The Wizard from Earth (44 page)

"I'm not a Roman." 
Not anymore
, Archimedes thought bitterly. 

“This is about the Installment Ceremony,” Geth said.  “It mentions 'executions of the conspirators' to be held today.”

“Yes,” Archimedes said.  “Roman 'justice' moves swiftly when the Emperor wants someone dead.” 

“It says the Emperor will personally fight a duel with the 'Witch of Britan.'”

“The Witch of . . . you mean, he's going to fight our little Carrot?  Surely he must realize the crowd will boo him down for striking a woman, even if he is the Emperor.”

Geth turned to Matt.  “Wizard, does the Emperor know of her strength?”

“Last night she fought the palace guard,” Matt said, “and they would have reported to him, so – the answer has got to be yes.  I don't know what he's got in mind.”

Archimedes found himself switching back and forth between their faces again.

“Matt, why is he calling you 'Wizard?'”

Geth opened his mouth, but Matt interjected,  “Let's not get into that right now.” He pointed at the package.  "I should change."

They found an alley and Matt returned dressed in the uniform.  They rehearsed their plan, and started off.  A few blocks later, they turned the corner onto the unnamed street that held the entrance to the home of Archimedes.  Soldiers guarding the entrance examined the approaching threesome.  What they saw was two of their own guard, leading a man matching the description of the fugitive Chief Scientist.

“Another prisoner,” Geth said to the soldiers at the front door.  “Our orders are that he be escorted to the others and held with them.”

“They're in the basement,” came the reply.

And so they were allowed to pass.  Archimedes entered once more the courtyard of his home, perhaps for the last time, but it was the first time that he almost had a heart attack in doing so.

They were admitted to the basement.  The prisoners were in the library – that is, what had been the library.  Archimedes stared dumbfounded at the bare shelves and felt on the verge of another threatened heart attack as Mola, Gwinol, and Nilla embraced him. 

“Where are my books?” he asked.  “Where are my books?”

“They took them out to burn – Master,” said Mola.

Her words, Archimedes gathered, were for the soldiers who had been in the room already.  She had signaled recognition to Matt.  Nilla seemed ready to blurt Matt's name, but Gwinol elbowed her in time. 

Archimedes blinked as he counted servants.  “Where's Jaros?”

Mola broke into sobs.  Archimedes rested his hands on her shoulders, but was only met with a head shake.

"He was questioned," Mola said.  "About you.  They pushed him and threatened him, and then he put his hand to his mouth and swallowed something and collapsed and died."

Archimedes felt the weight of the world.  “I need to sit.”  Then he looked at Matt beneath the ill-fitting soldier's helmet, collected his wits, and inclined his head toward the door that led to the workshops and meeting room.  “Over there.”  

The other two men had been coached in what to do.  Under the watch of the real soldiers, they slowly herded the servants to the doorway.  When they reached it, Matt and Geth drew swords and faced off the soldiers while Archimedes pushed the servants through. 

Matt and Geth retreated inside the passage to the waving of swords and Archimedes slammed and latched the door.  “That will hold them for a time.”  He lit and lifted the lantern from its peg.  “The escape tunnel is at the other end.”

Halfway down the passage, Matt had paused at the workshop doorway.  Archimedes wondered how the boy could see in the dark, and what was being seen that could account for that expression.  Then he himself peered in with the lantern, and saw that like the library, the shelves and benches of the workshop were bare of books, tools, machine parts, and airship model.

“You were right, Matt,” Archimedes said.  “Now he can conquer the world and I am the one who taught him.”

Matt said nothing, and Archimedes proceeded to the meeting room.  He led them through a hidden panel door to a bulkier door with three locks, undid the locks and led them into the vault.

"This is where I've been storing and minting silver for the past few years," he said.  He gestured to the coin bin by the stamping machine and distributed bags.  "All of you, take all you can carry.  Matt, Geth, helped me with these pallets.  We won't be able to escape with all the silver, but we can hide it in the sewer where Valarion won't find it."

He yanked the blanket off the nearest pallet, then lifted the first box.  With his grunt, it nearly flew into the ceiling.  He opened the box.  It was empty.  He opened the other boxes.  They too were empty.  He went to all the crates, pulled off all the blankets, checked all the boxes.  They were all empty.

Then he saw, neatly tucked at the bottom of each stack of boxes, a sheet of paper.  He collected a few of the sheets, put on his glasses, and read, "'I owe you, two hundred fifty-five thousand grams silver.  I owe you, three hundred seventy-five thousand grams silver.  I owe you, two hundred ninety thousand grams silver.'  And on and on and so on, pages of this drivel!  '
Signed, Arcadia of North Umbrick
.'"

