Disclaimers: as ever. Thanks for the reviews!

As some of you know, I've been having a crisis of conscience about this story! The next one is going to be all sweetness and light and lots of nice things will happen to Nigel. Honestly. I'm basically a good person...please, please believe me!!!!

Then again, you've come with me this far...

So, on with the show!

…………………………

Demetrius and Agroitus were not terribly pleased to see their 'warrior princess' sailing from the arena on a wave of adulation. Both rose urgently from their seats, demanding action from any guards and soldiers they could find. None could stay the flow of the crowd.

Neither had noticed Nigel escape, and they were at a loss as to know what Sydney would do next. Demetrius suspected that she had found herself a new man anyway, thinking that she'd looked awfully attached to the 'grunting goon,' and he to her.

Agroitus, however, had an inkling where Sydney might be heading: to find his precious relic.

'You make sure she doesn't leave the arena,' he barked. 'I'll…I'll make sure she doesn't come back and look for the husband.'

Demetrius narrowed his eyes suspiciously, wondering if Agroitus was going to go poking around the tiger's cage again, checking on his 'treasure'. 'I think I should come with you,' he suggested, trying to sound well-meaning. 'Your men can make sure she doesn't leave. I can't have the consul of Nevium attacked by that madwoman, or eaten by the beasts, now, can I?

Agroitus frowned, but conceded his companion had a point. The 'warrior princess' had already bettered him once, and apprehending her would never be easy. Demetrius was a formidable warrior – good to have on his side - and if he found out about the Eye, so be it. The gladiator-owner knew nothing of its power, and Agroitus hoped money would buy obedience in this case, even if it hasn't brought him back his beautiful wildcat.

'So be it.' He affirmed. 'Follow me.'

…………………………………….

Nigel repeated the clue that Anita had given him to Bluthus:

'The entrance is behind the lion's cage, you must mind where the water sloshes, and you mustn't touch the cat.'

'It's hardly a cryptic clue when you get here, is it?' remarked Bluthus, surveying the two stone heads on the wall below the drainage pipe. 'And I hardly need any warning about not touching those cats…'

They could both see the dimly glowing eyes of the poor lions and tigers, and hear them growling ravenously in the gloom.

With no further instructions forthcoming from Nigel, Bluthus reached up and patted the nose of the stone head that wasn't a cat, which could now clearly be seen to be a wolf.

At first, nothing happened, but when Bluthus pressed the wolf's nose again, this time, harder, they heard a grinding of stone. A narrow entrance opened up in the wall beside where Nigel was leaning, causing him to shuffle sideways in haste.

Bluthus, hurrying through, saw the relic instantly: an uneven shaped crystal that glowed bright green, placed in a niche in the wall opposite. Flaming torches were lit on the near wall.

'Uh-oh,' thought Nigel as he peeped through door and observed the lights. 'Someone has been here recently.' Then he shouted, urgently: 'Professor! Stop!'

Nigel had spied various suspect looking holes in the side-walls – from which missiles could fly - and button-like raised stones in the floor. Bluthus had been about to blunder straight across, no doubt at the cost of his life.

'What is it, Nigel?'

'Just don't go any further, Professor. I've been in places like this with Sydney hundreds of times. I think there are traps.'

'Hmmmmm,' rumbled Bluthus. 'That awful, violent woman!'

Nigel glared at his old Professor as he dragged himself through the doorway, but had no time to argue. The walls and floor were covered with symbols, that he instantly recognised as Egyptian hieroglyphs. There was some evidently sort of code to crack before they could get across.

'I expect the symbols on the wall will show us the safe route,' said Nigel grumpily. 'We need to decipher then.'

Bluthus had already applied his skills to this task.

'The symbols on the floor represent animals: There are several wolves, rats, cows and snakes,' he said. Nigel nodded. He could work that out for himself.

He beat Bluthus to the translation on the wall: 'Follow the prey of the sacred cat.'

'Simple,' said Bluthus, self-confident as ever. 'We follow the rats.'

