by C. R. Pugh
“Exactly,” I agreed. “Once he starts sending soldiers out, Archer will set off a few of his explosives to catch them off guard. The rest will be up to us. We must keep his soldiers busy to give Ravyn time to find Wolfe and eliminate him from the inside.”
Everyone was silent for a minute, letting the information sink in.
I swallowed back the dread I felt and said, “I know I make it sound easy, but …”
Pierce gave me a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Ravyn knows what she’s doing.”
Archer was the first to rise to his feet. “It’s going to be a long couple of days. We should get some rest.”
“I’ll take the first watch,” I announced as they each unrolled their bedding.
Pierce narrowed his eyes at me. Brock and Archer gave each other a nervous glance.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to stay awake all night like last time. I swear.”
“Wake me in two hours then,” Pierce said.
Once everyone was settled down in their blankets to sleep, I strolled out to the balcony overlooking the clearing. The horses were huddled in a group, their heads hanging as they rested. Every once in a while, one of the animals snorted or dug a hoof into the ground.
In the distance, I heard the cries of Night Howlers echoing through the trees. They were more than a mile away, but their screeches sent a chill up my spine.
What are you hunting out there? I thought, staring into the night sky.
Howlers could pose another threat to us if we were not careful, but we couldn’t fret over it now. Our course was set. Tomorrow morning, we would ride out to the compound.
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33
Ravyn
The moon was full and bright, illuminating the forest through the branches of the sequoias. I took advantage of the light and kept tracking the soldiers north. Camellia and her thoughtless captors continued to leave obvious signs they’d passed by: broken fern branches, boot prints in the mud, and silvery strands of hair caught on the bark of the trees. Did they have any idea what was trailing them? Once I found them, they were going to wish they only had to deal with the Night Howlers.
I had seen no other dead bodies on the trail and wondered if they had somehow bound Camellia’s hands so she could not turn her gift on them again. The Howlers were still stalking us. The beasts had gone silent for an hour, most likely feasting on the dead soldier I’d left for them, but I felt them gaining on us.
This is the craziest thing you’ve ever done, Ravyn, I thought to myself as I marched through the trees, pushing aside the brush and stepping over roots jutting out of the ground.
I almost regretted my rash decision to draw the Howlers closer to us, but I was hoping the harpies would provide an adequate distraction while I extracted my sister from their grasp. The Howler’s presence would likely draw soldiers from the compound as well, which would work in Thorne’s favor.
Thorne is going to kill you for drawing those beasts near.
My hope was that the soldiers would take care of the Night Howlers, giving Thorne an opportunity to sneak up on the soldiers, leaving me to creep into the compound undetected.
And what are you going to do with Camellia? I mentally scolded myself. You can’t take her inside the compound with you.
My brows pinched together as I started jogging through the brush. There were some flaws with my plan. There was still a chance I might not get to Camellia before they dragged her inside the compound. If I managed to rescue my sister before they reached the compound, then I would figure something out. But nothing was stopping me from killing General Wolfe this time.
***
Around midnight, after tracking the soldiers for eight solid hours, I stopped to grab a few hours of sleep high up in a tree. My legs were aching and blisters were forming on my heels from so much running. I lashed myself to a branch and stuffed my face with watercress and left-over rabbit I’d snared and roasted a day ago. Once my belly was full I nodded off.
The sounds of Night Howlers screeching nearby woke me from my slumber. I jumped down from the tree and brought my rifle up to my shoulder. The stars in the night sky twinkled over the tops of the sequoias. The moon was setting in the west behind the trees. My neck began to tingle, warning me that danger was near. Was it the Howlers or had the soldiers figured out I was close by?
Turning in a slow circle, I scanned the trees around me. There were no soldiers, no yellow glowing eyes of the Sabers, and no Howlers flying overhead.
A blood-curdling scream echoed through the trees from the north.
“Camellia,” I gasped.
