Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  The smile on my face faded. “What is it? Are you feeling alright, Thorne?”

  The muscle in his jaw ticked. “I was about to ask you the same question.” His voice was gruff with pent up emotion.

  “Just hungry.” My eyebrows pinched together, confused by his reaction, and then I remembered. “Oh. My knee.”

  Tentatively, I reached down under my covers and felt the place where – with any other person – there would have been stitches. My skin was perfectly smooth, though there was a little tenderness on the inside. But like before, when Thorne had dug the bullet out of my shoulder on the banks of Blackrock River, I could feel that the small bit of foreign metal had been removed. The pain I felt now was a healing pain as opposed to the nagging ache I’d felt with no end in sight. In another hour, I would be good as new.

  I drew my knee up, bending it and straightening it over and over to test it out. “Seems fine, except … I need pants.” I felt my face heat up. “Why am I always naked when I wake up with you?”

  “Don’t make jokes, woman,” he said, his voice grave.

  I reached up and cupped his scarred cheek in the palm of my hand. “I’m sorry. I’m fine, really.”

  Thorne exhaled and dropped his head into the crook of my neck. “I nearly lost it when I came back and realized what they’d done.”

  I wrapped my other arm around his shoulders to soothe him. “I’m glad they sent you away. I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if you’d had to watch me suffer. Though …”

  Thorne raised his head and gave me a questioning look. “What?”

  “I do owe Pierce a knock on the head.”

  “You didn’t feel it?”

  I shook my head. It was possible I had cried out while I slept, but I didn’t recall waking up during their surgery. Tallon and the Warriors must have worked quickly. “Now that I’m awake, I think we should leave.”

  “I thought we might rest here for a few days.”

  “If everyone else is well enough to walk, then we should move on,” I insisted. I didn’t know why. My tattoo wasn’t tingling, but I had the sudden urge to leave the area immediately.

  “Nash and Hagan may not be able to,” he pointed out.

  “We’ll drag them on pallets or something … or leave them here. They deserve what they get for betraying me.”

  “Does Laelynn deserve that?” he asked with a frown.

  I grimaced. Of course, I didn’t want anything to happen to Laelynn. But it wasn’t my job to protect everyone. Laelynn’s brothers needed to do their duty to protect her as well.

  Thorne squeezed my shoulder. “What’s the urgency, Ravyn? Do you sense something?”

  “I don’t,” I mumbled. “I just … have a feeling. It’s strange that Wolfe has left us alone, isn’t it? I wouldn’t count on this false sense of safety for too much longer. We’re too close to the compound, Thorne. You know he’ll be after me with everything in his arsenal. It honestly frightens me to think of what he might do next. We need to get far away from here.”

  Thorne ran his fingers through his curls. “We need to come up with a plan to get rid of Wolfe for good. We can’t let him get away with what he’s doing to these soldiers … or you.”

  “With so few of us?” I lowered my voice. “I don’t trust Kaelem and his brothers. We need more fighters to help us, but I’m not sure we should keep them around.”

  “You still don’t trust Kaelem? Even knowing he changed his mind about turning you over to Wolfe?”

  “I only trust you to have my back, Thorne.”

  Thorne’s silvery-blue eyes sparkled at my admission. He gave me an arrogant grin and lowered his face toward mine. My heart thumped wildly inside my chest as he placed a tender kiss on my lips. I wished we could stay here like this forever, but I knew our time in Linwood was running out.

  Thorne raised himself up an inch and murmured against my mouth. “We’ll leave today.”

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  Table of Contents

  8

  Thorne

  “Stop being so bossy, Thorne,” Ravyn snapped, scowling up at me.

  Both Ravyn and Camellia were rushing about the treehouse, in and out of their sleeping quarters, collecting everything they might need for the next part of our journey. I wanted to be of help, but Ravyn kept insisting that I was in the way.

  “You should rest and eat,” I insisted.

  Ravyn paused and placed her hands on her hips. “I am eating and I don’t need to rest anymore. My leg is perfectly fine.”

