“Doing okay?” Jay calls over the clang and shouts of battle. His arm is bleeding, but it doesn’t look deep. He has one eye on me, the other on Lai, where she’s fighting with Peter and Amal against a trio of rebels. Erik took off a while ago, but I’m not as worried about him. He can hold his own.
“Okay, enough,” I say as I ward off a blow that would’ve otherwise hit my collarbone.
I see him nod slightly out of the corner of my eye, more to himself than me. “All right.”
“Stick close to me,” I say. My attention is on Lai now, too, as she thrusts her spear through one of the rebels’ shoulders and flings him to the ground. Even though she’s still figuring out how to fight one-armed, she’s a terror on the battlefield. “We’re going to make it out of this alive. All of us, together.”
Another nod. “That goes without saying.” But I can hear the relief in his voice.
We keep fighting when my eye catches Gabriel again—much, much closer than last time. Way closer than he should be. He’s actually in the fight, swinging a sword he obviously knows how to use and just as obviously doesn’t have enough strength to wield with any serious threat. In his other arm he holds a shield—something he actually is using well. He’s relying on it a lot more than his weapon.
“What is that idiot doing?” I mutter. “He’s going to get himself killed.”
“Who?” Jay’s voice spikes with alarm as he follows my line of sight. When he doesn’t recognize the person I’m looking at, he frowns. “Is that your brother?”
But I don’t really hear Jay’s question. Gabriel’s close. Close enough that I should go take care of him as my target.
No. I need to stay here. What if something happens to Lai or Jay or the others? I refuse to lose any of them.
But he’s going to die like that. I have to do something.
Why do I care? I don’t. Let that dumbass get himself killed. It doesn’t concern me. In fact, he can take care of my job for me.
“Al,” Jay says. “It’s okay. Go. We’ll be all right here.”
I hesitate. But Jay’s voice is certain, and I know I’ll regret it later if I don’t. “I’ll be quick,” I say. “Just shout if you need me and I’ll be back before you can blink.”
“I know you will.”
I take off running.
An Order member is attacking my brother. He shuffles back awkwardly under the weight of the blows he’s taking on his shield. When I get closer, I recognize the Order member. “Hey, Irina,” I shout. “I’ve got this—can you go help Jay and the others?”
She looks up at the sound of my voice. Maybe because she’s used to following my orders during training, she doesn’t question me before running in the direction I came from.
Gabriel looks more surprised than she did. “Alary?”
I swing my halberd, but I aim for his shield and do it slowly, without a lot of power so it’s easy to block. He still staggers back. “What are you doing here?” I hiss. “You can’t fight—your body’s never been strong enough for something like this!”
“I can’t just watch my friends put their lives on the line and not do anything.” Even though he’s so weak, his eyes are hard. “If there’s something I can do to help, I…”
I cut my halberd toward his side, giving him plenty of time to block it. This time, he realizes I’m not seriously attacking him and looks at me warily. “What are you doing? I thought you said next time you saw me, you were going to kill me.”
“I said I was going to kill you if I saw fit,” I say. “I haven’t decided just yet, so don’t go counting your blessings.” But as I aim another careful hit, I have a feeling I already know what my decision is. I could easily kill him. He’d deserve it, if not for killing our parents, then for running away when we were kids, and again for joining the rebels. I’d be totally justified if I killed him right here and now. He’s an enemy leader on the battlefield. This is war.
But he came out here and risked his life because he didn’t want to just sit back and watch his friends die. Even though he knew he wasn’t a fighter, he was still willing to fight beside them. Would a terrible person really do that?
I don’t know whether I accidentally put too much power into my next hit or if Gabriel’s grip came loose, but his shield goes flying into the crowd of people battling around us. He watches it go sadly. “You always did beat me, even when we were kids.”
“Sorry to break it to you, Brother, but you’ve never been hard to beat.”
He cracks a small grin and lifts his sword. But not high. Not really. He knows he’d lose in a second if I was being serious. He’s just waiting for me.
I have to decide. I can’t keep wasting time here play-attacking him when my friends are fighting for their lives all over the battlefield. I can’t keep putting this off forever. Come on, Al. Choose.
I point my halberd at him. His expression doesn’t change.
“I’m asking for your surrender,” I say loudly, so anyone around us who might be listening can hear. To my surprise, a few people do turn around—mostly rebels, but once the Order members fighting them realize what’s happening, they pause, too. “Put down your weapon and I’ll let you live.”
Gabriel watches me with something between amusement and confusion. But then his eyes flick around us and take in the people watching, and something must occur to him, because his expression suddenly sharpens. He looks at me again and straightens. His sword clatters to the ground as he raises his hands. “I surrender,” he says. “This isn’t a war I can stand behind any longer. Not after learning the truth about the Council and knowing of the riots on Nytes’ behalf. I can’t believe in this fight.”
The metallic clash of battle around us stops.
“Gabriel’s surrendered!”
“He … he doesn’t believe in this war?”
“If Gabriel stops using his gift, we’re—”
“They’re saying Cal’s surrendered, too—”
“If Cal and Gabriel both gave up, then—”
“Gabriel gave up?”
All of a sudden, the rebels around us start dropping their weapons. They lift their hands and announce their surrender. Some of them even kneel.
Ha. How’s that for buying time?
The Order members around us look to me, and I realize I need to take control of the situation—quickly.
I raise my halberd above me and shout as loud as I can, “Rebels who are surrendering, drop your weapons and gather around me. So long as you don’t try anything funny, I’ll guarantee your lives.”
As a bunch of rebels head toward me, their friends who haven’t stopped fighting watch and go pale. More and more drop their weapons to join their yielding friends.
I can’t believe how well this is working. I look to Gabriel, thinking he’ll be put out by the rebels’ loss here, but he just looks relieved. And then I get it.
“So this is your way of trying to protect them,” I say quietly. “Can’t say I disapprove.”
He cracks a tired grin. “Well, I’m glad to have your approval, Alary.”