Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

Thorne ran his fingers through his messy blonde curls and took a few steps away from me.

  “He was dead to me, Thorne,” I murmured. “I didn’t think he could ever come back.”

  His eyes searched me for a moment and his expression hardened again.

  “That’s why you were so afraid of him,” he said, pointing an accusing finger at me. “That’s why you never wanted to confront him, isn’t it?”

  I ducked my head and swallowed back the lump in my throat.

  Thorne took a step toward me. “You didn’t want to kill him, did you?”

  It was true. In the back of my mind, I always knew I would have to kill him to be free of the General. I couldn’t seem to pluck up the courage to end things – for him or for me.

  “Don’t you dare turn this around on me,” I snapped. “It wasn’t Kieron’s fault!”

  “But it’s true, isn’t it!”

  “I could no more kill Kieron than I could kill you, Thorne. The General brainwashed him against me. He didn’t know what he was doing.” I jabbed my finger into his chest. “You knew you were making me your life-mate.”

  Thorne frowned at me. I knew he was considering his words carefully. I folded my arms across my chest and waited for his excuses.

  “I didn’t plan it,” said Thorne, shrugging his shoulders.

  “You didn’t plan on trapping me?”

  “Of course not!” he snapped. “It wasn’t a trap. It was for your protection.”

  “You told me claiming me was enough for your Elders.”

  “And I would have been wrong!” Thorne shouted. He grabbed my hand. I tried to pull away from him, but he tightened his grip. “All I kept thinking, back in the cave, was my father would stop at nothing to remove you from my life.”

  I stared up into his eyes. They were so full of anguish it made my heart ache. Thorne had mentioned before how his father was ambitious for him. I imagined Thorne taking an outsider as a partner would be a decision his father would frown upon.

  “You still should have told me,” I said.

  Thorne squeezed my hand. “I tried to tell you when we got back to camp. I was terrified you would run from me again, Ravyn.”

  “You’re right,” I said with a wry chuckle. “I would have run far away.”

  “I’m glad you did.”

  My heart twisted at his cutting reply and I jerked my hand out of his. “Well, if you’re so happy that Pierce sent me back into the Valley, then why are you here?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant!” Thorne replied. “I came back to get you out of that place!”

  I shoved him away from me as hard as I could. Thorne stumbled backward but righted himself quickly, his eyes wide in astonishment.

  “I didn’t want you there!” I yelled. “I didn’t want you within a hundred miles of the compound!” I pushed him again, though he barely moved this time. “If General Wolfe had gotten his hands on you …” It made my stomach clench thinking of it. I turned my back on him and started walking away.

  I didn’t understand my own mind. Seeing Thorne in the compound – it had been like a dream. My heart had nearly burst from joy when I had seen him standing there. On the other hand, it terrified me to think what could have happened to him.

  Thorne caught up with me quickly, gripped my arm, and wheeled me around to face him. “I was willing to risk it, Ravyn. I would have gone to whatever lengths to get you back.”

  “And if the General turned you against me?” I said, a sob catching the back of my throat. “Would you have me kill you as I was supposed to kill Kieron?” I backed away from him and folded my arms across my middle. My stomach churned at the thought of Thorne being under Wolfe’s control. “Turning my best friend against me was the worst of his tortures. Don’t you see? He knew I’d never be able to do it. And if I had killed him, Wolfe knew I’d never forgive myself for it. Wolfe won either way.”

  Thorne gazed down at me and I wondered what he was thinking of. It would have been useful at that moment to have Kaelem’s gift.

  He finally replied. “I would hope you wouldn’t let me become Wolfe’s weapon against you. I would expect you to do what you needed to do.”

  My throat tightened up. “You would want me to kill you?”

  “I wouldn’t want to be his soldier, and you know that, Ravyn.”

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? We know the serum can turn your mind back.” I chewed on the inside of my lip and shifted from one foot to the other under his stare. “Now what? I - I’m not going back to Peton.”

  “I cannot go back either,” Thorne mumbled.

