Battle Cry (4 page)

Lucas said, “You said yourself that many children that are on the farms do not belong to the farmers themselves.”

Nobody spoke. Those who had children looked down at them and a few rested their hands on their children’s heads, a small gesture but one that had much meaning. Lauren said, “I don’t think any of us are safe if we go out on our own now. The soldiers are looking for Reena far too closely, the woods are crawling with soldiers and the governor is determined to have his due. If he has to kill every Outlaw he sees — and their innocent children, then that is what he will do.”

One of the women stepped forward, her hand still on her daughter’s little head. She said, “I would rather see my daughter with a farmer, risking the hunger of the seasons than see her out here in the woods risking the wrath of the soldiers and the Governor. I know I should keep her with me; I have kept her with you perhaps far too long. Now she’ll have to remember me and that is unfair to her, but with things like they are, I think now would be the time if there ever was a time, to save our children.”

There was a general murmur of assent. Most the children began to cry or cling to their parents because having been raised as the children of Outlaws, they knew just how serious this decision was, and why their parents were making it.

Reena had known that she had somehow become the leader of this gathered tribe. She did not know how to handle that before and she certainly did not know how to handle it now. There were at least fifty or more Outlaws somewhere in the woods, hopefully hiding and not captured by the soldiers. Ifthey found them there wasn’t enough of them to make a difference in a war against the Governor.

Reena did not believe much in fate and lately she had very little use for the gods and goddesses either. They didn’t seem fair and nothing seemed to be right. But she had to consider that perhaps this was exactly that; perhaps it was in fact nothing more than fate having her way.

That frightened her a little bit because everyone knew that fate was a fickle woman. What if she changed her mind at any moment? It wasn’t so hard to try to fight it; she was put on this road and she would have to walk it. It was the reason she had the sword, and if this sword had come from across the desert and it had been what had sent Barkley fleeing West, then she would take the sword with her back across the desert in an attempt to raise forces to fight his evil descendants.

Taking the children to the farmers proved to be far more difficult than it ever had been in the past. Most the farms were highly scrutinized by the soldiers, as many of the soldiers knew that the farmers helped the Outlaws along. Many of them did it willingly although they never would’ve admitted it, but many more did not. Their crops were often targeted however, and while Outlaws made it a point to never take anything more than they needed because they knew that their taking would create starvation for the farmer and his family, the soldiers knew that they Outlaws did in fact take.

They waited until night had fallen and then they began to slip out one at a time, only the women with their children. Reena knew exactly how brave those women were being; if they were caught they would be murdered and their children right along with them. They would have no protection — their only protection was their being women.

Maybe the soldiers would take pity on them and let them go, maybe not. It was a tossup, but it was the only chance those children had. The desert would not be kind to them; it would not be kind to any of them but the children would most especially suffer out there. The purpose of them taking the children to the farmers was twofold. The first, of course, was to make sure that their children were safe and the second purpose was to attempt to get things that would last out in the desert.

While the women took their children, Reena met with her men and young boys and the women who were childless. None of them knew much about the desert; all they had was the tales they had been told to them as children, but Reena had long ago decided that it was those stories that would get them across that burning sand.

In every legend there seems to be some small grain of truth; the trick seems to be weeding out all of the chaff, finding the common feeds and using those to sow a plan.

Lucas was the first to speak. “I’ve heard that you can in fact get water out of the desert, if you but know where to look. The elders used to say that there were plants that grew there that were deathly to the touch, that they had spikes made of silver dripping with poison. They said these plants have veins of pure water running through them and a smart man could tap them.”

Dax said, “I think a few of us might have enough brains to figure out how to do that.”

The mood had turned from somber to almost jovial. Reena could not puzzle out why for a moment, but then it hit her: they were just happy to be doing something—to be moving in a direction, any direction.

There was another reason as well, one none of them wanted to truly comment on. Without the children they would be able to speed up, and what worries they had about their children would be assuaged by the fact that they were safer away from their parents than they were with them.

Reena said, “My father told me that the desert is boiling hot in the days and cold at night. Even at the mouth that was true, at least as far as I can tell. If we travel like we usually do and try to find shelter during the day when it is the hottest, wouldn’t that be easiest on us?”

