Felix had warned me what might happen if even one person found out I had Caesar's bulla. After what I'd just done, I figured it was safe to assume that I had been found out -- by everyone.
Once we cleared the amphitheater, I had no idea where to direct Caela to fly. She was still bleeding, so I knew she wouldn't get us far, and with that injury, and my weight with the gold, she was on an uneven, downward angle. We might not even make it out of the city.
I pointed to the Tiber River, the same point we had crossed to enter Rome. If she could clear the city wall, then get us across the water, we had some chance of escaping into the hills.
Below us, Roman soldiers had already collected to follow our route. One of them shouted up for us to land at once, or we'd be killed.
By now, I knew better than that. The more correct order was that after we landed, then we'd be killed. The emperor had already given his orders concerning both of us. Why would I think they had changed now?
I reached down to pat Caela's shoulder. "Stay strong," I told her. "Look at this mighty city, and how you soar over all of it."
We were still higher than even the tallest apartments, and I saw the forum stretched out behind the amphitheater with its mighty temples and buildings. Rome was so much more beautiful than I'd ever imagined. Caela had given me the view of the gods.
Surely there had never been a city like this in all the world. Perhaps nothing so great, or so terrible, would ever match this empire again.
Caela's arc took us toward the Tiber River. Once we crossed it and she was healed, we'd have to search for my sister. Then the three of us would find the ends of the Roman Empire, if such a place still existed in this world.
Suddenly I heard a whoosh past me and saw an arrow fly through the air. Soldiers had taken to the rooftops and were shooting from there.
"Higher, Caela!" I ordered.
Caela started to climb, but she was struggling and couldn't get us beyond the arrows' reach. We were almost to the banks of the river when I turned and saw an arrow coming straight for us. There was no time to think. I stuck out my arm to protect Caela from any further injuries, and instead felt a sting above my elbow, like a thousand furious wasps had targeted that one spot.
With a cry, I instantly lost my grip and fell from Caela's back. Panicked, I clutched at empty air, but there was nothing. Nothing but the hard ground lay below, rising up at me far too quickly.
Then something curled around my chest and slowed my fall. Caela had me wrapped inside her talon and was still speeding toward the earth. I yelled at her to slow down, but she only listened when she wanted to. We were lower than the treetops, and still diving. Then as smoothly as we had dived, we leveled out. I opened my eyes and saw the nugget of gold inside Caela's other claw. I had let it go when I fell.
Just like that, Caela had what she wanted, and she released me from her grip like a wad of garbage. I didn't have far to fall, but it wasn't the softest landing either.
I rolled to my side and tried to draw in some air. My hands sank into mud and I realized I was still on the city side of the Tiber River. On my best day, I couldn't swim across. And the way I felt now, I wouldn't make it three feet into the water before the current carried me straight to the underworld. Soldiers on the nearby bridge gave a call of alarm and began running toward me with their spears raised. Caela, somewhere overhead, had vanished. With her injury, I wondered if that was the last I'd ever see of her.
My arm was still burning, and I rotated it to see how bad it was. The tip of an arrow was stuck in my flesh, though most of the shaft had broken off in my fall. I couldn't run this way, so with my left hand, I grabbed the remaining shaft and yanked.
It hurt enough that I screamed, drawing the soldiers to the very spot where I had fallen. They edged down the steep bank with drawn swords. I had to move.
Dizzy with pain, I ran. My left hand was clasped tightly over the wound but blood still dripped between my fingers. I stumbled forward, with no idea of where I could possibly go now.
Then, in the darkness, I tripped onto a concrete spillway. Water flowed beneath my hands and legs into the river, but the smell was horrible. Felix had already told me what this was, the exit for the Cloaca Maxima. The sewer.
I nearly became sick from the odor, but reminded myself that it wasn't too different from what I had smelled beneath the amphitheater. Maybe the stench was stronger here, but I could manage that -- I had to. Hopefully, the soldiers could not.
Another arrow whooshed past me when I took my first step into the sewer, but it hit the far wall. I needed to go faster. I had to crawl in on all fours, and duck even lower to squeeze beneath a brick overhang. It was a tight fit, but I was inside.
It was almost as dark in here as Caesar's cave had been. Considering how things had been going since that adventure, it was hardly a comforting thought. Even when I got all the way into the sewer, I couldn't quite stand upright, but I moved faster on my feet.
Outside, I heard the soldiers arguing about whether they should continue to pursue me. Finally, two men were ordered in, chosen because they were smaller than the others.
They had a torch with them, casting distorted shadows along the sewer walls. It didn't give me much light, but it was better than nothing and allowed me to move more quickly.
A narrow walkway lay on one side and the sewage streamed in an equally narrow ditch beside it. To keep from falling in, I kept my weight against the wall, ignoring the rough brick that tore at the knuckles of my left hand, still pressed against the open wound in my right arm.
In some places, the tunnel became even smaller, forcing me into the mucky water. At least I seemed to be handling the smell better than the tw
o soldiers. One in particular had already stopped twice to be sick. His companion said if it happened again, he'd be killed in here.
I hurried faster, until I outran the flickering torch and their echoing voices. Surely there would be an outlet soon. I found a few, but they were covered in bars that kept me as caged in as the animals in the venatio. A few others were open, but so much water poured from them that I'd never reach the top without drowning. The longer I walked, the more my hopes of finding an exit faded.
At one point, the sewer widened and divided into paths, much like the intersection of a road. It was impossible to tell exactly where I was. I didn't know the lines or the outlets to the surface. But I was somewhere beneath Rome and with so many paths, it was probably a busy area. I recalled a large exit opened into the hypogeum, but Felix would be there waiting to hand me over to the emperor. Not exactly the ideal solution to my problems.