She was fumbling for the bulla, trying to break the strap around my neck, and nicking my skin with each failed attempt. "You will not leave me here," she said. "Take me away, or all your magic will be mine!"
"I will not take you anywhere!" I said. "You are evil, Atroxia, and you deserve this curse. Stay here, and sort out your complaints with Caesar's ghost. He will be your only company!"
Then I closed my eyes and pictured the shore of Lake Nemi. Dawn was rising outside; I could see the earliest hints of light. And almost as suddenly as I had imagined it, I was there.
Granted, I'd landed on my back at the edge of the shore, where each wave came up beneath me, beckoning me back into the water.
But I wouldn't go down again. Diana would drown me if I did. I felt for the Malice first, and then the bulla, and then wiped at the cuts on my neck. It stung, but the Divine Star was already at work healing them, and all other parts of my body that still felt some pain.
I stood and faced the water, then held out my right hand toward the lake. The Malice would seal up the tunnel, trapping Atroxia inside Caesar's cave. Trapping the dragon there.
But as soon as the tunnel closed, I heard Atroxia's voice in my head again, sobbing. "That wasn't me, Nicolas. The Mistress seeks to control me again. Even the best person could not fight a curse such as this. Please help me."
Her pleas would do her no good. She could cry all she wanted, but it wouldn't change her crimes against Caesar or what she had just attempted against me. Maybe the vestalis wasn't so different from the dragon after all. They were only two halves of the same angry creature.
"You are exactly where you belong," I whispered, hoping she would hear me. "And for as long as I have magic, you will stay there."
Whatever I was supposed to have learned from Atroxia was a failure. The old vestalis I had met was wrong. Atroxia had nothing to teach me about love.
I stood on the shores of Lake Nemi for several minutes, listening for anything else Atroxia might have to say. But she had gone silent. I was aware of her crying, but she wasn't intending for me to hear and it felt intrusive to continue listening.
When I turned to go, I scanned the hillside until I found Diana's temple, partially hidden by thick brush and the mountain itself. If Aurelia and Crispus had been successful in rescuing Radulf, then Caela would be back with them by now. Something had gone wrong. I needed to get up there.
"Callistus!" I called.
The unicorn ran out to greet me, and even before he halted, I leapt onto his back and we hurried toward the hillside.
But we weren't yet to the slope when Caela squawked overhead, a desperate caw that made me nervous. Where were Aurelia and Crispus? Where was Radulf?
Caela swooped low, directly above us, then pulled me off the unicorn's back and held me in her large talon as she flew up the hillside. Callistus turned down the hill again. When I last saw him, he was running with the horses Aurelia and Crispus had brought here. I hoped they would return to Radulf's home together.
As we flew upward along the hillside slope, we passed directly over the massive oak tree where I had hidden the Jupiter Stone. Almost immediately past that I saw the temple, yet there were no signs of life anywhere.
No signs of life. The worry in me deepened.
Caela arced over the temple, and then we headed to lower ground again. Before we got too far away, I pointed out a pile of hay that must have been set out for any horses that'd be left here while their masters were inside. "Drop me there!" I yelled to Caela.
She did drop me, but naturally missed the haystack. Instead, I landed on the worn trail near the grove, my head knocking against a rock that jutted out from the earth. Caela had yet to drop me anywhere soft. Perhaps there was a reason she had put me so near to the grove.
Once my head cleared, and despite my hurry, I scaled down to the trees to ensure the stone was still in its place on the lower limb of the great oak. I didn't know how many rocks in this world could be used to make a Jupiter Stone. Probably not a lot. Perhaps the rock I'd found was the only one, which increased my need to protect it. But when I checked, it was gone and didn't appear to be anywhere on the ground nearby, so I knew it hadn't just blown off in the wind.
Someone had taken it, which confused me. The vestalis and I were the only ones who knew what that rock was meant to become. So either it was taken by accident ... or someone else knew our secret.
"I know your secret," Atroxia said into my head.
