The stag pawed at the ground, preparing to charge. It would crash directly into Callistus, if necessary. Anticipating that, Callistus ran, openly exposing Aurelia. She stood and raced toward me, but the stag immediately took aim at Aurelia.
I threw myself between them, this time using the Malice to repel the stag. It felt the magic and hesitated a moment, then collided against me with a fierceness that would've killed Aurelia, and possibly even Callistus. I landed hard on my back, and though I could scarcely draw a breath, that was the least of my problems.
For by the time I rose up, ready with more magic, the stag had already circled back to Aurelia. She was running for the villa, but tripped on her robes and fell. I sent harder magic to the stag, determined to stop it, but this too, only caused it a brief pause.
Just before it reached Aurelia, the stag dipped its head, and Aurelia cried out. The gold bracelet from Crispus had become hooked on one of the stag's antlers, and it was already speeding away with Aurelia, out of the stables and down the hill into open fields.
I leapt onto Callistus's back, immediately giving chase. The unicorn's speed was unequaled by any creature on land, and I hoped that was still true with a stag from the heavens.
It was too dark to see Aurelia ahead, but I occasionally heard a cry. I could only imagine what it was doing to her to be dragged alongside a stag's leaping strides.
"Faster, Callistus," I whispered, and the unicorn responded. The scenery rushed past me in a blur. Before I even realized something was in our path, it was already behind us.
The general direction we were going was no great surprise. We were headed south again, leaving the city. To Lake Nemi, no doubt. It was Diana's one refuge within any distance of Rome.
Once the hillside flattened out, I got a better view of the stag, racing beneath the moonlight. Aurelia's body wasn't being dragged, as I had expected. She had somehow managed to get astride the animal, though she was lying low upon its back, probably her only way of remaining balanced. I was grateful to see her there. It could've been so much worse for her.
Callistus pushed forward yet again, until we were close enough for me to use magic. While Aurelia was on its back, I wouldn't send anything too powerful, but there were other options that might work better.
If I could call up water from Radulf's baths, could I also call up water from the earth? It made sense. So I stretched out my hand, focused on the ground ahead of the stag, and called any moisture within the soil to bubble up to the surface.
In the darkness, I couldn't be sure if it had worked, and remained unsure until suddenly the stag slowed. It was still running, still leaping, but with much greater effort and more slowly than before. It wasn't slow enough for Aurelia to safely roll off its back, but as long as Callistus stayed to the side of the mud, we could easily catch up to them.
As we got closer, I noticed a glimmer in the moonlight along the stag's body, reminding me of something from early in my battles with Radulf. He had a trick with the Divine Star I'd never been able to quite learn, one that allowed him to fight in a place where he was not. That was exactly what this stag was doing. It was here in front of me, carrying Aurelia away, so its presence was very real. But it wasn't entirely here. Nothing of my magic could do anything more than bruise it.
If stopping it wasn't an option, then at least I could stop Aurelia from riding on it.
Not so long ago, Aurelia and I had been in a chariot race together, one where it was necessary for me to leap from my chariot into hers. I didn't see how this was too different. She'd make the jump this time, and onto Callistus's back rather than into a chariot, but I knew she could do it.
As soon as we were a half-length behind her, I stretched out my hand. "Maybe you'll ride with me instead?"
She lifted her head enough to look at me. The wrist that had been caught in the stag's antlers was unhooked, and she was using both arms to keep her balance, so she probably wasn't injured. But she made up for that in the fear on her face.
Her eyes went to my hand. "You can't be serious! Do you know how hard it was just to get on this animal's back?"
"We've done a jump like this before." It would work again. It had to work again.
"Not at this speed!"
I raised up more groundwater in front of the stag, forcing it to slow down even further. Callistus matched its pace and got us closer to Aurelia.
She frowned over at me, though I was sure that was only to hide a slight grin. "I expected our first kiss to turn out differently than this," she said.
I stretched out my hand again. "Just imagine how the second kiss will end!"
