Light, Glorious Light

Pound of Flesh

The warcry of The Yellow Sun and the sound of rifle fire from the walls heralded the morning.  The infected were nearby but the rising sun would push them back.  The most hardy and hungry of the hordes would storm the settlement's perimeter and the reavers would cut them down until the cleansing rays of the sun could deal with the remnants.

Pride Home awakened as the last of the gunfire died down.  From within the confines of the central building Akiva heard the steady buzz of a growing crowd.  She knew the reavers were preparing for the day's challenge.  To the many clans of the waste nothing, not even The Great Mother, was more sacred.  She lay against the wall, two feet from Maira, though it might as well have been miles.  Akiva could hear the change in her breathing.  The valkyrie was awake, but she'd refused to respond to Akiva's probing whispers.  Akiva watched the rise and fall of May's back, wanting to reach out and touch her but fearing rejection.  While she watched she listened to the outside sounds of Pride Home.  Things were building to a crescendo, and when they reached that peak blood would be spilt.

Akiva didn't have to wait long for the moment to come.  The buzzing of the excited town stopped and a steady chant rose to fill the empty spaces.

Challenge!

Challenge!

CHALLENGE!

Two reavers entered the chamber, both tattooed with the mark of the wildcat.  They were tall, sharp-eyed and fierce.  Everything Akiva was not.  The wildcat with the bald head untethered Maira's chain from the pillar.  The wildcat with the scarred face gestured for Akiva to rise.

"It's challenge day.  The Lioness awaits."

Akiva rose, her stomach full of quicksand.  Her heart cold and heavy.  She set her jaw and stood with all the bravado she could muster.  She couldn't appear weak, not in front of true wildcats, not in front of the clan, and not in front of Desdemona.  Akiva took a deep a breath.  She snatched the chains from the bald reaver, and tugged.  Maira rose to her feet.  Her face was devoid of emotion, but her eyes were glowing beacons of defiance.

"What now?"

"Anya cuts you up, and takes your pale bed warmer."

"Unless she decides to bleed them both."

The wildcats laughed.

"Anya will bleed no one."

"You're brave for a tiny pretender."  The scarred reaver leaned in closely.  "Bravery can only get you so far.  After she bleeds you, I might place a challenge for what's left."  She licked her lips and pointed towards the exit. "The Yellow Sun is waiting."

Akiva gently pulled May toward her with the chain and May pulled back, making to grab for her restraints.  The two wildcats took hold of her, but hesitated to do more.  They looked to Akiva.  She shook her head and gave the chains a rough tug.  The reavers let May go and she stumbled forward.  Akiva braced herself as Maira bumped into her.  The smaller woman grabbed the other's face and pulled her in close.

"You have to be mine," she growled in the old code the little girls of Phalanx liked to use while carrying out their daily chores.  "For us to survive, they need to believe you're mine!"

Akiva shoved Maira back hard enough for the taller woman to lose her footing and fall to the floor.

"What was that you said to her?"  The scarred reaver's face had suspicion written all over it.

Her companion gestured.  "Doesn't matter, the pale one understood.  Let's get going."

May stared at the floor, clenching and unclenching her fist.  However, when Akiva pulled on the chain she complied.  Akiva found herself relieved and sobered.  Even a valkyrie could be broken with the right leverage.