That night, Alden and Jincra met up with Grath, Braden, and Lalaine back at the inn.

As soon as the two young men settled in at the table, Grath launched into questioning Alden. “Did you get your sword looked at? Are you ready to get rid of it?”

Alden paused while reaching for a chunk of meat. His hazel eyes met Grath’s amber gaze across the table. “I got some guidance. I’ll be taking steps tonight to address the issue.”

“That’s not good enough.” Grath thumped his fist down on the table. “Today’s showing was abysmal, Alden. You did less than nothing. That sword turned you into a liability out there. Lalaine was hurt because of your insistence on using it.”

Alden absorbed this in silence. He glanced at Lalaine, but she wouldn’t meet his eye.

“I know,” Alden said. “I know that, Grath.”

“Then why do you insist on this folly, Alden? Why are you risking our lives?”

Alden let out his breath slowly. “I had no intention of risking your lives. I had absolutely no idea the sword would—”

“Would leap out of your control, make you completely ineffective, and endanger us all?” Grath demanded.

Alden was silent. He stared down at his plate.

“You know I’m right,” Grath said.

“Yes,” Alden murmured. “I do.”

Everyone was quiet, except Braden who continued to eat.

“Why are you so insistent, Alden?” Grath asked.

Alden looked up at his mentor. “Because our village is going to die if we don’t do something. We need an edge. If we play it safe, our families will be swallowed up by the Scourge. This sword is bizarre, but its locked abilities would catapult us ahead of the other tribes. If I can figure out how to unlock them—”

“Alden, we can figure that out later—” Jincra tried to cut in.

“There isn’t going to be a later!” Alden slammed his fist down on the table as he cut off his cousin. “Don’t you get that, Jincra? Our families are dead if we can’t bring home an army.”

“You’re supposed to be our leader,” Grath snarled. “Why are you so fixated on this dangerous piece of scrap?”

“Because I’ve seen what being powerless gets us,” Alden bellowed. “You’d understand if you’d seen the bloody horror Sacram faced twelve winters ago!”

The inn’s other patrons fell silent as the entire room turned to stare at Alden.

Alden gritted his teeth, embarrassed and angry. By divine Khanor’s cracked bones, he swore, I shouldn’t have brought that up. He glanced around at his three kinsmen.

Braden had stopped eating and sat with his fists clenched on the tabletop, his green eyes hard as flint.

Jincra squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his hand to his mouth, and shook with several quick breaths.

Lalaine’s emerald eyes filled with tears as she watched Jincra struggle. She reached toward him but halted just before contact. She wavered, then let her hands fall back into her lap, looking wretched.

Alden took several calming breaths in the tense silence. When he’d regained his composure, he sighed. “I’m sorry, everyone. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I just…”

“You don’t want to see your village swallowed up in darkness,” Grath said quietly.

Alden nodded.

Grath eyed Braden, Lalaine, and Jincra as they struggled to contain their emotions. “I hadn’t realized your memories of that event ran so deep.”

“You were not present to witness the massacre,” Jincra whispered. When he opened his eyes, they burned with resolve. “If you had, you would understand why Alden feels compelled to take such a risk.”

“Did you find any more villages willing to help us?” Alden asked his mentor, purposely changing the topic.

Grath looked away.

Lalaine spoke up instead. Her voice still shook with emotion. “We tried, Alden. No one wanted to listen to us. They’re all focused completely on this tournament, and most of them laughed at us when we said the Scourge was back.” The blonde huntress shook her head sadly.

Grath sighed, shut his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he opened his eyes. “Okay, Alden. The Chief Elder named you our leader. What’s your plan to deal with the risk?”

“Jincra and I came up with a ritual to work on the sword tonight. And I’m going to carry both swords from now on. If this one gives me trouble, I’ll switch.”

Grath looked at Jincra. “Will this ritual work?”

Jincra looked uncertain. “It might. I honestly do not know. We are dealing with a ghostblade. The spirit of a dead human warrior resides within the sword and is fighting against Alden.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment. At last, Braden spoke up. “Did you just say—”

“Yes,” Jincra said.

Even Grath looked stunned. “Well. Just when I thought humans couldn’t invent any new atrocities.”

Alden sighed. “I’ll be honest with all of you. I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing, taking this gamble. My gut tells me the sword’s abilities will help us survive. But when I started using it, I didn’t know I’d be risking the lives of my friends. I don’t have the right to do that without your consent.”

He raised his head and made eye contact with each member of his band. “I’m just worried that if I don’t take the gamble, and our village is consumed, we’ll all regret it for the rest of our lives. Grath wasn’t living with us yet, but you three remember what happened twelve winters ago. Jincra and I both lost family members. I’m not speaking as your leader, now, this is just me. We have a chance to grow powerful enough that no one can ever force us to endure such terror again. No more massacres. I’m asking you to trust me. I’ll agree to any additional requirements you think are fair to manage the risk.”

Grath was the first to respond. “So you’ll get the sword checked out and work to fix the issue. If you can’t completely fix it before the next battle, you’ll also carry the standard bone blade.”

Alden nodded.

“And if this sword can’t be unlocked,” Grath continued, “we throw it in a lake?”

Alden nodded again.

The Aibeck looked around the table at the other hunters. “Are you all satisfied with Alden’s plan?”

Braden shrugged. He still looked angry. “I trust Alden with my life.”

Lalaine nodded and finally met Alden’s eyes. She smiled reassuringly, which made Alden’s stomach knot up.

Jincra firmly nodded his consent. “I will gladly risk my life to prevent such anguish from befalling our people again.”

Grath shook his head and closed his amber eyes. “Humans,” he grunted again. Then he opened his eyes. “Now that that’s settled, onto business. Our score was abysmal. We dropped to nearly last place. The only saving grace is that the difficulty of the ifara gave us extra points, which is why we aren’t dead last. It’s going to be hard to recover from this disaster.

“To recover, let’s talk tactics. Alden aside, there were good and bad pieces of what happened in the fight against the ifara. Braden,” the Aibeck pointed a thick purple finger at the Trickster, who promptly belched. “You were incredible out there. Keep it up, but don’t get careless.”

Braden tapped two greasy fingers to his left temple in acknowledgement, then dove back into eating.

“Jincra,” Grath said next, “You did well. However, you need to adapt faster to the changing conditions. Being trapped under that ifara could have killed you, and without a Guardian, our band is significantly weaker. You need to shift position and dodge faster.”

Jincra nodded. “Noted.”

“Lalaine,” Grath said, “excellent work also. You weren’t able to engage much because the ifara was so far off from you, but you did save Alden’s life. Try to stay more in the thick of it if possible. And next time this idiot gambles and gets himself exposed, let him take the hit. Maybe the blow to the head would do him some good.”

Lalaine smiled at their mentor. “I’ll try to remember that.”

Alden cleared his throat. “Thank you, my friends, for your trust in me. Keep speaking plainly to me. If you feel my judgment is too clouded to lead us, say so.”

All four of his hunting mates nodded.

“Alright.” Alden took a long drink of water from a nearby cup and stood up from the table. “I’m off to get this ritual done.”