Page 14 of Ironhold: Trial Five

“Lyra! Lyra! Lyra!”

Mine rings out among the rest. No,it is louder than the rest now. The other gladiators who might have been aspopular are gone. Vex, who treated all the adulation as simply his birthright,has finished his time in the games. Alaric is imprisoned. Ravenna, who seemedready to seduce half the crowd, is dead. So many gladiators are dead. I am leftas the most popular of the ones still in the games. No wonder the emperorwishes to use me and keep me there.

There are other names being called.A few shout for Rowan, mostly young women who seem eager to catch his eye, notthat it does much good. But there are people calling for gladiators who arenewer to the games than I am. A few call Cesca’s name, and she seems to swayand dance before them, as if remembering the way that Ravenna used to attractattention.

“Death to the emperor!” someonecalls out. A couple of guards plunge into the crowd, but whoever shouted it islost among the rest of them. The rest of the crowd backs away in fear as theybarge forward, as if suspecting that anyone unlucky enough to get in their waywill earn themselves a beating.

The signs of unrest I saw beforeare mostly gone, but it's hard to disguise the burnt out houses. They have beendecorated instead, festooned with banners and decorations along with the restof the streets, as if the sheer exuberance of the occasion can outweigh theviolence lurking beneath.

The city stands in contrast to theway it looked the other day. Now everything is decorated and bright, whilemagic uses illusion to show us images of ourselves in our fights. I appear inseveral such images now, shining out above the crowd.

Aya glares at me as I walk,obviously mentally preparing herself for the fight we're going to have. Shewanders closer.

“I'm going to crush you today,” shesays to me. “They're going to see me destroy you, and then all this fame thatyou've claimed for yourself is going to be mine.”

“I wouldn't wish for it too much,”I say, giving her a serious look. “Do you want some noble deciding they want tobe your patron? To be able to give you commands whenever they want?”

She shrugs. “Better that than beingignored. And no one will ignore me after I kill you.”

“You can achieve as much just bygiving the crowd a good show,” I point out. “The fights are just until one ofus is incapacitated.”

“So squeamish, suddenly? The last Iheard, you were all too happy to kill some of your opponents. And the crowd aregoing to get a show. I'm going to break you slowly.”

She seems so quick to make threats.I've done nothing to her, but in the colosseum, I don'tneedto havewronged her. It is enough that I stand between her and the glory she wants. Ayathinks that her life will be better if she is a well-known gladiator. I knowI'm not going to be able to persuade her otherwise. All I can do is try tosurvive our bout.

The colosseum looms ahead. Everytime I see it the grandeur of it sweeps me away. Even if it were not augmentedwith magic, it is still a massive structure, a circle of stone rising highabove the city, with entrances set all around it and statues of famousgladiators set in niches so that an army of them seems to watch over the games.

The magic makes it morespectacular, with bursts of light and colored smoke flowing out to catch theattention of the crowd. Our procession heads up a main thoroughfare, flanked bystatues, heading for the main gates that lead to the arena floor.

A wall of sound hits us as we walkin. As usual, the colosseum is packed. This is one of the few spaces where theordinary citizens of Aetheria are crammed in alongside the nobles. Well, notcompletely alongside. The nobles still have their grand boxes, where servantsattend to them, while the lower orders must push through the stands to findplaces to watch. Hawkers are already selling food, and the betting booths aredoing a brisk trade.

The emperor is waiting in his box,sitting on his throne there and waiting for our arrival. Our procession comesto a halt before him, the gladiators raising their fists in salute to him.

He stands. “Once more, we stand atthe beginning of a set of holy days for our city. Never forget that the bloodspilled on these sands forms part of a sacred rite, which gives meaning to yourdeaths as you feed the stones of Aetheria.”

Are we supposed to be grateful thatif we die, our magic will flow down into the stones from which magic pours outinto the world?

I look around at the noble boxes.Lady Elara is in hers, but she is not the one who catches my eye. Alaric issitting there in another, dressed in noble finery, although he is surrounded byguards, and I can still see the dampener on his wrist. He must have been takenfrom Ironhold last night. It seems the emperor is serious about giving him afine life for as long as I am obedient.

The emperor's eyes sweep over ournumbers. I can feel them locking onto me, a silent question in them. I stillhaven't given him an answer as to whether I will do everything he wishes. As towhether I will help him uncover those who plot against him.

It would be simpler to say no andjust focus on fighting to keep Alaric alive, but the truth is that no one canwin forever in the colosseum, and I cannot risk the emperor's anger. Maybethere is a way I can use this to my advantage but for now he has me caught. Imust do what he requires, for my sake and for Alaric’s.

I bow my head to the emperor, andto everyone watching it must look just like a mark of respect but I know hewill understand what I mean by it. I'm saying yes, I will do what he has askedme.

After all, I have no choice.

Chapter Eight

Because I am one of the mostpopular gladiators, I must wait for my first bout, sitting in the depths of thearena. I have my weapons now, and the trainers have surprised me by taking awaymy weighted chain, replacing it with a net, the weapon I used to wield. Theyhave let me keep the spear, though, rather than giving me back a trident. Theyalso pass me a small, curved dagger.

It is a combination I haven't beentraining with. It is similar to the weapons I have worked with, but even such asmall difference can have an impact. It can take a small edge away from me,forcing me to think rather than simply react, and that might be the differencebetween life and death.

“I wasn't told I'd be fighting withdifferent weapons,” I say.

“You don't need to be told,” thetrainer snaps back. “This is what I was instructed to give you, so this is whatyou fight with.”

I wonder if he was instructed byLord Darius or by someone else. Officially, interference in the bouts is notjust forbidden but considered almost heresy, since the games are considered tobe for the glory of the gods. Unofficially, bribery and corruption are rife. Itis not unknown for gladiators to be poisoned or deliberately injured intraining, to be given substandard equipment or in this case simply to be givenweapons that I have not been training with. Anyone who has bet against me mightwish to do this to increase their chances of getting a payout.

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