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openings in the iridescent metal. These openings were randomly placed and of different sizes, and somehow this made it look worse. As the disruptor came fully alive, the high-pitched whine faded, replaced by a crackle of electricity in the air around the weapon.
    Shinobu shook his head like he was trying to get the sound out of his ears. “Isn’t that toy a bit dangerous with so many of us fighting?” he asked.
    “If you fail in this fight, you are very likely to be injured,” Alistair said, “or even…
disrupted.
Anything is fair today. Take a moment to understand this.”
    The three apprentices had seen the disruptor fired before, had even practiced avoiding it in one-on-one drill sessions, but they had never seen it used in a live fight. The disruptor was made to instill fear, and it was working.
Our purpose is worthy,
Quin repeated to herself.
I will not be afraid. Our purpose is worthy; I will not be afraid…
    With his whipsword, Alistair hooked something floating in a metal trough at one side of the barn. The object was a heavy iron circle, about six inches across, covered in thick canvas and soaked in pitch. He sent it flying up into the air.
    As the iron circle arced high above him, Alistair lit a match. The disc fell toward him, and he caught it again with his whipsword. He touched the match to it, and the three apprentices watched as it burst into flames. Alistair twirled the disc around his sword, an evil glint in his eye.
    “Five minutes,” he said, looking up at the clock high on the wall. “Let no flames spread, keep yourselves alive and sane, have the disc in your possession at the end.”
    The apprentices glanced around the barn. There were bales of straw against the walls, loose straw across the floor, racks of old wood holding fighting equipment, climbing ropes hanging down from the ceiling, not to mention the barn itself, with its wooden beams and rafters supporting the stone walls. In short, they would be tossing around the burning disc in a room full of kindling.
    “No flames!” Shinobu muttered. “We’ll be lucky if we don’t burn the place to the ground.”
    “We can do it,” Quin and John both whispered at the same time. A quick smile passed between them, and she could feel John’s arm pressing against her own, warm and strong.
    Alistair tossed the disc high up into the rafters.
    “Prove yourselves!” Briac roared, cracking out his own whipsword. Then he and Alistair ran toward the apprentices with their weapons raised.
    “I’ve got it!” yelled Shinobu, leaping out of Alistair’s way and running for the center of the barn, where the disc was now spinning down toward the straw covering the floor.
    Quin saw Briac heading straight for John. Flicking his whipsword into the shape of a scimitar, Briac swung it in a wide arc aimed to slice John in half. She watched John’s whipsword flash out to block, and then Alistair was upon her.
    “I have it!” yelled Shinobu as he landed the burning disc on his whipsword. It slid down toward his hand, the flames burning his fingers, and he had to spin it back up to the tip of his sword.
    Alistair slashed at Quin, and she moved to one side, changing her sword into a shorter blade and striking at his back. He was already pivoting to meet her attack, turning her weapon aside.
    “Not fast enough, lass,” he said. “You hesitate when you strike. Why? You’ll have the most precious artifact in the history of mankind in your hands, won’t you? You can’t hesitate. And when you’re
There,
when you step
between,
hesitation will be fatal.” This was Alistair’s mantra, which he’d been drumming into their heads for years.
    John and Briac were exchanging blows. Briac looked like he had every intention of killing John as soon as he got the chance. Yet John was keeping up with him—he was a superb fighter when he focused. But a glance told Quin that John was fighting angry, and he was terrified of the disruptor. Sometimes you could direct anger