Wolf’s Empire: Gladiator (74 page)

Marcus! I had to bite my lip from crying out his name and signaling the enemy to our presence. The lightning flash hit the ground, and the skirmisher along with the Calpurnian chariot was blasted sideways, flying through the air. The area where it sped but a moment ago was now scorched black, the air around it filled with exploding ice and steam. But how? The lightning bolt was a projection, the same as Aquilinus himself. It was the stadium's ion cannon! A glowing tip beneath the stadium revealed that it had just fired. As he threw, the cannon shot along the line of the projected bolt, creating the illusion that the bolt was real.

Where the Calpurnian chariot had come to a rest there was some movement, and a moment later the survivors, two Flavians, struggled to their feet and set about righting their craft. Two bodies lay below, team leader Cossus and charioteer Trio Trigeminus, crushed by their own craft's weight, stone dead.

Now the unstable environment responded to Aquilinus' ion cannon strike. The very earth began to rumble and the ice shelf broke apart—great chunks of rock and crystal plummeted down, creating a wide crevasse. When the steam cleared, all that was left of a square mile of ground, the land between the eastern side of the yoke and the exit path between the two hills, was a single spine of solid ice. The ground to either side of the spine had fallen away to the depths below, leaving something resembling a makeshift bridge. That bridge must have been the strongest part of the ice shelf, a solid ridge that ran all the way down to the bottom of the dark crevasse below, and now the Caninines would have to pass over it if they sought to escape Aquilinus' torments.

Undeterred, Aquilinus fired another bolt, this one at the Ovidian chariot. They suffered a similar fate to the Calpurnians, an upturned chariot for displeasing their newly appointed master, but no dead.

And then, as the mist from the melting ice cleared, I saw a figure running toward the yoke. Marcus! He had jumped clear of the blast in time and now, while all eyes were on Aquilinus, he ran, heading for cover. He took shelter behind the great dolmen arch itself, concealing himself out of the sight of the enemy behind the pillar closest to the ice shelf, farthest from us. He made it! Not until this very moment, my mind and heart clear, looking down at him as he braved all for his house, did I realize the depth of feeling I had for him. He had always been there for me and, attuned as I was to Lumen and the song, I saw that his feelings for me were more than those of a mentor, but I was never able to accept it, too caught up with my need for revenge, and now that I was aware of it, I felt a reciprocity, a sense of tenderness, an overwhelming fear for his continued well-being.

Julius Gemminus appeared in the sky above the contestants.

“Magnificent! A magnificent display, Imperator!”

Julius Gemminus announced it with a loud, triumphal trumpet blast. A holographic arrow pointed to a shuttle on slow descent to the planet's surface from the Rota Fortuna.

“Here come the executioners from on high—the emperor's chosen to cull a member of the herd. Which dog lover will fall beneath their blades?” A bright spotlight fell on Marcus. They were targeting him. Soldiers from the station would gun him down without a fair chance to defend himself.

“I heard something about this on my armilla. Aquilinus toys with them and periodically sends down an execution squad to eliminate a gladiator from the competition who displeases him,” Julia said.

“That can't go down well with the mob,” I said. “Can you pick up the vox populi now?”

“Yes,” Julia said. “I'm scanning it now. There's a lot of activity.”

The air about Aquilinus was suddenly filled with hundreds of downturned thumbs, each one representing a billion voices that disapproved of Marcus' slated execution.

Aquilinus swept his holographic arm in a mighty arc, scattering the thumbs and obliterating them from sight, and then cast a bolt right into the face of Julius Gemminus and through the projection orb behind it, demonstrating his displeasure at the crowd's response.

Julia quickly tuned in to her armilla and flicked through the various feeds on the vox populi.

“What are you picking up?” I asked.

“The answer to why Aquilinus is continuing with the games,” she said. “I'm reading between the lines here because none of them will come right out and say it, but from what I'm picking up from the various commentators, the mob is still sitting on the fence about Aquilinus' self-promotion to the throne. One half fear the Sertorians have committed hubris and that the gods in turn will seek vengeance, or they just plain hate the Sertorians, or they're pissed off the tournament isn't as competitive as it should be. The other half are desperate for ambrosia, or fear the Sertorians, or are allied with them.”

