The Will of the Many

Vis confirms his choices with Veridius. Veridius approves of Vis’s choices, based as they are on trust rather than ranking. He explains that the subordinates will be given more detail about their roles but are not allowed to share this with Vis.

Two days later, Eidhin informs Vis that he must back out. He explains that his father compromised with the Republic to get him out of the Sappers and placed in the school, and he attends under threat to the rest of their people. Joining the Iudicium will put them at risk, though he cannot explain how. Instead, Vis asks Aequa. She is shocked that he would trust her, but he reasons that she is highly skilled, her apology seemed sincere, and he believes her past mistakes will motivate her.

The morning of the Iudicium arrives. Vis, Callidus, and Aequa have trained together for weeks and built a strong rapport. Vis surveys the other teams. Each Third has chosen Fourth students for their teams. Third student Iro has included Belli on his team.

Veridius explains the test: an object from a statue on the grounds called the Heart of Jovan is hidden on the island. The person to return the heart to the statue will win. If that person is a Third, they will be named Domitor and each student on their team will be ranked at the top of Class Four. If a subordinate places the heart on the statue they will receive a reward that each has been privately offered in advance. Vis realizes that this incentivizes teammates to betray their commander and take the heart for themselves.

The teams go to the far side of the island to begin. Each student is given a medallion that tracks their location, which they must have in possession for their win to be valid. Students can steal or break each other's medallions to remove them from the competition. Each team also receives tracking stones for the other teams, with one less stone for each lower rank. This means the top team (Indol) can track all the teams, and Vis’s team can track none. Additionally, each student must swallow a black bead so a safety team of two Sextii can track students in case of injury.

The Iudicium begins. Vis takes his team west, calculating how he can win while also sneaking away long enough to run the deadly Labyrinth in the ruins on the west side of the island. The first thing he does is vomit up the black tracking bead so the safety teams will not know when he sneaks away.

Almost immediately, Iro and Belli’s team catch Vis’s team. Iro invites Callidus and Aequa to join them. Callidus refuses but Aequa agrees, taking Vis’s medallion with her, tying up Vis and Callidus before they leave.

Vis and Callidus sit in the forest. Callidus believes that Aequa will be back. Vis believes Aequa has betrayed them. Eventually Aequa returns, having convinced Iro to let her scout ahead alone. She unties her team and warns Vis that Iro had the same plan to skirt west around the border of the island. Vis is worried about what this means, as his plan stemmed as much from his need to get to the ruins as any strategy for the Iudicium.

Vis devises a plan. Aequa will return to Iro’s group to steal back his medallion. Meanwhile, Vis and Callidus will ambush a safety group to steal their student tracker. If they get separated, they will meet up the following morning. Before they split up, Vis apologizes to Aequa for not trusting her. She says she would not have either.

Callidus causes a distraction, allowing Vis to sneak into the safety group camp and steal the tracker. One Sextus notices him and chases him into the trees, using deadly force to try and stop him. Vis barely evades him, stealing his cloak along the way. He loses track of Callidus and decides this is his opportunity to sneak away to the ruins.

Vis travels to the ruins. On the way, he realizes the cloak he stole from the Sextus is covered in blood. Suddenly an alupi leaps at him, pinning him to the ground. The alupi sniffs him and then jumps away to watch him warily. It is Diago, the pup he saved months before. He continues on his way as Diago follows him. When they reach the domed building, Diago growls at the entrance and tries to stop Vis from entering, but Vis runs past him into the dark.

Vis goes down to the chamber. A new figure appears and Vis requests a demonstration of the Labyrinth. Five times, he asks a figure to demonstrate. Each one runs the Labyrinth and is destroyed by the obsidian shadows. Vis analyzes their movements. Finally, he decides it is time to run the Labyrinth.

At first, he does well. The shadows move in predictable patterns, and he successfully avoids them. Then he finds Belli’s body, dead and pinned to a wall. He freezes in shock, giving the shadows time to catch up with him. In a terrifying race, he rushes through the Labyrinth, exiting at the other side just as the shadows reach him. The moment he is through, the Labyrinth and the shadows disappear.

Vis realizes that Belli must have been sent by Veridius. Now she is dead and only he knows why. He reaches another dark chamber, at the center of which is a circle on the floor ringed by sharp bronze blades. All around him are words carved on the walls in ancient Vetusian. He can’t read it well but is able to piece together clues for his next steps.

Vis steps between the bronze spikes, which begin to move, curling around him and glowing red. Pressure builds in the air, crushing him and then reversing to lift him off the floor with excruciating pain. He drops to the floor and passes out.

He wakes to find a black fog surrounding him, and within the fog figures pointing weapons at him. Cuts appear on his left arm, spelling out the word “Wait.” Then black fog swirls and the figures drop their weapons. A second word cuts into his left arm, saying “Run.” Vis does so. He runs out of the chamber, back through the Labyrinth, up the platform, and into the passage that leads outside.

Figures block the passage, demanding that he “complete the journey” (568). Then Diago runs in, clearing the way. Several figures follow him before he can close the entrance. They attack and one bites Vis’s left arm. At last, Diago and Vis fight them off and escape across the river where Vis once again passes out.