Voltaire held up a hand. “I appreciate your loyalty, but the White-Face leader is a trained Kongo Guard and a large man.”

“I am not afraid of the Guard or a large man!” Pidge protested.

“Not just large,” Voltaire insisted. “Condor is colossal. William himself cannot stare him in the eye.”

Pidge fell silent.

My heart shook with fear. “What’s your plan?” I asked Voltaire.

“My plan is to send Booster, my strongest Champion, to fight and win the Joust,” Voltaire said.

I blinked. “That’s it? Booster isn’t even as large as William!”

Voltaire turned stony. “I know that, English.”

“He’ll be slaughtered!”

“But he’ll fight anyway,” Voltaire snapped. “He wants the honor of dying for the cause of the Second Brothers’ Rebellion.”

Booster stood tall, his arms crossed over his chest.

Pidge moved to stand in front of him. “I too want the honor of dying for the Second Brothers’ Rebellion. We get our swords tomorrow, Booster. If I can best you in a match two weeks from today, you’ll give up your spot in the Joust and I will Champion us—agreed?” He held out his hand.

Booster hesitated only a moment, then took it. “If you can beat me, brother, you’re the Champion.”

They both turned to Voltaire, who nodded his consent.

The Invincible

THE INVINCIBLE

Later, I lay in bed breathing in and out. I had yet to take a single proper breath, though I’d practiced for hours, just as Finch had instructed me. A cold rock of apprehension sat in my stomach. I couldn’t stop picturing my life of freedom. Slaying Jones and bellowing my triumph, alone, in an empty wood. My stomach grumbled. I would be free, but what good was my freedom, if I spent it alone?

I thought of the bandits, their nobility and their passion. Finch in tears over his blood brother. Pidge and Booster vying to serve Voltaire. Hurley and Walker had remained silent but they had stories too. They were each in the oasis for the good of the Kongo and only I knew the futility of their effort.

Even if they won Joust and subdued the White-Face Army—they still had to contend with the future of America. The New Seed would diminish the Second Brothers’ role under the Compromise. Like unproductive vines, thousands of Kongo people would be cut off and thrown into the fire, for the greater good. Northerners would flood south, hungry for land. With luck, the Second Brother might overcome the First, but how would either overcome the Compromise?

Suddenly, Hosea growled my name.

In a flash, he leapt from his bedroll. He landed beside me.

“Here and here,” he said. He placed two warm hands against my abdomen. “These are the muscles you use to breathe,” he said. “As you take air in, drop your diaphragm.”