Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  She nodded. “Who do you think it is?”

  “One of the General’s scientists.”

  Kieron’s grip on my arm tightened. “And you think you can trust him?”

  The scientist called out again. “Look, I know you’re out there. I just want to talk. I’m alone.”

  I jerked my arm free from Kieron’s grip. “He helped me escape twice. Now stay here for a moment while I go see what he wants.”

  “I’m not letting you go alone,” Kieron argued.

  “Me neither,” Camellia said, her words sounding shaky. I quirked my eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “Well … I don’t want to stay here by myself.”

  I grinned at my brave sister. “Fine, but hang back a bit. And keep your weapons ready just in case.”

  Silent as a ghost, I circled around the sequoia and made my way toward the man who had travelled here to find us. It had to be important for him to come all this way. From here it was probably a full day’s hike back to the compound.

  I spotted his dark silhouette standing in the midst of the trees, a green glow shining from his own locator.

  “Hello?” he called. The scientist turned in a circle, searching the shadows.

  He doesn’t know who he’s looking for, I thought, once he turned his back on me again. He only sees a dot on his screen.

  I edged closer, stepping over roots jutting out of the ground and avoiding twigs and leaves that might crunch under my feet. He was only thirty feet away from me and completely alone, as he had said.

  The scientist warily turned another circle.

  “Do you know how dangerous it is for you to come here?”

  The scientist spun toward the sound of my voice. He was wearing a shiny rain jacket and boots that he’d stolen from some soldier’s closet. The glasses on the bridge of his nose were spotted with rain drops.

  He stepped toward me. “I might say the same to you … Ravyn.”

  A twig snapped behind me. I whirled and raised my pistol toward the sound. “You said you were alone.”

  “I am alone.”

  I felt him draw closer. I whirled and aimed my gun at him. “If this is a trap, you’ll be the first to die,” I warned him.

  The scientist held his hands up. “He ... he doesn’t know I’m here, Ravyn. I came to find out who was here ... before the General sent out soldiers to track you.”

  Camellia stepped out of the shadows, bundled up in the blanket and watching us carefully.

  “It’s us, Ravyn,” Camellia called out. “Don’t shoot.”

  On my left, Brock and Tallon strode out from behind the trees, their weapons aimed at the scientist, who still had his hands raised. I slowly lowered my arm and holstered my weapon. Kieron stepped up behind Camellia.

  The scientist’s eyes found Kieron and blanched. “Ravyn! It ... it’s him.” He waved his hands and pointed, like he was trying to get my attention. “Aren’t ... aren’t you going to shoot him?” Finally realizing that Kieron wasn’t attacking, the scientist folded his arms over his chest and frowned in confusion.

  “It’s alright,” I said. “Kieron is back in his right mind again.”

  The scientist’s eyes flicked back and forth between me and Kieron. “He’s come out of his brainwashed state?”

  “He snapped out of it the day you blew out the front doors to the compound.”

  The scientist’s eyebrows pinched together in thought. “How is this possible?” he mumbled to himself. “This changes things.” He glanced down at the locator and pointed at Kieron. “You’re the one with the tracking chip then? Not Ravyn.”

  “What are you really doing here?” I asked. “Did the General send you?”

  “No. He didn’t. I … I saw you on the monitor and came to find you - to warn you of what Wolfe is doing.”

  “And you think we should trust anything you have to say?” Brock asked him. “You work for Wolfe. You could be lying.”

  “I - I know.” The scientist gave me an imploring look. “You have to believe me – I’m done being his lackey. I didn’t have to help you those two times. I risked my life helping you escape. I’m risking my life being here right now.”

  I took a step toward him. “Why are you helping me? This is the third time you’ve stuck your neck out for me. You don’t owe me anything.”

  “Because General Wolfe is out of control and I’ve grown tired of watching him hurt people. You might be the only one who can stop him.”

