Mark of the Thief (18 page)

“Illegal sheepherding, for all I care!” I shrugged angrily. “If he made up charges against me, then he can do it for the general.”

Felix snorted. “The general cannot be stopped. As I’ve told you, all the emperor can do is hope Radulf does not turn against him.”

“He already has! I’ve told you what he said!”

“Give me the keys, you’re too slow.” Aurelia took them and knelt at my feet, working first at the manacles there.

“What if I get evidence against Radulf?” I offered.

Felix’s eyes narrowed. “What would you ask in return?”

“For my life. The emperor must forgive all criminal charges against me. And I want my sister’s freedom.” When I found her. “And I want five hundred denarii.”

Still at work with the keys, Aurelia muttered something under her breath. It shouldn’t matter to her where she got her money. This way, I could avoid Horatio forever.

“Those are heavy demands,” Felix said. “But I might be able to persuade Emperor Tacitus
if
you give him the bulla as part of that agreement.”

“I will trade the bulla for my freedom. But until Radulf is defeated, he can still get at me, and I need the bulla for defense.”

Curious, Felix tilted his head. “What do you mean Radulf can get at you?”

“He’s got magic, Felix.” I had seen it, and felt it, and still had the echo of his voice in my head.

Felix’s expression changed. It wasn’t one of surprise, but rather, as if I had spoken a truth he had refused to acknowledge until now. “Are you sure?” For the first time since we began talking, he sounded as frightened as I felt.

“It’s different from whatever I can do with the bulla, but just as strong. And I bet that if he got the bulla, he could use it, maybe worse than me. He’ll make what I did in the arena look like a game of knucklebones.”

Felix’s face went pale. He took the keys from Aurelia, sorted through them until he found the one he wanted, and handed it back. She stuck it in the lock on my manacles and it opened.

While she completed the others, Felix said, “General Radulf wasn’t born a Roman. He came from a barbarian tribe up north and was captured thirteen years ago when Rome conquered his land. He became a gladiator here, one of the few to never lose a fight. Radulf became a hero in this city, and through his skills, he earned his freedom, then his citizenship, then his military position.”

Aurelia snapped off the last of my manacles and said, “Let’s go.”

I resisted her tug. “You think he won because he had magic?”

Felix looked around before speaking, as if he thought we might be overheard. “I worked with the animals while Radulf waited for his turn to enter the arena. I saw him up close many times, bare except for his gladiator uniform. Nic, whatever that mark on your back means, Radulf has one exactly like it.”

“Nic, now!” Aurelia said. “We’ve been spotted.” Two soldiers talking by the amphitheater glanced at us.

No, this was my chance to get answers. Maybe my only chance. “I heard he killed others who had the mark.”

“Every one of them, and now we know why. He’ll do the same to you.” Felix’s eyes darted around again. “If that mark is a source of magic, then you have to worry about more than the bulla. It means there is magic coming from inside you.”

Aurelia pulled at my arm, but Felix grabbed my shoulders. “Listen carefully. These are dangerous times, and what you did in the amphitheater proves you will either be the emperor’s greatest friend, or his greatest enemy. He will not take the risk of guessing wrong about you. If you go to the emperor or anyone loyal to him right now, they will kill you.”

Aurelia only briefly met my eyes. Clearly, Felix’s warning included Horatio, the leader of the emperor’s Senate. And I had agreed to go.

Felix continued, “If you want forgiveness from the emperor, you will have to do more than get evidence against Radulf. You will have to defeat him and take his magic, just as he has taken it from others.”

I shrank beneath his gaze. “I can’t stop him, Felix! Expose him, maybe, but that’s all.”

“You may be the only one who can.”

The thought of that terrified me, but then I remembered when the bulla had pressed against the mark on my back, the way I had felt it pulling out the magic. If I could do that same thing to Radulf, I could win. There was an obvious problem, of course. I would have to get close to Radulf, and I doubted he’d cooperate with my plan.

“We have to go now!” Aurelia grabbed my arm. The two soldiers who had been talking to a slave closer to the amphitheater pointed at us. One of them pulled out his sword.

I started to leave, but turned back long enough to look at Felix. “If it’s the only way I can get freedom, then I will do as you ask. But if the emperor doesn’t keep his end of the bargain, then yes, I will become his greatest enemy.”

Felix only stared as Aurelia and I hurried away.

T
his time, Aurelia actually had a good excuse to be angry with me. I had tarried so long with Felix that the Roman soldiers were on our heels now. As far as I was concerned, my reasons were good. Aurelia disagreed.

“Why didn’t you listen?” she scolded.

“You could’ve left, you know. It’s only money.” I spoke as irritably as she had, though I hoped she wasn’t angry enough to actually leave.

“You’re worth more than just money,” she said, then shifted directions slightly. The soldiers had taken a high road, hoping to cut us off. This bought us a few extra paces. “This way! We’ll hide in the forum.”

It didn’t seem like the best suggestion, and in any other situation, I’d have stopped to make an argument of it. I’d only seen the forum from a distance, but enough to know it was always full of people, going to and from the many temples, markets, and other public buildings. Most of them had probably been in the amphitheater. I figured it was a safe guess that they’d remember the boy who had nearly destroyed it.

We crossed in front of a building with enormous marble columns. My mind filled with the possibilities of what would happen if I accidentally released any magic here. If I toppled one column, or even cracked it, the entire building could collapse.

