The Champion

by Taran Matharu

  “Marius,” Cade said, finally elbowing his way to the front. “What are you doing?”

  The commander grinned at Cade and tugged at his arm, pulling him onto the log beside him.

  “And we have our little mascot to thank for this revelation,” Marius cried, even as the Codex whispered a translation in Cade’s ear. “Once again, he brings weapons of another age to aid us. But this … this will win us the war. This will bring us home!”

  The men cheered again, and it was all Cade could do to hiss in his ear.

  “You should have spoken to me first,” he said, and Marius grasped his arm, raising it in forced triumph and pulling Cade close.

  “I am the commander here,” Marius replied through grit-toothed smile. “You should thank me for even giving you credit.”

  There was a mad excitement in his eyes, and Cade saw the corruption of desire there. And it was he who had planted it.

  Marius had always seemed to Cade a man on the brink between benevolence and despotism. Teetering between a good person and bad. Cade had fed the worst of his desires, and this was the result.

  Cade gave a final wave, then descended the stump, leaving Marius to revel in his men’s excitement. Now, the men let him through, thumping him on the back as he passed.

  Finally, he stumbled to his friends, who had been joined by the others.

  “What the—” Scott began.

  But Cade cut him off with a finger to his lips, then motioned for them to follow him, leaving the yammering Romans behind them.

  He led them to the waterfall, until they were standing close enough to feel the spray of the crashing waters. Cade sat down on a stump, clenching his fists with fury. For a moment he fumed, letting the roar of the waterfall wash around him.

  “So … this is good, right?” Yoshi said.

  Cade looked up at him, feeling his brows knit together.

  “What?” Yoshi asked, raising his palms. “They’re gonna take all the risk, right? Go get what we need?”

  “Yeah,” Amber said dully. “But it’s like sending a caveman to do brain surgery. Sure, we won’t have to do it, but it’s not exactly going to go well, is it?”

  Cade chuckled despite himself. “Okay,” he said, rubbing his temples. “We know that they need the Codex, and me to work it, right? So that means at least I have to go.”

  “You think we’re going to let you go alone?” Yoshi asked. “They won’t have your back like we would.”

  “And we need to decide together what we spend the treasure on,” Grace said.

  Cade sighed.

  “We won’t get a word in edgewise until later—he’s too excited right now.”

  The conversation had only just cottoned him to the fact that Marius’s actions could work in his favor. If he was alone with the Romans, he wouldn’t have to convince his friends of the need for the nuclear bomb. They were already sold on it.

  “We have to talk to him,” Amber snapped.

  “There’s nothing we can do,” Cade said, even as his stomach twisted with guilt. “At least one of us is going.”

  CHAPTER

  37

  Marius would not meet with them. Not that Cade tried very hard—the man would have seen him if he insisted. But instead he asked the guards if the commander was free, knowing full well that he was busy planning the expedition.

  So it was no surprise to Cade when he was summoned to Marius’s room the following morning after a fitful night of sleep. The others, despite their protests, were not allowed past the stairs.

  It was a somewhat worrying precedent that Marius did not allow them to the third floor. The commander was establishing the contenders’ place in the keep’s hierarchy early. He would almost be impressed, were he not one of the ones being sidelined.

  When he entered the room, Marius stood with his back to him, gazing out the window at the cobbles below. There, Cade had already seen men stacking amphorae, food, bandages, and more.

  “How are the preparations going?” Cade asked, trying to begin the meeting on a peaceful note.

  Marius turned to him, his jaw set. Cade saw the man was prepared for an argument, and sat down in the chair, hoping to remind him of their conversation the night before last.

  “My men will need the Codex from you,” Marius said, his voice firm as stone.

  Cade sat up a little straighter, shocked at the request. “Didn’t we already have this conversation?”

  “That was before my soldiers needed it,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of your stubbornness now.”

  Cade gritted his teeth. “I’ll go with them,” he said.

