Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  Ravyn growled. “I shouldn’t have trusted them. I should have known something was off, but Laelynn … I couldn’t let her stay in that place. She’s lucky Wolfe left her alone while she was his prisoner.”

  “From talking to Kaelem on the way to the compound, I believe he changed his mind about turning you in. I think he meant to fight with you, but something must have happened to dissuade him.”

  “That tracker,” she said, nodding. “The one who was scenting me out two weeks ago? He snuck up on both Kaelem and me and knocked me out. It would have been two against one.”

  “We can put all that behind us now. I don’t believe Kaelem has any reason to betray us anymore.”

  “That doesn’t mean I have to trust him,” she hissed. “It’s frightening that he knows what we’re thinking.”

  “It could just as easily be an asset to us.”

  “I said the same thing, Thorne.”

  “Then we’ll keep our guard up,” I reassured her. “He can’t overpower all of us.”

  After another minute of silence, Ravyn leaned up and looked down into my face. “What are we going to do now?”

  I smiled. The fact that Ravyn had said ‘we’ was heartening. Perhaps she wasn’t certain of completing the Binding Words right now. That didn’t matter. In this perfect moment, she was here in my arms and safe.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll figure things out. Together.”

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  Table of Contents

  6

  Audrick

  I wiped my bleary eyes and pushed the rim of my glasses back up the bridge of my nose. They kept sliding down with the nervous sweat that had formed on my face. Grandfather had managed to bully everyone into staying awake into the wee hours of the morning to repair the blasted generators. I reminded him that it took time, but he was growing more and more desperate to locate Ravyn.

  Not only had he misplaced Ravyn, his most valuable soldier, his lackey – TS2 – had gone missing as well. He had not reported back in after Ravyn’s unexpected escape. I had reminded Grandfather that this was not unusual. Two was a remarkable tracker and most likely following her.

  Shutting myself into the main utility closet, I reprimanded anyone that dared disturb the genius working to rectify this horrific blunder.

  I chuckled. Little did anyone know that I could have restored the generators in a few hours. I’d managed to draw out this charade for nearly two days now and Grandfather was none the wiser.

  A light tapping on the utility closet door had me jolting upright.

  “Who is it?” I snapped, ready to chastise some soldier for disturbing me.

  “It’s Darren,” the male voice answered from outside the closed door.

  Not now, I thought irritably.

  Darren was one of my fellow scientists that followed me around like a lost puppy. I rose from my seat, shuffled to the door, and opened it an inch. Darren stood in the doorway looking as disheveled as ever. He was tall and lanky and his blonde hair had several untamed cowlicks on the back of his head.

  “Yes?” I said quietly, peering up and down the hall for anyone who might be listening in.

  “He sent them out.”

  “Them? Which them?”

  Unfortunately, there was more than one ‘them’ Grandfather could have loosed from the compound. Soldiers and Sabers were the two options highest on the list.

  “Sabers,” he whispered.

  “Again?” I peeled off my glasses and wiped my hand down the front of my face. I could not understand why he continued to use those beasts to do his tracking. Yellow-eyed Sabers were loose cannons. They were going to tear the poor girl to shreds eventually, and then she would no longer exist for him to torment. Ravyn had been extremely lucky the first two rounds with those animals. The soldiers had found her before the Sabers could eat her when she had been a child. The second time, none of the seven Sabers had returned to their dens. Grandfather had been in a rage for days afterward.

  “You know how he’s been, Audrick. I don’t believe he’s thinking clearly.”

  I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Grandfather was never thinking clearly.

  The Yellow-eyed Sabers, as well as the Night Howlers, had been genetic experiments gone wrong many centuries ago. I’d read about them in some of the journals that had been passed down to Grandfather. The Howlers had nesting grounds in the northern part of the Old Sequoia Valley, though they still hunted here for food occasionally. There wasn’t much we could do about those beasts.

