Battle Cry (15 page)

That took Reena completely by surprise. “But the point of being an Outlaw is to be free.”

“When did you ever feel free?”

The challenge was one that Reena could not answer. When had she ever felt free? Did she even know what freedom was? Those were all questions that she could not answer at the moment.

The weary tribe reached the woods that they called home finally after months of travel. They stood there, none of them speaking. There was nothing to say. And some small part of themselves had known that this would happen. The woods were almost totally gone, burned to the ground. Smoke rose above what was left of the trees and there were bodies hanging there as a warning to other outlaws, dangling from cracked and charred limbs of once magnificent trees.

With most of the trees gone the caves were visible. They had all been toppled over. The Governor must have had hundreds of men out there with heavy hammers and chattels because most of the rock faces had been desecrated and destroyed. Looking toward the sacred caves Reena felt her heart give a powerful and terrifying squeeze. The cave was also gone, they had destroyed something so sacred and they had not even cared!

Beside her Lauren began to cry softly. Lucas wrapped his arms around her and rocked her like a child, his hands stroking her hair. He hushed her, but her sobs did not quiet or lesson, and nobody told her that they should. Their home was gone, destroyed beyond repair. It may never grow back again and they knew it.

Deal’s eyes were surrounded by rings of white caused by the shock. He stared at the destruction and then back at the other members of the tribe, his head going back and forth between the two in an almost comedic gesture. Finally he said, “How could they have done that? Why would they have done that?”

Reena said, “The Governor… He has gone even more mad than he ever was. He had to have ordered this; we have existed in the woods for hundreds of years, outside the rule of the city. No Governor has ever issued such an edict. Nobody has ever ordered the woods destroyed.”

Deal began to cry. He was such a brave youngster and so tall and straight that most the time Reena forgot that he was so young, but at that moment she saw him as he was, an eleven-year-old boy who was too thin and knew far too much about the world already at his tender age. He rocked back and forth, the knobs of his spine sticking up through his skin and the heartbreakingly frail blades of his shoulders moving in and out with each horse and unrelenting sob.

They all grieved. Even Lucas wept for not just the woods but for those who would have been trapped within them. Everywhere they looked they saw the carcasses of animals and people. They had been caught in the fire; either they had died from the smoke or the fire had overtaken and burnt them. Either way it was a terrible way to die, and nobody deserved it. Those unfortunate souls that had been caught and hanged before the fire had been touched by the fire after their hanging. Most of the ropes were already burned most of the way through, but still they hacked through them and released the bodies to the ground.

There was no way to bury all of the dead. The best they could do was to light more fires and let that fire consume what was left of the bodies, and to say prayers as they did so.

It was Oak who asked the question, “Where will we go now?”

Reena looked up at them, her face streaked with dust and ash cut through by the tracks of her tears. When she smiled her teeth were a white flash in the blackness that marred her skin. “Now we go to the city. We bring the war to the Governor.”

She had thought that somebody would tell her she was insane and that that was not possible. That they had lost their bid to bring in others from Olympus and were greatly outnumbered.

There was death all around them. The scent and sight of it was everywhere. This was what had come of the centuries of ignoring the horrors that were being doen, of being silent in the face of tyranny.. The sight of the dead, the animals and humans alike, the burning trees, the trees that had been their homes and their shelter in their life, the smell of burning flesh and burning wood, burning grass, all of it. It was a desecration, not just of the caves. Not just of the woods, but of them, of their forefathers and their lives and they were not going to stand for it. Not anymore.

Deal stood and dusted off his narrow behind. “I get first dibs on the Governor.”

Lucas said, “Son, you got to stand in line for that one.”

Lauren asked, “When will we start towards the city?” Reena said, “we start now.”

**

They came into the city as dusk was setting. The guards in the gate had grown lax, but it would not have mattered if they had simply allowed the tribe in. All of them were angry and all of them wanted retribution. The soldiers at the gates were the first to die. Reena took out the first one, Lucas took out a second, and soon there was a battle going on. The citizens who had been walking through the gate when the tribe approached turned and saw what was happening and fled. They had no idea who was coming through the gates and they did not care, all they wanted to do was get to safety.

That suited Reena; she had no intention of hurting anybody she didn’t have to hurt but nobody — nobody — was going to stand between her and the Governor.

Soldiers hurtled towards them and she saw Praxis in their midst. She raised her sword and ran at them, forgetting for a moment that this was the boy that she loved… The fact that she did love him had barely time to register before she was flying across the ground that separated them, her sword already swinging. She saw Praxis draw his own sword and he cut down the soldier beside him, the soldier that would’ve buried his own sword within her as she took on the soldier to the right of Praxis.

Praxis shouted, “What are you doing?”

“I am starting a war,” Reena shouted back

Praxis said, “Well thank you for the warning.” And then they began to battle the soldiers that were attempting to murder them.

Blood flew and horses whinnied and ran. Their hooves struck sparks from the stone and all around them the citizens of the city fled and attempted to find shelter. Or at least, most of them did. Some of them actually joined into the fray; Reena saw a woman using a pitcher, broken into shards to beat a soldier who was fighting another man.

As more citizens saw other citizens fighting the soldiers, they grew braver and suddenly began to join in as well. It was contagious. Reena had never known just how much resentment and hatred there was of the soldiers. Praxis had however, and he quickly shed his uniform, standing there in nothing but a leather kilt and his bare chest, fighting viciously against two soldiers who were attempting to attack him.