  “What do you mean?”

  The muscle in his jaw flexed again and he lowered his eyes. His mouth was opening to give me an answer when I felt the tattoo on the back of my neck tingle in warning. I slapped my hand over Thorne’s mouth and shushed him. Dropping my hand, I turned in a slow circle, searching the trees around us.

  Thorne drew his pistol and peered into the shadows. “You sense something?”

  I nodded. “We should hide.”

  We were alone in the midst of the sequoias, but that didn’t dampen my anxiety. There was always the threat of soldiers following us, and we’d been standing in the middle of the Valley screaming at each other, giving away our location.

  Thorne grabbed my hand and led me through the sequoias. I followed without question. Dread filled me as we veered through the trees. Thorne seemed to be searching for something, but I didn’t know what. He turned his head left and right as we ran by each sequoia. Perhaps there was another cave nearby? After a few more minutes of wandering, he dropped down beneath some ferns and pulled me down beside him.

  “Do you hear anything?” I asked, breathing hard from our sprint through the trees.

  He shook his head and wiped the sweat dripping down the sides of his face as he peeked out of the undergrowth.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “A place to hide, like you said,” he answered. “We can’t climb these trees. It would be impossible without any low-hanging branches to grab onto.” He peered at me out of the corner of his eye. “Do you still feel it?” he asked, referring to my tattoo and its tickle of warning.

  I nodded. I didn’t know what was coming, but the General had surely realized by now that I had escaped. He would send out anything and everything to capture me again.

  It was futile to even suggest it to Thorne, but I did so anyway. “You should go on without me.”

  Thorne glared at me and tightened his grip on my wrist. He dragged me out of the brush and started jogging east again, pulling me along behind him. After another hundred feet, Thorne slowed to a halt.

  “Here,” he said, pointing to one of the giant sequoias. This particular tree had a trunk roughly ten feet wide, but there was a crack down the middle that got wider as it reached the ground. It opened up into a tiny cavern inside the trunk. “Get inside,” he ordered.

  My breathing quickened as Thorne pushed me inside, wedging myself into the narrow gap. I remembered hiding in one of these crevices the first time the Sabers stalked me through the Valley as a child. If it was Sabers hunting us, hiding here would not help. The beasts would sniff us out.

  Thorne holstered his gun and slid inside after me, pushing us both as far back into the trunk as possible. The gap did not leave any room for us to maneuver. Our bodies were mashed tightly together in the dark cavern. My heart pounded so hard I knew Thorne could feel it. I was beginning to hyperventilate in this tight space. We were trapped here.

  Sensing my panic, Thorne eased his arms around me and pulled me even tighter against his chest. One hand was warm against my lower back. The other hand stroked my tangled and blood-crusted hair.

  “It’s alright,” he murmured into my ear.

  I felt Thorne reach down to his waist for his pistol again. If soldiers were hunting us, they might not find us. Without that man with the heightened sense of smell or Kieron leading them, the soldiers would not be successful
tracking us.

  The sound of something crashing through the brush had me perking up my ears. Sabers would not be so noisy. Whatever was rustling through the undergrowth of the forest was getting closer. I held my breath and dug my fingers into Thorne’s back.

  I inhaled sharply when I heard someone cry out a split-second later. It was a deep male voice I recognized. “Kieron,” I gasped.

  I couldn’t see him. He had to be somewhere behind the sequoia, out of our line of vision. Leaning toward the entrance to the crevice, I attempted to peek outside to see what had caused him to scream.

  Thorne tightened his hold on me and hissed, “No, Ravyn!”

  A group of barbarians sprinted by our tree on both sides, causing me to flinch back into Thorne’s chest. I could only see five or six of them from where we stood inside the sequoia. They were all barefoot. Their legs and feet were nearly black from mud and grime. Their clothes weren’t much more than tattered rags and their hair was long, tangled, and clumped with dirt. It had been a while since I’d run into any barbarians in the Valley. These people had lived too long in the Valley and had become more like animals. Many of them were cannibals. It surprised me to see such a large group.

