Wonder Woman: Warbringer

by Leigh Bardugo

  “You meant to do this,” he hissed. “You tricked me.”

  It was true. Jason knew she would not kill him, and she had known he would never surrender without the hero’s death he so longed for. “Let’s say I let you believe what you wanted to believe.”

  “Kill me!” Jason yelled. “You can’t leave me like this!”

  “You haven’t earned an honorable death—neither a beautiful one nor a quiet one. Live in shame instead, Jason Keralis, unmourned and unremembered.”

  “You’ll remember me,” he panted, his face sheened with sweat. “I was your first kiss. I could have been your first everything. You’ll always know that.”

  She looked deep into his eyes. “You were my first nothing, Jason. I am immortal, and you are a footnote. I will erase you from my history, and you will vanish, unremembered by this world.”

  Jason gave a high, keening shriek, his entire body shuddering. He slumped over on his side, curling into himself like a child, and wrapped his arms over his head, rocking back and forth, his howls of rage becoming sobs.

  She heard a loud boom and saw a spurt of flame rise from where she’d left Theo and Nim at the lab truck. A second later, another explosion sounded. Pinon’s cage.

  Diana gave Jason one swift kick in the ass, as was tradition, then yanked the door from an armored truck and wrapped it tightly around him. That would hold him for a short while at least.

  She glanced over her shoulder. The sun was about to set. They had only a few minutes left, and the spring was almost a quarter mile away.

  She raced to the Humvee and threw open the passenger door.

  “What did you do to him?” Alia asked when she heard her brother crying inside his metal cocoon.

  Diana snapped the plastic bands binding her wrists.

  “Nothing,” she said. “He did it to himself.” She turned her back to Alia. “Now get on.”

  This time there was no argument. Alia leapt onto her back, and they were running toward the spring.

  Alia held tight to Diana’s neck, taking in the chaos she’d unleashed, trying to forget the sounds of Jason’s whimpers as they sprinted toward the spring. Had Theo and Nim survived, too? How much time did they have left?

  Branches struck her cheeks as they clambered down the slope to the river, racing along its sandy banks.

  “What if we’re too late?” Alia panted, unsure why she was out of breath.

  “We won’t be.”

  “But what if we are?”

  “I don’t know,” Diana said, unslinging her as they neared the plane tree. “I guess we just keep fighting. Together.”

  They splashed into the shallows of the riverbed, the water growing deeper as they plunged toward the spring. Around her, Alia heard the chorus building once more, girls’ voices multiplying as she sank waist deep in the water, stumbling over slick stones, soaked sneakers searching for purchase on the river’s sandy bottom. She saw Eris high above them, heard her horrid screeching, saw the twins in their chariots racing along the riverbanks, both of them laughing, shrill and victorious.

  Too late. Too late.

  As the sun sank below the horizon, Alia hurled herself into the shining waters of the spring. She plunged beneath the surface, and the world went dark and silent. The water was far deeper than she’d expected, the cold like a hand sliding closed around her. Her feet kicked, but she could feel nothing beneath her. She was no longer sure which way she was facing or where the surface might be. There was only darkness all around.

  She could feel that winged thing inside her, thrashing, but she couldn’t tell if it was fighting to keep hold or to break free.

  Don’t go. The thought came unbidden to her mind. She didn’t mean it. She’d fought too hard to release the world from the horror this curse would bring. But some part of her wished she could keep a scrap of this power for herself. She’d done good with it, saved Diana with it. For a brief moment, that righteous anger had burned bright in her heart, and it had belonged to no one but her.

  Her lungs tightened, hungry for air. Had the spring done its work? She didn’t know, but she didn’t want to drown finding out. She expelled her remaining breath, watched the bubbles rise, and knew which way to go. She shot upward and broke free of the river’s grasp, hauling herself back to shallower water, sucking in great gulps of air.

  “Well?” shouted Nim from the shore, Theo beside her in the blue light of dusk. A bolt of joy—they’d made it. But…

  “What happened?” asked Diana, offering Alia her hand and helping her rise.

