The Midnight Watch

Chapter 16

The courtyard was fuller than I had ever seen it. All the candidates were there, minus Ethan and Kai, of course. A dozen of the off-duty Moon Guard had dragged themselves out of bed to watch us get our asses kicked. How supportive of them.

We had half an hour to rest before the fight. With the absence of our main strategist, it had been down to Ben and me to suggest some tactics. I knew a little from following Seb around so much, while Ben had been trained with Kai. Between us, we'd formulated a plan of sorts.

Now I stood beside my friends in a circular pen on the soft grass. As the instructor stepped into the centre, a loud cheer went up from the spectators. Apparently he was a popular contender in the sparring ring. Then he's probably flamboyant, duly noted.

"If everyone is ready?" To my surprise, the commander of the Moon Guard himself had come to witness the final challenge. He was a stout man in his late forties, corded with muscle from years out on patrol. The lower half of his face was obscured by a bushy, auburn beard. All in all, the guy had a Curringham look about him.

The instructor lifted a thumb, and we followed his example. The commander gave a curt nod. "Then you may begin."

The fight began in the way all fights do: a tense period of circling, waiting and watching. As my friends and I shuffled our way around the ring, we gradually distanced ourselves so we surrounded the instructor on all sides.

He was stood in the middle when Ben charged headlong at him. They exchanged a flurry of blows that Ben came out of with three new bruises. He ended up on the floor before I could even think about helping.

Becky and Alex moved at the same time, one going low, the other high. He dodged and replied to their attacks with brutal efficiency. One thing I had never understood in movies was the way they always took turns to attack, especially when the protagonist was the one outnumbered. Like for real, the fight would be over in a few seconds if you all swung your swords at once.

So that's what we were going to do. This first stage was only to get a sense of how he fought.

I made my move then, kicking out at the same time as aiming a hard punch to his gut. The instructor moved so fast he was a blur. I didn't even realise he had touched me until I was flat on my back, all the wind taken from my lungs.

After a few desperate attempts to suck the air in, I calmed myself enough to breathe out first. I hated being winded because it was disproportionately painful. Once my head had stopped spinning, I picked myself up and fell back in line with the others.

This time, Alex moved first, an overcomplicated and utterly pointless attack designed to distract the instructor while the rest of us moved in behind him. In one smooth movement, I swept his legs out from under him while Becky shoved his shoulder. Kai had taught us a few tricks during the afternoon training sessions.

Like a felled tree, he toppled into the dust. Ben was in the perfect position to jump on him and place his weight between the instructor's shoulder blades, in such a place that any attempt to move would be painful.

The fight hadn't even been that difficult. It wasn't supposed to be. Four against one were difficult odds, no matter how skilled the single combatant was. The point of this challenge, the same as both of the others, was to test our ability to work together.

Athleticism could be developed over time. Compassion and teamwork couldn't. People could be taught to fight together, but nothing could make them die for each other. That's a choice we had to make on our own.

That was the whole point of patrols. For the system to work, we had to be willing to do anything for each other. Out on patrol, when your life hung in the balance, that friendship could make the difference between fighting and fleeing.