Evolution (16 page)

“We have to deliver the message, all the same.”

Julian sighed. “I hope that can come to pass. Tomorrow morning, we shall see.”

I frowned, and laid back onto the cold stone. I closed my eyes, and tried to get what sleep I could. Perhaps the last sleep I would ever get.

T
he next morning, the guards arrived to escort us out of our cells. Ruben wasn’t among them, to my surprise, but if we were being led to our match, then I supposed that he was already waiting in the stands.

The guards pushed us along the dark, narrow passageway and into the anteroom we had first entered. Then, we were led up the wide stone steps. As we walked up, I could feel the heat of the day flowing downward from outside. When we reached the top, at the end of a broad, stone passageway stood a large gate, through which bright sunlight filtered. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see the gigantic circle that was the arena floor, the dirt raked cleanly for our ensuing match. The crowd’s drone sounded through the gate. Our execution match would be starting any moment.

Though this was happening now, I felt like I was in a daze. We were each hastily handed a weapon by a grim guard. Anna received a long, two-handed sword, not her katana. I could tell from her frown that she wasn’t pleased. Makara received a spear and buckler, while I received a gladius and shield. Julian also got a gladius and shield, while Samuel took a two-handed mace laced with cruel spikes.

I wondered if they were really going to let us hold these weapons with all of them standing so close to us. It was at that moment that a gate fell from the ceiling, crashing onto the floor and separating us from the guards. A cloud of dust rose from the ground, sending Makara and I into fits of coughs.

A gate behind us, blocking our escape. A gate ahead, that led into the
Coleseo
. We were trapped, and the only way out was forward, into the arena.

“Well played,” I said.

“Focus,” Samuel said.

It was then that the gate to the arena floor began to rise. The
Coleseo
erupted into thunderous screams as we strode forward into the sunlight. We walked toward the center of the field, I spun around, trying not be stunned by the enormity of it all. Thousands of people stood, booing and hissing at us. We were the only ones out there, and it seemed the Novans did not like us. I dodged a rock thrown by someone from the stands.

At long last, the crowd dimmed, and soon, a loud voice shouted from our right. The voice sounded from an exclusive section of the stands. Here, the seats were bigger, and the people more colorfully dressed. This was the rich people’s area. Over these stands fluttered colorful sheets of linen that served to block the sun. It provided shade for the seats below. One man in these stands was regaled in full purple, sitting upon a seat that was more akin to a throne, looking bored as he munched on some food.

“That’s him,” Samuel said.

Emperor Augustus was not an imposing man. Even from my distance, I could tell he was a bit small. He had coppery skin, shortly trimmed black hair, and sat next to a beautiful woman, who I assumed to be his wife. Two children sat in front of him, one a teenage girl, and another a boy maybe eight years of age. They were among the thousands that watched us now, that wanted to see us die simply for trying to save our friend. I wondered if their bloodlust would be satisfied if only they knew our story and what we were trying to do.

To the right of the Imperial family, a fat man was standing on a stage. He was the source of the yelling. Every face turned to him, and in order to hear, the crowd dimmed to an astonishingly low volume.

The man began to orate in Spanish. Julian translated.

“Friends, citizens, noblemen of Nova Roma!” the man’s voice boomed.

Cheers. Quickly, they died down once more as the man continued his introduction.

“We have for you today a rare spectacle – an execution of the spies sent by our mortal enemy, the barbarians of the ignoble Wasteland!”

The sound of boos and jeers thundered all around us. After a while, the crowd’s noised lowered, and the fat man proceeded with his speech.

“This week, the armies of Empire march north, to deal a mortal blow to our enemies! In expectation of the Empire’s victory in the north, Emperor Augustus himself is pleased to present...”

The fat man paused. I could see everyone in the crowd lean forward, hanging onto his every word.

“The Battle...for the Wasteland!”

The man bowed away from the dais, and as he did so, the gate on the opposite side of the
Coleseo
began to rise.

“Ready yourselves!” Samuel shouted.

