Battle Cry

by Lara Lee Hunter

  Reena stared down at the sword, her fingers tracing the intricate filigree and the words carved into the blade itself. Where had this thing come from? If Barkley had stolen his from a museum where had the leader of this city, the city that may not have even ever existed, have gotten this one?

  She had no idea what to do with it as a weapon but she had a fairly good idea of what to do with it right then. She held it over her head, holding it very high and said, “I will ask you again. How many of you are sick of the Governor’s rule? How many of you are willing to fight? There is a war brewing within the city walls and they need our help. With our help they could overthrow the Governor. We could all be free. Will you stand here, and continue to hide like animals in the woods or will you come with me back to the city?”

  It was the first time she would give that speech, but not the last.

  **

  It was the next day when they found another tribe, the tribe belonging to Deal, the boy who had stood with her in the Arena, but his tribe was depressingly small. There were only eight of them in total, and four of them were women and children. The other four were men, if you counted Deal. She had to count him though; she had seen his courage in the arena and she knew she could count on him. He had made his way back into the woods and back to his tribe despite great odds and she knew that he was willing to fight.

  They found a large cave, one that Outlaws used frequently. Nobody had stayed in it for a long period of time because it was too close to several farms nearby. When the soldiers roamed looking for Outlaws or if they were just out and about Culling, the caves were usually the first places they checked.

  The soldiers were aware that the Outlaws used that cave, but they had never caught one in there yet and Reena hoped that luck held. They built a fire and everyone shared what food they had while Dax told again the story of the sword that she carried.

  The leader of that tribe, a scarred older man named Griffin, told them that the news that he had heard from around the farms was all bad. “The soldiers are looking for you Reena. They have been ordered to capture you on sight. As for the rest of us, if we are caught harboring you we’re also to be killed. The Governor wants your head brought back to the city and nothing else. He says that he’s no longer willing to give you any clemency at all.”

  “As if he ever gave me any to begin with.” Reena was angry, and she had every right to be but she knew that she should quell that now. Now was not the time for anger, now was the time for reason. If she was angry she would make a mistake; and the last thing on earth she could afford was a mistake. “Is there any news of my father?”

  “I heard he was taken to the Pit,” Deal said.

  “Are you sure?” Reena’s heart sank at the words. The Pit was a place from which very few ever escaped and those who did left it through the door of death. If her father was there, there was no way to rescue him; it was guarded by soldiers and overseers with long cruel whips and many other weapons. Her father was strong, so he was not likely to die from the work unless they were not feeding him. If the Governor had taken it into his head to punish her father for her escape, then it was quite likely that he wasn’t being fed and that his workload was far more difficult than that of the other people who worked in the Pit. Not that anyone in the Pit had an easy workload.

  “That is just what they say.”

  Reena scrutinized Deal’s face. “That is what who says?”

  “Talon’s parents. I visited their farm a few days ago; they are very afraid, Reena. Their son is still in the city you know; he was supposed to be your last battle but now that you’re gone the Governor is taking his anger out on him.”

  Reena’s spirits sank even further, something she would not have thought possible just a few seconds before. Talon was a friend, and his family had long been allies of the Outlaws. It was not his fault that he was being forced to go against her in the Arena, and he should not be punished because she escaped.

  Lucas asked, “Do you know where any of the other tribes are hiding?”

  The leader of Deal’s tribes shook his head. “No, we haven’t seen anyone. The woods are awfully quiet now, everyone is afraid. We’ve never seen the amount of soldiers that we’ve seen in the last few days. I don’t know how you escaped their gaze, even as far back in the woods as you were.”

  Deal added, “They’re not afraid anymore either. The superstitions used to keep them away but they don’t seem to be working. They’re more afraid of the Governor then they are of the old ghost and haunts that are supposed to be in these woods.”

  Reena sighed. “Then maybe we should just make them afraid again. If we do that, if we run the soldiers away then perhaps we will have a better chance of finding the other tribes.”

  Griffin asked, “Have you gone insane? How would you suggest we make the soldiers believe in haunts and ghosts?”

  Reena said, “I would suggest that we turn them into them.”

  There were murmurs of disbelief and then finally Lucas asked, “Do you know the punishment and the penalty for killing a soldier of the city?”

  Reena met his gaze with a level gaze of her own. “Do you not realize that declaring war against the city means that you will have to kill their soldiers? Why not start now? We have got to rally more people; if we do it properly though they will never know that we did it; they’ll blame the ghosts.”

  “Tell me how you think this can work.” It was Dax who spoke. He was leaning forward, far across the fire, his eyes intent. “It seems to me that the soldiers are all moving towards the other side of the woods; we’ve all agreed on that otherwise we never would’ve chosen this cave for the night or created a fire in order to cook. If the other tribes are nearby they should be called to us by the scent of the wood or the food, but they aren’t coming.”

