Free Battle Cry by Lara Lee Hunter

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.

Chapter 5
     
    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