  “Nothing.”

  Alia looked up at the sliver of moon that had appeared in the twilight sky, helplessness weighting her heart.

  A rumble filled the air. Alia looked to the road, wondering what fresh disaster was headed their way, but the sound didn’t seem to be coming from there.

  “What is that noise?” said Theo.

  It was coming from everywhere. She began to pick out different pieces in the roar: the punishing din of artillery fire, the thunder of tanks, the shriek of fighter jets. And screams. The screams of the dying.

  “Oh God,” she said. “It’s starting.”

  Diana blinked, her eyes deep blue in the fading light. Her shoulders sagged, and it was as if an invisible crown had slid from her head. “We failed. We were too late.”

  Was it my fault? Alia wondered. Had she doomed them in that last moment? In her selfish desire to keep some of that mysterious power for her own?

  They stood hip deep in the river as the sound grew, shaking the earth and the branches of the plane trees. It rose like a wave, towering over them, the coming of a future thick with human misery.

  And then, like a wave, it broke.

  The sound receded in a rush, the tide retreating—and then gone.

  Diana’s breath caught. “Alia,” she said. “Look.”

  Three figures stood by the plane tree, their bodies glowing golden in the gathering dark. Their features were indistinct, but Alia could see that one of them was a girl.

  Helen. The girl stepped forward, her feet light on the ground, older than when she’d been allowed to race near the banks of the Eurotas. She placed a glowing wreath of lotus flowers against the plane tree, touched her fingers once, lightly, to its gray trunk.

  In the golden sheen cast upon the waters of the spring, Alia saw armies retreating, soldiers laying down their weapons, crowds of angry people breaking their stride. The light faded, and Alia watched as Helen and her brothers drifted away from the river, until she could no longer find their shapes in the shadows. Wherever they were going, she hoped they found peace.

  She met Diana’s gaze, almost afraid to speak. “Is it over?”

  Diana took a shaky breath. “I think so,” she said tentatively, as if she couldn’t quite believe it. “We changed the future. We stopped a war.”

  From the road, Alia heard the cry of sirens and saw the flashing lights of police cars and fire trucks approaching.

  She and Diana made their way to the riverbank, and Nim seized Alia in a tight hug.

  “I thought you were dead,” Alia said, the ache of tears pressing at her throat.

  Nim’s laugh was part sob. “I kind of was.”

  “Hey, so was I,” said Theo. “I did some really good dying.”

  “He also put a wrecking ball through Jason’s firewall,” said Nim.

  “Yeah,” Theo said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his ridiculous trousers. “I can’t guarantee that there won’t be some fallout at Keralis Labs, though.”

  Alia winced. “I’m betting after all of this, the board isn’t going to want me or Jason anywhere near the company.”

  Theo’s shoulders lifted. “Sorry?”

  “I’m not,” Alia said. “I’ll be fine. I’ll build something of my own.”

  Angry voices drifted down from the road, shouting in Greek.

  “Should we go up there?” said Diana.

  “No,” said Alia. “I don’t think we should. Let Ja
son explain why he has a heavily armed militia in the middle of a country road.”

  “What’s going to happen to him?” said Nim.

  They sat down beneath the drooping branches of a willow. In the dark, no one looking down from above would see them, though if anyone came investigating, they’d be easy enough to spot. But why would they? The battle had been waged on the road. There were no signs that it had spread to the river’s banks, that beneath the branches of a plane tree an age of bloodshed had been prevented.

  “I don’t know,” said Alia. “I hope there’s some way to reach him, to help him. I still can’t quite believe that my brother did this.”

  “And my best friend,” said Theo.

  “No offense,” Nim said, “but that douchebag tried to kill me—I hope he rots.”

  Theo nodded. “Fair point.”

  Diana clutched Alia’s arm. “Alia, they’re agreeing.”

  “Hey,” said Nim, “that’s true. And I haven’t wanted to stab you for a solid fifteen minutes, Theo.”

  “How about now?” he asked.

