Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set Page 14

  “Would humans be given these ‘invisible’ jobs if they asked for them?”

  Isis flushed with anger. “Humans have free will here,” she said. “They can speak freely, whatever Bes’s humans may fear.”

  “Then show them their options, Isis. I know humans are discouraged from entering the towers, even if freedom of movement is part of your law. Let them see how the Opiri live.”

  She averted her eyes. “It is a...fair observation,” she said, her hands worrying the trailing ends of her golden sash. “I will bring it up with the Nine.”

  “Your suggestion will probably be unpopular with some of them. I don’t think Anu will be pleased.”

  “Then let him be displeased.” She started, as if her own words surprised her. “He must listen.”

  Daniel took a deep breath. “Have you learned anything about Ares?”

  “No,” she said, with real feeling. “I am sorry. Perhaps I have been too cautious.”

  “I asked you to be. I’m grateful for your help.”

  She only looked away, and Daniel left before he could feel tempted to comfort her.

  * * *

  Isis looked over the rows of seats from her position above the crowd, searching for Daniel. It was no simple thing to pick out one human from among the hundreds gathered for the Games, but something drew her eyes to him almost at once, as if a thread of emotion connected them across the distance.

  His face turned toward her, and she felt his eyes on her. He didn’t raise his hand to acknowledge her, but he didn’t need to.

  She thought of that last, painful exchange about the Opiri of Tanis. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, though they had met twice in the past week and he had said nothing more about it.

  There was truth in what he had said. She knew it, though she realized now that she had never permitted herself to dwell on this issue. Her own innate prejudices shamed her.

  Now that the crowds had gathered and the Nine, along with their closest attendants, were ensconced in their canopied seats high above the arena, Isis felt the vast chasm between her peers and their human charges. She was intensely aware of the ordinary Opiri assembled on the slightly lower, covered platforms to either side. They had set themselves above the humans as if they were masters, not equals.

  She studied the arena, where the various teams were assembled in athletic clothes bearing the emblems of their sponsors. They stood in columns, each team separated by several yards from the next: Hera’s team, wearing the peacock; Hephaestus’s, the flame; Bes’s, the sheaf of wheat; Ishtar’s star; and Athena’s owl. They stared up at the Nine’s box with a kind of fixed fascination that sent a chill up Isis’s spine. It was as if they were, indeed, supplicants standing before their gods.

  Her gaze drifted back to the human audience. Most faces were alert with anticipation, but for the first time she noted a few that held darker expressions. Why, she thought, would they attend the Games if they didn’t enjoy them?

  She wondered if news of the conflict at the construction site had reached Anu. He had certainly not brought it up with the others. Neither had Hera or Hephaestus.

  She glanced at Anu. Hannibal had the privilege of sitting close to him, and they were speaking to each other in an undertone. Isis had tried to learn if he had told Anu the truth about Daniel’s origins, but she’d seen no indication that Anu was overly concerned about Daniel.

  And Anu had said that if Daniel had not attempted to escape by the time of the Games, he would admit that his suspicions were unfounded.

  “You look pensive,” Athena said, taking a seat beside her. “Are you well?”

  “Yes,” Isis said with a faint smile. “Your team seems very competent.”

  “I have been seeing more of my people of late,” Athena said, a note of pride in her voice. “They are eager to make a good showing.”

  “What do they say of the other teams?”

  Athena looked surprised at the question. “Nothing,” she said. “What would they have said?” She chuckled. “I remember the first Olympic Games in Greece. They always generated much excitement.”

  So, Isis thought, either Athena hadn’t heard of the fighting at the construction site, or she thought nothing of it. Perhaps she wouldn’t understand Isis’s new concerns about the Games.

  “Isis,” Anu said behind her. She turned as he loomed over her, smiling, and invited her to sit beside him. Hannibal was gone.

  “A pity you have no team in the Games,” Anu said as he sat and adjusted his heavily embroidered robes around him.

  “I find I have nothing to prove,” Isis said without thinking.

  Anu looked at her sharply. “Would you care to explain that remark, Isis?” he asked.

  CHAPTER 14

  Isis was spared the need to answer by Daniel’s arrival. He stood just to the side of her, his expression neutral.

  “I invited our prospective citizen to join us here,” Anu said, gesturing at Daniel. “I thought you might enjoy his company since I know you have seen little of him for the past several weeks.”

  Of course he would know, Isis thought. He had wanted her to keep Daniel close until the Games, and she’d failed to carry out his instructions. He was reminding her of her failure.

  “He has been working with the construction crews,” Isis said. “And performing admirably, according to his supervisor’s report.”

  “I am glad to see that he is settling in so well,” Anu said. He gestured for Daniel to take the empty seat next to Isis and abruptly withdrew. Athena took Anu’s chair, her small coterie of familiar Opiri behind her.

  “Welcome, Daniel,” Athena said. “You remember my companions, Ianthe and Homer.”

  “Of course,” Daniel said, nodding to the two Opiri.

  “This is your first time at the Games, is it not?” Ianthe asked.

  “Yes,” Daniel said. “I understand that few Opiri attend.”