Nigel wasn't so sure. 'Everyone knows that cats catch rats…its too simple. This is obviously an attempted Roman version of an Egyptian code…' Nigel paused for thought. Applying his brain to this kind of task was the most fun he'd had in some time.

His face lit up: 'I think I've got it! Roman chroniclers claimed that the Egyptians started to worship cats because they protected their families from snakes. That's what first made the cat sacred in Egyptian culture. We should follow the snakes!'

Bluthus looked sceptical. 'That can't be true. I've never heard about it.'

'New research published last month, Professor,' said Nigel smugly. 'You've been out of the loop for a while.'

'Hhhmmmm', rumbled Bluthus. 'If you're so confident in your theory, you'd better go and get it!'

'In case you hadn't noticed,' offered Nigel, his words dripping with a sarcastic false jollity, ' I can barely walk!'

'Hop then! I'm not doing it.'

Nigel believed him. He had irritated Bluthus with his superior knowledge, and was increasingly learning that his old mentor would not go much out of his way to do people favours.

Bluthus stooped as far as to help Nigel to his feet, and was nearly moved to offer to do it himself when his ex-student gave a small gasp of pain. After a moment, however, Nigel seemed steady enough, and Bluthus decided to let him get on with it.

Fortunately, the three snake symbols were on slabs close to the wall. Nigel was able to support himself against it as he, literally, hopped between them. Leaning most of his weight on his arm and better foot, he still wobbled dangerously a couple of times. Reaching the other side, he gratefully dropped to his hands and knees, and took a sharp, ragged intake of breath. The short journey hadn't been an easy one.

'Good lad!' said Bluthus excitedly, overlooking Nigel's obvious suffering. 'Now, don't dawdle. Get the thing!'

Nigel shuffled forward, the effort now straining his every sinew, until he was kneeling below the niche in the wall.

'Chop, chop!' said Bluthus. 'We need to hide it so that dreadful Veronica never gets her hands on it.'

'Is that really the best thing, Professor?' asked Nigel, gravely. 'I want to go home. And if Sydney can take on a whole arena of gladiators, what makes you think she can't get the magic necklace off Veronica, and take us all back to the 21st-century, relic and all.'

'Don't be so selfish, Nigel. That's that mad Fox woman, influencing you again. You can't risk it!'

Nigel ignored him, reached up and took Hatshepsut's Eye down from the niche. Its weight was such that he nearly dropped it, and he rested it in his lap, staring into it.

'So it really tells whoever looks into it what they should do for the best?'

'Legend has it that you have to ask it, Nigel. You can ask for yourself – that's what most people do of course – or for somebody you love. But don't use it Nigel…it's too risky. Bring it back over here and I'll do that.'

Nigel only heard to the words he wanted to. If Sydney was still fighting for her life in the ring, he needed to see the way to help her.

Bluthus tutted as Nigel stared into the depths of the radiant crystal and asked, in a whisper, for what he wanted. Bluthus saw nothing, but for Nigel there was an almighty flash, and he knew what he must do.

'It's obvious, really,' sighed Nigel, and he gazed back down at the relic as if slightly disappointed with it. 'At least it shouldn't be too difficult…'

'What did it tell you! What did it tell you!' Bluthus was veritably bouncing up and down in anticipation. However, as Nigel looked up towards him, he froze with dread.

Demetrius and Agroitus were standing behind Bluthus in the doorway, both looking somewhat surprised to find the 'warrior princess's' presumed-dead husband, rather than the star herself.

'By the Gods!' exclaimed Demetrius, spying the glowing crystal in Nigel's hands. 'Is that your treasure?'

'It's nothing special,' said Agroitus dismissively, concealing his extreme agitation. 'But I wouldn't mind if you relieved your slave of it…oh, and please only tread on the snake symbols.' He indicated which ones they were. 'Otherwise you might die horribly.'

'Get up, boy!' ordered Demetrius, as he began to pick his way across. 'Believe me, you're going to pay for this.'