“It's one thing to seize power,” Crassus said, “but if you want to hold the empire, then you have to give the people what they want. There's a lot of Romans who won't buy into Aquilinus' idea until he can successfully conclude the games to their satisfaction.”

“Gods, it would be a different matter entirely if women were included in the vote,” I said. “They wouldn't tolerate this idiot at all.”

“Perhaps,” Julia said. “At any rate, the Arrians sense Aquilinus' vulnerability and are holding back lending Aquilinus military support until he's demonstrated he has more of the mob on side.”

“Vultures,” Crassus interjected. “They're waiting to see if Aquilinus falls so they can rush in and snatch up the ichor and the throne in one fell swoop.”

“The people's voice cannot be drowned out, and that's where our chance lies,” Julia said.

“Yes,” Crassus concurred. “Aquilinus will be less likely to kill the Caninines if it's going to cause an empirewide riot. He can't risk losing the throne so soon. That's why he's restarted the games and that's why he's going to have to return to the rules of the tournament.”

“Whoa, hold your horses. I'm all for winning the public opinion but I don't think the Ludi Romani audience is going to riot and challenge Aquilinus directly,” Julia stated. “That doesn't seem likely.”

“You are not a gladiator,” Crassus said. “You don't know how passionate the citizens of our empire are about what takes place in the games. Right now trillions of Romans are watching every moment that transpires on this world. They are asking themselves a question: Dare we follow Aquilinus? It's not just a matter of accepting the precepts and taking the ambrosia; they must turn their backs on Jupiter during his sacred games. The reason the games are continuing is that Aquilinus has yet to prove to them that he's worthy to lead the empire.”

“Aquilinus is overconfident. He's made a strategic error. With the odds so unfairly stacked against the Caninines, the thrill has gone out of the game. There's nothing but predictable outcomes in store for the audience. Let's fix that. You said they're scared of me? That means I'm in a position to spice things up a little. The mob will back anyone that can alleviate boredom and shake up predictable outcomes.”

“You're thinking of jumping into the fight, I can tell,” Julia said. “And I'm telling you right now that's a bad idea.”

“We've got to do something. I can't leave them to die down there.”

“That's exactly what you should do,” Julia countered. “The Caninines are all but dead. The games Aquilinus plays with them will buy us some small time. We've got to go stealthily, just slip by. Get Lumen as far away from the Sertorians as we can. Then the sacrifice they make now will have counted for something. If Lumen is captured, none of it matters. Keep Lumen safe, don't ride him right in there. You'd be handing Aquilinus victory.”

I looked down into the valley, at the Caninines being tormented while Aquilinus watched over them. The shuttle bearing Marcus' execution squad was halfway on its journey to the ground. “No. No other sacrifices,” I said. “There's no use skulking around, not with the Rota Fortuna hanging over us. We'll never get all the way to Nova Olympus without being seen.”

“The mob, the mob is the key. We have to get them on side,” Crassus insisted.

“Don't listen to him, Accala,” Julia protested. “They don't like Aquilinus, but from what I've heard, they don't like you much either. The mob didn't think well of you at the end, and Aquilinus has proclaimed you a traitor and a coward. Before the coup, they still had a camera or two hiding out in the tunnels—they saw what you did to the Sertorians. They're frightened of you. Winning over the mob is not an option.”

“Julia, if you can pick up the vox populi then you can post to it too, right? I want you to set up a poll in my name and ask them if they'll follow me. Say, ‘I'm alive and I'm fighting for the gods and justice. Aquilinus will be duly punished for his hubris. Do you choose a false emperor and lies, or the gods of our people and freedom?' Don't worry about it going down well now. I'm planning ahead,” I said.

“This is only going to alert Aquilinus to our presence,” Julia said. “It's all bad, Accala.”

