Hazael was offended. "What about me? I'm pretty sure it was me they were afraid of."

"Yes, because nothing instills fear quite like bragging how many times your sister has saved your life."

"Well, I left out how many times I've saved your life," he said. "I believe we're currently even?"

- Days of Blood and Starlight

She crashed to the ground with a bone-jarring impact. Her teeth slammed together, catching the side of her tongue between them. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. The pieces of her wooden shield, shattered by the blow of Arazel's flail, lay scattered on the ground around her.

"Bastard brat," the older seraph spat, aiming a vicious kick at Liraz's stomach. Liraz rolled away, dodging the kick, and leapt to her feet. Weapon. She needed a weapon.

Liraz coughed, and a mouthful of bloodly spit – and a baby tooth – fell onto the moonlit dust of the sparring ring. In spite of the pain, she managed a mocking laugh. "And what do you think you are, heir to the throne? At least I'm not a bastard and a coward."

The other girl answered by sending the spiked metal ball of her flail hissing through the air. Liraz went airborne, and the flail slammed into the ground where she'd been standing a second before.

"What's wrong, Arazel?" Liraz taunted. "Too scared to face me in a fair fight?"

"Don't let her fly off," Arazel called to the twins, Vela and Dior, at the edge of the ring. One of them – Liraz never could tell which was which – nodded and launched herself into the night sky, blocking Liraz's path back to the relative safety of the barracks. The other twin stayed on the ground next to the weapons rack, just in case Liraz decided to try arming herself.

"Fly off?" Liraz echoed. "Why would I pass up such an excellent opportunity to humiliate you?"

"We'll see who humiliates who." Arazel launched herself into the night air towards her fellow soldier-in-training.

Despite being unarmed and half the size of her opponent, Liraz had no doubt she'd have won if Arazel had come alone. She managed to dodge Arazel's powerful but clumsy aerial attacks, grabbed a piece of her splintered shield off the ground, and used it to stab the older girl's arm badly enough to make her drop her weapon. That was when Vela and Dior decided to intervene.

Minutes later, the twins had Liraz pinned to the ground, holdng her in place as Arazel moved in, gripping her spiked flail in her left hand now. The look of murderous rage on the older girl's face told Liraz she was in for worse than just a beating.

Deaths at the training camp were not unheard of. The young soldiers-to-be trained with blunt weapons, and under the supervision of training officers, but accidents did happen. As did other deaths that were not so accidental. Skirmishes like this one were forbidden, but the officers typically turned a blind eye to them, the conventional wisdom being that any child who could not survive the training camp was hardly fit for the battlefield.

"You picked a fight with the wrong person, brat."

"That's right." Liraz's face was bloody, but ferocious as ever. "Can't let anyone find out you got beaten by an unarmed little girl, can you?"

Arazel smiled wickedly. "Oh, I don't think I'm the one getting beaten here tonight."

"Really?" A new voice, a deeper voice, startled the four girls. They turned to see Hazael and Akiva standing by the weapons rack. It was Hazael who had spoken.

"Three against one? I know our sister is a vicious little nine-year-old, but that seems a bit much, don't you think? You should have at least armed her to make it more interesting."

Liraz wasn't nine, she was eleven, as were her brothers. But as tiny as she was, she could've easily passed for someone even younger. Hazael, on the other hand, had always been big for his age, and he towered over the twins. Even Arazel, who matched him in size, seemed intimidated.

"If you really want some quality training," Akiva added, "let's make it a fair fight." He grabbed a sword from the weapons rack. "Three on three."

The twins glanced nervously at Arazel. She was livid.

"On the other hand," Hazael added casually, picking up a sword of his own. "It is rather late. If you're tired, we understand. Call it a night, go get some rest. Sunrise is just a few hours away."

"Let's go." The twins released Liraz and flew back towards the main camp, Arazel right behind them.

Liraz, still on her back, let out a deep breath and stared up at the stars. There was a new hole in her back row of teeth. She vaguely wondered how many more molars she still had to lose.

A minute later, her half-brother's face loomed over her, a lazy smile tugging at his lips. Only someone who knew Hazael as well as she did could tell how furious he really was beneath his smile.

"Making friends, Lir?"

"Everywhere I go."

He offered her his hand, but she waved him aside and pulled herself to her feet.

Akiva made less of an effort to conceal his anger. "What were you thinking?" he yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders.

She shoved him away. "What I do is none of your concern! I don't need my brothers fighting my battles for me."

"A duel with Arazel? Arazel? Are you insane? You know she doesn't play fair! She would have killed you, Liraz! If Hazael hadn't found out about it –"

"Of course. Hazael finds out everything, doesn't he?" She knew she was being irrational, but she didn't care.

"I try," Hazael replied. "It's nice to know when my siblings' lives are in danger."

"I wasn't in danger, and I didn't need your help!"

Akiva laughed harshly. "Not what it looked like to me."

"Shut up, Akiva! You think just because I'm a girl –"

"Fine. You can just get yourself killed next time. See if I care." With that, Akiva stormed off in the direction of the barracks.

"You could try saying thank you," Hazael suggested. "That's a more typical response when someone just saved your life."

"I don't need saving," Liraz replied through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you don't. But we do."

Liraz gave him a confused look.

Hazael laid a hand on her shoulder. "We need you, Lir. So don't disappear on us. Okay?"

Her icy exterior cracked, just a little, and her anger melted away. "Don't worry, Hazael. I won't disappear."

They began walking slowly back to camp, casting faint shadows in the moonlight.

"Besides," Liraz broke the silence a few moments later. "I have to get even with you now."

"Even?"

"You saved my life. Now I have to save yours. Otherwise you're one point ahead of me."

He raised an eyebrow. "So this is a game now?"

"Yes. And you know I never lose."

"Is that a challenge?"

"More like a statement of fact."

"Hmm. We'll see about that, my sister."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought! Reviewers make me extremely happy. I'm also thinking of continuing this if people are interested in it. I have eight more chapters kinda sorta planned out.

I'm a little worried the three siblings act older than they really are here. But I attribute that to 1) they're seraphim, not human, so maybe they grow up a little faster, and 2) they're soldiers in training, so of course they've had to grow up quickly.