Matt and Geth were looking at each other guiltily.  Nilla blurted, "Arcadia?  That's Carrot's birth name!"

"She's taken my retirement funds, the villa I was going to build – " Archimedes scowled, tossed the papers, and put away his glasses.  "What am I saying?  We could not have stealthed so much silver out of Rome in safety.  I need to worry less about retirement funds and more about the prospect of my living into retirement.  Or living past this very day, for that matter.”

As the others gathered the loose coins that Carrot had neglected to purloin (still a substantial pile), Archimedes cocked open his walking staff and extracted the two remaining smoke charges.  He unlocked a chest and took out three charges of a different type and loaded them into the tubes.  Matt was staring, but looked away when Archimedes glared back.

“Does everyone have what they can carry?” Archimedes asked.  With their nods, he said, “Then let's go."

They followed him through the passage under the two streets to the ladder.  During the brief walk in silence, Archimedes thought of Jaros, and how long they had been together.  He thought of Hadron, a misguided but occasionally well-intentioned man.  In the adrenalin of his anger, he didn't even notice the climb up the ladder at tunnel's end. 

They emerged onto the street beneath the aqueduct and faced in the direction of his house.  A slender tendril of smoke was rising from the courtyard.  The scent of burning book paper took Archimedes back to the Time of Troubles in Kresidala. 

He spoke in a low mutter,  “I spent half a lifetime building this city, but now I'd as soon raze it.”  Then, with his head upturned, a cylindrical silhouette against the sky caught his eye.  He said with composure, “Matt, how did the telescope get on top of the aqueduct tower?”

“We were going to put it back.”

“Yes, well, don't bother now.”

Archimedes led them to the waterfront.  On the dock he spotted a ship about to set sail and bought passage to Kresidala for the servants and prodded them along the dock.  Meanwhile, Matt was gazing at the other end of the wharf.

"She's here," Matt said

"You have her scent?" Geth asked.

"Uh . . . not exactly.  But . . . she's going over there."  He pointed, then slowly moved his finger toward the interior of the city.

"You're speaking of Carrot?" Archimedes asked, glancing from face to face.  "How do you know where she is?"

"I know," Matt said.  “She's not close enough to talk to, though.”

Yes
, thought Archimedes,
you're pointing to half a kilometer away so I'll agree with that
. 

Matt turned his head slowly toward the Coliseum.  He looked down at the bag he was carrying, that contained his jumpsuit.   "I better get back before they find I'm not there."

"As I said before, your plan is insanity!"  Before Archimedes could argue, however, Matt started walking toward the prison.  Archimedes turned to Geth.  “And you approve of this?  The boy is about to pit himself against the center and heart of the Empire.  He won't be able to rescue your daughter.  He will only get himself killed!”

Geth smiled serenely.  “He knows what he is doing.  He is the Wizard from Aereoth.”

“The Wizard from – “ Archimedes scowled.  “Is everyone from Britan mad?”

Matt vanished into the crowd.  Archimedes scowled and swore and stamped his staff, forgetting what it now contained.   

“We should go to your Coliseum and be ready,” Geth said.

“It is not
my
Coliseum.  Well, I did design it and supervise the construction, but as of today I officially disown it.  Anyway, allow my farewells.”

Archimedes returned to the boat.  He hugged his former servants and prodded them to the top of the boarding ramp.  He  waited for the deckhands to move out of hearing distance. 

"Mola," he said as loud as he dared.  "Roman agents in Kresidala will be searching for me on every ship that comes to port.  It's best I don't accompany you.  I also have an important task I must do, and I will need the aid of that twosome."

Between tears, Mola asked, "When will we see you again?"

"I don't know if that will be possible."

"Oh, Archie!"

"Farewell, Mola.  Farewell, Gwinol.  Farewell, Nilla.  Thank you all, for everything, especially your kindness and patience while enduring a cantankerous old fool."

They wept and he walked away without looking back.  He nodded to Geth and they started for the Coliseum.  

Barely uphill from the waterfront, however, a trio of soldiers emerged from the side street.  Their leader, a hulking sergeant, drew his sword and shouted,  "You there!  Halt!"

Archimedes silently cursed. 

"You match the description of the fugitive we seek," the sergeant said.  "By edict of the Emperor, come with us!"

“You're quite right,” Geth said.  “He is the fugitive known as Archimedes, who is wanted by the Emperor for high crimes against the State.  If you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way to turn him in.”

