Mav learned about the challenge from 50 people at once.
He was eating in the hall of Wildroot, the next morning, when students began to run in from the street. They were all shouting the same thing. By the time he understood the words, half of the school was standing around his table.
"Is it true?" "Did you see the wall?" "Ashgrove has challenged you, in letters of fire!"
Mav put down his spoon. He had slept badly since the night in the forest. He kept seeing Pell’s face, and he kept waiting for Dorian’s answer. He had expected another raider, or something worse. But he hadn’t expected this.
’So he isn’t sending anyone else. He wants to do it himself, in front of everyone.’
He went to see the wall with Ronald and Tamsin. Ronald’s arm was still tied against his chest, but he had refused to stay in bed.
The challenge wall stood in the entrance hall of the Proving Grounds. Most of the challenges on it were written in small pale letters. This one was written in red letters as tall as a man, and they burned without smoke. A crowd had gathered under it.
[Dorian Ashgrove, rank 214, challenges Maverick Silkborn, rank 2,961.]
[If Maverick Silkborn wins: 20,000 Essence, and rank 214.]
[If Dorian Ashgrove wins: the allegiance of Maverick Silkborn.]
[Maverick Silkborn has three days to answer.]
Mav read the second line, and for a moment, he couldn’t believe it.
He had sold the lure of the strongest beast in his World for 900 Essence. With 20,000, he could fill more than half of his Heartstone in one day.
Then he read the third line, and his excitement cooled.
If he lost, Dorian would be his liege. Dorian could walk into his sea whenever he wanted. Sela, Six, Seven and Two would have to obey Dorian before they obeyed Mav. And in one afternoon, Dorian would see how the seaweeds really worked. Tamsin would belong to him too, because she was Mav’s vassal.
"He can’t do that," Ronald said. "Can he do that?"
"He can," Tamsin said, and her face was gray. "When someone challenges a person below him, it isn’t a normal Ladder challenge. He can ask for anything, as long as he offers something of the same value. And 20,000 Essence is more than I’ve ever seen written anywhere." She was already writing on her slate. "It’s a trap, Mav. He made it so that you can’t say no."
"I can say no. I’m allowed to refuse three times a year."
"Read the small letters at the bottom."
He read them.
[This challenge will be shown on Earth, whether it is accepted or refused.]
Mav understood, and anger tightened his chest. If he refused, everyone on Earth who followed the Ladder would watch the traitor’s son run away from an Ashgrove. The men at the foundry would see it, and his uncle would pay for it the next morning.
-----
Quill sent for him an hour later. She was standing behind her desk when he came in, and she didn’t ask him to sit.
"You’re going to refuse," she said.
Mav said nothing.
"Listen to me, Silkborn. I’ve taught here for 22 years, and I’ve seen nine students walk into this same trap. All of them were clever, and all of them were sure that they would win." Her burned face was hard. "Dorian Ashgrove reached rank E in nine days. He has 12 ash hounds at rank E+. His house has bred them for 300 years to do one thing, which is to kill other people’s Subjects in an arena. He already has two skills, because his house feeds his builders by hand. He has had a private trainer since he was six. You have had me for three weeks."
"I beat a soldier from Emberhall."
"You beat a first-year who was surprised. Ashgrove has watched all of your duels. He knows your four skills, he knows about your water, and he knows that something hides in the sand." She leaned on her desk. "You have three refusals this year, so use one. Let them laugh at you for a week. In a year, you’ll be strong enough to take his rank without betting your whole World on it."
It was good advice, and Mav was grateful for it.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked. "You signed me in when nobody else would, and you’ve never asked me how I do anything. Why?"
Something moved behind her eyes. It was the same thing that he had seen on his first day. For a moment, he thought that she was going to tell him.
"Because I’ve seen what happens to boys who fight noble houses," she said at last. "Refuse, Silkborn."
It wasn’t the whole answer. Mav could tell, but he didn’t push her.
-----
He spent the rest of that day thinking, and the next day too.
On the second evening, Tamsin brought him her numbers. She had been to the hall of records at the Proving Grounds, and she had watched every duel that Dorian had ever fought.
"He has fought 14 official duels since he reached rank E, and he won all 14," she said. "The longest one lasted four minutes. His hounds killed 96 Subjects in those duels, and he only lost two hounds." She put the slate down. "I tried to work out your chances. I couldn’t find a way to make them better than one in five. I’m sorry."
"One in five," Mav said.
"And that’s only if you find something that he doesn’t expect."
Ronald was sitting on the next bed, eating an apple with his good hand. He hadn’t said a word the whole time, which wasn’t like him.
"What do you think, Ronald?" Mav asked.
Ronald finished chewing.
"I think that you’ve already decided," he said. "You decided when you read the wall. You’ve spent two days looking for a reason to say no, because you’re careful. But you haven’t found one that you believe." He shrugged with one shoulder. "So do it."
Mav didn’t answer, because it was true.
He had thought about his promise to his uncle, and about Quill’s 22 years. He had weighed the risk a hundred times. But each time, he came back to the same facts.
Dorian had leaned toward him in the school hall and whispered about how Wren had cried. He had threatened to put Juno in his kennels. He had sent Pell to break first-years, and Mav had been forced to kill him.
If Mav refused, Dorian wouldn’t stop. He would only choose a time and a place that Mav couldn’t see coming. Pell had said that Rhea Calder was following him, so she was probably looking for his coordinates already. In a year, Mav would be stronger, but Dorian would be stronger too, and he would have had a year to find Mav’s sea.
Today, at least, Mav could choose where they fought.
There was also a simpler reason. On the day of the Bestowal, Mav had promised himself that Dorian would pay, and he had been waiting for a chance like this ever since.
’One in five, by her numbers. But her numbers only know what Dorian has seen, and he hasn’t seen everything. I’ve had worse odds than that. The eel was worse.’
He knew exactly what he was risking, and he wasn’t afraid. He felt calm and clear, the way he had felt on the edge of the trench.
On the third day, he walked back to the wall of fire. A large crowd was waiting there, because the whole Nexus knew that his time was almost over. He saw green scarves, red coats, and the ash-colored coats of House Ashgrove. Near the back, he noticed a tall girl in white and gold, with a long pale braid. It was Thalia Sunspire. She wasn’t laughing today. She was watching him with her arms crossed, as if she wanted to see what he would do.
Dorian stood under his own challenge with a smile on his face.
"So, traitor?" he called. "Have you come to refuse? Don’t be ashamed. Everyone here will understand."
Mav didn’t answer him, and he didn’t look at him.
He walked up to the wall, put his hand flat on the burning letters, and said one word.
"Accepted."
[Maverick Silkborn has accepted the challenge.]
[The duel will take place in eight days, in the Great Arena.]
The crowd made a noise like a wave. Dorian’s smile stayed on his face, but for a second, it looked false.
Then new letters appeared under the others, in white and gold.
[House Sunspire has bought this duel. Anyone on Earth will be able to watch it at home.]
Ronald read the line over Mav’s shoulder, and he whistled softly.
"Anyone on Earth can watch it now," he said. "That could be hundreds of thousands of people."