  Reena said, “Would you come for the scent of food and fire? I would never have done that, and neither would my father. We would’ve thought it was a trap, especially in the East.”

  Lucas said, “The girl has a point.”

  Reena knew that the men had many years of fighting experience. Some of them had been soldiers before they had done whatever it was that caused them to be branded as an outlaw and sent into the lands beyond the outside. That they were listening to her at all was a very good indicator of how much they believed in the sword that she held, and just how much they wanted freedom from the oppressive rule of the Governor. But how long could she keep their respect? How long could she be there if she did not deliver any results at all? It was all fine and good to raise their spirits and their hopes with pretty speeches and powerful swords, but until there was action that could prove to them that they could win this, all she had was a collection of people who had long ago turned their back on any kind of affiliation. She needed to unite them and perhaps this would be the best way.

  Even as she thought about that, her stomach churned with revulsion. Could she be seriously considering killing innocent people? Whether they were soldiers or not they were still innocent, at least they not done anything to her. It didn’t matter; this was war and war sometimes called for measures far worse than the one she was contemplating.

  “What did you have in mind, Reena?” And with that question Griffin set in motion a plan.

  Chapter 2

  Reena was up high in the trees. The mist had sprung up from the lakes beyond and night and drifted across the front section of woods. The trees here were tall but not as thickly overgrown, and she knew that they were risking much by being up in them. A simple shift in the wind could reveal their hiding places. There was nothing she could do about it at the moment. The sound of the soldiers’ horses was loud; it was rolling along at ground level and she could see Deal’s pale face peering at her under the leaves of another tree.

  Seven. That was the number of soldiers riding towards them. They knew that because two of the best trackers of the two tribes had gone out the night before and had gone to find the soldiers. They had come back to report how many there w
ere, how many were on horse — all of them — and what type of supplies they were carrying.

  Their plan was simple, they were going to catch the soldiers in their trap, kill them and take their supplies. Birds cried out from another tree and she turned her head ever so slightly to see Lucas stretched out along the thick limb. Of all of the men in her command, Lucas was the one who had the best chance of making things really work here: he had once been a soldier for the city. While he had renounced his loyalty to the city long ago after his wife and children were killed because of something that was perceived as his failure. That had been a long time ago. Whether or not he was still capable of doing the things that he had been capable of doing, remained to be seen. Reena was hoping that he was because if he failed, the rest of the plan would simply fall apart and they all stood a good chance of dying there.

  The horses entered the woods. Reena gave off a long low whistle, one intended to snap back anyone’s attention that had wandered, and to signal those behind them. Lucas dropped off the tree limb, silent as a cat and landed on the back of one of the horses. He had been aiming for the very last horse in line, but landed on the one next in line.

  For a moment Reena was terrified; if the soldier behind Lucas set out the alarm, Lucas would die and they would stand no chance. Lucas was faster than anyone Reena had ever seen, he twisted around with a blade flying out of his fingers so quickly that it was a simple blur in the fading afternoon sun. The blade hit the soldier in the throat, causing a long run of crimson blood to appear and run down his flesh onto his ropes. Without a sound he pitched sideways off his horse.

  The stallion had been trained to battle and so it just kept walking without so much as a whimper. The horse on which Lucas had landed was carrying another soldier and he was aware that something had happened, that there was something behind him, but he never got a chance to turn around. Lucas’s strong arm wrapped around his neck in a choking hold that cut off all his air and the ability to cry out for help.

  Two down, now there were only five and the odds were more even. In the tree next to Reena, Deal sat up and reached for the crudely made bow and arrow that he had laid beside him. He fitted an arrow into the knots and pulled back; Reena could practically see the boy holding his breath and then he let it go. The arrow flew, straight and true, taking out the second soldier in the column.

  The four soldiers that remained immediately began to pull themselves into a tight circle. That was what their training had always taught them and that was what the rest of the Outlaws had been planning on, had been counting on. As soon as they pulled themselves into that tight little knot more arrows flew from above. All of the soldiers fell, and the horses began to panic as a few of them were stricken lightly with the arrows.

  Nobody wanted to kill the horses, so the arrows that were hitting them were hitting them in spots designed to cause them to stampede. They would not get far; the Outlaws waiting deeper in the woods would see to that. Only one of the soldiers had died as a result of the arrows showering down on them; the others were on the forest floor, weapons drawn and ready to fight.

  Reena and the others came down from the trees, swinging on the long improvised ropes they had made. They had smeared their bodies and faces with mud as well as their clothes, so the only thing that the soldiers saw coming at them was a long gray thing. The soldiers began to run, dropping their swords in their haste. Reena picked off one, her werebane-soaked knife cutting deep.

  They left one soldier alive; that was intentional. As she watched that soldier run out of the woods, Reena felt no pity for him at all. Once upon a time she had had a much softer heart, but the Governor had seen to it that she had lost that. But now the Governor was about to lose a lot more.

