Battle Cry (6 page)

If any other goddess had looked down upon the humans, none of those things would’ve happened. But Isis was one of the most powerful goddesses of all and her rule was neither tyrannical or oppressive. Centuries passed and the other gods and goddesses watched without surprise as humans began to revert back to their same old tricks and habits.

Soon, war began again. People still lived and people still committed murder, and did other things for which there was no rhyme or reason. The crimes were often heinous and so many of the gods and goddesses once more turned their backs, deciding that the humans were worthless, and necessary to life.

Isis still did not turn her back. She watched as a man from the lowliest of origins clawed his way to the top as a soldier. Once there he began to murder his enemies and all of his superiors. It was this that brought him to the attention of the goddess. This man, this beast within a human skin, committed much crime. One of his worst crimes was in destroying every shrine to every god or goddess that he came across. He wanted to be a god, he wanted to be a mortal and to be idolized. He wanted no other gods or goddesses to go before him.

Long ago the gods and goddesses had made a pact, they would not help humans below them in their wars no matter what the cost. To do so — to break the pack — would be to suffer death of their own. They had made this pact as the great war machines had destroyed the earth. The reason for the pact was simple, it was the great war god himself Mars who was captured  by the promises of the humans.

He had glorified all the death in the war and he had never realized or known that when the weapons that they made, the ones that would rival the very gods themselves as they echoed and flashed across the world’s face, would also be able to bring disruption to the heavens themselves.

Not even the home of the gods and goddesses were safe from those weapons. They were forced to flee, to leave behind the lands they had always known and seek refuge in the higher stratosphere in order to preserve their own life. After that, after the execution of Mars, it was agreed that they would never again interfere.

Isis was greatly disturbed by this soldier, all the gods and goddesses were but the pact remained unbroken. Even as he rode across lands decimating them and bringing them to the ground, killing all who would deny him the godhood that he sought.

He was mortal, but he was determined to be remembered as something more. In his madness he was convinced that if he was remembered as something of a God that he would actually become one. Even now none of  the gods and goddesses took any comfort in the fact that his soul wandered forever lost in Hades.

They could not interfere and because they can see far into the future they knew that his evil would last for many centuries. He would indeed be thought of as a god — a hero and a legend. There would be none to dispute that because any who could or would have been able to do so had died at his hand long before he departed the mortal coil himself.

So Isis went to the Oracle. She asked the Oracle for a prophecy, a prophecy that would not only be self -fulfilling but a favor to the goddess herself, to all the gods and goddesses that were.

The Oracle looked deep into the future, further than even the gods and goddesses could see. To do so meant death, even to one as mortal as the Oracle. The Oracle was willing to sacrifice herself for this prophecy for she knew, as did all of the gods and goddesses, that they had unleashed and allowed to wander free upon the earth a plague in the form of a man.

The souls who were trapped in Hades, so many of them, trapped there by the actions of that man cried out for justice and even the gods and goddesses could not ignore that cry. Nor could the Oracle. When she finally spoke her prophecy it went like this…

“When there is captured an innocent and that innocent is taken to the place of the beasts and yet survives that will mark the beginning of the end of this reign of terror. The innocent shall battle, and try. And when the innocent leaves the grounds of battle only to return with the mightiest weapon, the very weapon that vanquished the evil one before, then and only then will his rule be no more.”

Nemia finished speaking and Reena looked around at the faces of the tribe. This was a story they all knew, and yet  hearing it spoken by somebody else had somehow made it all come home to them. It had made it far more real. They had believed before that this was a quest, but they believed it even more now. Now they would never stop until it was finished. Reena knew that was an uncharitable thought but she could not help but wonder if the priestess and the soldier who had helped her escape were using knowledge of this prophecy to get things done, to make things happen.

She supposed it did not really matter. Several of their members had slipped out and gone into the city without the priestesses seeing them go; stealth was one of their greatest assets after all, and the news that they brought back was as grim as the news that Praxis had imparted to her.

The Governor was indeed furious, and almost insane with his need to kill Reena.  The populace could not understand it and were terrified and frightened of his rage and many of them were actually hoping that she was captured and killed quickly, so that things can get back to what passed for normal there in the city.

They were well supplied and there seemed to be nothing else to do. It was nowhere near dawn, but they had to leave despite still being weary. The priestesses had arranged for them to be able to leave through a small door, a side entrance that was rarely used. One of the soldiers there was a friend, an ally.

Reena did not want to leave even though; she was in so much danger. She refused to wonder how much of that was because she wanted to see Praxis again.

Dear were indeed not far from the city walls. They were intended for the Governor, and the higher ranking officials of the government. They killed two of them quickly, but drained them and buried the parts that they could not use. They took the hides though; they had long since learned how to use smaller animal hides for clothing. The dear hide would be useful in the desert as well, as they could even use it as a tent if necessary.

The packs they had been given were heavy, and the clay pots that held the ground radish and water that would keep the meat fresh were heavy as well. The water skins were full though, and the hard dried bread that was loaded with nuts, seeds, and chopped olives would keep them nourished if not completely satisfied if they ran out of meat which they were sure they would at some point.

