by Kyle West
“10,000,” Julian said. “15,000.”
“15,000 what?” Makara asked.
“Batteries,” Julian answered.
That was probably more batteries than existed in all of Raider Bluff. And still, the bidding continued. Fewer and fewer men continued to bid, bowing out as the numbers reached 20,000, and finally, 30,000,
“How did they get so wealthy?” I asked.
“Many own plantations,” Julian said. “Some earned their fame in more nefarious ways.”
Now, only two men were actively bidding. One was the fat, bearded man with the many rings Julian had pointed out earlier – Ruben Barrios. The other was a tall, skinny man that reminded me of a serpent.
“Who’s the skinny man?” I asked.
“He’s Camilo Hidalgo. He owns much of the Subura – the poorest district of Nova Roma, and is also one of the few people licensed by Augustus to run gambling houses and brothels.”
“Great,” Makara said.
“Ruben is now bidding 45,000 batts,” Julian said.
There was a pause as Camilo considered. Finally, he bid again.
“48,000,” Julian whispered in disbelief. “I have never seen the bidding go this high.”
Ruben’s fat face reddened, and he turned and stalked away. Camilo gave a smile of victory.
Just as the auctioneer’s gavel nearly fell, Ruben turned and shouted. “Cincuenta miles!”
50,000. A whisper overtook the crowd. Camilo Hidalgo paused, but said nothing. Everyone watched. Would the slum lord bid again? Finally, Camilo waved his hand, ceding the floor to his rival. The auctioneer banged his gavel on the podium. Anna had been sold to the gladiator master. The crowd broke out into an excited buzz.
That was it, then. A nearby guard ordered Anna to stand back as the last slave was presented. While the bidding for him began, some guards came on the stage, leading Anna away to meet the Lanisto, Ruben.
“It’s go time,” Samuel said.
We filtered out of the crowd, and edged closer to Anna. Already, guards surrounded her, leading her toward the Coleseo. We pushed ourselves ahead, never for a minute losing sight of her.
That was when one of the men by the carts pointed our way, yelling something to his fellow guards in Spanish. He looked vaguely familiar.
“What is he saying?” I asked.
It was then that I recognized him as one of the slavers that had attacked us.
“They’re coming for us!” Julian said.
The cart guards strode toward us. The commotion caused the guards escorting Anna ahead to turn around. Anna turned, too, just in time to see us sprinting after her. Her eyes widened in surprise.
I pulled out my Beretta and started taking my first shots. The bullets connected with one of the guards, felling him.
Taking our cue, Anna struggled against her captors, ripping free of two of them. Hands and feet bound, she hopped in our direction. Ruben the Lanisto went wide-eyed upon seeing Anna run away. He barked some orders to his guards, who came forward wielding not guns, but their clubs.
“He wants to capture us,” Julian said.
I ceased my shooting. I risked hitting Anna. Instead, I ran forward, trying to reach her first. Then, she was in my arms, and I was pulling her back. The guards raised their clubs upon reaching me.
Samuel and Makara joined me in the struggle, fighting off the guards. Julian dashed in from the side, trying, to no avail, to hold back the crowds that had encircled us.
Finally, we broke free, but the crowd was too close for us to break through. I roared in frustration. Then, a pair of hands pushed my wrists together, roughly tying rope around them.
Makara grunted when a pair of guards forced her to the ground, binding her hand and foot. I felt a boot on my back, and I crashed to the street stones.
Around me, everyone else was also on the ground. Surrounded by guards, we were all restrained and bound. Our worst fears were realized. Instead of rescuing Anna, we had gotten ourselves captured.
The guards forced us on our feet. Ruben, the Lanisto, cast an appraising eye on us all.
“This ended very well,” he said, with an amused smile. “Instead of one gladiator, I now have five.”
It wasn’t just Anna going to the Coleseo now. It was all of us.