  ***

  We located the cave twenty minutes after the scientist – Audrick – had found us. He followed me down the banks of the river without question, giving Kieron several troubled looks as we walked. He still couldn’t quite believe Kieron wasn’t under Wolfe’s spell.

  Everything was as I remembered it. Piles of wood had been stacked in the back of the cave along with wool blankets and extra clothes. Thorne had explained that all these supplies were for an emergency.

  Well, this is certainly an emergency, I thought as I snatched up the pile of garments and began passing them out to everyone. Kieron and Brock got a fire going. Audrick was the only one not soaked to the skin. He had shed his rain jacket and collapsed against the wall of the cave while the rest of us took care of our own needs.

  Once everyone had changed into dry clothes, we laid out our wet garments to dry and huddled around the flames. Camellia pulled out the small pot she’d been carrying since Linwood, filled it with rain water, and set it by the fire to boil for the pine needle tea.

  “We don’t have any meat left,” Brock said. “We ate the last of our kills yesterday.”

  “We’ll make do,” I told him as I rifled through my pack for my store of food. I glanced over my shoulder at Audrick, sitting alone. “You need to eat too.”

  Everyone froze and stared at me, but I ignored them. We didn’t have much food for ourselves, but Audrick wasn’t a hunter. Whatever food he had brought wouldn’t last for his journey back to the compound – if he was planning to return. Audrick hesitantly moved to sit on my right between me and Brock.

  While we ate in silence, I couldn’t help but think about the night Thorne and I had spent together in this cave. I felt my face heat up, recalling how we had slept side-by-side and how I had woken in his arms. I’d been safe with him. The irritation I’d felt over his deception – tricking me into saying the Binding Words – seemed trivial. If I hadn’t said them then, I would have eventually.

  Camellia leaned in and whispered, “Why are you blushing?”

  I covered my cheeks with my hands. Thankfully, Brock and Tallon murmured quietly to each other, unaware of my embarrassment. The scientist was busy studying Kieron, who was watching me. I lowered my eyes and tried to ignore the yearning I sensed in his gaze.

  “I was thinking about Thorne,” I replied under my breath. “We spent a night here together once.”

  Camellia giggled. “Oh, I see.”

  “Why do you keep staring at me?” Kieron barked at Audrick.

  Everyone paused and glanced back and forth between the two.

  “I’m curious to know how your mind reverted back to its original state,” Audrick answered with a shrug.

  “I thought the serum might have done it,” I said. “Thorne told me he stabbed Kieron and left him for dead in Linwood.”

  Audrick rubbed his chin. “It’s possible, but none of the other soldiers have reverted back from the serum.”

  I furrowed my brows. “What else could it have been? My mind heals like the rest of my body.” Audrick stared at me, a clever grin on his face. “You knew, didn’t you? Does Wolfe know?” I asked.

  “Of course not,” Audrick replied. “At least, I don’t believe he does.” Audrick turned back to Kieron. “What else happened to you before the battle at the compound? Did anything jar your brain or jog your memory?”

  “I don’t remember anything while I was … that way,” Kieron grumbled.

  “Maybe his mind was stronger than the others,” I suggested.

  Tallon
leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at Kieron. “Or maybe you have some kind of mind-gift.”

  “Could be any of those,” Audrick said, nodding. “I’m not sure -”

  “I shocked him,” Camellia blurted out.

  “You shocked him?” Audrick asked. “Is this an ability you have, like Ravyn’s gift?”

  Camellia sipped her pine needle tea and nodded. “He was trying to capture me and I shocked him.”

  “Intriguing.” Audrick leaned back and rubbed his chin. “Our brainwaves are made up of synapses. Uh … electrical currents.” He wagged his finger at Camellia. “If you jolted him with an electrical current, then maybe …”

  His words trailed off even as he continued to contemplate this new information.

  “Why did it take a full two days for him to snap out of it?” Brock asked plainly. “Wouldn’t he have woken up immediately?”

  Audrick shrugged his shoulders again. “Who knows how the mind truly works? We won’t know for certain unless we do more experiments.”

