“Great,” Makara said.
“Ruben is now bidding 45,000 batts,” Julian said.
There was a pause as Camilo considered. Finally, he bid again.
“48,000,” Julian whispered in disbelief. “I have never seen the bidding go this high.”
Ruben’s fat face reddened, and he turned and stalked away. Camilo gave a smile of victory.
Just as the auctioneer’s gavel nearly fell, Ruben turned and shouted. “Cincuenta miles!”
50,000. A whisper overtook the crowd. Camilo Hidalgo paused, but said nothing. Everyone watched. Would the slum lord bid again? Finally, Camilo waved his hand, ceding the floor to his rival. The auctioneer banged his gavel on the podium. Anna had been sold to the gladiator master. The crowd broke out into an excited buzz.
That was it, then. A nearby guard ordered Anna to stand back as the last slave was presented. While the bidding for him began, some guards came on the stage, leading Anna away to meet the Lanisto, Ruben.
“It’s go time,” Samuel said.
We filtered out of the crowd, and edged closer to Anna. Already, guards surrounded her, leading her toward the Coleseo. We pushed ourselves ahead, never for a minute losing sight of her.
That was when one of the men by the carts pointed our way, yelling something to his fellow guards in Spanish. He looked vaguely familiar.
“What is he saying?” I asked.
It was then that I recognized him as one of the slavers that had attacked us.
“They’re coming for us!” Julian said.
The cart guards strode toward us. The commotion caused the guards escorting Anna ahead to turn around. Anna turned, too, just in time to see us sprinting after her. Her eyes widened in surprise.
I pulled out my Beretta and started taking my first shots. The bullets connected with one of the guards, felling him.
Taking our cue, Anna struggled against her captors, ripping free of two of them. Hands and feet bound, she hopped in our direction. Ruben the Lanisto went wide-eyed upon seeing Anna run away. He barked some orders to his guards, who came forward wielding not guns, but their clubs.
“He wants to capture us,” Julian said.
I ceased my shooting. I risked hitting Anna. Instead, I ran forward, trying to reach her first. Then, she was in my arms, and I was pulling her back. The guards raised their clubs upon reaching me.
Samuel and Makara joined me in the struggle, fighting off the guards. Julian dashed in from the side, trying, to no avail, to hold back the crowds that had encircled us.
Finally, we broke free, but the crowd was too close for us to break through. I roared in frustration. Then, a pair of hands pushed my wrists together, roughly tying rope around them.
Makara grunted when a pair of guards forced her to the ground, binding her hand and foot. I felt a boot on my back, and I crashed to the street stones.
Around me, everyone else was also on the ground. Surrounded by guards, we were all restrained and bound. Our worst fears were realized. Instead of rescuing Anna, we had gotten ourselves captured.
The guards forced us on our feet. Ruben, the Lanisto, cast an appraising eye on us all.
“This ended very well,” he said, with an amused smile. “Instead of one gladiator, I now have five.”
It wasn’t just Anna going to the Coleseo now. It was all of us.
The crowds parted as Ruben and his guards escorted us to the Coleseo. I couldn’t even look up as we passed under a large, stone arch — the Blood Gates, Julian had called them. We approached a metal gate within the building, where two guards stood. Upon seeing Ruben, one reached for a key, unlocking the gate. He opened it, and behind the gate I could see a set of stone steps, leading down into darkness.
We were forced down the stairs. The steps spiraled down into darkness. Soon, orange light appeared from ahead. We were under the Coleseo now, in a large antechamber. Several open archways led to adjacent rooms, and four stone corridors led out from each of the room’s four corners. A wide set of stone steps led upward at the end of the anteroom — I assumed to the arena floor. This was a staging area for gladiators, before they were sent up to their deaths.
We were led down corridor immediately to our left. Ruben threw open a door at the end of it. On the other side was darkness. We were pushed along in the dark, and we could only see from the few torches that Ruben’s guards carried. From their light, I could discern that we were being led to jail cells. Metal bars rose from floor to ceiling from the cells on either side.
Ruben and his guards haphazardly threw Julian and me into one of the cells. We scuttled onto the floor, and the door was slammed behind us with a metallic clang. I heard Makara cry out as she was thrown into her own separate cell, while Anna and Samuel was thrown into the cell adjacent to mine. Two more metal-barred doors were slammed and locked behind us. Ruben, with his guards, stood for a moment, surveying us. It was hard to tell if he was pleased, or angry.
Finally, without a word, he turned for the door from which we had come. Once all the guards were out, he slammed the door shut. I heard a key turn in the lock, leaving us in silence.
“Everyone alright?” Samuel called out.
Everyone answered that they were.
“You guys shouldn’t have come.”
Anna’s voice was sullen.
I rushed to the side of my own cell, reaching my hand through the bars. “Anna, it’s me.”
I heard her get up, and I felt her warm hand on mine.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You all should have left me here. I wasn’t worth this.”
“It’s not over yet, Anna,” I said. “Don’t give up.”
“By this time, you guys could have met with the Emperor and have gotten out of here. I definitely wasn’t worth this mission getting compromised.”
I didn’t have an answer for that. Anna still held onto my hand. I put my other hand through the bars, grabbing her other hand. It felt good, just to touch her — even if it was a feeling that wouldn’t last.
“We’ll make it, somehow,” I said. “I don’t know how, but we’ve gotten through worse before.”
I didn’t know if that was true. It seemed like we were all now as good as dead, locked in these cells.
“How did you guys find me?” she asked.
I told her about how Ashton piloted Gilgamesh above Itcala, and how we had all parachuted in.
“You…what?” Anna said.
“It was the only way in,” I said. “It was my idea.”
Anna sighed. “You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Julian?” Samuel called out.
“I’m here,” Julian said.
“Who’s Julian?” Anna asked.
“I’m Julian. I met your friends in the town. Anna, right?”
Anna didn’t answer. Samuel spoke again.
“What can we expect now that we’re here?”
Julian didn’t answer for a moment. “Nothing good. For what we did back there, our penalty will be death by combat. Whether they will have us fight each other, or simply be executed, I don’t know.”
“What about Anna?” I asked. “Surely, Ruben wouldn’t have spent all that money just to kill her.”
“Imperial Law warranties a slave for up to three months,” Julian said. “Rebellion is included in that.”
A hand banging on metal sounded throughout the narrow confines of the cells. Someone was trying to force the door open.
“Makara, that isn’t going to do anything,” Samuel said in his deep baritone.
“At least I’m trying something,” she said. “I’m not going to be forced to fight.”
“I’ve never seen a Lanisto pay as much for a slave as he paid for you,” Julian said to Anna.