***
The crowds parted as Ruben and his guards escorted us to the Coleseo. I couldn’t even look up as we passed under a large, stone arch – the Blood Gates, Julian had called them. We approached a metal gate within the building, where two guards stood. Upon seeing Ruben, one reached for a key, unlocking the gate. He opened it, and behind the gate I could see a set of stone steps, leading down into darkness.
We were forced down the stairs. The steps spiraled down into darkness. Soon, orange light appeared from ahead. We were under the Coleseo now, in a large antechamber. Several open archways led to adjacent rooms, and four stone corridors led out from each of the room’s four corners. A wide set of stone steps led upward at the end of the anteroom – I assumed to the arena floor. This was a staging area for gladiators, before they were sent up to their deaths.
We were led down corridor immediately to our left. Ruben threw open a door at the end of it. On the other side was darkness. We were pushed along in the dark, and we could only see from the few torches that Ruben’s guards carried. From their light, I could discern that we were being led to jail cells. Metal bars rose from floor to ceiling from the cells on either side.
Ruben and his guards haphazardly threw Julian and me into one of the cells. We scuttled onto the floor, and the door was slammed behind us with a metallic clang. I heard Makara cry out as she was thrown into her own separate cell, while Anna and Samuel was thrown into the cell adjacent to mine. Two more metal-barred doors were slammed and locked behind us. Ruben, with his guards, stood for a moment, surveying us. It was hard to tell if he was pleased, or angry.
Finally, without a word, he turned for the door from which we had come. Once all the guards were out, he slammed the door shut. I heard a key turn in the lock, leaving us in silence.
“Everyone alright?” Samuel called out.
Everyone answered that they were.
“You guys shouldn’t have come.”
Anna’s voice was sullen.
I rushed to the side of my own cell, reaching my hand through the bars. “Anna, it’s me.”
I heard her get up, and I felt her warm hand on mine.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You all should have left me here. I wasn’t worth this.”
“It’s not over yet, Anna,” I said. “Don’t give up.”
“By this time, you guys could have met with the Emperor and have gotten out of here. I definitely wasn’t worth this mission getting compromised.”
I didn’t have an answer for that. Anna still held onto my hand. I put my other hand through the bars, grabbing her other hand. It felt good, just to touch her – even if it was a feeling that wouldn’t last.
“We’ll make it, somehow,” I said. “I don’t know how, but we’ve gotten through worse before.”
I didn’t know if that was true. It seemed like we were all now as good as dead, locked in these cells.
“How did you guys find me?” she asked.
I told her about how Ashton piloted Gilgamesh above Itcala, and how we had all parachuted in.
“You...what?” Anna said.
“It was the only way in,” I said. “It was my idea.”
Anna sighed. “You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Julian?” Samuel called out.
“I’m here,” Julian said.
“Who’s Julian?” Anna asked.
“I’m Julian. I met your friends in the town. Anna, right?”
Anna didn’t answer. Samuel spoke again.
“What can we expect now that we’re here?”
Julian didn’t answer for a moment. “Nothing good. For what we did back there, our penalty will be death by combat
. Whether they will have us fight each other, or simply be executed, I don’t know.”
“What about Anna?” I asked. “Surely, Ruben wouldn’t have spent all that money just to kill her.”
“Imperial Law warranties a slave for up to three months,” Julian said. “Rebellion is included in that.”
A hand banging on metal sounded throughout the narrow confines of the cells. Someone was trying to force the door open.
“Makara, that isn’t going to do anything,” Samuel said in his deep baritone.
“At least I’m trying something,” she said. “I’m not going to be forced to fight.”
“I’ve never seen a Lanisto pay as much for a slave as he paid for you,” Julian said to Anna.
“I don’t blame him,” Anna said. “I took down one of the slavers with my bare hands as soon as they untied me. When they finally got me under control again, I thought they were going to kill me. Instead, they still wanted to sell me. Word got out about what I did, and that’s when they shipped me here. I looked for chances to escape, but I was tied up and in a cage the entire time. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t even take a piss without some bastard watching me.”