They were close. I raced through the brush, not caring if anyone heard me coming. The booming of multiple rifles reverberated through the trees. I sprinted faster. There was no way to know if the soldiers would protect Camellia from the Howlers, and if they’d bound her, she would be defenseless against the deadly harpies.
I hurdled over fallen trees in my path and veered through the brush, following the sound of shrieking Howlers and gunfire. They were about two hundred yards away. Another terror-stricken scream sounded in the distance, and this time, I was certain it was Camellia.
If the Howlers kill her, I’ll never forgive myself.
Rifle in hand, I prowled through the brush along the edges of the soldiers’ camp. Blankets had been strewn about and smoke rose from a forgotten campfire. Two soldiers had been shredded and lay dead between the trees, their arms and legs bent in awkward positions. The remaining soldiers fired on a Night Howler that had landed in the middle of the clearing. The Howler’s screech of fury at the soldiers pierced my eardrums. The harpy spread its enormous black wings and pushed off with its hind legs, surging back into the night sky to join two others circling overhead.
While the soldiers shouted at each other and reloaded their rifles, I scanned the clearing to find Camellia. She was curled into a ball at the base of a sequoia. Her face was white with terror, her mouth open in a silent scream. Ignoring the soldiers, I crept along the perimeter, keeping to the shadows, and inched up behind my sister.
A second Howler dove into the clearing. The soldiers shot at the beast but it sunk its razor-sharp claws into the shoulders of one of the men. The poor soldier screamed and flailed as he was carried off into the trees by the hungry beast.
Edging closer to Camellia, I slapped my hand down over her mouth to keep her from crying out and attracting attention. My sister’s hands and feet were bound but she still managed to kick away from me.
“Hush, Camellia,” I hissed into her ear. “It’s Ravyn.”
Camellia stilled at once. I dragged her back into the brush, leaving the soldiers at the mercy of the Howlers. This hadn’t been my exact plan, but it was working nonetheless. Drawing my dagger, I cut the ropes binding Camellia’s feet and hands together and pulled her up to her feet.
“Are you able to run?” I whispered, risking a look over my shoulder at the clearing. Another Howler had landed and was knocking soldiers back with its powerful wings. The harpy turned and snapped its beak down on a man’s neck. I gasped and hid my face from the horrible sight. “Let’s get out of here.” I seized Camellia’s wrist and pulled her away from the soldiers and Howlers. The gunfire and screaming began to fade as we moved further and further away.
“You can’t leave them,” she cried, stumbling through the brush behind me. “They’ll be slaughtered.”
I frowned. Was she talking about the Howlers or the soldiers? They were doing equal amounts of damage to each other.
“Neither of them deserves our pity,” I snapped. “The soldiers killed Kieron and were taking you to General Wolfe to be tortured. I’m not going back to help them.”
I inwardly cringed at my own callousness, but I wasn’t sorry. The Howlers were merely dispatching eight or nine soldiers that Thorne’s Warriors would be facing soon. And if the soldiers ended up killing the Howlers, that would be alright by me too.
Terran w
as not far away and I got a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about what those beasts might do if they found the defenseless clan. The electric fence might keep out the Sabers, but it would do nothing to keep out the flying creatures of the night.
Camellia ran clumsily through the ferns, doing her best to keep up as I veered through the trees. I didn’t want her tripping and injuring herself, but we desperately needed to put some distance between us and the Howlers. I could handle the soldiers if I needed to, but running away was our best option for now.
I pushed through the brush and low-hanging tree limbs and didn’t slow my pace until we were at least a quarter of a mile away from the Howlers. Camellia doubled over, resting her hands on her knees once I’d stopped running.
“Have we lost them?” she asked, gasping for air.
I searched the trees around me, swallowing back my fear of the dark. “I think so,” I lied.
The tattoo on my neck was silent, but I didn’t feel safe yet. It was still a few hours until sun-up and I needed to find a safe place for Camellia while I completed my part of the mission.