Leaving the city had been almost ridiculously easy, and anti-climactic even. Killing the dear had been almost easy as well. But once they had reached the outside, all of their senses tingled and they all knew that they were in grave danger. They had to get to the road that led to the outpost near the mouth of the desert and then into the desert without any of the roving bands of soldiers who took the road back and forth between the city and the outer lands seeing them.

That was going to be almost impossible since there was no place to hide. The grass had all been cut for feed for horses and so on inside the city walls. No trees grew until one reached the woods. All of the farms that dotted the vast landscape between the first part of the outside and the second ring of what was considered to be the outside were closer together than those that were scattered nearer to the woods.

All it would take was for them to be spotted by one person eager to earn a reward or eager for the reign of terror that the Governor had been engaged in lately to end.

They were practically walking on tiptoes; none of them were speaking and their hands kept twitching towards their weapons no matter how many times Lucas told them to relax, to act as normal as possible in order to avoid detection.

There was a small market located along the road. It was a crude open-air market similar to the ones in the city, a place where farmers could come and trade things for the other things that they needed.

Deal spotted a fat cheese hanging in a wrapper as they were passing by and he said, “I wish we had told those priestesses that we wanted cheese. I never really had it until I went to the city and now I think I am very fond of it.”

Lucas said, “Have you never been to the farm that belongs to Ian?”

Deal said, “No, my father always said he killed first and asked questions later.”

Lucas chuckled and so did Deal’s father. “It’s true, but mostly because his wife is so unfaithful. He doesn’t mind his cheese for being so worried about minding his wife. His wife does make the finest cheese.”

The two men were howling laughter now and Reena gave them a bewildered look as did Deal. It had to be a grown-up thing, everyone knew that to steal cheese from a farmer meant risking a farmer’s life — that was one of the highest taxes a farmer had to pay. They had to give so many wheels of cheese a year, and if their cows ran dry then they had to replace them with crops, crops they could not afford to lose.

Reena still had the boots that she had been given by Nemia and Hector. When she had fled, she had also taken with her the gorgeous white outfit, and while it was mostly in tatters the gauntlets were still lovely and workable. She took one off her wrist and handed it to Deal.

“See if they won’t trade you a bit of that cheese for this,” Reena said.

Lauren asked, “Won’t that draw attention to him?”

Reena said, “Simply walking past the market and never even looking at the wares will draw more attention to us than if we had stopped, I think. They won’t expect us to stop, to try to trade. But people who are in a hurry and who are loaded with weapons they wouldn’t stop.”

Lucas said, with admiration, “If we had had three of you in the military we would’ve won every battle.”

Reena blushed. Things that her father had taught her were now standing her in good stead, but she did not like the fact that people seemed to think that she thought of the things on her own. “Father and I came through here once before, not on purpose but because we had to avoid a patrol of soldiers. He told me to pretend that I was one of the people who lived at the farms, to act as if I belonged here, and the soldiers drove right past us. Let’s hope that still works today.”

It did work. The woman traded Deal a large hunk of the cheese for the gauntlet, saying that she could rework the leather and turn it into a nice gift for her husband. They stopped at a few other stalls; none of them had much to trade, but the farmers were used to trading for other foodstuffs so they offered juniper berries and other things that were both a delight and a good bargain for them.

By the time they reached the end of the market they only had about seven more miles to go before they reached the mouth of the desert, but they were all highly nervous and tense. Long shadows were starting to stroke the sides of the road before they stopped and took a quick meal near a large rock that sat directly beside the road.

Deal asked, “Are we stopping for the night?”

Lucas said a trifle harshly, “No. We can’t afford to stop tonight. I know you are tired, we’re all tired but we must press on. They will never look for us in the desert — and even if they do it will be almost impossible for them to find us there. We have to get off this road; I feel it in my bones don’t you?”

They all did. There was something coming in, and whatever it was, it was hungry and it wanted blood — theirs.

A few hours later they spotted the hut, standing at the mouth of the desert. Reena shuddered all over remembering what she had found in there and she turned towards Lucas, her eyes wide with fear. “I’m terrified of walking in there and finding him still alive; they will come after us.”

“Worry more about the soldiers that are only a mile behind us.”

Every head turned at Lucas’s words. As soon as he said them they all strained to hear and to see and sure enough, there was a dust cloud on the road that was coming closer. It was obvious that they were being hunted down. Maybe taking the road had not been such a good idea after all, but there had been no way to go through the woods and they needed the fastest, most direct route into the desert.

Reena wanted to believe that they were simply coming to the outpost to check on things there, but having seen for herself the utter desolation of the place, the way it had been so openly and pathetically deserted, she knew that this was not true. The soldiers did not go there, not anymore. They were looking for them! “Run!”

They all ran. Their feet kicked up dirt, but they had no choice; they knew that they were leaving their own little plumes of dust and dirt, but they could not help it. The gods did seem to be paying attention, however, because just then a large and gusty wind blew in from the east, stirring up the dirt even further and bending what was left of the grasses in the fields.

There was a stitch in Reena’s side and sweat was pouring off her entire body. Her hair, tightly braided away from her face, and her eyes stung as sweat rolled down her forehead and into them.