  Ianthe blinked. “That is true,” she said, “but some of us enjoy sharing our fellow citizens’ enthusiasm.”

  “And it is always a pleasure to observe the skills of others,” Homer said.

  A noisy group of Opiri arrived on the platform just below the box, and Isis heard them laying bets on the teams with intense concentration. They joked about various humans and spoke of the contestants’ rumored strengths and weaknesses as if they were arguing over horses in a race.

  “They seem to be very enthusiastic,” Daniel said, cocking his head toward the bettors.

  Athena shook her head. Ianthe sighed. “They make fools of themselves,” she said.

  “What they do is wrong,” Homer said. “The Games were not established for their private amusement.”

  Isis glanced at Daniel to see if the Opir’s assertion had registered with him. But he was still staring at the other Opiri with an icy expression that seemed to dismiss the goodwill of Athena’s companions. Isis could almost feel his anger. Justified anger, an emotion she shared.

  Anu returned, and Athena quickly vacated his seat. Her Opiri moved well away from him. Isis determined to take the betting up with Anu after the Games.

  But she had no chance to talk to Daniel again, for the sound of trumpets and drums announced the beginning of the Games. The teams marched around the arena bearing their sponsors’ banners, and the audience cried out approval in a roar that, for the first time, seemed to Isis like beasts aroused by the scent of blood.

  “The races are first,” she said, resisting the urge to reach for his hand. As the field cleared, officials took their various positions beside the track that ran around the inner wall of the arena. The Opir bettors fell silent. Anu rose again and descended to the front of the box.

  “Let the Games begin,” he said, and a group of five contestants, one for each human ward, approached the sta
rting line. The first race was a one-hundred-meter sprint; when the drum sounded, the contestants set off at breakneck speeds.

  Hephaestus’s team won, and Isis was immediately aware of shouts of disapproval and resentment mingled with the happy cries of victory. The negative reactions seemed far more volatile than she’d observed at previous Games. Athena, too, seemed to notice the differences and frowned as she leaned toward one of her favorites. None of the other Nine reacted except Hephaestus himself, who limped down the stairs to the lower box to bequeath the award to the winner. The victorious human looked up at his sponsor with shining eyes, and Isis almost expected him to fall to his knees in reverence.

  A warm hand gripped Isis’s under the concealment of her chair. Daniel laced his fingers through hers when the next event began...and ended with the same show of mingled approval and derision from the audience when Hera’s human claimed victory. This time, even Anu seemed to take notice of the clamor.

  Before the third event could begin, there was a ripple of movement in the crowd closest to the starting line. The ripple grew into an obvious disturbance, and humans spilled out into the arena, some flooding the track, others jostling each other with deliberate hostility. Isis heard the names of Hera, Bes, Athena, Hephaestus and Ishtar shouted in hoarse voices, and saw several banners ripped apart. Lawkeepers began to converge on the scene.

  Without warning, Daniel was up and out of his seat, descending from the box and vaulting over the wall into the arena. He ran toward the disturbance as if he intended to stop it himself. Isis rose to follow him, but Anu held her back with a hand on her shoulder.

  “I shall be most curious to see what he does,” Anu said, a hard note in his voice.

  Shaking him off, Isis ran after Daniel. She reached the arena floor after he had already disappeared into the crowd, and she felt the heat and anger of the closely packed humans from some distance away. She calmed herself as she approached the mob, gathering her dignity, highly aware of her own power to influence the mood of the angry humans.

  Something she truly didn’t wish to do.

  The humans who noticed her quickly stepped out of her way, their eyes glazed with confusion. Daniel was at the center of the crowd, speaking firmly to the humans closest to him. “You gain nothing by this,” he was saying, commanding attention with firm authority. “If you want to prove some Opiri’s belief that we’re little better than animals, this is the way to do it.”

  Resentful murmurs followed his words, but when Isis showed herself the protesters grew quiet. Some actually bowed their heads, filling Isis with a sense of shame.

  “Please listen to Daniel,” she said, moving up beside him. “There is no reason for such anger. The Games are not yet over.”

  “The Games are rigged,” said a man sporting Athena’s owl. “We should have won the race.”

  “Your man was too slow,” one of Hera’s followers said loudly.

  Arguments started up again, but Daniel raised his voice above the noise. “Calm yourselves,” he said. “If you have issues with the Games, there are better ways to present them.”

  “And who will listen to us?” a big, burly man asked.

  Daniel looked at the man with recognition in his eyes, and Isis wondered if they’d met on the construction site. She spoke up.

  “You will be heard,” she said. “I promise this. If you have complaints, come to me, and I will see that they are brought before the Council.”

  “Nobody has listened before,” the big man said. “The Council has no power or will to help us.”

  “Be patient, and I will act on this information.”

  Slowly the crowd began to settle, and the arguments and anger subsided. Daniel took Isis’s arm and smiled with warmth and approval, his grimness melting away. Isis smiled back at him, unable to contain her happiness at his approval. She had tried not to use her influence, and he knew it.

