Mark of the Thief (Mark of the Thief 1)

Unless I found a way to escape it, this was Caesar's curse.

Aurelia left soon after our conversation. She said she had stayed for as long as Felix had paid her and that I seemed determined to ignore her anyway. That might've been true at first, but once she announced she was leaving, things changed. Maybe she was difficult and disagreeable, but so was I at times, and her reasons were every bit as valid as mine. I wished I had a way to ask her to stay. She hated me, obviously, but oddly, that seemed like a good thing. It meant she had no problem with telling me the truth, even if the truth was bad. I needed a friend here. I needed her here.

"I doubt you'll be alive by this time tomorrow," she said as she sauntered away. "So don't let them bury you in the city. I live below ground and don't want your body dropping in unexpectedly."

I would be alive. I just wouldn't be here. Caela and I were going to escape tonight. The only question that remained was how to do it. I was no further in my plan than I'd been the night before.

The problem was that as evening approached, our true work began. Even more animals that had been stored east of the city were now being brought in, which only increased the noise and the stench. "And the danger," added a slave working nearby as he recounted the time a few years ago when several hungry lions had escaped their cage and killed nearly thirty men before they were all recaptured. "But the slaughter down here was nothing to that day's venatio." I shivered at the thought of it, and found somewhere else to work.

In preparation for the games, the arena was being decorated to look like the jungle from which many of the animals had come, and so we spent the entire night hauling trees and grasses into place, and creating sandbars, then filling the low points with water. It spooked some of the other men to see the arena turned into such a foreign setting, but the mines were always creepy, and Caesar's cave worst of all. Compared to that, a fake jungle was nothing.

As we worked above ground, other slaves continued their efforts in the hypogeum below. By the time I got down there, it was so thick with caged animals that there was barely room to move, and nothing but stale, foul air to breathe.

"All of these are intended for the venatio?" I asked one man, who only grunted his way past me. At this rate, I wondered how long until the world ran out of animals, all for Rome's entertainment. It disgusted me.

Dawn rose faster than we were ready for it, and I'd had no chance to get near Caela's cage, much less figure out a way to break the lock. I wasn't even sure she'd agree to leave. She seemed perfectly content with the gold they had given her.

We had barely ended our preparations when Felix sent around orders to allow us each a drink and a bit of food. Nothing was to be given to the animals. The venatio was the first event of the day, and Felix wanted them eager to kill.

I skipped the food and surveyed the various routes Caela and I might take to escape. The obvious choice was the ramp leading to the ground level of the amphitheater, especially since it was the closest to Caela's cage. But Roman soldiers were positioned at the top of the ramp to keep onlookers from coming down, so I doubted we'd get very far. There were other exits too, including some of the larger lifts that went directly into the arena, but unless I stayed behind, there was nobody to raise it. Besides, the exits weren't the biggest problem. It felt like every slave in Rome had been brought here to assist with the games. Even if I got Caela out of her cage, there were too many men for us to fight them all.

Maybe Aurelia was wrong about my death. After all, the emperor needed me alive in order to operate the bulla. Additionally, nobody seemed to be treating me differently than any other slave. Felix had his eye on me a lot, but he still wasn't shy about barking out orders. As had been the case back at the mines, I worked hard, and obeyed every command that made sense. There were good reasons to keep me alive.

And an even better one for the emperor to kill me. The bulla was heavier than ever. The magic in it was growing stronger. I had to get out of this place, and take Caela with me.

I could tell from the noises above that the amphitheater was filling with people. Time was running out. I began looking for anyone who might have keys to Caela's cage. If I got a set and then coaxed her out, maybe I could convince the others that I was moving her into place for the hunt.

But nobody would believe such an obvious lie. Felix himself had said that Caela was intended for the middle show. Besides that, the keys were on ropes hung around the supervisors' necks. How exactly was I supposed to steal them from there?

Once the games got under way, the tunnels beneath the amphitheater flew into action. It was still morning and yet with so many of us, the humid air rose to boiling temperatures. Further dampening my hopes to escape, I was assigned to work on the upper level of a two-story lift to send the animals onto the arena floor. We were to push the bars around a rotating capstan that would gradually raise the animal's cage. Once we got the animal to the right level, another group of slaves pulled the cage door open. The animal would instinctively walk the narrow plank toward the light, with no idea it was heading into a battle arena.

At first I refused to help. It wouldn't stop the venatio, but at least it would allow my conscience to sleep at night. Then I heard a snap and instantly felt a sharp sting on the back of my leg. I collapsed to one knee and turned to see a supervisor below us with a long whip in his hand.

"Get up, you fool!" a nearby slave hissed at me. "Do you think they won't kill you?"

On the contrary, I was certain they would try. Remembering Caela, I stood and took my place on the capstan. Three slaves worked alongside me with another four men turning the same capstan below us. Despite their warnings, the lifting seemed easier than it should have been, and gradually the other men fell away. Without them, it became hard, and I was moving slower than before, but I was doing it.

One of them said to me, "How is a boy your age strong enough to do the work of eight men?"

I didn't have an answer for him. No doubt my years in the mines had made me strong, perhaps stronger than many men. But not eight of them. I felt the warmth of the bulla again, flowing into my back and arms. If it was giving me strength, then it meant I was doing more than just feeling the magic. I was using it. I pushed the bars again, amazed at the surge of energy. Maybe it was only borrowed strength -- or stolen strength, since I knew full well the bulla didn't belong to me -- but I liked the feel of it.

There were dozens of other lifts, all of them working at the same speed, constantly delivering new animals into the arena to fight. I tried not to listen to the noises above, and hated every second of what I was being forced to do.

I worked solidly until the announcement went out that the venatio was over. The animals still alive were being allowed to remain in the arena for the next event. That was the one in which Caela would participate. We were almost out of time.

I turned to the man next to me. "What happens now?"

"It's lunchtime for the spectators," he answered with a smile. "Execution of the criminals. It's too bad you can't be up top to see the show to follow -- we have an elephant trained to walk a tightrope. It --"

I wasn't sure I wanted to know, but I asked anyway. "How are the criminals executed?"

He shrugged. "Various ways, depending on the games. Sometimes they make it quick, like a beheading, but the people always enjoy it more when the criminal's death is part of the entertainment. Today they'll use the jungle setting for more fun. They'll set the criminals loose and unarmed. Some animals up there might find them first, or I saw a bestiarius wandering around here too. I imagine he

'll go in and hunt for the survivors."

"What about the griffin?" I asked. "What's her role?"

The man smiled. "She'll go in at the very end, as the finest of all animals versus the strongest of all animal hunters. Your griffin will have to lose of course -- they'll make sure of it -- but it's certain to be a great fight."