  Deal said, “Did you see that? Did you see him running Reena? We won! We beat them!”

  Lucas said, “Son, if you think that was winning then you are seriously in need of a lesson in what makes winning and losing.”

  Reena knew that whatever Lucas was wrestling with, he would not want to discuss it so she did not ask. Instead she pulled Deal away, going to the fallen soldiers so that she could help to strip them of weapons and food.

  Their plans seemed to work because within hours of the soldier’s death another tribe made itself known. The tribe was larger than the combined two with which Reena was already traveling. They were an even dozen grown men, and all of them were eager to fight.

  In the next few days they sent out scouts to the surrounding farms. The stories that they brought back were all the same. The soldier that had escaped and survived had been put to death almost immediately as punishment for his failure to capture whatever it was that had attacked him.

  Before he died however, he had told the story of a ghost falling from the trees and gobbling up the other men to as many people as would listen. And people were listening. The soldiers had regained their fears and superstition of the place and were now avoiding the deeper sections of the woods at all costs. It was said that the Governor was furious.

  They all knew that it would be foolish to take that as a victory. Reena had a feeling that while the soldiers might be superstitious and afraid of ghosts, the Governor himself either was not or did not care how many lives were lost in his pursuit of the girl who got away.

  Her suspicions seemed to be proven correct a few days later when they ran into yet another tribe, one that had been decimated by the soldiers. Most of them had died and the few who remained were suspicious and hostile. They were as angry at Reena and her small band as they were at the soldiers. Reena could understand the reasons: all Outlaws were being pursued and were subject to death now, and soldiers were hunting for her so furiously they were all in even greater danger.

  Lucas found her later that night sitting in the lowest branches of a tree staring out towards the end of the woods, her eyes fastened on a small strip of green grass that divided the woods from the Outside. The farm of Talon’s family was to the right, and she could see smoke rising up from the small chimney on the thatched roof and hear the occasional bleat of a farm animal and her heart ached with pity and misery.

  Where was Talon right then? Was he being made to suffer for her escape? How can the Governor be so cruel? He had known that they knew each other, how was that possible?

  She was startled out of those thoughts by Lucas saying, “If you think any harder your brain might explode.”

  “Somehow I don’t think it’s such a bad thing if something in me explodes.”

  There were tears on her face and she knew she should hide them, but she did not have the energy to bother. Lucas sighed and sat down beside her, warmth from his large body comforting her.

  “No, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. You’re holding a lot in, and maybe you need to let it out. It’s obvious that it’s hurting you.”

  “Does it ever get any easier Lucas?”

  “Does what get any easier Reena?”

  “Killing.”

  “No, or at least it shouldn’t. Some will tell you that it does, that you just go numb or forgot what you’re doing. Some will tell you that you begin to see people as enemies and not as human beings. I always thought that was the most dangerous mindset of all.”

  “What did they find you guilty you of? What happened to make you become and Outlaw instead of a soldier?”

  “You’re opening a can of worms Reena. You sure you want to have them tickling around inside?”

  “You’ll have to tell me; I’m just being nosy I guess.”

  “No, you’re asking a question because you want to know the answer. Whether or not it’s your right to know, I’m going to tell you anyway.

  “There was a farm but on the edges of the city, right outside the walls. The people there had a very lush garden; every year they gave their percentage to the city — everyone paid tax whether they liked it or not. One year three of the children fell ill and couldn’t help to till the soil where the plants and animals were. The crops were less that year and the childre
n needed food in order to make it through the winter, but the tax was due. A man had took some of the food in order to have enough for his children, but pretended that he had not harvested it; if he had not, they would’ve starved.

  “I was one of the soldiers sent to collect their tax and I saw the hidden food but didn’t say anything. I actually helped him to hide it from the other soldiers. Someone found out and reported me.”

  “So they murdered your wife and child?”

  “No, it was my word against my accuser’s and they couldn’t prove it. By the time they searched the farmer’s house, it was almost spring and what food there had been was already gone. The family was starved by then.”

  “So what happened?”

  “The man who accused me had always been jealous of my position within the ranks. I was the son of a poor farmer and he was the son of a city council member. He always thought he should have been the first to advance, and in normal circumstances he would’ve been. He had been in battle several times that year, and there were factions within the city that were fighting the army themselves that came after the Governor. I happened to be in the right place at the right time and got myself a giant promotion for it.

  “When he reported me that time, he reported me as a traitor. He used my family and everything else against me. My wife and child were taken and held prisoner and tortured until my wife confessed to something she had never done in an attempt to save our child from being tortured the same way.

  “I was dragged out into a courtyard and forced to watch as my wife and child were executed. I managed to get a hold of a sword and slay the two soldiers who were holding me, but not in time to save my wife and child. The soldiers murdered them, and later that day they went to one of the taverns to drink. They were foolish enough to go drinking at the taverns, knowing that I was running loose in the city, having escaped from the death sentence hanging over my head.