The gate, now open, released its payload. Six men filed out, each wearing a headdress of jaguar fur. They were the jaguar warriors, the Empire’s most elite fighting force – the ones Julian had told me I would never want to face off against. Each of them wore leather armor and was armed with two axes.

Upon seeing the jaguar warriors, the crowd cheered, as if at an unexpected surprise. The jaguar warriors began to fan out. They were six against our five. Following Samuel’s lead, we backed away, so as not to get cornered. The crowd booed at our maneuver. But we weren’t trying to win the crowd. We were trying to win our lives.

After that, things got going immediately. Anna stepped forward, hoping to incite one of the warriors to attack. Taking the bait, one of them fell on her from the side with a dual flash of axes. But she had expected that. She sidestepped him, cutting him in the back, with great economy of motion. With wide eyes, the warrior fell. Nimbly, Anna stepped away, rejoining our ranks.

The crowd roared in fury at the first blood being drawn by us. Only five of the warriors were left, and they leapt into action upon seeing their comrade fall. They completely encircled us, causing Makara and me to go back to back, Makara pointing her spear outward. Anna’s training came back to me – even if she had taught me with her katana, her lessons of keeping calm amidst danger steadied my resolve.

Three of the jaguar warriors surrounded Makara and me, each wielding their dual axes that shimmered in the sun. The other two faced down Samuel, Anna, and Julian. Since we were outnumbered, Makara and I had to do our best to hold our own until the others could take care of their own adversaries.

Samuel wielded his maces as his group’s two jaguar warriors sprung forward in tandem. Samuel sidestepped and spun, clobbering one of them with his mace in the back. The crowd hissed again as the warrior fell to the dirt. Samuel, with a baleful roar, bashed the warrior’s skull in with a squishy crunch. Anna, meanwhile, had no trouble dispatching the other before he could reach Samuel. The warrior sprang forward, and Anna did the same to him, taking him off guard. As the jaguar warrior’s axe fell toward Anna’s midriff, Anna did a barrel roll, the axe blade missing her body by inches. At the same time her sword, held outward, cut the man deep into the gut as she landed acrobatically on her feet. The blade remained embedded. With the full strength of her torso and legs, Anna ripped straight through the man’s abdomen, severing his spine. The top half of the jaguar warrior’s body toppled and crashed into the dirt while the legs buckled from underneath. The crowd screamed in both horror and revelry as blood splattered the ground in a torrent.

The three remaining jaguar warriors retreated as the five of us lined up and advanced slowly. Judging by the rising drone of the crowd, this was not the way it was supposed to go.

Finally, the men turned tail and fled from the gate from which they had come. Makara launched her spear. It sailed through the air, arcing downward to the last warrior. It nailed him in the back, sinking below his right shoulder blade. Soundlessly, he fell to the dirt, quivered, and grew still.

The last two warriors were now completely routed. They banged on the gate, desperate to escape the arena. We stood in front of them in a semi-circle. Makara, next to the body of the man she had speared, pulled out her weapon, pointing it at the two remaining warriors.

At last, the gate was raised, and the men fled inside the staging area. It was shut again.

The echo of the closing gate reverberated throughout the
Coleseo
, leaving in its wake dumbfounded silence.

***

T
he silence lasted a few seconds before the arena was filled the jeers, boos, hisses, and the maddened faces of the crowd. Several men tried to jump from the stands onto the dirt ground, restrained only by loved ones and friends who understood the foolishness of such an action.

We had won the fight. That’s what mattered. But something was wrong. We were still alive, and they weren’t letting us out. Were they going to send more warriors after us this time?

“We stay here, until we die,” Julian said. “It is that simple.”

My hopes sank. “They’re just going to send more in until we are all dead?”

Eventually, they would overwhelm us. We could fight all we wanted, but it was not going to do any good. My only hope now was that Ashton would drop out of the sky and save us all. Of course, he had no way of knowing that we were here, so that would never happen. We couldn’t get lucky every time.

Finally, every head in the
Coleseo
turned to the Emperor’s box. Here, long bearded men in rich, multicolored clothing sat, looking on in silence. The Emperor himself was speaking to the fat man who had announced the beginning of the match. At this very moment, they were discussing our fate.

