Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  “I believe she will,” Kaelem replied. “She was always well-liked in the community. And if she does, she says she’s going to choose me as one of her advisors.”

  I gave Kaelem a few pats on the shoulder. “A great honor. She trusts you, and your gift will help her.”

  He snorted. “We’ll see.”

  “Go on and get some sleep,” I said. “There’s plenty of us already keeping watch.”

  “Goodnight, then,” Kaelem said, strolling away.

  “Hey, wait,” I called out. Kaelem turned back to face me. “Do you know where Ravyn went today? She told us she went to the stone. What does that mean?”

  “The stone is where the Terran people left their babies for General Wolfe. From her thoughts, I gathered she left them a message that the General was dead and they could stop their sacrifices.”

  I nodded. “That was smart. Glad she thought of it.” I stepped toward Kaelem and extended my hand to him. “Thank you for everything. You saved us at the compound, Kaelem. We owe you.”

  Kaelem took my hand, but shook his head. “I owed Ravyn. I’ll never stop owing her. If you two ever need anything … you know where I live.” He smiled and winked, then turned on his heel and strode away.

  Back to Map

  Table of Contents

  48

  Ravyn

  I was jolted out of my slumber by another one of my nightmares. Kieron had been brainwashed by Wolfe again and had killed Camellia, Thorne, and most of the other Warriors I knew. Their bodies had been placed around me while I was strapped to one of General Wolfe’s cold, silver chairs, helpless to do anything. Both Wolfe and Kieron stood in the corner, smirking down at me. We’d been resting in Linwood for a week since the battle, and I’d been plagued by dreams of this nature each night. I was certain they weren’t going away any time soon.

  Careful not to wake Camellia, I rolled off the mattress and climbed down from the treehouse. It was still a few hours before dawn. Linwood and the forest was quiet except for a few owls hooting back and forth to each other high up in the sequoias. Even the Night Howlers had hushed their screeching. Four Warriors were on watch – two up on balconies overlooking the Valley and two on the ground. I didn’t recognize them. The ones I’d known best had been killed.

  I felt for each of my weapons and walked to the stream. Dropping down to my knees, I washed the tears, sweat, and dirt from my face and neck. The snap of a twig had me jerking upright and reaching for my pistol. My heart pounded in my chest and my breath picked up. Scanning my surroundings, I waited for my tattoo to begin its familiar tingle of warning. I kept expecting soldiers to come barreling through the trees with rifles in hand or a Yellow-eyed Saber to start growling, its eyes glowing brightly in the dark of night … but nothing happened. There was nothing threatening there.

  I wandered the clearing aimlessly for a while. The four Warriors watched me, but said nothing. Everyone had given me plenty of space over the last few days. Did they believe I’d gone crazy? Maybe I had. Only Camellia seemed to draw close. She followed me around and watched me, terrified I might disappear.

  I admit, it had been foolish of me to go to the stone table alone. With everything going on, I didn’t think anyone would notice I was gone. The stone table wasn’t far from the compound. It probably would have been better to tell the Terran people in person that General Wolfe was not going to be needing their children anymore, but I didn’t want to be the one to do it. They’d made it clear they didn’t want me to come back, and I didn’t want to see them either after they killed Elder Dagan at the fence.

  “Well, Dagan,” I whispered to myself. “You can rest in peace now, knowing we accomplished what we set out to do. No more parents or babies will suffer at Wolfe’s hands.”

  But at what cost? Pierce, Archer, and countless others had fallen in the battle with the soldiers. Brock had been permanently maimed and Thorne would carry even more scars from being burned … because of me. A painful knot twisted up in my chest. None of the Warriors had given me looks of scorn or blame, but I’d been the one to suggest that plan. I’d put them all in danger. Again.

  A few hours later, the sky began to lighten with the sunrise beaming through the sequoias. The morning air was brisk, leeching the warmth from my nose, ears, and fingers as I stood over the graves of my parents. The dirt still looked like it was freshly mounded up, but I knew grass would soon spring up, eliminating all signs that two people had been buried here. I didn’t want this to be my last visit here, but I knew it would be months before spring arrived and I was able to travel here again.

