Free Battle Cry by Lara Lee Hunter Page A

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,