Peter and I watch Joan cautiously. Peter holds one of my arms over his shoulder—the sole reason I can stand right now as I leave any weight off my injured leg. Even if this rebel didn’t have a powerful gift, even if she wasn’t incredibly strong according to Erik, she’d have no problem killing both of us so long as Peter refuses to abandon me. I almost tell him he needs to leave me and run for it, but when I recall the look in his eyes as he attempted to hold back Devin, I know the words would fall on deaf ears. I say nothing.
“This isn’t how it was supposed to be,” Joan says quietly. She looks to the hilt of her sword, fingers gripped tight around it. Blood drips down them. “This isn’t the war I wanted to fight.”
She looks at us and I ready my knife, knowing it will be impossible to fend off any incoming attack but refusing to go down without a fight.
Joan tosses her sword on the ground between us. “I surrender.”
37
LAI
IT DOESN’T TAKE long for me and Ellis to find each other again. We separated when our two armies came together, but I knew we would have to face off eventually as the leaders of our groups. And because of our history. She had to know, too.
It’s not like the ambush, when she didn’t know it was me and I was too consumed by my emotions to face her properly. This time is different. This time is the last—and we both know it.
I swing my spear around the blade of her sword, but it doesn’t have the same force the move used to contain since I can only use one arm to maneuver it. The strength and precision of it is half what I intended. Ellis easily slides her blade out of the way.
She ducks under my spear and brings her sword around at my side, but I jump back. At least I didn’t lose a leg. My ability to move freely and dodge are still the same. And since I only need to stall until the military gets here, it doesn’t matter if my hits can’t connect. So long as I can keep this going, it’ll be our win in the end.
Ellis keeps coming and I keep dodging. Around us, though, things have started changing. The shouts of battle have shifted to ones of surrender and questions.
“Cal and Joan gave up?”
“Gabriel’s finished—his gift—are the effects gone?”
“Is it true Devin is dead?”
“Over half the east side has surrendered!”
I take these in as best I can while fighting Ellis. I can tell she’s listening, too.
“You should give up,” I say as I bring the shaft of my spear up to block her next hit. “You can’t win. Your allies are already surrendering.”
“I don’t give up.” True to her word, nothing about her has dimmed since news started spreading about her closest friends’ surrender. If anything, her hurt at their apparent betrayal has only made her fiercer. “Even if I have to fight alone, I will fight.”
I have to give way under the pressure of her sword and fall back. She follows.
I feel the gazes of the two captains I asked to back me up in this fight. But they won’t move unless I signal for them to, or it looks like I’m going to be killed. Ellis is too strong—I don’t want to put them in harm’s way if I don’t need to. There’s at least a chance she’ll hesitate before finishing me off. My friends? None. And I don’t want to lose anyone else if I can help it.
Her blade scrapes off the shaft of my spear as I deflect another attack, but it nearly makes me lose my grip. Fear lights my chest for a moment before I manage to get myself back under control.
I need to stall. If I can distract her, it could make an opening—or at least make her lose focus enough that she won’t find an opening against me.
“This brings me back,” I say as I thrust my spear at her chest. She easily sidesteps it and comes swinging at me, but I spin out of the way, to her side. “It’s just like when you taught me how to fight.”
“You’ve certainly improved since then.”
I catch her sword along my shaft. “I remember I originally wanted to learn how to use a sword—I thought it was the coolest weapon. You’re the one who convinced me the double-headed spear would suit me better. And you were right.”
“Obviously.” Almost despite herself, a half-smile twitches on Ellis’s lips. Good. Keep going, just like this. “I knew you’d be better with a versatile weapon. It’s just like you.”
I nearly falter. But I tilt my shaft so her blade slides away from me. I swing one of the spearheads at her neck, but she shifts her sword up to block it.
“Do you know why I thought the sword was the coolest weapon?” I’m only supposed to be stalling for time, but the words catch in my throat. “Because you use it.”
Now Ellis is the one who hesitates—but not enough for my strike to connect with her side. She skips back a few steps.
We assess each other, looking for a weakness. The calls of surrender are getting closer. The longer we go, the more of her side is realizing how pointless this fight is. The military’s main force should be here anytime now. Once they’re here, they can put an end to everything. Just a little longer. Just a little more. Yet my limbs are heavy. All I want to do is lie down. My vision blurs from the sweat dripping into my eyes, and I try to blink it away quickly. Not now. Not yet. I can do this.
“If you’re getting tired, Lai, you can always give up,” Ellis says. “I won’t hold it against you.”
“In your dreams.”
We come together again with a clash of metal on metal. We twist and turn back and forth, none of our blows managing to hit, every swing taking more and more effort. It feels like we go on forever. But finally, the thing I’ve been waiting for comes—cheers from the Order members as they shout that the military has arrived. Renewed shouts of battle fill the air as fresh soldiers pour in.
I skip back out of Ellis’s range. “Just give up,” I say. “The military is here—you can’t win anymore. But if you surrender right now, so will your friends. They don’t have to die meaninglessly here.”
“That’s naive, Lai.” She tries to smile but falters. “Where would they go? The sectors will never let us rejoin them. Not after this. And frankly, I don’t want to.”
“Things are changing. There are people fighting for us in the sector right now and people who are fighting for us right here. The sector doesn’t know the identities of most of the rebels. Your friends, the people you’re trying to protect, they can all just slip back in. The Order can help them.”
“You’re an idealist as ever, Lai.” Ellis’s eyes stay locked with mine. “And what about me? What about our other leaders? Should I just throw away all our lives? The sector knows us—and they will never forgive us for what we’ve done. I wouldn’t, either, if I were them.”
“You can either die here for no reason or let yourself be arrested and live to see another day,” I say. “Is it that hard of a choice?”
Ellis just stares at me. “You really think I won’t be killed for everything I’ve done once I’m taken in? The question isn’t whether to live or die, Lai. It’s whether I’m going to die fighting or lying down. And that is a very easy choice.”