Hunted in the Valley (Old Sequoia Valley Book 1)

by C. R. Pugh

  And then I saw it.

  “Stop!” I grabbed Thorne’s arm and skidded to a halt in the grass.

  A lone Yellow-Eyed Saber prowled out from behind a line of fruit trees. Its gray and black fur was sleek along its muscled, feline body. Sharp claws extended from each paw and the deadly canines that hung down well below its lower jaw glimmered with the cat’s saliva. It was ready to taste its prey.

  The beast stalked us low to the ground, taking slow measuring steps and sniffing, searching. The fur on its back bristled as it drew closer.

  “I need to leave,” I whispered to Thorne, keeping my eyes locked on the Saber. A feeling of dread swept through me. “That beast is hunting me.”

  “You don’t know that,” Thorne argued, gripping my arm, forcing me to stay. “Sabers could have been hunting us all along.”

  Before I could answer, the Saber’s feral eyes shifted to us. It had completely dismissed the other Warriors who were a much closer target. The yellow, hypnotizing eyes stared at me for another heartbeat, then it snarled and sprung out of the grass.

  The Warriors fired their rifles as the giant cat continued charging us at full speed, growling fiercely. Taking careful aim, I joined the others, squeezing out round after round. The beast’s eyes gleamed and its teeth flashed a deadly grin. Peering down the barrel of the rifle, I took a deep breath and fired one last shot. With an ear-splitting howl, the Saber slid to the ground not five feet from us. There was no telling how many bullets it had taken to bring it down.

  Before my knees could buckle from the close call, Thorne seized my arm and dragged me back to the supply cart where the other Warriors were waiting. The other cart was gone.

  Looking around at each of the men, Thorne shouted, “Where is Gunter?”

  Brock approached us, looking disgruntled. “He took the cart of captives back to Peton.”

  “We tried to tell him that the exiles would be safe inside the bars,” said Max, shaking his head. “But he wouldn’t listen, and neither of us wanted to leave you.”

  I jerked my arm out of Thorne’s grasp. “You all have to get out of here!” Everyone fell silent at my outburst. My voice trembled a bit when I added, “You should go, and I need to stay.”

  Thorne stepped closer. “How could that Saber be from the General?”

  “He has my blood, Thorne.” I lowered my eyes so he wouldn’t see my shame. “He could have used it to lead them here.”

  “That doesn’t mean …”

  I cut my hand through the air to halt his words. “You have to trust me. He knows how terrified I am of those things. He’s taunting me.” I looked at each of the Warriors in turn. “Didn’t you see it look at the wagons and then shift its gaze to us? To me? It was hunting me. Sabers don’t usually differentiate between targets, unless they’ve tasted blood. You know that. It’s the same -” My jaw dropped open and cold chills raced up and down my spine as I recalled how the Sabers had stalked me relentlessly for days when I was a child. That was not normal hunting behavior. Carnivores gave up and stalked other prey if they were truly hungry.

  “The same as what?” Thorne asked.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, “It’s the same way the Sabers hunted me when I first ran away from Terran. He sent them after me then, too.”

  The anguish on Thorne’s face was like a knife through my heart. “If what you say is true – and I’m not convinced – do you really believe you could overcome them alone?”

  “Better for me to die than all of us,” I said, biting the inside of my lip to keep it from trembling.

  “She’s right about the Saber,” Archer agreed, stepping forward into the charged silence. “They don’t favor one target over another if they’re hunting for food, but it won’t matter now.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked him, another wave of nausea coursing through me.

  Pierce, irritated as usual, spoke up. “That one was probably an Alpha. Whether it was after the woman or not, the rest of the pack won’t be far behind. They’ll be after us just for spilling the blood of their pack-leader.”

  “Right,” Archer nodded. “We need to prepare, and quickly.”

  “No, you should get to Peton,” I argued again, but no one listened.

  Brock’s eyes shifted from Thorne to me. “We aren’t letting you stay out here alone. None of us would do that.”

  I heard Pierce mutter, “I might.” He was immediately knocked to the ground.

  Like that Saber, Thorne had pounced on him, punching him square in the jaw before anyone could stop him. With a bloody lip, Pierce rose up from the grass and the two fierce Warriors stood nose to nose, fists clenched and looking ready to kill each other.

  Thankfully, Archer intervened, the voice of reason. “We don’t have time for this, Pierce! Thorne!”

  But Thorne’s eyes were ice-cold, filled with pure hatred, and his voice was just as menacing. “You do what you like, but I will not be leaving her out here to die, Pierce. I will stand with her.”

  Pierce didn’t back down. “So that’s the way of things? You would risk your life for her. Someone you’ve only known a week.”

  “I would risk everything.”

  I glanced back and forth between Thorne and Pierce, hating that I had caused more friction between the two Warriors; hating the whole situation. Gunter had run back to Peton, a potential coward and Pierce was challenging his commander while we were in the midst of danger. However, Thorne was saying things to make my heart melt.

  I shook my head at them. “Stop it right now! Thorne?” I pleaded with him to back down.

  Finally letting the argument go, Thorne bumped Pierce’s shoulder as he passed by to take his place at my side. The other Warriors spread out on either side of Thorne and me. Then we waited. Watched.

  The soft rumbling of growls began soon after, like a low hum of bees at first. Then I spotted a set of eerie yellow eyes watching us from the tree line.