Nigel had little doubt that he would, especially once he'd done what he was about to do. But first he needed a bit of height. With a tired sigh, and using the niche as a handhold, he pulled himself to his feet. Nigel then flung Hatshepsut's Eye to the stone floor, projecting it with some force. The delicate crystal shattered into smithereens.

'Nigel!' Bluthus cried out in disbelief and Agroitus howled with anger. As Demetrius approached him, Nigel instinctively backed away, accidentally stepping with some force on his injured ankle.

A bolt of pain shot up his leg, and his senses could take no more. Nigel crumpled to the floor in a dead faint, right at Demetrius' feet.

…………………….

'Feed him to the lions! Feed him to the lions!'

Agroitus raved like a madman. He could hardly believe that his key to fame and fortune had been taken from him by a being he regarded as a worthless slave. How did he get in here? Why could he read the hieroglyphs? Who on earth was he? He had to die!

'Feed him to the lions!' Agroitus reiterated, as Demetrius regarded him with interest. Just how much had that jewel had been worth?

'I'm not just shoving him in the cage to be eaten,' replied Demetrius, after some consideration. 'He cost me money. If he dies, he does so in the ring for the entertainment of my crowd. And, unless she's already eloped with the grunting goon, I think that might just bring our 'warrior princess' back.'

As Agroitus and Demetrius bickered about what to do, Nigel, now drifting in and out of consciousness, spluttered weakly and rolled onto his side. A drop of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, filling Bluthus, who stood cowering in the doorway with a new kind of horror.

Formerly, he had just about justified his former undergraduates untimely end to himself. However, he hadn't expected to have to watch him suffer. He sincerely wished that Nigel, bruised and battered as he was, did not still look so youthful. He cursed his pang of conscience, both for now and for when it had urged him to help Nigel in the marketplace. His star pupil had brought nothing but trouble.

Bluthus protested meekly as Demetrius, placing both his hands under Nigel's shoulders, hauled him upright and gave him a violent shake. When Nigel made no effort to take his own weight on his feet, Demetrius slung him over his shoulder and headed over the snakes towards the door.

Bluthus, moved at last to action, floundered after him, imploring him to reconsider.

'You can't feed him to the lions and tigers,' he pleaded. 'There's not enough flesh on him for them all to eat.' To illustrate his point, he grabbed one of Nigel's slender arms, which dangled limply down Demetrius' back and waved it at Agroitus.

'Good point,' said Agroitus. 'It'll take much more than that to feed five hungry beasts. And I've just an idea who would fill them up nicely.'

Bluthus gulped in horror as it dawned on him what he'd let himself in for.

………………………………………………………..

Sydney and Derek, like many before and since them in a round amphitheatre, had dashed the wrong way around the walkway. By the time they reached the right side of the lion's and tigers cage there was nobody there. All they found was an open door into a once secret room, and a shattered relic lying on the floor.

Sydney instantly realised what it was that lay broken, and cautioned Derek as he stepped into the room. 'Careful. There are traps, and they could be still set.' She pointed to the shards. 'Sadly, that's our easiest ticket home smashed to pieces.'

Derek looked at the pieces of crystal in dismay, but they both had more pressing issues on their minds. 'Do you think that Nigel ever got here?'

A thought crossed Sydney's mind: 'I'd better check he's not still hiding in the conduit.' She stepped out of the room, called his name and peeped up the drainage pipe. ' No,' she confirmed. 'He's not here.' Sydney jumped as she heard a tiger snarling in its dark cage beside her, and headed back into the room with Derek.

'I've got a hunch Nigel might just have had something to do with this little mess,' she admitted.

'You think he broke the relic? Deliberately?'

'I don't know,' said Syd, pensively. She was about to conjecture further when Derek clamped a powerful hand over her mouth.

