Wolf’s Empire: Gladiator (31 page)

Ambrosia. The mineral the Sertorians had started the war to obtain.

“Get out. Quick.” The hissed words interrupted my racing thoughts.

Licinus? No. “Julia?”

My bunkmate stood just inside the door.

“What are you doing here? How did you get the codes to Crassus' room?”

“You stole my tools, so I stole your codes off of your armilla while you slept. Now, get out. He'll be here any second.”

Licinus was coming? That wasn't good, but I wasn't going anywhere without the ambrosia. I reached for one of the phials, but Julia grabbed my hand and told me to leave it be. “You are a stubborn pain in the ass. Put that phial back and get out! If he finds one missing, he'll kill your brother.”

It seemed the redhead immune knew a lot more about me than she'd let on. She took a phial from the chest, and swapped it with another that looked almost identical.

“Look familiar?” She said, holding it up.

Now that she called my attention to it, I knew the liquid at once. It was the tisane.

“They've been feeding it to you all along, diluted ambrosia. This stuff in the box is condensed ambrosia, the strong stuff reserved for the Sertorians.”

“You knew all along?”

“No. I couldn't say for sure until now,” she said. She used her armilla to close the casket and table.

“You shouldn't have those codes,” I said. “Who are you working for?”

“Meet me back in the cabin after this. We'll talk then.”

“Why should I trust you?”

She cast a quick glance at her armilla. “Because I'm about to save your life. Hide behind the pillar over there. When he's distracted, make a run for it.”

She took out a small device and pointed it at the ceiling. The gentle glowing overhead light fizzled and then suddenly burst forth with bright intensity.

“Who's in here?”

I ducked behind the pillar just as Licinus stormed into the room. Julia snatched up the toolbox I'd left by the bench and quickly pointed up at the ceiling.

“Sir, we had a circuit malfunction in your quarters. The regulator on your lighting panel blew out. This is the same setting the plebs on the lower decks have to suffer.”

“These are my personal quarters. How did you get in?”

Julia held up her armilla.

“Maintenance pass gives me access to most parts of the ship. The job came up on the system, and I came up to fix it. My pass worked fine.”

“It shouldn't give you access to my private quarters. No one should have that code.”

Julia shrugged. “Just one of those things, I guess. My pass does open just about everything aboard.”

“Shut your mouth. Do you want to be whipped to death?”

“Um, no.”

“I'm going to order that you receive ten lashes from your supervisor with the electro cat.”

“Sorry, sir, I didn't know, sir. I'll leave the light as it is, then, and report to my superiors,” she said and made to go.

“Wait. I know you. You're one of my immunes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If I had the choice, there would be none but Sertorian legionaries, but others have the idea that the Vulcaneum produce the best field engineers money can buy.”

“I heard the same thing, sir. I'm sure my replacement will be just as good.”

“Replacement?”

“After ten lashes, I'll lose my finger dexterity. They'll have to swap me out for the tournament.”

“Hmm. You've been drilling well enough, meeting my requirements. I don't like to tamper with a winning lineup. Fix the light and then return to the lower decks. It'll be three lashes of the electro cat, and you can count yourself lucky I don't have time to administer them myself. Three will teach you a lesson without leaving permanent damage.”

“Yes, sir, thank you, sir. It's gonna take me five minutes or so. I have to repair the unit. It might get a bit bright in here.”

“You have two,” Licinus announced as he marched off to an adjoining room.

Julia gestured to me and I slipped out, calming my breath. No sense hurrying and drawing attention to myself. Julia had kept the ambrosia sample, but I planned on taking that from her the very next time I saw her. Just let her try to hold on to it.

Back in the cabin, I changed, jumped onto my bunk, and tried to make sense of what I had just learned. What was going on with Julia? Was she a collegia agent? I knew she had an agenda and that I'd been used, but at the same time she'd risked her life to save me, was at that very moment enduring administrative punishment on my behalf.

