Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  Leaving the crowd behind, we reached the west side of the building. Kaelem began pacing back and forth, inspecting the stone wall of the large building.

  I furrowed my brow. What is he looking for?

  “There’s a side entrance,” Kaelem said, answering my unspoken question. “I’m not supposed to know about it.” He tapped his temple. “Mind-reading, you know. I found out about the secret bunker from the last governor.”

  This was why Kaelem hadn’t been surprised at finding a bunker in Terran.

  “The door is hidden?” Brock asked him.

  Kaelem nodded. “I brought my brothers and we used to play inside the tunnel. No one ever found out that we knew.” Kaelem halted and narrowed his eyes at the wall. “Here it is, I’m sure of it.” He approached the side of the building and knelt down, placing his fingers along the bottom edge of the wall. “It’s difficult to open from the outside. It was designed for the governor to hide or escape in the event of an attack.”

  I didn’t see a door, or any cracks in the wall revealing an entrance, but still Kaelem dug his fingers beneath the stone wall and pulled. Brock jumped forward and crouched down to help. Kaelem groaned, straining to pull the door free. The hinges of the door creaked in protest. Once they’d managed to crack it an inch, I grabbed hold of the edges and pushed it wider.

  “Get in!” I ordered.

  Tallon slipped inside first. Kaelem and Brock followed after her, pulling me along behind them. The door slammed shut behind us, swallowing up every bit of light. My heart beat harder and my hands began to shake. I was blind to everything.

  “Kaelem!” I gasped in panic. I closed my eyes against the smothering darkness, but it was no better than having my eyes open. My hands reached for something, anything, but found nothing to hold onto. In a futile attempt to get away from the dark, I backpedaled, but only succeeded in bumping into someone.

  “Ouch!” Tallon yelped. “You stepped on my foot.”

  Even knowing I wasn’t alone wasn’t helping. We’re going to die in here.

  Strong hands gripped my shoulders and gave me a shake. “Stop it!” Kaelem hissed. “I know the way. Hold on to me and listen to what I tell you.”

  I gulped and grasped his shoulder. Tallon and Brock did the same, forming a train. We took slow, measured steps as we made our way down a stairwell, deeper underground. My hands were still trembling, but Kaelem never wavered.

  “I played down here for years, Ravyn,” he reassured me. “I could do this with my eyes closed.”

  Taking a deep breath, I tightened my grip on his shoulder and soldiered on.

  We walked straight for a minute and turned a corner to the left. Kaelem was steady, leading us right and then left again. After navigating a series of long, pitch-black corridors, we began to climb another set of stairs.

  “This leads up into a library off the main hall of the building, where the governor presides over the trials,” Kaelem whispered.

  Once Kaelem reached the top of the stairs, he inched the door open and peeked through. He searched the room for guards and opened it wider to allow the light in. I squinted from the sudden burst of sunlight, and the scent of dust, mold, and rotting wood flooded my nostrils. Shelves of old books lined every wall of the room, each one tattered and worn. The printed titles on each spine had been stripped away. General Wolfe was the only person I’d ever known to possess books, but his collection was not this large.

  This was no time to gawk. Kaelem had already closed the secret door and was moving toward the other exit. The muffled sound of cheers and cries could be heard on the other side of the door.

  Kaelem readied his crossbow. Brock drew a pistol from his waistband and Tallon nocked an arrow in her bow.

  “Let’s do this,” I said, pulling the crossbow from my back and loading a bolt.

  Kaelem inched the door open. People lined the walls of the enormous room. The ceiling was at least two or three stories high and over fifty guards lined the walls. All eyes were focused on the center of the room. I couldn’t see what was happening yet, but from the noise of the crowd, it sounded like a fight was taking place.

  From the southernmost end of the room I heard a woman scream, “Finish him!” The crowd began to chant all around us, “Kill, kill, kill …” over and over.

  Who was fighting? Was it Thorne?

  Keep going, Ravyn, I thought. You won’t be in a position to do anything if you keep standing here.

