by Kyle West
Below us, the large wooden gates groaned as they opened. Everyone stopped turning the wheel, and ran back down the stairs. We burst on the street, turned the corner, and ran out of the barely opened gate and into the night.
Gilgamesh lifted off from where it had hovered above the settlement, angling our way. From the ramparts, the guards fired at us. We zigzagged our path in order to dodge the bullets.
Gilgamesh swooped overhead, knocking us all down with a colossal sound and gust of wind. It half-turned toward us, its headlights still blinding. It landed maladroitly upon the ground, the boarding ramp extending. The blast door opened.
Then, men on horseback surged out from the gate behind us. We were about halfway to the ship.
“Run!” I yelled.
We sprinted for the boarding ramp, even as the horsemen gained on us. The ship became larger as we neared it, but the thunder of hooves behind let me know how close we were to being captured again.
Finally, we ran up the ramp, and the blast door closed behind us. Several bullets dinged off its metal outside.
No sooner than we were in, the ship lifted off. I fell to the floor, and slid toward the wall as the ship leaned upward, surging upward toward the black sky.
Chapter 13
Once we were up and away, we all stood on Gilgamesh’s bridge.
“Well, the operation wasn’t a complete waste,” Samuel said. “We found out Anna is in transit to Nova Roma with a group of other slaves. If we hurry, we might still catch her.”
“And how did you find this out?” Ashton asked.
Samuel gestured to Julian, who stood next to him. “This is Julian. He saved our lives by showing us how to get out of the city. He also let us know what happened to Anna.”
Ashton looked at Julian. “You are sure of this?”
He nodded. “They have auctions there, every Saturday, in Central Square. That is probably where they are taking her. She put up a big fight against all the slavers, even killing one of them. They probably see her as a potential fighter for El Coleseo.”
“El Coleseo?” I asked.
“It’s the grand arena of the Empire, located in the heart of Nova Roma,” Julian said. “They fight slaves there for entertainment.”
“Great,” Makara said. “How can people watch that?”
“They do not see slaves as people,” Julian said. “Many came to seek refuge in the Empire, after the Rock fell – both native Mexicans and foreign Americans. Most were just enslaved as soon as they crossed the border. The lucky ones were sent to the farms. The unlucky ones, to the arenas. And the most unlucky...to El Coleseo.”
“You know this, how?” Ashton asked.
“I have been to Nova Roma many times as part of my duties for my old master. He would attend these auctions at times. I have even fought in a few gladiatorial matches myself, though never in El Coleseo, thank God. They say that anyone who enters the Blood Gates is already doomed to die.”
“Well, we’ll just have to hurry, then,” I said.
Ashton nodded. “You came along at just the right time to help us, Julian.”
“How did you guys get into Itcala, anyway?” Julian asked.
I assumed Itcala was the name of the settlement. “We parachuted.”
Julian’s eyes widened. “That’s crazy. You’re lucky to still be alive.”
“We know,” Makara said.
“How did you come to be in the Empire, Julian?” I asked.
“I was hunting with my father outside my home, ten years ago. There were slavers, there. They killed my father, and they took me. From then on, I was sold from one master to another, until I found my way here. They fought me in arenas, from time to time, and I was lucky to survive until now. Because I can read, my last master found a use for me that didn’t involve swinging a sword. He lived in Itcala, and would sometimes travel to Nova Roma, taking me with him to help him write contracts for his business. He mostly dealt with slaves.”
“So, you know the city well?” Ashton asked.
Julian nodded. “I’ve been there at least a dozen times. I know it well enough.”
“Maybe you can help us find Anna, then,” I said.
“I will,” Julian said. “You guys got me out of there, so it’s the least I can do.” Julian looked around the bridge, as if he couldn’t believe he was standing in such a place. “Although, I have a lot of questions myself.”
“That’s understandable,” Ashton said. “We have questions, too, but unfortunately, time is not on our side right now. We’ll catch you up later.”
“Can you use a gun?” Samuel asked.
Julian shook his head. “I’ve only used a sword and shield before. Gladiators are not allowed ranged weapons in the arena, unless they are javelins.”
“Christ,” Ashton said, looking away. “There will be time for that later, I guess. Makara can probably teach you.”
“I can show him the basics,” Makara said. “The finer points he’ll have to learn on his own.”
“Teach him what you can,” Ashton said.
“Even if he can’t use a gun, Julian can speak Spanish.” I looked at him. “You can speak Spanish, right?”
He nodded. “Fluently. I even knew it before I came to the Empire because I am, well...Mexican.”
Makara chuckled. “Well, that is something we didn’t really consider before. How could we have missed that none of us spoke Spanish and we were hoping to find our way around Mexico?”
“It was a gross oversight,” Ashton said. “Still, two months in Skyhome was hardly enough time to learn a new language.”
“We’re lucky to have Julian,” I said. “He can translate everything for us so we aren’t in the dark.”
Julian nodded. “There is one thing...after we are done with all this, I’d like to be taken home.”
“Where is home?” Ashton asked.