  Camellia’s soft voice came floating through the trees behind me. “I thought I might find you here.”

  I turned and smiled at my sister. Her silvery-blonde hair was smoothed back into two braids that hung down over her shoulders. The clothes she wore were dirty and ragged in places. Her arms were folded across her chest and her fingers were stuffed under her arms to ward off the chill.

  “Are they preparing to leave?” I asked.

  Camellia nodded. “Thorne is worried for you. Should … should he be worried?” she stammered. “Should I … be worried?”

  I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck where my tattoo was silent. “There’s nothing to worry about. Not anymore.” My brows knitted together. “I haven’t gotten a chance to ask how you’re doing. I know I’ve put you through a lot. I’m sorry. I didn’t want this for you. Sometimes I wish there was a way to go back -”

  “I’m not sorry,” Camellia rushed to say.

  “Camellia, I never meant to damage you,” I rushed to say. “I’m damaged enough for the both of us.”

  “I think we’re all coming out of this a little more damaged than we were,” she said. “I didn’t understand before, when you tried to tell us how life was for you out here, fighting these soldiers. I didn’t get it, but I do now. If I had to do it over again … I would.”

  “You would?” I said, blinking back tears I wasn’t ready to set free.

  “Of course, Ravyn. It hasn’t been easy or fun. But we’re family. You’re my twin – my womb sister. I’d go through it all again … for you.”

  I wrapped my sister up in a hug. “I love you, Camellia. I’m glad you’re with me.”

  ***

  Saying goodbye to Kaelem again was harder than I imagined it would be. Once Tallon had revealed how he and his fighters had saved the Warriors, I’d wrapped my arms around his neck in a strangling hold.

  Thank you, I silently told him as we embraced. I’ll never forget Laelynn. And I’ll never forget all you’ve done.

  Blushing to his roots and tearing up at the mention of his sister, Kaelem shoved a pine needle between his teeth and nodded. He led his fighters southwest, back to Ahern, with his wounded and dead.

  “Mount up,” Thorne ordered his Warriors. He peered at me out of the corner of his eye. “Will you ride with me?”

  I nodded and eyed his black stallion – the very same animal he’d ridden into the Old Sequoia Valley a month ago for the hunt. The beast snorted and bobbed his head up and down. He seemed just as anxious to get moving as the Warriors. Thorne grabbed his horse’s reins and mounted with ease. The stallion stamped his hooves into the dirt and then stilled as Thorne gained control. His ice-blue eyes sparkled in the morning light as he held out his hand to me.

  I shouldn’t be afraid, but I’d only ridden twice before.

  Thorne grinned at my reticence. “He won’t hurt you, Ravyn.”

  “I know,” I replied.

  The stallion eyed me as I walked closer and clasped Thorne’s hand. He pulled me up into the saddle and wrapped an arm around me. I was careful of the burns on his right arm. Tallon and I had taken turns treating them, but I knew they were still raw.

  There were plenty of horses to spare. Most were dragging pallets behind them, carrying those to be buried back in Peton and the wounded who hadn’t recovered yet. Camellia rode her own horse behind us, between Owen and Max. Brock was attempting to
ride his own mount against Tallon’s advice. She wouldn’t leave his side.

  Thorne led the band of Warriors through the outskirts of the Old Sequoia Valley. As the sun began to set, we left the dark sequoias behind and rode through the smaller trees of the safe zone. The temperature dropped significantly. We were no longer protected from the frigid winds by the sequoias of the Valley.

  I shivered in the saddle and Thorne tightened his hold, drawing me closer into the warmth of his chest. “We’re almost home,” he breathed into my ear.

  Nodding, I grasped hold of his hand and linked our fingers as if I were holding on for dear life. The arching boughs of the fruit trees over our heads had been stripped of their vibrant red and yellow leaves. Their branches swayed and snapped together with the blustering wind. A light dusting of snow covered the ground ahead of us.

  Once we entered the meadow, I had the strongest sense of déjà vu. The rocky mountains in the distance, about a mile away, were white with snow and stretched up into a blanket of clouds in the sky.

