I wrap a cloak around myself, heading out into the city, trying to make sure I’m not followed.I use the same trick I did the last time I needed to find him, sending my consciousness out into as many birds as possible, looking for any signs of him.I don’t spot him, but then, I wasn’t expecting to.Instead, I find a spot where a couple of people are writing graffiti about the games, and since it isn’t too far from me, I head over there on foot, getting there while they’re still finishing writing their message.
The games are still corrupt!Stop them now!
“I need to talk to Alaric,” I say, throwing back my hood.The two members of Alaric’s faction stare at me for a second, then take off running without saying anything.I curse, wondering if I should follow them, but I don’t think there’s any point.They clearly won’t answer questions unless I threaten them, and I don’t want to do that with Alaric’s people.
I try again, heading for an inn where I’ve met Alaric before.I go to the bar there, keeping my hood in place.
“I’m trying to get in contact with Alaric,” I say.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” the innkeeper says, without taking his eyes from the tankard he’s cleaning.
“I met him here before,” I say.
“I don’t know anything about that,” the innkeeper repeats, in a tone that makes it clear he isn’t going to say anything more.
I sigh and head for the door.This isn’t proving easy.I keep moving through the city, wondering if I should try again, or if I should put my attention into looking for the fights more directly.With what it will take to find Alaric, I might be able to find the death matches just as easily.
I’m still considering it when a young man comes up to me, pushing a note into my hands and then running off before I can say anything.Again, I could follow, could track his movements through the eyes of a bird, but I don’t.My attention is on the note, excitement running through my veins as I start to read it.Worry, too, because what if this is Alaric warning me to stop looking for him?
There's a statue of Alaric on the route to the Colosseum.Come there, alone.
It’s everything I could have hoped for.It seems Alaric wants to meet up, and I hope he’ll have the answers I need.There’s no time specified in the note, which suggests that Alaric wants me to come straight away.With no time to waste, I start to hurry through the city, heading for the colosseum.
The route to it is lined with statues, most of them of gladiators or heroes from legend.There are several emperors, too, but I note that one of Tiberius has had the head removed with a hammer in a moment of petty revenge designed to erase his memory.There's even a statue of me, standing with beasts around me, the sculptor having chosen a deliberately sensual pose for me that makes me a little uncomfortable every time I see it, the animals placed to cover me, when the statue is wearing almost nothing.No matter how much time I spend as a senator of Aetheria, this will be how plenty of people think of me.
And there's one of Alaric, but this statue is special because someone has imbued it with magic so that as people get close, illusions seem to shift around it, making multiple images of the statue in an echo of Alaric's own power.The statue shows him standing with a curved blade held almost casually, and the sculptor has captured the casual arrogance of his expression almost perfectly.I sigh as I look at the statue.I hadn't realized just how much I've missed Alaric until I saw the statue, with the same fine boned, haughty features, the shoulder length hair, the lithe grace.
I hope he'll come soon.I want to see him, and not just because I need answers when it comes to the death matches.I stand near the statue, watching people come and go.A couple of guards move in a slow circuit of the boulevard leading up to the colosseum.They stop at the stalls lining it, which sell everything from images of favorite gladiators to food.There's even a healer, using magic to help people with small injuries and illness.She's a woman in her twenties with spiked hair that's dark on one side and light on the other.She wears brown robes over simple clothing.
I know Alaric won't approach when the guards are too close.Rowan ordered him set free from the city's prison tower during Domitian's uprising, but Alaric hasn't given up on his underground movement.He's slipped back into the shadows and is still working against what he sees as the corruption within the city.To some of the senators, that makes him a traitor even now, when he's helped to save the city.A stickler for the law like Octavio will want to see him punished.
So, I will the guards to walk away.They do so, continuing on their slow patrol.I wait, looking around for any sign of Alaric, not that it will do much good when he can use his illusions to look like anything he wants.
"He isn't coming," a voice says.I look around, and I'm surprised to see the healer standing there, looking me over with a hint of disapproval.
“I’m sorry?”I say.
“Alaric,” she replies.“He isn’t coming.”
She looks me up and down again.
“It’s my first time meeting a senator.You don’t look much like your statue.”
I frown, trying to make sense of her presence.“Who are you?Did Alaric send you?”
She nods."My name's Thalia.I used to work as a healer in the Colosseum."
“I don’t remember you from there,” I say.
I spent my share of time on the healers’ slabs in the depths of the colosseum.There was some magical healing there, but mostly, those healers with a magical talent for it were acquired by noble houses.
"I was bought shortly before you arrived," Thalia says, in a bitter tone.Slavery used to be as much at the heart of Aetheria as magic or violence.Rowan was a slave to a noblewoman before he was sent to the Colosseum.I was a slave gladiator, stolen from my village because of the magic I possessed."I had to serve a noble family until the First Senator declared us all free.For the briefest of moments, I dared to think things would be better."
There’s more bitterness in her voice.
“Of course, then you and the other senators restarted the games.”
“I’ve done everything I can to stop them from being too dangerous,” I say.
