I shot out enough magic to snap his reins free from his chariot. Technically speaking, it was a small cheat, though not for myself. And I doubted anyone but me and that man knew what had happened. Neither of us would tell.
I was just beginning my fifth round, half a lap behind the leader, and I was no farther ahead than before. The horses of the man who had whipped me were a finer team than my own. Strong enough that it was worth the risk to get them. So I matched my speed with theirs and got as close as possible, until my chariot was even with his empty one. This was the reason I could not be tied into my chariot. I released my reins and grabbed the side of his chariot. Taking a deep breath, I leapt sideways.
There was a huge reaction from the crowd, but I was far from safe.
The instant I leapt, our horses parted and I clung to the side of the chariot with all my strength. I had less than half the length of the circus to get inside this chariot, because I'd never survive the turn.
The reins that had been snapped free by my magic were waving wildly in the air. While keeping hold of the side of the chariot with one arm, I reached for the reins with the other. The end of the spine came closer.
As the team of horses started their turn, the reins fell in the wind, and I got hold of one, and then the other, then used them to brace my weight as I dragged myself into the chariot.
And immediately I urged them forward. This was a faster team, every bit as strong as Radulf's stolen horses. In less than half a lap, we had overtaken the chariot team between me and Aurelia, and I was gaining on her.
"That was completely insane!" she shouted to me. "Never do that again!"
"Let me get closer!" I shouted back at her. "Because I must do that one more time."
Aurelia's eyes widened as she understood what I had intended all along. She had to win the race, and so did I. But only one chariot could cross the finish line first.
Ours.
It had been extremely difficult for me to cross from my chariot into this one. And in truth, it hadn't gone as well as I'd expected. There had been only a whisper of a difference between my making it safely inside and falling to the track below. Perhaps the only reason I didn't fall was one of the gods had nudged me inside. Nothing else could explain it.
In comparison, Aurelia was helping me this time. She slowed Callistus until I drew up beside her and then pushed her chariot as close to mine as she dared. Callistus would match his speed with my team of horses, which would help a great deal. If I was careful, I wouldn't even have to leap. I could simply step out from behind my cart, and onto hers.
"Give me your reins," I told her.
She obeyed and stretched her chains enough to hold to my chariot with both hands, determined to keep them together.
I took one step over to hers, just as she screamed my name and told me to stop. It was too late.
One of the chariots that had been ahead noticed what we were doing and had gotten directly in front of my horses, then halted his.
We crashed directly into his chariot, sending him flying, but also ripping me entirely off my cart. I landed in the dirt behind Aurelia. My helmet flew off my head and the pads protecting my legs came off as well. I could take the scrapes to my legs but I kept my head as high as possible -- that would be much harder to heal.
I still had Callistus's reins, and Aurelia cried out for me to let go before it killed me, but I couldn't. Instead, I used the strength that had been built in me from five years in the mines, muscles formed from carrying rock and scaling chiseled walls, and from being forced to remain on my feet from dawn until dark. Slowly, I inched forward on the reins.
Aurelia leaned out, trying to help me. "Take my hand!" she yelled.
"I'll pull you out." If she fell, she'd be dragged by her chains, unable to cut herself free.
"You won't!" Then her eyes focused directly on mine. "Nic, I trusted you. Now please, learn to trust me too."
I nodded, inched forward once more, and then reached for her with my hand that had taken the whip.
It stung again when she clasped it but not as much as being dragged behind the chariot, and it was only for a moment before she had drawn me closer to her, and now she had my forearm, and then both arms. And then she pulled me into the chariot with her.
"Can you stand?" she asked.
I had to, though my legs were shredded from the fall. Aurelia put her arm beneath my shoulders and helped me to my feet, and I tugged on the reins to tell Callistus that it was time to finish this race. We had lost time in that fall. Two teams were ahead of us, and another two teams were behind, but both of them were too far back to catch up now.
And trumpets sounded as the final dolphin fell. We had one more lap.
With me at the reins, Callistus knew I had come back to him and likely had known this was my strategy from the moment I exchanged chariots with Aurelia's. So he burst forward, running as if racing for the gods themselves. I was grateful for it; no other horse could've had this much energy so late in the race, but the speed was hard on me and I was having trouble keeping my balance. Sensing my weakness, Aurelia crossed behind me. She held to both ends of the chariot and then braced me with her weight. Without her there, I would've fallen, but she wouldn't allow me to fail now.
We quickly passed the chariot in second place, and rather easily, for he obviously had not seen us coming. But the one in first place was well aware of us. As he neared the first turn of the final lap, he pressed in even closer to the spine. It was the strategy any leading charioteer would take. He had no one to pass, and all he had to do was run out the final lap while keeping us trapped behind him.
A few days ago, I had joked to Radulf about using Callistus for this race. My attitude had been that with only one horse, I could squeeze between the other teams. Radulf had laughed then.
But I had been entirely serious.
I pressed Callistus to go faster, and toward the center of the track.
"We're going to make a sharp turn," I said to Aurelia. "Get ready to lean."