  “Mount Asa,” Thorne whispered.

  By the sound of his voice, I knew he was thrilled to be headed home.

  My heart began to race as I stared at the breathtaking view ahead of me. My hand instinctively reached for my tattoo under my hair. Thorne stiffened behind me, his hand tightening on my waist.

  “What is it?” he asked, his voice darkening with the possibility of a threat. “Do you sense something?”

  I peered over my shoulder at the forest behind us. The tops of the sequoias had been sprinkled with snowflakes. With every step our horses took, the Old Sequoia Valley grew smaller and smaller on the horizon. It looked less like a dark, forbidding deathtrap and more and more like a winter wonderland. I couldn’t pull my eyes away and I couldn’t stop my chin from beginning to tremble.

  “Ravyn, what’s wrong?”

  Thorne frowned at me and his brows pinched together. He steered his stallion to the right and signaled for the others to move on without us. The remaining Warriors and Camellia plodded along through the grass and snow, the clip-clop of hooves barely registering in my ears.

  Sliding from the saddle, I traipsed back up the hill and stared at the Old Sequoia Valley. It was this very hill where I’d first seen Peton – the same hill we’d been standing on when the Sabers had attacked us, leaving Thorne lying eviscerated on the ground.

  My throat tightened up and my eyes began to burn with tears. “It’s over,” I choked.

  Thorne stepped up behind me, having left his horse grazing in the meadow behind us. “Ravyn?”

  Warm tears spilled down my face as the wind swirled around me. “It’s over. He’s dead. It’s … actually over.” I turned around to face Thorne. He was still frowning, staring at me in confusion. “I thought I was going to die in there,” I sobbed. “I never believed I’d walk out of the Valley alive, Thorne. I should feel happy and excited … and relieved. But I’m not.” I wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt, but more tears streamed down my face. “It’s like waking up from one of my nightmares. Even when I was awake, I lived the nightmare day after day. Running, fighting, hiding, getting shot or stabbed, and feeling scared all the time. I …” I shook my head and turned my eyes back to the Old Sequoia Valley. “… I don’t have another purpose. That’s all I’ve known, my whole life.”

  Thorne approached me cautiously and drew me into his arms. I hid my eyes in the crook of his shoulder and dug my fingers into his muscled back.

  “Why do I feel so scared now, Thorne? I feel like this is all too good to be true. I can’t trust it,” I cried into his chest. “I can’t help thinking that this is some sick joke. I’m going to wake up tomorrow and still be running from him. Somehow, Wolfe is messing with my mind again, making me feel safe, when in reality, I’m still strapped down to his table.”

  He kissed me behind my ear and gently stroked my tangled hair. “That’s not going to happen. Wolfe is dead. You saw him for yourself. He can’t hurt you anymore.” Thorne pulled back enough to look into my eyes. He swiped his thumbs down my cheeks, wiping away my tears. “You’re free. I don’t know what else to say to lessen your fears of the future. I never was good with words.” A corner of his mouth lifted to give me a lopsided grin and he grazed his knuckles down the side of my face. “There’s no guarantee we’ll have peace forever, but I’ll be here, by your side every day to remind you that this is real. The Old Sequoia Valley doesn’t hold you prisoner anymore.”

  “I’m free,” I whispered. “It’s finished.”

  Thorne nodded. “And if more enemies find us or the Sabers or Howlers attack us … I’ll still be here.” He placed a soft kiss on my forehead. “I love you. I’ll always have your back, little warrior.”

  “And I love you.”

  The world around us disappeared as Thorne captured my lips with his. His kiss didn’t magically take away my fears or uncertainty. This world wasn’t any less dangerous than it was before. But Thorne was right. It was no longer me against the world. We would face it together.

  “Okay, you two!” Tallon bellowed behind us.

  I jumped at the sound of her sharp voice and bumped heads with Thorne. We turned to find Tallon and Camellia waiting for us fifty yards away.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Thorne asked. Thorne grabbed his horse’s reins and took my hand, and we strode toward them on foot. “I gave you orders to keep heading toward Peton.”