“I won't excuse you.  Get on with you, there's a reward on his head and he's our prisoner now!”

Geth started to unsheath his sword.  The two soldiers with the sergeant drew faster.  The impasse was three blades against one, and Archimedes cursed again.

“I'm having a bad day and I don't have time for this,” he said. 

He attempted to walk on.  The sergeant shoved him back and stood close enough to breathe down on the old man's face. 

"You're coming with us, old man.”  The sergeant jabbed a finger.  “You'll turn and walk
that
way
now, or I'll have you dragged."

He shoved Archimedes in the direction of Bloodbrick.  Archimedes staggered, regained his balance, stood straight and trembled.  He turned his eyes to the ground.  J
aros,
he thought
.  My books.  My life's work.
  With the end of his staff, he started to trace a circle.  The arc was jagged from his shaking rage.   

The sergeant sighed and shoved hard again.  “I heard you were senile, but old man, are you also deaf?  Move
that
way before I have to strike you!”

I saw all this coming
, Archimedes thought. 
Yet did nothing to prevent it.

Archimedes met the sergeant's gaze.  He hesitated only a moment.  Then he turned and took a step toward the Coliseum. 

Scowling, the sergeant blocked and raised his sword.  “Old man, one last time, I said,
that
way.”

Archimedes said quietly, "Either get out of
my
way, or I will walk over your dead body."

The sergeant, with half the years and twice the mass, looked down and erupted with laughter. 

"Old man, I'd like to see you try!"

Archimedes calmly aimed his staff and pulled the trigger.  The end of the staff spat fire.  The walls of the street echoed with thunder. 

The sergeant gaped at the bloody hole that had been punched through his chest armor, and then he crumpled.  Archimedes blew the smoke from the tip of the staff, wrapped a finger around the second trigger, and gazed at nothing.

"Run while you can," he said.

The surviving pair of soldiers ran.  Geth, open-mouthed, re-sheathed his sword and they proceeded to the Coliseum.   

46.

The cell door was thrown open and a lieutenant scrutinized the prisoner chained to the wall.   He glared at the guard by his side.

"See?" he said.  "You went to the wrong cell, that's what happened.  And now we're late!"

The guard stared sullenly at Matt while the soldiers released the chains.  They bound Matt with more chains, and under heavy escort brought him to the rickshaw.  The vehicle headed north, well past Victory Square.

"Matt," Ivan said.  "I have received the transponder signal from Ivan Lite again.  He is approximately three hundred meters to our north, and closing.  Establishing communication . . . now."

Before Matt could speak, Carrot's voice boomed in his head,  "Matt!  Where are you?"

Somewhere ahead, Carrot was speaking and Ivan Lite was simulating her voice for radio transmission.  Matt had expected that.  What he didn't expect was to be on the verge of crying. 

"Carrot, I'm being brought to the Coliseum under guard.  Listen, we're going to escape."

“You have a plan?”

He explained as quickly as he could, and concluded,  “Archimedes has given me a master key to unlock our chains.  Once you're free, I'm trusting that you can fight our way off the field.  Once we get to the lower level, Ivan will guide us to the reservoir room.  Archimedes and Geth will be waiting there to take us through the drainage tunnel to the sewers.”

She had listened silently.  Her first words now were,  “Geth shouldn't have come back.”

“What did you expect?  He's your father, Carrot.”

Silence.  “How long have you known?”

“Ivan's been collecting and correlating DNA samples of everyone I've met, right from the start.”

“You are so intrusive, Matt.  You even put a computer inside my head without my consent.”

“Would you have consented?”

“Probably no.  But it is not something you should do unless a person's life is in grave danger.”

“I felt that the moment we entered the palace.”

“I am not mad at you.  I am . . . very grateful.”  And briefly she told him of Pandora, and what had happened.  “She would deny it, but I think what she really wants is to kill every human on the planet, as violently as possible.  Valarion is an innocent child in comparison.  I've never been so frightened, Matt.  I felt as if she almost robbed my soul."

Ivan Lite was simulating the cracking in her voice.

“Describe where you are now.”

“In a large room underground.  It is divided into many cells, and I am in one.  There are too many guards here, Matt.  I don't think I could fight my way out even if I were free now.”

“We'll figure something – “

The rickshaw jerked to a stop.  The doors were thrown open and Matt was ejected.  The Coliseum's stack of arched towers loomed overhead, taking half the sky.  The crowd on the other side roared, echoing against the buildings on the street.  Matt was escorted by guards through a ring of more guards, through an entry that descended below ground.  Matt smelled earth, sewage, and sweat.  Somewhere ahead, an unidentified animal snarled.   

