“After me.” He sprinted to his right, glancing up. Silvie now saw what had caused him to turn in the first place: a sign bearing a warrior dressed in fighting leathers, armed with a sword.

CLASH OF THE GLADIATORS

They’d lost the guard and whatever reinforcements had come to his aide, and they’d done so with surprising speed. But Silvie didn’t have time to dwell on this small accomplishment at the moment. They were like two rats on a king’s banquet table; expecting to dash around from dish to dish without being soundly smashed and fed to the dogs was the stuff of fancy.

Johnis ducked into a hallway marked by the CLASH OF THE GLADIATORS sign and slowed to a fast walk. Silvie glanced back down the aisles as they rounded the corner. Three guards raced into the aisle a hundred yards behind.

She leaped into the hall. “They’re still coming!”

The hall they had entered was bordered with several white doors marked by lighted signs that made no sense to her: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. The hall ended at a red wall with a large picture of a stately looking fellow wearing a crown on his head.

“Find an open door.” Johnis was already trying the handles.

“It’s a dead end, Johnis!” She stepped across the hall and tried two of the doors—both locked.

The guard’s boots pounded down the aisles.

“Johnis!” she whispered. “This is nothing! We have to get out of here!” Panic crowded her throat. They were trapped rats!

Johnis tried the other doors and found them all locked. Silvie grabbed his elbow. “We’re going to have to fight them.” She flipped a knife into her left palm. “If it doesn’t go well, I want you to know that I love you. I always have.”

The door behind them suddenly flew open, and a short, fat man with ruddy cheeks and cropped blond hair that had tinges of red in it held the door wide. He looked surprised to see them.

“Gladiators?”

Johnis hesitated only a moment, then shoved Silvie forward. “Finally!”

They hurried past the man into a dark hall that ran to a lighted door. “All participants use the west entrance, man,” the fellow said after them. “Second door on your right.” Then he dipped back out the door, leaving them alone.

From somewhere to their left a crowd roared. They looked to be in the innards of the building, behind the arena—this Clash of Gladiators. But for the moment they were safe.

“Did they see us?”

Silvie didn’t have to answer. Muffled cries reached them from beyond the door they’d just entered. “This way! This way!”

Johnis and Silvie ran down the hall, flew into the second doorway to their right, and slid to a stop in front of a long row of uniforms.