by C. R. Pugh
Many of Peton’s citizens had already found seats inside the building, but there was only so much room. The rest stood out on the front steps and beyond, waiting to hear the gossip from the hearing. Most Council hearings were ignored, but people were itching to hear what would happen with me and the Elders, like the last hearing I had attended.
The crowd stopped and stared when they saw my Warriors and me marching toward them. They scrambled back out of the way, creating a path to the stairs. With Pierce, Archer, Tallon, and Brock on my flank, we climbed the stairs and strode into the hall and down to the front of the room to face the Elders.
Six Elders remained. They sat in their semicircle of chairs on a raised platform at the front of the room, all of them dressed in their formal cream-colored attire with the crimson sash. Elder Teargan had taken the center seat where Aurel had sat during my last Council hearing. Kemena and Aaron, along with Tameron, Max, and Luken, sat on the front row behind us. There were Warriors scattered throughout the congregation, all their eyes fixed on me.
There was a great deal of murmuring and whispering throughout the room, people speculating on what I would say to the Elders. I had not planned any pretty speech. I was simply trusting that I would know what to say when the time came.
“Order,” Elder Teargan called out to the congregation. Once the crowd had grown silent, he turned his eyes to where I stood, front and center with my Warriors. “You called for this Council hearing, Thorne,” he sneered. “Would you like to proceed?”
“I would,” I answered, ignoring his condescending tone. Last time, the Elders had made me nervous. This time, I had nothing to lose.
I turned to face the crowd, letting them know that what I had to say was for everyone in Peton. “It is time for you all to hear what has been happening here inside Peton and outside these walls. Most of you are aware of the woman I met on the hunt a few weeks ago, but I did not speak of all that happened while we were gone.”
I recounted the events that took place – how I had met Ravyn and found out about General Wolfe and his connection to our clan. My voice remained steady as I explained the special gifts that each of us possessed, without revealing Ravyn’s secret gift. The congregation began whispering and giving each other furtive glances, wondering who among us was altered.
“This General Wolfe covets those who are altered. He would take you prisoner, torture you, and use you in his quest to control the continent. He might brainwash you and force you to fight for him, like those soldiers you fought yesterday, or drain you of your blood in order to create more people like you. And our Elders …” I turned to glare up at the six remaining Elders. “… have been sending me and my Warriors out to hunt for exiles - these altered men and women - three times a year.” A collective gasp went up in the hall and the Elders blanched. I faced the crowd but pointed back at the Elders. “How many captives have disappeared over the years? These men have been trading the captives we rescue to General Wolfe in exchange for the guns we carry.”
I paused to allow the information to sink in. The crowd looked appalled and angry. They turned their furious expressions to the Elders seated up on the platform.
“Each time a man or woman in Peton disappears without a trace, it is because they have been sent as a gift to that man.” I pivoted around to face the Elders once more. They were squirming in their seats. “General Wolfe is not a kind and benevolent leader. He is an evil dictator. Some of you fought them yesterday. Several of them tried to kill me and managed to murder Hawke before I left four weeks ago.”
This invoked the loudest reaction from the Warriors. Most of them had trained with and loved Hawke.
Once they had settled down some, I went on. “My wife, Ravyn, was a prisoner of his for years. She was a victim to his tortures. That was the reason I left this place to find her.” I addressed the congregation again. “He means to use these soldiers to gain control of all our clans and hold this magic serum over our heads as leverage against us.”
Elder Teargan rose from his seat looking indignant. “That serum will save us from another Blood Plague.”
“How do you know another plague will even strike?” I asked him in return. “And so what if it does? We have the world’s finest healers here in this clan. My sister is one of them.” I looked over my shoulder. Kemena smiled up at me, pride in her misty eyes. “Our medicines are the best in the land, thanks to her. Every clan has traded with us for these medicines.”