“If I know the Coleseo at all,” Julian said, “then we won’t be here long. A day, at most. And then, we’ll be the entertainment of the crowds.”
“What’s going to happen?” Makara asked. “Do we stand a chance of surviving at all?”
“Likely, we all die,” Julian said. “I was an escaped slave and you attacked Ruben’s guards. The fact that we’re here in this arena tells the entire story.”
Makara harrumphed, just as the door to the corridor slammed open. The torchlight at first blinded me. I shaded my eyes, watching the forms of the four guards and Ruben striding forward. He paused in between all of our cells. We watched him warily from within our prisons.
“As criminals and slaves who have broken the law of Nova Roma, you are all now my slaves,” Ruben said. “You will fight tomorrow in the Coleseo in an execution match.”
“What about Anna?” I asked.
Ruben sniffed. "Who, the slave girl? She fights, too. I have no tolerance for insurrection.”
With that, Ruben exited with his guards. The door was locked, and we were all left in darkness once more.
“Well,” Anna said, “that’s it, then.”
“No, this is not it,” Samuel said. “This isn’t over until it’s over.”
A long quiet followed Samuel’s statement. I wished I felt as sure as he did, but at least for now, that wasn’t to be.
***
I awoke sometime later to the sound of dripping water. I had no idea what time it was. It was quiet, and I heard deep breaths coming from the adjacent cell. The others were sleeping.
“Still awake, then?”
I jumped at the sound of Julian’s voice.
“Julian, you scared the bejeezus out of me.”
“Sorry about that. I can’t sleep in these kinds of places.”
“It’s alright. You find yourself in these kinds of places often?”
“Not really. At least, not anymore.”
We said nothing for a moment. Finally, I had a question for him.
“You said it’s been ten years since you were enslaved?”
“My father and I were hunting south of New America. Slavers found us there. My dad died protecting me, and I ran back for home. Still, I was caught because they had horses. My mother and sister probably think me dead. Naturally, they would have found my father’s body. But me...they will know the rest of the story.”
“Were slavers common in your area?”
“They were always a threat. Even at sixteen, when I was captured, I wasn’t strong enough to fend them off.”
“I don’t see how anyone could have. Hell, even we couldn’t fight them off, and we’ve done things you wouldn’t even believe.”
“Samuel told me what you guys have done, and what you are doing.” Julian paused. “I think it’s great. I haven’t heard anything of this xenovirus, but if anything Samuel says is true, then I wish you all the luck in the world.”
“Well...” I said. “We definitely need it, now.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Only, I hope to go back to New America, someday. I guess there’s little chance of that happening, now.”
It seemed so stupid that one mistake– choosing the wrong place to set up camp – had led us all to here, this dark moment, which none of us would survive. The entire fate of the world depended on our success. Only, that same world was going to kill us before we even had a chance to save it.
“What about you, Alex?” Julian asked. “What’s your story?”
I gave a bitter laugh. “It’s long, and sad. I lost my home two months ago, to the xenovirus.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“My entire life, gone in a single night.”
For the next hour, I told Julian my own story. Once finished, he was interested in everyone else’s. I gave him the basics – Makara’s life as a Lost Angel and ex-raider, Samuel’s life as a scientist, and Anna’s life of surviving with her mother after losing her home to raiders, and how she became Char’s bodyguard following her mom’s death. He listened in the darkness, not saying much.
When I was finally finished, he was quiet for a long while.
“That is a spectacular story,” Julian said. “Although, I think your message to the Emperor will fall upon deaf ears.”
“Why?”
“He thinks he is God. He thinks he was born to rule all men, and he will not stop until he accomplishes that goal. Everything fits into that. Even if he agrees with your message – and he likely will, if what you told me is true – then he will somehow use that to give himself more power. You wait and see.”
