll do to you.”
“I do,” Alaric says. “They’ll call me a traitor and execute me. If I’m lucky, they’ll have me fight in the games. If I’m unlucky, they’ll simply impale me and my supporters on a forest of spikes outside the city.”
He says it with a chilling certainty that makes me shudder. Suddenly, without warning, he leans in and kisses me. It’s a sharp, passionate kiss that reminds me of so many others we’ve shared. He pulls back from me almost as suddenly, leaving me breathless.
"Thank you for caring about me," Alaric says. "I never meant… I didn't want things to be like this between us. I know you're trying to do the right thing, but so am I. And I'll keep doing it, even if it means your precious Senate demands my execution for it."
I leave, not knowing what to say. Alaric is going to continue on his course regardless of what I try to do to stop him. I hope I can make sure that it doesn’t kill him, but I know it’s not something I can control.
All I can do is keep playing my role as a senator. Alaric, Marcus, Domitian… their schemes will play out in time. Until then, I need to keep working for the people of the city.