She ducks under the blow of a sword, dodges aside from another.
“But let's not pretend that the empire achieved its full extent simply because of the strength of its army.Magic can always overcome numbers.”
She continues to dodge aside from attacks, making it look easy as she makes sure she does not allow herself to be surrounded by seemingly ever growing numbers of copies of the soldier.Selene dances around the interior of the colosseum, picking off versions of Legio with almost casual grace.
“It doesn't matter how many soldiers an army has,” Selene says.“If each individual member is easy to defeat with magic.Our neighbors, our enemies, have always had more people at their command than us.But thanks to the magic that flows through the stones beneath the city, every soldier we have possesses magic on a scale that would slaughter most enemies.Even Legio here possesses magic beyond the comprehension of most mere warriors.”
Selene holds her ground then, as the crowd chants for her opponent to take up the fight in earnest, urging him, them, on into the attack.
Legio charges, a whole phalanx of him moving towards Selene at once now.She stands there with a faint smile, and I know she has something planned.Selene is anything but a fool, so if she's standing there letting Legio come to her, there must be a reason for it.
I try to understand what she's doing, and I can feel what I'm sure Selene can feel, with her psychomancy.Not all of the versions of Legio feel the same.I can just feel their emotions, but I'm sure she feels their thoughts, allowing her to pick one out from the others.What I feel is simple: one is different from the rest.He feels real somehow when the others do not.
That's the one Selene starts to target.She attacks him with one blast of violet power, then another.Other versions of him throw themselves in front of himself, trying to shield the original version from harm.They seem happy to take fatal attacks just so long as that core version of the soldier isn’t harmed.Selene keeps up the pressure, attacking him again and again, clearly determined to separate him from the rest of her foes.
A whole squadron of copies closes in on Selene in the middle of the sands.They seemed determined to overwhelm her through sheer weight of numbers, and for once, she's standing still, waiting for them to come to her.
Just that stillness makes it clear it's a trap.
I'd call out to him if I thought it would be heard above the screaming of the crowd, their demands for blood and death.As it is, all I can do is stay and watch, some part of me knowing what's going to happen next.
As the versions of Legio close in on Selene, she starts to glow with violet power, building and building that energy even as she parries one attack after another.It seems clear to me that she’s drawing Legio on now, waiting for him to overextend.
“A strong army is vital,” Selene says, talking to the audience, not to her opponent.“But it is as nothing compared to the strength of magic,”
As Selene says that, she unleashes a burst of magic that tears through the copies of Legio, ripping them apart and reducing them to little more than ash.She sends out a single, lancing beam of power, targeting one foe among all the rest.
He falls to his knees, and the rest fall with him, quickly fading into nothingness, so that Selene is left on the sands facing just a single foe.She sets a blade to his throat, even as the crow around her gasps.
“Martial might?”Selene says.“It is nothing compared to magical power.We have pretended too long that these things are equal.A soldier like this is a loyal servant, but they should never rule.What do you say, Legio?Will you yield to me?Do it, and I'll give you a position in the order that is to come.Refuse, and everyone here will see the fate of those that try to stand against magical power.”
Even now, it's obvious Selene is trying to make a point.She's trying to show that magical power is the only thing that matters.Legio seems to know that he has no other options, so he bows his head.
“There!”Selene says.“Victory is mine!”
She isn't even pretending to work in the system of the Republic now.She's promising her foes positions within the new system she intends to create.She's showing just how powerful her magic is.If I do nothing, then soon, Selene will rule over everything.
This is what I'm fighting against: not just a woman but an idea.If I don't find a way to combat both, then a new and crueler version of the empire will emerge and swallow the Republic whole.Selene isn't even pretending to work within the structures of the Republic now.This is her last push to create a new version of the empire.I'm the only thing that stands between Aetheria and this new tyranny.I cannot fail, even if it means killing Selene, here in the colosseum.
CHAPTER FOUR
I have only a few minutes left before my next fight in the tournament.I’m due to face Jor, the mountain warrior who has been lured to the city specifically for this contest.I have no doubt Selene made sure he came here just so she can show just how superior the people of the city are to their supposedly barbarous neighbors.
Perhaps this is even a precursor to an invasion, in due course, or at least to some dominant treaty between Aetheria and the people of the mountains.It’s an assertion of Aetheria’s magical power, and Selene is using me to do it.
A part of me instantly doesn't want to fight on her terms, but I push aside that reaction.I know I must fight if I'm going to get through the tournament to face Selene.She's creating a spectacle to show her own superiority, and that of Aetheria.I need to turn that same spectacle against her.
“Your next opponent is strong,” Alaric says, helping me to prepare, down in the depths of the colosseum, “but it would be a mistake to think that’s all he is.I’ve heard plenty of stories about the mountain folk.The stories say they can call the spirits of their ancestors, or of beasts, into themselves.”
The second part of that sounds uncomfortably close to what I can do, borrowing attributes from the animals close to me to make myself faster and stronger.Has Selene found another beast whisperer to fight me?
No, I don’t believe that.Where Selene has found beast whisperers out in the world, she’s killed them.Jor is something else, something different.
I’m still trying to work out what when Marcus arrives in the preparation room.
“How are you doing, Lyra?”he asks.There’s a tension in his voice that wasn’t there before.I know he’s afraid for me every time I fight.“Are you ready for your next bout?”
“I’m prepared,” I say.“Shouldn’t you be up in the senate box?”