I was alone again, trembling from the risk I'd just taken, barely escaping and with Aulus' life and my whole mission at stake if I got it wrong. At that moment I didn't know how I could keep going. I felt helpless, totally abandoned. So much pressure was being brought to bear upon me that I never realized how much Julia's friendship had been buoying me up.

And now I was a victim, a test subject, dosed up to the eyeballs with ambrosia. I'd thought I was so smart, but everyone aboard the ship was making use of me and I hadn't seen it at all.

Julia's locker was open. When she found me gone, she must have been in too much of a rush to shut it. Inside I found what I needed: a lightblade—a laser cutter. I climbed onto my bunk and made thin diagonal cuts along my right forearm with the red-hot lightblade. My heart raced. I broke out in a sweat, but I wasn't getting what I wanted. It wasn't helping me wake up, it wasn't making me feel like myself. Was I too far gone to even shock myself back into feeling? The wounds cauterized instantly, leaving swollen black-and-red scars. Sertorian colors. Even my body was betraying me. I should have been the one caught by Licinus. I was trapped in a nightmare and the feeling of the cat striking my back might have woken me up. Then I'd be back in my bed in the Wolf's Den. Constrained by safety, the empire's problems were something I could do nothing about. But instead I was alone in the depths of space, preparing to fight for my life in the arena to please the insane whims of the Sertorians.

I wasn't scared, not an ounce of fear. The ambrosia had stolen it. No nerves, no anger. Only a deep sorrow, an encompassing darkness that swallowed my fire. As I sat and watched the result of my handiwork, the four black scars became increasingly thinner and fainter until they vanished entirely. I tapped my arm lightly, seeking sensation, then harder when I felt no pain. Curious, I repeated the experiment and slowly carved two new cuts into my arm. It took longer to heal the second time, but within a few minutes, my skin was clear and unblemished. I turned my arm this way and that, looking for any trace of a scar, but there was nothing. At first I thought it was the poor lighting in the cabin, but on closer inspection there was no doubt—my skin was yellow.

“It's the ambrosia. You've got enough of it inside you to float a trireme.” Julia shuffled awkwardly into the cabin. “When you're starting to run low, it causes a skin discoloration. One of the less debilitating side effects of withdrawal and easy to spot.”

“Did he whip you?” I asked.

“Not him personally, but yeah. Three lashes. Hurt like a bitch.”

“We need to talk,” I said.

She took the privacy cube from her toolbox and activated it.

“Now we can talk.”

“What the hell is going on? Tell me now. Why were you watching me?”

There was some condensation on the surface of our shared portal, and she used it to write a word:

TROIA

The ancient word for Troy. “Your uncle sent me,” she said.

I rubbed my hand over the word, erasing it at once.

“Is that so?”

“Of course. He came to you the night after the match in the Colosseum. He asked you to go along with Gaius Crassus' offer in order to spare your brother's life. He has promised to rescue Aulus once you find him, freeing you to sabotage the Sertorian team from within. You didn't think he'd throw you in the deep end without any support, did you?”

“I didn't know House Viridian was in the habit of hiring collegia agents to do its dirty work or that the collegia had any interest in helping the houses.”

“There's a lot you don't know.”

“Then you'd better explain yourself and quickly,” I demanded.

“I really am a field engineer,” Julia explained. “I like hardware, but I'm just as adept at mercurial engineering. I specialize in digital architecture design and system programming. I'm considered a rising star within the collegia; I've even taken on an honorary role as the voice for workers' rights. Your uncle has formed an alliance between your house and the collegia, and I'm here to make sure he keeps his end of the deal.”

“What deal is that exactly?” I asked suspiciously. “The collegia have wealth and power independent of the houses. Their best strategy is to avoid this conflict altogether, to sit on the sidelines and then support whichever house emerges victorious. What could possibly motivate you to support House Viridian when we're on our back foot?”

“The only thing that is of any interest to us,” she said. “Legitimacy.”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“We've been trodden on for so many years by the nobles, the only thing that could interest us…”

“Is your own house,” I finished.