One the verge of throwing him off - she never could trust Derek Lloyd – Syd realised why he had acted so. Two guards had rounded the walkway, and were heading in their direction. Derek released his grip over her mouth and his hand lightly brushed back across her cheek. They backed as far into the room as they dared without setting off traps and listened.

'So why are we letting the lion's and tiger's out?' said a guard. ' I thought the show was over!'

'Nah… Demetrius is already selling tickets for a second sitting. Says the 'warrior princess' herself will be back for an encore.'

'I thought she headed for the hills!'

'Demetrius is sure he's got something she'll come back for. The punters are flocking back in.'

Sydney extracted herself from Derek, who had still been holding her protectively near, and peeped around the corner. One of the guards was pressing the nose of the cat's head on the wall. There was a metallic clang, and the creaking hinges of a cage opening.

'What did they say?' hissed Derek urgently, as the guards started to retreat.

Sydney turned to him, her face flushed and her eyes vibrant with fear. 'They said that we need to get back into the ring. Right now!'

………………………

Demetrius ordered his henchmen to escort fat, old Bluthus to a conveniently placed stake in the middle of the arena. He then unceremoniously dumped Nigel on the ground on the other side of the post, forced him into a sitting position, and chained his hands up to Bluthus's.

'Isn't this rather, err, overkill?' blethered Bluthus at the sight of the chains. 'I mean, the poor lad is barely even conscious, and I'm not running away. I promise!'

Bluthus would certainlyhave escaped if given the chance. Although he would have felt a little guilty, he would have happily done so without Nigel. However, his hopes were fading fast, and the chains were the final straw.

As Demetrius laughed and retreated from the arena, Bluthus sat himself down, and jerked on the chains that now bound him to the post and his star pupil.

'Pssst! Nigel. Wake up! It isn't fair that you should be dozing while I have to be wide awake as we're eaten alive.' Nigel did not respond. He was so drowsy that his forehead was now drooping towards his knees.

Bluthus yanked again on the chains. This time the force pulled Nigel's whole upper body backwards so that his head bumped, fortunately not too hard, against the pillar. 'Come on, Bailey! Show some backbone!'

Nigel gave a small whimper, and his eyes flickered open. 'Where am I?' he mumbled.

'About bloody time!' Bluthus sighed with relative relief.

As Nigel registered his surroundings, and the note of panic in Bluthus' voice, he ventured a tentative question. 'Um, Professor, what's going on?'

'We're about to be eaten by lions and tigers, my lad!' Bluthus confirmed Nigel's worst fears with a jovial hysteria.

'Then why did you have to wake me up?'

Nigel's plea would have sounded touchingly pitiful to anyone else's ears, but Bluthus told him to 'stop whining.'

'Great,' said Nigel, his exasperation boiling over and giving him renewed resources of energy. 'This is just delightful, isn't it? What do you want me to do? Talk about post-structural Marxist theory?'

'It might be interesting…' conjectured Bluthus.

Nigel rested his head back against the pillar. 'You know, Bluthus? I feel like hell. I've barely eaten for two-days. I've been sold as a slave, been told my best friend was probably dead, been beaten up several times and been bludgeoned by a gladiator. Oh, and I believe I've also found time to fall off a horse. Now, it seems, I'm going to be eaten alive.'

Nigel stopped for breath, as Bluthus rumbled 'hhhmmmm,' then he continued:

'But none of it - none of it - holds a candle in its awfulness to the prospect of listening to fat-face Bluthus deconstructing post-structural Marxist theory as I get my leg chewed off.' He took another deep breath, and then concluded: 'Bluthus, I hate to say it, but you're one of the most obnoxious people I've ever met. You're even worse than my brother! '

Nigel felt strangely liberated. Being about to die was very good for destroying uncalled for deference. Bluthus was not so impressed:

'That's that terrible Fox woman speaking again. You'd better purge yourself of such treacherous thoughts before you die, my lad. And your brother is a fine gentleman. He should have taken you in hand more, I can see that now!'