  Marius paused, and to Cade’s surprise, he realized that the idea had clearly not crossed the commander’s mind.

  “And if you die?” he asked. “The Codex will return to one of your contenders, leaving my men stranded.”

  Cade rubbed his eyes. He was too tired for this. “Let’s say your men took the Codex,” Cade said. “Say they come across a machine, or a gun out there. How will they know what it is?”

  Marius waved his hand. “The Codex will tell them.”

  Cade let out a soft laugh. “What would you do if you found a hellfire air-to-ground missile, fired using a Predator UAV? Would you haul it back?”

  As Marius stared at him, the many hours Cade had spent playing Call of Duty had finally come in handy.

  “Yes…,” he said with some hesitance. “A weapon is a weapon.”

  Cade shook his head. “They’re shot from something similar to a plane. You know what planes are, right?”

  Marius shook his head.

  “Yeah, those weren’t around in Louis Le Prince’s time. It’s a flying machine. A giant metal bird that uses fires burning inside it to move a spinning fan. You would never be able to use that weapon without one. The best you could do is set it off yourselves accidentally while you carry it, and kill yourselves.”

  Marius grimaced, but at the same time searched Cade’s eyes to see if he was telling the truth.

  “Of course, it’s much more complicated than that,” Cade went on, meeting Marius’s gaze with as much confidence as he could muster. “I could tell you about drones and pilots, radio waves, control systems. But that’s the best I can explain it. And of course, the Codex won’t explain it that way, will it? You have no idea how complicated the machines of the future are. Even I don’t understand how they work exactly. How can you expect your men to?”

  Marius sat upon the side of the bed, steepling his fingers and letting out a long sigh. “So what would you have me do, Cade?” he said, and for a moment Cade saw the flickers of the other man. The good man, who had helped them so much before.

  “Send two of us,” he said. “If I die out there, another of my contenders will be ready to take my place.”

  He regretted his words almost as soon as he had said them. Perhaps he should have pushed to go alone, but he had forgotten himself in that moment. Forgotten he was tricking his friends into summoning an atomic bomb to the keep.

  “Fine,” Marius said in a low voice, avoiding Cade’s eyes. “But you must do something for me in exchange. Trust for trust.”

  Cade nodded slowly. “What do you need?”

  Marius looked up at him, and Cade could not read his expression.

  “Keep the Codex. But if you die. And your friends die. What happens then?”

  “We won’t,” Cade said. “Most of us will stay here.”

  “Even so,” Marius said, “it is an unnecessary risk to take. There is no reason why my men should not become contenders as well.”

  Cade swallowed. Marius knew there was a reason Cade was keeping the Codex to himself. It was because Marius could easily get control of the Codex if he and the other Romans were contenders. All that stood in his way were the beating hearts of Cade and his friends. The Codex would pass down the chain to them. That was how it worked.

  Now, Marius was daring Cade to voice it. To say he feared Marius’s ambition. That he feared the Romans wo
uld kill them.

  Cade’s silence stretched between them, as Marius’s eyes bore into his own. He could not read the man.

  But in the end, it did not matter. In the short term, Marius needed them. Without them, there would be nobody to guide him with the weapons of the future. And while it was true Marius might kill them once their use ran out, Cade had no intention of being here that long.

  As soon as he returned to the keep with the bomb, he planned to set off the EMP. Then have the Romans load the bomb into the ship. Initiate the autopilot. And end the game once and for all.

  “Deal,” Cade said, holding out his hand.

  Marius looked at it in surprise, then took Cade’s hand in his own.

  They shook, once, then Marius dropped his hand.

  “Are we done?” he asked.

  Cade leaned back in his chair.

  “Start bringing your men here,” Cade said. “It’s time to make them contenders.”