  I turned to Camellia and, in a gentler tone, I asked, “Has Ravyn been eating?”

  “Of course, Thorne,” Camellia answered, her lips twitching with amusement. “She’s been looking much like a chipmunk with swollen cheeks all morning.”

  “Humph.”

  “Don’t try to get my sister on your side,” Ravyn huffed. She marched to the dining table, stuffed some bread and roasted rabbit into her mouth, then turned on her heel and headed back into her sleeping quarters.

  “Why are you being so stubborn?” I called out to her, running my fingers through my hair.

  Ravyn returned to the doorway and quirked her eyebrow at me. “I’m the stubborn one? Not even Camellia is resting,” she barked, gesturing to her sister. “Go boss your Warriors about. I can handle a little packing.”

  An hour later, I joined Pierce and Archer in the clearing, waiting for everyone to convene. The two Warriors had been the first to arrive with their packs and weapons. Of course, they didn’t have headstrong females giving them difficulties. I might have been done in fifteen minutes had Ravyn not argued with me for so long.

  “What are you scowling at now, Thorne?” Archer asked, smirking at me.

  “Ravyn doesn’t like being bossed around,” Pierce answered, waggling his eyebrows.

  I narrowed my eyes at my brother. “You heard us?”

  Pierce and Archer both snickered. “Don’t worry,” Pierce assured me. “Ravyn will make sure Camellia has everything she needs. She’s lived out in the Valley longer than any of us.”

  This was true. I shouldn’t have been worried, but there was still a part of me that needed to help.

  Tallon and Brock walked up together, effectively distracting me from the argument I’d had with Ravyn earlier. Tallon’s hair had been pulled back into two tight braids and her bow and quiver of arrows hung across her body. I’d been impressed by Tallon’s resourcefulness over the last two days. While our group had been resting in Linwood, she’d managed to make new arrows. I hadn’t realized she had that skill. They had been wrapped into bundles and shoved into her shoulder pack along with her food and water.

  “We’re ready,” Tallon said. “Where’s Ravyn and Camellia?”

  “They’ll be here shortly,” Pierce replied. “I can hear them climbing down the ladder now.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that Laelynn and all her brothers had already arrived, each carrying a pack and a crossbow. The siblings stood in a tight circle twenty feet away from us, talking quietly amongst themselves. Hagan and Nash were with them. They both appeared to be healthy and strong again despite their grave injuries from the fight with the soldiers.

  Turning to Pierce and Archer, I murmured, “Nash and Hagan look like they’ve mended.”

  “A little too quickly, don’t you think?” Pierce muttered back to me, folding his arms over his broad chest.

  Archer nodded and whispered, “I thought the same.”

  “Did you give them serum?” I asked Archer.

  “I didn’t,” he assured me. “I thought you might have.” Archer crouched down to search his pack. After sifting through the small bag of medicines that we had brought with us, he straightened up and nodded. “One of them is missing.”

  I frowned at Pierce and Archer, giving each of them a wary look. “One of the brothers must have taken it,” I said quietly.

  Archer held up a hand to stop me. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. Ravyn might have given it to
them.”

  “I never told Ravyn we still had the serum,” I said. We had stolen five vials from Kieron while his mind was still broken. Ravyn had used one of them when Brock had been grievously wounded. Pierce and Hawke had used one on me when I had been shot in the back by a soldier in Peton. Now that another one had been taken, we were down to two vials of serum.

  “Why would they only take one?” Pierce asked.

  I had been wondering the same thing.

  Archer answered us both. “They must have split the serum between Nash and Hagan. They weren’t dying, so half would have been plenty to heal their injuries.”

  I dismissed our concerns for the moment. “It’s no matter now if they stole the serum or not. Nash and Hagan would have slowed us down if they were still hobbling along with injuries. But let’s keep our eyes on them. Even Ravyn is reluctant to trust them again.”

  “Agreed,” Pierce said with a firm nod.

  Brock and Tallon stood a few feet away from us, holding hands and smiling over some secret. I glowered at the two of them but kept my mouth shut. I supposed Pierce was right. It was a bit hypocritical for me to chastise them over their behavior when I did the same with Ravyn.

