I gritted my teeth and looked down. Radulf should know about that assassination. He was the one who had ordered it, as he had ordered the deaths of other emperors before that. Then I realized what this announcement was likely to be, and I looked up at Radulf, dreading his next words.
"The emperor's reign fell to Florian, who continued the fighting in Gaul and has been there ever since. Sadly, my friends, Emperor Florian will never return to Rome. He has been killed by his own soldiers. A search will begin at once for a new emperor."
Silence fell over the entire circus, out of respect for a fallen emperor. Off in the distance, an eagle was released, Rome's tradition for sending the emperor's soul to the gods. And though everyone around me followed the eagle's path in the skies and whispered to Pluto to carry him safely into the underworld, I only stared up at Radulf, letting him see the blame in my eyes.
Radulf had ordered Florian's death as well. I knew it just from looking at him. Only a few days ago, we'd learned that the emperor was sending his soldiers to bring Radulf to Gaul. Radulf had replied that the soldiers were loyal to him, far more than the emperor. Now I knew what he meant by that. When Radulf looked back at me, his first expression was one of pride. Yes, this was the Radulf I knew and understood. The one who would do anything, and destroy anyone, to get what he wanted.
But Radulf's expression quickly changed once he found me in the group. There was a brief moment of confusion while he looked at my horses, and then at Aurelia in a chariot behind Callistus. And then he knew exactly what I had done. His face twisted in fear, or anger, or whatever emotions were running through him.
"Stop this race!" Radulf yelled. "Out of respect to the emperor, we must not race today!"
No, the reasons for his panic had nothing to do with respect to the emperor. This was about me now. And nobody would stop this race.
Ignoring Radulf's words, as they had to do, the soldiers directed us to back up into the gates, which closed in front of us. A metal grille above the wooden doors let in light and would allow us to hear the trumpeter's warning that the doors would be opening, but I could no longer see the crowds and that helped me calm down. I backed my team of horses to the rear wall, which also put me farther away from everyone. It looked unwise, but I knew what I was doing.
Crispus came forward, calming my horses just as other workers were quieting the horses for their charioteers.
"You're going to start this race from behind?" he asked me.
I didn't answer. My eyes were on Aurelia, whom I could easily see from here. She stared back at me with an expression I couldn't understand. There was worry, and sadness, and even a spark of anger. Maybe other emotions too. I only winked back and gave her a smile that made the creases of her brow deepen. I wasn't sorry for what I'd done and wouldn't pretend to be. This was the best chance either of us had.
Decimas Brutus was speaking from the staging area above us. Though I couldn't hear his exact words, he had excited the crowd again. He didn't want them in mourning for an emperor who had been in power for only a few months, all of it at war in Gaul. He wanted them cheering for the race and distracted from the larger issues of treason that were everywhere in the circus. Rome was a mob. Everything Rome did seemed to be about distracting the mob.
I did not see Brutus drop the white cloth to begin the race, but I heard the trumpets, and the noise of the lever t
urning to spring open the gates. My horses were already in motion when the door flew apart. I had given myself nearly five feet to build up speed first. The others did not.
The chariot race for my life, Aurelia's life, and for the future of the empire, had begun.
Perhaps it was a small thing to have started moving even before the gates opened, but it was already working to my advantage. My horses were second out of the gates, only by a fraction of a hair perhaps, but I could use that. Callistus was faster and was already in the lead, but I had expected that. If nothing else, I was grateful to Radulf for forcing me to spend so long working on these precious first few seconds.
The first part of the race was to get to the break line, which was nearly even with where the spine began. We were required to stay in our lanes until then, thus avoiding a mass collision in the first few seconds of the race. Once there, I knew what to do.
As I had practiced so many times, my most important job was to work toward the inside track. But there were ten teams around me who didn't care about winning. Their only job was to see that I didn't get to the finish line.
The trouble started early, as the player to my right, the meanest-looking one, began edging me inward with his chariot while the man to my left matched my chariot's speed. I knew it was deliberate because when I slowed, so did he, and when I slowed yet again, so did he.
Although I'd been furious a couple of days ago with the racers who had cheated, I realized what a useful lesson it had been. Because now, I recognized the look of conspiracy between the men on either side of me. I understood the expression of warning from the one on the right, to prepare himself. Something was about to happen.
All three of us had been slowing, but without giving any warning of my own, I urged my horses to speed forward, so suddenly that the man to my left could not keep up, and the man on my right had already turned his team inward, intending to careen his chariot directly into mine. Instead of hitting me, as I raced past them, their chariots collided. Both men flew into the air, but their horses were left in a tangle, which probably saved the riders' lives as they cut free of their reins. A roar rippled through the crowd. The people wanted violence from any of their games, but with me on the tracks, they also wanted a show, and I regretted knowing I would have to provide one to survive.
Slaves ran onto the tracks to clear the fallen chariots. Now there were eight teams against me, and I hadn't yet completed my first lap.
Though I was glad to leave those two teams behind, they had also cost me time. Because of having slowed down, I was in very last place. I cut toward the center in a hard angle, sharper than I should have done, but I kept my footing and moved ahead. Most of the men here had never ridden a chariot before, and their inexperience was showing. The ones who had raced were keeping pace with Aurelia, though she was still ahead of them all. But they clearly wanted to win too. It would earn them a dual reward, from the Praetors for keeping me away from victory, and the sack of gold from the empire. The rest of these men, the ones meant to frighten and intimidate me, they were just bumps in my road. Literal bumps if they didn't stay in their chariots.
Following that turn, my first lap was complete. The first bronze dolphin overhead was already pulled downward, signaling to the cheering crowd that the second lap had begun. Ahead of me, the second carved wooden egg had already been pulled, meaning the lead chariot was that much farther ahead in the race.
I was nearer to the inside than before, though a charioteer now on my right and slightly behind me was whipping his horse to increase his speed. It was Kaeso, the chunky man who had drawn first for his gate. I felt a sting on the back of my arm and without even thinking, yanked my arm away from the sting, which pulled the reins even farther to the inside. My chariot bumped against the team of horses next to me, which caused us to rock up onto only one wheel. I threw my weight down to steady my chariot, and only then had a chance to look at what had caused the sting.
The whip.
Instantly it snapped again, this time catching me across the back with a cut that I knew had drawn blood. The crowd had seen it, but there were as many cheers as jeers, both directed at me. They were no doubt hoping I'd respond with magic, and in fact, I heard chanting about it coming from somewhere in the stands.
I merely pushed forward, hoping to stay far enough ahead to avoid that charioteer's whip. The sting was still burning on my arm and back, but I couldn't use magic to heal myself. With the pain, it was harder to hold on to the magic protecting Livia. I could not risk losing her while I raced. Whether I won or lost, I had to protect her for as long as my magic held out.
Cutting so tight to the center had given me a huge advantage. I had narrowed the lead between myself and the racers ahead of me, and three teams were behind me now. There were only three chariots between me and Aurelia, and another two had pushed ahead of her. From one look at her driving, I understood why. Aurelia kept looking back for me and was deliberately slowing Callistus in an effort to increase my chances of winning.
No, that wasn't the plan. She had to keep going as fast as possible. The worst of everything would be if we both lost. But from here, I had no way to communicate that. Even if I yelled it to her, I knew she'd ignore me.