Callistus pushed forward until his nose was in line with the other chariot. Then I yanked on the reins and pulled him hard to the left. We hit the spine, tipping our chariot against the columns, but with two of us inside to shift our weight, we quickly came down on two wheels again. And emerged from the bend in the lead.
"We're ahead!" Aurelia screamed in my ear. "There's only a half lap remaining. We're going to win!"
She let go of the chariot and instead wrapped her arms around my waist. And I held the reins with one hand and folded my other over her clasped hands.
The crowd's roar grew as we neared the last bend. Aurelia and I released each other to brace ourselves for the tight turn, but we were far enough ahead of the other two chariots that nothing remained to stop us.
Or so I thought, until I heard a cracking sound beneath us. As we straightened out toward the finish line, the ground beneath Callistus collapsed like a ramp into the underworld. We had no choice but to run down with it.
"What's happening?" Aurelia cried.
Before I could reply, she had her answer.
The ramp was raised up again over our heads, and in the sudden blackness beneath the circus, all we had to rely on was dim torches on the walls.
Which revealed the hundreds of Praetors who had been waiting here, their final insurance that I would not win the chariot race.
Win or lose, they had never planned for me to finish.
I immediately raised a shield around me and Aurelia, and then sent out a burst of magic that dropped most of the Praetors to the ground. It shook the earth, and dirt rained down upon us.
"Can you get us out of here?" Aurelia asked.
Truthfully, I wasn't sure. Though I hadn't used magic for myself, I had been using it throughout the race as a protection for Livia. The bulla was working to rebuild my strength from what had been lost while on the track, but I was worried. The magic I'd just sent out should've collapsed the ground, not merely shaken it.
My
next use of magic was to free Aurelia from the chains. Once I had enough magic gathered together, I would disappear with her, though that left Callistus with the Praetors and I hated the thought of that.
Praetors were already unhitching him from the chariot. I continued repelling those who tried, but more took their places. And they were getting closer to Aurelia and me, waiting for my shield to fail, which it eventually would.
I released more magic, aimed at collapsing the ground again. A lot of dirt fell, but then I also felt the shield weaken.
"You need to let yourself heal first," Aurelia said. And I realized that although my arm was around her in a show of protection, really, she was the one still bracing me up. She put her hand on the bulla and pressed it against my chest. I felt its warmth, and that strengthened me but I could not find the Divine Star's magic, which I needed for healing. One of the whips had sliced directly across it, and I supposed in its own way, the Divine Star itself had to heal before I could.
By then, the Praetors had released Callistus from the chariot though he was fighting their attempts to get control of him. I sent magic to help him, and shot out more at other men who were getting close to us again. Then I tried to find Radulf with my mind. He would be directly overhead. Why didn't he come? I regretted what I had told him earlier, that I would no longer call for his help. Because I needed him now, and I didn't know whether he would answer me anymore. Not after the way I had behaved, and the things I had said. Even when he had tried to express concern for me, the most I had done was to stare dumbly back at him. For all my unwillingness to forgive him, I needed his forgiveness now.
"We know the Malice is hidden somewhere in Valerius's field," a Praetor said. "You lost the race, and now you must fulfill your promise!"
"You took me from the race!" I shouted. "You broke the bargain we made. This was not a fair race!"
"When has Rome ever been fair?" That was Brutus, coming through the tunnel with a torch in his hands. I wanted to erase that smirk on his face with an entire ball of magic, but I was saving up what I could for when I'd need it most.
"If nothing is fair, then we never had a bargain," I said. "You can search for the Malice all you want, but you will never find it. By the time you figure out where it was once hidden, I'll have already destroyed it."
"You'd never do it, no more than you'd destroy that bulla around your neck," Brutus said. "Above ground, we have men in the circus on their way right now to grab your sister. Surrender, or she will pay for your stubbornness."
I grinned. "Go get her, then."
"Nic!" Aurelia scolded.
I kept my expression even, hoping it wouldn't show that keeping Livia protected came at a high price to me. Even now, it was wearing my magic far too thin.
"So it's a trick," Brutus said.
It was a very good trick, one I'd have loved to see them discover. I still couldn't do Radulf's trick of fighting in a place where I really wasn't, but I could make it appear that Livia was in the circus when in fact she was nowhere near us.
There was no point in maintaining that illusion any longer, and with a deep breath, I released her image. Keeping it in place for so long had drained me, though I hoped it would prove to be worth it.
Finally, I felt my magic growing again. Even with my injuries and the shield around me and Aurelia, it was growing.
But what I did not expect was for Praetors to grab the axle of the chariot. We jolted forward, and then at once, they lifted it high over their heads, working their way up the axle. Aurelia and I rolled off the chariot and onto the ground with hard thuds.
The shield fell when I landed. I released magic in every direction while I scrambled to raise it again, but with so little light, it was easy for the Praetors to hide in the shadows. I got the shield in place for her, but instantly realized my mistake. Even if it seemed like a selfish thing, I had to protect myself first. I had to, because all that a Praetor had to do was get a single hand on me.
And one did.
Aurelia's shield failed a second time, as did all my magic. I struggled to get free, but they pounced on me like hungry lions.
