The Last Disciple Read Free Page B

against him. And you will lose your own power.”
    “We are here and it is too late to stop this,” Helius snapped. “Do you expect some sort of divine intervention to save those inside? to save you from the act of defiance you have just committed against Caesar?”
    Images of the final battle in Britannia flashed through the mind of Vitas. Of the power of the empire unleashed on the innocent. He spoke quietly. “The persecution must stop.”
    “That’s the real reason you’re here tonight, isn’t it?” Teeth gleamed in the moonlight as Helius smiled. “Your constant and tedious arguments to save the Christians. Perhaps you are one yourself?”
    “Hardly. You and I both know they are innocent of treason. The empire cannot survive if it does not serve justice equally to all.”
    Helius shrugged. “Give me power over principles any day. It’s a pity you won’t learn that lesson.”
    “Take Nero back to the palace. With any luck, he won’t remember this.”
    “It’s too late,” Helius said. “What’s begun must be finished.”
    “No.”
    “No?” Helius echoed. “I doubt you’ll stop me. You’ve become too soft, Vitas. Nero might not know it. But I do. The great warrior Vitas is a toothless lion. But what should one expect of one who married a barbarian?”
    His neck muscles tightened, but Vitas held himself back.
    “Tell me,” Helius said, still taunting Vitas. “Is it true? Was it your sword that —?”
    “Enough!”
    “Enough or you’ll kill me?” Helius said.
    Vitas froze.
    “See?” Helius said. “The great warrior Vitas would never have meekly accepted such an insult.”
    Helius turned his back on Vitas and hurried back into the hut.

    “No!”
    Helius had just taken the chain off the bars to the lion’s cage. The beast with the wings and head of a lion was pulling at the chain, reaching with bear claws to tear at the first of the four captives in shackles.
    Vitas had made his decision. Over the last six months, he had allowed too much to happen already; his conscience could be pushed no further. He stepped back into the hut. Ready to defy Nero, even if it cost him his life.
    “No!” Vitas repeated. He spoke to the beast. “This is enough.”
    Nero, addled by lust and anger and the results of whatever potions he had consumed, continued to hiss and snarl beneath the costume of the beast. “Kill him!” he hissed from inside the lion’s head. “Tear his heart out! Vitas must die. I tire of his defense of the Christians!”
    In that moment, Vitas knew he’d lost his gamble. Nero had stopped acting, spoken his name. No longer could Vitas pretend that he was unaware of who wore the costume. No longer was Vitas protected by his value as the only man of Nero’s inner court respected by the Senate.
    “Kill him!” Nero’s voice became higher and unnatural. It goaded the real beasts in the cages into a frenzy of roars, a rumble.
    “This must stop!” Vitas answered, resolute. If this was his final stand, he would not flee.
    “Kill him!”
    The noise of the beasts changed. Subtly at first. Then the low rumble became a distinct noise in itself, which slowly began to build and build.
    The ground beneath them shook.
    Helius swayed. Nero in his beast costume staggered. Vitas shifted his feet wider to keep his balance.
    The cages rattled and shook back and forth.
    As Vitas realized that the earth itself was quaking, lightning struck the thatched roof of the hut, and the rumbling was broken by a tremendous peal of thunder.
    The roof burst into flames and again lightning struck, deafening them with instant thunder that followed.
    Helius fell to his knees as the ground continued to shake.
    Vitas saw that the cage doors had sprung open. That the animals were lurching out, dazed by their sudden freedom.
    The huge lion advanced on Nero. He scrambled backward into the body of the first captive, then fell at that captive’s feet, moaning from inside his costume.
    Vitas pulled his short sword from