  “No!” I snapped. “No more experiments. No more test subjects. Let’s get back to how you found us.”

  Tallon narrowed her eyes at Audrick. “How do we know for sure that the General didn’t brainwash this guy and send him out as a decoy or something?”

  He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “I told you before. He doesn’t know I’m here. No one knows. I – I wanted to find out whose tracking chip was here before he sent out another contingent of soldiers. I’ve been running interference for you.”

  “Tracking chip?” Brock asked him.

  The scientist straightened. “It’s a tiny electronic device placed under the skin that gives off a signal to where the person is. We originally designed them for the Yellow-eyed Sabers -”

  “So, the General does control the Sabers,” I interrupted. “He uses them to track me?”

  “Yes and no. He thinks he controls them, but you see for yourself how uncontrollable they are once released from their dens. He sends them to hunt you, but once they find you …” He raised his eyebrows. “Instinct cannot be controlled. Not in those beasts.”

  Brock folded his arms over his chest. “The Yellow-eyed Sabers are all trapped in dens and only released to hunt someone down?”

  “They aren’t all locked up,” Audrick pointed out. “There are plenty that run free somewhere in the Valley. Further north maybe, deep in the forest. Locking some of them up to use was Wolfe’s idea, of course.”

  “Don’t you think that’s cruel?” I asked.

  Audrick stared at me for a moment and then asked a question in return. “Would you rather the beasts be allowed to wander free?”

  The group remained silent, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Sabers, even after all the devastation they’d brought to us. How were they treated any differently than myself and the other soldiers? What would happen to them once the General was dead? Would they stay trapped and starve to death? They were ferocious, but they couldn’t help being what they were any more than I could help that I was altered.

  “If the Sabers were freed to hunt on their own, they wouldn’t be compelled to hunt humans,” I pointed out. “The Sabers would be like any other predator in the wild.”

  “What about the trade runners?” Brock asked me. “People who travel to other clans? Wouldn’t the Sabers hunt them?”

  I shrugged. “You’re all looking at me like I’ve gone crazy, but how would it be different than watching out for the Night Howlers?” I asked them. “No one needs to journey directly through the Valley to get to the other clans. Your Warriors could travel with the trade runners to provide protection.”

  “This is all great, but can we get back to the tracking chip?” Kieron asked, changing the subject. “This is the second time someone has located me. The next time I may not get so lucky.”

  Audrick nodded. “After Ravyn’s first escape, General Wolfe implanted tiny electronic chips under the skin of each of his citizens and soldiers so he could keep tabs on everyone. Soldiers especially.”

  “And I was still his captain,” Kieron grumbled.

  “Yes, you were,” Audrick agreed. “During the second escape, I knew your microchips would be a hindrance to making an escape. I designed the explosion at the compound to knock out our power and the ability to track any of the microchips. It was all part of my plan for him to stay blind to Ravyn’s whereabouts.”

  “Ravyn has one of these tracking chips too?” Tallon said, her head snapping to me.

  Audrick gave me a once-over. “Not anymore.” He took off his glasses and began to clean them with the tail of his shirt. “That’s another one of the reasons I came here. A microchip was placed inside the bullet Kieron shot into your knee.”

  “We took the bullet out a week ago,” Tallon stated.

  Audrick placed his glasses back on his face. “Three chips left the compound that day. Ravyn’s and Kieron’s, and the third one was implanted into the friend you rescued.”

  My brows pinched together. “Why would he do that?”

  “A backup plan in case you escaped again?” he said, shrugging. “What’s had me baffled for some time is the locations of each chip and who they belong to. Laelynn’s stopped moving. But Kieron’s continued travelling north.” He turned his gaze to me. “Yours, Ravyn, kept moving south. It’s now inside Ahern.”

  My stomach roiled with sickness. “How?” I turned to Tallon. “Maybe Thorne picked it up? He wouldn’t do something so sentimental, would he?”