  Forcing my feet to move, I wove through the guards, trying to keep from being noticed. None of them stopped me. Their eyes were fixed on the duel in front of them as if they were hypnotized. Kaelem’s aunt had to be responsible for their mesmerized state. She was more powerful than he had let on.

  Or he didn’t know.

  I eased past another guard. My blood ran cold when I saw the commotion in the center of the grand room. The Warriors weren’t fighting other men. They were fighting each other. Pierce had Thorne down on all fours in a headlock. Thorne’s face was bright red, his eyes pinched shut. Pierce was choking him to death.

  Pierce was trying to kill Thorne! But why?

  “Kill! Kill! Kill!” My stomach roiled with sickness at their mindless chanting. The governor is controlling them all.

  I scoured the room until I saw her. The governor stood on her platform, watching with a wicked smile on her face. She giggled and clapped her hands as if this were an entertaining sight.

  Desperate to help both Thorne and Pierce, I pushed through the crowd.

  Two arms wrapped around me from behind and a voice chuckled in my ear. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  I bit back a curse. Hagan.

  “Kill, kill, kill …” the crowd chanted in the background.

  He wasn’t going to hurt me again. I wouldn’t let him. I slammed my head back onto his nose. Bones crunched. Hagan doubled over and howled in agony. I spun and smashed the butt of my crossbow into Hagan’s forehead. He hit the floor with a thud.

  Two more guards charged forward to stop me. I kicked one back into the chanting crowd. Men and women tumbled to the floor. The second guard grabbed my arm. I kneed him in the groin and struck him across the face with the crossbow, using it like a club.

  While the mob continued to chant and cheer, oblivious to all else, I whirled around in time to watch Pierce’s blade plunge into Thorne’s side. Thorne hadn’t even attempted to fight him off, and his own blade was a foot away from him.

  My heart plummeted to the floor when Pierce straightened, leaving Thorne’s body lying on the ground. Blood began to pour from his side. The crowd lifted their arms, hooting and cheering all around me while I stood paralyzed in horror. Pierce stood motionless, his bloody dagger still in his grip. He was under the spell of Kaelem’s aunt – Governor Laela.

  The vile woman strolled across the room toward Thorne. She leaned over him, speaking indecipherable words to him. Tallon screamed Thorne’s name from somewhere to my left. The governor jerked her head up. Her dark eyes narrowed, searching the crowd.

  “Seize the intruders!” the governor shouted, pointing her accusing finger at us.

  Lifting the crossbow, I took aim and fired. She screeched as the bolt pierced her shoulder. It wasn’t enough to stop her. Another guard grabbed my wrist just as the eastern wall of the dome exploded, sending chunks of stone and shards of glass in all directions. People ducked down at the sound of the blast, while others shrieked and fled toward the exit in terror. The guards from the eastern wall were on the floor, wounded or dead.

  Dropping the crossbow, I twisted the guard’s arm up behind him, forcing him to his knees. After a kick to the gut and head, I was sprinting toward Laela again.

  The governor scowled at the destroyed wall and shrieked more commands. With Tallon and Brock busy fighting off guards, the evil woman pivoted to face me, her lip curled in disdain. She gave me a hard stare and I felt my feet began to slow.

  A throaty chuckle filled my ears as I slowed to a halt.

  �
��Your efforts are futile, child,” the woman sneered. Her shoulder bled where I’d shot her with the arrow.

  The governor’s eyes were pinned to me. Out of the corner of my eye, Brock and Tallon continued to grapple with Ahern’s guards. Kaelem was nowhere to be seen.

  I shook my head, knowing something important was happening. But what? All I could hear was Governor Laela cackling inside my head.

  “You are mine,” she said with a malicious grin.

  Governor Laela bent down to retrieve Thorne’s blade and then glided toward me. The train of her dress and cape flowed behind her and her dark hair fluttered in the breeze coming through the front door.

  She’s so graceful, I thought.

  The governor smiled at me. Had she heard my thoughts? I smiled back at her, delighted I’d made her so happy.

