The Tyrant's Tomb

Oh, right, I reminded myself. I am still facing hundreds of hostiles.
But they didn’t look very hostile. Their expressions were stunned and
unsure.
I had destroyed Commodus with a shout. I had helped burn Caligula to
cinders. Despite my humble appearance, the troops had probably heard
rumors that I was once a god. Was it possible, they’d be wondering, that I
had somehow caused the fleet’s destruction?
In point of fact, I had no idea what had gone wrong with the fleet’s
weapons. I doubted it was Artemis. It just didn’t feel like something she
would do. As for Lavinia…I didn’t see how she could’ve pulled off a trick
like that with just some fauns, a few dryads, and some chewing gum.
I knew it wasn’t me.
But the army didn’t know that.
I cobbled together the last shreds of my courage. I channeled my old
sense of arrogance, from back in the days when I loved to take credit for
things I didn’t do (as long as they were good and impressive). I gave
Gregorix and his army a cruel, emperor-like smile.
“BOO!” I shouted.
The troops broke and ran. They scattered down the highway in a panic,
some leaping straight over the guardrails and into the void just to get away
from me faster. Only the poor tortured pegasi stayed put, since they had no
choice. They were still fastened in their harnesses, the chariot wheels staked
to the asphalt to keep the animals from bolting. In any case, I doubted they
would have wanted to follow their tormentors.
I fell to my knees. My gut wound throbbed. My charred back had gone
numb. My heart seemed to be pumping cold, liquid lead. I would be dead
soon. Or undead. It hardly mattered. The two emperors were gone. Their
fleet was destroyed. Frank was no more.
On the bay, the burning oil pools belched columns of smoke that turned
orange in the light of the blood moon. It was without a doubt the loveliest
trash fire I’d ever beheld.
After a moment of shocked silence, the Bay Area emergency services
seem to register the new problem. The East Bay had already been deemed a
disaster area. With the tunnel closure and the mysterious string of wildfires
and explosions in the hills, sirens had been wailing across the flatlands.
Emergency lights flickered everywhere on the jammed streets.