She jumped in, slicing through the arm of one soldier neatly just as he attempted to run Praxis through with his sword. The smooth stink of blood rose high in the air and the screams and cries all around her were so horrific that she just blocked them out. There was nothing else she could do. She had planned this fight, had never wanted this fight, but it was here and it was happening and there was nothing she could do to stop it now. All she could do was try to save those that she loved and to try to rid the world of the evil that it didn’t deserve to have upon it.

A window in a house that overlooked the street flew up and Praxis grabbed Reena and rolled with her to one side just in time to avoid a stream of boiling hot oil that was being poured out of that window. Reena looked up but Praxis said, “Don’t. They don’t care or know who they are fighting at this point. They only know that they want to kill somebody. Stay away from there.”

Looking around she could see he was right; many of the citizens had turned on each other and were fighting each other now. They were also attacking members of the tribe and the soldiers indiscriminately. It seemed that they were simply ready for a fight and now that they had one, they were not about to give it up.

“Where is my father?”

Praxis said, “I will take you to him; come on.”

She followed him through the blood slick streets, ducking to avoid more oil being poured out of windows and pots that were being hurled down into the fighting mob below. She could not see any of the members of her tribe anymore and terror filled her heart, had she gotten them all killed? She hoped not but if she had, there was nothing she could do about it now. The fight had begun.

Liam was being held that week in a small cell several feet below street level. They managed to get to it and because Praxis was a soldier who was known to the men in charge, he had no trouble convincing them to open the cell without spilling their blood, until the alarm sounded and they looked up into the street to see the fight spilling down it.

The riot had grown larger, and more and more people were joining in. Praxis had no sooner opened the door to Liam’s cell then the mob began to hurtle down the stairs into the jail. One man, obviously in a frenzy stabbed the guard that had looked out the window before he could do anything except turn to Praxis with an accusatory glare on his face.

Liam said, “I think we had better run if we are going to get out of here. There is another way out, up those stairs. If the mob has blocked that way, it may be our only chance.”

Reena didn’t even have time to tell her father how happy she was to see him. He gripped her hand tightly though, his fingers squeezing hers as they ran. She knew that he was telling her all those things wordlessly, and that he knew exactly how she felt. Tears blurred her vision but she blinked them back; now was not the time to let her emotions get the best of her. Death was waiting around every single corner.

She had no idea how things a gotten so out of hand; this is not what she had planned it all. She had not planned anything; she somehow just assumed that she could walk right into the city to the Governor without ever having to deal with all the rest of this.

So much for that brilliant plan.

They made it outside but the streets were filled with fighting and screaming people. Not all of them were fighting, a lot of them were simply cheering the fighting on or throwing things. Other people were looting the shops, and as they watched one man actually ripped the jeweled curtains from a litter, leaving the noble woman who was lying inside it bared to their sight. The woman, whose guards had dropped the litter and ran when they saw the mob coming, was yanked from the conveyance, her robes glittering before she vanished beneath the mob.

Reena shouted, “We have to help her!”

Liam shook his head, “It is too late to help her Reena.”

They battled their way through the crowd and into the mouth of the small alleyway. There they had a few moments to rest and Reena turned to her father, hugging him tightly. “Oh Father,” she sobbed into his chest. “I have missed you so much. I have been so far and you will never believe the places that I’ve been; I don’t believe them myself. I never thought I would see you again.”

Liam’s arms tightened around her and he said I always knew that I would see you again, my daughter. If not in this life then in the next.”

Reena managed to get out, “I’m glad it wasn’t in the next life Father. I need you here in this one.”

Praxis shouted a warning and pulled Reena to one side just in time to avoid the blade that was hurtling through the air towards her. It landed in the wall of the wooden building in front of which they stood. That knive’s hilt quivered, showing the strength with which it had been thrown into the wall. Reena turned in time to see their attacker; she was shocked to realize that it was Talon coming towards them, his sword drawn.

Her sobs broke out of her chest. Here he was, the boy who had always been kind to her! She was so glad to see him and she held her arms out, reaching for them as she said, “Talon! There you are, I am so happy to see you!”

He said nothing. He just kept coming. His sword drawn back, and if she had not moved it, it would’ve sliced right through her skin. Bewildered at his actions Reena asked, “Talon, Talon don’t you remember me?”

Praxis said, “No. No he does not. He had his mind wiped. I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it until now.”

What was Praxis babbling about? She knew this boy! She knew him well; she had shared most of her life with him! What was a mindwipe? That answer became clear very quickly. As Talon faced her it was easy to tell that he did not know her at all. His eyes held no recognition even when she said, “Talon, it’s me Reena. Please put the sword down Talon. I don’t want to fight you.”

He just kept advancing! Why? What had she done or rather, what had been done to him to make him not know who she was? There was no choice, she was going to have to kill him!

Just then Liam appeared, his body worn away to nearly nothing and his eyes sunken into deep pockets of flesh. He saw what was happening and he cried out his daughter’s name.

Hearing her father’s voice distracted her just long enough that Talon’s sword cut a slice into her left arm. Reena cried out in pain and shielded herself from his next blow, which never came. Dax and Lucas jumped on Talon from behind, dragging him to the bloody sand.

Liam’s next cry stopped them from killing him, but sent Reena’s world spinning. “Do not kill him! He’s my son!”

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