Lucas said, “Yes. Those are the kind of decisions we’re going to have to make in order to make it now, in order to preserve our strength as much as possible. If it were easy to cross the desert everyone would do it. We know it has to be more than three days to the East.”

“Why three days?” Lawrence’s forehead was knitted into long lines. “Perhaps it is only three days, I mean we have never been in there so we don’t know.”

“We do know.” Lucas folded his arms across his chest and said quite sternly, “If it was only three days to the nearest city, we would’ve seen people. We would’ve seen smoke would’ve heard the noise, you know that. It is not inconceivable for something to travel three days in order to receive food or shelter. It is a three-day trip from the furthest part of the woods to Aretula. If there were people three days east, we would’ve seen them.”

Dax pointed out, “If there were people seven days east we would’ve seen them. That is unless of course the desert is lethal enough to kill you within two or three days.”

Reena replied, “The old man I met in the hut — the one that I took the sword off of. He said he got lost in the desert, he said he saw the city and walked towards it, but that it was never there.”

They all looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Finally one of the women who had not gone along with the others spoke up. “I remember when I was a little kid my father was telling me about cities that will bloom in the desert and then disappear again. He’d said that they were born out of sudden fever, and sand that shaped itself and then blew away in the wind. He said it was a Devils trap.”

“Then we know to avoid them.” Reena had seen the superstitious shudder going through most of the people around her. If there was ever a time to make sure that nobody had any unreasonable amount of fear going in, now is it. There was every reason to be afraid of crossing the desert: lack of water, lack of food, intense sunlight that could melt flesh off of a person’s bones. With all those things to take into consideration, there was no use in adding things that they could do nothing about. So the devil had a death trap of the desert… So be it. They would have to remain on the lookout for those shifting and false cities, that was all.

Lauren had not gone with the other women. Heidi’s children had been impressed into the charge of another woman and Reena looked across the ground at Lauren, wondering why the woman had chosen not to take the children herself. She offered to shelter them; she had spoken up for them and offered them refuge when their mother was being Shunned.

Lauren’s  hair had been caught up at the nape of her neck with a soft leather tie and harsh light blue eyes held a troubled expression. The woods were silent around them. It was as if everything was hushed and still — expectant even. Reena had done everything she could to dispel the superstitious fear of those around her, but there was a sense of dread rolling up inside her that she could not control. It ate away at her defenses; it whispered in a little voice inside her head that she could not ignore.

The trees were black and bare in the moonlight. The canopy of leaves that was often their shelter and their shield hung silent and unmoving. The crickets and tree frogs were also silent, they did not croak or sing and there were no splashes of water from the nearby ponds. Even the night birds had lost their voices, and that alone worried Reena more than she could’ve said.

To hide her feelings she said as calmly as possible, “I think we should all go to bed now. We have to get up early tomorrow and we have to do some serious hunting. There is no way we can go into the desert without food, and for that we have to kill a deer.”

Lucas asked, “Have you lost your mind girl?”

Lauren added, “There haven’t been any deer in these woods in almost a decade. The only place to bag a deer is closer to the outside, and not even on the outside but within feet of the city walls.”

Reena knew she was asking for trouble, but she also knew that if they went to the desert without a substantial amount of food they would never make it out on the other side. “I know that. I also know that it’s worth the risk; we have to have it.”

Dax said in a mild tone, “Have you considered how long it will take to clean it, dress it, and preserve it for travel?”

“Yes, I have. But there is another way besides smoking.”

“Are you thinking of using the ground radish? I know the city old folks used to use it to keep meat fresh for days but that hasn’t been around in at least a decade.” The person speaking was an old timer, someone who had been an Outlaw since long before Reena had even been born.

Reena turned to look at him, “Have you ever used it?”

“Of course. But that was when it was available; it is not available anymore. It’s nowhere to be found, at least not in the woods.”

Reena said, “Perhaps not in the woods but it is available. They burn it in the temples in the city. To get it they go to the farmers right outside the walls. The farmers that we never go to because their too close to the city, and we risk too much by going there. We already have to get closer than we would like to get a deer, so we might as well get the radish stew.”