Everyone was running, most of them were shoulder to shoulder and some were even a little ahead. They were going to make it! If they could get past those first dunes, the soldiers would never see them, and they could get lost in the desert. The soldiers would never believe that they were there — nobody went to the desert, nobody.

The sand rolled out from under their feet, tripping a few of them and sending them flying onto their faces. Reena and a few others halted to stop and help those who had fallen back to their feet. They kept running but everything was different now. The air was far drier and hotter. It burned as they took it into their lungs and the heat, already high at the edges of the desert grew even more intense. There was no recourse and there was no going back. There was a large sand dune ahead, large enough for them to hide behind. Would it shelter them from the sight of the soldiers? It had to do, there was nothing else.

The horses stopped coming after them. Reena sat there, confused and frightened with her body pressed into the wall of sand. Deal whispered, “I told you we should’ve kept the horses we took off the soldiers instead of tying them up out by the outside. It doesn’t look like they’re afraid of ghosts too much.”

“If we had kept them they would’ve caught us. It is not easy to hide a horse you don’t know. Besides, we want them to be afraid of the woods — not the desert. We had no idea we were coming here.”

Lauren gave the young boy a smack upside his head. “Hush before they hear you.”

Thelong  silence spun out. All of them wanted to lift their head up over the sand dune just to see if the soldiers were there coming after them, but none of them dared to look. Eventually they had to look. Up ahead at the outpost they could see the soldiers’ horses tied to the rail and the soldiers moving around inside the little hut. One of the soldiers yelled and came running out of one of the outbuildings and Reena sighed.

“The man that had the sword told me that he had turned the soldiers into art. He said he made a garden of his art. I guess they just found them.”

Lauren said, “And we shall bear the blame for that as well. We better get going before they decide to ride out this way. They’ll be smart enough to look behind the nearest biggest wall of sand they can, and that would be this one.”

**

They fled deeper into the desert. The wind blew sheets of sand into their faces, stinging their eyes and noses. It got into their mouth and when they did try to drink, water stuck in their throat, making it hard to swallow. It was Lauren who suggested the scarves that they had been given at the Temple. They were meant to be gifts to a priestess at a temple and the city that might or might not exist. Lauren pointed out that they were thin and pliable and would keep the sand out of their noses and mouths so they should use them for that purpose.

Even with that small barrier against the misery, the sand was a constant reminder that they were no longer in familiar territory. The landscape seemed ever the same: dull. It was filled with brown, and filled with shifting sand dunes that rose and fell like ancient civilizations, rebuilding only to fall again every few moments.

They had been wandering for the first three days, being sure to use the tool that Praxis had pressed into Reena’s hand. He had called it an accomplice, and said if it failed that they should follow the brightest star above, the North Star. Reena knew that star because she had been following it most of her life, but in the woods they called it the Loan Maiden.

After traveling through the first night in the bitterest of colds with the sand blowing into their skins so harshly, the next day they all had small red marks on their flash. So they decided to try traveling during the day. That only lasted about three hours before all of them realized that it was utterly impossible.

The desert at night was terrifying, filled with strange creatures that scuttled along the sand, their skeletal little bodies poised to strike. The first night one of them did strike at a member of their tribe. Reena had never gotten to know that man very well, but she still mourned his death as he thrashed and rolled about on the sand, his face contorted as the poison ran through his system.

“It’s like werebane only in an animal’s tail instead of the plant.” That was what Lucas had said as he stood over the man looking at his still and lifeless body. “Perhaps we should pluck a few of those little creatures, get a little revenge at the same time we make a weapon against those who might need one pulled against them.”

The next day after they had discovered that the desert during the day was even more abysmal, they had woken to a sunset that was spectacular. The sky was filled with Vermillion in carnelian streaks across a deep blue dome whose outer edges were tarnished gold and silver. The sun had hung in a bloated orange red ball while the moon, a phantom on the eastern edge of the sky hung next to a few pale stars.

At that moment Reena realized that even a place so desolate and barren as the desert could have some beauty to it. But a few hours later, after that howling wind had cranked up and the sand had begun to blow, she was beginning to wonder if she had ever seen that beautiful sky at all.

When dawn came they all slumped into the best shelter they could find. The first day out they had learned that there were no trees, very little stone and absolutely nothing to erect a tent against. Even if they did erect the tent with the poles the wind would blow it down on them. After waking up in a sweltering tangle of leather and limbs they had devised a method in which they merely rolled into the shelters and used it as both shade and camouflage.

This particular night they got lucky and found a small overhanging cliff that would shelter them. They sat there, exhausted and disheartened, and watched the sunrise while they ate the last of the fresh deer meat and ground radish.

“We’ve got to figure out whether or not there’s really water in those plants.” Deal patted his hands together like he was giving himself a round of applause for the suggestion.

Lucas ruffled the younger man’s hair fondly. “Do you have any idea how we plan to do this son?”

Deal said, “As a matter of fact, yes I do. I was thinking… Do you remember outside the temples? The way they had those little wooden things stuck into the side of the barrels?”