Chapter Twenty Four
This time I am not led through the city by guards, but am instead brought up through the arena, to a box overlooking everything. My weapons are taken from me, and I am allowed inside.
The box is opulent and regal. The imperial insignia of sword thrusting through a corona of magical power is everywhere. A golden throne sits at the heart of the box, shaped with scenes of warriors subduing whole armies using magic. A marble table is next to it, on which there is a golden platter piled high with the choicest cuts of meat.
The emperor sits on his throne, looking out towards the world. I know what is required of me now, so I fall to my knees before him before I'm forced to do so.
“So you are capable of showing some humility,” Emperor Tiberius says. “I had wondered. Look out there, Lyra. Tell me what you see.”
He gestures to the Colosseum.
“I see the crowd and the arena,” I say.
“I see a very unhappy crowd, and a very peaceful arena,” Emperor Tiberius snaps. “The two are not unconnected.”
“You think I should have allowed people to die?” I say.
"I think that's exactly what you should have done," the emperor says. "Or at least, you should have allowed them to take their own chances against the creatures, rather than solving the whole situation. You could have sat serenely at the heart of it all, and the action could still be going. Perhaps when the last of them fell, then the crowd would have cheered you. As it is, they do not favor you, and I must find other ways to give them their sport."
He gestures to the arena. I see a group of men and women pushed out into it. They are armed with swords, but unarmored.
“I will pardon the last one standing,” the emperor calls out. “Kill the rest.”
The prisoners start to fight amongst themselves. Some have powers because this is Aetheria. One is able to coat her blade with frost, while another can make small bursts of flame fly at his foes. Compared to some of the things the gladiators chosen for the games can do, it isn't much but this is Aetheria, and even the lowest are likely to have some minor talent.
“Who are they?” I ask the emperor.
“Does it matter?” He looks to me as if waiting for me to answer.
“Of course it matters,” I say. “Are you just throwing innocent people in there to die now?”
“There are those who would say that's what we do anyway,” Emperor Tiberius says. “You were innocent when you were brought here, weren't you?”
I nod. I was, as were so many others alongside me. They had powers of various kinds, and for that reason they were collected from around the empire. Aetheria sees the stones at its heart as giving magic to the world, but where that magic takes root beyond its walls, it brings it back in.
“Do you know the purposes of the games?” the emperor asks me, as the fight continues out on the sand. One of the people out there is already down and crying out in agony.
“To test magic users,” I say. “To make us feel grateful for the moment when we get to be citizens of the empire, because we won it with blood.”
“Both of those things, obviously,” the emperor says. “And of course, they feed the stones of Aetheria, with the blood and power of those who fight.”
Another of the combatants falls even as he says it, her throat opened by a blade wielded with surprising speed by one of the others.
“What do you mean they feed the stones?” I ask.
The emperor smiles. “That is why the game started. The stones give us power, because it is our destiny as an empire, but we must feed them in turn. Blood and magic. In the old days, citizens would battle to see who got high position and who would become a sacrifice. These days, we find that those from outside the city will suffice.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask the emperor. It makes no sense to me that he has summoned me here to talk so familiarly to me and to explain all this.
“Because you need to understand that the games are not something you can mess around with,” Emperor Tiberius says. He gestures to the prisoners out on the sand, still hacking at one another. “You did not provide enough blood today, so these people are going to die for it. This is your fault.”
“Spare them,” I beg. “Please.”
“No.” The emperor's expression has no mercy in it. “You need to learn the way this city works. The games are important. They provide the people with entertainment, and my nobles were the chance to scheme behind my back to their hearts’ content. They feed the magic that the empire is founded upon, and they give us a chance to be rid of those who will not be useful for our armies or our nobility.”
There's a threat in that. Aetheria functions because, in spite of the magic of its people, they view themselves as part of a greater whole. The emperor and his ancestors have forged them into a sword to turn loose upon the world. Those, like me, who do not fall into place can find ourselves eliminated.
“What about people who try to manipulate the games themselves?” I ask. If the emperor cares so much about his precious games, maybe he will take my concerns around Ravenna seriously.
“Who would do that and how?” the emperor asks me.
“Ravenna,” I say. “She had me poisoned yesterday.”
“Petty rivalries between gladiators have always played out,” the emperor responds.
“And I believe she is manipulating Lord Darius and Lady Selene as they organize the games so that the trials are set up the way she wishes. She's the reason I had to fight Rowan yesterday.”
“Be careful what you say,” Emperor Tiberius warns me. “After all, you and he are the ones who got away with no one dying.”
“But Ravenna is the reason we had to fight each other at all,” I insist.
“Or Lord Darius simply decided it would be an interesting match,” the emperor says. “I have him and Lady Selene organize the bouts for a reason. Do you think Ravenna is really able to influence them?”
“She's a powerful psychomancer,” I say.
The emperor laughs now. "Powerful enough to overcome Darius's defenses? Powerful enough that Selene didn't notice? Or do you think that Ravenna bewitched her too? She might be strong, but she's not powerful enough to take on an archon."
It's the same thing I heard from Lady Elara. It's clear the emperor doesn't believe me.
“Why would she even do such a thing?” the emperor demands.
“I don’t know,” I say. “To make money betting? To give herself easier bouts? To make sure that I get the most difficult bouts she can give me?”
“You think too much of yourself, Lyra,” the emperor says.
Out on the sands, the fight is coming towards its end. Only two of the prisoners are still standing, a man and a woman. Both are bloodied, their clothing torn and scorched. The woman has created a kind of shield from the air in front of her. The man is the one who seems to be able to move faster than he should. It is making for a drawn-out fight, with both of them suffering injuries at every turn.
The crowd is responding to the violence, cheering for every drop of blood spilled. The man cuts a gash along the woman's thigh. She punches him in the face with her shield. The man lunges in… and meets a second barrier of air, which holds his sword just for a moment.
A moment is all the woman needs. She runs her sword through the man’s heart, and he falls back to the sand. She stands there, staring up at the emperor's box, even as the crowd erupts in praise of her.
“There!” she snarls. “I've done what you wanted.”
The emperor looks amused. “You asked before who they were, Lyra. A small group of plotters, who were trying to keep grain shipments from the city. They thought it would stoke the unrest. My understanding is that the woman down there was the lover of one of the dead men. Maybe even the one she just killed.”
“That’s…”
The emperor cuts me off before I can finish the thought. "That is the reality of ruling. I do what I must for the benefit of Aetheria. In this case, a group of traitors has died entertaining the crowd, and their pitiful talents were flowed back into the stones. No, don't say anything. If you speak, I will have the woman there broken on a wheel to finish the entertainment."
I want to protest that he has promised her mercy, but one look in his eyes tells me that he is serious. A single word from me will cost this woman her life. Maybe my actions have already been responsible for the others’ deaths, although I suspect they would have been thrown into the arena in another set of games anyway. I cast my eyes down instead.
“Good,” the emperor says. “You’re learning.” He raises his voice. “This woman has survived and shown her strength. As a result, she will not be executed, but will instead be taken to Ironhold to be tested as a new prospect.”
I feel a twinge of sympathy for her. I know exactly how difficult that process is, and I don’t want to think about the fate that might wait for her if she fails.
The emperor looks back to me. "You have so much potential, Lyra. You could be everything the game needs. You have one more trial to show me that you can live up to that potential, or I will be very disappointed in you. And you wouldn't want that, Lyra."
Not when this is a man who still seems to be deciding whether to have me killed. I understand what he wants. I need to give him blood in the last trial, and if I don’t… then it is going to be my blood spilled on the sand instead.