“And you risk the deaths of many by attempting to separate us from General Wolfe?” Teargan argued. “His medicine -”
“Is not natural,” I interrupted. Turning back to the crowd I stated, “Death and sickness are inevitable in this world. People survived the Blood Plagues and will survive again if faced with another terrible disease. But we are Warriors. Fighters. We were not meant to bow down to the demands of tyrants. If we continue with the treaty these Elders have made with General Wolfe, we will become his slaves.”
Elder Teargan’s face was turning red. “You still do not have the authority to make these kinds of demands. The Elders will decide -”
“I disagree,” Luken called out, rising to his feet. The entire crowd went silent, waiting to hear what Hawke’s most trusted friend had to say. “We have no Commander, and in light of these events, I vote to reinstate Thorne to his position of Commander until challenges can be held.”
“You can’t do that!” Elder Teargan spat. The other Elders whispered back and forth to each other, trying to find a way to regain control.
“The citizens and Warriors will decide,” Luken insisted. He turned to the congregation. “Thorne was Hawke’s son. There is no question of his heritage, no matter the circumstances. Thorne was true to Hawke and true to our clan. He fights for us, the same as Hawke would fight for us if he were still alive. So, what say you? All in favor of Thorne’s reinstatement?”
Kemena was the first to rise to her feet. One by one, the Warriors stood in their support. Whether it was because of me, Luken’s dynamic speech, or maybe the memory of Hawke, it didn’t matter. With the exception of one or two, and the Elders behind me on the dais, the entire room stood. A lump formed in my throat at their loyalty.
Luken turned to the Elders and folded his arms across his chest. “Well, that’s settled then.” The crowd broke out into quiet snickering. “Commander Thorne, what is your plan?”
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31
Ravyn
As soon as the sky lightened, I climbed down from the tree and picked up the soldiers’ trail again. It wasn’t difficult to find. Camellia was doing a fine job of churning up dirt and breaking branches in the brush as she passed by. Every hundred feet or so, I caught glimpses of silvery strands of hair. Were the soldiers manhandling her? Pulling her by the hair? My teeth clenched thinking they might be hurting her. If they weren’t, then she was yanking her own hair from her head to leave me a trail.
Today marked my third day of tracking Camellia and the soldiers. We were growing closer to the compound, and if I didn’t gain enough ground, they would slip back inside General Wolfe’s domain with my sister. My stomach roiled with sickness when I thought of going back inside that place for a third time. I was terrified I wouldn’t make it back out alive this time.
The two hours I actually slept last night, my dreams were filled with visions of Thorne, Camellia, and the other Warriors, all lying dead outside the compound. I’d had to watch on Wolfe’s monitors as they were all killed by the soldiers.
That will not be our fate. I refuse to believe it, I thought as I veered around the wide sequoias after the soldiers, running at a sprint.
My heart pounded as I raced through the forest. Sweat dripped down my face and back, and my skin stung where the ferns slapped against me as I sprinted through them. My body was growing weak from hunger, but I pushed on as far as my legs would carry me.
The next stream I stumbled upon, I forced myself to stop. Several beds of wa
tercress were growing by the creek. I ate the leaves raw until I couldn’t stand to swallow any more and washed them down with the icy, refreshing water from the stream.
An hour later, I stumbled upon another dead male soldier. His brown eyes stared blankly into the trees, as the other soldier had. There were no visible wounds on his body – no blood. But the man’s pants were unzipped.
I recalled all the times the soldier, Six, had cornered me at the compound. He and his male companions had been turned into sick monsters, constantly trying to take advantage of me. I’d been strong and had put a stop to their inappropriate and disgusting advances.
No, I thought, wiping my hand down my face and looking around. This might not be what I think it is.
A few feet from the man’s body, the dirt was dark and wet. I knelt down and caught a strong scent of urine. The man wasn’t naked. Maybe he’d been simply trying to relieve himself and Camellia had snuck up on him.
“That’s all this is,” I said with a sigh of relief. But why is he dead?
