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

first. The sun beat down on her head and shoulders and she longed, yearned, for the freedom of the forest. She wanted to stab him — take the knife and drive it deep within his heart. If he had not created the Laws That prevented so many of the citizens from having the right to live as they chose none of them would be here.She could think of nothing to say but the truth, “a long time ago there was a man who traveled with us. He told me of the great seas of the past. And the monsters that live within it. He called them sharks. He said that when men would capsize into the sea on these things that they called boats, these monsters, the sharks, would come after them and feed upon them.
    “He said that the only way to survive would be to kill one of the sharks so that the other ones would attack it. When I saw the tiger trying to attack him,” she pointed at the quaking man that she had met in the cart, “I only wanted to save his life. I thought about the shark thing later, after the lion attacked.”
    The Governor’s eyebrows lifted almost all the way to his hairline. “Did you say that you had heard a tale of men riding upon the sea in boats?” He had lifted his voice, and his words were heard by many in the crowd. A titter started and even though she did not hear what he had said began to laugh.
    Reena’s face burned red. She held the knife between her fingers, its hilt pressed deeply into her palm. She should kill him, stab him right here and right now while she had the chance, but she was frozen, unable to move.
    Sweat trickled down her face and underneath her armpits. The smell of blood hung in the air, coppery rich and thick. The few animals that had escaped the carnage were being slaughtered at that very moment. The crowd cheered wildly with every death and it took everything Reena had not to bend over and be sick on her own feet.
    What was wrong with those people up there in the stands? They come out for a day of entertainment, dressed in their finest robes, wearing jewelry and laughing and clapping. Her eyes scanned the first rows and she saw, to her horror, that many of the people sitting there were actually eating!
    They were feasting and eating and laughing and down here in this sand, in this dirt, life was being played out. People have been led out to the slaughter and the fact that they had survived it was nothing more than a mere passing moment of entertainment to these people.
    How would they feel if it was them down here in this damned arena?
    The Governor raised his hands and the crowd began to scream and cheer. Reena’s heart sank all the way down into her stomach as she heard the chant being taken up, “Kill! Kill! Kill!”
    Nemia nudged her. So, the other girl knew that she had the knife. Reena’s palms were slicked with sweat and her heart was beating so rapidly she was afraid she was going to faint. How could such a lovely day — a day so beautiful, with such a blue sky and wonderfully beaming sun — bring such misery?
    He was going to order that they all die. She knew it. She lifted her hand just as the Governor lifted his and a knife blade glittered momentarily in the sun, causing the Governor to blink, but his thumb was already moving in the crowd screamed again assist him pointed toward that sunny sky.
    Reena quickly lowered her hand. The Governor stepped closer, and Nemia crowded next to her. Nemia took the knife so quickly that nobody saw it happening. With this free hand the Governor reached out and grabbed Reena’s hand just as the knife left it. The touch of his fingers on her wrist made her shutter, and she reacted instinctively, her other hand coming up balling into a fist and careening wildly toward his face.
    Her father grabbed her arm just in time. She could feel the heat of the Governor’s cheek on her knuckles. The crowd went silent. The silence was so profound that Reena could hear the distant scream of a hawk riding high on the currents in the air above the