Page 21

My heart hammers in my chest as guards rush into the colosseum, far more than just our dozen gladiators.

They don't just have numbers on their side. They are heavily armored, in a way that we are not, since our armor is designed to protect our more vital areas, while leaving enough flesh on display to allow more blood in the fights. They are armed in a more uniform way, with short swords and large square shields, allowing them to move forward in tight formation.

And they have magic of their own. One makes flames flicker along the edge of his blade. Another tries to throw shadows at us, forcing us to duck or be blinded by them.

But we are gladiators and we have done nothing but train to fight for season after season in the colosseum. This is where we are used to fighting. We know this ground, know the sand beneath or feat. If the crowd is screaming in terror and roaring its defiance now, rather than calling out our names, that makes no difference.

We charge into the fray. I swing my net, pulling down the shield of one of the guards, giving Rowan an opening in which he can attack. I see Cesca touch her blade to the metal armor of a foe, sending him back with a jolt of lightning through it. I see Bella leap at another of the guards, using the air itself like a shield to deflect his blows while she attacks.

We cut into the first wave of them like a storm, but there are more following behind. We cannot just burst through them and out into the colosseum’s building. A guard swings at my head and I sway back from the blow just in time, but another slams his shield into me sending me sprawling. I thrust blindly with my spear, stabbing into the leg of one of them as they try to follow up, then scramble back to my feet.

An arrow flashes past me, and one of the gladiators clutches his shoulder as it slams into him. He throws a rock back in return, the projectile moving as quickly as if he had thrown it using a sling. The guard who fired the arrow goes down, and I keep pressing forwards.

I reach for the sight of the birds around the stadium, determined to see what's going on. In the chaos of the general melee on the sands, I need to be able to see behind myself as well as in front. Because I can see from every angle, I spot a blade coming from my back. I reversed my spear and thrust it beneath the breastplate of the guard advancing on me, bringing him down.

I see more than that, though. I see chaos starting to break out in the stands, as the poorest throw whatever they can find at the guards, and a wave of people tries to get up towards the boxes of the nobles. More gladiators are coming up from the spaces within the colosseum. They have grabbed weapons and are fighting for their freedom now. Guards and the trainers fight back against them.

Pain blossoms in my shoulder, an agony of fire as I see Lord Darius standing there in the emperor's box, concentrating. Around me all the gladiators are crying out in pain or clutching their shoulders as the master of the games uses the same power that he has used to brand us previously to burn our flesh now. I see one gladiator run through by a guard as he grabs his shoulder in pain, and I barely avoid the thrust of another blade.

The gladiator who threw the rock before flings another now, forcing Lord Darius to dodge back. Those of us who can attack at a distance do so, bombarding the box in which the master of the games stands with every power we have. His concentration broken the burning fades from our shoulders, and now I'm able to resume the fight, sweeping my net around to trip a soldier from his feet leaving him vulnerable to the thrust of another blade.

Through the eyes of the birds I can see the emperor retreating from his box, ushered out of it by Lord Darius, by Selene Ravenscroft, and by the closest of his guards. They are escaping, getting out from the middle of the violence. I move to follow, but another figure intercepts me, leaping down lightly from the edge of the colosseum onto the sands.

Vex stands there, his floating daggers already buzzing around him like angry bees.

“You betrayed me!”

he snarls. “You could have had everything.”

“You would have given the ordinary people of Aetheria nothing,” I say.

Vex sends his daggers winging towards me, cutting through the air, not caring who they hit. I can see some of his nobles and mercenaries up in the stands, joining in the fight.

I use my net to catch his daggers as they close in on me, but he is not trying to toy with me, not trying to play up to the crowd for once. His daggers are simply coming to try to kill me, and it takes every scrap of reflexes I can borrow from the birds to avoid them.

Even as I do so, I see Bella's closing in on him, using the chaos of the fight on the arena floor to try to get to him without being spotted. Vex represents everything she hates, so it's hardly a surprise that she's trying to kill him now. She lunges forward with a shield of air held up above her to fend off any incoming blows.

Some instinct saves Vex. He twists aside at the last moment, taking a wound to the side but not falling. The knives that were coming for me now circle back. I try to catch one from the air but compared to the swarm of the rest of them it's nothing.

Bella fends off the knives with her shield of air for a few moments as she attacks with relentless fury. She forces Vex onto the back foot, making him give ground step by step as she strikes at him with the kind of anger and aggression that it's hard to stop. For those seconds it looks as though she might cut Vex down, then leap up into the stands to join in the general fight alongside the common people, urging them to slaughter any nobles who get in their way.

Then one of Vex's knives gets through, slashing across her side. It's enough to break her concentration, if only for a moment. That’s enough. More of the knives come for her, plunging into her from every angle as if Bella is a pincushion.

I hear her cry out in pain, collapsing to the sand as the life drains from her. I react on instinct, lifting my spear and throwing it, even as Vex turns back towards me, trying to bring his knives to bear once more. I throw it with all the force my arm can muster, and it slams into his chest, transfixing him, leaving him standing there staring at it. He topples forward and the spear stops him from falling, embedding itself in the ground so that Vex is held up by it like a scarecrow.

I draw my curved knife, all too aware, as I use my net to tangle an incoming below that I've just thrown away my best weapon. Around me, I see other gladiators dying. Rowan is hemmed in by guards, defending himself as best he can. People are falling from the stands. Violence is everywhere.

We are exacting a heavy toll for our lives but the guards keep coming. Even with their numbers thinned by the violence of the night before, there are still far more of them than of us. The truth is that we are losing, and we cannot afford to lose. Given what awaits us if we're captured, it is better to die fighting.

I push that thought aside. This isn't about some heroic last stand. This isn't about my friends dying. I'm here to save the people of Aetheria, and that includes the gladiators out here on the sands. I must find a way to save all of them.

Including Alaric.

The emperor said that he would keep him in the palace. That is where he will be heading now and I have no doubt that once he reaches it he will kill Alaric simply because he can, and to make sure that I never get to him in time. I must not just win this fight, but do it quickly enough that I can get to the palace to stop the emperor from killing the man I love.