“A town, called New America. It’s in Texas, on the Gulf Coast. I don’t know exactly where, but I know that much. That’s where my community is, my family. They need to know I’m still alive. It has haunted me all these years.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Ashton said. “We need you here, right now. Are you willing to help us with this first?”
“Of course,” Julian said. “You have already done more for me than I could have ever done for myself. Helping you find Anna will be the least I can do.”
“Well...” Ashton said. “It’s more than that. We have an important message to deliver to Augustus.”
At the mention of Augustus’s name, Julian’s eyes widened. “How do you plan on doing that? And...why?”
Ashton looked at each of us. “We don’t exactly know yet.”
“It will be difficult,” Julian said. “Very difficult.”
“Maybe you can help us out there?” Makara asked.
Julian shook his head. “I don’t know. It is all very overwhelming. Your goals seem impossible.”
Julian didn’t even know the half.
“Let’s focus on one thing at a time,” I said. “Do you have any idea where they might be taking Anna?”
“Auctions are held in Central Square every Saturday. Central Square is surrounded by all the major buildings of Nova Roma, including the Imperial Palace of Augustus, El Coleseo, the Senate House, the Grand Forum...if they are taking her anywhere, that’s the most likely location.”
“Can’t we save her before they enter the city?” I asked.
“She will still be under heavy guard,” Julian said. “The Slave Road is probably the most protected part of the Empire. A citizen can walk alone and unarmed from Jalisco Province to Oaxaca Province without fearing for his or her life. What’s more, slaves travel with caravans, under heavy guard.” Julian shook his head. “Attacking it head on would be a bad idea.”
“We can’t just use the ship, either,” Makara said. “We risk hurting Anna, not to mention the other slaves.”
“So, what can we do?” Ashton asked. “All I know is, we have to come up wit
h something, quick. They’ll be in the city by tomorrow.”
“There’s another problem,” I said. “By the time we get inside the city, news of Gilgamesh might reach Augustus. Many might think it’s just a story, but the Emperor will know better. Once he knows about it, he will know it’s somebody from the United States is in his Empire.” I looked at Ashton. “He might even guess that it’s you.”
“That sort of news could be in Nova Roma as early as tomorrow, if Itcala sends a messenger immediately,” Ashton said. “Of course, that’s something we have no control over. We can only hope for the best. In fact, that may even help us. It will add legitimacy to what we have to tell him. If he knows we’re from the U.S., he will know we have access to resources that have given us knowledge about the xenovirus.”
Julian looked at all of us, confused. “I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”
“I know all this must be very strange for you,” Ashton said. “Like I said, we’ll catch you up when we can.
“How do you guys have a spaceship?” Julian asked. “Are you United States government? What are you doing in the Empire? Everyone I know believes the United States is gone. Is there still a government, somewhere?”
“It’s a long story, friend,” Ashton said.
Julian sighed, obviously frustrated. “I’ll wait for answers, then. But I want to know everything as soon as you get a chance.”
Ashton nodded his assent.
“So, back to Anna,” I said. “What do we do to find her?”
“Finding her will be the easy part,” Ashton said. “Gilgamesh has high resolution cameras that can point down and take photographs. We can easily spot a slave train moving southeast toward Nova Roma, and get a head count of what we would be up against.”
“Typically, the trains have anywhere from 25-50 slaves,” Julian said. “Sometimes more. There is usually about one guard for every two slaves, along with the slaves’ owner and anyone else who might be helping the owners. They take them to bidding blocks, set up in Central Square.” Julian sighed. “To me, any sort of rescue sounds impossible, as she will be under constant guard at all times.”
“And we still have our mission to accomplish,” Samuel said. “If we make a huge ruckus, then we will get off on the wrong foot with Augustus.”
“We can’t just leave Anna to die,” I said. “We’ve already gotten so far.” I turned to Julian. “How many people live in Nova Roma?”
“Thousands upon thousands,” he said. “It used to be an old city, but it grew from there. There are many foreigners living in Nova Roma, from the south, from the north...people will not notice you because of your foreign appearance. Although, the Imperial Garrison might ask questions. Getting in is the tricky part. Anyone who looks like a foreigner has to present papers they received at the Empire’s border/”
“Dropping in like we did at Itcala might not work as well,” Makara said. “Nova Roma has more people, and we are more likely to be spotted.”
“No foreigner can be in the Empire without authorization from the Foreign Ministry,” Julian said. “Anyone without transit papers is in defiance with Imperial Law.”
“What happens then?” I asked.
Julian shrugged. “Whatever happens to anyone who is in the Empire without reason. You have no rights. You can be killed, enslaved...anything.”
“With the war going on, papers might be hard to get for a Wastelander,” Ashton said. “I’m sure by this point, all trade has been cut off.”
“War?” Julian asked.
“That, too, is something we have to catch you up on,” Ashton said.
“We need more information,” Samuel said. “I don’t see how that’s going to happen up here. We can find the slave train and see what we’re up against. After, we have to find some way to infiltrate the city, never losing sight of Anna. If we watch closely, we might find an opportunity to rescue her.”
