I watched as eight of the Elders stood back-to-back right over the spot where Sirhan had died, and then they started walking with careful measured steps, radiating out like the spokes of a wagon’s wheel.
Gabriel must have noticed my confused look as I watched them. “Pack laws dictate that the battlefield is to be measured out in paces. One hundred of them, creating a circle roughly 150 yards wide around the epicenter of where Sirhan died. This will be the challenging ring. Anyone who enters this ring after the ceremony has started will have to fight. Any fighter who leaves the ring will forfeit his challenge.”
The Elders kept measuring out their paces until they’d created a giant circle, encompassing the farmhouse, barnyard, and the large dilapidated barn. Then Daniel, Jude, Talbot, the lost boys, and I gathered rocks and marked the boundaries of the challenging ring.
We gathered again in the middle, and Daniel mapped out the battlefield on a piece of notebook paper, showing the buildings and the barnyard and a thick black circle for the boundary line. I was more than happy that the circumference of the circle had barely skimmed the edge of the corn maze. I wouldn’t want to have to take on fighters inside the maze again.
“Will you explain the rules?” Gabriel asked Jarem.
Jarem nodded solemnly, as if being asked was a great honor. “The beginning of the ceremony is quite … well, ceremonial, so to speak. Since Daniel will be fighting in lieu of Gabriel, the beta, Gabriel must present Daniel in the center of the ring as the prime challenger—the incumbent, if you want to think of it that way. There will be certain words said, and Daniel’s face will be painted with specific markings that will signify his rank as the challenger to be beaten. Once Gabriel has retired, Daniel will then be required to invite any other challengers to step into the ring.”
“How many challengers can we expect?” I asked.
“At a normal Challenging Ceremony, perhaps one or two. However, this ceremony will be different because of…” Jarem glanced up at Gabriel.
“Because of me,” Gabriel finished for him. “The Etlu Clan is large and influential, not to mention wealthy. I am known well for my pacifist ways, and many of the other larger packs have been anticipating Sirhan’s demise for quite some time, hoping they can easily take possession of this pack from my hands. The short timeline until the ceremony may prevent some from coming, but I would think it safe to anticipate at least five challengers—other than Caleb.”
“So they’ll come expecting Gabriel, but what they’ll get is Daniel,” I said. “A true alpha instead of a pacifist beta. That’ll be a nice shock.”
“Secret weapon,” Ryan said, punching Daniel on the arm. “I bet a bunch of them will totally rethink challenging.”
“Not necessarily,” Jarem said. “We can use the surprise to our advantage; however, it cannot be our only strategy. Most Urbat would not challenge a true alpha—however, it has been centuries since a Challenging Ceremony involving a true alpha has occurred. Not since Sirhan was made leader after his father died. I am afraid, to many younger Urbat from packs other than ours, the very idea of a true alpha is merely a fairy tale.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Even after we present Daniel as the prime challenger, I am afraid many of the other challengers may feel they have come too long of a way not to make a challenge for the position of alpha, regardless of the presence of a true alpha or not.”
Daniel nodded. “So no matter what, I can’t expect that Caleb will be the only challenger?”
“Certainly not.”
“And what happens when there’s more than one challenger?” my father asked.
“They must all fight it out. The last man standing wins.”
“But Daniel can try working his true alpha mojo on them. Get them to submit to his authority?” I asked.
“Mojo?” one of the older-looking Elders asked. “What is mojo?”
“Essence, power, whatever.” I waved my hand up and down in front of Daniel. “He can do that thing that makes other people want to bow to him.”
“Ahh,” the Elder said. “Yes, that is Daniel’s greatest advantage. That is the danger of trying to challenge a true alpha—you may end up one of his subjects instead.”
I didn’t like that word—subjects. Caleb ran his pack like a cruel dictator or general. Sirhan ran his pack like a somewhat benevolent king. To me, a pack seemed more like it should be one big, not-so-normal family. At least, that’s how I’d run it.
“Not everyone will submit to the will of a true alpha,” Gabriel said. “It only worked on a few of Caleb’s boys in the warehouse, remember?”
I nodded.
“Your ‘mojo,’ so to speak,” Jarem said to Daniel, “will only work on some. And certainly not Caleb. He did not even recognize the authority of his own father. Those who will not submit by choice will have to brought to the point of submission by force—or finished off altogether. You must be the last man standing in order to win.”
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.”