Call to Arms (The Girl In The Arena Book 1) Read Free Page A

shouted.
    Reena managed to roll over and sit up, shocking all of them, especially the one she was riding with. Her bottom was on the horse’s shoulders and both her legs dangled off one side. She gripped the horse’s mane with desperate fingers and lashed out with a hard foot. It struck her father’s captor on his jaw. Her foot ached through the thin leather of her handmade shoes and her toes cramped. The soldier snarled angrily and she tensed, waiting for the blow.
    It came, but not on her body. He struck Liam, hard. Blood spilled down the side of his horse, mingling with the blood already staining the animal’s sides. Terror and rage twisted her emotions every which way.
    “Do that again and I will kill your father while you watch.”
    The words defeated her. Liam was unconscious, his eyes closed and his head bobbing with every step of the horse. Reena wanted to weep but to weep in front of these men was something she would never do. She stared stonily at the horse carrying her father as it wound to the front of the column of soldiers.
    “You need to sit differently or you will fall off.”
    His voice was soft, deep and warm. She dug her fingers deeper into the horse’s mane and retorted, “Before I can jump you mean?”
    “If you jump they will trample you with their horses. It would be a terrible way to go. Your father is the prize. It’s too bad they know he is your father, they are going to use you to wound him far deeper than a sword could.”
    Tears stung her eyes. She swallowed hard. “That traitor Warrin,” she whispered. “May the gods take no pity on him.”
    His hands were gentle as he lifted her and said, “Swing one leg over. Have you ever ridden a horse?”
    “No.”
    “You are going to be very sore tonight,” he actually chuckled. His chest was strong and his arms were too. His legs pressed against her hips; she could feel the muscles in his thighs moving, and a strange heat came to her face. “What’s your name?”
    “Why do you care?”
    The wind grew stronger, screaming as it struck the trees and shook their branches, making a sound that sent chills down her spine. It sounded like bones dancing, like the denuded skeleton she had seen once, as a child, dangling from a hanging tree.
    “My name is Praxis.”
    “Your name is bottom sucking soldier.”
    He laughed, silently. Neither of them spoke above a bare whisper. Reena knew he could be killed for talking to her kindly, and she wondered why he was doing it. Why take such a risk? The horse moved below her and she began to drift away, her body grew stiff and sore and her worry over her father was overshadowed by exhaustion and stress.
    Her eyes dropped closed and her head nodded. Praxis spread his cloak open slightly, not noticeably but just enough that she had some protection from the harsh weather and she went to sleep, tumbling into darkness as the sky turned to indigo and lavender.

Chapter 2
     
    When she awoke it was full dark. The horse had stopped moving and she was bitterly aware of what Praxis had meant when he said she would be sore. Her inner thighs, under the rough leather pants she wore, were chafed almost brutally raw.
    Praxis told her to get down. She stared off the horse’s back at the ground, wondering just how she was supposed to do that. Praxis solved the dilemma by grabbing her by one leg, flipping it to the side and shoving her head. She went down in a crumpled heap. Her aching legs were unable to support her for long seconds and the other soldiers laughed. Hatred for them grew in her heart, and intensified when she saw the one who held her father remove him from the horse and lash him to a tree.
    She started toward Liam but Praxis stopped her, his gauntleted arm barring her way. “Make yourself useful. Start a fire and cook dinner.”
    More laughter. She glared at him. She was not a slave! She was free! Her eyes went back to Liam and she saw that his eyes were open, just slightly. He winked at her and nodded. He