“I have an idea!” Aurelia grabbed my arm and yanked me midstep toward one of the temples, built up on a ridge of earth higher than many others in the forum. We ran around a speaker’s platform to a wide flight of stairs, where, for a moment, we got ahead of the soldiers when they tripped over each other in their race to snatch me. At the top was a second set of stairs, divided by wide marble columns. Behind them, the great doors of a temple were already open. Aurelia ran in, but I stopped at the entrance, my breath caught in my throat.

An imposing statue of Julius Caesar stood inside the entrance, and it stared down at me as if he were alive, warning me I had no right to enter this building. Carved into the statue’s forehead was the Divine Star. My hand was around the bulla and I released it at once, ashamed of having stolen it from Caesar’s own cave. Although it was still hidden beneath my tunic, I had no doubt that Caesar knew exactly where it was.

“Do you want to stand there and be cut down?” Aurelia scowled and grabbed my hand again, this time dragging me inside the temple with her. Inside Caesar’s temple.

As soon as we crossed the doorway, my shoulder started to prickle. I took it as a sign that Caesar was displeased with me, but he would have to get angrier than that before I’d leave. At least so far, no one in here was trying to kill me. The same could not be said if I stayed outside.

The temple was filled with altars for sacrifices, elaborate vases, sculptures, and, of course, the colossal statue of Julius Caesar, still watching me. I stood up taller and gave the statue a nod of respect. I had his magic now, and I intended to use it well. For the record, it didn’t nod back, which was a relief. Turning away from Caesar’s gaze, I noticed the walls of the temple, decorated in frescoes of other gods and goddesses, all more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen before. But the one that caught my eye was a painting of the Divine Star, the red comet of fire leaving trails of light on its journey through the heavens.

Aurelia touched my arm. “That’s the image on your shoulder. Almost exactly alike.”

There were a few other patrons inside, but a woman in flowing white robes saw our entrance and put a finger to her lips to remind us of the need for silence here. She was as beautiful as the paintings around us and I lowered my eyes, humbled by the power she seemed to possess.

“She’s a
vestalis
,” Aurelia whispered. “She is a sacred woman — her job is to care for this temple. Come, we have to speak to her.”

“Not me,” I whispered, pulling against her. “Not here.”

“You’re a slave, Nic, not a plague. Come on.”

She misunderstood. The bulla was warming again, and I grabbed it, hoping to dispel any magic that might still be there. Whatever they might do to me in here, I would not destroy this temple. I needed a place to calm the bulla. To calm myself.

Aurelia started forward, but the two soldiers who had been chasing us walked through the doorway. Their eyes fell immediately upon me.

“Stop!” one of them called out.

By then, we had come up to the vestalis. I had been wrong before, for she was far more beautiful than the images painted on the walls, with eyes like the sea and a smile that passed with the wind, leaving a stern expression behind. “Yes?” she asked. Her voice was kind, at least.

“We seek asylum.” Aurelia’s head flipped around to the soldiers, then turned back to the woman. “Please.”

One of the soldiers approached her too. He bowed respectfully and said, “My lady, this boy is a criminal and a slave, wanted for crimes against the emperor and against all of Rome. He is dangerous.”

She looked at me. “This boy? He doesn’t look dangerous.”

I tried not to look dangerous, but inside I felt worse than ever. Because I was everything he said, even if I didn’t intend to be.

“Even for criminals, Caesar’s temple is a place of asylum,” she said. “Or do you not feel that this temple should be honored?”

The soldier’s eyes darted. “Of course,
Domina
. Which is why I need to remove this boy. He carries powers that should not belong to any human. He defiles Caesar’s temple.”

“No, my lady, he honors it.” Aurelia pulled my tunic down at the shoulder, exposing the mark to the woman. “Grant us asylum.
Please
.”

I heard her draw in a breath as she recognized the Divine Star, then she said to the soldier, “You will leave, sir. It is not I who has granted this boy asylum. Caesar himself has done it.”

The soldier grunted a terse “Very well,” and gave her another bow, but before he rose back up, he met my eyes and said, “You can’t stay in here forever, slave. If you stick even one hand outside this temple, I will cut it off, and catch the rest of you as it falls.”

“If you see my hand, be sure it isn’t aimed at you,” I snarled back before Aurelia kicked me in the shin. Maybe it wasn’t the wisest thing to say, given the shocked reaction of the vestalis, but I felt better afterward and that had to be worth something.

Once the soldier left, the woman frowned at me. “I know what happened in the amphitheater. It will not happen here, on sacred ground.”

“No, Domina,” Aurelia said. “Of course not. We promise.”

She seemed to accept that and her tone softened. “This is the place where Caesar’s body was burned after his death. At times, his wandering spirit can be felt here. No doubt he will feel the presence of your … abilities.”

No doubt at all, for though I tried to deny it, I already felt the truth of her words. Yes, he was here. And not at all pleased that I was too.

C
aesar’s temple was grand, ornate, and very tall, but not particularly large inside. The vestalis told us we were free to remain as long as we wanted, but warned that the Roman soldier had been correct before: Once we left, the laws of asylum no longer protected us. I kept my back to the other patrons, who seemed equally uninterested in me. The last thing I needed was their curiosity.

While we obviously couldn’t stay in this temple forever, I wasn’t sure I could even last the night — my hunger was becoming desperate. Within another day or two, if I didn’t risk my life trying to outrun the soldiers, I’d lose it anyway to starvation. I glanced over at Aurelia, who didn’t seem much better off. She eyed the sheath for her knife like it was dried meat, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she gave it a taste, just to be sure.