'That's another thing,' added Nigel. His energy reserves were dwindling, but he was not finished yet. 'Not only are you not such a nice person as Sydney, you'll never be half the historian she is, either! Now will you please shut up? I have a beast of a headache!'

Bluthus' reply was halted when, on the edge of the arena, a large iron cage door creaked ominously open. Glimmering green eyes could be seen inside, still lurking in the dark.

Nigel closed his eyes. He'd given up hope before, and Sydney had always come for him. And if there wasn't Sydney, there was Derek. They were both close at hand. They'd come, wouldn't they? Or would this be the time when they were just too late?

Nigel resolved that his best hope was to use his last ounce of breath screaming for help.

………………………………………….

Sydney and Derek elbowed and shoved their way through the returning crowd. They even managed to ambush a few guards in order to acquire an impressive arsenal of weapons.

When they both charged back into the ring, a momentous cheer went up. The whole amphitheatre was nearly full again. They'd paid for more action, something that currently was not being provided by two terrified prisoners, tied to a stake.

The lions and tigers, although upset by the uproarious noise, had now mooched out of their cage, compelled by the sheer necessity of searching for food. One of the bolder females had already sniffed out that Bluthus and Nigel would make a nutritious meal, and was padding over in their direction, a ravenous glint in her eye.

Nigel had stopped screaming, and now sat very quiet and still, pale as a ghost. Bluthus, however, was still bellowing his lungs out, particularly as the tigress was heading straight for him.

Sydney gave a shriek at the sight, which concerned Derek. Could Sydney Fox be loosing her cool?

'You get Nigel,' he commanded. 'I'll look after the cats.'

As Derek finished his words, Sydney was already sprinting to the aid of her teaching assistant.

Bluthus, seeing her approach, shouted: 'Rescue me first! I taste better!' Sydney ignored him completely.

She flung her arms around Nigel's neck. As she kissed him, she knew instantly something was wrong - really wrong. His lips were dry but the rest of his skin was unusually cold and clammy. His breathing was shallow and strangely harsh. While vaguely conscious, her usually highly cognisant assistant barely acknowledged her, although his head nodded forward onto her shoulder.

'Nigel?' she whispered, even as she thought: 'Damn you, Derek Lloyd. You lied again. He's far from alright.'

Her relief was tangible when Nigel, fighting off the wave of faintness, mumbled: 'Syd, I knew you'd come.'

'I'll always come for you, my darling…just hold on in there, okay?' Once again, the words sounded unfamiliar, quite unlike her own, but they somehow comforted her. She hoped they comforted Nigel.

Syd tenderly settled him back against the post and brushed his hair from where it clung to his forehead. Tearing all she could of her strength from the whirlpool of love, fear and guilt that threatened to consume her, she turned her attention to hacking away at the chains.

Nigel forced a wavering smile and closed his eyes again.

…………………….

From the box, Demetrius and Agroitus surveyed the scene with mixed feelings.

It wasn't a bad show. The 'warrior princess' was having real problems with the thick chains. One of the lions had approached from the other side and was sniffing the old man's juicy-looking leg. There could be some fun coming up there, he mused. The 'grunting goon' was holding the rest of the animals at bay by swishing his sword, although he displayed no intention of hurting them unless it was absolutely necessary.

'Send some more of your men in,' suggested Agroitus. 'This is just too easy.'

Demetrius shouted orders to one of his top lieutenants, who relayed the message to his men. He returned, however, with a sheepish expression and said that the guards were afraid to face such formidable fighters as the 'warrior princess' and the one the punters were now calling 'Maximus.'

'People are saying they're unconquerable.'

'Of course they're not. And how dare they disobey me!' yelled Demetrius.

The gladiator-owner glanced into the ring. Derek had lured the lion away from Bluthus and had tossed Sydney an axe, with which she was nearly through the chains. They'd be fighting their way out of the ring any minute now. There was no time for arguments.

'There's only one undefeated gladiator around here!'

Demetrius grabbed the lieutenant's sword and shield and vaulted right over the edge of the box and into the ring.

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