Mark of the Thief

  "Diana," I whispered. "Goddess of the hunt and of the moon."

  "She speaks with animals and has great strength," Crispus added. "And so now you have her powers?"

  "He can command a griffin too," Aurelia said. "That one who was in the amphitheater."

  "It's not like that," I said. "She just ... listens to me."

  "Same thing," Aurelia said. "Maybe it was your griffin who pulled the chariot of Diana's twin brother, Apollo. But unlike her brother, Diana isn't known as the kindest of the gods."

  I already understood that. The bulla had shown me a great deal of its power, but none of its mercy.

  The door to the home opened. Crispus whispered to me, "That's my father. For now, say nothing of this new discovery. Let him talk first."

  I nodded, and Senator Valerius came into the atrium. Crispus dipped his head toward his father, and Aurelia did the same. I wasn't sure what to do, but I figured I should probably show the same respect. Once I looked up again, Valerius eyed me suspiciously. "Why are you all wet?"

  "The dogs chased him into the pool," Crispus said.

  Valerius grunted as if I was some great fool for having fallen in the water which I probably was. But I reminded myself that he had risked a lot to bring me here, so I had already impressed him somehow. I didn't need to do more.

  "What about your arm? It's wrapped, and badly done."

  Aurelia grimaced, but it wasn't her fault. I had rewrapped the wound myself after we escaped from the cistern. Whatever oils she had put on the cloth to heal the wound were long washed away.

  Aurelia spoke up for me and her tone was cool. "There are people who will do a lot worse to Nic if they have the chance. Can we be sure you aren't one of them?"

  He didn't answer, and instead turned to me. "Let's talk in private." His eye wandered from Crispus to Aurelia. "While you two are waiting, Crispus, get that girl something proper to wear. She doesn't talk like a servant. Let's not have her looking like one."

  Crispus bowed again and with a backward look at Aurelia, I followed Valerius into his office. He asked me to sit, which I did, and then he took his chair behind the desk, clasped his hands, and stared at me. I felt uncomfortable beneath his gaze, but recalled Crispus's reminder that only slaves kept their heads down. I forced myself to look back at him and tried to appear calm.

  Finally, he said, "I've been asking questions about you. You call yourself Nicolas Calva -- a rather fine name considering you've come from the slave mines. You were known to be a hard worker, and a brave miner, though not the most obedient."

  "I obeyed every order that wasn't stupid."

  He arched an eyebrow. "As a slave, you took it upon yourself to decide which orders were good and which were bad?"

  "You get to decide that. Why not me?"

  "I'm a senator!"

  "You're a person, just as I am. And I want to live my life."

  Valerius leaned forward. "And is that your goal now, to live? I saw the way you fought for your life in the amphitheater. With that magic you threw out, you could've killed thousands of people."

  "But I didn't."

  "But you could have!" He gestured toward the bulla. "What do you know about magic?"

  I hesitated at first, but finally decided that I had made an agreement with Felix, and Valerius was the only one who truly seemed interested in helping me keep it. So after a quick, nervous breath, I said, "I think the Divine Star is the reason I can do magic. Without it, this bulla would be as useless to me as it is to anyone else."

  "That's right. But the Divine Star is more than the reason you can do magic. It is the magic."

  "I don't feel any magic there. It prickles sometimes, but that's all."

  "I think you would feel it, except for the other magic that is pressing in on you." He nodded at the bulla, still in my hand. "There is so much power in that object, I would guess you feel like you were tossed in the sea when you only asked for a cup of water."

  The comparison fit. The bulla's magic crashed into me in waves, not droplets, always so much more than I could absorb. And I always felt its weight, even when the bulla was cold.

  "This used to belong to Caesar," I said.

  "Until he abandoned it, and eventually, Venus withdrew her powers from it as well. But Caesar chose a most interesting place to bury it."

  "In a cave near Lake Nemi," I said. "In the shadow of Diana's temple."

  "Where I first met you." Valerius frowned. "We heard Caesar's treasure had been discovered and went to search for that bulla. Though once I saw the mark on your back, I suspected the bulla had already been found."