  Tallon caught me glaring at her and scowled back at me. “What are you looking so grumpy about?”

  “Nothing,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a dark form approaching. My mouth went dry and something fluttered in my stomach. Ravyn was striding toward us looking as fierce as the first day I’d seen her on Laelynn’s balcony. She was clothed in black from head to toe and her raven hair shone. Half of it was tied back away from her face while the rest hung down around her shoulders. Her blue-green eyes sparkled in the afternoon sun and her cheeks were rosy again. Daggers had been strapped to each thigh, a pistol holstered at her waist, and a rifle had been slung over her shoulder along with her rucksack.

  She moved in close to me so only I could hear her murmur, “What are you staring at, Thorne?”

  “Just admiring the view,” I replied, grinning like an idiot. My smile widened when her cheeks flushed. I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck beneath her hair. “It’s good to see you looking strong again.” I leaned down and kissed her.

  “Hey!” Tallon objected, slapping her hands on her hips indignantly. “If I’m not allowed to … then you guys aren’t either.”

  “We are above the age of seventeen,” I pointed out with a sly grin.

  “Oh, shut up!” Pierce drawled out. He wiped both his hands down his face in disgust. “No one wants to see any of that. From any of you.” Pierce muttered something indecipherable that Archer chortled over, then he turned to Ravyn. “Where’s Camellia?”

  “She’s coming.” Ravyn checked over her shoulder, and sure enough, Camellia was about twenty feet behind her.

  “I’m here,” Camellia said, walking toward us, carrying a crossbow.

  We all stopped and gawked at her, or at least the crossbow. Camellia was no warrior like Tallon or Ravyn. Though she wasn’t a clumsy girl by any means, her movements were timid and careful. I had not seen anyone instruct her in the ways of shooting that crossbow, either. I admired her spirit, but carrying that weapon was going to get tiresome.

  Camellia met our stares without flinching. “I was told that I would get to learn how to use one of these after the fight at the compound, so …” She pulled the weapon up higher onto her shoulder.

  Pierce nodded his approval of her determination.

  “We will teach you,” I promised. “And if that thing gets too heavy -”

  “She’ll be fine,” Pierce interrupted. He dropped his pack and marched over to Camellia.

  Ravyn took a step toward her sister to intervene, but I held her back. “Pierce won’t harm her.”

  “I didn’t think he would,” she hissed back at me.

  Pierce took the crossbow off her shoulder and gave her a quick lesson on how to pull back the string and load a bolt. “It won’t be easy. Pulling back the string requires a good bit of strength, but you’ll get the hang of it.” He raised the crossbow to his shoulder, aimed for the soft grass, and pulled the trigger.

  Camellia winced and the blood drained from her face as the arrow made a soft thunk into the ground. Was she envisioning the bolt plunging into someone? I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. Hopefully Camellia would never have to experience taking a life, but those chances were slim out in the Valley.

  Pierce quickly retrieved the undamaged bolt and handed the crossbow back to Camellia. “Now you try.”

  I noticed Kaelem observing the demonstration with a pained look in his eye. Had he been the one to give Camellia the idea to use a crossbow? It wasn’t a bad plan, but Ravyn wasn’t going to allow him within fifty feet of her sister ever again.

  Kaelem shifted his eyes to me, having overheard my thoughts. He frowned and ducked his head. Was he still feeling guilty over his betrayal? I ought to give him the benefit of the doubt since he had helped me rescue Ravyn, but something stopped me.

  Ravyn is right, I thought. We should keep our distance from now on.

  Nash edged closer to Kaelem and mumbled something in his ear. Kaelem’s expression darkened. He shoved a pine needle into his mouth and turned his back on us.

  I shook my head and turned my attention back to Pierce’s lesson. Camellia had managed to finally pull the string back and was attempting to make a shot without a bolt.

