The wind screamed in his ears, but it could not drown the thunder of his heart, could not smother the fire that burned in his blood. Conquistador remembered little of the journey that had taken him to the Lagoon's heart; it seemed that one moment he had been standing on the sunny shore of his home, and the next he was immersed in shadow, his hooves sinking into the thin veil of snow that covered the frozen ground. Home. I went back to Atlantis- But why had he not stayed? Another blast of frigid air shook his thin frame, and for a moment the palomino paused, struggling to unravel the tangled threads of his thoughts.

When he had last left the Lagoon, Conquistador had silently vowed to never return. But something had changed - no, something had happened, and he'd realized the truth that lay buried beneath Rade's lies. They're gone, kid. The bachelors had taken them. Rade had taken everything Conquistador had, everyone he'd cared about - Xina, Dia, Crow - until there was nowhere else for him to turn. Nowhere left for him but the Lagoon, nowhere else to stand but at his brother's side.

Everything. That's what the bachelors had taken from him - and what the young stallion had come to reclaim.

A sharp snort broke the silence of Conquistador's thoughts, followed by the sound of a scuffle nearby. His golden ears flattened against the curve of his skull and the young stallion pressed toward the sound, certain that it would lead him to his brother. But when he arrived in time to see the dark stallion throw himself at the frail, familiar figure of the black filly, all thought and reason fled his mind. Conquistador forgot where he was, and how, and why - he knew only that he couldn't let her be hurt, he couldn't, he couldn't. Releasing his breath in a deep bellow, the palomino hurled himself at Ceolwulf, attempting to force his body between the pair.

"Get away from her!" Not until the dark stallion's kick connected with his injured knee did Conquistador realize how hopeless his stand truly was. The other man was larger, stronger, more experienced - and if he lost, then the filly was lost. His foreleg bowing beneath him, the boy stared into Ceolwulf's yellow eyes, and was struck by the memory of another time he'd seen his brother's eyes in an unfamiliar face. If you care about him, then you will not make yourself a weakness, Felony had said. At the time, the young stallion had believed that the weakness the Marauder had been referring to was love. But as he rose straight and defiant in the face of a foe he could not hope to beat, Conquistador found that the so-called frailty of his heart made him stronger - strong enough to speak the words that would spare Crow at the cost of himself.

"I'll trade," Conquistador said, his voice hardening - submissive one syllable, and subversive the next. "My freedom for hers. Just - just leave her alone. Let her go, and I will stay." His dark eyes fell closed, embracing the darkness that undoubtedly lay in his future. In his mind, he saw Rade again, his gold gaze cold and calculating as he appraised his younger brother. The same way I measure the worth of any woman. In sons. And how would his worth be measured in the eyes of these men? Was it only the strength of his body that they valued - or would they admire the strength of his spirit, of his sacrifice?

Did it truly matter? The bachelors would break that part of him - would tear away the conscience and compassion that made him who he was.

"You will release her immediately, and no bachelor will so much as glance in her direction ever again," Conquistador clarified, his brown eyes reopening to focus on the stranger's face. "And, I, Conquistador - brother to your leader Rade - will leave my home in Paradise and join your ranks in the Lagoon."