"Nic!" Aurelia screamed my name and began cursing at the men who had grabbed her.
Brutus knelt beside me and pulled my tunic back, revealing the Divine Star, with the whiplash across it. "The whip is reserved for disobedient slaves," he said. "Is that who you are, still, after all you've done to prove otherwise?"
"I am a slave to no one," I said. "Let me go!"
"Nearly two hundred years ago, Emperor Domitian wanted a way to connect his palace to the circus, but few people ever knew where his tunnels were." Brutus smiled. "I know about these tunnels, though. And, I suppose, now you do too."
I fought hard and knew Aurelia was fighting too. Then above the noise, a Praetor said, "We don't need the girl."
There was the slice of a sword.
And Aurelia screamed again.
Everything seemed to have gone silent. Only Aurelia's scream remained, like a horrible echo in my ears.
A new power emerged in me, something that could not have been magic, but which was even stronger. Praetors scattered around me like unwanted garbage, and I escaped their grip, then leapt to my feet and ran over to her.
Aurelia was still alive, but only barely. Blood seeped out of a deep wound in her side, and with it, life was leaving her too.
"Stay away from me," I warned the Praetors. "Stay away or I promise to destroy you all."
Brutus stepped forward. "You can't fight us off and heal her."
I knew that. Worse still, I wasn't sure that I could heal her. I hadn't recovered from the race, and my magic was already depleted. The bulla was helping, but the Divine Star gave me nothing. Without the mark in my shoulder, I had no powers to heal.
"So which do you want the most?" Brutus asked. "To destroy us, or to save her?"
Aurelia grabbed my hand. Her face was pinched with pain, an image I knew could not be the last I ever saw of her. I could never bear that memory. "There's not enough magic for me anyway," she whispered. "Don't waste it."
"Where's Callistus?" I asked Brutus. "The unicorn? Where is he?"
"Under our control. But don't try calling him here. Trust me, he won't get far if you do."
"Give me the unicorn and my friend."
"And in exchange?"
"I will ride with you to that field."
"No, Nic." Aurelia's life was slipping away like smoke through my fingers. "Please don't."
I pressed my hand against the wound and began pouring magic into her. I didn't have enough to save her, but hopefully it would keep her alive until they returned Callistus.
"Are you begging me for her life?" Brutus asked. "Here, on your knees, are you begging me, as I predicted you would do?"
"Yes, if it helps, then I am begging." Sweat dripped from my brow, stinging my eyes, yet I only gave her more of what I didn't have. "But I am also threatening. If you refuse to return my unicorn, things will not go well for you."
"We can ride this tunnel and exit near the amphitheater," Brutus said. "No crowds are there. We'll go to the field together."
I nodded. "Let Callistus come now. Hurry! I need him to save her."
Aurelia's eyes were closed, but she shook her head. Even this close to death, she still wanted to fight me.
"Give me the bulla," Brutus said. I started to protest, but he added, "You'll get it back when it's time to use the key. But if I'm holding the bulla, then that ensures you won't try any tricks on the way."
It also ensured my magic wouldn't return as strong as I had hoped.
"Where's Callistus?" I asked.
He grinned and shook his head. "Give me the bulla, Nicolas. I have as much time as I need to bargain. But how much time do you have with that girl's life?"
I closed my eyes and kept one hand on Aurelia while I removed the bulla with my other and placed it in Brutus's open palm. Fury rose in me, but not magic. Everything I had left was going to her.
&
nbsp; Instantly, Brutus snapped his fingers and two Praetors came forward with Callistus.
"Get on," Brutus told me. "Then we'll give you the girl."
I didn't argue. Aurelia was so close to death that every second mattered. So I left her side and quickly climbed on Callistus's bare back. I would've preferred his saddle, for Aurelia's comfort, but nothing could be done about that.
Aurelia didn't respond at all when they put her in my arms, and once she was secure, I instantly put one hand on Callistus's horn, then my other as close to her wound as possible.
Magic began moving through me, entirely different from anything I'd felt before. This magic wasn't part of me or even for me; I was only the connection between the unicorn's powers to heal and the person in need of healing. It was the purest magic I'd ever felt. It gave without asking and built without destroying. If I could feel magic like this for the rest of my life, I would never feel cursed, and I would never take any risk of losing it.
Aurelia was already breathing more easily, and the wound had sealed. That wasn't enough, though, so I continued holding on to the horn, using anything left in me to send thoughts of gratitude to Callistus.
"Let's go," Brutus said. "Remember, Nicolas. No tricks."
Some of the men had horses and mounted them to ride on either side of me. Others loaded into wagons and followed behind us. The rest would be walking or had rides waiting for them outside the amphitheater, I assumed.
But none of that mattered. Aurelia was moving again, just light twitches of her hand or flutters of her lashes. And she was closer, molding herself into my arms.
After several minutes of traveling through the darkness of the tunnels, we emerged into open air on a hillside within view of the amphitheater.
Brutus rode even closer to me now. The bulla was around his neck, and though I knew he couldn't feel its magic, it still angered me to see it there.