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.

"Maybe you do have a bit of reaver in you, little one."

The reavers laughed and led them outside.

The yellow sun inched its way over the horizon, rising to meet The Great Mother in the sky.  The Yellow Sun waited within the inner village, more than a hundred reavers ready to witness Anya's challenge.  The women clapped a slow and steady rhythm, increasing in tempo with every step Akiva took.   They parted ranks, creating a path to the center of their gathering.

Akiva pulled the chain with halfhearted effort.  Maira followed her eyes downcast.  Her expression was passive, but Akiva caught a glimpse of the seething rage in her eyes.  Outwardly they appeared proper slave and master.  Akiva wished there was time to speak with May.  There was so much to discuss.

Waiting in the midst of the reaver assemblage was a ring of rods hammered into the ground.  Rope threaded through the rods creating a fifteen foot wide enclosure.  Within waited The Lioness.  The clapping came to a ritualistic crescendo as Akiva reached the ropes.  Desdemona raised her hand, made a fist, and silence fell over Pride Home.

A calloused hand snatched the chain.  Akiva spun around expecting Latisha or one of her retinue, but it was the White Tiger who'd taken the reins.  She pulled Maira away while the two wildcats parted the ropes for Akiva.  The old woman gave her an almost friendly smirk and motioned her head towards the leader of the reavers.  Akiva entered.  Her eyes swept over the gathered clan.  Tall, short, sun-baked, sunburnt, covered, uncovered.  They were reavers all, bloodthirsty and ruthless.  Their eyes weighed and measured Akiva Raheem.  To them she was either predator or prey, threat or victim.  All wore the same appraising expression except May.  May refused to look at her.  In that moment, standing before The Lioness and The Yellow Sun, Akiva felt like she didn't have a friend in the world.

On the other side of the ring Latisha and her bandaged companion held open the ropes for Anya.  The reaver wore a red loincloth and a leather breastplate.  Barefoot, her punching daggers hung over her shoulder fastened by a leather thong.  The bruise on the side of her face had already begun its transition from red to blue.  She glared at Maira with unconcealed malice.  Latisha vocalized and raised her fist into the air, her hunting party added their voices to carry across the gathering.  Anya raised her own fist and the women of The Yellow Sun cheered.  There was no need to question who the reavers favored in this particular challenge.

"Wildcats!"

The Lioness's voice boomed over all others.  A new kind of vocalizing began, howls and roars, hisses and hoots.  Human mouths mimicked the sounds of the wild in a rising chorus which overpowered and silenced the cheers for Anya.  Close to twenty reavers danced and hopped as they sang.  It took Akiva a moment to realize they were saying field mouse.  The Lioness put out her hand, and Akiva took it with trepidation.

The warlord pulled her into a close embrace.  "Wildcats are not just my claws, they are a sisterhood sworn to protect The Yellow Sun and each other."

The hug tightened, crushing the field mouse against the lion.

"The wildcats must show you the respect of sisterhood but, like me, they know what you are."  Desdemona squeezed and her hold became painful.  "You understand, yes?"

"Yes."  Akiva could only gasp, her lungs struggling to provide a breath.

The Lioness released Akiva and she stumbled back.  She gasped for air, looking from the warlord to the crowd.  The wildcats sang her name, but there was only contempt in their eyes.  The Lioness raised her hand and made a fist.  Silence.

"Yellow Sun!"  The old reaver stepped into the center of the ring.  Her every move commanded the attention of her people.  "The dawn has brought us spectacle.  Red Anya has challenged my field mouse, a clan wildcat.  They fight for their most prized possessions."

Desdemona gestured to either side of the ring.  On one side Maira stood just outside the ropes, head downcast, hands balled into reddened fist.  On the other side Latisha held a thin leash fastened to the collar of a thin girl smaller than Bianca.  Her skin was a deep dark brown.  Her short cut hair, a lighter shade of the same color.  Her eyes were wide and expressive.   Anya's Foxy.  The Lioness grinned, vicious and feral.