  People began to scatter, not without a few final mutters, and gradually found their seats. Lawkeepers approached with shock sticks at the ready. Isis wondered if Anu had told them to use the weapons on the crowd.

  “There is no need for your intervention,” she told the half-bloods. They exchanged glances and retreated as Isis and Daniel started back for the box.

  “Very impressive,” Anu said as they reached their seats. “I commend you, Daniel, for calming your people so effectively. And, Isis...” He smiled, showing his teeth. “The humans seemed inclined to listen to you. But then again, they always have.” His smile faded. “What was the cause of this disturbance?”

  “Concerns that I will present when the Nine next meet,” Isis said.

  “Some of them thought the Games were rigged,” Daniel said, staring at Anu in a way that made Isis very uneasy.

  Anu laughed. “I see that you have not lost your candor,” he said. “Whatever the cause, we must question the troublemakers in order to discourage such incidents from occurring again.”

  “You’ll arrest more than a hundred people?” Daniel asked, his jaw clenching.

  “If their concerns are heard, this will not happen again,” Isis said.

  “You are truly their champion,” Anu said, mockery in his voice. “Perhaps I will put this affair into your hands, if you allow your champion to compete on your behalf.”

  Isis knew immediately what he meant, and so did Daniel. “Another challenge to be decided by the gods?” he asked. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Simply a race,” Anu said. “Surely you are capable of that.”

  Daniel glanced at Isis with a reassuring nod. “You’ll let Isis deal with this incident if I win one of your competitions?”

  “A child’s dare,” Isis said, not bothering to hide her derision from Anu. “You would not make this offer unless you expected Daniel to lose.”

  “But he defeated Opiri in hand-to-hand combat,” Anu said. “He may have a great advantage over the average human contestant. We will impose an appropriate handicap.”

  “What handicap?” Daniel asked.

  “The next event is the four-hundred-meter race. You will leave the starting line after the other contestants have reached the halfway point.”

  “This is not amusing, Anu,” Isis said coldly.

  “I’ll do it,” Daniel said, “as long as there are no penalties against Isis if I lose.”

  “Penalties?” Anu said with a raised brow. “The only issue at stake is whether or not Isis takes charge of the human troublemakers.”

  He stared at Daniel so intently that Isis immediately knew that he was attempting to use his influence again, though for what purpose Isis couldn’t guess. Isis pushed her way between Anu and Daniel, knocking Anu aside.

  For a moment, Anu was the startled one. He blinked, clearly astonished that Isis would dare to interfere, let alone challenge him so openly.

  “The contestants are waiting,” Isis said, keeping her eyes on Anu.

  His expression taut with anger, Anu signaled to one of his Opir attendants, who left the box. “By the time you reach the starting line, it will be arranged,” he said to Daniel. He turned his back on Isis and resumed his seat.

  “I do not trust this bargain,” Isis whispered, moving closer to Daniel. “Anu had no reason to make it.”

  “He wants to humiliate you,” Daniel said. “I was right. He sees you as a rival, even if you don’t know the reason.”

  Isis closed her ears to his warning. She longed to touch Daniel, but kept her hands at her sides. “Can you win?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. But if I can rub his face in it, I will.”

  * * *

  The other contestants were watching as Daniel joined them at the starting line. It was obvious to Daniel that they resented his sudden appearance, though it was also clear they had been informed that they had no choice in the matter.
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  The men and women were to run barefoot, and so Daniel removed his soft boots. He looked up in the box for Isis, and caught a flash of her white gown and gold sash.

  “The Lady Isis sends this cup to you,” a young human attendant said, offering Daniel a crystal goblet of water. Daniel stared at it for a moment, wondering what message Isis meant to send, and then drank the water. He took his place at the starting line and waited, listening to the deep breathing of the contestants.

  The sharp rap of a drum sent the runners sprinting off along the track. Daniel watched them reach the two-hundred-meter mark and heard the young attendant give him the signal. He burst into a run, focusing only on the track ahead.

  The shouts of the human audience formed a background drone as he caught up with the trailing runner and surged past him. One by one he shot by the contestants, and reached the finish line ahead of the others by a good fifty meters.

  He stopped to catch his breath, the blood throbbing behind his ears. Dizziness overcame him, and he nearly lost his balance. His stomach roiled with sickness. He was barely aware when a dozen humans crowded around him, their voices so much meaningless noise.

  “Daniel?”

  That voice was familiar, and Daniel tried to listen. She asked if he was ill, and instructed others to take him off the field. He stumbled, his legs giving out from under him, but somehow his helpers kept him on his feet until they were clear of the seething crowd and in a clear space where the voices faded to a hum. They eased him down onto a hard surface while the blood continued to pound in his veins.

  “I will take him now,” Isis said, and the others disappeared.

  “You are ill,” Isis said, her cool hand on his forehead. “What has happened?”

  “The water,” he said, the word hoarse and grating.

  “Water?” she echoed.

  “Wasn’t from you.” He coughed uncontrollably. “Poison.”

  “Then there is no time to get you to the hospital,” she said.

  Daniel hardly moved when her teeth pierced his skin. Almost at once Isis drew back and spat out the blood, her breath catching hard.