Chapter 30

30

M emories threatened to drown Laverna with every step she took through the tunnel. She had snatched more than one prisoner out from beneath the emperor's clutches over the years. As far as she was concerned, it was her judgment or Romulus's that mattered in the city. Laverna did what she had to do to protect her own. The thieves who were murdered in the Colosseum had always been trespassers or those who deserved what they got.

The earth around her was so soaked with blood and ghosts that she could hear the dead whispering around her. Ghosts tended to find her because of what she was, but no one had ever tried to hurt or harm her. She was no psychopomp to lead them on to their afterlives, but the dark caverns in the earth were hers as well as theirs.

It was a seven-minute walk to the Colosseum above ground, and the winding paths of the tunnels took longer than that.

You have time , she told herself. The witches were waiting until midnight before they would attempt the spell. Something that powerful, Laverna would feel it if it had begun already.

She cleared the tunnel of a few minor cave-ins, her power brushing the earth aside with minimal effort. They had held up well and untouched over the centuries. Roberto and the others would have no problems following the clear trail that had no crossroads.

Laverna felt the second she had crossed underneath the Colosseum's boundaries. There was so much blood in the earth there that she was always surprised that it hadn't stained the earth red.

Psychically, it felt like a slaughterhouse, which was exactly what it was. Slaughter for amusement and entertainment. A way to control the masses with bread and fear that if they didn't behave, it would be them getting torn apart by lions.

In modern times, politicians had moved to psychological warfare. It still relied on fear, but it wasn't always a physical show of it. It was an attack on the minds of the people themselves, creating a fear that left permanent tears in the soul. Laverna had often wondered if it would be better to bring back the older kind. It did less damage in the long run.

The humans weren't interested in that. A fearful population was one that could be controlled. It was that kind of thinking that meant that gods like Laverna would always be needed. She was a trickster and protector of the outcasts, the ones who would not conform. Who would not obey. It had been that way thousands of years ago when all the outcasts and reprobates fled to Rome for sanctuary, and nothing would change. The world always needed a goddess who lived in the liminal spaces and protected the outcasts.

Laverna's tunnel came to an end. There was nothing left of the trap door she had built, just earth and rubble. She reached up and placed her hand on the roof and shut her eyes. The earth trembled before it obeyed her call and started to disperse in whisps around her. Laverna hit a stone floor and focused her efforts to break through it. She had expected to have to create a new manhole and knew that Roberto would be bringing a ladder with him.

Laverna finally broke through the final layer of paving stones and stuck her head out of the hole. She was in the hypogeum, where the gladiators, prisoners, and other entertainers used to wait for their starring performance.

The new floor of the arena above her had been put in place, which made her job a lot easier. She was worried that her hole and minions coming out of it would be noticeable. Canidia had clearly used whatever influence she had to get the flooring locked in and ready for her own great performance. It was going to be a shame that it would also lead to her downfall.

Laverna pulled herself up out of the floor and cast an illusion spell over it. If a stray witch accidentally fell through it, then all the better. Laverna found the first robed figure lingering at the bottom of a set of access stairs. She broke the woman's neck, dragged her into a shadowy corner, and took her black robe.

"Why do cults always love their stupid robes so much?" she muttered and put it on. It smelled like Poison perfume that made her nose twitch. She sneezed a few times and lifted her hood to hide her features as much as possible. She didn't want her big reveal to happen too soon.

Laverna moved confidently up the stone stairs, acting like she was meant to be there. She reached the permanent walkway that had been built around the whole interior and moved to one of the arches to look down at the figures below. She spotted a giant black wolf crossing the footpaths underneath the lights and running into the shadows beneath her.

"Go get them, Rom," she whispered.

Laverna moved along the shadows and silently took out another three more people in hoods. There were more than she thought that there would be. Canidia had been busy indeed. It didn't matter. With Romulus's mercenaries and Laverna's very pissed-off followers, they were more than a match for anything Canidia's minions could throw at them.

Laverna paused in the shadows as Canidia herself walked out onto the main floor of the arena. In one hand, she carried the end of a silver chain. Laverna's stomach clenched when Sidonius came into view, cuffed and collared in silver and being led on the chain like a dog. He wore a pair of blood-stained jeans and nothing else. His long black hair was matted, but his chest and arms looked unharmed. That didn't mean that he wasn't hurt. It just meant Canidia had stopped cutting parts out of him long enough for them to grow back.

Remus followed behind them, making sure that Sidonius didn't try to make a fuss. Canidia led the wolf to the left side of the floor and attached Sidonius's chain to a large metal ring.

Laverna was too far away to hear what Canidia said to Remus, but she touched the creature on the chest, and he moved off to the opposite side of the floor. Moments later, four followers carried out a slab of black stone and placed it down.

Canidia ran her hands possessively over it. Laverna knew it was ridiculous, but the fact that the stone represented Romulus made her want to cut Canidia's hands off.

"On this night, we change history! Let us begin!" Canidia called, her voice magically magnified as it bounced off the ancient stones. She raised her arms towards the moon, and her followers began to chant. To Laverna, the words sounded like nonsense, but the magic in them made the hair rise up on her arms and the back of her neck.

A howl rose up over the top of them, a sound of primal fury, a hunting call to put the fear in anyone and anything that heard it. Remus roared back in challenge, and Romulus raced across the arena toward him.

The robed figures gasped in terror, stopping their chant, and Canidia's spell shuddered and popped like a soap bubble. She screeched a command at Remus, who ignored her and met Romulus's attack head-on. It was a full moon, and the wolf part of Remus wasn't something that even Canidia's magic could counter. Laverna took a moment to look up at the shining pale disc.

"Thank you, Lady Luna," she whispered. She threw off her cloak and jacket and unsheathed the gladius that hung at her side. It was time to end the witch once and for all.