  CHAPTER

  38

  It took until the afternoon to induct all the Romans. They came in groups and declared their consent to become contenders to the Codex in a short Latin phrase Marius asked them to repeat. Cade did not leave until every Roman had visited, even the men working in the orchards above. He wanted Marius to trust him. And to think he had won.

  As the last of the Romans left the room, he could hear his friends in the stairwell demanding what was going on, the guards still refusing them entry.

  “Can I go now?” Cade asked, standing to leave.

  “Of course,” Marius said. “You can come and go as you please.”

  Cade looked back at him. “We both know that’s not true.”

  Marius cleared his throat as Cade stepped to the door. “Do not bring your lover with you,” he said. “Or any other of the women, for that matter.”

  Cade turned, shocked. “Why not?”

  Marius looked unashamed, despite Cade’s glare. “Women and battle do not mix,” he said. “They are bad luck.”

  Cade held up a finger. “I choose who goes with me on the expedition. I choose.”

  Marius held up his hands, even looking a little surprised at Cade’s outburst. “Fine,” he said. “On your head be it. Clearly you are not thinking with it.”

  The words stung Cade, but he did not let his resolve waiver.

  “You’ve got a lot to learn about the future, Marius,” Cade said, holding back the angrier words he wanted to say. “Don’t forget, it was those women who cracked open the Gray stronghold for you. I’d take one of them over ten of yours any day.”

  He stalked out, raging.

  “Cade!” Marius called.

  His friends were still on the stairs, and he hurried to them, silencing their questions with a finger to his lips.

  “Come on,” Cade said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

  * * *

  “There you go again,” Grace growled. “Making decisions for us.”

  Cade closed his eyes and let his head knock against the wall. They were back in the storage room, and the others were not happy. They sat in a circle, but it felt like they were all facing Cade.

  “I did my best,” Cade said. “And he wouldn’t see anyone but me. Trust me, I don’t want to speak for you. But I had to.”

  “You made them contenders,” Yoshi said. “Do you realize what that makes us? Just a group of teenagers. We’re expendable now.”

  “They need us,” Cade said. “Only we can understand modern weapons, modern tools.”

  “For now,” Amber said.

  It was the first time she had spoken for a while, and now she avoided Cade’s gaze.

  “I think we need some ground rules,” Yoshi said, looking guilty even as he spoke. “It’s nothing against you, Cade. You’re trying your best, I know that. But you can’t keep making decisions like this without talking to us.”

  “You think I want to make these decisions?” Cade snapped. “I hate it. Okay? I hate it. Every time I make one, the people I care about might die. People I love.”

  Amber looked up at him, almost startled.

  “Ever since New Rome, you’ve been making choices for us. Do you know how powerless that makes us feel?” Scott said, unusually sober. “You think it’s bad enough being Abaddon’s puppet? It’s worse when we’re yours too.”

  “That’s not fair, Scott,” Cade said. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I swear, I wish we could make decisions together. But I keep being put in situations where I’m the one who has to make them.”

  Grace threw her hands up. “Maybe it would have been difficult to get Marius to let us in,” she said. “But you’re not our leader anymore. We’re a democracy now, yeah?”

  Cade looked to the others, but they only stared at their feet.

  “I will follow you,” Quintus said. “I do not care what the others do. I am still here. We are all still here. Because of you.”

  Grace ignored him. “You talk to Marius only when one of us is also present,” she said. “And Quintus doesn’t count.”

  “Say that again,” Quintus said, standing up. “You think I do not deserve a vote?”

  “Not when you’re Cade’s lapdog,” Grace snapped back.

  “Guys,” Amber said, tugging at Quintus’s hand until he sat down again. “This is exactly what Abaddon wants. What Marius wants. For us to turn on each other. Cade is doing his best. We’re just asking him to do things a different way, right?”

  Grace set her jaw and turned away before grunting a reluctant “Yes.”

  “So we have a decision to make,” Amber said. “One of us needs to go with Cade. And I think it should be one of the boys.”

