Mark of the Thief (Mark of the Thief 1)

"Then this is good-bye."

She tried again. "I was wrong to lie to you about my father, and wrong to want to bring you to him before. I will admit to both of those. But this time, you are wrong. If you go into that arena tomorrow, something terrible is going to happen."

I didn't look at her to ask, "How do you know that?"

"Because I can feel it. Because we're friends, Nic. So you have to believe me now."

I scoffed. "Well, that's the question, then. Whether I still believe that we are friends."

"Do you?"

I held out my hands to her, remembering several days ago when she had slapped chains on them. "Are we equals, you and I? Or do you see me as a slave?"

I must've turned enough for her to see the dried blood on my tunic from where I'd been cut. She gasped and cried, "What happened to you? They told me you weren't hurt!"

My eyes darted behind her as Horatio filled the frame. "Ask him what happened."

/> Horatio eyed Aurelia cautiously, and said, "It's time, Nic."

"Don't go into that arena," Aurelia said.

Horatio pushed her aside. "If you are living in my home, you must obey my orders."

Aurelia's eyes went from me to him, and she said, "Then I will not live in your home." She removed the crepundia and hung it over my shoulders instead. "Maybe Nic should've been your child. He seems perfectly willing to obey you." Then she pushed past Horatio's guards and was gone.

Horatio briefly stared at where she'd been before his face hardened again. He turned to me. "I expected you'd have run in the night. Surely you were warned about the arena today."

"Many times," I said as I walked out of the room. "But my bigger worry is that you weren't warned enough."

As I had done days earlier, we entered the amphitheater beneath a tall arch and walked down the ramp that would take us into the hypogeum. The smell assaulted me far worse than it had the first time. Had I already come so far from the pits of slavery that I could see this place as a free person? Because although I had disliked it before, I had also felt like a part of its filth, used to being chained like an animal. But now I wasn't that slave boy anymore. I remembered freedom again and could never go back to this.

We passed Caela's former cage, now occupied by animals with black and white stripes. Horatio called them tiger horses. I thought of how enraged Caela would be to know they were here, and wished she were here with me again. There were several lions today and one very large black cat that paced anxiously in his cage. I understood his restlessness, which filled my veins as well. I paused long enough to whisper that there would be no death in the arena today. He watched me, and even dipped his head as I passed by. If that cat were a human, it would've been a bow, a thought that amazed me.

Horatio told a passing slave to fetch Felix, then turned to me. "I don't know if it's bravery that leads you into the arena today, or foolishness."

"Bravery on my part, foolishness on yours." I stared back at him. "Let me go in alone to fight Radulf. If you enter the arena, you will not come out again."

"I am the sponsor of these games," he said. "The mob will expect to see me, and I will give them the show of their lives."

"Don't give Radulf the key," I said. "Don't start this war."

He sighed. "If you were right to warn me about today, then I do owe you some thanks for trying." He stared off and his eyes glazed over. "A caelo usque ad centrum. Do you understand those words, boy?"

From heaven to the center of earth. I knew the words, not their meaning, and told him so.

Still staring away, he smiled. "You will. If you survive the arena today, then you will soon understand everything." Then he saw Felix coming and pulled me forward.

It was obvious from Felix's expression that he was not happy to see me. But he bowed to Horatio and said, "I will get him ready."

As Felix led me away, I asked, "Get me ready? What does that mean?"

"Do you understand the position you've put me in?" Felix scowled. "Horatio is the presiding magistrate and the sponsor of today's games. If anything goes wrong, he'll have my head. But then last night I had a visit from Senator Valerius, who believes that Horatio's games are a threat to the emperor. He insists you can stop it."

I clicked my tongue. "Just do as Horatio asked. I don't want you in any trouble. If I can stop Horatio in the arena, then I will."

"And if you can't?"

"Then Rome will go to war against itself." We walked on farther and I asked, "Is the emperor at the games today?"