The two fighters start to circle one another, weapons whirling in a deadly display of skill.Each seems to have a good sense of where the other is, but I know from experience that such blindfold matches can be tricky, because it's not just about where an opponent's standing.It's a question of exactly where they're swinging their weapon, about inferring the whole of an opponent’s strategy from limited information.
It means such fights are chaotic and bloody, especially with a crowd around, cheering and calling out.Both of the fighters have wounds in the first few seconds, but they don't stop, and they don't ask for mercy.They know what this is: only the most impressive fighters are going to be given a chance to survive if they lose a fight like this.
I hate watching it, and not just because of the blood, or even because of the expressions of the nobles and the merchants looking on.What I hate is how little has changed since the overthrow of the emperor.Aetheria is still the same as it ever was, only its worst excesses have been driven into the shadows.
Supporters of each of the fighters are trying to put the other one off now.One group cheers loudly to try to inhibit the enhanced hearing of Tressus, while another group stamps their feet to try to put off Marcelus.Maybe it isn't even about support for one fighter or another.Maybe it's just about distracting both because the watching crowd realizes that there will be more blood that way.
I force myself to keep moving around the fighting arena, determined to learn as much as I can about the people who there.I'm steadily making my way towards the back room the fighters came from, because I suspect there's a chance there will be evidence there I can bring to Rowan and the other senators.
Slipping through the crowd is hard.A man reaches for me, and I dodge the movement the way I would an attack in the Colosseum.I can see a couple of guards on the doors leading to the backrooms, and I know I'll need a distraction to get past them.I reach for the mind of a rat, wondering if I can bring it into the path of a nearby servant to startle them and make them drop the tray they're carrying.That should buy me a few seconds at least, but will it be enough?Maybe I need a bigger distraction.
I hesitate, though.My path has brought me closer to the spot where Marcus is standing with some of the other dignitaries, watching the fight.Despite everything, I find myself staring at him, still trying to work out how he could do this.The pain of his betrayal floods through me once again, forcing me to take a second to keep my emotions under control as I continue to creep closer to the doorway.
Something catches my attention, though.My magic is stretched out, feeling for the animals nearby, and that means I can feel some of them scattering.I take control of the eyes of a bird above, and through those eyes, I can see Alaric’s people closing in on the temple structure.They aren’t hanging back, aren’t merely staying nearby and waiting to back up me and Thalia.They’re armed with clubs and saps, chains and other weapons that seem designed to hurt and stun rather than kill.
I hurry back to Thalia.“What’s going on?”I demand.“Why are Alaric’s people closing in?”
She shrugs.“There must have been a change of plan.Did you really think we were going to just stand back and try to gather evidence, hoping that would be enough to shut this down?”
I realize that, in a very different way to Marcus, this is another betrayal.Alaric has decided that he can’t trust me to take care of this and stop the underground fights, so he’s going to have his people do it.
Or maybe he’s going to do it himself.Because one of the merchants there stands from his couch, drawing a pair of long daggers, even as his entourage start to reach into their clothes to pull out saps and brass knuckles.The merchant shimmers, his bulky frame becoming slender, his balding visage giving way to sharply handsome features and midnight black hair.
Alaric stands there, his eyes locked onto mine for a moment as I stare at him in shock, realizing that he’s used his illusions to get himself and a few of his people into the fight, even as more close in from outside.He bows to me as he lets his trickery fall away.
Then he charges forward at one of the guards.This isn't a fact-finding expedition or an infiltration; this is a raid.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
“We’re under attack!”Marcus calls out, as Alaric and his supporters charge forward.Almost instantly, people start to cry out and scream, some running for the doors, some trying to get to weapons.
One of the guards runs at Alaric and he sidesteps the attack, bringing him down with a slash of his knives across the man’s hamstrings.One of his followers clubs a merchant over the head, sending him spinning into unconsciousness.Alaric’s rebels are charging into the old temple, attacking anyone who tries to fight back, anyone who tries to flee, and anyone who seems as though they’re a part of the games.
The two gladiators have stopped fighting one another and are now standing back to back with their blindfolds torn from their heads, using their weapons to keep Alaric's followers at bay.I see one of those followers fall with a wound across her stomach, and another suffers a slash across his arm.
“Why?”I demand of Thalia.
She shrugs.“It’s what Alaric wanted.You must know he can’t be talked out of anything he’s decided to do.”
She doesn’t say more than that, but rushes into the fight, kicking aside a bookmaker so that she can get to one of the injured rebels and kneeling so she can use her magic to try to heal them.Around me, almost everyone seems to be fighting at once, either as part of one of the sides there, or simply to get away.
A number of guards and servants are down.Alaric's followers seem to be trying to subdue them, perhaps intending to hand them over to the guards or maybe just to leave them somewhere public, along with details of everything they've been doing.A couple of Alaric's people are following behind those knocking people down, tying their hands quickly.
But the shock of the first rush is starting to fade, though, and Marcus' people are fighting back.The bodyguards of merchants and nobles are lashing out with blades, not holding back, the way Alaric's people are.I see one of Alaric's followers cut down with his throat opened and blood pouring across the floor of the temple.
I stand there for several more seconds, trying to work out what I should do.Should I run?Should I fight on Alaric’s side?Should I try to stop his people from hurting innocent servants and onlookers?
One of his people comes at me, obviously not realizing who I am.I kick the man back, slipping into the crowd and hoping I can avoid the worst of the violence.I didn’t come here to kill anyone, didn’t come here to be a part of some mass brawl designed to stop the underground fight.
But with violence on every side of me, it isn’t as though I get a choice.One of the merchants’ bodyguards seems to realize that I came in with Alaric’s people and comes at me with daggers drawn.
I reach for the birds outside, taking in some of their grace and agility, slipping aside from the bodyguard’s attacks and slamming punches into the guard’s jaw until he falls.I keep moving, sidestepping a spot where two people are wrestling, still trying to work out what I should do here.
Then I see Marcus heading towards the back room of the temple, and Iknowwhere I need to go.I wasn’t going to confront Marcus before, but only because it was too dangerous.Now, danger is all around me, and there’s no reason to hold back.I need to get to him.I need to learn, once and for all, what he intends for the city.If he truly intends to make himself into a new emperor, I need to stop him.
I can't let him just get away with what he's done here.Not with running bouts in which people die, and not with keeping the truth of what he's been doing from me.It was bad enough before when he was working with Domitian, but at least there was an explanation then.Now, I'm not sure what he can say that could make any of this better.
I push through the fight, going after Marcus.The fastest way is to cross the middle of the open floor where the two gladiators were fighting before and are now attacking anyone who comes close.