  “It might not have been Thorne,” Brock pointed out. “Who else would benefit from drawing the soldiers to Ahern?”

  “Nash,” I murmured to myself.

  “How would he know about the microchips?” Tallon asked, completely bewildered.

  Kieron sighed and his shoulders sagged. “I … I would have told him. While I was a soldier.”

  “That’s just conjecture,” Tallon argued. “You told us you don’t remember what happened while you were brainwashed. Besides, Nash wasn’t even there when we took that bullet out. He was still injured in the other treehouse.”

  I ran my hands through my tangled hair, dropping my chin to my chest. What else could go wrong? “It doesn’t matter who has it. We just need to find them.”

  “I’m sorry, Ravyn,” Audrick said. “I’ve done all I can to help you.”

  “Will you destroy the compound?” Brock asked him.

  “I can’t do that,” said Audrick, shaking his head. “Ravyn knows as well as I do that there are innocent people there. Women and babies.”

  “Babies he’s stolen from Terran,” I said.

  “We cannot destroy the innocent along with the guilty,” he explained. “Wolfe must be stopped. Once he’s gone, there’s no longer a threat.”

  “I have an idea.” I rubbed my forehead and turned to Kieron. He quirked an eyebrow at me. “It’s dangerous, but … we need to get the microchip out of Kieron first.”

  Back to Map

  Table of Contents

  22

  Thorne

  Five days had passed since Archer, Pierce, and I were arrested. Guards came three times each day, like clockwork, to deliver meals of bread, cheese, and a cup of water for each prisoner. They did not speak or interact with any captives. It was as if the guards were sleepwalking, like Wolfe’s soldiers.

  Governor Laela must have them under her mind-control.

  I found myself pacing, which meant I was walking in tiny circles and making myself dizzy in the dark. The cell was no wider than I was tall and my head was an inch from hitting the ceiling. But I couldn’t sit still. My backside was growing numb.

  Pierce stretched and exercised with me so we wouldn’t lose our strength while confined. Archer kept his back turned and continued to work on whatever device or contraption might set us free, though I was beginning to wonder if even his cleverness would be enough to save us.

  Kaela was quiet when she wasn’t coughi
ng and gagging from her lung infection. If we found a way out of these cells, we would take her with us. Perhaps Kemena had herbs or a potion to help her.

  “How long will they keep us down here before she speaks with us?” I wondered out loud.

  “Who said she wanted to speak with us?” Pierce asked in return. “She could keep us down here forever, like Laela. Who’s going to know?”

  “Tallon will figure out we’re missing,” I mumbled. “I told her to go to Peton after they find Kieron.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Pierce argued. “You told Ravyn to go on to Murray to look for rebel allies that might join our fight. Afterward, they’re meeting us by the stream where we buried Laelynn and Haldar.”

  I scratched my chin. “I did?”

  Pierce rolled his eyes at me through the bars. “What is wrong with you? Are you losing your memory?”

  “I swear that’s what I told them to do,” I muttered. “Why would I give them two different directives?”

  “Well, we can’t worry about that now,” Pierce said with a sigh. “Whether they decide to go back to Peton or the stream to meet us …” He shrugged.

  Sitting back down against the stone wall, I leaned my head against the bars and said, “We won’t be there to meet them.”

  “Ravyn is clever and so are Brock and Tallon,” Pierce remarked. “They’ll figure it out.”

  It might be too late by then.

  I turned to stare at Archer. He’d been sitting with his back turned for three days straight. What could be taking so long? “Archer, are you about done with that thing?”

  “Not yet,” he replied over his shoulder. “Stop nagging me and let me work.”

  For the first time in hours, Kaela spoke up in her gravelly voice. “What does he have over there?”

  “There’s no telling,” I said. “He’s good with explosives, but I don’t know if the guards left him enough of anything useful.”

  Above us, I heard the door to the prison open and bang against a wall. I rose to my feet and leaned against the bars as light flooded the walkway between the cells.

  Pierce stood up as well and watched the entryway.