CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Don’t worry,” Alaric says as we make our way to the colosseum. He’s wearing his usual disguise as a trainer, while I have a cloak wrapped around me. “I have the resistance watching Marcus. And I have more watching us.”
I wasn’t worried until he said it. I still don’t believe Selene will have me killed out in the street, even if she’s prepared to let her followers attack Marcus like that.
As soon as Alaric says it, though, I start watching for danger, using the animals around me to check for potential enemies while feeling for any anger or aggression directed our way.
I see guards on many of the corners, watching for trouble.
The streets are quiet for now, but I can see burnt out buildings where fighting has been taking place.
I guess the senate would cancel the games if they weren’t such a good distraction for the citizens, and if Selene didn’t need them now to secure her rise to the imperial throne.
The avenue leading to the colosseum is packed, but people move out of my way, mostly letting me pass as they recognize me. A few stop and stare, or reach out to touch my arm as I pass, but I keep moving. My eyes are on the colosseum, and what waits for me within.
As soon as I enter the main betting hall, I see that the structure of the penultimate round of matches has been changed. Rather than a series of neat individual contests, clusters of names are stacked together.
“What’s going on?” I call out to one of the bookmakers.
He shrugs. “All I know is there was a declaration from the organizers. There are going to be two free for all bouts. Whoever’s left standing will face one another in the final, later today.”
So, Selene’s compressing the rest of the games into one day. It’s a sign of impatience. She clearly doesn’t want to wait any longer to take the throne. And maybe her supporters think that some chaotic mass combat is the best way to eliminate me.
Alaric and I head down into the preparation areas, and even as I do, I hear Selene’s voice ringing out over the colosseum.
“Citizens of Aetheria, welcome, all of you, to the last day of the Grand Tournament!”
I borrow the senses of one of the pigeons roosting in the colosseum’s alcoves, waiting for any scraps of food dropped by the people below.
There are so many people there in the colosseum, with more still streaming in, even though it seems impossible that anyone else would fit within.
Selene is standing poised on the brink of the senate box as if she might leap down from it at any moment.
“This evening, you’ll witness the final bouts of the tournament, and whoever is victorious will prove themselves worthy of the greatest prize: the throne of Aetheria itself!”
There’s wild cheering from some quarters of the colosseum, but only some. It’s obvious plenty of people don’t like Selene’s plan.
“Such a prize is only fitting!” Selene calls out. “Aetheria is an empire built on magic. It should be controlled by those who can prove their magical strength. And they will prove it today, in contests that will test them to the limit.”
Selene gestures, and the colosseum starts to reconfigure itself.
Water starts to pour into it, flooding the base of the arena, contained by spells.
Platforms rise out of the water, linked by slender walkways.
A gate opens, and gladiators start to pour out onto those platforms, taking up positions and watching one another warily.
I feel the moment when beasts are released into the colosseum. Giant crocodiles swim out into the water, rising from it and snapping to the delight of the crowd.
Selene doesn’t leap down onto one of the platforms; she floats, buoyed on a wave of violet magic. She discards her purple cloak as she lands, revealing the armor and curved blade beneath.
“Begin,” she says, her voice carrying even over the cheers of the crowd.
The other gladiators start to move from platform to platform, seeking targets. Some throw blasts of fire or ice, while others rush this way and that, trying to close the distance. One falls, and immediately, crocodilian jaws close on him as he screams.
Selene advances smoothly, gracefully, and with deadly intent.
I know just from watching the way she moves that she intends this to be a showcase of her power, a demonstration of all she can do when the other matches haven’t challenged her.
She has stacked up half a dozen gladiators, ready to face them all at once.
They’re some of the finest gladiators of the games, the strongest magic users or fighters of Aetheria and beyond.
Selene slaughters them.
She sends out a blast of violet magic that cuts one man in half, then parries a sword blow, only to spin delicately and kick her foe back into the water and the waiting jaws of the crocodiles.
She blocks a blast of flame with a shield of pure force, then throws darts of it that cut through her enemy, wounding him again and again until he collapses.
This isn't a free for all anymore. This is everyone remaining against Selene, and it still isn't enough.
Magical attacks pour down on her, and she deflects them as if they're nothing, boosted by the stones of power she ordered incorporated into the arena.
I watch her cut down foes with casual ease, until at last, there's only one woman left, who's defending frantically, trying to keep as far away from Selene as she can while looking around as if waiting for someone to stop the fight.
But Marcus isn’t up in the senate box. This will end when Selene wants it to end.
“Come to me,” Selene calls out, beckoning, and I don’t need to be in the colosseum to know those words are laced with psychomancy. “Come on.”
Her foe hesitates for a moment and then walks forward, straight off the platform and into the waiting jaws of the crocodiles. Her screams as they tear her apart are enough to make me pull back sharply from the birds, feeling sick.
Alaric is staring at me. “What did you see?”
“Selene,” I say. “I’m not sure how I’m meant to beat her.”
Alaric moves behind me, massaging knots of tension from my shoulders. “If anyone can, it’s you, Lyra.”
Maybe, but I’m still not sure how. This is someone who wields magical force with precision and brutality, and who kills without hesitation.
“You’re the most powerful beast whisperer in a generation,” Alaric says.
“You’re so powerful, the emperor of Aetheria tried to have you killed because he saw the role you’d play in his death.
You’ve survived countless fights in the colosseum, and battles in the streets.
You’re the reason Aetheria is a republic at all. ”
I smile at the attempt to boost my confidence, but there are things I need to say.
“If I don’t come through this,” I say, “I need you to promise you won’t throw your life away in some desperate attempt at revenge.”
“You think I’d do something like that?” Alaric says, but his face is a very familiar mask of arrogance.
“Yes,” I reply. “I think it’s exactly the kind of thing you might do.”
“I love you, Lyra,” Alaric says.
“And I love you.” I turn to him, touching his face lightly.
His features shimmer, revealing the real him.
I kiss him deeply, savoring the moment, not knowing if I’ll have the chance to do this again after today.
I hope so. I hope Alaric and I will have years together in Aetheria.
“That’s why I want you to live if I don’t. ”
“You can’t ask me that,” Alaric says. “You can’t ask me to stand by when I could put a knife in Selene’s back.”
"Or die trying," I point out. "If I fall, then the city needs someone who can help its people and get them out of danger. It has to be you."
Alaric hesitates, but then nods. “All right.” For a moment, a very familiar grin flashes across his features. “But I suspect I’d do a terrible job, so you’d better make sure you don’t die.”
I wish I could promise him that. But if it's the only way to stop Selene? If I see a chance to bring her down, that might cost me everything? I must take it.
I think of all the times Alaric and I have had together.
First in Ironhold, where he was a noble volunteer, while I was a slave.
Then in Seatide, where the quiet village almost tore us apart.
I think of him growing apart from me after our return to Aetheria, because Alaric saw far earlier than I did just how corrupt the Republic was.
But we could never stay apart permanently.
It’s always been as if there’s something drawing us together, whatever happens to us.
One of the trainers comes down into the preparation areas, and Alaric's face flickers back to his disguise.
“Am I interrupting something?” the trainer asks.
“If I say yes, will you go away?” Alaric counters.
The trainer shakes his head, then looks at me. “It’s time for the next bout. You’re up.”
It's time for me to face my own mass combat. Time for me to prove that I'm a worthy opponent for Selene. One more fight, and I get to face the foe who threatens to bring Aetheria to its knees. First, though, I need to survive against half a dozen foes, all at once.