  “Nope.”

  “How about now?”

  “Theo—”

  “How about now?”

  Nim grimaced.

  “Don’t worry,” said Alia. “Even I want to stab him.”

  The shining scythe of the reaping moon hung low over the valley, visible once more, and they sat together, side by side, watching the stars appear and the lights of the city multiply in the distance. After a while, they heard more cars arrive, and then others depart.

  “I guess someone is making decisions,” said Alia.

  “How do you feel?” Diana asked.

  “Tired,” Alia said. “Sad. Sore.”

  “But do you feel different?”

  “No,” she said cautiously. “I feel bruised all over and more than a little freaked out about what the hell I’m going to do with the brother you turned into a gibbering bowl of jelly, but I just feel like me.”

  “Just you is pretty good,” said Theo, and Alia felt her cheeks go warm.

  “Just me is pretty hungry,” she said lightly.

  Nim flopped backward. “We don’t have any money.”

  “We’ll live off the land!” said Theo.

  Nim groaned. “Unless the land is made of pizza, you can forget it.”

  Alia nudged Diana’s shoulder with her own. “I’m thinking we find a nicer place to stay than the Good Night, but I’m not totally sure how we’re going to pay for it.” When Diana didn’t say anything, she amended, “I promise we won’t steal. Or borrow.”

  “It’s not that,” said Diana. She pulled her knees up to her chin. “I’m not sure I’m ready to go.”

  “Seriously?” said Nim. “I’ve had about enough of southern Greece to last a lifetime.”

  “No, I mean home. To Themyscira.”

  Alia froze. “But…you don’t have to go, do you? Not right away.”

  “I have to get back. I need to know if the island is okay, if my friend Maeve is all right. I…” She drew in a long breath as if fortifying herself. “I need to face my mom.”

  “Is your mom anything like you?” asked Theo.

  Diana grinned. “Tougher, faster, and really good at the lyre.”

  But Alia didn’t want to joke, not now. She’d already lost too much tonight.

  “Will you be able to come back?” she said.

  “I don’t know. I may still face exile, punishment.”

  “Then don’t go!” said Nim. “Stay with us. You can be my date to the Bennett prom. Alicia Allen will lose her damn mind.”

  “Or you could be my bodyguard,” said Theo. “I’ve been told I’m not a very intimidating specimen.”

  “You held your own with a sword for a solid ten seconds,” said Diana with a smile.

  “Fifteen, at least!” he said. “I was counting.”

  Why is everyone acting like this is okay? As much as Alia loved Nim and Theo, she just wanted them to shut up.

  “Don’t go,” she said to Diana. “Not yet. I know you liked New York. I could tell. Even the grubby parts. So what if they decide to take you back on Cult Island? Is that really what you want? To spend forever there?”

  Slowly, Diana shook her head. “No,” she said, and for a moment, Alia’s heart filled with hope. “But my family is there. My people. I can’t take the coward’s way.”

  Alia sighed. Of course she couldn’t. She was Diana. Alia rested her head lightly on Diana’s shoulder. “Promise me you’ll come back someday.”

  “I promise to try.”

  “Make me the oath.” There was magic in those words. She’d felt it.

  “Sister in battle,” murmured Diana, “I am shield and blade to you.”

  “And friend.”

  “And always your friend.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  Maybe the oath didn’t matter if that much was true.

  “I will never forget you,” said Diana. She looked at Nim, at Theo. “Any of you, or the way you face the world with courage and humor—”

  “And impeccable style?” said Nim.

  “That, too.”

  They linked pinkies then, Diana and Alia and Nim and Theo, like little kids at the start of an adventure, even though they knew it was the end.

  Diana rose.

  “Now?” asked Alia, getting to her feet.

  “Before I lose my courage.”

  Alia had to laugh at that. When had she ever seen Diana be anything but brave?