And she had been here at this temple. Could the Mistress have shifted into her human form, as Atroxia, and retrieved the stone? Would Atroxia have done that? If Atroxia knew my secret, did the Mistress know it too?
I couldn't answer any of those questions, nor did I have the time to consider them now. I had to get back up to the temple immediately. I ran up the hillside, listening for any sounds in or out of my head. Surely, Radulf would know I was close ... unless the Mistress was telling the truth and had taken all his magic. He probably wouldn't have survived that.
Diana's temple was partially built into the hillside, yet had a grand portico to allow a fine view of the lake. However, I suspected that the scenery was rarely appreciated by temple worshippers. Not if the activities that went on in this temple were as dark as Crispus had suggested.
Unsure of what I'd face when I went inside, I hesitated a moment on the steps. The thick wooden door was heavy and forbidding, an obvious warning that anyone who took the trouble to open it had better be ready for whatever might happen inside. But before I walked any farther, Crispus pushed open that same door and came running out. He stopped as soon as he saw me, looking as surprised to see me as I was him. "I was just coming to find you," he said.
"What about Radulf?"
"He's here." Crispus furrowed his brow. "Come inside. Hurry."
I followed him in. Sconces with lit torches were on the walls, and a blackened altar was at the far end of the dark room with a place for a fire beneath it. I didn't want to know anything more of the ceremonies that took place here. I only wanted to find Radulf and leave as quickly as possible.
But that was not going to happen. Every entrance into the room suddenly filled with Praetors, dozens of them surrounding us. Crispus moved closer to me and withdrew his sword while my hands flooded with magic.
"Nicolas Calva, there you are at last!" That was Decimas Brutus, walking to the front of the group. He was the grandson of Caesar's murderer by several generations and looked as cold as if he had personally held that knife. Brutus was a tall man of incredible strength, and also someone capable of great cruelty. His hair was curly and black, but his eyes were blacker still, the rims of them seeming to be lined with soot gathered from the burned lands of Tartarus. "You're finally above ground, I see."
My wishes for him were suddenly more focused below ground, preferably with several feet of dirt over him.
"You wouldn't dare use magic here." He was watching my hands carefully for any movement. "What if this ancient temple collapsed, just as the last one did? You've proved your ability to survive something like that, but would Crispus? Or the sewer girl, inside the tunnels beneath this mountain? Or your grandfather? Surely you've guessed from Crispus's expression that his life hangs only by a thread."
"I can do plenty of damage without collapsing this temple!" I said.
"And I wish I could see your little magic games, truly I do." Brutus held up his hands in a gesture of peace. "But we didn't come here to fight." Though the light was dim, I noticed something held in his left hand. At first I expected it to be the missing stone, but instead it was some sort of armband. "Where is the Mistress, Nicolas? I can feel her, so I know you've left her alive."
"She is where she belongs," I said. "Paying for her crimes against Caesar, as Marcus Brutus should have paid for his." My eyes narrowed. "And as you must one day pay for yours."
Brutus only shot back an accusing smile. "We must all pay for our crimes, no?" Before I could answer, he shrugged that away. "But for as long as
the Mistress continues to serve Diana, we shall continue to serve her." He turned his attention to Crispus. "Son of Senator Valerius, do you serve the Mistress too? After all, you are a Praetor now, a judge, just as I am."
"I am a Praetor." One cautious step at a time, Crispus moved closer to my side. "But I'm nothing like you, and I will not serve the Mistress."
"Why not? Didn't she preserve your life and the life of your betrothed? Did you think there was no price for that protection?"
He held out the armband, and now I saw it better. Thin, silver, and in the shape of a curved arrow, it was the symbol of the Praetor's worship of Diana and provided them power to take my magic. It was intended for Crispus to wear.
He shook his head. "While Diana stands in rebellion against the other gods, I cannot swear any loyalty to her. And I will not help you bring harm to my friends."
Brutus smiled. "But that is the point, son of Valerius. Your cooperation might be the only way to save your friends. The slave boy can handle himself, this is true, but what about the girl inside the tunnels? Only you know where your betrothed is." He tilted his head. "She is still promised to you, yes?"