“What are we going to do now?” Camellia whispered, straightening up and hugging her middle. “It’s so dark. How will we know where to go?”
My sister was visibly shaking from the cold and from fear. The moon had gone down behind the trees, so I could barely see my hand in front of my face. My heart began to race as the night pressed in around us.
The snapping of a tree branch sounded to my left and my neck began to tingle, warning me that something or someone was coming. Camellia gasped and jumped toward me, gripping my upper arm. “What was that?” she breathed.
For one horrifying moment, I worried the General might have released the Sabers again, but he couldn’t know Camellia had escaped his soldiers. All he could see from his monitors was a group of red dots. This had to be soldiers, either ones who had escaped the Howlers or another contingent sent from the compound.
I turned to my sister and gripped her shoulder. “You need to hide.” I took off the bag I carried and looped it over her shoulder.
“What are you doing?” she asked, staring at me with wide, terror-filled eyes.
“No time,” I replied. “Hide … under the ferns there.” I pointed out the thick undergrowth by one of the twenty-foot-wide sequoia trunks. “There’s food, water, and weapons in the bag for you if you need them.” I led her to the brush and pushed her down beneath the branches. Camellia drew her knees to her chest.
“No, Ravyn!” she squeaked. “Stay and hide.”
I shushed her and said, “I’m going to draw them away. If there’s a fight, I don’t want you near.” The sound of boot steps and crunching leaves was growing louder. “If I don’t return for you, stay here until daylight then head east toward Linwood and Peton. Thorne and his Warriors will be in that direction.”
Camellia’s hand clamped down hard on my wrist. “Don’t go,” she whimpered.
“I have to, Camellia,” I said, twisting out of her grip and shoving the branches down around her. “Stay here no matter what. I have to finish this.”
Turning my back on my sister, I ran, making no effort to keep quiet. Twigs and leaves crunched under my boots. The twinge on the back of my neck continued to warn me of the soldiers’ approach. Once I’d put some distance between me and Camellia’s hiding place, I stopped to catch my breath. Unless she had revealed herself, there was no reason to believe the soldiers hadn’t hurried right past her in their pursuit of me. I hid behind a sequoia and prepared for the soldiers to find me. It wasn’t my best plan, but this would do.
Kneeling down, I shoved a small blade deep inside my boot and leaned my rifle against the trunk of the tree. A rifle would be useless at such close range anyway. Drawing both my pistols from their holsters, I checked their magazines. I bit back a curse. They were fully loaded. It galled me to hand over fully-loaded pistols to these idiots, but it couldn’t be helped – not if I was going to get close to Wolfe. They’d never let me into the compound armed with guns and I wasn’t going to leave them out here where they couldn’t be retrieved later. If I was lucky, I would have all my weapons back before I reached the holding cell. If I was really lucky, most of the soldiers would be outside in a battle with Thorne’s Warriors, leaving me to roam the compound alone. It was my turn to do the hunting.
I tried to tamp down my anxiety. I’d been running from this evil man for nearly two months and yet I was trying to find a way back inside … again.
The soldiers drew closer. Their boots pounded across the ground. Jumping out from my hiding place, I took off through the trees, pretending to run scared.
Soldiers shouted, “There she is!” A few of them halted and opened fire on me. I darted to the right behind another sequoia. Bullets pelted the trunk, wood fragments spraying in every direction.
This chase wouldn’t last for long. I needed them to believe they had me at a disadvantage.
Veering left again, a few more shots boomed behind me. This is it, I thought. I let out a shrill scream and threw myself to the ground.
The soldiers had me surrounded in seconds, all of them aiming their rifles down at me. I rolled over and looked up at them, biting my lip to keep from smirking. There were only four. Each of them had dirt and blood smeared on their green uniforms and one had fresh claw marks running down his face. Blood trickled down his neck onto the collar of his shirt. Had these four escaped the Night Howlers?