“Do it or I will,” I said. “I'm asking you because I trust you, because that's your area of expertise. I know something about making the arena work to get the right outcome. Trust me.”

“I should never have let you bunk with me. Any other bunkmate would have been fine,” she mumbled. “I should have sent you on to the legionaries' quarters. They'd have used you for a punching bag and you'd never have made it off
Incitatus
. My mission would have been called off and I could have quietly slipped away from the Hawks and sat out the tournament at a warm bar in Avis Accipitridae,” Julia complained, as she set up the post.

“I'm not asking the audience to riot, not yet. I just want to pique their interest, see if they'll back us to reenter the tournament.”

“But how on earth do you think you're going to accomplish that?”

“Let's find out. I'm going to make it up as I go.”

I headed back to the cave where Lumen and Concretus awaited.

“Julia, you said before you could hack into a transmission signal. Do you have everything you need for that at hand? To hijack a broadcast?” I asked.

“At hand? Is that supposed to be a pun?” she grumbled. “It's not funny, but it's not far off the mark either. With the power in this new hand of mine and the transmission staff, I can give it a good shot. How long I can make it work before they isolate my signal and shut me down is another matter altogether. What did you have in mind?”

“Everyone climb aboard,” I said, ignoring Julia's questions as I took the controls of the flat craft and started it slowly forward.

“What? This isn't a good idea,” Julia protested, as Crassus and the Hyperboreans boarded. “We're not equipped to defeat those chariots!”

“We've got one more thing in our arsenal that will give us the edge,” I said.

“What's that?” Julia asked, still hesitating, still unwilling to climb on.

“The element of surprise,” I replied as I reached out, snatched her right wrist, and pulled her aboard.

Before she could consider jumping back off, I grabbed the controls and drove us forward. In seconds we were hurtling over the edge of the cliff, plummeting down the steep slope toward the fight.

“No! Wait!” Julia called, but I was not stopping. I had to take the fight to Aquilinus. I didn't dare stop to think or I'd lose my nerve. I focused on my breath. I was alive, back from the dead. And while I breathed, I could act, and while I could act, there was hope.

 

ACT VI

WAR GAMES

Even as when oft in a throng of people strife hath risen,

and the base multitude rage in their minds, and now brands and stones are flying;

madness lends arms;

then if perchance they catch sight of one reverend for goodness and service,

they are silent and stand by with attentive ear;

he with speech sways their temper and soothes their breasts.

—Virgil,
Aeneid

XXXIX

“A
RE YOU COMPLETELY FUCKING
crazy?” Julia screamed as we sped down the side of the mountain, gathering speed as we went, heading straight for the valley and the heart of the fight.

“More than likely,” I yelled back. I passed Crassus his javelin from the weapons pile. “Weapons at the ready. Wait for my order and strike to kill.”

The gladiators below might have been fresh and well armed, but they were not the best of the best. There couldn't have been more than a half dozen of the original Talonites left. The rest were subs, replacements. We could do this. My discus, Crassus' javelin, Julia and her staff—we could do this.

The smooth surface of the ice allowed us to gather great speed. As we descended at an angle to the gameboard, the faces of the tormented grew large and misshapen, transforming into a warped, hellish display before we were too close to make out distinct features at all.

We hit a bump and were launched into the air. My feet went out from under me, and it was only my grip on the sled controls that stopped me from flying right out of the vehicle altogether. I did a quick head check and saw the others were still all there. At this rate we'd have enough speed to hurtle us right through the cluster of enemy chariots. I needed to buy the Caninines time to clear that ice bridge— Minerva, I whispered in prayer, if you can grant Marcus the time to reach us before the execution squad reaches him, then make it so.

There might be a problem,
Lumen said.

Concretus grabbed Lumen around the waist, held the rails of the sled with his other arms, and then stepped right off. The claws of his crystalline foot dug into the ice and rock. We were losing speed.

He doesn't want to do anything that will endanger me.

“Tell him to get back in right now or I'll come at him,” I yelled. “He's not saving you, he's putting us all in danger.”