“We have to deliver the message, all the same.”
Julian sighed. “I hope that can come to pass. Tomorrow morning, we shall see.”
I frowned, and laid back onto the cold stone. I closed my eyes, and tried to get what sleep I could. Perhaps the last sleep I would ever get.
Chapter 16
The next morning, the guards arrived to escort us out of our cells. Ruben wasn’t among them, to my surprise, but if we were being led to our match, then I supposed that he was already waiting in the stands.
The guards pushed us along the dark, narrow passageway and into the anteroom we had first entered. Then, we were led up the wide stone steps. As we walked up, I could feel the heat of the day flowing downward from outside. When we reached the top, at the end of a broad, stone passageway stood a large gate, through which bright sunlight filtered. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see the gigantic circle that was the arena floor, the dirt raked cleanly for our ensuing match. The crowd’s drone sounded through the gate. Our execution match would be starting any moment.
Though this was happening now, I felt like I was in a daze. We were each hastily handed a weapon by a grim guard. Anna received a long, two-handed sword, not her katana. I could tell from her frown that she wasn’t pleased. Makara received a spear and buckler, while I received a gladius and shield. Julian also got a gladius and shield, while Samuel took a two-handed mace laced with cruel spikes.
I wondered if they were really going to let us hold these weapons with all of them standing so close to us. It was at that moment that a gate fell from the ceiling, crashing onto the floor and separating us from the guards. A cloud of dust rose from the ground, sending Makara and I into fits of coughs.
A gate behind us, blocking our escape. A gate ahead, that led into the Coleseo. We were trapped, and the only way out was forward, into the arena.
“Well played,” I said.
“Focus,” Samuel said.
It was then that the gate to the arena floor began to rise. The Coleseo erupted into thunderous screams as we strode forward into the sunlight. We walked toward the center of the field, I spun around, trying not be stunned by the enormity of it all. Thousands of people stood,
booing and hissing at us. We were the only ones out there, and it seemed the Novans did not like us. I dodged a rock thrown by someone from the stands.
At long last, the crowd dimmed, and soon, a loud voice shouted from our right. The voice sounded from an exclusive section of the stands. Here, the seats were bigger, and the people more colorfully dressed. This was the rich people’s area. Over these stands fluttered colorful sheets of linen that served to block the sun. It provided shade for the seats below. One man in these stands was regaled in full purple, sitting upon a seat that was more akin to a throne, looking bored as he munched on some food.
“That’s him,” Samuel said.
Emperor Augustus was not an imposing man. Even from my distance, I could tell he was a bit small. He had coppery skin, shortly trimmed black hair, and sat next to a beautiful woman, who I assumed to be his wife. Two children sat in front of him, one a teenage girl, and another a boy maybe eight years of age. They were among the thousands that watched us now, that wanted to see us die simply for trying to save our friend. I wondered if their bloodlust would be satisfied if only they knew our story and what we were trying to do.
To the right of the Imperial family, a fat man was standing on a stage. He was the source of the yelling. Every face turned to him, and in order to hear, the crowd dimmed to an astonishingly low volume.
The man began to orate in Spanish. Julian translated.
“Friends, citizens, noblemen of Nova Roma!” the man’s voice boomed.
Cheers. Quickly, they died down once more as the man continued his introduction.
“We have for you today a rare spectacle – an execution of the spies sent by our mortal enemy, the barbarians of the ignoble Wasteland!”
The sound of boos and jeers thundered all around us. After a while, the crowd’s noised lowered, and the fat man proceeded with his speech.
“This week, the armies of Empire march north, to deal a mortal blow to our enemies! In expectation of the Empire’s victory in the north, Emperor Augustus himself is pleased to present...”
The fat man paused. I could see everyone in the crowd lean forward, hanging onto his every word.
“The Battle...for the Wasteland!”
The man bowed away from the dais, and as he did so, the gate on the opposite side of the Coleseo began to rise.