“What is it?”Alaric says.
“You need to come quickly,” the man says.“People...people are trying to storm the palace.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Is it Selene?”I ask Alaric as we run from the colosseum.
Around us, there are plenty of members of the crowd flooding out into the streets.Some might be trying to get home after seeing Selene’s fight, and more might be hurrying back because they’ve heard rumors of violence on the streets, but I’m sure some of them are rushing to get involved in the conflict around the palace.
I don’t know what side they plan to fight on, or who’s behind it.Even Alaric looks confused.
“I only know what you know,” he says.“I haven’t heard anything about Selene’s people planning to move on the senate through force, though.Why would they, when she controls most of the senators?”
That’s a worrying point.Selene has a majority behind her in the senate, thanks to a mixture of psychomancy, threats, bribes, and sometimes just the feeling that she’s the right thing for the city.She’s having laws passed that will give her even more power if she succeeds in the games.Has something gone wrong with that attempt at power?Has she decided to grab it more directly?Or is this something else?
Even as I rush through the city with Alaric by my side, I reach out with my magic, looking through the eyes of rats and birds, trying to get a sense of the conflict ahead of us.From above, I see a crowd of people advancing on the palace, a mob of them holding whatever weapons they’ve been able to grab.
And they’re wearing the white and gold of the Republic, not the purple of the empire.
“Lyra!Lyra!”
The chanting comes to me through the ears of the animals I’m connected with, my name ringing out again and again, but it isn’t the only thing people are calling out.
“Down with corruption!Down with Selene’s puppets!”
“No return to the empire!”
They’re sentiments I can agree with, but Ican’tagree with this assault on the power center of the city.I can’t let these people simply attack the palace, can’t let them hurt anyone while chanting my name.
I start to run faster, borrowing whatever speed and grace I can from the animals around me.There are too many people in the streets to push through, so I clamber up onto the rooftops, leaping between one and the next as I try to cover ground as quickly as possible.Alaric is behind me, letting his disguise fall as he tries to keep up.
“What is it, Lyra?”he asks.“What’s wrong?”
“It’s our people,” I say.“People following me.Maybe members of the resistance.”
“The resistance wouldn’t do that,” Alaric says.
“Wouldn’t they?”I shoot back.“They’ve attacked plenty of Selene’s people, the speakers she’s sent out into the streets, her supporters.Whywouldn’tthey try to overthrow a government they think she controls?"
The division between the sides in the city has built up until it can’t be contained any longer.If I can get there, maybe I can do something to turn them back.
But I can already hear the violence all around me.I keep running over the rooftops, while below me, members of the resistance and people adorned with flashes of white and gold clash with knots of guards, or people wearing the purple of Selene's supporters.I see a group of resistance fighters surrounding a man who's trying to keep them at bay with a sword, and I stop, trying to think of a way to stop them from hurting him.
“I’ll deal with it,” Alaric says, obviously seeing the same thing.“You need to get to the palace.Go.”
He’s already leaping down to deal with his supporters.Does Alaric feel guilty about the way his followers in the resistance are attacking people in the street now?As guilty asIfeel?
Because Idofeel guilty about what's happening here on the streets, I've stood up and told people that they need to stand up against the regime that's trying to oppress them.I've told them that Selene's trying to take away their freedom and destroy everything the city stands for.In doing that, have I created a monster?Am I the reason why some of the people below are advancing on the palace?
Or am I just the excuse?Did some of them want to do this anyway?If so, should I feel any less guilty?Shouldn’t I have seen how dangerous the situation in the city was, and that I should weigh my words more carefully?
I can see the palace ahead now.The guards there have shut the gates against the oncoming wave of people, standing ready with their weapons to repel them as if they're some invading force.Magic fills the air as some of the guards summon barriers of flame or force, while others send up warning blasts of magic, intended to both intimidate the oncoming people and summon more of their number.How long will it be before those who claim to support me find themselves facing a whole battalion of soldiers?
But this is Aetheria, and the guards aren’t the only ones with magic.I see a woman throw a flicker of flame at one of the gates, a man hurl an axe that seems to spin through the air with impossible speed, barely deflected by one of the barriers before it can embed itself in a guard’s skull.
"Stop this!"I call out, leaping down to ground level, but I suspect my words are lost in the noise of the crowd.People are tearing at one of the gates now, and some of the guards are lashing out with spears and with blasts of magic.Screams fill the air.
It doesn't help that groups of Selene's supporters are there, too, fighting against my people in front of the palace.One of them runs at me with a blade, and I twist aside, throwing him over my hip to land heavily.Another appears to be lining up a magical attack, so I summon a bird from the sky to swoop into him, knocking him off balance.A barrage of pebbles is thrown up into the air, rather than at the supporter he was aiming at.
