"Until it's found one day, and the Praetor War begins again? No, it must be destroyed." I shook my head. "We both know the answer. I need Jupiter's magic."
Aurelia's eyes widened. "That cannot be an option!"
"What if it's the only option? Hiding the Malice just delays the war. Keeping it means I'll spend the rest of my days defending against whoever wants it next -- the emperor, the Praetors, the Mistress. I must find a way to destroy it."
"We just have to keep thinking." Aurelia finally reached the top of the steep crater and sat beside me. "We'll figure this out."
She started to hand me the Malice, but we were interrupted by the sound of hooves approaching us. Crispus was on his horse, galloping at top speed and with a face in focused concentration. Slightly ahead of him, Livia rode on Callistus, and as soon as she spotted us, she called out my name.
"Nic, you must hurry!"
Aurelia got to her feet first. Even knowing something was very wrong, I was still slow to stand. But Aurelia ran through the wide crater to meet Crispus and Livia on the other side.
If they noticed the wreckage around us, that only lasted for a moment before they remembered the reason they had come.
Crispus leapt from his horse before it had fully halted, shouting, "They came sooner than I thought! Decimas Brutus is at Radulf's home, along with a large number of Praetors. They intend to arrest your grandfather!"
"What?" That got me hurrying faster through the crater. "On what charges?"
"Treason to the empire," Livia said.
My anger focused on Crispus. "You didn't tell me they'd come today!"
"I didn't know it'd be today. I swear I didn't. Do you really believe Brutus would share all his plans with me?"
"Can you stop them?"
"I've only barely begun acting as a judge, and I have no power within their ranks."
"They're inventing these charges. Why don't they charge Radulf with imitating birdcalls or overeating his dessert -- those are just as much made-up crimes."
I was struggling to climb the crater as Aurelia had just done. Crispus reached out to help me, then must've realized why I backed away from him, and he lowered his hand. Still, the expression in his eyes was just as heavy as the weight I felt in my heart. "These are real charges," he said. "For real crimes."
There was truth in his words. Over his lifetime, Radulf had been many things to Rome: an outsider, a gladiator, and a Roman general. As my grandfather, he had protected me here in his home, in defiance of the empire and despite the fact that I had committed a few crimes of my own. For years, Radulf had likely also been the greatest threat to the future of the empire. Until now.
Aurelia and Livia helped me out of the crater instead. "Take Callistus and hurry back to the villa," Livia said to me. "Aurelia should go with you too, in case there's trouble. Crispus and I will follow on his horse."
I nodded and accepted Aurelia's help getting onto Callistus's back. Then she climbed on behind me. As much danger as Radulf had been in with the Mistress, something in my gut told me that being arrested by the Praetors was going to be far worse.
Even after we arrived at Radulf's villa, Aurelia wouldn't let me go in until she had wrapped the Malice around my wrist again.
"You need its strength," she said. "And the Malice needs your protection."
I felt magic flow into me and with it enough energy to confront the Praetors on my feet. But I wasn't strong enough yet to fight, and that worried me.
A great many horses lined the front of the villa, along with a caravan wagon, one used for the transport of prisoners. A lot of Praetors had come, all of them prepared to face me.
"I won't let them take him," I muttered to Aurelia.
"We may not have any choice," she said. "I can defend you against as many of these men as possible, but if they get a hand on you --"
"Then all is lost, I know." When Radulf had his powers, we could watch each other's back. Now, despite whatever Aurelia might do to help, I was about to face the Praetors alone.
Decimas Brutus greeted us at the door as soon as we walked in. His eyes traveled to my hands, already raised in front of me. "Let's not fight here, Nicolas, for your own sake."
"Crispus left with you yesterday, after you promised to let me save my grandfather," I said.
"And you did, I assume." Brutus's smile congratulated himself on his own cleverness. "I never agreed to stay away forever."