As carefully as he had moved before, Crispus nodded.
"And so she is safe ... if you are one of us. But if you are not, then her life might be in terrible danger at this very moment. Perhaps some hidden threat awaits her in the darkness of that tunnel. Do you understand me?"
Radulf's life was equally at risk, I guessed. The choice to save them was being offered to Crispus.
He leaned toward me. "What would you have me do?"
As long as no Praetor got a hand on me, I'd defeat every man here. But the Malice's protection might not extend to Crispus, and it certainly didn't help Aurelia and Radulf.
Brutus walked closer to Crispus with the armband still held out. "Accept this now, become one of us, and we will leave in peace. You will allow the slave boy to find his grandfather, and perhaps save their lives. Or reject my generous offer, and force us to fight."
Crispus stepped back until he was almost behind me, though I had far more reason than him to avoid the Praetors. "Nic?"
"Go with them," I muttered.
"They will never have my loyalty, no matter what." His voice was firm, but he did sheath his sword.
"Go with them," I repeated. "Every moment we waste here risks all our lives."
"I'm sorry." Crispus scuffed his boot against the ground, barely looking at me as he walked up to Brutus.
"Kneel," Brutus commanded him.
Crispus hesitated a moment, and his hands were balled into fists when he finally obeyed. Brutus lifted Crispus's right arm and slid Diana's band above the elbow, then pressed on the edges to tighten it.
"Now you are truly a Praetor," Brutus said. "A servant of the goddess Diana, and a patron of the Mistress. You and your family are under her protection, and ours."
Crispus and his family. That meant his mother ... and his future wife. As long as she remained promised to Crispus, Aurelia would be safe.
Crispus stood and immediately looked back at me. "Radulf is deeper in the temple. Call for Aurelia, and she'll guide you to her. You need to hurry."
I stared at him, trying to assess whether he was still a friend. I knew he valued our friendship, as did I. But the greatest danger to my life was in the form of a silver band that was now wrapped around his arm. He had become one of them. In some ways, so had Aurelia, I supposed.
"Go," Crispus said.
I turned from him and raised one hand of warning, filled with magic that wanted to force the Praetors aside, but they were already parting for me along a deep passage that was blackened by fire. This must be where the Mistress had taken refuge. It was also where I'd find Radulf. I hoped he was still alive.
Still in the main room behind me, Brutus called for his Praetors to follow him, announcing that they would go in search of the Mistress. I hoped they would try their best to find her, and all drown in the process. Except Crispus. Except Crispus, probably. I didn't know exactly how I felt about him at the moment. But whether Crispus helped them search for her or not, I doubted they'd have much luck.
At least they were leaving, as Brutus had promised.
Without another look back, I raced down the passageway. It was narrow and dark and felt like a trap. It probably wasn't -- Praetors were running past me, away from Aurelia and Radulf as I hurried toward them. But that didn't change the growing feeling within me of being drawn into a space I wouldn't easily escape.
"Aurelia!" I called.
I hadn't gone very far before I heard her desperate reply. "Nic? Where are you? Hurry! Nic, what's been happening?"
I followed her voice, checking along the way that the tunnel truly had emptied of all Praetors. There was no way to be completely sure -- Praetors had a way of disappearing like bats in a cave -- but I saw nothing to arouse my suspicions.
Finally, a dim light appeared ahead, in a small room off to one side of the tunnel. I walked in and first saw the shackles attached to the stone walls, too high above the floor for Radulf to have stood there. He would have hung from these chains.
Then my attention went to Aurelia, sitting on the ground beside Radulf, whose body was stretched out on its side as if he were asleep. I knew it wasn't anything as peaceful as that, though. His eyes were closed, and I couldn't tell whether he was breathing. Possibly not, for I could hardly find a place on his body that didn't bear some sort of visible injury. If that was what I could see, I well imagined the wounds he bore on the inside too.