Lucas said, “Girl, you have completely lost your mind. First you want us to go get a deer within feet of the city walls and you want us to steal a radish while we’re at it that may or may not exist.”

Anger made her face turn bright red. “It does exist! I have seen it!”

Lucas said, “So you have seen it. That’s fine, for you. But for the rest of us we haven’t and yet were supposed to just take your word that it’s there.”

Why was he bucking against her leadership? They needed the deer and they needed the radish and surely he of all people needed to know that.

She glared at him as she said, “Lucas, you of all people know that there are things in the city that can get us across that desert that we simply do not have and we cannot do without. Besides, if they are looking for us in the woods they would have no reason to look for us in the city.”

Silence fell over the entire gathered tribe. Nobody had seen that coming; in truth Reena had not even noticed she was going to say it, but now that she had, it made perfect sense. If the soldiers were roaming the woods, then going into the city was their best bet. They could access the road to the desert from the city just as easily as they could from the woods and if they could get things from the city that would keep them alive crossing the desert, why not?

Lauren said, “She has the right of it there.”

Eventually they all agreed.

**

Without the children to slow them down, they made it to the city within 2 ½ days. They made better time than any of them expected, considering the massive amount of soldiers roaming the woods looking for them. As they walked they had worked on ways to disguise themselves. Some of the ideas had been so utterly laughable that they actually had all laughed, a good thing since they were also so incredibly tense that some of their words had nearly shattered like glass when they spoke.

They were not in the clear yet though. The city was in sight, its tall spires and temples rising high above the clutter of rooflines. The heavy smell of incense hung over the air: rich, perfumed, and heavier than any sent most of them had ever smelled. Bells were ringing, a clashing tinkling sound that would’ve been musical or pleasing to the ear if it did not sound so much like an alarm.

It took all of them longer than it should have to recognize that those bells were indeed an alarm and by the time they did they were caught up in a wave of humanity that was being pushed and shoved towards the gates. There was nothing to do but to go along and hope for the best.

The guards at the gate were screaming that everybody coming through the gate show their hands. Lucas looked at Reena who looked back at him; the two of them were very well aware of the reason why the guards wanted to see everyone’s hands. Gladiators were tattooed across the palm, and he was definitely a tattooed gladiator.

Reena had escaped that simply because the Governor had never thought to issue that decree towards her or maybe because the people under whose care she had landed had decided never to give her that mark; either way her palms were clear and unlined.

Lucas though, if he were caught he would be killed. There was no doubt in their minds that now was the time that he would be caught. They had decided to skip bagging the deer and gathering the radish until they were on their way out. Reena had hoped to be able to catch up to Praxis or Nemia or even Hector, if any of them were still alive. She knew that any of them would be happy to supply her with the things that she would need to get across the desert, and she was equally sure that all of them knew that that was exactly where she was bound. That that was the only place she could go.

Reena was regretting her foolish decision to go straight to the city first. Why had she not stopped to think about the mark on Lucas’s palms? How had she forgotten about that? It was there and glaringly obvious, nothing would wear that off, nothing ever could. Slaves were tattooed on the forearm and gladiators on the palm. The girls in the tavern were tattooed on the back and everybody who came in was checked for a mark in some way.

Deal said, “I will see you guys inside. You better come and get me.”

Before any of them could wonder what he meant by that, Deal began to scream and dance in a small circle. His bare feet kicked up a small cloud of dust around his slight form and he lifted his hands high above his head and yelled out, “Behold people. I am the one that was released by the great gladiator arena! I came back to do as much damage to this forsaken city as I possibly can so all of you can kiss my narrow little ass!!”

The soldiers immediately chased him, while those in line and the spectators that lined the upper walls of the city began to howl laughter. Deal darted left and then right, always managing to somehow elude the soldiers’ grasp. Once he even pulled his robe up, exposed his bare buttocks and shook them at them. The laughter grew louder and Reena would’ve stood there watching forever if Lucas had not grabbed her by the shoulder and hustled her in through the gates.

“They’re going to take him to the Pit.  We have to get him back!”

“We will,” Dax said grimly. “Look at his father’s face—do you think you should dishonor what his son just did by getting us all caught?”