She scowled, but reached for me. Our fingers brushed against each other's at first. With only moonlight above, I couldn't see most of what was ahead of us, but this was no smooth track like in the circus. We needed to hurry.
Finally, she was close enough to get a firm grip on my hand, but her other hand was still holding on to the stag's antlers. "Are you sure?" she asked.
"I'll pull you to me, but you have to let go." My voice was calm at this point. It was going to work.
"There's something dark ahead. What is it?"
I didn't know. As far as I could tell, everything ahead was dark. But when I really looked, I saw what she meant. We were still racing toward Lake Nemi, but the stag had led us on a slightly different route, one I wasn't familiar with. And I didn't know what might suddenly cause so much darkness. The moon had gone behind the clouds, and all I saw was sky, as if the ground ahead just disappeared.
It was a cliff!
"Now, Aurelia!" I yelled. "Hurry!"
She nodded, and started to swing her far leg over the stag's back, but then the stag took a sharp right, pulling her entirely away from me. To keep her balance, she threw her weight back with its movement. By then they had reached the cliff's edge.
The stag jumped into the air, accompanied by a scream of terror from Aurelia, one that chilled my spine.
Callistus careened to a halt, so quickly that I crashed into his neck. Aurelia's cry ended midscream, cut off too suddenly for it simply to have faded into the night air.
I leapt off the unicorn's back and saw, to some relief, that it wasn't a sheer cliff, but instead a steep downward slope, too steep for Callistus to navigate. Lake Nemi was far below us, and now the moonlight peeked out again enough to illuminate the hillside.
I scanned the slope and called out for Aurelia, but there was no answer.
There was nothing. Where was she?
I closed my eyes, trying to find Aurelia with my mind. I could see her ... almost. The stag wasn't running anymore, but everything was dark around her, darker than where I now stood. Wherever the stag had taken Aurelia, she was no longer in these hills, which meant Callistus had no chance to catch up to her.
The moon grew brighter, its light hitting the lake at the exact angle to make the water glow. Except where it should've had a white glow, the water seemed red, like the glow of fire. Dragon's fire.
The Mistress.
The stag must have delivered Aurelia to the Mistress.
I scurried down the hillside, hoping that if I got closer to the water, I'd get a better sense for where Aurelia was. If I could get to her exact location, before the Mistress knew I was there, I could make her disappear to as far away as I could imagine.
With the help of the moonlight, I was already getting close to the lake, spending the bulk of my energy searching for any feeling that connected me to Aurelia. Would Atroxia call to me here? If so, perhaps she would help.
Or were her cries part of a plot to get me back to the caves where the Mistress lay in wait? It was sometimes hard to separate Atroxia from the dragon, if there was any separation between them. Still, I continued running down the steep slope, dodging large oak trees and wading through thick brush, steadily getting closer to the lake.
Obviously, Diana wanted me to return to the dragon, a thought that filled me with dread, but if there were any chance Aurelia had been taken to the cave,
I had to go. I knew what the Mistress had done to Radulf. If she attempted even the smallest amount of that harm to Aurelia, it would kill her.
Not if I killed the dragon first. The vestalis wouldn't want that, but I didn't care. It would break the curse, and now it would save Aurelia too.
"You wish to kill me?" That was the Mistress's voice now. "No, Nicolas. If you return to my cave, you will not leave until you have pledged to obey my will."
"Never!" I shouted.
"Then Diana will not allow you to come."
Cries suddenly rose up from near the shores of the lake, though they weren't human and weren't really even cries. The sounds below me came from animals. A lot of them.
I slowed my run, hoping to approach with caution, to be sure of what was waiting for me before I announced my presence, but Diana took care of that too.
A huge brown bear darted from the underbrush, almost directly in my path. It rose to its hind legs, making it at least twice my height, and growled with a fury that even the Mistress would respect. I swerved to miss it, but it raised a claw and swiped at me. I flew several feet before landing on the dirt, then slid face-first the rest of the way to the bottom of the hillside.
