Call to Arms (The Girl In The Arena Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

life.
    There was a roar from the crowd and then a long rattle, a melodious tinkle that reminded her of sweet bells. These were not bells however; these were the long chains that fastened to the collars around the necks of the beasts as they were freed from the tiny pens behind the barred doors.
    Reena gasped, her eyes going wide. She looked around her, terrified and frightened. Her hands came up as she fought to block the furry body of a starving beast from her own.
    Fangs dripped saliva into her face. Her back met the earth and she wanted to scream but she had no air left. She rolled to the right and the beast came with her, snapping and growling. She could hear cheering in the background.
    Liam was there, his hand slipping her the knife, his knife. The one she had dipped in werebane just…had it really only been days before? It felt like centuries. The beast lunged at a man running away. She heard a high-pitched scream and then the hard cracking that meant breaking bones.
    She got to her feet, her legs barely able to support her and her head rang from hitting the ground. The man was still trapped under the beast but the tiger had not yet bitten him. Liam was trying to help the older woman who had spoken to Reena earlier avoid having her leg taken off by a horribly mutated crocodile-like creature.
    She had the knife, so she had a chance. Sorrow filled her. Her father had given her the only chance any of them had and by doing so he had insured his own death. There was only one knife…
    She saw that the tiger wanted to bite. It was starving and desperate but human was not its natural food source. It was hesitant and furious at the same time.
    She ran, her feet churning up dust. Her body stretched out, and she went past the tiger with the knife hidden in her palm, and she struck it a mighty blow in the back, right along its side.
    The werebane hit its bloodstream almost immediately. It fell down on top of the man, its roars sounding out. The crowd howled with delight, sure the man was about to die—and he did die, crushed beneath the tiger, something Reena had not considered. Even as the horror over that consequence struck her, a lion raced in, scenting blood and opportunity.
    The lion grabbed the massive tiger and shook it. More blood spattered and ran and then the entire pack of beasts was at each other’s throats.
    The humans gathered in a tight little knot, watching it happen until the Governor stood, and amidst the boos and yells for death from the crowd, summoned the beast keepers to the ring. The animals were taken away and the people that had survived (Reena, Liam, Nemia and a boy with a crooked grin and a head of fiery red hair and the older woman) stood silent and waiting.
    Would she have to kill the other people there in order to live? Reena was terribly afraid that the answer was yes. She had never killed a person before and she did not think she could; it was so wrong! Nemia deserved to live, so did she and her father! They all did!
    The Governor came into the Arena. Nobody moved. He drew closer and Reena flinched and uttered a low little whimper when he took a sword and killed the head beastmaster. Her insides quaked and her fingers tightened on the blade of the knife even as she drew it up and into her sleeve to hide it from sight.
    If the Governor got near enough, she would kill him.
    The Governor was young, surprisingly so. Reena had expected him to be older, and ugly. He was neither of those things: his hair was a rich chestnut brown, his face unlined. His sharp blue eyes looked out at her from under eyebrows the same color as his hair.
    He opened his mouth and began to speak, his voice mellifluous and pleasant. “You have surprised me; that does not usually happen. Most of the time you Outlaws come out here and either you fight each other to the death in order to save your own sorry skins, or you die screaming in terror.
    “What made you think to attack the animal?”
    Reena did not know what to say at