"They fight for pain!"  Desdemona made fists and a wildcat tossed Akiva's climbing pick at the scavenger's feet.  "They fight until one quits or is unable to fight.  And The Yellow Sun will watch, yes?  The Yellow Sun shall bear witness!"

The Lioness vocalized and the gathered clan joined their voice to hers.

The ropes were parted and Desdemona backed out of the ring.  The cheers resumed and with them the betting began.  All around her women put their valuables up as collateral, mostly against her success.  Akiva tuned them out.  She focused on Phalanx and Mother Gwyneth's training circles.  She'd spent years being the punching bag of the other girls.  She was small, but never the fastest.  She wasn't as strong as Maira or any of the other girls who went on to become valkyrie.  Akiva was no stranger to having the disadvantage.  She concentrated on those memories, on the thing Mother Gwyneth called The Dance.

Anya charged without warning, screaming a wordless challenge.  Akiva dove aside, turning it into her best impression of a roll.  The reavers roared.  The challenge had begun.  Akiva got to her feet and ran.  Anya followed thrusting as she dogged the scavenger's every step.  Women laughed and pointed.  Akiva had forgotten to claim her weapon from the dirt.

She had no time to chastise herself.  Anya had her cornered within moments.  The reaver slashed for her gut, and she bound up onto the ropes only to be thrown to the ground by an observer.  Akiva ate dirt.  There'd be no reprieve, outside the ring was as dangerous as inside.

Pain lanced up Akiva's arm, the crowd cheered.  Anya had drawn first blood.  She rolled to her feet, the reaver right on her heels.  Akiva swept her foot out and spun like a top.  Caught in the spin, Anya was taken off her feet.  Mother Gwyneth would have called the move ugly, but against an untrained outsider the basic trip was more than sufficient.  If Anya's cut across Akiva's shoulder had awakened the crowd's bloodlust, Akiva's martial arts sent them into a frenzy.  Akiva dove for her climbing pick, coming up with the tool as Anya closed for another slash.  The weapons met edge to grip like a twisted t.  Akiva drove her knee into the reaver's gut, and danced away.  Anya gave her a slash across the forehead for her trouble.

The crowd hooted and cheered, some voices even called the name Field Mouse.  Akiva's heart raced.  This wasn't the training circles of Phalanx.  The scrapes on her knees and legs were real.  The blood spilling into her eyes was real.  The pain was real and building.

Akiva wiped the blood off her face and took a side stance, holding her pick in a two-handed grip better suited for a club.  She wished she'd taken more self-defense classes.  Anya rushed in, slashing Akiva across the hip as she tried in vain to defend herself.  She hacked wildly with her pick, missing her mark, but driving the reaver back.

They repeat the steps of the dance multiple times, each leaving Akiva with more wounds but a better understanding of Anya's style.  Akiva's blood stained the dirt of the ring.  Her arms shook as she raised her pick, the instrument feeling heavier with each clash.  Anya came and Akiva barely avoided an attack aimed at her gut.  She chopped downward hooking the reaver's wrists, the head of the pick carving into her arm.  She kicked out the woman's foot as she pulled downward.  Anya was airborne for a moment before she crashed to the ground, the impact jarring the punching daggers from her grasp.  Akiva kicked them out of the ring to the jeers of the clan.  Undaunted, Anya tackled Akiva to the ground.

The two wrestled, Anya's size giving her a distinct advantage.  Climbing pick went the way of the punching daggers, leaving Akiva unarmed.  She bit deeply into her opponent's shoulder.  Anya cried out, releasing her grip and allowing Akiva to snake out from under her.  The reaver gave chase, but the scavenger didn't run far.  Akiva was too tired to run.  She resumed her side stance and raised her hands in the Phalanx boxing form.  She tuned out the sounds of the world around her; no catcalls, no jeers or cheers.  Akiva focused on herself and her opponent.