When I raised my head again, I was surrounded.
To my right were more brown bears, at least twenty of them, and all larger than the first bear had been. Some were standing on their hind claws, and others paced on all fours like the tigers beside them, of equal number. To my left were packs of wild dogs, crouching low but barking out warnings that they would attack anything in here, or anyone. Two elephants were behind me, blaring out anger through their trunks like trumpets. Ahead of me were dozens of lions, already staring at me and growling.
"Swear to obey me," the Mistress said. "Or Diana will force that vow from you."
She meant that I'd be trampled, bitten, or half-eaten until I finally pledged my loyalty. I preferred to avoid any of that, but I couldn't deny this threat was real. These animals looked hungry.
They weren't wild, though, or hadn't been wild for the last few months. Elephants and tigers didn't wander about the Roman countryside, nor did lions, at least not in these numbers. They must have escaped the venatio, but for all of them to escape, and all of them to come here, was no coincidence. As the goddess of wild animals, Diana had undoubtedly sent them here to do her bidding.
Perhaps Diana had made a mistake, though, because with the bulla, I had some of her powers too. I backed up against a tree, hoping another brown bear wasn't behind it, then put one hand on the bulla and shouted to the animals, "I am not your enemy, and I will not harm you. Go into the hills of Rome. You are free."
I looked around, waiting for whatever might happen next. Though I'd had some success before in communicating with animals, the truth was that I was never sure what they were saying, and I'd only ever guessed that my messages got through to them. That was hardly enough reason to believe they'd understand me now, or obey my command.
Indeed, they were all watching me, and their total silence was far more unnerving than their noise had been. Silence meant they had heard me and refused to obey.
Inside my head, the Mistress laughed. "Did you think they'd care about your words while Diana speaks to them? They are hers, as I am hers, and by the end of this night, you will be hers too."
My back straightened in defiance. "I'd rather pledge loyalty to these animals' droppings!"
Unamused by my joke, the animals closed in tighter around me, attempting to back me away from the lake. If this was Diana's grand plan to keep me away from the Mistress, it was remarkably foolish. There was only one way for me to get into the cave, and that was by making myself disappear there. She could add another thousand animals, and it wouldn't make a difference.
Surely, Diana knew this. Which meant there was something more.
She was sending me a message, a warning. She wanted me to know that at least part of my powers were stolen from her, and that ultimately, she was greater than I'd ever be. Well, that was obvious. She was goddess of the hunt, and of the moon, and of wild animals. I had come from the mines not far from here. Nothing about me could compete with her, but that didn't mean I had to obey her.
Nor did any of the other gods, and there was one other whose magic I could wield: Mars. His animal did not obey Diana either, but it would hear me.
I used the amulets to call through the hills around this lake. Diana might have her war in the heavens, but different rules applied here on earth. Namely, that some animals are very territorial and will defend their land.
The hills around Lake Nemi belonged to the wolf. The animal of Mars.
They were already collecting in every valley and lining every ridge. Hundreds of them had answered my call. They howled at the moon, at the goddess who controlled it, and gave honor to their god of war for the battle that lay ahead. A venatio the Romans would never see.
Even before the wolves came, the dogs had already run, almost immediately disappearing into the night air. By the time the wolves arrived, they had the remaining animals surrounded. Their teeth were bared, and their growls were fierce.
"I'll grant you safe passage to go." I was still in the center of the animals with the wolves on the outside of us all, but this time when I spoke, I knew they were listening. "The amphitheater is your enemy, and those who hunt you within its arena. Out here you are free, if you leave now."
As the wolves moved in, the elephants trampled through their lines, though it nearly caused them to trip over the tigers that were also leaving. I hoped they were smart enough to stay out of the city gates. Even then, some poor traveler was likely to get an odd surprise very soon.
The bears joined the stampede away, crashing over themselves in their hurry. Mars had answered Diana's threat with a greater threat of his own.