  "Why do you want the bulla, sir? Without magic --"

  "Better I have it than the person who wishes to destroy Rome." Valerius stood and walked closer to me, then sat on the corner of his desk. "Nic, you hold the first of three amulets. Each will make the powers of the Divine Star stronger, and each will give you additional powers. This one, for example, allows you to talk to animals and gives you great strength."

  "Because that's what Diana could do," I mumbled. "She powers this amulet now."

  "You may yet discover other powers, though if you lose the bulla, you will lose its powers too."

  I paused while the warning in my gut battled with my desire to know more. Finally, with a question in my tone, I said. "There are two other amulets ..."

  "The Malice of Mars, which gives its bearer victory in battle. And a third amulet, the Jupiter Stone, which carries rewards so powerful that many men have given their lives hoping to obtain it. So far, none have succeeded. But it all starts with that amulet you wear. The emperor wants it. He's afraid of you, Nic."

  "He shouldn't be."

  "He'd be a fool not to fear you. Rome hasn't seen magic like that in nearly three hundred years."

  I shifted in my seat. "But I've made a bargain with the emperor. If I can deliver Radulf to him, stripped of his magic, then he will grant my freedom and I'll be able to walk away from here forever."

  "Radulf is no easy target." Valerius began pacing beside me. "When he first came to Rome, Radulf was such a good fighter, Emperor Gallienus thought he would entertain the people well. So they made him a gladiator. It was a fatal mistake. Radulf's only fear in the arena was the lions, but he defeated them, and won the hearts of the people. Eventually, he gained enough influence to have Gallienus murdered. He was the first of many emperors Radulf has removed from power."

  "Does Emperor Tacitus know that Radulf has magic?"

  "He knows, but what can he do about it?" Valerius fingered the purple edging on his toga. "Radulf commands the entire military. He also controls the Praetorian Guard, which protects the emperor's life. Or takes it."

  "Then it's just a matter of time," I said. "If Radulf wants the throne, it's his."

  "That isn't what Radulf wants. A war is coming, Nic, and it is for the control of those three amulets. On one side is Radulf, who will use them to destroy the empire, and then build it up again in his own image. With no Senate, and no government other than himself. He wishes to be worshipped, like the gods. Nobody can stop him" -- his eyes drifted over to me -- "except for someone else with magic."

  Hearing those words sent shivers down my spine. I straightened my back, hoping to hold my courage together. Or at least, I pretended courage worked that way. I said, "And so I am on the other side of this war? No! All I want is to fulfill my bargain with the emperor and walk free!"

  "And I will help you do it, but hiding you here is dangerous. So if you want to stay, then it's only fair that you help me too!"

  I looked back at him steadily. "You want me to find the other amulets."

  Valerius folded his arms and stared at me. "I cannot allow Radulf to get them first."

  My hand stroked the bulla's face. By now, I knew every ridge of its delicate carvings. "Do you know where they are?"

  "I do. But the answer isn't good." Valerius began pacing again. "The secret for creating a Jupiter Stone is guarded by the Praetors of Rome. They are ..
."

  "Dangerous," I finished, grateful for what Felix had already told me about them.

  He smiled. "They could be, if they decide to follow Radulf. They guard enough secrets to collapse the world beneath the emperor's feet."

  "Surely the Praetors are already loyal to the empire?"

  "Not necessarily. They will obey the presiding magistrate of the Senate."

  "Senator Horatio," I breathed. His name was sour on my tongue.

  "Horatio has no loyalty to the emperor. If he throws his public support behind Radulf, then the Praetors will follow him, and the war -- the Praetor War -- begins."

  "Senator Horatio has the Malice of Mars?"

  Valerius shook his head, and only then could I breathe again. But he said, "Not yet. But because of his position in the Senate, Horatio is the keeper of the key that unlocks the Malice. If Horatio knew where the Malice is, I believe he would have already given the key to Radulf."

  I asked, "So how do I get the key from Horatio?" Because I'd sooner cozy up to a skunk. Which, as I considered it, didn't seem all too different.