The tunnel leveled out and they entered a large poorly-lit room subdivided into cells made entirely of iron bars that stretched from floor to ceiling.  The soldiers threw Matt into a cell and locked the door.  Carrot was two cells over.  Just then, to Matt's eyes, she didn't look like the ultimate warrior.  She was still in her ripped party dress, her beehive hair unraveled, and looked like an ordinary frightened, helpless girl.

She tried to rise, but the mass of her chains was too much.  She collapsed to the floor again and gazed at him and shook her head.  “Oh Matt, you shouldn't have come here.”

Matt didn't know how to answer, so he subvocaled, “Ivan, can Herman give me a sky view?”

"No, Matt.  Hermanrise is in forty-five minutes."

He checked the time.  “It'll be over by then.”

Too late, he realized from her expression that Carrot was listening even to his subvocalizations.

At the end of a ramp at the far end of the room, barn-class doors were flung open and the light of Delta Pavonis overpowered the torches.  The crowd's roar came through like a sonic boom.  The thousands of feet in the bleachers then began to stamp in unison.  The floor trembled and plaster dust rained from the ceiling. 

Throngs of soldiers arrived and opened the cells and pulled him out and Matt lost sight of Carrot in the crush of bodies.  Ivan Lite's transponder provided both direction and distance indication at this short range, and Matt found himself following several meters behind her, up the ramp onto the open field.  The crowd roared ever louder with their emergence into daylight.

Beneath the fluttering banners Matt saw rows and tiers of spectators, and Ivan counted their number at 43,415. 
A fifth of the city
, Matt thought.  Impressive even if admission was free. 

They were all looking at him, and they were booing.

Ivan said, "Matt, your heartbeat and respiration are – "

"Yes, adjust them!"

Matt was led across the arena floor and compared his visuals with Ivan's photos of the plans.  The ovoid was aligned so that the long axis ran east-west, and the emperor's balcony was on the short axis, in the south.  The 'acts' – be they gladiators or beasts or the condemned for execution – were brought in from a north tunnel on the short axis.  And that was how Matt and Carrot had entered the arena.  The entrance to the reservoir room at the west end looked farther away than it had in the architectural plans that Ivan had photographically archived.   

Matt contemplated the dusty expanse of over a hundred meters, and then he looked at the soldiers armed with crossbows lining the edge of the arena. 

The soldiers brought him to an elevated wooden platform.  They ascended the steps and chained him to a post.  The crowd grew quiet as they withdrew.  Matt looked to his right and saw Carrot on an identical platform, where she was even more heavily chained.  Her expression was blank and hollow.

Carrot looked back at him, then nodded southward. 

“She's here.”

Matt turned to where Carrot had indicated.  Upon the Emperor's Balcony, Valarion was seated in a well-cushioned chair beneath a canopy and wore a gleaming white robe with gold and purple stripes.  Upon his head he wore a laurel made of gold.     

Seated next to him was Inoldia.  While Valarion waved to the crowd, Inoldia smiled fixedly at Carrot.  Matt thought that if cats could smile at mice, it would look like that.

“Carrot,” Matt said.  “Do you see the exit to the west?”

“The big one?”

“Yes.”

“That is a long way to run while archers are shooting at us.  And then – she – will chase us as well.”

“We're not going to run across the field if we can help it.  We'll go for the nearest tunnel and once we're inside the Coliseum passages, it'll be like a maze.”

“What is a 'maze?'”

You've learned the Periodic Table of Elements
, Matt thought,
but not what a maze is
.

“We're not running across open field, so don't worry about it.  That's what I'm saying.”

We won't unless we have to
, Matt thought.  He wondered if they would even have a chance to choose.  He looked at the Emperor, sitting cross-legged and smiling care-freely, and remembered the promised fight with the Witch of Britan.  Valarion was no fool, so he had to have something to neutralize Carrot's mutant advantage.  But what?

Valarion arose and raised his arms.  The babble of the crowd subsided.  The Emperor descended from the balcony to the arena floor.  He was without escort as he walked between the prisoners. 

Carrot struggled vainly against her chains.

Valarion stopped in the center of the field, facing the tunnel in the north.  The gate rolled aside and a line of soldiers marched out.  Next came horse-drawn carts, piled high with logs.  In front of the Emperor, soldiers stacked the logs in ascending squares. 

"What is this about?" Carrot asked.