The boot prints in the dirt near the wet spot were smaller, the size of my own feet.
Camellia was standing here.
Stepping over the dead man, I crouched down and examined the ground more carefully. The indentations showed larger boots as well, and the dirt and grass had been churned up. Camellia had fought off her attacker, like she’d done to that boy, Evan, in Terran. Except this time, she’d killed the soldier.
Good girl, Camellia. Keep fighting them.
Sweeping aside a few more branches of the ferns, I noted Camellia’s small boot prints were heading away from the dead body. The stride was longer, the boot prints spread farther apart. She’d been running. Did she get away?
My heart beat a little faster as I followed her trail east. Thirty feet away, her boot steps were lost in another circle of churned up grass and dirt. There had been a scuffle of some kind. Larger boot prints circled the clearing between the sequoias, and the ferns had been flattened to the ground. A large chunk of Camellia’s blonde hair was caught on the bark of one of the tree trunks.
Bile threatened to rise in my throat. The remaining soldiers had chased her down and caught her. Their trail continued north again, toward the compound.
My sister was giving them a fight, but it wasn’t enough.
What am I going to do to stop them?
A plan began to form in my mind. It was the most insane thing I had ever done or might ever do – but it might work.
I marched back to the dead soldier. Sliding my blade from its sheath, I crouched down over him and slit his throat. His heart wasn’t beating, so the blood merely trickled down from the gash. It was enough. I wasn’t just slitting his throat for fear he’d reawaken. This time, I was using him as bait.
The wind picked up and a moment later, the Howlers cried out. A hysterical giggle bubbled up in my throat at the eerie sound. They had caught the sweet scent of blood on the breeze.
Come and get me.
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32
Thorne
By midday, forty of my Warriors rode their horses out of Peton’s gates in two lines behind me. Every Warrior had donned their leather armor for the battle. Many of them wore furs draped over their shoulders to protect them from the winter’s chill as we journeyed into the Old Sequoia Valley. Archer had stocked up on his wires and black powders – explosive surprises for Wolfe’s soldiers. We each had armed ourselves with rifles and pistols, along with various blades, swords, or axes.
Pierce rode by my side at the front of two lines of Warriors. I had made him my second-in-command, a promotion I should have given him in the first place had I trusted him at the time of the challenge. Better late than never.
Archer and Max rode side-by-side behind us. Max had insisted on coming with us, despite his lingering injuries. They were followed by Tallon and Brock. There were others less confident about travelling into the forest. Tameron, Dustine, and Ilsa had volunteered but had never been on a hunt before. I recognized Kort and Farren toward the rear of our procession. They were older Warriors that had come out of retirement to fight with us. I imagined they’d been on the hunt with Hawke in their younger days. Luken had reluctantly remained behind in Peton. He was a lethal fighter, but I trusted him to protect Peton if we did not survive the battle.
Forty was not a great army, by any means, but I could not in good conscience leave Peton unprotected. Regardless, Peton did not have enough horses to seat more than forty Warriors, and we needed to move fast. Our small army would be enough of a threat to draw out Wolfe’s soldiers from the compound to challenge us, giving Ravyn time to sneak inside and end the General once and for all. Part of me was still sickened by the thought of killing these soldiers when they were not in their right mind, but we could not spare them all. It was the price of war – and freedom.
My chest ached knowing many of us might not make it back to Peton. Kemena had been distressed seeing me saddle up to leave for the third time in a month.
“Don’t do anything foolish, Brother,” she had warned me. “You are going to be an uncle in about six months.”
I had turned from my stallion and gaped at Kemena in shock. Once her words had registered in my mind, I picked her up in my arms and swung her in a circle. “You’re going to be a mother. Kemena, I could not be happier for you.” I’d kissed her forehead and then pounded Aaron on the back to congratulate him.