  Valerius wasn't ready to share that yet. He only said, "I can find a way for both of us to succeed. But while I work on that idea, you must work on your magic."

  I grinned with anticipation at that. "It could be dangerous. You saw what happened in the amphitheater."

  "Then I will help you learn. You must do this, Nic. To save the Senate, to save the empire. And to save yourself."

  It was the third bargain I had made today, and all of them had been necessary. By the end of this, Rome would be safe, my magic would be strong, and Livia and I would walk away as free persons. Or I would be dead. None of it would be easy, and maybe it wasn't even possible. But I was committed now.

  Valerius put a hand on my shoulder. Instinctively, I jumped away from it, and he raised both arms to show me he wasn't posing a threat. "I can see how tired you are, how much the bulla is weighing you down," he said. "Sleep tonight, and we'll talk more in the morning."

  I let him lead me from his office, but stopped in the doorway and said, "Does Radulf know Horatio supports him?"

  "There are only two kinds of Romans," Valerius said. "Those who support Radulf, and those he intends to destroy. For that reason, Radulf assumes everyone supports him." He nodded toward the bulla on my chest. "In you, we finally have an answer to Radulf's powers. Trust me, Nic, if I could use the magic, I would grant your freedom myself. But that bulla is useless in my hands. At least in yours, the empire has a chance."

  The way he said it, my task seemed so big. No, it was so big. I had proposed a plan to move mountains, when I still lacked the ability to move a fistful of dirt.

  "Things will look brighter tomorrow. You need sleep."

  I needed practice. Radulf had told me that magic was a muscle, and it was true that I was feeling it more every day. But learning to control it was an entirely different matter.

  "What about Aurelia?" I asked. "The girl who came with me?"

  "She'll have her own room. She will be treated as a lady here. I promise you that."

  After a moment's hesitation, I followed him to a bedroom directly across from the atrium. Once he'd left, I examined the room more carefully. There was a table in one corner with a bowl of olives that I immediately ate, despite not being particularly hungry. An actual book lay on the table too, though the words were too difficult for me. More important, a real bed stretched along the far wall. Even before the mines, when my mother kept Livia and me in hiding from the slavers, we never had beds. For months, we traveled anywhere that seemed safe, away from Gaul, and certainly away from Rome. We slept in the woods, sheltered by trees, or in the corners of barns. If I'd ever had a real bed, I didn't remember it. Now I walked closer and stroked the mattress. It was so thick with feathers that I wondered if it might swallow me up once I lay upon it. So I didn't. I grabbed the light blanket from on top of the mattress, and then lay down on the hard floor, where I felt more comfortable. With my cheek on the cool concrete, I faced out the doorway, staring at the moonlight, which still poured into the atrium through the overhead window.

  Radulf and I both had the Divine Star, which made me think we had the same magic. The difference was that he understood his better. Or, more accurately, understood it at all, and that gave him a huge advantage over me. On the other hand, I had the bulla, which contained magic Radulf did not have. If I learned to use its powers, Radulf would have no answer to them.

  So it was up to me to figure out the magic I already had, and for that, I had to know if Valerius was right, if there was magic in me apart from the bulla.

  After listening to be sure the home was quiet, I removed the bulla and set it on the mattress, then stood and concentrated on the mark of the Divine Star. As I made myself conscious of it, the tingling was so sharp that I could almost define its shape just from which parts of my shoulder had come alive.

  I focused on what I felt there, letting the mark smolder like a tired fire. Then I willed it to travel down my right arm, which still bore the injury from the soldier's arrow. I felt the magic gather around the wound, but rather than create heat, as the bulla did, it felt more like water passing over and under my skin, soothing the sting there.

  But the magic wasn't finished. It breezed down my forearm and finally collected in my fingers and palm, so much that when I tried squeezing my hand into a fist, I felt resistance from the magic. It was similar to the feeling from the bulla, but this magic was waiting for me to act, rather than trying to escape without my permission. I felt the desire to release it from my fingers, but when I did, all that came was a brief snap of air, like an exhaled breath, and then it was gone.

