Daniel grew quiet and still, I imagine absorbing all the information. He looked up at Jarem. “What do you mean ‘finish them off’? What does it take to be the last one standing?”
“Whatever it takes. There are four possibilities once you, or any challenger, enters the ring. You can leave the boundaries of the ring voluntarily and forfeit your challenge; you can submit to another challenger and become his subject; you can be killed by another challenger; or you can be the last man standing and therefore the winner. You must understand, the Challenging Ceremony is a fight to either submission, or death.”
I willed away the dread in my heart that pushed against the inside of my rib cage. I didn’t like the idea of Daniel, or me, entering a fight to the death. My plan was to stay and fight until Caleb was taken care of, and Baby James secured, and then I would exit the ring, allowing Daniel to win. But that was making the very large assumption that Daniel and I would still be standing at the end of it all.
Daniel took in a deep breath and sent it out slowly through his teeth. “I won’t kill the other challengers. Caleb, yes; any Gelals and Akhs who enter the ring with him, certainly. They’re pure evil, and it’s my responsibility to destroy them. But these other possible challengers? They don’t deserve to die just because they’ve challenged my authority. I won’t kill them.”
“Once you enter that ring, you either submit or force the others to submit,” Jarem said. “You kill or be killed.”
“He’s just as bad as Gabriel,” a black-bearded elder named Bellamy said. Lisa had told me that he claimed to have once been an actual pirate of the Caribbean. “We lose the pack to Caleb no matter which coward we choose.”
“He’s not a coward,” I said. “He’s just not a five-hundred-year-old barbarian who thinks indiscriminate killing is the right thing to do.”
“I’ll fight,” Daniel said. “I’ll use my mojo, or whatever it is. But I won’t kill any challenger other than Caleb.”
Lisa looked at Daniel with pride in her eyes. “Your strategy will have to be to wound other challengers to the point that they’ll beg to submit.”
Daniel swallowed hard. I knew he didn’t like the idea of wounding anyone like that, but he didn’t protest Lisa’s suggestion. It was better than killing random strangers.
“Then you’ll lose,” Bellamy said, shoving his face right up into Daniel’s. “Maybe Marrock had the right idea walking out. You’re too much of a child to understand what it takes to be a leader.”
Daniel stood his ground against Bellamy, glaring into his eyes. “You’re welcome to challenge me yourself in the ring,” Daniel said, squaring his jaw. I could feel the power radiating off of Daniel’s shoulders until the giant bearded man took a large step backward, away from Daniel.
“No,” Bellamy said. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you won’t kill, you’ll be killed.” He pointed at me. “And your girlfriend, too.”
Daniel glanced away when he mentioned me.
“Not necessarily.” Talbot, who had been otherwise silent, said. He adjusted his baseball cap on his head. “What if another challenger in the ring took out anyone who refused to submit for you?”
“There’s no guarantee that would happen,” Jarem said. “The other challengers will fight among themselves, certainly, but we can’t just hope they pick each other off for us.”
“But what it there was a guarantee?” Talbot asked. “What if I entered the ring as a challenger?”
Daniel narrowed his eyes at him. His brows furrowed. “You want to challenge me?”
“No. I’d be a ringer. I’d fight side by side with you and Grace, but I have no qualms about killing anyone who tries to harm her. I can be your backup executioner—if that’s what the circumstances called for.”
My father threw his hands up. “I cannot condone this idea. I can’t listen to you all plan to kill people.…”
“Then maybe you should go home,” Bellamy snapped at him.
“Even if it is the only means to get your son back?” Jarem asked him.