Beneath the Sand, page 25
Cato tried to listen intently to the rest of his speech but was too busy soaking in the moment of his success being recognized. He refocused in when Cicero got to the pairings announcement. As was custom the pairings for the final battle went according to rank. Cato being the highest rank would face the lowest ranked gladiator, a fight that would be quick and easy for him. Each gladiator called in the pairing went up on stage with their opponent to ceremoniously cross swords. They held their position while the artist quickly sketched them for the school records. Then it was the parade to the arena led by Cato.
Walking through the streets of the city, he was elated as crowds gathered to see and cheer them on as they passed by. People shouted his name, a feeling he didn’t think he would ever quite get over. Nothing could bring him down. The parade wound through the streets ending at the gates to the colosseum. The crowd roared as the gladiators entered getting their first glimpse at each one’s costume. In a few days, merchandise would be sold for the final battle. Cato imagined children in the stands with eagle figurines and wooden wings on their backs cheering for him.
Cato led them into the middle of the arena, the sand feeling fresh and crisp under his feet. He was handed a lit torch which he accepted and carried up a small ramp at the end of the arena. He touched the torch to the end of a long piece of fabric that hung down from the flame at the top of a large pole. The fire burned up the string of fabric until it reached the basin. The flame started off small circling the basin and then began to roar into the sky. The crowd cheered.
Cato closed his eyes for a second wanting to remember this moment for the rest of his life. The master of ceremonies introduced all the competing gladiators for the crowd including all their stats. Some lucky members of the crowd were allowed to come down on the arena floor to meet the gladiators in person. They asked all kinds of questions and wanted autographs from the men. Cato had a line of fans waiting to meet him. As much as he should have played the part of a Velarius brute and been dismissive of the fans he just couldn’t bring himself to be mean. He had never had this much adoration in his entire life and it felt good, really good.
The ceremony ended shortly after and the men exited through the gladiator tunnel back to the school. The whole way back all the men were joking with each other about who had more fans and whooping on a high from all the excitement. Cato couldn’t believe his fortune. He sent up hundreds of prayers to the gods in thanks.
When he got back to the school, he noticed Magistri Cicero giving orders to some of the emperor’s guards. Probably briefing them on the itinerary for the final battle, he thought. He didn’t pay them much attention. In fact, when Magistri Cicero called him over he thought they were also fans who wanted to meet and congratulate him. Cato smiled as he approached the guards. It was the look in Magistri Cicero’s eyes that made Cato realize something was wrong.
Immediately the guards grabbed Cato knocking him to the ground and shackling his hands and feet. Cato tried to fight back but it was no use, he had been totally caught by surprise.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Cato yelled. “Don’t you know who I am? There must be some mistake! Magistri Cicero tell them who I am!” Cato’s pleas fell on deaf ears. No one answered him, instead they all remained silent as they hauled him to the hypogeum and locked him in a prison cell.
26
Noemi
One more week. That was it. That was all that stood between her reunion with Cato. It was all Noemi could think about. She fantasized about what they would do and where they would go together. She dreamt about their wedding and their children and anything the future might bring. She had seen the gladiator rankings posted, everyone had. She cheered out loud when she saw Cato’s name at the top of the list posted in the forum. She half thought about taking the list home so she could look at it all day long, but people would stare. Her heart filled with pride when she overheard random people in the forum saying that they were rooting for Cato and talking about him like he was Hercules.
She even found herself joining in on the rhetoric. “I heard he is the emperor’s favorite going into the final battle,” she said to the crowd then smiled to herself as she could hear the rumor spreading. She couldn’t help herself. Her spirits were high not just because she could see Cato again, but her father had woken up a week after the fire and was regaining strength every day.
When he was well enough, he was moved back to his house to continue his recovery. The doctor said he would always have issues with breathing because of the smoke, but he should regain full mobility and strength. Everyone was thrilled to hear the news. Of course, the question on everyone’s mind was what had happened that night. Unfortunately, there were not many answers. Her father said that the last thing he remembered was that he went to check the second floor and then felt a large blow to the back of his head.
So, someone had it out for him, but without him remembering anything it was hard to pin the blame on anyone. His team had managed to hold the daily animal spectacles together without the emperor noticing a shift in leadership. The fire had only damaged part of the second level and had already been cleaned and rebuilt. For the most part, people seemed to move on from it and did not want to dwell on how or why it happened.
Noemi wished it were different but to push the matter would only bring about scrutiny into her own life and threaten Jovian’s position. All she could do was keep in the back of her mind that Cato was right and there were some people in the government who had it out for her father and they needed to be careful. Noemi planned to tell her father all of this when he was back to work but until then he needed to rest, and she didn’t want to hinder his recovery.