"I have no idea,” Matt replied. 

With the structure chest high, the soldiers splashed pails of a dark liquid over the logs.  Matt caught a whiff that smelled like turpentine.  The soldiers and carts returned to the tunnel and musicians emerged, playing a dirge on drums and horns.  Then from the vicinity of the Emperor's balcony, scores of men in purple-fringed robes descended to the arena floor and stood behind Valarion.

A military guard emerged from the tunnel, slowly marching as they bore a flat litter upon which lay a body draped by a simple white sheet.

Oh
, thought Matt.

The body was placed atop the wood pile.  A soldier marched out of the tunnel, bearing a flaming torch, which he presented to Valarion.  Valarion returned the bow.  He stood silently.  The arena was silent as well. 

Valarion stepped forward and lit the pyre.  With a whoosh, a mushroom of flame ascended to the sky.  In emulation of many an emperor before him, Valarion bowed and stood in pious devotion before the burning corpse of the man whose murder he had crafted.

The crowd roared as the fire intensified and consumed the body.  Valarion handed off the torch and returned to his chair.  He remained standing, faced the crowd, gestured to the prisoners and spoke: 

"
We have here – the conspirators from Britan – the assassins of our father – Hadron the Great!
"

He paused for each phrase, waiting for the men designated as repeaters who were stationed at each section to shout his words around the perimeter of the stadium. 

Valarion glared down at Carrot and said:

"
This woman – is a witch!  With her inhuman strength – she overpowered an old and helpless man – Our Father Hadron – and brutally murdered him!  Arcadia of Britan!  You have been accused – tried and found guilty – of high crime – against the Imperium!
"

"I was never tried!" Carrot shouted.  "There was no trial!  There was no trial!"

But her words were not repeated, and were drowned by the crowd's roar of anger.  Valarion waved for silence.  Then he spoke again toward Carrot:

"
In our leniency – we will grant – your freedom  – if you win – two challenges – of combat.  In the first – you will fight – three of our best – gladiators.  In the second – you will fight – me.  Arcadia of Britan – if you accept – raise your arms!
"

"Carrot," Matt said.  "It's a trick!"

"What choice is there?"

She raised her arms.  Soldiers marched out to her platform and unchained her and led her to the center of the arena floor.  Rounded by a score of crossbows at short range, she did not fight as the chains were removed.  She was presented with helmet, shield, and short sword.  As she buckled helmet and sword sheath, the soldiers filed out –
a little too quickly
, Matt thought. 

Alongside the smoldering pyre, Carrot finished adjusting the fit of her garments and waited. 

"Ivan," Matt said.  "Bring up the key."

Coordinating the contraction of muscles, Ivan worked the master key from Matt's stomach through Matt's esophagus.  Matt opened his mouth and let the key drop into his palm. 

Then he heard another loud roar, but this one was not from the crowd.  It came from a tunnel behind him.  The gate was rolled back, and out came three carts, each bearing a man-sized box that shook violently. 

Soldiers, with shields clutched and swords drawn, attached ropes to pegs on the boxes and stretched the ropes back to the tunnel entrance.  They yanked the ropes and the pegs popped out.  The fronts of the boxes simultaneously flopped open as the soldiers sprinted to the tunnel and the gate slammed shut.

Carrot unsheathed her sword.

“MATT,” Ivan said.  “WARNING!  YOU ARE IN EXTREME DANGER!  LEAVE THIS AREA IMMEDIATELY!”

The creatures that loped out of each box were as big as a man and stood erect.  They had long necks and whip tails that twitched.  Their bodies were covered with scales and their mouths bristled with needle-like teeth and were big enough to chop a human neck in half.

Carrot's voice croaked:  “Matt, are those –
dinosaurs
?”

“Velociraptors,” Matt said.  He'd once seen specimens resurrected by genetic engineering in prehistoric wilderness preserves.  That time, he had watched them at prey, and knew that Carrot too was in extreme danger.  “Carrot, be careful!  They're pack hunters, they coordinate their attacks!”

The lizards blinked their saucer eyes in the mid-day sun.  They raised their snouts and sniffed the air.  As one, they turned toward Carrot.

“A soldier splashed something onto me,” she said.  “I am reeking of what I suspect is a meat they prefer to eat.”

The lizards trotted toward her, stooped, sniffed, and split so that one remained in front of her while the other two flanked behind her shoulders.

Carrot turned and shouted aloud, “Matt, if you can get away, do so now!”

Matt clutched the key in his hand, knowing that he would be useless in this fight but unwilling to abandon her.