Meln was still shouting orders when Cory pulled out his dagger and ran toward the oncoming soldiers, their armor glistening in the morning sun and their shouts ringing in the air. “Don’t fight, Meln!” Cory shouted as he ran.

“What, why?” Meln asked.

Cory was already running, and praying that this would work.

“Stop!” Cory shouted with all his might. He’d caused so many problems, violated so many codes. Now he’d do what needed to be done and bury the consequences, just like with Grick. “Stop!” Cory ran and shouted as he closed the gap.

At fifty yards, he poured energy into his dagger and fired it into the air, releasing a colossal blast of his power. It cracked the sky in a thunderous roar that echoed across the rolling landscape. Cory fired again and again. As the attackers still came forward, he stopped and shot spastically into the air, each shot summoning a deafening thunder. As the pikes closed, Cory leveled his dagger at the masses. His dagger glowed, aimed at their lines, and he prepared to fire.

The legion stopped ten feet away.

Cory breathed a sigh of relief and kept his dagger glowing and ready. “They bought it,” Cory thought with relief.

The legion held their ground. While the blasts echoed around the hills, Cory felt a chuckle build up inside him. It grew and grew until Cory felt himself laughing uncontrollably at the sight of hundreds of armored men staring wide-eyed at him and his little weapon. He tilted his head back and roared with laughter, his knees giving way and collapsing him to the soft grass. He rolled with laughter at what he’d done, and for the first time he accepted his actions.

“Let me through, let me through!” Cory heard a strong-willed voice say. A man wearing a white robe pushed himself through the pikes and stared down at Cory. Cory recognized Ilee, the White Prophet flexing his fingers inside a silvery-white gauntlet. “Cory! I would say you’ve gone mad but that is obvious! We’re trying to save Tane and Jesson and now I see you nearly attacking those you’ve sworn to protect! What in the name of the Sevens Prophets are you doing?”

Cory laughed a little bit longer.

“Answer me!” the telepathic voice of the White Prophet shouted in Cory’s mind.

“You don’t need to rescue them,” Cory said, rising and still chuckling. “They’re right here.” Cory pointed behind him. Fifty yards away, Tane stood next to Jesson and Meln, waving at Ilee. Mish made sure the Prophet did not move much more than that.

Ilee looked off at them with concentration, and Cory realized he was talking to Tane.

At this moment, the legion captain, as his shoulder rank noted, came from behind the lines. “Ilee! Ilee, what’s going on!” the man demanded.

Ilee didn’t reply, but turned an angry glare upon Cory. The young Red shrugged, and smiled back.

“Captain, on that hill is Captain Jesson Mills,” Ilee said.

A murmur of joy and eagerness came over the soldiers at that name.

“As well as Meln Sonoforn,” Ilee added.

At that, it seemed as though the entire legion stiffened and silenced, glaring at the Sonof lines with the creaking of sturdy metal and wood.

Meln and Jesson began walking toward them. Crossbowmen raised their weapons.

“Hold your fire!” Jesson shouted.

The crossbowmen hesitated.

“Well, do you want to kill him?” Cory asked.

“Cory, what have you done?” Ilee asked, this time with words.

“I laughed,” Cory said with a smile as his friends approached.

Jesson, Meln, Tane, and Mish came down the hill with a guard of ten men and women with short bows, a rare commodity to Sonofs.

“Captain Graham, if you don’t tell those men to put those crossbows down right now I’m going to pull your tongue out with a fork!” Jesson shouted.

Captain Graham’s eyes went wide. “Arms down!” he shouted.

The crossbows slowly lowered, with one man waiting till his neighbor pulled the weapon down for him.

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“I’m assuming you’ll explain this, Mills?” Graham asked.

Jesson and the others stopped a short distance from the legionaries, who were still eyeing the massed Sonofs on the hill.

“Yes, I can. I present to you, fellow Uniteds, the murderer of Middleton, Baron Meln Sonoforn,” Jesson said with a slight nod to Meln.

Meln in turn faced the limping man and gestured to the Sonofs as he said, “And I present to you, fellow Sonofs, the Sonof slaughterer, Captain Jesson Mills!”

The Sonofs cheered.

The Uniteds looked confused, and very irritated, as one man tried to raise his crossbow again.

“What is this?” Graham asked.

Cory was unsure himself. But he soon realized that this must have been what Meln was so happy about, and what he and Jesson had been talking about the night before.

“An offering,” Jesson said. “In return for both of our groups to stop fighting and leave each other in peace.”

“And to make up for the ruthlessness we’ve shown each other,” Meln added.

“Yes,” Jesson said with a smile. “We will be executed, here, now, and the legion and the Sonofs will go their separate ways.”

The only sound was the shifting of metal arms and armor, and the light breeze blowing across the dumbfounded soldiers. Someone on the Sonof side chuckled softly.

“No!” Tane shouted, breaking the silence with her desperation.

“Yes. Tane and Cory will be set free,” Meln said, and winked at Cory.

Cory smiled.

