Dream of Me/Believe in Me

single combat, Wolf and Hawk went at each other with such savage fury that Cymbra could only stand frozen in horror. The scream trapped in her throat reached to her very soul. Shock roared through her like fingers of icy fire. This was her worst nightmare come true, the two men she most loved intent on killing each other.
    A black pit of despair opened up inside her. One of them would die and how then would she live, knowing it was because of her? How would she get through the long years ahead, every moment made agony by pain she knew would never end?
    She had to stop them …
had to …
but her strength was as nothing against theirs. They were both blood-maddened, enraged, consumed by the lust of battle.
    She gasped as Wolf raised his sword and brought it down within inches of Hawk's head. Her brother only just managed to escape what would surely have been a deathblow. He attacked in turn, slashing and stabbing, only just missing severing Wolf's sword arm—
    Around them, the men pressed in, pulled back, moving to the rhythm of the battle, as absorbed in it as the contenders themselves … oblivious to all else … including the woman who stood at the heart of the conflict itself
    At the heart … in her heart, loving them both … desperate …
    “Stop!”
Steel gleamed in the light of the setting sun, not the steel of warriors' swords but of Cymbra's own dagger, drawn from the sheath at her waist.
    The dagger clasped firmly in both her hands.
    Aimed directly at her own heart.
    A mortal sin … eternal damnation … She gasped back tears, swallowed terror, and prayed as she had never prayed in her life.
    “Stop!” she screamed again, her voice echoing against the verdant hills. “I love you both! If one of you dies because of me, I cannot live. Rather I would end my own life right now!”
    For a seemingly endless moment, Hawk and Wolf stood unmoving, weapons locked. Only the dawning horror in both their faces told her they had heard—and seen.
    “I mean it! Put down your swords! Step away from each other! I
will
do this, I swear it!”
    A mere flicker of Wolf's eyes and Dragon moved. But she was prepared for that, knew the brothers were so close they could understand each other without words.
    “Get back!”
    Dragon stopped in midrush, staring at her with the same disbelieving shock that riveted every man on the beach.
    Heedless of the tears streaming down her ashen cheeks, she tightened her grip on the dagger and pressed the point of it just below her breast.
    “No more!
This has to stop, right now, right here!
Put down your swords!”
    Gasping for breath, having run all the way from the stronghold, Brother Joseph pushed his way through the mob. At the sight of Cymbra, all the color fled from his face. He fell to his knees in the sand and made the sign of the cross.
    “Child,” he pleaded, “don't do this! You know what it means. Your soul—”
    “I am damned either way,” she sobbed. “I can't let one of them die … not because of me—”
    Wolf stepped away from Hawk, breaking the death lock of their blades. She gazed into his anguished face, seeing it blurred by her own tears. She loved him so much that she would gladly trade her life for his, as she would for her brother's.
    Wolf took a step toward her, his back turned to Hawk, whom he suddenly ignored as though they had not been doing their damnedest to kill each other mere moments before. His eyes never left Cymbra as he began walking toward her. Quietly he said, “I'll put down my sword but you put down the dagger. We'll do it together, all right?”
    She forced her gaze past him to Hawk. To her brother she said, “You, too. Both swords …
down.”
    Hawk nodded quickly. Slowly, his gaze on her, he bent to lay his sword on the sand.
    Wolf moved closer. Hawk still held his sword. Dragon closed in from the other side. Brother Joseph got to his feet and also moved forward.
    Cymbra's breath came in pants, her heart beating so rapidly she thought it would break through her ribs. Eyes on her husband, she slowly began to lower the dagger from her breast.
    Everything happened at once. Wolf dropped his sword and lunged for her. Hawk, startled by the suddenmovement and uncertain what it meant, straightened with blade still in hand. Dragon drew his sword and moved to protect his brother's back. Cymbra looked from one to the other in confusion even as she continued to turn the dagger away from herself. Momentarily distracted, she did not realize how