Battle Cry (5 page)

Reena had no answer to that because there was no answer to that. They all moved inside the gate and then deeper inside the city, moving in small groups or alone and never looking at one another but always keeping within sight of the others.

They were headed toward the temple. They needed help, they needed answers. When they arrived, they saw Nemia at the front gate dispensing flowers and water to the followers who came for them. As soon as she spotted Reena she nodded slightly and held up a finger in a fleeting gesture that meant wait.

Reena did wait, they all did. When the temple doors were finally cleared, Nemia beckoned them forth and they came, still in the small groups, to the doors of the temples.

If Nemia were surprised to see so many of them it did not show. She led them inside, taking them past the bathing chambers and to the small room where they all gathered. There were so many of them the room could barely hold them all, but that was not a situation that lasted long because as soon as they were all inside, several other priestesses appeared bearing pitchers of cool water and plates of food: cheese, bread, fruit, and sliced meat.

There were not enough chairs, so they all arranged themselves on the floor, all of them were hungry and tired and it showed. When Reena asked Nemia were Praxis was she said, “He will not be able to get away until later tonight. I will send word for him. Until then, you must all remain here and remain quiet. At some point we will get you all bathed and clean so that you can begin your quest.”

At the word quest every person in the tribe stiffened. They exchanged glances that said exactly what they thought and the priestess saw those glances. “Yes, this is an ordained quest. The gods have seen fit to favor you; do not be afraid and know that even as your journey shall be hard it shall be rewarding.”

Reena reflected bitterly that it was easy for the other girl to say that, she was not the one who was about to have to journey across the desert. She kept that thought to herself though, just as she did not ask what time Praxis would be able to come.

Why was she so excited about seeing him again? Her face burned every time she remembered the kisses that they had shared here in this very room. Was he just using her? He captured her and brought her to the city and then he had helped her escape although she could not say why and she still wasn’t sure what his motives were, or who he was truly loyal to, if anyone.

He was so handsome though, so strong and he seemed so brave all the time. The other soldiers would have killed her the night she had put the werebene in the cooking pot if he had not intervened. A frown creased her brow at that memory. Why was it that he alone had noticed that she had been plucking the werebene? It wasn’t a plant that was common to the people in the city — it grew deep in the woods, where most were afraid to go because they were afraid of spirits.

Praxis was a puzzle, and one she was not sure she can afford to try to solve. When he came she was going to guard both her heart and her words — and her mouth. If this quest was indeed one that the gods had decided for her, this was her fate and her destiny and she would do it, but she was going to have to have help.

All of the tribe bathed and were given fresh robes, Reena included. She already knew what it was like to be cleaned in those sacred chambers, but even so, after it was finished and she was back in the small room clean and fresh with her belly full of food, she could not help but feel grateful for the experience.

The other priestesses had brought soft pillows and blankets for them to sleep that night; the room was crowded and mostly airless but it was still more comfortable and secure than many of the places they had been laying their heads lately, so all of them were happy to take that night and its respite regardless of what small discomforts might be involved.

It was late when Praxis arrived. Reena knew he was there because Nemia shook her awake, putting a finger to her lips to remind her to be quiet. Lucas sat up immediately, his hand going for his weapon, but Reena shook her head and whispered to him that she had to go meet a friend, an ally she would help as they made their way across the desert.

Praxis awaited her in her room on the other side of the Temple. Incense burned heavily. Coating the air was not just its smell but a heavy thick smoke; gray streamers of that smoke drifted around the room and Reena felt like she was about to suffocate or smother in its rich perfume.

Her heartbeat accelerated when she saw Praxis standing there. His uniform was stained and dirty, and there was a bandage wrapped around his upper right arm and his face was tired and drawn.

Without thinking about it she ran at him and threw herself into his arms. They came up and wrapped around her, holding her tight and she relaxed into him feeling more secure and safer than she had in a long time. She was not sure why he made her feel that way, she was anything but safe and she knew it.

“I found the sword. I think I’m supposed to go across the desert with it, take it back to the city where it belongs. Is that right? Do you know there is even a city there Praxis? Why is this happening to me? What if I fail?”

Praxis did not answer this question immediately; instead he held her back from his body slightly, his eyes studying her face carefully before he answered. “We are all called to do what we are called to do Reena. The gods decide, not us. I knew from the moment I met you that you were the one the prophecy spoke of, and while I am sure that is going to be hard and it will be dangerous, you have enough strength to do it.”

“I’m scared.” Her lips quivered as she said the words. She had not said those words out loud ever, not even to Lucas who was rapidly becoming not just her right hand man, but her best friend. “Praxis, what if I fail? I will be leading the people that are following me straight into death in that hellhole of a wasteland.”

“You won’t fail. You have to trust me on this one Reena.” His fingers stroked her hair and he leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. Her eyes closed as she waited for him to kiss her mouth but he didn’t even though she wanted him to desperately. His muscles of his arms were hard and almost inflexible below her fingers, his mouth was full, lush, and so kissable…

“You have to leave tonight.”

“I can’t. We have to have supplies. We’re going to bag a deer, take it down right out there by the outside.”

“Why do you need a whole dear?” Praxis asked. “Why not just take dried meat?”

“Dried meat is so salty; it makes people thirsty. You’ve obviously never had to live off dried meat for days at a time.”