Lenna had wrapped her tiny arms around my leg and gazed up at me with her angelic face. “Please come back, Thorne,” she had said, her huge blue eyes swimming with tears.
I scooped her up in my arms and let her bury her face in my shoulder. “I will, little Lenna. I promise.”
Though I’d given the Warriors strict instructions to lock the gates to Peton and keep a constant watch on the wall until our return, I had also warned Kemena of trouble. “Do not forget about the cave up near my cabin. If you feel there may be a threat on the inside, get yourselves up into the hills, Sister.” She and Aaron had promised to take care of themselves and had waved goodbye as I’d ridden away from the village.
I glanced over my shoulder at the two lines of Warriors on horseback marching out to the Old Sequoia Valley behind me. They had all been volunteers. I wouldn’t have ordered them to come, even if I’d wanted to. Allegiance to Hawke and our Peton way of life had almost every Warrior chomping at the bit to fight back against Wolfe and his evil hold on our clan.
There were many obstacles to overcome in our plan, multiple possibilities of failure. Timing was everything. If we approached and Wolfe decided to barricade his people inside instead of sending out his army, Ravyn’s odds of accomplishing her task decreased. I was counting on Wolfe to underestimate our Warriors, since our numbers were not exactly overwhelming.
“Stop worrying,” Pierce murmured, having noticed my tension. “Whatever happens, we’re not alone this time.”
I gave him a quick nod and gave my stallion a kick, moving into a trot as we reached the edge of the Old Sequoia Valley. If we were to make it back to Linwood before nightfall, we would need to make haste.
***
I sat astride my horse and stared down at the abandoned village. Linwood was just as we had left it almost two weeks ago. The waterwheel creaked as it turned with the flow of the stream running through the center of the village. Rope ladders still hung from the homes up in the tops of the sequoias. The evening sun was fading fast behind the trees.
My heart ached as I stared up at the balcony where I had first spotted Ravyn. This was the place my journey with my beautiful warrior had begun, but this time the soldiers would not be bringing the fight to us. We would be taking it to them.
“Tether your horses by the stream,” I called over my shoulder to the other Warriors.
I gently kicked my mount into a walk and led him to the water. Swinging my leg around, I dismounted and began to unsaddle my stallion.
Once each Warrior had tended to th
eir horses, I started barking my orders. “Pierce, Archer, Brock, Tallon, and Max … we will meet up in this treehouse,” I said, pointing overhead to a treehouse. “The rest of you split up into groups of five or six and make camp in the treehouses. Come up with a rotation for two-hour shifts. I want one Warrior from each group on look-out at all times.”
The Warriors nodded in agreement then strode away.
“Commander,” Max called out, approaching me with a slight limp in his right leg. He stopped a foot away and shuffled his feet. “Commander, you don’t have to include me. I wasn’t there for you when the rest of you left Peton. I won’t be offended.”
I folded my arms over my chest and stared back into his hazel eyes. “Do you doubt my judgement?”
“No, Commander.”
“From what I’ve heard from Pierce and Luken, you did your fair share of fighting to save Peton from within its walls,” I said. “Don’t discount what you’ve accomplished.” I patted him on the shoulder and nudged him toward the ladder.
The six of us convened in the small dining area. Max got a fire going in the stove while the rest of us dug through our food supplies to eat while we talked.
We dropped into chairs around the table. “Let’s go over our plan once more before tomorrow,” I said. “We’ll split into three smaller groups. Pierce, you will lead one of them. Brock and I will lead the other two. Archer will be floating on his own, placing each of his devices and traps where he wants them.”
“Warn the Warriors in your groups to watch out for them,” Archer added.
I nodded and continued. “Max will lead our reserve group, who will be hanging back out of sight.” I turned to my sister, who was frowning. “Tallon, you will stay hidden within the brush, utilizing your bow. Be a ghost.” Tallon smirked and nodded, pleased with her assignment.
“We need Wolfe to believe he has the upper hand,” Pierce stated.
