no spaceship to drop from the sky and give us a ladder. Only four of us, once five, with our paltry weapons and a whole Empire against us.
The Giant wasn’t like the Behemoths we had seen in the Waste. This one was less humanoid, and more reptilian. It was at least ten feet tall, had stout, thick legs, and hard green scales that none of our weapons could pierce.
It would be our final battle.
I cried out. Fueled by grief and anger, I readied my gladius for a jab. The Behemoth lowered itself, opening its wide mouth to reveal its needle teeth. It gave a scream, its warm breath toxic and putrid. Still, I ran forward. The others joined me in my berserk attack. As the creature arched its neck to take me out, Anna swung in from my left.
Thankfully, the creature ignored her, coming straight for me. That was fine. I didn’t want anyone else to die because of me….
The teeth snapped closed, right on my gladius and inches from my hand, rending the hilt in two. I had nothing but my bare hands now. Unthinking, I leaped on top of the monster’s head, straddling it with my legs. Annoyed, it shook itself, but it wasn’t going to be rid of me so easily. I took my right hand, and, making a fist, jabbed it in one of its two completely white eyes.
It roared in pain, and this time, the Behemoth successfully threw me off. I fell ten feet to the ground, rolling and landing sprawled on my stomach. I scrambled to get up, but every part of me hurt. Every damn part. I stood on unsteady legs, but fell again.
I rolled over, to see the Behemoth coming for me again. One of its eyes dripped purple blood. The purple stuff was all over my hands, stinging them. I wiped them in the dirt, grabbing a handful of the arena dust. The creature shot its face down again, mouth widening. I dodged to the side, throwing the dirt directly into its other eye at the same time.
It hissed. It gave me the moment I needed to kick it, right in that eye.
It pulled up again, screaming in agony, shaking its colossal head. It stepped forward uncertainly. I had completely blinded it.
Anna took up Makara’s spear, and with a primal yell, stabbed downward into the creature’s clawed foot.
The creature screamed again and again as we slashed and stabbed and pummeled its legs, forcing it to the ground. The crowd was on its feet, watching and screaming like crazy. Crying out, I slashed at the back of the Behemoth’s knees, so now it was completely grounded.
Like Anna had done with the crawler earlier, she hopped onto the Behemoth’s back, finding the sweet spot at the base of its skull. There, she stabbed her sword. The creature let out a horrible wail as she twisted the blade, grimacing with the effort. She rotated the blade one time completely before leaving it in. After giving its left leg a final twitch, the monster grew still. It was dead.
The crowd was up on its feet, cheering madly, but I was deaf to it all. I ran and went to kneel beside Makara, who was still on the ground.
Almost afraid of the confirmation, of what I would feel if I did it, I placed my hand on her neck. I waited one. Two. Three seconds.
I thought I felt a thump.
I could scarcely believe it, so I kept my hand there.
Another pulse. It was unmistakable.
“She’s alive!” I said.
Everyone rushed around me. Samuel placed my shirt, which was on the ground, back on the wound to stop what blood was left in her from flowing out.
“She won’t last long,” Samuel said. “Not without help.”
He waved to the stands. Instantly, an outcry came from the stands. They wanted Makara to be saved, too.
Trumpets blared, and from one of the gates, out of nowhere, ran two men with a stretcher.
“About goddamn time!” I said. “Where were they before?”
“This was supposed to be an execution,” Julian said. “Only, we killed our executioners.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. “Will they save Makara?”
Julian didn’t say anything. He didn’t believe she could be saved.
I was willing to cling to anything at that moment, willing to reach out to anyone who might listen to me, God included. I watched as the men loaded Makara onto the stretcher and carried her away. We started to follow, but at that moment, guards filed out of the gates, rushing to keep us back.
“Hey!” I said. “You can’t just take her and not expect us to follow.”
Anna placed a hand on my arm. “We don’t have much choice. We can only hope they’re taking her to get treated somewhere.”
By the tunnel, they lowered the stretcher. One of the men carrying it retrieved a syringe from one of his pockets. He injected Makara with it, right in the chest.
“Oh my God…” I said.
I saw Makara’s eyes open, and saw her legs sprawl out. She really
Makara was then carried up the tunnel, out of sight.
We waited there a good two minutes before two columns of guards streamed out of the gate, wearing steel plated armor and purple capes. They wore leopard mantles as well, but these were different. They were completely white. From their steel helmets rose tall, purple plumes, and their spears gleamed silvery in the afternoon light. Their bodies were etched from stony muscle, their dark and tanned skin lined with jagged scars from the Empire’s numerous wars.
The soldiers continued to file out, fanning out to encircle us. We remained still.
“The Praetorians,” Julian said.
'Who are they?' I asked.
“When I said the jaguar warriors were the best, I was wrong. The Praetorians are. They are the Emperor’s personal bodyguards.”
The Praetorians fanned out to encircle us, their steps resolute and unyielding. There were twenty four of them total.
“They have come to finish the job,” Julian said.
This was it, then. This was our last moment on Earth. But if they were here to kill us, then why bother to save Makara?
The Praetorians stopped in their tracks, facing in now that their circle was completed. The leader shouted out, his voice booming off the awed crowd. As one, they lowered their spears, the collective sound sending a shock throughout me.
No. There would be no surviving this.
I grabbed Anna’s hand. “We’re not going to make it.”
I saw her shake her head from the corner of my vision. “No.”
“Anna, I just wanted to let you know that…”
The trumpets blared again, their sonorous tones echoing off the stands. The crowd buzzed with excitement. Something had changed.
“I don’t believe it,” Julian said.
“What?” I asked.
Julian shook his head. “The Emperor is coming.”
“The Emperor?” Anna asked. “He’s coming
“We will meet then, at last,” Samuel said.
Then, he came out, flanked by yet more Praetorians. Short and small of frame, Emperor Augustus still walked as if he were the biggest and most powerful man on Earth. Indeed, he probably was. There was nothing spectacular about him, other than his pure white toga with purple trim, with two eagles emblazoned in gold on his