Standing closest to the lake, only the lions remained in defiance of the wolves. They were greater in number and seemed very willing to fight. The remaining wolves were behind me, their backs arched and fur standing on end.
I held up my arms, having full respect for the fiercely courageous natures of both animals. Such beautiful creatures could not be allowed to harm one another.
"You are pawns in a great war of the heavens," I said. "But you are not the war itself. If you fight, you will both lose. Leave this place. There is enough room for both of you, but you cannot remain here."
Growls were exchanged, and for a moment, I thought they would ignore me again. Then the lions ran off in one direction while the wolves ran in the other.
And deep inside me, I felt the Mistress recoil as if the animals' refusal to fight was a defeat. I felt just the opposite. This was a victory. It was proof that Diana had not yet won her war.
And if it was up to me, she never would.
"You cannot run away so easily as these animals." My whisper to the Mistress was quiet, but would sound like thunder in her dragon ears. "I'm coming. This ends tonight."
I closed my eyes, this time focusing on the gold in the cave, on the dragon who had been locked in there for so many days, and on the eerie cold wind that blew through the tunnels, so deep beneath the earth that no air should've moved at all. It was no common breeze, of course. That was Caesar's ghost.
I felt that wind first. It caressed my arms and the skin of my face, and I shivered against it. Then I detected the change in darkness, now an absolute black. I opened my eyes, though it really didn't matter if I did. And I listened again for any hint of exactly where in the caves I might be and, more important, where Aurelia and the Mistress were.
The first time I'd ever entered these caves was on a rope lowering me into an outer room filled with the bones of others who had failed in their quests. Here was where I'd found the bulla and its animal guardian, Caela. I doubted the Mistress was in that room -- the doorway was too small for her to pass through, and I had a vague memory of that doorway being mostly collapsed anyway. So I must be in the larger room.
I swiveled my foot slightly and hea
rd a clink beneath it. Gold coins. Any move I made on top of this ever-shifting pile would give me away.
Or perhaps my presence was already known. Heavy footsteps rumbled the room, and then came a voice, angry and rough as bark. Normally, I'd have heard it in my head, which was bad enough, but this time it echoed in the cave around me.
"I expected to receive the girl," the Mistress said. "But in her wisdom, Diana gave me something better. She gave me Nicolas Calva instead."
"Instead?" I cried into the darkness. "Where is Aurelia?"
The Mistress laughed, and with it came a breath of fire. It singed the hairs of my arms before I got a shield up. The fire had been meant to cause more damage than it did, and was also a mistake since it revealed her location. Unfortunately, it also revealed mine.
I charged toward the Mistress, but slipped on the coins, creating a jingling chorus directly beneath me. It hadn't been so long ago when stealing this gold had been a great temptation. What I would have given then for even a single coin from this room. Now I cared nothing for the treasure here. It would feed me for a week or a year, or even a lifetime, but what could it offer of anything that mattered?
Wealth had failed to keep Valerius's heart beating. It had also darkened the hearts of the Praetors. Until his heart was healed through love, it had threatened the most basic humanity within Radulf. And although Aurelia had inherited a vast amount of wealth from her father, she had never valued it for any purpose other than how she might use it to help others. Now everything she once had was gone, and that had only made her more dear to me.
"I defeated you before," I shouted to the dragon. "Tell me where Aurelia is, or I will do it again!"
"The girl is very strong," the Mistress said. "Diana has come to admire her bravery."
Using the Malice, I shot a full wall of magic toward the Mistress, which would've knocked her entire body backward. I couldn't see it in the darkness, but I did hear a great crash against the cave wall, and the silence that followed. Dirt rained down on us from above.
"Let the cave collapse," I said. "I will get out. Your bones will join the others down here!"
"And what of the girl?" the Mistress countered. "Will you ever find her without my help?" She followed that up with another flame, brighter than before. I released magic of my own to repel the flame back to the dragon's belly, and this time I saw where it hit. She scorched herself and yelped before everything went dark again.