  Without warning, the governor’s body jerked and came to an abrupt halt. Her mouth dropped open in a silent scream. She moaned and reached for me, as if I was going to help her. The cloud covering my thoughts was ripped away, exposing my mind to the truth.

  This woman is evil.

  Drawing my hidden pistol, I took aim at Governor Laela’s heart, but I was too late. The tip of a silver blade protruded from her torso. She howled and crumpled to the floor at my feet, breaking her mental hold on us.

  Behind the governor stood another woman. Her brown hair was unkempt and filthy with dirt and oil. Her body was emaciated from starvation and sickness under her tattered clothes. She held a long, rusty sword that had seen better years, but it had done the job. The brown-haired woman had stabbed Governor Laela through the heart with the blade.

  The woman’s face turned a sickly pale and she collapsed. I lunged forward to catch her and eased her to the ground. She had saved us. I thought she might be dead, but I could still hear her wheezing.

  The room had emptied, save for the few guards standing around. Many scratched their heads and murmured with other guards, disoriented from Governor Laela’s twisted spell. Hagan lay unconscious on the floor. To my left, Pierce had snapped out of his trance and was stumbling toward Thorne. Tallon and Brock searched the room for other threats.

  A high-pitched keening from the governor’s platform startled me out of my daze.

  “No!” Nash shrieked.

  I gently lowered the frail woman to the floor and pushed to my feet. The gun was still in my hand. Could I kill Nash? Was it my place to?

  I holstered my gun and drew a dagger instead. I stepped over the sick woman to face Laelynn’s murderer. Tallon and Brock stepped up beside me, helping me corner him on the dais. Nash pulled his own blade from its sheath and held it out in front of him with a shaky arm.

  “We had a plan,” he hissed. His eyes had widened, wild in his madness. “I was going to be the next governor after Aunt Laela. I’m as powerful as she is.”

  “You think so?” I asked, calling his bluff. “I bet you can’t control us all at once.”

  Nash clenched his teeth and focused his powers on me, attempting to bend my thoughts to his will as he had done before. I felt a nudge in my mind, but it wasn’t strong like his aunt’s power. The muscles in his neck tightened under the strain of his efforts.

  I snorted and took a step closer.

  Nash whimpered at my approach. “Kaelem! Help me!” he squealed.

  I whirled around to find Kaelem standing right behind me, his crossbow aimed at me. I stood between him and his brother.

  “Kaelem, no!” Brock shouted.

  Had Kaelem come back here just to betray me after all?

  “Kill her!” Nash screamed.

  Keeping my eyes on Kaelem, I slowly rotated my dagger until I grasped the blade between my fingers. Kaelem’s one bolt wouldn’t kill me. My dagger would pierce his heart in an instant.

  Nash jabbed a finger at me. “What are you waiting for? Kill her!”

  Kaelem squeezed the trigger and the bolt whizzed by my face. He missed.

  Dumbfounded and speechless, I blinked in confusion. Tears pooled up in Kaelem’s eyes. He nodded and knelt down to scoop the sick woman up into his arms. “Mother!”

  My head whipped around to find Nash sinking to the floor, an arrow piercing his chest and a look of surprise on his face. Kaelem had killed his own brother. It was done.

  I sprinted toward my warrior. Pierce was crouched down at Thorne’s side. Tears streamed down his face. Thorne was pale and had passed out from the blood loss.

  Tallon knelt down and cradled her brother’s head in her lap. “We’re too late,” she whispered, her lips trembling.

  “Bind his wound,” Brock said, stripping off one of the long-sleeved shirts he’d been wearing. I snatched it from his hand and wrapped it around Thorne’s middle to staunch the flow of blood.

  “I’m sorry,” Pierce sobbed, staring down at his brother’s sleeping face. “I did this. I stabbed him!”

  “No,” I snapped, continuing to bind the wound. “That woman did this.”

  “I promised him,” Pierce whispered, peering up at me, his eyes full of sorrow. “I made a promise to Hawke. I told him I’d always have Thorne’s back and now …” He covered his face with his hands.

  “He’s not dead yet.” I glanced around at everyone. “Where’s Archer? He made that bomb go off, didn’t he?”

