The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3)(77)

Next to me, Piper shivered on the floor, her neural pathways probably overloaded by trauma. Crest had wrapped himself in his own ears. Jason continued to meditate in his cone of swirling shrapnel, though I couldn’t imagine he would achieve nirvana under those circumstances.

Meg yelled and gesticulated at me, perhaps telling me not to be a fool and put down the arrow. I took no pleasure in the fact that, for once, I couldn’t hear her orders.

The emperor’s guards stayed where they were, gripping their spears. Incitatus munched his oats like he was at the movies.

‘Last chance,’ Caligula said.

Somewhere behind me, at the top of the ramp, a voice called, ‘My lord!’

Caligula looked over. ‘What is it, Flange? I’m a little busy here.’

‘N-news, my lord.’

‘Later.’

‘Sire, it’s about the northern attack.’

I felt a surge of hope. The assault on New Rome was happening tonight. I didn’t have the good hearing of a pandos, but the hysterical urgency in Flange’s tone was unmistakable. He was not bringing the emperor good news.

Caligula’s expression soured. ‘Come here, then. And don’t touch the idiot with the arrow.’

The pandos Flange shuffled past me and whispered something in the emperor’s ear. Caligula may have considered himself a consummate actor, but he didn’t do a good job of hiding his disgust.

‘How disappointing.’ He tossed Meg’s golden rings aside like they were worthless pebbles. ‘Your sword, please, Flange.’

‘I –’ Flange fumbled for his khanda. ‘Y-yes, lord.’

Caligula examined the blunt serrated blade, then returned it to its owner with vicious force, plunging it into the poor pandos’s gut. Flange howled as he crumbled to dust.

Caligula faced me. ‘Now, where were we?’

‘Your northern attack,’ I said. ‘Didn’t go so well?’

It was foolish of me to goad him, but I couldn’t help it. At that moment, I wasn’t any more rational than Meg McCaffrey – I just wanted to hurt Caligula, to smash everything he owned to dust.

He waved aside my question. ‘Some jobs I have to do myself. That’s fine. You’d think a Roman demigod camp would obey orders from a Roman emperor, but alas.’

‘The Twelfth Legion has a long history of supporting good emperors,’ I said. ‘And of deposing bad ones.’

Caligula’s left eye twitched. ‘Oh, Boost, where are you?’

On the port side, one of the horse-groomer pandai dropped his brush in alarm. ‘Yes, lord?’

‘Take your men,’ Caligula said. ‘Spread the word. We break formation immediately and sail north. We have unfinished business in the Bay Area.’

‘But, sire …’ Boost looked at me, as if deciding whether I was enough of a threat to warrant leaving the emperor without his remaining guards. ‘Yes, sire.’

The rest of the pandai shuffled off, leaving Incitatus without anyone to hold his golden oat bucket.

‘Hey, C,’ said the stallion. ‘Aren’t you putting the cart before the horse? Before we head off to war, you’ve got to finish your business with Lester.’

‘Oh, I will,’ Caligula promised. ‘Now, Lester, we both know you’re not going to –’

He lunged with blinding speed, making a grab for the arrow. I’d been anticipating that. Before he could stop me, I cleverly plunged the arrow into my chest. Ha! That would teach Caligula to underestimate me!

Dear reader, it takes a great deal of willpower to intentionally harm yourself. And not the good kind of willpower – the stupid, reckless kind you should never try to summon, even in an effort to save your friends.

As I stabbed myself, I was shocked by the sheer amount of pain I experienced. Why did killing yourself have to hurt so much?

My bone marrow turned to lava. My lungs filled with hot wet sand. Blood soaked my shirt and I fell to my knees, gasping and dizzy. The world spun around me as if the entire throne room had become a giant ventus prison.

VILLAINY! The Arrow of Dodona’s voice buzzed in my mind (and now also in my chest). THOU DIDST NOT JUST IMPALE ME HEREIN! O, VILE, MONSTROUS FLESH!

A distant part of my brain thought it was unfair for him to complain, since I was the one dying, but I couldn’t have spoken even if I’d wanted to.

Caligula rushed forward. He grabbed the shaft of the arrow, but Medea yelled, ‘Stop!’

She ran across the throne room and knelt at my side.

‘Pulling out the arrow could make matters worse!’ she hissed.

‘He stabbed himself in the chest,’ Caligula said. ‘How can it be worse?’

‘Fool,’ she muttered. I wasn’t sure whether the comment was directed at me or Caligula. ‘I don’t want him to bleed out.’ She removed a black silk bag from her belt, pulled out a stoppered glass vial and shoved the bag at Caligula. ‘Hold this.’

She uncorked the vial and poured its contents over the entry wound.

COLD! complained the Arrow of Dodona. COLD! COLD!

Personally, I didn’t feel a thing. The searing pain had become a dull, throbbing ache throughout my whole body. I was pretty sure that was a bad sign.

Incitatus trotted over. ‘Whoa, he really did it. That’s a horse of a different colour.’