It wasn’t much of a plan, but at least it was something. Maybe an opportunity would present itself. But first, we had to find our way inside the city itself, and get to Central Square before Anna did.
“It would be a good idea to get what rest you can,” Ashton said. “It’s near three in the morning, and you all will have to get an early start tomorrow.”
Samuel turned to Julian. “I’ll show you to your bunk. Tomorrow morning I will catch you up on everything.”
***
We caught what little sleep we could. By the time we awoke, it was morning. After eating a small meal, we gathered once more on the bridge.
By midmorning, we were following the Slave Road at a slow hover above the clouds. We poked below now and again to get a glimpse of the road, trying to spy the caravan Anna was a part of.
The first few times we did this, we caught nothing. By the fourth time, however, the camera panned on exactly what we were looking for.
Julian was in awe of the equipment. Everything was different from what he was used to – the spaceship, the food, the way we treated him. He was remarkably resilient, and had taken to his new surroundings quickly. I wanted to learn more about him, but that would have to wait for another time.
“That is it,” Julian said.
The LCD showed the curving line of road, along with the small shapes of pack animals and rectangular cages. On the sides of the caravan, guards walked slowly.
In the distance, below the clouds, I caught my first sight of Nova Roma on the horizon. It was situated in a large valley, and thousands of buildings rose from crisscrossing urban streets. A large stone wall surrounded its entire perimeter, and small, wooden buildings spilled outside the walls themselves, as if they were leeching onto the city. Many large, stone buildings stood within the city itself. In the middle was a tall, circular arena: the Coleseo.
Green mountains hugged the city’s border to the north, and some low hills to the south and east. The main access point was from the west – the direction from which we were flying.
“We can’t attack that caravan,” Ashton said. “Not without killing Anna in the process.”
It was hard to believe that Anna was there, heading straight for the city. What would she think if she knew we were watching her right now, that we were going to save her? Or did she feel like we abandoned her? Just seeing the image on the screen gave me a reason to go on. It was something.
Ashton pointed to the north. “I can drop you off there, behind that mountain. The ship needs to remain hidden. If you hurry, you all can make it to Central Square before they do.”
“Head that way, then,” Samuel said.
Ashton changed the trajectory of the ship, carrying us above the clouds once more.
Chapter 14
We landed on an empty road behind the mountain. As soon as we exited the blast door, Gilgamesh lifted off. We received no radio, not wanting to risk our messages being intercepted. Instead, Ashton would keep an eye on this spot for when we were ready to be lifted out.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best we could come up with.
The morning was gray and misty, the wind cool up in the green mountains. We followed the dirt road as it curved through a pass, leading to the valley below where the city was situated. We passed a farmer, his donkey, and cart on our way down. He eyed us strangely, but said nothing as we passed.
Samuel began to jog as the road sloped even more downhill. As the sun rose higher, it burned through the mist. Before us was the city of Nova Roma, spreading throughout the entire valley. There were thousands of buildings, through which hundreds of stone streets crisscrossed. I could even see people walking in massive crowds in the distance, all of them tiny dots from my distance. The Coleseo stood clearly in the center of the city. Its three tiers of stone arches rose above the other buildings, forming a perfect circle. Unlike the rest of the big buildings in the town, this had been built from scratch. It was amazing that Augustus could have achieved such a feat.
“Almost there,” Samuel said. “Keep moving!”
We ran d
own the rest of the way down the mountain. We came across more people walking both toward and away from the city – people dressed in robes, and the poorer ones dressed in rags. At one point, a set of guards came up the road. We ducked out of the way and hid behind a boulder until they passed, not wanting to risk questioning.
When we got back on the road again, we left the highlands and entered a thick forest. After running another couple miles, we were there. Before us was an ivy-clad stone gatehouse that led into Nova Roma. The tall, wooden doors were wide open, and crowds of people passed both in and out of the city. Some of the people had to pause before a set of guards to answer questions.
“How are we supposed to get in there with those guards?” I asked.
Julian stepped up beside me. “I don’t see any way to avoid it. Your skin color and clothing alone will give you away. I’m the only one of us who could pass through.”
“Is there a way you can talk to the guard?”
Julian shook his head. “The fact you only speak English will tell them you are slaves. English is the slaves’ language.”
“So, we need to avoid confrontation,” Samuel said.
Julian nodded. “Exactly.”
We stood there for a moment, thinking of how we might get inside.
“Is there another gate we could go through?” I asked.
“There are five gates into the city,” Julian said. “All of them are watched. All we can do is hope to sneak by and not get noticed.”
“That doesn’t seem like a good idea,” I said.
“I don’t know of any other way,” Samuel said.
“Wait,” Makara said.
She pointed to a large group of people, walking toward the gate from a dirt path leading into the forest. They seemed to be together in some sort of a religious procession. They were dressed in dark, fine robes. In the center, a silver tray was carried, spilling out smoke from an urn. The smell of incense tingled my nostrils. The urn was wreathed in colorful flowers of red and yellow. There were about twenty in the procession. Many held their heads low, as if in mourning.
