"Then let's start right away," Radulf said. "It's still very early. If we hurry home, we can get a few hours of sleep and begin at the racetrack after breakfast. Take my arm. My magic will take us there."
Livia obeyed, but I folded my arms and stepped back.
"Do as you're told," Radulf said to me.
"I'll ride Callistus back home," I said. "That's how I'll start practicing."
I had expected him to argue, but he didn't. Radulf only mumbled, "If you wish. Obviously, I cannot force you to do anything." Then he closed his eyes, and without another word, he and Livia vanished.
I stared at the empty space where they had stood, incredulous. It was the closest I'd come in years to feeling free. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wasn't hiding from anyone, or running, or expecting to be caught. Was this how other Romans felt all the time?
I turned to Callistus, and something about the look in his eye reminded me that while I had some independence, it was not the same as freedom.
"Well, boy, I can tell your opinion of what I've done." I patted Callistus on his neck and continued walking with him. I was glad he couldn't answer me, because I knew what he'd say, and at the moment, it wasn't exactly favorable to either my intelligence or my wisdom.
Four days. I had to be insane to propose that bargain with Brutus. Even now, I was sure I could hear him laughing with the other Praetors at how lucky they would be after the race, hauling me before them on my knees and demanding the key to the Malice.
A key that I had, obviously, but could not use. I hadn't worried as much about the Malice before now. It was easier to believe the key had died along with Horatio. Well, it hadn't. And now, Livia was right: The Malice was no longer a theory, but an amulet, which I would either find and destroy, or which would destroy me as the Praetors forced it from my grip. The consequences of failure were terrible, and very real. I had to recall every word Horatio said to me two months ago, or whether he had done anything that could have given me the key. I needed that key as much as I needed to draw my next breath. Maybe mor
e.
Finally, I swung into the saddle on Callistus's back. He had the power of forty horses, so I figured testing him to his limits would also stretch mine.
"Run," I whispered.
And he did. He shot forward so quickly that I nearly lost my hold on his saddle. Rather than continuing on toward Radulf's home, he turned around to keep us on the outskirts of Rome. Where the new city wall was not entirely built, Callistus ran into the open land, out to where I had longed to go as a free person.
Wind whipped at my face and dried my eyes to the point that it was necessary to close them at times. Finally, we were in flat, open fields, and I geared up in the saddle and narrowed my eyes enough to give him some direction.
Callistus had the same power in running as I had felt in the griffin as we flew. Yet because Callistus traveled by land, I was more aware of his grace at such high speeds. I leaned in the direction I wanted him to go, and he obeyed my cues.
Only minutes later, a quick glance back told me that the city walls were much farther away than I had expected. Callistus showed no signs of tiring yet, and maybe he would never need to stop and rest. I wondered if he would take me to the farthest limits of Rome, and what I'd find when I got there.
Some of the slaves who had worked with me in the mines had come from lands so far away that little of what they described sounded familiar. There were some men with dark skin who talked of jungles and harsh deserts and survival where water was scarce. Others with fair skin came from the north, with cooler summers than we had in Rome, but winters with snow that could bury a person inside their home for weeks at a time.
I knew nothing of their lives before coming to the mines, or how I'd survive with Livia and my mother if we eventually went into those strange lands. Truly, although it was firm in my mind that I would have to leave Rome if I was ever to find peace, I didn't know where in the world could be any more beautiful.
We had been riding south, I realized, with the scenery passing so quickly that it took me a while to realize where we were headed, and I didn't like it at all.
"Turn around," I said aloud to Callistus. "Let's go back."
But he wouldn't, even after I gripped his reins and tried to turn him. I wouldn't force him with magic; indeed, the last thing I wanted was to put him at risk from anything the bulla could do. But he was clearly willing to risk my safety.
The mines were ahead. The same ones that had taken five years of my life in exchange for filth, starvation, and harsh labor that had all but killed me. My former master, a pig named Sal, was now in charge of the household for Senator Horatio, another reason I doubted Aurelia would return to her home any more often than necessary. But a new master had taken over at the mines, and would likely know my face and the story of how I had run away. I wouldn't go back there ever again. I couldn't.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before we left the road to the mines as Callistus turned us toward the shores of Lake Nemi, the one we miners had called Diana's Mirror because of her temple on the northern shore. But now I understood Diana differently, her powers, her anger and jealousy. Going near the lake was only slightly preferable to the mines, which was only slightly preferable to having my teeth knocked out by wild boars.
That is, until I saw why Callistus had fought me to come. For when we got down to the shoreline, I saw the flutter of a golden wing behind a rock, and recognized it at once.
I leapt off Callistus's back and went running around the rock --
-- to the griffin, who nearly sideswiped me with her paw and lovingly curled me into her at the same time.
To Caela, whom I had dearly missed and thought about almost as often as I thought about nearly anything else.
I wrapped my arms around her neck and dug my fingers into the fur there until the lion half of her purred. With the bulla's ability to communicate with animals, I filled her with my love and every memory of how I had missed her these past two months. Then she crouched low, inviting me to ride. It was no accident that Callistus had brought me here, so wherever Caela wanted to go, I would ride with her.
I swung onto her back and told Callistus I would return soon, and before the words were out of my mouth, Caela and I were in the air.