“Ilee, you know what’s at stake here — what could be lost!” Tane pleaded.

Graham stared into Jesson’s eyes, went to Meln, then back to Jesson. He seemed to be pondering Jesson’s suggestion.

“Captain, Tane is right. The Prophets must protect the lives of these men,” Ilee said.

The soldiers looked to Graham. A few happily put away their weapons, thinking the decision had already been made. The man who kept raising his crossbow took the bolt out, laughing as he did.

“Have the Sonofs accepted this offer?” Graham asked.

“Captain!” Tane shouted, and tried to approach him. Mish restrained her, and the Prophet, for the first time Cory had ever known, looked helpless.

“We have,” Meln said.

“Captain Graham, I must insist that you refuse,” Ilee said, facing Graham with a cool sincerity. “The Sevens Prophets have invested considerable effort into this man, and his presence is vital to the advancement of the United—”

“Oh, shut up, Ilee!” Cory shouted.

Ilee turned and stared wide-eyed at Cory.

“And you too, Tane!” Cory added. “You only want Jesson alive because he’ll make gunpowder and force another great achievement faster.”

Tane looked like she’d been punched in the face.

“Oh don’t look so surprised, Tane, I know all about the stupid experiment,” Cory said. “You were going to give Jesson a new technology so the Uniteds would advance faster. This isn’t Home or Prosper. Your manipulations and blind efforts to advance the Uniteds have pushed aside everyone but those nations! That’s not natural, and people have died because of this giving of new technology. And now they won’t stand for it.”

Cory approached Jesson and Meln, and walked them to an empty patch of grass in the valley floor.

“We’ve found a way to help these people, not just advance them. It’s time we stepped aside for awhile,” Cory said. He looked to Jesson and Meln, and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ to them both.

Meln nodded. Jesson smiled.

A silence came over the group again.

“It seems like you’ve been manipulating yourself, Cory, you foolish Red,” Ilee said, shattering the hush. “From the looks of it, not only did you fail to protect Jesson, but you allowed Tane to be captured! Captain Graham, I trust you will do the right thing. And Cory, I might go easier on you at your trial if you give Tane her bracer immediately! Well, Captain?”

Ilee stared at Captain Graham.

Captain Graham stared at Jesson.

“I yield my command to Captain Mills,” Graham said, and nodded to Jesson. The captain nodded back.

“Crossbows, platoon four, step forward to execute Meln Sonoforn,” Jesson ordered.

The crossbowmen eagerly obeyed.

“What!” Tane shouted. “Cory, you—”

“Mish Sonofel, bring the bows forward to execute Jesson Mills!” Meln ordered, drowning out Tane’s desperate cries as Mish brought the bows toward the two men.

Mish left Lael, the only other Sonof in the group, to hold Tane.

“Cory, you stop this madness right now! You’re ruining years of effort!” Ilee demanded.

“Ready!” Jesson ordered.

The Uniteds primed the loosing triggers on their crossbows and the Sonofs drew back arrows. Jesson nudged Meln with his elbow and laughed. Meln nudged back, and laughed as well.

“Listen to me! Listen to me!” Tane shouted, pushing and pulling at Lael.

“Aim!” Meln ordered.

Steady hands held arrows in place while firm fingers gripped triggers. Meln and Jesson stood side-by-side, laughing like brothers.

“That’s it!” Ilee said, and raised his suddenly glowing gauntlet.

But Cory was too quick. He sprang like lightning and grabbed Ilee’s arm. “This is Soul’s matter, not ours,” Cory said as he drained the Prophet’s power.

Ilee gasped, and realized that he could only watch in horror at what was about to happen.

“No!” Tane shouted.

To Cory’s horror, the White Prophet snapped out of Lael’s grasp and ran toward Jesson.

“Loose!” Jesson and Meln both shouted.

Things slowed down for Cory. He raised his glowing dagger as arrows flew and bolts launched. Cory shot one stunning blast at Tane, but a bowman was in the way.

With a gasp, Cory saw the arrows and bolts pierce the two men. But some of the executioners struck Tane as she unsuccessfully leapt to pull Jesson out of the way.

Three bodies fell to the soft grass.

Cory froze.

“What have you done?” Ilee shouted, and ran over to Tane. “Tane, Tane! Cory, Cory, answer me! Captain Graham, detain this man!”

Mish nodded to the now acting captain. Captain Graham bowed in return. Mish whistled, and the Sonofs began to go back up the hill.

“Legion, move out!” Captain Graham shouted, and the United Legion headed back to the waiting trucks on the other side of the valley.

Cory saw Mish, her soft legs swishing as she walked alongside her people. The Sonofs laughed as they left the valley.

“Hey, why not,” Cory said, and ran to join Mish and the other Sonofs.

“Captain! Cory!” Ilee shouted, standing over the bodies of Captain Jesson Mills, Baron Meln Sonoforn, and Tane, Sevens Prophet of White.

All the while, Cory, Sevens Prophet of Red, laughed.