  She watched her friend wade out into the waters of the spring and slip the heartstone from her pocket, clutching it in her palm. The river began to churn, the waters turning white with foam. Starlight collected around her, bright on the black waves of her hair. Alia wanted to call her back, beg her to stay, but the words caught in her throat. Diana had a path to follow, and it was time for Alia to stand on her own. Jason had been her hero, her protector for so long, and Diana had been her hero, too. A different kind of knight, one who’d chosen to protect the girl the world wanted to destroy; one born to slay dragons, but maybe to befriend them, too.

  Diana raised her hand, her shape little more than a silhouette in the dark.

  Alia lifted her own hand to wave, but before she could, Diana had plunged into the whirling waters of the spring.

  A moment later, the river calmed and she was gone, leaving not even a ripple in her wake.

  Alia wiped the tears from her cheeks, as Nim and Theo placed their arms around her shoulders.

  “You should bring friends home more often,” Nim said softly.

  “Guys,” said Theo after a minute, “how are we getting back to town?”

  Nim shrugged. “I’m pretty sure the Fiat’s where we parked it.”

  They began to make their way to the now-deserted road, Alia trailing slightly behind them.

  She hadn’t been entirely honest with Diana. She did feel changed by the spring. Alia reached out to that dark, winged thing inside her—its shape was different now; it felt more wholly hers, and the dagger in its hand was sheathed. She gave it the tiniest nudge.

  Nim’s fist shot out and punched Theo in the arm.

  “Ow!” Theo yelped, and gave her a not-too-gentle shove.

  Alia yanked her power back hurriedly. She was a Warbringer no longer. The spring had altered the legacy inside her, but it hadn’t taken everything. That strength was still there, hers if she wanted it, more gift than curse now, something she could choose to use or ignore. Make some trouble. She just might. For all the right people. She’d done good with this power before. Maybe she could find a way to do good with it again.

  Alia glanced back once at the river, at the silver waters of the spring, but whatever ghosts once dwelled there had gone.

  “Sister in battle,” she whispered once more, less a vow than a prayer, that wherever Diana was she would remember those words and keep her promise. That someday Alia might see her friend once more.

  Diana couldn’t breathe; the water
had her, the current driving her forward with impossible speed. She kept her arms straight before her, her body taut as she arrowed through the dark, the rush of the water like thunder in her ears. Some part of her ached for the friends she’d left behind, trembled with fear at what might lie ahead, but she refused to be distracted. There could be no mistakes this time.

  She shoved all of her will into the heartstone, her only thought: Home. The bright shores of Themyscira, the little cove that cut into the northern coast, the cliffs that rose above it, the landscape of her heart.

  Behind her closed lids, she sensed light, but she could not open her eyes against the force of the water, and then, with a tremendous burst of speed, she was hurled ashore. She slammed against the sand with enough force to rattle her bones and send her head spinning. No—not sand, stone. She was lying in the blue-lit hollow of the Oracle’s temple, sprawled wet and bedraggled in the moat that ran along the bramble walls.

  The Oracle sat beside the bronze tripod, a slender curl of smoke rising from the brazier into the night sky.

  Slowly, Diana pushed the heavy tangle of her hair back from her face and rose. She didn’t know what to say. It had been hard enough facing the Oracle before, but now she knew she was in the presence of the very goddesses who had founded Themyscira, who had given her a second chance to save herself, to save Alia. What did you say to a goddess when you had no tribute to offer? Maybe a simple “thank you.”

  But in the next moment, she heard voices. They were coming from the tunnel she’d braved to visit the Oracle only days ago.

  “This was inevitable.” Tek’s voice. “We’ve been living on borrowed time since—”

  “Do not say my daughter’s name again,” said Hippolyta, and Diana’s heart squeezed at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Not in this place.”

  “Let us hope the Oracle accepts our sacrifices,” said another voice, familiar but less well known.

  Diana froze, unsure of what to do. Hide? Face them here in the Oracle’s sanctuary? The Oracle extended her arm, one long finger pointing, and Diana heard a whispering behind her. The brambles parted. She hesitated for a moment, then hooked her hands into the twisting gray vines and climbed into the wall.