Praxis’ lips twitched into a grin, “Actually, I have. And you’re right — it is incredibly salty. It’s how they keep it from bearing the poisons that come from meat that isn’t cured properly. But how do you plan on carrying fresh meat across the desert?”

“I need ground radish. I also need water bags, filled to the brim. We can’t go back through the woods, and for the last day or two we have been cut off for most of the water sources so we’re already lacking in in those.

“We need tried vegetables, and fruit. I would take cheese but it wouldn’t last under the sun; we also need other supplies and many of our members do not have shoes. The sand would burn their feet off. They’re used to walking on the floor of the woods, not the sand of the desert. Without those things we will never make it, we cannot get those things anywhere else.”

Praxis said, “You are utterly correct in that. But you cannot stay the entire night here Reena. I know your people are tired, I know you’re exhausted as well but the soldiers are scouring not just the woods but the city; they are determined to find you — they are determined to wipe you from the earth. You do not understand how bad things have been since your escape.”

Tears filled her eyes. Anger swelled up inside her, ballooning as fast as the sorrow that his words had brought about. “I don’t understand? I’m not the one who decided to just run away, Praxis! You and your friends engineered the whole thing! It was your decision to send me away, I never wanted to go! Now you make me feel guilty because I did? What kind of a person are you? You send me on a quest and say that it’s the gods’ decision; that it is my fate and yet you belittle me for taking it on!”

“No, that is not what I am saying. I am saying that none of us realized how insane the Governor is, how single-minded. None of us knew that his anger was so great his hatred of you so high that he would have you murdered at any cost.”

Reena’s anger and sorrow collapsed inward, leaving her feeling lonely and frightened. “Why does he hate me so Praxis? Surely I’m not the first person who ever escaped death in the Arena! It was as if he looked at me and decided that he wanted me dead in the worst way possible and he would not be satisfied until I am.”

“Tell her.” Nemia came in so silently that neither Praxis or Reena had noticed her. She stood near the doorway, the small candle she held in her hand highlighting her loveliness, showing the pristine whiteness of her robes. “Tell her Praxis or I will.”

”Now is not the time.” A muscle in his jaw dropped and Reena stared at it, wondering what it would be like to put her fingers on that smooth jaw of his, to touch his skin and to draw his face towards hers. His scent came to her nostrils: musky, masculine, wood smoke and sweat. She wanted to nuzzle her face into his neck and smell that scent until she could keep it in her memory forever.

“Now is not the time for what?” Reena asked. “It has something to do with me, so tell me. Why should I be locked out of something that pertains to me?”

Praxis said, “This will not bring you better understanding and it will not help you to cross the desert either. If anything it will make it harder. Let’s not do that. When you return, and yes Reena, I do believe that you will return, I will tell you all of it. We will tell you all of it.”

Annoyed and confused Reena, tried to stare him down, thinking that if she could he would eventually break and tell her whatever it was that he was attempting to hide from her, but he would not.
Damn him
, she fumed. Why was he withholding information from her?

“I will see to it that you have everything that you need Reena.” Praxis gathered her into his arms and that time he did kiss her, a long and slow kiss that made her forget that Nemia was in the room, that he was holding back information from her that had to be important, that she was about to set out on a quest to go completely through a desert — a quest that might see her dead before she could ever return.

When the kiss ended and he stepped away, Praxis said, “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I will look forward to your return.” And with those words, he was gone.

Reena stared after him. Nemia touched her arm lightly and said, “now is not the time to get the vapors over a man — especially not that one.”

Reena stared at her, “And why not? Does he belong to another?”

“He belongs to a cause. When a man belongs to a cause he can never belong to you. It’s a hard truth, but then you should know. Come with me — we will see if we can get you all of the things that you need to go on your quest.”

Reena asked, “Do you really believe it is a quest?”

“Of course it is. It was foretold years ago, don’t you know the prophecy?”

Reena shook her head, “No, why don’t you tell me?”

“I will, but I will tell you in front of the rest of your company. I am sure that many of them already know it, or heard it when they were young.”

**

The gods looked down at the struggling new world, and while many of them felt no pity for the humans on the earth below them, some did. Not all humans deserved their fate after all; for the most part humans were good and kind. The ones who had brought about the war machines and the weapons that had left the earth devastated and smoking, blackened and ruined were almost dead now, but their legacy lived on. Even now after the great war, after everything that had happened there were still some who would see death and destruction writing across the lands. Who would gladly welcome that death and destruction.

The gods had long ago decided not to intervene. To let the humans live or die as they would. They felt that they no longer deserved their help, not after what they had done to the earth, not after how they had squandered the gifts that the gods and given them so freely. But many of the gods and goddesses knew that human life was frail, and short. The humans now walking the earth had never made any of the decisions that their forefathers had made. They felt that it was not right to hold those humans responsible for the decisions made long before their own lifetimes had ever begun. Among them was the mighty goddess Isis.

Isis watched as did many others as many humans struggled to rebuild, to know peace and harmony in the face of great dangers and odds. Her heart was stirred by these humans and she took pity on them and began to help them at first in small ways and even larger ones.

It did not take long for the humans to find out who their patron goddess was and they began to erect small temples to her. At first they were rudimentary, small little structures of falling stone built inside growth of stunted and gnarled trees. The humans sought out the places that were still beautiful and there they built, as best they could, shrines to their goddess

It was their willingness to remember her that caused Isis to loan them small bits of knowledge here and there. She gave them the ability to find cold water, fresher lands, and in those who were infertile she planted the seeds of life.