At long last, the fat man returned to the dais. The entire
Coleseo
fell into silence. He kept his hand raised, outward, commanding the attention of all present. The five of us stared upward at him.

“The governor commands,” the fat man’s voice boomed, “for your entertainment, Wastelander blood, this very day!”

A roar of approval met this pronouncement. The sound buried us, dimmed us to nothing.

But we were not done, yet.

I nearly jolted out of my skin when I heard the rattle of chains come from all around us. Four square-shaped holes had appeared on the arena floor, descending into darkness. I wondered if we were meant to go down them. The clinking of the chains ceased.

“Trap doors,” Julian said.

“For what?” I asked.

Samuel knelt down, ready to fight. “Whatever they plan on using to kill us.”

Then, the chains clinked again. The trap doors rose back up, and as they did so, the crowd waited with anticipation.

Finally, the doors’ payloads were revealed. There were four of them, yellow with black spots, thin, as if starved, but all the more deadly for it. They were jaguars – real ones this time.

The crowd cheered as the four beasts prowled toward us at a low crouch. I gripped my gladius, ready to jab the first one that got too close. Makara stood next to me, doing the same with her spear, while Samuel and Anna stood nearby.

“Bring it on,” she said.

The first jaguar sailed through the air right for Anna. But that was a mistake. She held her sword aloft, and with a cracked yowl, the jaguar impaled itself through the gut. The crowd oohed, unable to help being impressed by Anna’s skill.

However, holding her sword that way left Anna’s side exposed. A jaguar dashed from the side, going for her exposed abdomen. I rushed forward, scaring it off with a swing of my blade. The other two jaguars, with lightning speed, circled around me, going for my back. Samuel and Makara stepped in from behind, keeping my back protected. The three jaguars that were left encircled us.

The five of us formed a circle as the three deadly cats stalked around us.

“Stay in formation,” Samuel said. “Don’t break for anything.”

It continued this way for five minutes. The heat of the sun baked my skin, turning it red. My throat was parched, and every part of me ached. But I did not lower my shield. Not for anything. This was a waiting game, and we would not be the first to break ranks.

The patience of the cats was unsettling. I tried hard not to stare into their black, hypnotic eyes and become transfixed. I could see their mouths salivating in anticipation of their meal, sticky saliva dripping from their jaws and onto the dirt. The crowd had deadened, now talking amongst themselves. I told myself to be ready for anything.

Still, they circled, and none of us spoke. We had been standing here at least fifteen minutes, maybe longer.

The crowd started to get bored and restless. I glanced up at the Emperor’s box, noticing that the rich men were talking to each other. I saw one man nod, and disappear into the arena. What was going on?

One of the cats yawned, settling itself into the dirt.

Five minutes later, the crowd started booing. But I couldn’t let that break my concentration.

Then, something happened that we could
not
ignore. It came as a steady clinking of chains from our right.

“The gate is rising,” Anna said.

The gate was halfway up, and from the darkness behind it I heard a high shriek. It was a familiar, horrible sound – cold and unyielding, making you want to run, scream, and cower.

“Oh no...” Makara said.

Then they came out of the gates, at a low, dead run. It was a part of my home that I didn’t want to be reminded of.

“Crawlers,” I said.

***

T
he first to fall were the jaguars, not us. If there was anything that could knock the boredom out of them, it was crawlers. These were big ones, too, not like the ones in the Wasteland. They were long, serpentine, and scuttled about on multiple legs. Their three eyes were haunting white orbs, without pupils so that you could not see which way they were looking. Their long tails swung back and forth like a scorpion’s. How the Empire had managed to capture them and transport them here, I couldn’t guess.

There were three of them, and that was more than we could handle on foot. The first crawler surged out of the tunnel, leaping right for one of the jaguars. The cat gave a pained yowl as the crawler swiped it with its tail, red blood spewing into the air. The crowd gasped in shock as the torrent of blood fell, splattering onto the dirt. The cat fell lifeless.