  “What?” Grace demanded, incensed again. “Why?”

  “Because things have moved on since our time,” Amber said. “There might be something out there that’s more modern than us. Something we won’t understand.”

  “Yeah, but Marius doesn’t know that. And what are the chances of Cade actually dying?” Grace caught herself and looked ashamed for a moment. “Sorry, but you know what I mean.”

  Amber shrugged. “If you want to go, be my guest. Bea, Trix, do either of you have a burning desire to head into the jungles?”

  “Not a chance,” Bea said, followed by a silent headshake from Trix.

  “And I don’t feel safe out there with those Romans,” Amber said. “Here, there’s some semblance of law and order. Out there … I don’t trust them.”

  She let the words hang in the air, and Cade felt ashamed he had not even considered the implications of being a woman alone with so many strange, uncivilized soldiers.

  Grace crossed her arms and gave a curt nod. “Well, if we’re out because we aren’t modern enough, so is Quintus,” Bea said. “So it’s either Scott or Yoshi, right?”

  Yoshi paled and lifted his chin to meet Cade’s gaze. “I may have asthma, but I’ll go if you need me,” he said.

  Scott lay a hand on Yoshi’s shoulder. “As funny as it might be to watch you wheezing while you’re chased by a T. rex, I think you’re out of the running, man. No pun intended.”

  Yoshi reddened and inclined his head.

  “I’ve been hankering for a stroll through the woods anyway,” Scott said, forcing a smile. “Plus, it’ll be a relief to get out of this windowless room. Especially after Quintus had fish for dinner, am I right?”

  He pinched his nose theatrically as the others laughed. The tension dissipated like a dark cloud on the wind, though the scowl on Grace’s face was not entirely gone.

  Cade let it go. There were bigger things to worry about.

  CHAPTER

  39

  They were woken at the break of dawn. There was no time for breakfast, only to gather their weapons and stagger down the tunnel, out to the edge of the jungles.

  Cade had thought they would have a few days yet before the expedition left, but apparently Marius had wasted no time. Backpacks were shoved into Scott’s and Cade’s hands, and they had but a few moments to say their goo
dbyes.

  Ten men were gathered at the edge of the jungle. To Cade’s dismay, these were not the best of the Roman troops. These were the youngest of them, scrawny youths hardly older than Cade.

  But worst of all was their leader. Cade had not imagined he would see Atticus again. The man had been out of sight since his arrival, and Cade had wondered where they were keeping him.

  Now he was back. Standing at the edge of the jungle, his lips pursed tight as the original contenders approached.

  Marius and a contingent of Romans stood apart, and Cade hurried over to him, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. Atticus must hate Marius. Yet here Atticus was, leading the men who had, hardly more than six months ago, been loyal to him.

  It was an affront Cade could not bear.

  “Why is Atticus here?” Cade demanded, squaring up to Marius.

  “He’s … expendable,” Marius replied curtly. “And we’re down to less than a hundred soldiers. Did you expect me to keep him fed and guarded forever? I need every man to earn their keep. And it’s time you started earning yours.”

  Cade stared at him in disbelief. “You think he’ll treat me any differently from what he did before?” he demanded. “It’s suicide to go out there with him. He’ll shove me off a cliff first chance he gets.”

  Cade could feel the eyes of the men upon him and realized he had made a mistake. To challenge Marius was one thing. To do so in front of his men … there was no chance the commander would back down now.

  Marius stepped closer to him, leaning his face into Cade’s own until Cade could smell his breath.

  “Atticus believed you were a liar,” Marius growled. “An enemy. That was why he hated you. But you’ve proven him wrong, haven’t you? So what grudge could he have against you now?”

  Cade knew this battle was lost, but he knew he could not let this stand. “That’s not how people like him work,” he said, trying to keep his tone civil. “He’ll blame me for losing command.”

  Marius shoved Cade back and stabbed a finger at the ten men waiting at the edge of the forest.