While her father recovered, Noemi had thrown herself even more into organizing and coming up with ideas for new shows. That morning she was overseeing an idea she had gotten from the bath house. She had a pit dug in the center of the arena about the length of an elephant. On top of the pit a thick net was held taut by small wooden picks nailed into the ground. Her idea was that the venatores would make a spectacle of running the animals around the arena then lead them over the pit where they would get tangled in the net and fall in leaving the venator victorious. This way, she was still able to put on a good show with minimal harm to the animal as the spectators would envision the animal’s death when it was really landing safely in the pit to be later returned to the stables.
Noemi was at the main arena entrance watching her idea come to fruition when Felix came up behind her readying a cheetah for the next venatio. Noemi hadn’t thought of him since their meet up a few months ago. She had been so busy with her new responsibilities and her father’s recovery.
“Salve,” Felix said to her.
Noemi waved back noticing he looked gaunt and run down. She turned her attention back to the venatio hoping the net would fall perfectly.
“Salve,” Felix said again this time in more of a forceful tone.
Noemi waved again, annoyed he couldn’t take a hint that she was working.
Felix came up behind her mumbling something inaudible. He was really acting strange, but Noemi needed to focus.
“Felix, I really need to see this through. Can you not?” she said with a more aggressive tone than she had intended. That must have been just the opening he was waiting for because he proceeded to start a conversation.
“You know I love you, Noemi, and you hurt me in a way that was unforgivable,” Felix started in, pacing back and forth behind her.
Noemi was only half listening, this wasn’t really the place for a heart to heart.
“I even tried to forgive you for a time thinking I must have been mistaken or misunderstood what had happened. I went so far as to follow you for a while trying to see if you were as hurt as I was.”
This got Noemi’s attention.
Felix continued, never skipping a beat, “You didn’t seem sad or even lonely from what I could see. Your aura was light, and you had a spring in your step. I thought, how was this possible? My Nomee not even shedding a tear over the life we built together. And then it came to me, the only thing that would make you get over us would be someone else.”
The hairs on the back of Noemi’s neck stood straight up. He had her full attention, but she dared not turn around for fear her face would confirm everything he was saying.
He kept talking. “Now, here is where I give you a lot of credit.” His voice sounding confident and menacing. “I followed you for months and could spot nothing out of the ordinary save for a few more baths than usual. You would have fooled me too had it not been for how well I know you.”
Noemi’s fingernails were now digging into the wax tablet she held.
“It’s a shame it took your father’s, umm shall we say ‘accident’ for you to slip up. You see, I just happened to walk into the infirmary and saw you sitting with one of the other injured men. This intrigued me, as you can imagine, so I hid around the corner where I watched you the entire time. Even without seeing you kiss him, I knew. He was the someone else.”
Tears began to well up behind Noemi’s eyes.
Felix continued. “At first, I was a little relieved to be honest. My instincts had not failed me after all. Then the anger set in and boy did it ever. I plotted my revenge several times.”
Noemi noticed the sarcastic change in his tone.
“But as you know, Nomee, I am a reasonable fellow and a loyal citizen of this empire. So, when I saw what I perceived to be a clear infraction of the gladiator code, well, frankly, I just had to report it to the emperor,” at this he paused clearly waiting to see Noemi’s reaction.
Noemi whipped around and charged Felix, almost knocking him to the ground except he had been prepared for her wrath. “You did what?!” she screamed at him, her voice full of pure panic. Noemi now saw a sinister look on Felix’s face, a look she was unfamiliar with. Felix was not the person she had known for all those years.
He had changed and she could see it. It seemed she had given him the response he had been looking for. “I guess it doesn’t matter who your family is these days, the emperor will sentence anyone to death,” Felix teased.
“You’re lying!” Noemi accused him.
Chuckling, Felix responded, “No, that’s only something you do, Noemi. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself. He has been holed up in the prison since yesterday. Better get your goodbyes in, his execution is set for tomorrow. Oh, and cheer up, Nomee, I didn’t mention who his indiscretions were with. I am not that bitter.”
With that he left the tunnel not only getting in the last word, but clearly feeling satisfied with his revenge.
Noemi didn’t waste any time. She couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, but she had to know for sure. She ran as fast as she could to the other side of the hypogeum praying Cato wasn’t there. She could kill Felix she was so mad. “Please be a cruel joke, please be a cruel joke,” she said to herself as she ran.
The hallway to the prison was empty when she got there, no guards. That was a good sign, she thought. She started looking in the cells one by one for Cato. Her panic even started to subside a little when she didn’t see him.
The cells were mostly full of slaves and thieves awaiting their execution. There were only three more cells to check. Taking a deep breath, she checked the first one. Empty. And then her stomach sank. She didn’t even have to look in the next cell to know that Cato was in there. She could hear him humming their favorite tune from Saturnalia.
Noemi nearly dove through the cell bars. “Cato!” she screamed reaching for him through the bars. He was sitting with his back against the wall, dressed in rich-looking golden gladiator gear. A fancy helmet lay tossed to the side.
“Noemi?” Cato’s voice was soft like he hadn’t spoken in a long time as he came over to embrace her through the bars. “Are you insane? What are you doing down here? You must go. It’s just some sort of misunderstanding. I should be released soon,” he told her, hope still in his voice.