  It had been my father’s idea to condition the Sabers to go out and return upon command. The pack had been tranquilized so a tiny sound device could be placed into each animal’s ear canal. This device was smaller than my thumbnail and it received radio waves from our control room. When the device was triggered, a buzzing or some sort of alarm would sound off inside their ears – something only the Sabers could hear – and they would return. The device hadn’t failed us yet. The idea would have been brilliant if it hadn’t been so incredibly dangerous. Father had nearly been killed a couple of times trying to manage the beasts, and now Grandfather set them loose with no thought to the repercussions.

  The chore of implanting devices into the new cubs each year had fallen to us since Father had died. If I had my way, I would put a stop to the whole thing and put down every last one of those cursed animals. They caused nothing but trouble in the Valley.

  I put my glasses back on and glanced over my shoulder at the generator, biting back a curse. There was no stalling now. I had to get the generator working if I was going to be able to trigger the device and call off the Sabers.

  “When did he release them?”

  Darren shrugged. “An hour ago. I was walking by when I overheard him saying it to Renny.”

  Renny. That weasel. I bet it was his idea. He was another scientist in the compound and was just as twisted as my grandfather.

  I yanked Darren inside the utility closet with me and shut the door. “Get in here and help me then.”

  We had to hurry now. I only hoped that Ravyn had gotten that bullet out of her body before the electricity was running again. Otherwise Grandfather would know her precise location.

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  7

  Ravyn

  The frigid morning air sweeping across my face woke me. I grabbed the covers and yanked them up to my neck and curled up in a fetal position to ward off the chill. Why was I so cold? Where was Thorne?

  Rolling over, I reached across the mattress to wrap my arm around him, hoping to steal a bit of his warmth, but he wasn’t there. The corners of my mouth turned down in a disappointed frown. It shouldn’t surprise me to find him up and about. Thorne had never been able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. My sleeping habits were similar, at least until I’d met him. His presence seemed to help me escape my terrifying nightmares before they jolted me out of my sleep in a fit of tears.

  Last night, I’d dreamt that Thorne had returned to the compound, despite my warnings. He’d told me he had to kill General Wolfe if I was ever going to be free from the evil man. I’d screamed at him not to leave me. The sadness in his icy blue eyes had been heartbreaking, but he had walked away.

  Pinching my eyes shut, I rolled to my back and rested a hand on my forehead, attempting to clear my mind of my fears. I knew that I would one day have to return to that horrible place if I were to finally kill Wolfe.

  Not today, I thought.

  The dull ache in my knee had returned, but a substantial weight had been lifted off my chest from last night’s talk with Thorne. And I was right in telling him that I loved him.

  I flung back my covers and rolled off the mattress. I grabbed my boots and weapons, popped two more pain pills, and padded out to the dining area to find my sister.

  “Camellia?” I called out. No one answered.

  There weren’t many places for her to hide in this tiny house. I checked her bedroom, but the bed had a
lready been neatly made.

  “Camellia!” I shouted again.

  Once I’d checked every inch of the house, I pulled on my boots and climbed down the ladder to the forest floor. My heart began to race, thinking of all the possible things that might have happened to her. My tattoo was silent on my neck, but I was still reluctant to trust it too much. Had Camellia been lured down to the ground and kidnapped right under our noses? Had someone snuck up into our treehouse and killed Camellia and Thorne?

  I dismissed that thought as quickly as it came. Camellia killed alone? Maybe. Camellia and Thorne. Never. Thorne would have put up a fight and woke me up.

  Perhaps I’m stuck in some new nightmare, I thought as I cautiously searched the trees.

  The shadows were not quite as eerie in the morning light as they usually were in the evening. The air was brisk. It made my lungs ache when I breathed it in, a sure sign that autumn was on the way out and winter was rolling in. All I could hear was the stream trickling by and the branches of the sequoias creaking far above my head. The birds had all gone south sometime in the last week or so. Even the cicadas had disappeared. Everything was quiet.

  I reached down to the holster at my waist to grip my pistol.