The soldier with the gash down his cheek approached first and dragged me to my feet. He had a dark complexion beneath his cap. “You’re done,” he snarled, squeezing my upper arm. I whimpered. “Disarm her.”
A smaller soldier with blonde hair and lifeless green eyes took my pistols from me and the blades at my thighs. I gritted my teeth as he ran his hands up and down my body to search for any other hidden weapons.
I will kill you for this violation alone, I thought, glaring at the mindless boy.
The man with the claw marks on his face pulled me closer until we were nearly nose to nose. “Where is the blonde girl?”
My theory was correct. They’d managed to run while the Howlers were having their dinner. Even Howlers didn’t kill unless they were hungry.
“I don’t know,” I told him.
The soldier narrowed his eyes. “We’ll send more soldiers to look for the other girl once this one’s in custody. Let’s go.”
Fighting back another smile, I allowed them to grip my arms tightly and lead me back to the compound.
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34
Thorne
“Hey,” said Pierce, giving my shoulder a shake. “We’re nearly there.”
My eyes popped open and I gave my brother a bleary-eyed look. The steady gait of my stallion had lulled me to sleep in the saddle while we travelled. I glanced at the forest around me, taking in the rays of sun shining through the trees from the east behind us. The early morning air was bitterly cold. I could see my breath as I exhaled. The two lines of Warriors on horseback still trailed behind Pierce and me, some of them dozing in their saddles as I’d been doing. We were surrounded by more pine trees than sequoias in this part of the Valley, so I knew Pierce was right. The compound couldn’t be far away.
“What time is it?” I said, rubbing my hand over my face.
“Just after sun-up,” he replied. “We should take one last rest from our horses. Maybe even leave them and go on foot from here.”
I nodded and gently pulled back on the reins. My stallion slowed to a halt. The other Warriors followed suit without needing to be told. I gave my steed a few pats on his muscled neck and jumped down out of the saddle.
It had been a little over twenty-four hours since we’d begun our journey west to the compound. Yesterday morning, we’d saddled our horses as the sun came up and had ridden all day. I had warned the Warriors we would be pushing as hard as we could without damaging our mounts. The Valley was rough terrain, but riding was certai
nly faster than walking on foot. The distance from Linwood to the compound was about a two-day walk. Riding horses through the Old Sequoia Valley wound up cutting our travel time almost in half. We had eaten and sometimes even slept in our saddles. With my eyesight and Pierce’s hearing, we’d been able to continue on in the dark without fear of getting lost or being ambushed.
“This is our last stop before we reach the compound,” I announced to the other Warriors.
The Warriors all hopped down from their horses, many of them grunting and stumbling around with stiff legs as they led their mounts to the stream flowing through the clearing. Others were rubbing their saddle-sore rears. I chuckled at the sight, even as I stretched out my own legs and back.
“What’s so funny?” Tallon snapped.
I turned to watch my sister march toward me, fingers curled into fists, her bow and arrows draped across her back. Her strawberry-blonde hair had been braided back into five tight rows for the battle ahead. When had my little sister turn into such a fierce warrior?
“I was laughing at how stiff we all are,” I answered. I narrowed my eyes at her and added, “Are you ready for today?”
She straightened up and lifted her chin. “Of course, Brother.”
My heart warmed, thinking of how far she had come. The day I had left on the hunt a month ago, she had been a whiny brat. In a short month, she had proved that she deserved to be by our side as a fully-fledged Warrior and not just a trainee. I stepped toward her and folded my sister up in my arms.
“What has come over you, Thorne?” Tallon said, even as she dug her fingers into my back.
I squeezed Tallon tighter and whispered into her ear, “Take care today, Sister. Do not do anything foolish. Kemena will never forgive me I don’t bring you home in one piece.” I released my sister and held her at arm’s length, looking down into her heart-shaped face. “Promise me.”
“As long as you make the same promise,” Tallon retorted. “If something happens to Ravyn …”
