As if that’s a signal, more of Alaric’s followers reveal themselves in the crowd, using magic to create bursts of bright smoke, some of them rushing onto the sands with him while others throw pamphlets into the crowd.It’s the same tactics they employed last time, and I find myself hoping that Alaric has a plan to get away with this.
It seems he has because his followers are trying to create chaos now.I see some of them using magic to destroy the statues of the arena.I can feel the animals in the beast pits being let loose from their cages.There are cries from the receiving rooms, suggesting some kind of attack there.
Alaric's followers lower ladders into the Colosseum, while holding back the crowd so that they have a path to the exit.It's well coordinated and obviously designed to show that they can stand against the Republic.
The problem is that guards are already converging on their positions and doing so with a swiftness and precision that suggests they were waiting in place for exactly this moment.As if they knew what was going to happen.As if they weretoldwhat would happen.
Fights start to break out in the crowd, and I can feel Alaric's psychomancer pushing them to create chaos, but that magic is being countered by another source of power.Everything is chaos.The people are rioting in the stands, and I guess that Alaric was hoping it might spill over into something bigger, something that might topple the games, maybe even the Senate.
This is his plan, not just a repeat of his followers’ earlier protest.It’s something that might bring down everything Alaric hates, the might of the people overwhelming the corruption of their rulers, just as they did with the emperor.
But already, I can see that the plan is going wrong.Magic is pushing back the effects of Alaric’s psychomancer, calming the crowd.Guards are emerging with uncanny precision from everywhere around Alaric and his supporters as they make their way through the stands.
Fighting is breaking out now between the guards and Alaric's supporters.I see Alaric sway back from the swing of a club, countering with a kick that knocks a guard down.He punches another guard, felling him, but he hasn't drawn blades the way I might have expected.He isn't trying to kill anyone.
Nor are his supporters.They’re fighting with clubs and saps, fists and feet, not with swords or daggers.It’s clear they’re trying to subdue their opponents, not kill them.They’re holding back, and that puts them at a deadly disadvantage.
Alaric’s followers are running now, not sticking together as they try to break free.Alaric tries to shift his face to fit in with the crowd, but he’s too close to the guards.Three of them grab him at once, holding him and beating him.I wince with every blow that lands, wanting to stand up, to demand that they stop.
But I can’t.There’s nothing I can do as they drag Alaric away.
I need to find a way to help him, but the only way I can do it is in the Senate, and I don't know if that will be enough to save his life.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
“He deserves to be executed for this,” Domitian growls.
“It may be necessary,” Marcus says, “if only for the safety of the Republic.”
I know there's no point in trying to argue with them here, in the games.I also can't stand by and do nothing.I simply can't, but I also know there's nothing I can do within the Colosseum.I need to act more directly.
I need to see Alaric.
I rush out of the Colosseum, heading for the prison tower that stands at the edge of the city, embedded into its walls.People move out of my way as I hurry through the streets, determined to get there before anything can happen to Alaric.
It isn’t just that this is wrong.So much about this situation is wrong.He and his followers shouldn’t be imprisoned.They shouldn’t be facing the possibility of execution simply for speaking out about what’s happening in the city.But that hasn’t been enough to send me running for the prison tower.
No, I'm doing it now because Alaric's in danger.Because whatever's happened between us, my heart still aches at the thought of him being hurt.It's enough to push me faster through the streets, determined to get to him and do whatever I can for him.
There are guards at the gates of the prison tower.They cross their spears, looking as though they might be about to deny me entrance.
“Halt!”one says.“No one may access the prison tower.”
“I’m a senator of Aetheria,” I point out, grateful that there was no time to change out of my toga before coming here.“I have the authority to question anything going on in the city.Right now, I want to speak to one of your prisoners.”
“Senator Domitian said-”
"Domitian is just one senator," I snap back."He has no more authority than me.I'm here to question a suspect and find answers.Now, let me in, or I'll be forced to conclude that you're trying to hide something from the Senate."
It’s a bluff.I don’t have the other senators on my side anymore.If they refuse to let me see Alaric, there’s nothing I can do unless I’m prepared to fight them to get in.AmI prepared to do so?A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t even have asked the question.It would have seemed vital to stay within the laws and structures of the Republic.Now, with Alaric’s life at stake, I’m not so sure.
Maybe the guards can sense some of my determination, because they take a step backwards.“Of course, Senator,” the one doing the talking says.
“Where have they taken Alaric?”I ask.I have no doubt that they’ll know.Even among his fellow rebels, Alaric will stand out.
“They took him up to one of the highest rooms,” the guard says.“They’re keeping him alone, for now.”
Which means they’re singling him out for special treatment.That might mean that they’re treating him better than the others, but it might also mean that they’ve decided to torture him for every scrap of information about his group, to tear through Alaric’s mind with psychomancy and make him tell them everything.Every moment I waste is a moment where he might be suffering.