Noemi was shaking she was so upset and mad. “Cato,” she started, her voice nearly choking, “It isn’t a misunderstanding. They know.”
Cato looked up at her, eyes widening with understanding. “Impossible,” he said, “I have been nothing but careful. Cut all ties to my former slave life. The Velarius family would never risk exposing their son by coming out of hiding. No one knew but me.”
Noemi could see Cato’s mind spinning. Noemi squeezed his hands through the bars. “Cato. Stop.” There was pain and fear in her voice. “Not that, us. They know about us.” Noemi was sobbing now as she saw the look on Cato’s face change from annoyance and angst to fear. He knew what that meant. Death.
Noemi fought through her sobs to tell him what she knew. “It was Felix. He saw me with you in the infirmary. The kiss. He ratted you out to the emperor like the snake he is. Your execution is set for tomorrow. And now…” she stopped, not wanting to finish the sentence, “I could kick myself for letting my guard down. I’m so sorry, Cato. How could I have been so foolish?”
Cato interjected, “It is not safe for you here. You must leave the empire. They will find you and you will be next.”
Now Noemi was crying even harder. “No, Felix protected my identity. Seemingly, the only decent thing to come out of this.”
Cato wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb, holding her head in his hands. “Don’t blame yourself, my love. I would have done the same thing had I seen you lying there. We always knew this was a possibility, but I never thought it would actually happen,” Cato said tears welling up behind his eyes.
Noemi reached up on her tip toes to kiss him through the bars. He pulled her as close as he could kissing her back both knowing that this could be their last. She knew he was only putting on a brave face for her. She had to figure out a way out of this. There must be something she could do. They stood there in silence, embracing through the bars both trying to soak in the last day together. And then it came to her. It was an idea so crazy and the odds were that it probably wouldn’t work, but it was worth a shot. “Wait here,” Noemi said it like Cato had a choice. “I have an idea and it is your only hope so no arguing. I will be back.”
Noemi took off running back down the prisoner’s wing to the stables. She had a lot of work to do and fast. She had to hope that Felix was done following her now that he had his revenge, she didn’t have time to be careful anymore. She had seen thousands of executions working with her father to know how they went. High profile people and crimes would get the more lavish execution saved for last. Cato would normally fall into that category but with less than a day to set the scene on the arena floor, there was no way it could be extreme like when the emperor turned the arena into a jungle. Noemi knew that when the emperor made the request for the execution, her father’s men would talk the emperor into something they could manage on short notice that would seem extravagant and draw crowds but could be put together in a day. That would be a large beast execution. Releasing a few animals at a time to tire the executionee out letting him get a few small victories, then the grand finale of hundreds of animals released to finish him off. It would give the emperor the show he wanted. Noemi could control what animals were released and when.
With her knowledge of the animals and the arena, she might be able to get Cato through it and sneak him out somehow. She found a half full sack of grain for the animals and emptied its contents into a trough. She then went to the market to buy some supplies, filling the sack with food and a few tunics. Her heart sank as she saw posters already displayed advertising the “Execution of the Traitorous Cato Velarius, Top Gladiator Prospect” as well as city criers yelling throughout the streets to promote it.
There would be no way to sneak him out of the hypogeum, not with the entire city expecting to see him fight to his death. She would have to alter her plan just a little. The key to the prison cells was not hard to obtain, actually it was the exact same key as the ones used in the stables. There really was no need for separate keys because the citizens did not even know about the hypogeum in its entirety. All they knew was that the animals magically appeared and that gladiators must walk through the front gate with everyone else, so there was no real risk.
Noemi hid the sack in the wall in her hidden room then made her way back to Cato. Cato tried to play it off like he hadn’t been crying in his cell, but she knew better. Seeing him upset made her die a little inside especially because it was her fault they had gotten caught. Noemi stood on her tiptoes grabbing his face with both hands looking him straight in the eyes.
“Cato Velarius. You will not like what I am about to say to you, but you have no choice in the matter. I am the reason you are here, and I am going to do everything and anything to get us out of this.”
Cato actually cracked a smile probably because he had never seen her like this.
Noemi went on. “I’m serious. We don’t have much time. Okay, so the emperor and all of Rome now apparently expects to see you fight to your death in the morning. So that’s what we are going to give them. Sort of. I am going to take your place.” Noemi put her hand up warning him against refusing. “I will wear your helmet and armor and fight the animals I know so well. I think I can fake my death and fool the emperor into thinking you really were executed long enough for me to be carted off the arena floor without him even realizing.” Noemi waited for him to respond.
“No. It will never work. There is no way you will pass for me,” Cato argued.
“People see what they want to see. That much I have learned from working in the shadows all my life. As long as they see your helmet and armor, they would have no reason to suspect otherwise. Trust me, the only thing anyone is looking for is a good fight that ends in with an execution.”