  “Camellia wasn’t comfortable with leaving you two lovebirds out here alone. And I wasn’t keen on it either. Especially since you thought releasing the Sabers into the Valley was a bright idea,” Tallon drawled, rolling her eyes.

  Thorne grinned at me. “Are you ready to go home, my beautiful wife?”

  “Oh … right,” I stammered. “We’re sort of married, aren’t we?”

  Thorne halted and pointed an accusing finger at me. “I knew it! You were saying goodbye to me when you said those Binding Words.”

  “I still meant them!” I argued.

  “That’s not good enough,” he said. “We’ll be having a true Binding Ceremony, with witnesses, as soon as possible.”

  “A ceremony? You haven’t even proposed to me yet! Remember? You tricked me -”

  “Are you still angry about that?”

  “Oh, shut up!” Tallon shouted.

  Thorne and I jumped at her angry outburst. Camellia was doubled over on her horse, laughing at us.

  “You love each other. Deal with it.” Tallon adjusted the reins in her hands. “Now get on your horse.”

  “So testy,” I mumbled to Thorne. “She’s starting to sound like you, Thorne.”

  “I’ll be in a better mood once we’re all safe behind that wall and warm,” Tallon replied. She gave her horse a gentle kick and turned for home.

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  Table of Contents

  Epilogue

  Ravyn

  6 months later

  “For the last time, Ravyn, you are not going on the hunt.”

  I cornered Thorne inside the barn and glared at him while he saddled his stallion. There wasn’t much room inside the narrow stall for both Thorne and his mount. The horse knickered and I gasped, worried the animal might shift and injure my Warrior.

  Thorne grinned. He wore a dark blue sleeveless shirt that complimented his wintry eyes and showed off the tattoos running down his arms. The burns that ran up and down Thorne’s right arm had healed into puckered pink marks and had distorted some of the thorny tattoos considerably, but the new scars hadn’t shaken his self-confidence.

  Springtime was here and the Warriors were preparing for their first hunt of the year. During the winter months, there had been countless debates between the Elders and Warriors about continuing the tradition of rescuing exiles. In the end, Thorne – having been reinstated as Commander – had convinced them to go. And now my own husband was attempting to sneak away to the Old Sequoia Valley without me. It was despicable. And to my surprise, he didn’t seem all that
upset by my argument. He looked amused more than anything.

  “You know I should be going, Thorne,” I snapped, folding my arms across my chest. “No one knows the Old Sequoia Valley like I do. I haven’t gone soft.”

  Thorne gave me a lopsided grin as he adjusted the stirrups. “I never said you’d gone soft, love.”

  My heart fluttered against my will and I felt my insides melting. “Don’t call me that when I’m mad at you.”

  Thorne chuckled and leaned against his horse. His eyes sparkled, as if he knew some secret I didn’t. “You can be mad all you want, little warrior. You’re still not going. Not in your condition.”

  I bit back a curse. “What condition?” I asked, feigning ignorance. “I – I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I know you’re pregnant, woman. Allowing you to go into danger when you’re with child would be irresponsible of me.”

  “Don’t ‘woman’ me, Thorne. And how do you know? I don’t know for certain.”

  Thorne grabbed his horse’s reins and moved to stand in front of me at the entrance of the stall. The horse’s hooves thudded into the dirt floor behind him.

  Never one to back down, I narrowed my eyes and stood my ground. Thorne’s smile merely widened as he drew closer. He cupped my cheek with his free hand, rubbed his thumb across my lower lip, and gave me a soft kiss. “You forget that my sister, Kemena, senses things. She let it slip the other day. She told me she’s had a feeling about it for a few months.”

  “Kemena tattled on me?”

  “She thought I already knew, Ravyn. And I should have. You’ve been sick every morning for several weeks, and you do not get sick.”

  “The advantages of my healing blood,” I grumbled, scrunching my nose up. “Alright, but I’m not happy about being left behind. You’ll have to make it up to me when you get back.”

  Thorne took my hand and linked our fingers. “I’m not going on the hunt either, love.”