"Is he ... alive?" I whispered.
Aurelia shrugged. "His pulse is so faint, I might be imagining it. Can you heal him?"
I licked my lips, then walked over to Radulf and knelt beside him. I felt for the Divine Star at his back, but nothing sparked beneath my touch, as it should have. Then I bent lower to listen for any breath. Maybe there was something, or maybe it was just the air moving in the room.
"Help me roll him onto his back," I said, and Aurelia quickly did. Then I placed my hand, palm down, directly over Radulf's heart, and began pouring into his chest every bit of magic I could. I had to be careful not to give too much; that would be like curing a man's thirst by dumping him in the ocean. But I needed enough to help him hold on to what life might still remain within him, even if it was the faintest beat.
"You save his life and destroy mine?" Atroxia cried into my head. Her desperation hit me like a rogue wave. "I am no worse than he is. Save me too, please."
I released Radulf long enough to put a hand on the side of my head and catch my breath. I hadn't expected to hear the young vestalis so far from where she was entombed. And I didn't like what she had to say. I wasn't the judge of her crimes, I wasn't the one who'd sentenced her to such a terrible fate. And regardless of who she believed herself to be, I knew her as the Mistress. That was justification enough for what I'd done.
"Don't stop yet. He needs you." Aurelia pressed her hands over mine and returned them to Radulf. She kept them in place, and even moved toward me as if her closeness would help.
It didn't. Aside from the fact that she was a growing distraction to my every thought, she was also promised to Crispus, as she had to be. That promise had just saved her life, and she didn't seem to even know it.
"Move back," I whispered. I didn't want her to. But the longer her hand remained over mine, the more I wanted to hold it, and then to hold her. Didn't she understand the effect her presence had on me? "Please, Aurelia."
She nodded and hid the sadness on her face as she released my hands and scooted away. They felt cold in her absence, but warmed as they filled with magic again, all of which I gave to Radulf. He was still unmoving on the ground, far more dead than alive.
"Where is Crispus?" Aurelia asked. "Didn't he come back with you?"
"We'll meet him in Rome." Though I couldn't say whether it would be as a friend or as an enemy. After she was his wife, Aurelia would become the same, my friend or my enemy. It really didn't mat
ter which. She still had the ability to crush my heart in a way that Brutus, or even the Mistress, never could.
As I continued working on Radulf, I felt strength draining from me, just as it always had before, but the Malice was replenishing it just as quickly. Once I trusted the Malice to keep the magic inside me balanced, I knew I could concentrate instead on trying to reach Radulf's mind.
"I'm here," I told him.
Nothing came in response. It made me think of when I had tried to heal Crispus's father, giving him every bit of magic within me. There had been no response then either. I'd been too weak to heal Valerius.
Was it the same now?
"Save my life too," the Mistress said. No, it was still Atroxia speaking, the human. I knew that, because in a quieter, softer voice, she added, "Break this curse upon me, please."
"We have to leave this temple." If I was going to save Radulf, we had to get farther from the lake. "There are too many distractions here."
"What distractions?" Aurelia asked. "It's only the three of us here." Then she drew back from me again. "Oh, I'm the distraction."
She was -- that was true -- though it wasn't at all what I had meant. But she leaned forward, still keeping herself at a distance from me. "If we disappear from this place, can your grandfather survive the journey?"
I sent more magic into him. "If you die, then I'll win," I told Radulf, sounding as arrogant and bullheaded as I could, the tone that would irritate him the most. "Everyone will say that I was stronger than my grandfather."
He grunted, or I thought he did. Whatever it was, there had been some sign of life from him.
"Nic, you fool," he finally mumbled.
"You are a fool." The Mistress's anger seared its way into my head. "When I escape this cave, you will pay for what you've done."
Radulf's visible wounds were beginning to heal, but I knew that things were far more serious on the inside. Without the Malice, I'd never have been able to help Radulf get this far. Even with it, I was starting to feel drained. If we were going to leave, we needed to do it while I had enough strength for all three of us.
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