"You can sort it out with Radulf after the race."
"No, that's what I mean, Crispus. I don't know how to finish the race. I don't know what I should do next."
He smiled over at me. It wasn't a real smile, but it was nice to see anyway. "You will find a way," he said. "I believe in you."
Though I hadn't seen the crowds for myself this morning, Crispus had described the heavy flow of people into the circus, beyond seating capacity. The extras stood along the top rows and pressed into every arched entrance. Certainly the start o
f the Ludi Romani was exciting, but there was more to the games this time. The people had heard that the runaway slave with magic would be racing, and they expected a show similar to what they had seen in the amphitheater two months ago.
Well, I wouldn't give that to them. The bulla was already warm and swelling with magic, but I pushed the feelings away. I would not use it now, especially not when Aurelia would be on the track with me.
Crispus and I walked upstairs to the roof of the building that housed the starting gates. Here, in full view of the audience, we would draw our lots for the race. The crowd was already making noise for the other charioteers, but when I came up, we heard a swell of both cheers and jeers. The other charioteers looked at me like I was a meal to be devoured. I glared back at them, but it did nothing to remove the look of hunger in their eyes. Slaves had prepared our horses and were attending to them down below, but no one would go to the gates yet. Not until we drew for our positions. Radulf had hoped my name would be one of the last ones called, so that I could choose a racing position as far from any enemies as possible. Looking around me, I saw what a useless strategy that was -- everyone up here was against me. The only chance I had of avoiding all my enemies was to choose an empty track on the farthest corner of the earth. And maybe even that would not be enough.
I looked for Aurelia, but she wasn't here. One of the Praetors was probably drawing a number for her.
"She's all right," Crispus whispered when he saw me looking. "They want her to win, so they won't hurt her."
No, not yet, and not if she won. Not if I lost.
In the absence of Emperor Florian, the sponsor of today's games was supposed to have been the presiding magistrate of the Senate, Valerius. But he was gone and another senator might not have been chosen to replace him yet. Still, I expected it would be at least one of the senators, so I was surprised when the sponsor was announced to the people, and the cheers went up for Decimas Brutus as he climbed the stairs. It wasn't unheard of for a Praetor to preside over the games, but I had hoped it would be anyone else. Brutus accepted the applause of the crowd as if he were the emperor himself, then walked back to address us.
"Welcome to the first chariot race of the Ludi Romani," he said. "As you all know, we race in honor of the gods and for the glory of Rome." Then his eye fell on me. "But then, you also know that there is much at stake for your own futures. Unless you are the victor, it's probably not worth your trouble to survive all seven laps. Except for you, Nicolas Calva. They will bring you to me alive. I will see you immediately after the race ... or sooner."
I arched an eyebrow, but he gave no further explanation for those strange words.
A large vase was in the center of the staging area, taller than the biggest man here. It had already been loaded with balls that had been carved with our names. Usually, the balls were simply painted with each faction's color, but there were no factions today, not unless there were only two: me, and then everyone else. And Aurelia was a third faction, perhaps. Brutus turned a bar until a ball dropped out from below the vase. He picked up the ball, rotated it to see the name etched on its face, and shouted out to the crowd, "Kaeso!"
A chunky man stomped forward, the only way I assumed he knew how to walk. He shouted out, "I will have the second gate!"
He glared at me as he walked back, and I immediately determined not to choose the gates on either side of him.
A second man was called, who chose the twelfth gate, likely hoping it would keep him as far from the danger as possible. It wouldn't be so bad to ride next to him, but then the third man to be called up chose the eleventh, and I definitely wanted to avoid him. He looked like a bull and was probably just as mean.
As it turned out, I was the last to be chosen, and when the ball with my name on it was released, I saw why. It had been made much larger than the rest, so it would only fall out when nothing smaller remained inside the vase.
Brutus held up the ball and called out to the crowd, "Nicolas Calva, which stall will you have?"
The only one that was left, so I didn't bother to answer him. I'd be in the third position, which wasn't bad but wasn't the best I could've done either. Other than the man leaving from the eleventh gate, the cruelest-looking competitors had taken the lower numbers.
"The runaway slave will have the third gate!" Brutus called to the crowd, then turned to me and grinned wickedly. "Congratulations, my boy."
Heat filled me. I was not his boy. I was no one's boy.
"Come on," I said to Crispus, already marching away while the other competitors remained upstairs to receive their applause from the crowd.
"Third gate puts you close to the spine," Crispus said. "So at least two chariots won't try to take your place."
"Those racers are not ordered to take my place," I said. "They are ordered to remove me from it. Now, please have the unicorn brought to the gates as quickly as possible. I'll meet you there."
Since most of the other charioteers went directly to their horses out back, I was the first to arrive at the gates. No, I was the second.
Aurelia was already there, chained into a pathetic chariot that had probably been around since Nero's time. The option of leaving the race was not given to her. She was already set in the tenth position, where she'd race directly beside the man I had thought looked so cruel. He would run right over the limp team of horses Brutus had given her for the race.
She leaned my way when she saw me coming. "There isn't much time, so listen carefully. I won't win, so don't waste your strength trying to change that."
"You have to win," I said.
Her face tightened. "I've never driven a chariot, and I'm not good with horses."