Fighting Fit (13 page)

“Just think of us as your friends,” Reuben told her with a smile.

“And your sisters’ friends,” I said impulsively.

Lucilla gasped. “But I don’t—”

“It’s a long story,” Reuben said. “We’ll tell you on the way.”

On the way back to the gate, Lucilla glanced back uneasily, and I heard her whisper what sounded like a fervent prayer to the goddess. She was remembering those terrible mounds, I thought, the graves of Vestals who were not so lucky.

I linked my arm through hers. “Come on,” I said softly. “This is the first day of the rest of your life.”

And we walked away from the Field of Sorrows forever.

Chapter Eleven

O
n our journey back Lucilla mostly rested with her eyes closed. A few times I saw her sneak a shy peek around the crowded wagon. I think she needed to reassure herself that we were real, that she wasn’t actually down a pit, just hallucinating being rescued. Once she said shyly, “What did you say their names were?”

I patted her hand. “Star and Aurelia.”

“All our names are full of light,” she said softly.

“What does Aurelia mean?”

“The golden one.” Lucilla had closed her eyes again.

“This has to be the longest night in history,” I said to Reuben. “I feel like I’ve been charging about Ancient Rome forever.”

“It’s nearly over now,” he said comfortingly.

I put my lips close to his ear so that Lucilla couldn’t hear. “Am I the only person here who thinks this is a teeny bit scary?” I hissed. “We’re defying a seriously evil curse. Remember all that stuff about cosmic black holes? Who knows what will happen when we put these incredible triplets together?”

“The Agency wants them reunited. One way or another it’ll all work out.” And Reuben gave me a sweet smile which took me so completely by surprise that it briefly took my breath away. I suddenly found myself remembering the way he had used my angel name on the night of that hideous banquet, bringing me out of my panic. Reuben gets me, I thought in awe. Even though he’s a pure angel, he gets me more than anyone, even Lola. Why
is
that?

We dropped the rest of the guys off at the barracks. Reuben, Orlando, Lucilla and I walked across the courtyard to Star’s apartment.

I was dismayed to see that someone had broken several branches off the peach tree. The fallen fruit had all been trampled into mush.

Orlando turned pale. “Festus told two men to watch the door. Where are they?”

No, I thought. Please, don’t let it be true!

The door to Star’s apartment was wide open. Inside Juno was trying to comfort a sobbing Aurelia. Festus Brutus hovered unhappily.

“Where’s Star?” Orlando sounded distraught.

“Nero sent for her,” Festus growled.

“At this time of night?” I said.

“Couldn’t sleep apparently,” Festus said in disgust. “His advisers thought a private performance from Rome’s most famous gladiatrix would while away the night. I did try to stop them, lad, but I’m not the man I was.” I could tell the old gladiator felt ashamed that he had failed to protect her.

“You’ve been a good friend to Star,” Orlando said quickly. “You mustn’t reproach yourself.”

Aurelia was sobbing with her hands over her face. She’d got to that stage of crying where you can hardly breathe.

Softly, hesitantly, Lucilla went to kneel beside her. She gazed at this unknown sister in awe, as if she was afraid she would vanish. With a trembling hand, she reached out to stroke her hair. “My sister,” she said softly, as if she was trying out this new and strange idea. “The goddess showed you to me in visions, but I never thought we would meet in this world.”

Aurelia peered at Lucilla through eyes that were red and swollen with crying. “You’re the temple girl!” she said incredulously. “Mella found you!”

“Not just me,” I said awkwardly.

Aurelia gave a slightly hysterical laugh.“Oh, this is so strange! I just found and lost one sister. And now you - ” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “I can’t take it in. I feel deranged. I don’t know if I should tremble, weep, or jump about with happiness!”

Lucilla sat beside Aurelia and took her hand. Her eyes sparkled with tears. “We should be happy,” she said softly. “A Dark power forced us to travel this life alone. Now the gods have brought us back together and we can fulfil our destiny.”

Reuben and I exchanged amazed glances. This triplet obviously knew exactly what was going on!! It was like she had a personal hotline to the gods.

Unfortunately we still only had two triplets in our possession.

“The PODS really shoved a spanner in the works this time.” I sighed to Orlando.

But now they’d taken Star he was like an unstoppable force. “They’ve slowed us down a bit, that’s all,” he said. “We know Star is at Nero’s palace. We’ll just reunite them there instead.”

I would not personally have chosen an imperial palace full of PODS, plus their human sympathisers, for the triplets’ big reunion, but I suspected there was some crucial element of cosmic timing that Orlando was keeping to himself; so for once I decided not to argue.

Nero’s palace was high on a leafy hill, well away from the noise and smells of the common people. It wasn’t too hard to sneak into the palace grounds. No CCTV cameras or electric gates in those days.

The trouble started when we tried to get in through the kitchens. We’d forgotten that all Nero’s slaves were dressed in identical livery, to show they belonged to the imperial household.

A slave sussed us the instant we put our noses inside. “What’s this? The cabaret?” he said sarcastically.

The cheeky answer just jumped out of my mouth. “Yeah, we’re the dancing girls, and these are our body guards.”

I heard Orlando making choking sounds.

The slave grinned. “Then you won’t mind letting me see you dance.”

“No problem,” I said confidently and showed him a few sexy dance moves. (Well, raunchy dancing is universal, right?)

He shook his head. “All young girls can dance. So if you’re the emperor’s cabaret, where are your costumes?”

I did my airhead giggle. “If we’d walked through the streets in those we’d have seriously been arrested! So we sent our costumes over earlier, with, um, the musicians,” I improvised hastily.

The slave laughed. “Nice try, darling. Now get out before someone from Security sees you and things get nasty.”

