I yelled at him to give me a better answer, but he was already gone. My mind raced to fill in its own explanation. When had she been taken? Because only yesterday morning, Crispus said he would ask his father to get Livia from the mines. The timing was tight, but that had to be where she was, because nobody else would've had any reason to take her. I made myself believe Senator Valerius had her, and she was safe here in Rome, because if he didn't, then she could be anywhere ... or not. I felt a swell in my emotions, terrified at the possibilities that ran through my mind. Wherever she was, Sal was right about one thing. This was my fault.
Above the jungle leaves, I saw the tip of a spear. The bestiarius had probably heard me yelling at Sal and was following the sound. I immediately ducked behind a tree, causing an audience uproar as they tried to point me out to the hunter. So I sprinted back in the direction I had come, calling Caela's name. The arena seemed so much larger than it had been the night before, and with the heat and the yelling crowds, I could barely hold two thoughts together.
So I let there be only one thought. Livia. I had to find my sister. And for that, I needed Caela's help.
I passed the remains of one of the criminals who had been killed and several of the animals that had been sacrificed to the games earlier that morning. It was repulsive to think that this day was only half over. The biggest event still remained for the gladiator battles that afternoon. And the audience cheered on, with an appetite for blood that might never be filled.
On my entry into Rome, I had been able to reach for Caela with my thoughts. Maybe that was the way to find her now.
Where are you? I thought.
I heard nothing in response, and wondered if she was still angry because of the horse. It was a stupid grudge, compared to our much bigger problem. So I called her name, which was even more stupid, considering the bestiarius wasn't far away. Seconds later, his spear missed my head by less than an inch. Above the crowd's noise, I heard its whoosh in the air and I was pretty sure it grazed my cheek because I felt a sting that hadn't been there before.
I turned to see the bestiarius facing me, bare-chested except for a strap to hold his weapons, and with a brass mask designed to look like a bull's head. He was snarling because he had given up his hiding place and gotten no one's death as a reward, something that gave me a small amount of satisfaction. The audience was booing him now, which he deserved, but I wouldn't have minded also hearing some cheering for my escaping such a close call.
"They don't think you're very good at this," I yelled at the bestiarius. "Better you give up now and avoid further embarrassment!" And then I grabbed the thick spear and borrowed enough strength from the bulla to splinter the long handle against the tree. It was useless to him now. The audience definitely reacted to that. Maybe they were cheering me this time. So I gave them an elaborate bow and then continued running.
I finally found Caela in a thicker part of the brush, where she seemed to have created a bed for herself in the jungle foliage. In her claw was the gold nugget. She didn't look happy to see me. No doubt she still smelled the horse on me.
Well, I wasn't happy to see her here either. The bestiarius couldn't be far, and Caela and I were his prime targets.
"This isn't the time for a nap!" I yelled at her. She got to her feet and silently stared at me. Then her eyes darted behind me, to the right.
That was the direction the bestiarius came from when he attacked me. He jumped directly on my back, knocking me down, and my face skidded in the yellow sand. His next punch landed squarely on the Divine Star, hard enough that I nearly passed out then, and I felt his weight change as he reared back for another hit.
But Caela charged directly into the bestiarius. She came at him with both talons spread apart and then used her hind legs to kick him a short distance away. I tried to prop myself up on all fours, but still couldn't draw a complete breath, much less sit up. Caela moved toward me as if to help, then suddenly screeched in pain.
That got me up. The bestiarius must have found a second spear, which was now lodged deep in Caela's side. I stumbled over to her and pulled out the blade, but blood poured from her wound. The bestiarius yelled out some sort of battle cry and came charging toward us, swinging a mace in his hands.
"You first, and then your bird!" he yelled.
"Stay back!" I held out my hands to block him, knowing full well I couldn't do much to enforce my warning. Then the bulla warmed so fast that I felt the burn on my skin. I thrust an arm down to move it, but the sudden action caused the entire ground to shake, as if the gods had pounded their fists into the earth.
Off balance now, the bestiarius's mace slammed to the ground and he crumpled beside it, then slowly stood up again, his eyes wild with confusion. Like us, the audience had gone still, waiting to see what might come next. I couldn't explain what had happened any more than they could. Based on the energy that had flowed from my hands, I knew I had caused the quake. Or maybe it was the bulla, acting through me. Perhaps there was no difference anymore.
I had wanted the quake to happen -- or something to stop him. The thought had nestled in the far reaches of my mind, but not too far for the bulla to find it.
Simply as a test, I brought my hands up overhead again and then, with the bulla still burning at my side, I slammed both hands down to my waist. They didn't fall naturally, but rather felt like I was pushing them through a thick mud. Once they came to my sides, I was more tired than I'd ever been from working in the mines or raising the lifts or anything else I'd done in my life.
And I would've tried to rest, except that my actions were already having an effect. Areas of the arena floor were collapsing. The ground upon which the bestiarius stood rumbled a second time, and when he took a step forward, the wooden floor completely gave way beneath him. His body and legs fell, but he held to the edge of the floor
and cried out for help. I ran forward to answer his pleas, but somehow my legs had lost all strength and folded before I could get there.
"What have you done?" he cried, and then, even while I lunged for him again, he fell to the level below. I saw his body there, broken and still, and workers around him, pointing up at me and yelling that I would bring down the entire amphitheater.
I stood and looked around, wondering how to stop what I had somehow started. I wrapped a hand around the bulla, but even through the tunic, it burned too hot and I had to let it go. Above me, a great cracking sound was echoing throughout the amphitheater, like rolls of thunder. The wood supports for the enormous canopy were folding like twigs and the ropes had failed. The entire canopy was floating to the ground, a red sky falling. It was what I had wished for earlier. But so much worse.
As the ground continued to shake, and as the canopy came closer, audience members screamed, panicked as they hurried to leave the amphitheater. I yelled for Caela and found her back in the nest she had created, trying to snatch the gold with her wounded claw.
"Enough of this, Caela! You'll suffocate in here to keep that gold!" I grabbed her nugget in my hands and began running, intending for her to follow me.
She squawked with anger at my theft and took off after me. When she reached out with a talon, I stopped running, grabbed her feathers, and swung myself onto her back. Once I was balanced, I yelled, "Fly, Caela. Now!"
She tried to obey, but with only one wing, we quickly tilted back to the ground. I encouraged her again and this time we took off at a better angle.
Below us, I caught a quick glance of Sal, still on the horse. He was close to an exit, and in the pandemonium I had created, I figured he would make it out alive. But I worried that everyone else might not be so lucky. From here, the destruction that had come from a simple swipe of my hand was clear, and it horrified me.
Caela arced higher into the air. I ducked as the falling canopy came closer, but with her other talon she created a long scratch in the cloth, and, as we continued to rise, we tore through it. I looked down and noticed the ground had stopped shaking, but one man stood out from them all. Radulf. Even from this height, I felt his eyes pierce right through me. He would know that I had caused the trouble below. Worse still, he would know how I had done it.