Page 40 of Ironhold: Trial Five

As the bird, I fly straight intohim, slamming into his skull with sickening force. I am thrown into my body asthe bird's neck breaks, and the emperor reels back, stumbling.

More importantly, he loses theconcentration he needs to keep his grip on time. Alaric moves in a flash,grabbing the emperor's knife arm and turning it back towards him, the point ofthe dagger set to the emperor's heart. I can see the emperor trying toconcentrate, trying to freeze time again, but he's an instant too slow asAlaric pulls him in close, driving the point of the dagger deep into theemperor's chest.

At the same time, I see the rebelsin front of the palace return to movement, right at the moment when theirattackers thought they had them at their mercy. The soldiers are caught utterlyoff guard, poised on the verge of executing their victims. The gladiators, thecommon folk, the beasts, all surge into them, cutting them down now in a waveof renewed violence that sends them running, trying to escape. I send thebeasts after them because I don't want to risk any more human lives chasingthem away.

“No!” Lord Darius cries out,charging at us with his swords, but the other gladiators who were frozen areable to move now, and they leap at him together. He brings one down with athrust but another grabs his left arm, while Rowan uses his shield to block ablow from the right hand blade.

“Surrender, Darius,” Rowan says.“Your emperor is dead.”

“And you will follow him traitors!”Lord Darius says. He keeps fighting, but now he has no time to use his powers,and there are too many opponents. He goes down fighting under a pile of them,all of them stabbing him retribution for the cruelty of their training, theharshness of the regime he oversaw at Ironhold. I do not know who strikes thekilling blow, but in just seconds they are all stepping away from him and he isstaring glassily at the ceiling.

The gladiators turn their attentionto Selene Ravenscroft, who is standing by the side of the room with a graveexpression of pity on her face. They start to advance on her, but I step intotheir path.

“No, enough. The arch magistratehelped us. She's the one who brought the barrier down. And… the killing has tostop somewhere.”

“You are wise,” Selene says. Shemoves to me and touches my wrist. My dampener falls away completely.

“You're just going to let her go?”Alaric says. “She's one of them. She has done so much...”

“At the emperor's command,” Selenesays. She steps out into the garden. Light starts to swirl around her. Alariclooks as though he might rush at her, but I catch his arm.

“Let her go,” I say, as the archmagistrate steps into those swirling lights and vanishes. I pull Alaric to me,kissing him deeply. “We have better things to do.”

Chapter Twenty Five

Sadly, those things don't involvesimply falling into bed with one another for a couple of weeks. There is toomuch to do in the city for that. Too much to organize, and it seems thateveryone is talking to me now to organize it. I'm the one who must tell peopleto begin the clean up, who must arrange for the squads of gladiators and otherfolk who keep the peace in the days that follow, and who fight against the fewpockets of those loyal to the emperor that remain.

At least, I do that in the day. Atnight… at night, I sleep wrapped in Alaric’s arms within the palace, gratefulfor something I thought would never happen again.

A knock comes at the door.

“Wake up, you two!” It's Rowan’svoice. Thankfully he has more sense than to open the door. “We're almost readyfor the meeting of the council.”

I sigh, even though this was myidea. It seemed to be the only way of bringing people together in the city,finding a new way of ruling that wasn't dependent on emperors.

“Do we have to go?” Alaric asks.“The council will be filled with so many common people, and I'd rather spend mytime here.”

It seems that even nearly dyinghasn't quite cured him of his arrogance. It's just as well I find it one of hismore endearing qualities.

“Do I need to remind you that I'mcommon?” I point out.

He pulls me into a kiss. “You areanythingbut common.”

I pull back from him and dress in apale gown edged with silver, a long way from the training gear of Ironhold orthe armor needed for the colosseum. The iron collar is gone from around my neckas well. As for the brand on my left shoulder… that is burned into a perfectblack circle, the interior filled in completely, thanks to Lord Darius's power.It marks me, as it marks all of those few who fought in the colosseum in thatlast bout, showing the role we played, and the price some of us paid.

“Come on,” I say. “Your mother willbe there.”

That at least gets him out of bedand dressed in his noble finery. We head through the palace, making our waytowards a large meeting room within it. Others are already gathering within it,representatives of the different factions within the city: the differenttrades, the nobles, the beast whisperers, even the gangs. I can see Rowanstanding there, dressed in simple but well-made clothes. Two auburn-hairedyoung women stand near him, presumably his sisters. As with me, none of themwear their slave collars anymore.

I step in front of the rest ofthem. I should be nervous, talking in front of so many people, but I haverallied the crowd in the colosseum to the cause of revolt. I have talked downthe beast whisperers. I have faced up to foes more deadly than I could haveimagined when I was a little girl. I've done all of that. Compared to that,what is one council meeting?

“My friends,” I say. “Thank you forcoming here, to this council. We have much to discuss.”

For a moment it seems as if all ofthem are talking at once, trying to put over different points. I hold up myhands for silence.

“Each of you will get a turn tospeak,” I say. “For now, we must discuss the situation in the city.”

I start by turning to the beastwhisperer representative. She is a woman whose voice I know. I get the feelingshe was one of those who helped test me when I sought to become one of theirnumber.

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