  “Something must have spooked them,” I whispered to Thorne.

  Like a flock of birds, they all changed direction in sync and sprinted out of sight. Kieron bellowed once again, and my heart wrenched painfully when I realized why. My old friend was under attack by those barbarians.

  “Kieron!” I whimpered and shoved my fist over my mouth.

  I pinched my eyes closed and buried my face into Thorne’s chest. His cries for help were tugging at my heart, but my fear of the mindless soldier, Two, was still fresh.

  You can’t go out there, Ravyn, I thought bitterly. He killed your parents. He deserves this!

  My throat tightened up and I tightened my hold on Thorne, willing myself to stay hidden.

  Kieron roared again and I swore under my breath.

  How could I hide here and let him be slaughtered by those wild men?

  “Ravyn?” Thorne murmured.

  I lifted my eyes up to Thorne’s face. No words needed to be spoken. He knew what I’d decided. His jaw clenched and I could see the realization dawning in his eyes.

  I struggled out of Thorne’s grasp and stumbled out of the tree trunk. Thorne shouted something at me but I wasn’t paying attention. Drawing my daggers, I sprinted around the sequoia in search of my old friend. My feet skidded to a halt when I spotted him.

  Kieron was outnumbered by a pack of barbarians. Six of them had him surrounded, snarling and gnashing their teeth at him. Kieron’s shoulder was bleeding from where he had either been scratched or bitten. One of the barbarians lay dead thirty feet away and two of the wild men were crouched over their dead comrade. My stomach roiled in sickness when I realized they were probably eating him.

  Armed only with the blade he’d taken from me at the compound, Kieron faced the six remaining barbarians with a fierce look of determination. Three of them pounced at once, using their teeth and jagged fingernails to wound him. Kieron swiped his blade around at them to drive them back. One of the wild men screeched in pain as Kieron’s blade slashed him across his ribs. He fell to his knees, clutching his side. Kieron’s efforts to keep the barbarians at bay were futile. Once those three barbarians had fallen back, the other three sprang forward like starving Sabers.

  Wasting no more time, I prowled toward them. They were too distracted by their prey and the dead barbarian to notice as I had snuck up behind them. Kieron made another swipe with his blade. Another barbarian stumbled backward, howling in pain. I surged forward and drove my dagger up beneath his ribs.

  Hearing the cries of the man I’d finished off, two of the creatures turned their yellowed eyes in my direction. Their faces were gaunt and their bodies were wasting away from starvation. If we failed, we would be their dinner tonight.

  The two barbarians charged. I kicked one in the chest, the force causing him to tumble backward to the ground. The other flew toward me so recklessly, he impaled himself on my blade. The first barbarian scrambled to his feet and darted toward me again. Before I was given the chance to kill him, Thorne had crept up on both of us and snapped the barbarian’s neck with a quick twist of his hands.

  Kieron managed to kill two more of the barbarians after we’d distracted some of the pack. The remaining three barbarians turned and fell on their dead comrades. I covered my mouth with my hand and turned away from the gruesome sight.

  “I’m going to throw up,” I groaned.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Thorne suggested. He placed his hand at the small of my back and guided me through the trees. “They’re not interested in us anymore.”

  Kieron, a few paces behind us, said, “They were looking for a meal, I guess.”

  “Humph,” Thorne grunted.

  Once we were about a hundred yards away from the remaining barbarians, Thorne released me. I doubled over, put my hands on my knees, and took a deep breath, trying to erase the horrific image of those men eating each other. The Old Sequoia Valley did terrible things to people who lived here too long.

  That might be you one day, Ravyn.

  “Are you alright?” Thorne asked, placing a gentle hand on my back.

  I straightened up and nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “Do you think that was the threat you felt?”

  I shook my head and rubbed the back of my neck. The forest seemed to be clear with no enemies in sight and no other barbarians either, but the warning sensation hadn’t let up. “There’s something else out there.”