  “Not bad,” Pierce stated after she pulled the trigger. He quickly loaded a bolt for her. “You’ll need to practice with a target to get the hang of it, but you will. And wear it like this.” Pierce looped the strap of the crossbow across her body so the weight of the weapon was evenly distributed across her back. “That will make it easier to carry.”

  Camellia smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

  Pierce gave her a brusque nod and returned to my side to retrieve his pack.

  “Why the rush to leave, Brother?” Tallon asked, changing the subject.

  “It’s time to get moving,” I replied. “Wolfe won’t leave us alone. He’s going to want revenge for what happened at the compound.”

  “Do we know where we’re going yet?” Brock asked, looking back and forth between Pierce and me. Apparently the two of us were the leaders of this outfit.

  “Away from here,” Pierce stated.

  “Whatever we do, we shouldn’t go too far,” Archer suggested.

  “Why?” Tallon asked.

  “Because no one will be safe on this continent until the General is destroyed,” said Ravyn, grimacing. “If we wait until after winter passes …”

  “We can’t give him that much time to create new soldiers,” I added.

  Laelynn surprised us by stepping forward into our circle. Her brothers had moved a bit closer as well, lingering ten feet away but close enough to hear.

  “Maybe we could help,” Laelynn said tentatively. “My brothers and I have decided to go back to Ahern.”

  Ahern was the horse clan southwest of Peton. Our clan had been trading with them for decades. I had never been to Ahern myself so I was uncertain of what to expect.

  “That’s just a few days from Peton,” Archer remarked, then he glanced from Pierce to me. “We could travel to Ahern, get resupplied, and then make for Peton from the south end.”

  “And what if Ahern is filled with spies for Wolfe?” Ravyn argued. “His spies are in Terran and Peton, why not the other clans?” She raised her eyebrows. “I’m sorry, but … I can’t take that chance. Not again.”

  “Nothing has to be decided right this minute,” I said. “First, we need to leave this immediate area and make sure we don’t leave a trail.”

  Pierce nodded and peered west toward the setting sun. “We have about three more hours of daylight. Let’s make the most of them.”

  ***

  We had been walking for two solid hours without rest. Our destination was still uncertain, so for now, we journeyed south, away from
the compound and Linwood. That was enough.

  Hagan and Haldar led the way, while Nash, Kaelem, and Laelynn followed behind them in a single-file line. I was not certain we should stick with the brothers all the way to Ahern, but we had no other option at the moment. Murray was too far north and we did not know what awaited us there. I hadn’t forgotten about my family, either. We needed to return to Peton to retrieve my sisters and Aaron, and anyone else who wanted to leave the clan behind – perhaps Max and Tameron.

  By nightfall, I led our own group, with everyone depending on my night vision. The fading sun was casting dark shadows over the Valley under the looming sequoias, some two hundred feet tall.

  Camellia hiked behind me as an added measure of protection and Ravyn trekked through the ferns behind her twin, her rifle in her hands and her head on a swivel. Brock and Tallon followed behind Ravyn. Pierce and Archer had volunteered to bring up the rear of the pack. With so many gifts within our group – my own night vision, Pierce’s excellent hearing, Ravyn’s warnings, and Kaelem’s mind-reading – I doubted many enemies would be able to approach undetected.

  Once we reached the next decent water source, I called a halt for the evening. “We can rest here tonight.” I turned in a full circle, scanning the area for anything suspicious. “Pierce, anything?” I murmured, knowing he would hear me from anywhere. He gave a subtle shake of his head.

  The brothers and Laelynn found a spot between the trees thirty feet away from the rest of us. I caught Kaelem’s eye and silently asked if he felt anything nearby. He shook his head and turned away to see to his sister.

  Ravyn sidled up next to me and took my hand. I squeezed it and whispered, “Do you sense anything?”

  “Not yet.”

  While everyone settled in the small clearing between the sequoias for the night, Ravyn turned and stared off into the trees. She faced north, back toward the compound. I dropped my supplies and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Pierce doesn’t hear anything and neither does Kaelem,” I murmured. “They’ll warn us if something draws near. Kaelem may not be on our side, but he will still protect his family. I trust in that.”