Page 33 of Ironhold: Trial Five

“Flee!” Lady Elara calls out to theothers. “We cannot fight everyone. Get to safety!”

She uses illusions to hide herselfjust as blades slammed through the spot where she was standing. I can see themmiss her through the eyes of a spider that I send scuttling on the wall afterher. I see her turn to that spider, and fear builds in me as I realize that shehas sensed my presence there.

“You did this,” she snarls. “I gaveyou everything and you betrayed me. I will kill you for this, Lyra.”

She slams her foot into the spider,and I feel a sudden burst of pain as if it were my own body bursting apart. Iam flung back to myself, was thrown out of the heads of the animals I amlooking through. The jarring impact of that is enough to send me stumbling tothe floor.

The die is cast. I have betrayedboth of the sides that offered me their help. I have given the emperoreverything.

But I know he will not be grateful.I doubt he will live up to his word at all. He plans tomorrow to throw me intoa battle against my fellow gladiators. And if he preserves Alaric’s life, itwill only be temporary.

That is why there is another partof my plan. Forcing myself to my feet I leave my cell, hunting throughIronhold. I can hear the sounds of partying, those gladiators who have finishedtheir fights celebrating. There is drinking and music, although still not onthe scale that it would be at the conclusion of the games.

I head through all of it, reachingout to the animals of the fortress until I see who I'm looking for. I find herin the middle of the dining hall, surrounded by other gladiators. I make my waythere, weaving through the crowd of them, avoiding the ones who want to pull meinto dancing or into some drunken embrace.

There are no guards here, andthat's a good thing. They've obviously decided to leave us to our own devicesfor the night. They will watch on the walls as usual. I look over to where thechalkboard stands. Tomorrow's bout has already been put up. A dozen names. Mineis up there. So is Bella’a and Cesca’s. So is Rowan's. We are all to fightuntil only one of us stands. The emperor is going to spend our lives in amoment of spectacle.

Some of them stand close to it,staring at it as if they cannot believe it. Bella is among them. I go to themall.

“You've seen what happens now,” Isay. “The emperor doesn't care about any of you. He means to have us fight tothe death until only one of us remains. Entertaining the crowd has alwayscounted for more than anything to him.”

Bella looks over to me. “Thatsounds as though you're ready to join my side in all this.”

I shake my head. “Your way of doingthings is about tearing down everything you can, hurting as many nobles aspossible. I don't want that. I'm not joining you. You’re all joiningme.”

She looks surprised by that,although not as surprised as Rowan.

“What are you doing, Lyra?” hedemands. “I've told you I don't want any part of some rebellion.”

“What's the alternative?” I askhim. “We all fight until one of us is left? What happens when it's just you andme left, Rowan? Somehow, I doubt the emperor will let you get away with fakingyour death again.”

He looks troubled by that.

“You've seen the way things are inthe streets,” I say. “You all have. You all want to be free, to get throughyour five seasons and walk out of here. But tomorrow, only one of us will getto live. I'm proposing a way where we all have at least a chance of surviving.”

“I could go to the guards,” Cescasays.

“You could,” I reply. “And thenthey would kill me, and you would still have to fight. Do you really thinkyou're going to be the last one standing tomorrow?”

She looks sheepish.

“I know why you do the things youdo, Cesca,” I say. “The same reason so many people around here. You want to besafe. But there is no safety as long as we are trapped in this place.”

“You’re talking about escape?”Bella asks.

I shake my head. “No, I'm thinkingabout something much bigger.”

Chapter Nineteen

Morning, and I hope I have done theright thing. My actions last night got people killed. I set three sides againstone another, and now my hope is that a fourth will work with me.

Today is the day when everythingeither goes right or my world comes tumbling down around me. If I fail today,dying will be the least that happens to me. If I am captured by the emperor'sforces, or by either of the other sides, I can expect a death out ofnightmares. No one ran to the guards last night, but that doesn’t mean theywon’t be waiting for us later. There are still far too many chances forsomething to go wrong here.

We have tried to bring as manypeople on our side as we can, and Bella says that her people will be ready, butthere are other parts to this that need to go right. I'm guessing that I canmake it work, but what if I'm wrong?

No, I can't think like that. Thetime for doubts is past.

Everything proceeds as it normallywould on the final day of the games, but I can feel the tension in the airbuilding as the gladiators process down to the arena. Each of us is on edge,and not just because of the bout that awaits some of us. A battle royale to thelast gladiator standing is an incredibly dangerous and wasteful kind of fight,where too many gladiators will die for too brief a burst of entertainment. Itis obvious the emperor has ordered this both to try to quell the unrest amonghis citizens and to make sure that those gladiators who have displeased himsuch as myself have the greatest chance of dying.

---