  “Soldiers?” Thorne asked, searching the trees.

  “Or Sabers,” I said. My stomach knotted up at the thought of those vicious beasts finding us again. This time it was just the three of us. We’d never survive.

  I looked over my shoulder at Kieron. He was leaning against a tree with his arms folded across his chest, watching me. His eyes were not hardened against me as they had been while he was TS2, Wolfe’s mindless soldier. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, revealing more of his mahogany skin. He seemed relaxed now that he was back in his right mind.

  My mind still rebelled at having Kieron so near. I hadn’t wanted him to be killed by those savages, but I still didn’t want him travelling with us. There was no way of knowing what had caused him to wake up from Wolfe’s brainwashing. What if he slipped back into his mindless state unexpectedly? The thought made me shiver.

  Things had changed between Kieron and me. He was no longer the boy I had once loved. He had betrayed me to General Wolfe. Kieron was the only person inside the compound that had known of my secret gift, the ability to heal at a supernatural rate. Wolfe had turned him into a mind-slave and forced him to brutalize me over and over. Things would never be the same between us.

  “What are you doing here Kieron?” I snapped.

  Kieron shrugged. “I’ve been following you. I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

  Thorne hovered behind me. I was sure he was seething with jealousy at Kieron’s sudden return, but I was still too furious over Thorne’s deception to care.

  “Did you scare that group of barbarians out of hiding?” I asked him, glancing around the forest to make certain there wasn’t anyone else around. My tattoo had not stopped tingling yet.

  Kieron shook his head. “Soldiers were headed this way. I saw them leave the compound.”

  Thorne took a threatening step toward him. “They didn’t see you?”

  “I don’t think so,” Kieron said with another shrug.

  “We need to go, Ravyn,” Thorne murmured to me. “We need to warn the Warriors and make sure your sister is safe.”

  Kieron’s dark eyes shifted to me. “I can help you.”

  “No,” I barked. “I don’t think my sister will … appreciate seeing you, since you killed our parents.”

  Kieron winced and rubbed the back of his head at the reminder of what he’d done while under Wol
fe’s spell. It was cruel of me to throw it in his face. The boy I knew from before was a good and honorable person and would never have hurt anyone.

  “Please don’t follow us,” I said more gently. “I meant what I said before, Kieron. I can’t ever look at you the same way. Not after everything you’ve done.”

  “Can you go back to your old clan?” Thorne asked him. “Where did you come from originally?”

  “He’s from a place near Murray,” I answered, still staring at Kieron. “That’s what he told me a long time ago.”

  “My family probably thinks I’m dead now. I’m sure they’ve moved on,” said Kieron. “I’ve got nothing to go back to.”

  “Better than here,” Thorne muttered.

  The sound of rustling of branches through the thick sequoias had my ears perking up again. “Did you hear that?” I whispered to Thorne.

  Thorne nodded and gripped his holstered pistol. “We should go. We’ve wasted enough time.”

  I nodded and looked back at Kieron. “Don’t go back to the compound. Please … don’t.”

  “Why?” Kieron asked, his eyes wide with confusion. “Ravyn, I need to understand.”

  I bit my bottom lip for a moment to keep it from trembling. “Because he’ll break you down and steal your mind again,” I quickly explained. “Then he’ll make you hunt me and hurt me, like you’ve been doing for a year now.”

  For the second time that day, I turned my back on Kieron and followed Thorne east through the sequoias. The sadness I had seen in Kieron’s eyes made me ache inside. The things he’d done were not his fault. I didn’t want him dead, I never had, but I couldn’t be near him. I feared the soldier – Two – was still lurking inside him.

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  Table of Contents

  2

  Thorne

  I called a halt to our journey an hour later. We had finally reached the stream that would lead us back to Linwood. It was the same stream on which the brothers had built their waterwheel. This little spot by the water was quiet, with only the occasional sound of owls softly hooting in the trees. The setting sun was still peeking through the trunks of the sequoias towering over us.