Akiva expected Anya to slow down, using her reach and strength to wear down the smaller woman.  It's what Mother Gwyneth and her dance instructors hammered into the girls of Phalanx.  Anya, however, was not a child of The Mothers, but a child of the waste.  Anya came in fast and wild.  She raked her nails towards the scavenger's face.  Akiva dodged the clawing strikes, landing punches to Anya's ribs in passing.  The reaver attempted to attack her side and Akiva deflected with a sloppy but effective block.  She swept Anya's feet out from under her and rolled out of harm's way as the woman hit the floor.  Akiva had gotten the measure of Red Anya.

Akiva ignored her shaking fist and the ache in her side.  She kept moving, not taking her eyes off her opponent.  Anya howled in rage and charged.  Akiva braced herself, but  at the last moment blood poured into her eyes.  Akiva cleared her eyes and Anya delivered a brutal punch to her jaw, setting her ears to ringing and filling her mouth with blood.  Akiva Swung her elbow, connecting with the reavers abused ribs and ducked under another punch.  Both woman stumbled back, beaten and bruised.

The outside world wormed its way back into Akiva's senses.  The wildcats were chanting her name, no longer in monotone obligation but in earnest.  She hazarded a glance at the crowd.  Women jumped up and down pumping their fists.  Akiva had won over half of the crowd.  She found May among them, staring.  Their eyes locked and Maira raised her hands in the proper Phalanx defensive form, Akiva's hands were too low and too close together.  Akiva nodded and flashed a bloody smile.  May looked away.  From the other side of the ring Latisha also glared.  Her's was far more enigmatic, she locked eyes with Akiva and refused to look away.

Anya was almost upon her before Akiva noticed.  The reaver silent as she closed.  She'd learned from her mistakes.  Akiva blocked the woman's punch, and threw a spinning kick as counter.  Her heel struck south of the mark, hitting collar instead of face.  Anya took the blow and continued forward, scratching and clawing.  Her nails dug angry trenches across Akiva's cheek.  Akiva drove one elbow into Anya's sternum, and slammed the other into the reavers exposed throat.  Anya gasped and grabbed at her throat.  With the last of her waning strength Akiva went into another spin and threw herself into the air.  Her feet connected with Anya's face and chest.  The two fell on the ground in a heap.

The crowd went insane: cheering, screaming, booing, and explosions!

The horns of war blared.  Pillars of black smoked reached for the sky.

Akiva wanted to lay in the sand, rest her aching limbs, close her wary eyes.  She knew she couldn't, not as long as she was in Pride Home.  She needed to save Maira, she needed to save herself.  She whispered to The Great Mother, a song of praise and a beseeching of grace.

A renewed vigor poured into her limbs.  Akiva rolled to her side and forced herself up on wobbling legs.  Reavers vocalized, and sounded horns.  Huntresses directed their hunting parties.  An explosion shook the ground, gunfire sang from all over the settlement.  A discordant note intertwined with the song of the roused reavers.  Akiva'd studied the warsong of The Yellow Sun reavers, horns and vocalizations.  The notes, building in frequency and variation, belong to a another clan.  Pride Home was under attack.

Akiva looked down at Anya's body.  There was no question who'd proven victorious.  A pair of wildcats ran through the ring.  One tossed rifle ammo to the other, and drew a short machete.  They jumped the ropes, one calling to Latisha as they joined the bands of scatter women.

"Black Smoke!  Black Smoke!"

Latisha turned away from the wildcats and met Akiva's gaze.  A strange look played across the reaver's face, a look which sent a shiver down Akiva's spine.  A hint of grudging respect and the promise of pain.  Another explosion obliterated a section of the inner wall.  The bandage wrapped reaver permanently at Latisha's side pulled her towards the carnage.  Akiva watched her go, wondering if and when they'd cross paths again.

