Page 1 of The Pacifist
PROLOGUE
The Bet
Northlands Year 2447
Mila
It’s hard to know who to cheer for when your parents are fighting.
I sat with my back against the wall watching my mom, Laura, wave a hand at my dad, Magni, signaling for him to make the first move. They both looked confident and he gave her a smug smile.
My nine-year old brother, Mason, was standing with his hands on the side of the boxing ring, eager to go in and fight himself. “Mom, bend your knees, be flexible.”
“Stop poking me.” Aubri, Mason’s twin, was getting annoyed with our youngest sister, Dina, who was only five and couldn’t care less about the fighting.
“Hey Dina.” I leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I bet that if you ask Aubri really nicely, she’ll braid your hair.”
The strategy worked and soon my two younger sisters were occupied.
“Don’t fall back, Mom, attack!” Mason was jumping on the side and it amused me since he would have to be delusional to think that Laura had a real chance of taking our father in a fight. She might be the best fighter of her generation, compared to other women, but Magni was known as the best fighter in the world. Close to seven feet tall, strong, athletic, flexible, and fast – he was lethal and men had always feared him.
For a moment my thoughts went back ten years to when I’d met Magni for the first time. I’d been a student at the first school integrating children from both sides of the border. Like most of the students from the Motherlands, I had a traumatic past. It wasn’t that the founders of the school had deliberately sought out traumatized students, but rather that, almost no parents had been willing to let their child go to the Northlands.
It was the fact that I’d lost my mom that made me a candidate.
When I arrived, I had longed for someone to love me like she had. Magni was huge and brooding, but I’d taken his protectiveness toward us girls as a sign of affection.
When I couldn’t sleep at night, he would talk to me and hold my hand, and if he saw me looking sad during the day, he’d pick me up and swing me through the air or tickle me.
It had been the most wonderful day when Laura and Magni had adopted me and made me part of their family.
I winced and gave a loud shriek when my mom kicked my dad and he made an “umph” sound of pain. My disruption made Mason turn his head and scowl at me. “Stop screaming like that. You’re ruining the fun.”
“Sorry!”
He rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Mila, if you don’t like fighting, then don’t watch.”
“Mason, shut up.” Laura was jumping from foot to foot. “Stop bothering your sister.”
“But she always ruins it. I bet in a minute she’ll be tearing up like she always does. It’s fucking annoying.”
“Mila will be fine.” Magni kept his focus on Laura and took a few jabs at her. Even I could see this was light sparring for them, and I should be used to it since they did it often.
Mason turned his back on the boxing ring and leaned against it, giving me a curious glance. “What are you going to do at your tournament? You know men will probably die while fighting for you. Are you going to cry for them too? I bet you’ll faint.”
“I said, shut the fuck up, Mason.” This time Laura moved fast to the ringside, bent down, and pulled Mason’s hair back to make him look up at her. “Do you want to come up here and have both of us kick your ass?”
He made a low comment that I didn’t hear, but Laura did and she raised her eyebrows. “Oh, is that what you think? Then come prove it.”
As always, I was quick to come to my brother’s defense. “It’s okay, Mom, I know Mason didn’t mean any harm.”
My dad swung his legs over the rope surrounding the boxing ring and jumped down onto the floor. “Don’t worry, sweetie, your mom is just going to knock some manners into Mason.” Looking over his shoulder he called back to her, “You got this, right, babe?”
“Yep, I got it.” Laura began circling Mason, who was putting on protective gear with eager movements.
I pushed off from the floor and looked on with worry when my brother clapped his hands together, gesturing that he was ready. “But he’s only nine.” It was a silly thing to say since Mason was taller than my mom and he’d been training for years.
“I’ll be ten soon.”