  “Maybe?” Pierce said, his voice shaky. “They left him behind in the prison. I don’t know what happened to him.”

  The explosion had to have been Archer. There was no other explanation. Everyone else had been under Governor Laela’s spell. That didn’t explain where he might have gone.

  “We need the serum,” I said.

  Pierce wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “We had one in our supplies, but the governor took our packs when we were arrested.” He peered up at me through his dark lashes. “Where is yours?” he growled. “You had one too, didn’t you?”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. We had left ours out in the woods with Kieron and Camellia. “I could give him my blood again,” I whispered, staring down at Thorne. There was no way to know if it would work the same way. The wound was not as large or as exposed. My blood might not penetrate his internal injuries.

  “Wait,” Brock said, interrupting my thoughts. “If the governor took your packs, they have to be here somewhere. We’ll find them.”

  “No need,” Archer called out from the front of the hall. He passed by the throne and raced in our direction with three packs slung over his shoulders. “I found them. I have our supplies.”

  I jumped to my feet and dashed over to Archer. The two of us dug frantically through each bag until Archer found it. One of the last two vials of serum Thorne and I had stolen from Wolfe.

  “Hurry up!” Pierce shouted, running his hands over his dark, shaggy hair.

  Archer strode over to Thorne’s side, the needle in his hands. Together, we turned Thorne onto his side and injected the serum into his hip. Once Archer had pulled the needle out of Thorne’s skin, he sighed in sheer relief. I positioned myself next to Tallon and held my warrior’s hand while we waited for Thorne to wake up.

  Pierce glared at Archer. “What took you so long?”

  Archer crouched down beside Pierce and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, ignoring his outburst. “It took longer to escape the prison cell than I thought. I found my way here, set the device to go off, and by the time I’d finished you’d already stabbed Thorne. The next logical step was to find our supplies. There was no time to stand around.”

  “What happened?” Brock demanded, folding his arms over his chest. “How did you wind up in prison?”

  Pierce was still shaken up over what had happened, so Archer took it upon himself to explain their tale.

  “I knew it would only be a matter of time before one of the guards became suspicious of what I was doing in my cell,” Archer explained. “I was putting together a bit of a surprise, but not to blow open the cell. The guard questioned me, and when I didn’t answer, he opened the door and walked right
in. It wasn’t difficult to overtake one guard.”

  “Good thinking,” Brock said with a grin.

  “Where did that woman come from?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at Kaelem who was rocking his mother in his lap. Tears of grief still streamed down his face.

  Archer nodded. “We met Kaela in prison. She told us of her sister’s powers. I set her free when I escaped, along with a few other prisoners I’m certain were down there for no reason. Kaela was adamant about making things right.” Archer peered at Kaelem and his mother out of the corner of his eye. “She got her wish.”

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  Table of Contents

  26

  Thorne

  The smell of sulfur and burnt flesh drifted around me. The floor was cold and unforgiving against my back. I inhaled, filling my lungs with new air, getting another whiff of the smoke inside the room.

  I’m breathing, I thought, taking in another lung-full of air. My lungs work and I’m alive. No trace of pain was left behind.

  Small, calloused fingers drew circles on the back of my hand and squeezing my fingers every once in a while. Another small hand was combing through my hair.

  I forced my eyelids to open and found two female faces staring down at me. One had blue eyes the color of the sky, the others were a sparkling blue-green of the Fairuza Sea.

  “Thorne,” Ravyn said with a sigh, her eyes glittering with tears. “You’re awake.”

  “Ravyn? Tallon? What are you doing here? I thought …” My hand reached for the wound at my side. I didn’t feel any blood. “What happened to Pierce?” I asked them, my breathing growing faster and faster. “That woman … she had him under her mind-control. She’s altered.”

  “We know,” Tallon said, pressing her palm to his shoulder to keep him still. “She’s dead.”

  Ravyn squeezed my hand and gave me a sad smile. “How do you feel? Are you ready to get up?”

  “I think so.” I took another deep breath. Pierce’s blade had punctured my lung, I was certain of it, but I felt nothing.