Akiva wasn't thinking clearly, hadn't been since Anya cut her up.  She shook her head of the cobwebs.  Pride Home was under attack, She wouldn't get a better opportunity to escape.  She ran, leaving Anya in the dirt.  Women sprinted in every direction.  In the middle of it all was Maira.  Her chains had been staked to the ground and she worked furiously to get herself free.  Akiva rushed to her side and together they worked the heavy anchor out of the earth.  The effort left Akiva shaking and light headed.

She crouched down to avoid falling over.

"We... we have to get out of here.  It might be our only chance."

"You're home, why leave?"

Akiva looked up at May's angry freckled face, the metal collar around her neck standing out against her pale skin.

"May, my home will always be Phalanx.  My family will always be you and The Mothers."

"How can yo-"

"We don't have time for this, this bullshit!  I did what I had to do... I'm doing what I have to do."  Akiva scanned the area.  The fighting sounded like it was coming from the northwest which meant she wanted to go south west.  "We're going this way."

She started moving, fatigue making her feet feel heavy.

"Am I supposed to just follow you, master."  The scorn in Maira's voice was sharp.

Akiva stopped in her tracks.  "You were always mine, May.  The collar's the only new addition!"

May's face went from offended to mildly flattered.  Akiva wasn't sure where the words came from, but they were true.  She turned and ran, May stayed close, carrying the stake tucked under her arm.  Columns of smoke were everywhere.  The majority were to the east, but they had sprouted up in every direction.  They'd entered the inner village from the direction of the loudest fighting.  She could only hope there was another way out.

Huts and small wooden shacks radiated out from the center building in semicircles.  Women gathered children and slaves, herding them away from the wall, towards the center where they could be defended.  Akiva and Maira wove through the throngs drawing nary a second glance.  The Yellow Sun had other things to worry about.  They reached the eastern wall.  There was no gate, just scaffolding where shooters exchanged fire with an unseen foe.

Akiva swore.

"What now, Kiva?"

"I don't know."  She looked around.  She wasn't frantic, not yet, but panic was nipping at the edges of her resolve.  "We go back or we try to go over."

"We have to go back.  We'll be easy targets as we go over, and we'd still need to fight our way through whoever's on the other side."

A shot rang out and a reaver fell from the scaffolding.  The exit wound at the back of her skull accentuated Maira's point.

"Crazy thought: What if it's valkyrie on the other side?  What if they tracked our armpads?"  Akiva raised the device fastened to her wrist, and marveled at her lack of ingenuity.  The weight of it would have made a decent bludgeon in the ring.

"No vultures in the air.  No valkyrie commander would attack this big of a force from the ground.  It would be a waste of our greatest advantage."

"I said it was crazy.  We have to try for the main gate.  I'm thirsty."  Akiva licked her dry lips.

"You need to rest, but we don't have time for that.  We need weapons.  Maybe we can find both in one of these huts."

"I know way out," said a little high pitched voice.

The women spun around and behind them was Foxy.  The girl was in her early teens, and her eyes took in everything.  Over her shoulder was Akiva's belongings, in her hand was the scavenger's climbing pick.  Despite the suspicious looks she received from the Phalanx women, the child offered her burden.

"What is this?"  Maira held her chain stake as if she'd stab the girl.

"You left master's stuff.  How you fight without it?"

"Master?  Who?  Her?"

"Yes.  Master won challenge.  Old master get pain," she pointed toward Akiva, "she get me."

"Kiva!"

"No time.  You leave, right?"

"Why do you think that?"

"Latisha told Khana you leave if no one watch you.  She said she'd kill you first."  Foxy handed Akiva the backpack and the weapon.  "I help you leave.  Can't let Latisha kill you.  You dead, she claim me.  She is very mean master."

"Fine, show us a quick way out."

"Akiva, we can't trust her."

"Master can trust me.  I'm good girl, old master's favorite!"

"She's our best chance."  Akiva shouldered her bag.  "Get us out, Foxy, before it's too late."

"Come.  This way!"

The girl ran to the scaffold and vanished within.  Her thin arm emerged and gestured for the two to follow.  Akiva and Maira shared a wary glance but followed.