  The disappointment tasted bitter in my mouth. A casual whistle produced more power than I had created with the whole of my concentration. There was magic in me, but it was completely useless. If the bulla gave me far too much power, then the Divine Star offered too little.

  Except that Radulf's voice slithered into my head again. "So you're experimenting with Caesar's mark. I felt the shift in the air, you know, such as it was. And I will use it to find you."

  "I hope you do." My voice shook when I spoke, not from fear, but from the fierce ache his presence created. "But you'll regret the day you find me."

  He laughed, which rattled into my bones. "I doubt that very much. You see, I won't come to reconnect a few mossy pipes. I will come with real power that you cannot fight, even with that bulla."

  I snatched the bulla and quickly put it back around my neck. Maybe Radulf wasn't here, and didn't have any way of getting at the bulla right now, but maybe he was. I wouldn't take the risk.

  Radulf had only one thing more to say. "Or you could join me, Nic. Help me build a new empire, one in which your life matters. That's what your sister wants you to do."

  "Do you have her?" I cried. I raised my hands, ready for a fight if that was what he wanted. But how was I to fight someone who wasn't even here? And how could I pretend to have any chance of winning?

  Aurelia appeared in the doorway. "Who are you talking to?" At first, I barely looked at her. Radulf's words still thundered inside my head, confirming my worst fears about Livia, and every suspicion I had about his evil nature.

  "I have her," he said. "But for how long? Don't fight me, Nic."

  "Nic!" Aurelia called my name, her voice now filled with more obvious concern. I turned to her and drew in a breath of surprise. Aurelia had been given a long tunic made of fine linen, and her hair was freshly washed and fell in loose waves over her shoulders. She cleaned up even better than I would've guessed. "You've gone pale," she said. "Are you all right?"

  I wasn't. Though my breathing was beginning to slow, my heart still pounded against my chest. Radulf wasn't there any longer, but he'd left an echo of himself behind, like the chill that lingers after a storm.

  Aurelia stepped even closer and put her hands on my face. "You're in a cold sweat. Tell me what's wrong."

  "No," I said, backing aw
ay. "Tell me if I can trust you. Please, make me believe that I can, because every time I try, I think of our bargain, and I remember that all you care about is the reward you'll get from Horatio."

  "That bargain is over." The disappointment in her tone was obvious. "While you were talking with Valerius, he had Crispus pay me six hundred denarii, as his reward for bringing you here. He said they'd help you find your sister too, so I could leave if I wanted."

  I hardly dared asked the question. "And is that what you want?"

  She shrugged and even smiled a little. "I should leave. If Rome were invaded tomorrow by barbarians carrying the plague, they'd still be less of a catastrophe than you are. Anyone who comes within a mile of you must be insane."

  I grinned. "If it helps to know, I've always thought you were insane."

  Despite her teasing, Aurelia's tone turned serious. "To succeed, you'll need a lot more insane friends than just me. Until you find them, how can I help?"

  "I need to learn how to use the magic. And I need to know how to fight Radulf, because it's going to come to that." That thought sent shudders through me.

  "Then I'll stay. I'll teach you everything I know, at least about fighting."

  "He could bring the entire forum down upon me. Can your knife stop that?" The corner of my mouth turned up a little.

  She met my challenge with a spark in her eyes. "Until you control your magic as well as I control my knife, you shouldn't complain. Now get some rest. It'll be a big day tomorrow." She glanced at the blanket I had used, still in a heap on the floor, and the undisturbed bed beside me. Her brows pressed together. "I hope you're not sleeping on the floor."

  "Of course not." Then I shrugged. "Maybe I was."

  She picked up the blanket and handed it to me. "That isn't your life anymore. The world will judge you based on what you think of yourself. If you want to fight Radulf as an equal, then you had better think of yourself that way."

  "Do you think of us as equals?" I asked her.

  "You and Radulf? He's a general --"

  "No. You and me."

  "Oh." Aurelia's eyes darted to the side, and her left hand was clenching her dress too tightly. "I, um --"