But I had no intention of leaving. This was the only way I knew to reach Star. “Look, ask the Emperor, if you don’t believe me!” I said desperately.

The slave shook his head in mock despair. “There’s no helping some people.” He bellowed into the distance. “Guards!”

Reuben didn’t blink. He totally trusted my instincts, whereas Orlando was looking at me as if I’d completely lost my mind.

“You want to get the sisters back together don’t you?” I hissed. “What does it matter if we’re taken before Nero as prisoners or, like, his saucy
hoochy-coochy
dancers or whatever?”

A look of grudging respect came into Orlando’s eyes. “Melanie Beeby,” he murmured, “you are something else.”

Nero’s household guards marched us down gleaming corridors, through a pair of gigantic doors, and into a marble dining hall filled with loud drunken voices and the busy clattering of cutlery. The smell of complicated Roman sauces floated through the air. The Emperor had insomnia, so naturally he was giving a nocturnal feast for all his pervy friends and relations. A group of musicians played valiantly at one end of the hall. You could hardly hear the instruments through the gales of talk and laughter.

Nero himself reclined on a golden couch, among gold tasselled cushions, wearing a white silk toga, with a gold striped border. The Emperor’s laurel wreath had slipped down over one eye, and he was smacking his lips over a plate of little roasted birds. I tried not to look too closely, but judging from their size they were blackbirds or thrushes.

On the other side of a low table, Titus Lucretius was tossing raw oysters into that wet-looking red mouth of his. Beside him Quintus steadily knocked back the booze.

The guard cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, these children were discovered sneaking into the palace. They claim to be a troupe of barbarian dancers, majesty.”

Nero’s midnight party had put him in a mellow mood. “But these are the lion children,” he said in a mild voice. I saw his eyelids droop as he registered the extraordinary resemblance between Aurelia and her sister. “My, my,” he crooned. “One Christian and one Vestal virgin. How enchanting. You came at the right moment,” he told them confidingly. “Just in time for the evening’s main attraction.”

“With respect,” Titus interrupted smoothly, “your Majesty
does
remember that these are intruders, not invited guests?”

Nero’s face darkened. “Which one of us is the
Emperor?”
he demanded.

“You, of course, your Majesty, but—”

Then I think I can decide who to invite into my own palace, Titus Lucretius,” said the Emperor haughtily. He jumped up and his plate of little dead birds fell to the floor with a crash. Broken pottery and gravy went everywhere.

“Let me show you my surprise!” he told Aurelia and Lucilla in a conspiratorial voice. Seizing their hands he pulled them over to another set of doors. A slave hastily flung them open.

“Behold!” said Nero proudly.

There’s something about madness that makes you feel like you are also going crazy. And when I saw what was on the other side of the doors, I literally felt as if normal reality was turning inside out.

Nero had built an amphitheatre inside his palace. It was on a smaller scale, but apart from that everything was identical; the tiers of seats, the sand-filled arena. As it was night-time, the arena was lit by burning torches.

The Emperor’s guests obediently filed in to take their seats. Some brought their plates of food and wine goblets with them, and carried on gorging themselves and gossiping loudly. The Emperor made us all sit with him in the front row. As his new special best friends, Aurelia and Lucilla had to sit on either side of him.

“They brought a little gladiatrix here for my amusement,” Nero drawled. “But ordinary armed combat is SO boring. So I decided to introduce an element of surprise.” He clapped his hands. “Bring her in!”

When I saw Star led into the arena by the guards, I had to bite my lip to stop myself from crying out.

She’d come to fight, yet they’d taken away her sword, her shield and all her protective armour. In her white linen tunic she looked small and vulnerable.

But when Nero set eyes on her, he seemed stunned. His eyes swivelled nervously to Lucilla and Aurelia then returned to the gladiatrix.

It’s the first time he’s seen Star without her mask! I realised.

Beads of perspiration appeared on the Emperor’s forehead and he began to breathe in panicky gasps. I felt almost sorry for him. Hanging out with PODS was doing absolutely nothing to improve Nero’s mental health.

“It’s OK, your Majesty,” I said in my most gentle voice. “You’re not imagining things. The girls are identical triplets. This is the first time they’ve been together since they were ba—”

“Silence, foolish girl!” barked Nero. He hastily blotted his sweaty face with the silken hem of his toga. “Obviously I realised they’re triplets!” he hissed at me. “Do you think I’m insane?”

Oops, I thought.

The PODS in the audience were visibly disturbed when they saw Star separated from her sisters by just a flimsy wooden barrier and a few metres of sand. This was something they definitely hadn’t bargained for. And then two concealed gates burst open, and ten fully-armed gladiators stormed in.

This was the Emperor’s surprise element. Nero wanted to see the gladiatrix fight for her life against impossible odds, and finally expire in a pool of blood. So did all his sick cronies. The amphitheatre erupted into hyena-type whoops of excitement.

When Star saw what entertainment Nero had laid on for his guests, she did something extraordinary. The girl who’d had to fight to survive for practically her whole life, silently knelt down in front of the Emperor, bowed her head, and totally refused to fight.

Nero was beside himself. “Get up, get up!” he screamed.

Star didn’t move.

The gladiators came to a stumbling halt. They were the kind of guys you’d hate to meet in a dark alley: scary professional killers, skilled in every fighting style going, and proud of it. But murdering a kneeling girl requires no skill whatsoever. They stared at Star like puzzled bulldogs.

The
sweethearts
, I thought deliriously. They totally can’t do it!

But the mad Emperor wasn’t going to be cheated now. A creepy smile spread over his face. “Guards!” he bellowed. “I’m introducing one last challenge for the gladiatrix.”

He jerked Lucilla and Aurelia to their feet. “Take them into the arena to join their sister!” he announced.