“Exactly. A noble house with our own compound on one of the seven sacred hills—we don't really care which one. If the Sertorians come to power, nothing will change. We'll be little better than slaves. What we want is a future, a house that encompasses every member of the trade colleges, a seat in the Senate, a right to vote on our future, to influence what jobs we will take or won't take. We want the say we deserve.”

“Gods, are things that bad?”

“What?” she asked sharply.

“I'm sorry. I don't mean any offense. Only, plebs in the Senate, it's never happened before. My uncle would never go for it unless we were truly close to defeat.”

“You know how hard it was for me to rise up through the ranks of the Vulcaneum as a woman? You know what it's like to be held back because of your sex, but you don't hesitate to look down on those from a different class.”

“You're right. I'm sorry. It's just habit. I didn't think.”

“No problem. Just think before you speak. And you're right, your house is desperate. Why do you think they sent you?” She smiled. “Here we are, two women, with the job of pulling all those proud male peacocks out of the fire. You know, I volunteered for this assignment. I lied before when I said I never saw you fight. I saw. You were told to keep your mouth shut and be a good girl, and instead you lit the arena on fire. I respect that, so I stepped up. I volunteered to keep you alive, to make sure you finish your mission so your uncle can make the empire fair for all citizens.”

“It's a noble ideal,” I said.

“I plan on making it a reality.”

“We have a lot in common,” I said. “We're stuck in a terrible situation with big ambitions.”

“We're in exactly the right place,” Julia said. “I was at the battle of Sirius Terminus. They consider that battle sacred, it was Aquilinus' first victory over the Viridians after the bombing of Olympus Decimus, and because I was there at their beloved proconsul's rise to power, supporting them, my loyalty is never questioned. It made me the perfect person for this mission, and now you and I are going to become sharp splinters in the Sertorians' side.”

Could it be true? I felt like I could breathe for the first time in weeks. I wasn't alone.

“So, ambrosia,” I said. “Tell me what you know.”

“Your uncle instructed me to gather intelligence while the Sertorians were focused on you. All the team members are taking it, you've probably noticed. It enhances the senses, brain function, nervous system, and muscle twitch response. It makes you stronger, faster, and smarter. It's amazing stuff, but it has addictive properties. You may have noticed that too.”

“Addictive properties?”

“Yes, shaking, mood swings, yellow skin, withdrawal, and craving for more. All in all, you've been performing amazingly well considering you're on about half the dose the Sertorians are receiving. You really are a natural in the arena.”

“A natural guinea pig,” I said angrily. “Did my uncle know about this? He sent me onto this ship knowing they'd do this to me. He's turned me into an addict to find out his enemy's secrets.”

“Whoa, slow down,” Julia counseled. “I don't know if it's the machine Crassus has been working you over with or the ambrosia, but you're getting a bit paranoid.”

“You're right,” I admitted. “I'm overreacting. I hardly know myself anymore. My head's been spinning, it's hard to think straight. I have dark dreams. When you told me I was calling out Crassus' name in my sleep…”

“The ambrosia makes both your mind and body more plastic,” she said. “It's what's making Crassus' machine so effective. They're reshaping you inside and out, but I've been diluting your pot of tisane where I can, trying to help you keep your head, or you'd have been all over Crassus like a rash by now.”

No wonder Crassus was getting so frustrated with me during our sessions. I shouldn't have been able to resist. I should have been completely compliant to him. He'd expected me to be in his bed in the first week, to be his slave, body and soul. He was every bit as dangerous as Licinus.

“The stuff they were giving you wasn't good enough for your uncle's scientists. They needed a better quality sample, high-grade stuff.” From a compartment in her tool belt she took out the small tube. “That's why I nudged you in the direction of Licinus' cabin.”

“You used me.”

“I might have kept quiet about certain things, but I'm here to help you,” Julia said. “The Sertorians are trying to mess with you, trying to blur the lines between friend and enemy; that's why I couldn't let you in on my mission earlier. I had orders to wait and see if you could bear up under the pressure, but you've got to believe that your uncle's on your side. That's why he sent me: Family looks out for family. What's more Roman than that?”