That includes me, it seems, because one of them swings his bladed staff at my head, forcing me to duck.He swings low then, but thanks to the speed and grace I've borrowed from the birds, I'm fast enough to trap the weapon with my sandaled foot.I lift up my other leg and stamp down on the staff, snapping it easily.
“Why are you fighting, you fools?”I demand of the two gladiators.“Why are you protecting people who are going to make you fight to the death?You need to flee here.Do you want to be caught up in all this?”
The gladiators look at me, staring at me for several seconds as my identity starts to sink in despite my disguise.I see the moment when they recognize me, looking from me to one another, before setting off in the direction of the door, trying to fight their way free of the temple.
The noise of the battle is overwhelming around me.There are people screaming in fear, crying out in pain, and bellowing in anger.There are curses and threats, which seem to mingle until they become a stream of hatred whose targets are hard to identify.The ring of weapons clashing against one another and the thud of flesh slamming into flesh pervades the whole temple, profane against an environment dedicated to the gods.
At least now that Alaric’s people are fighting against a collection of bodyguards and hired thugs, it's giving the ordinary servants an opportunity to escape, fleeing into the night where they can.I could go the same way, but instead, I keep moving, heading for the doorway Marcus has gone through.
I reach it and pass through, into a space that has been refitted as a kind of preparation area similar to the ones below the Colosseum.There are slabs for healing here and spaces for gladiators to warm up.There's a small group of gladiators there, holding onto their weapons and standing as if they might hold back anyone who comes through the doors.
“What are you doing?”one of them demands.“Get back in there.We've been told not to let anyone through.”
“And since when do gladiators just do what they're told?”I counter.“Marcus gives you an order and you obey like soldiers?”
“You don't know anything about it,” another of the gladiators says.
I pull aside my dress at the shoulder to show the circular brand there with the lines through it.The one that proclaims my status as a champion of the arena.“Don't you recognize me?I know more about what it is to be a gladiator than most of you.I know that people like Marcus are using you, spending your lives as if they’re worth nothing.I’m Lyra Thornwind.Which of you wants to stand in my way and stop me getting to him?”
The gladiators look at one another nervously, then step back out of my way.
“You should go,” I tell them.“Get out of here while you can.You were paid to fight one another, not to stand guard.”
I step past them into a room that must once have been the quarters of the high priest of this temple.Now, Marcus is in there, collecting things from a chest.He spins towards me as soon as he hears me enter the room, lashing out with lightning even before he can see who it is.Thanks to my borrowed grace, I'm able to dodge aside from the attack, standing there in front of him with an accusatory look on my face.
“Lyra?”he says sounding shocked.“What are you doing here?Are you… are you a part of all this chaos?”
He's challenging me about whatI'mdoing here.
“What about you, Marcus?”I demand.“What are you doing here?What are you doing running death matches?Luring gladiators to take part?Sending them out there to their deaths?”
“They're paid well if they survive,” Marcus says, looking unrepentant.
“That's not the point, and you know it,” I snap back.“Before, when you were working with Domitian, I thought the idea was to stop fights like this.”
“It was to stop Domitian,” Marcus says.“He was planning to overthrow the Republic.”
“And you aren't?”I say.“Because that's what it looks like from here.You're setting up these fights underground, positioning yourself as the one providing what the nobles want.It seems like a good way to get money and power with which to seize Aetheria.”
Marcus's eyes widen.“That's not what I'm planning at all.I'm doing thisforthe Republic.”
“Having people fight to the death?”I say.
He sighs.“It's necessary, Lyra.I wish you could see that.Are you so naive that you think that these fights won't exist if I don't put them on?The people want them, so they're going to happen in some form.If I'm the one controlling them, at least I can make sure they don't become a platform for someone like Domitian.Or Selene.”
“Do you want her dead because she's a threat to the city or just because you know she's a rival for control in it?”I ask.
He looks hurt.“You know me better than that, Lyra.”
“I thought I did,” I say.I gesture to the temple around us.“But then I found you here.And the more I think about you and the things you've done, the less certain I am of your motives.Even when you asked me to marry you, it was a political move.Do you care about me or just about power, Marcus?”
He looks hurt, and I’m not sure if he has any right to.“Of course I care about you, Lyra.Don't ever doubt that.But power is necessary if we're going to do what's right for the people of the city.If we don't have that power, then others will whole use it in far worse ways.”
Is he trying to convince me, or himself?I've heard so many of his justifications, but I'm not sure if I can believe any of them.I'm not sure if I can get past my anger to think clearly.He's done so much to hurt me here, and now he's trying to explain it all away?He moves closer, and I wonder if he's going to try to make me forget about all this with a kiss, but that isn't going to be enough this time.
Under different circumstances, maybe we could go somewhere to talk this through, but even then, I don't imagine there's any way he could convince me to put on death matches.But even as Marcus moves closer to me, the situation becomes still more difficult.
Alaric walks into the chambers, looking at me, looking at Marcus.He has blades in his hands, and those blades have blood on them.He stares at me as if I've betrayed him just by standing there with Marcu so close to me.