  “Ravyn!”

  I whipped around and peered up into the trees. Camellia was standing on a balcony. It wasn’t Laelynn’s family home, but the one the Warriors had slept in. The wisps of blonde hair that had been falling from her braid last night had been smoothed back into a new plait this morning.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, staring down at me, eyeing the way my hand rested on my gun.

  “Looking for you,” I huffed, heading over to the ladder.

  “We wanted to let you sleep a bit.”

  I started climbing, gritting my teeth against the ache in my knee. The painkillers hadn’t kicked in yet. “Where is Thorne?” I grumbled. “Did he at least escort you over here or did you waltz over here on your own?”

  “No, no. He’s … he’s here.”

  Pausing halfway up the ladder, I looked up at my sister again. If she hadn’t been leaning over the rails a bit, I wouldn’t have been able to see her from this angle. “Camellia, what’s wrong with you? You look ready to puke.”

  “Nothing,” she squeaked. “We’re having breakfast.”

  Camellia disappeared from the rails and I climbed faster. Something was definitely wrong. A moment later, she came into view at the top of the ladder. Camellia gripped my wrist and helped me the rest of the way up and onto the floor of the treehouse. We stood in what counted as the foyer of the house. Beyond that was the kitchen and living area. I didn’t see anyone over Camellia’s shoulder.

  Brushing the dust from my hands, I bombarded her with more questions. “What is going on with you and why is it so quiet? Where is everyone?”

  “Everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t everything be fine?”

  “Everything is not fine. Your voice is squeaky and you’re wringing your hands.”

  Camellia took a deep breath. “Go see for yourself.”

  Giving her a curious look, I walked through the door into the kitchen area. I was expecting to find Tallon or Brock getting food ready for the Warriors or maybe Archer working on one of his devices. What I didn’t expect was for someone to wrap their muscled arms around me, pinning my own arms to my side.

  I was taken back to the moment Hagan had snuck up on me and dragged me away into the forest. This time, instead of freezing up, I struggled against my would-be captor.

  Had Camellia been a pawn to lure me up here to Wolfe and his soldiers? How had they gotten past the Warriors and Kaelem?

  My mind was beyond caring. I fought like a wildcat, clawing at the man’s arms, attempting to elbow him in the ribs, and stomping down hard on his instep with my boot. The man was quick. He managed to move his foot before I could damage him, but I did hear him grunt from the jab of my elbow into his side.

  “Hold steady, Ravyn,” Pierce groaned into my ear.

  I stilled at once and ceased digging into his flesh with my nails. “What’s going on? Why are you doing this?” My voice was shrill from the fright they’d given me. “Where is Thorne?”

  “Quit gawking and disarm her!” Pierce ordered.

  It was only then that I noticed Kaelem, Archer, Tallon, and Laelynn all standing along the edges of the room looking apprehensive. Kaelem and Archer approached from opposite sides.

  I narrowed my eyes at Kaelem. “Don’t. You. Dare,” I warned him through clenched teeth. He faltered and glanced at Pierce over my shoulder.

  “You are such a coward, Kaelem,” Pierce said with a chuckle.

  “She almost broke my nose yesterday,” Kaelem said, lightly touching his bruised face and retreating into his corner again.

  Pierce shifted his hold on me, wrapping both my wrists in his grip.

  “Let go!” I shrieked.

  I slung my head back, attempting to head-butt him, but I only succeeded in grazing his chin.

  “Calm down,” he said with a throaty laugh. He managed to rip my pistol out of the holster at my waist before I could get free.

  “I don’t find this funny.”

  He tossed the gun into the corner of the room. While I’d been occupied fighting Pierce, Archer had snagged one of my blades from its sheath wrapped around one of my thighs. I kicked out at him, but he danced away, nimbly avoiding my foot.

  “Camellia, get the other blade, please,” Pierce said, his voice gentle. “Ravyn might strike one of us, but I don’t think she would hurt you.”

