First, though, it will be Selene's turn to enter the arena.I want to see that.I need to know what she's capable of.And I need to find a way to stop her.
CHAPTER THREE
“I’ve been working to make sure my people are in the crowd,” Alaric says as we warm up beneath the arena.“I don’t want you to feel that you’re alone out there.”
That’s comforting.There’s always a chance that, whatever happens, Selene will call for the guards to try to kill me, or will try to turn the crowd against me.Having the resistance nearby means there may be enough people to fight back against them.
But I don’t want that.
“Don’t risk them like that,” I say.“You’ve tried getting the resistance to take control of the arena before, Alaric.There are always too many people, too many guards.I don’t want you risking your people for me.”
“Do you think there’s anything I wouldn’t risk for you?”Alaric asks, putting his hands on my arms.
“I know you’d do anything,” I say.“Which is why I have to say that you shouldn’t.Don’t risk your people like that.Use them where they can do some good, on the streets of Aetheria.Use them where they can change things, not protecting me.”
The fate of the city is what counts, not me.I know I’m risking my life in the arena, and I know Alaric wants to protect me, but it doesn’t matter compared to what happens to Aetheria.
Alaric looks as though he wants to argue, but even as he does so, Marcus’ voice echoes around the colosseum, bouncing from the stones beneath it as it’s amplified by the magic of the senate box.
“Citizens of Aetheria!Nobles!Merchants!Visitors from foreign lands!What a fight we have for you next.”
Marcus is obviously busy trying to whip up the crowd into a frenzy.I can hear them responding, a low rumble of noise building into something like a crescendo of anticipation.
“This fight will take place in a special arena.Aetheria is a place of magic and power.Well, let us see what that means.”
I hear a low rumbling and rush through the preparation area until I reach the gates leading to the arena.As I reach the iron gates leading to the arena floor, I see the whole colosseum reconfiguring itself.Parts of it rise and fall, creating a landscape of rises and falls, turning the whole space into something more interesting than just a simple circle of death filled with sand.
I can see now what the renovations have done for the colosseum, turning it into a place that can reconfigure itself easily, making it possible to have a completely different design of arena for each match.In this case, there are different levels of platform spread across the circle of the arena, clearly designed to make it difficult for anyone to maneuver carelessly.
As the stadium settles into place, I hear Marcus starting to speak again.
“For your next match up, we have a contest between magic and might.Entering the colosseum, we have a veteran of the imperial armies, a man who is a regiment unto himself.I give you Legio!”
Some of the crowd cheers, almost reflexively, as it is conditioned to cheer whoever Marcus announces.Through the bars of the gate leading to the arena, I see a figure walking onto the sands, dressed in the armor of an imperial guard.He's a tough, solid looking man, with a short sword in one hand and a square, tower shield in the other.He wears a breastplate of dark iron with greaves and an iron kirtle.He looks confident as he salutes the crowd, waiting for his opponent to enter the arena.
“And entering the colosseum from this side,” Marcus says, “we have your favorite for the competition, the former arch magistrate of Aetheria.I give you Selene Ravenscroft!”
The cheer this time is far greater, shaking the foundations of the arena and making it clear that Selene has plenty of support.She steps out onto the sands of the arena, dressed in partial scale armor that seems to show off her flesh with every movement, and wielding a curved sword with casual expertise.
“Begin,” Marcus calls out.
Immediately, Selene takes a position on one of the pieces of higher ground, forcing Legio to come to her.He starts forward, and even as he does so, I see the nature of his power, his body splitting again and again.It reminds me of Alaric’s power, where he uses illusions to create copies of himself, but there’s nothing illusory about these versions of the soldier as he charges.
Selene attacks immediately, firing out blasts of violet power at the charging ranks of foes.Legio lifts his shield in perfect unison, but Selene’s magic punches through that shield, violet beams of power punching through one shield after another.
They can only do it one at a time, though.Legio pushes forward, his copies forming ranks that keep coming, even as Selene strikes down one after another.Her magic burns holes in chests, tears away limbs, but that doesn't seem to matter.Legio keeps multiplying, and his copies keep surging forward.
The landscape makes it more difficult for him, however.Selene can give ground, knowing that the formation of her enemies cannot stay together as they follow.She continues to pick them off one by one, violet lances of her magic lashing down to kill her foes.
The crowd roars with each one that dies, seeming to enjoy it as each version of Legio is dismembered or blasted to pieces.Perhaps they sense that there's a chance for one version of him to reach Selene and strike a killing blow.Certainly, they're cheering loud enough to drown out the screams of the dying men.Because these are dying men, even if they are the same man over and over.Legio doesn't seem to care that versions of him are dying at Selene’s hands.Instead, a whole formation of him advances on her, trying to cut off the space in which she's dodging and moving.
Selene is moving quickly, though, staying ahead of the advancing soldiers.It's obvious she needs to do so, because staying in one spot would mean taking on a dozen or more opponents at once.Even Selene would quickly find herself overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, even if she started with just a single opponent.
My heart is in my mouth.Is it possible that Selene or her followers have misjudged this bout?Is it possible they've decided this would be easy for them, when in fact she's about to be overrun by sheer numbers?
Selene continues to seem confident, though.In fact, she starts to deliver a monologue, describing the shortcomings of her opponent.
“Military power is a core component of the empire,” Selene says, even as she dodges aside from a dozen blows at once.“Aetheria certainly benefited from having an army filled with men and women who were skilled in the arcane arts.”