  Though I was still scowling and breathing hard from the struggle, I watched Camellia’s delicate fingers reach for the handle of my dagger.

  “Camellia!” I gaped at her.

  “Sorry, Ravyn,” she said sweetly, pulling the dagger free of its sheath. “They thought it would be prudent to disarm you before …”

  I glared at each of them when her words trailed off. “Before what?”

  “It’s time to get the bullet out, I’m afraid,” Pierce said, a hint of sarcasm lacing his voice.

  Tallon smirked at me. “We didn’t want any bloodshed before we got on with things.”

  My eyebrows shot up as I stared back at Tallon. “Disarming me was your idea?”

  “Hey!” Tallon lifted both hands defensively. “I’d probably shoot someone if they came at me with a blade to dig a bullet out of me.”

  “Why isn’t Thorne here, contributing to my humiliation?”

  “Don’t be stupid,” said Archer, sliding both blades and my pistol into one of the bedrooms, far out of reach. “Thorne can’t be here and you know it.”

  “He’s done it before,” I reminded him. I jerked against Pierce’s firm hold, though I knew my efforts were futile.

  “Because he had to,” Laelynn said, approaching me cautiously. Her brown eyes were a mixture of sadness and fear. “Thorne told us the whole tale this morning while you slept. The hurt he caused you back at the cave was almost more than he could bear.”

  Archer added, “He hasn’t said as much to any of us, but even we can see he also won’t be able to handle the pain you would endure this time around.”

  My stomach roiled with sickness. They were really going to do this.

  “Thorne is with Brock, out hunting,” Pierce said, continuing to squeeze me like a vise. “He won’t be back for hours, Ravyn. He doesn’t need to see this.”

  I nodded. I didn’t want him to see it either. “Does he even know?”

  “Of course not,” Tallon said.

  “If he had known we were doing this now, he would have insisted on being here,” Pierce explained. “He volunteered to do it. Because he loves you.”

  I tried to swallow back the lump that had formed in my throat, but it didn’t work. My breath was coming faster. “If he’s not going to do it, then who is?”

  Tallon stepped forward, as self-assured as Thorne. “I am.”

  “Tallon studied for a while under their sister, Kemena,” Arch
er assured me. “She’s qualified to do it.”

  “What about Kemena?” I asked. “Couldn’t we wait and …”

  “Going back to Peton is out of the question,” Tallon stated. “It’s too long a journey, anyway.”

  “Kaelem and I will try to use our senses to help find the bullet,” Pierce said, trying to reassure me. “And we’ve got all those supplies that you stole from the soldiers.”

  “We’re all going to help.” Laelynn took another step forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Trust us.”

  I nodded and relaxed against Pierce. “Okay,” I choked. “You can let me go. I won’t run or … fight you.” My hands trembled from fear. I remembered the pain I had caused Brock, and he wasn’t asleep during that surgery. I turned to Camellia. She was hugging her middle and her eyes were swimming with tears. “Camellia, you shouldn’t stay either.”

  “We won’t let her watch,” Pierce promised, finally loosening his hold on me. He continued to stand behind me with his hands clamped down on my shoulders, as if I might try to flee again.

  “Promise me, Pierce …” I said over my shoulder, my voice trembling. “Even if I scream … make sure Thorne doesn’t -”

  “We promise,” he confirmed, then he slammed something hard into the back of my skull and everything went dark.

  ***

  When I awoke again, afternoon light was streaming through the window into my face. Something heavy and warm was draped across my waist and I was dripping with sweat. I might have blamed it on the wool blanket covering me, but whatever was wrapped around me was giving off some intense heat.

  I blinked a few times to get the world to come back into focus and realized it was an arm with thorny vines tattooed into the skin.

  I know these arms, I thought, grinning from ear to ear.

  I followed the tattoos as they snaked around his wrist and up his arm until they disappeared beneath the sleeves of a black shirt. Finally, I was gazing up into Thorne’s eyes. His hair was messier than usual and his face was stark white.