  “Whatever happens,” Thorne whispered softly. “We will finish this together.”

  He cupped the nape of my neck and pressed his lips to my forehead. My throat too thick with emotion, I simply nodded and gripped my rifle a little tighter.

  Then they charged. Their hind claws dug into the ground, kicking up dirt behind them. The Sabers were about a hundred feet away. There were only six of them, but that was plenty. These beasts were tough and not easily taken down if they were anything like their Alpha.

  We opened fired on them. The two Sabers in the front of the pack went down first, just thirty feet past the tree line. That still left four ferocious cats, each one nearly as tall as my chest. Their sharp teeth glittered in the morning sunlight, anticipating the feeling of sinking them into our skin.

  I froze in place, unable to even squeeze the trigger on my rifle. My heart raced inside my chest and my breathing quickened with dread. I was a child again, alone in the Valley, hiding from the pack of Sabers. Hungry yellow eyes searched for me as I hid inside the trunk of a tree. Their breath smelled of raw meat. Only a small boulder kept them back.

  A cry from Max drew my gaze. He was one of the youngest Warriors on the hunt and had probably never faced a Saber. He’d been closest to the tree line, to my right, shooting the Sabers as they sprinted toward us. My stomach dropped as one of the beasts charged right through the bullets and pounced, sinking its deadly teeth into Max’s shoulder. The rifle hit the ground and then snapped in half under the weight of the Saber’s paw. I stared, horrified, as Max was pushed to the ground, screaming in agony. The young Warrior had both hands on the cat’s mouth, trying to pry open its jaws.

  Archer, who had been standing next to Max, turned to fire upon the beast. He kept shooting until his magazine was empty, then tossed aside the rifle and drew his dagger. While the Saber was occupied grappling with Max in the dirt, Archer jumped on his back and plunged his blade into the beast’s neck from behind.

  In just a few minutes, three Sabers had fallen.

  I let out the breat
h I’d been holding, praying that Max would live.

  “Ravyn!” Thorne shouted from over my left shoulder, startling me out of my stupor. I’d been standing paralyzed, frozen with fear while he was busy shooting the Sabers. The bullets didn’t seem to be causing much damage. General Wolfe had told me these animals were about six hundred pounds of pure muscle.

  A Saber was closing in on me with extraordinary speed. Lowering my body into a defensive stance, I dropped my rifle and sidestepped its lunge for my throat. The beast flew past and skidded to a halt, tearing up the grass under its claws. While it struggled to change directions and pounce again, I drew my pistol and filled the Saber with bullets until I’d emptied my magazine. The beast howled as it tumbled to the ground.

  It was chaos all around me, knives and claws flashing in the sunlight. Warriors circling and sidestepping the Sabers that stalked them, like a dance.

  Thorne had moved away from my side while I’d fought off the Saber. I whipped my head around to find him in the melee.

  Please let him be alive, I thought desperately.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted him standing with Brock against one of the two remaining Sabers. Pierce was facing the other about ten feet away from Brock and Thorne.

  The cat was bleeding from several wounds already but didn’t look hindered by the blood-loss or the pain. Thorne and Brock lunged and twisted, staying just out of reach of the Saber’s jaws and sharp claws. The cat growled and jumped at Thorne, but he was already rolling to the side through the grass, avoiding the Saber’s bite. The Saber dug its claws into the dirt and grass, churning it up as it scrambled back around to attack again.

  While Thorne was rising to his feet, his back to the forest, I glimpsed movement over his shoulder. Another Yellow-eyed Saber – slightly smaller, but just as deadly – had lagged behind the pack and was padding stealthily through the grass toward Thorne, who was the closest prey. Its golden eyes sparkled in the morning light and it’s tongue flicked up around its canines, as if it could taste Thorne’s flesh already.

  I tried to call out to him, but only a whimper got past the lump in my throat. None of the other Warriors were aware of the lone beast prowling closer to their commander. Brock and Thorne were focused on the Saber they fought with. Archer was too far away, busy tending to Max’s wounds by the wagon. Pierce was a few feet away, but he was facing another of the beasts on his own.

  Quickly reloading my pistol, I started sprinting toward the lone Saber. Once I was certain I wouldn’t hit Thorne, I fired at the beast. My bullets seemed to do nothing but singe its hide. The cat roared and flinched from the wounds, but my efforts merely turned its attention, and not toward me. The Saber’s eyes had turned to Pierce.

  I raced toward the gray beast, squeezing the trigger over and over in hopes that one of the bullets would kill it, but my magazine emptied too soon. Pierce was focused on the Saber he faced, dodging swipes from vicious claws and slashing back with his daggers. He had no idea he was about to be slain. The prowling cat bristled up and flew out of the grass. With red-hot adrenaline coursing through me, I ran faster. I ditched my pistol and threw myself in its path, hoping to at least knock it off course. The collision with the Saber knocked the breath out of me. We rolled to the ground in a wild heap, the beast snarling and slashing at me. Its claws raked through my clothes even as I held back its powerful jaws with my hands. The Saber snapped at me again and again, going for my throat.

  On my back, I kicked out with both feet against the cat’s torso. With a growl, it was sent flailing through the air, but not far. I had only seconds to recover. I reached for the dagger still in my boot; my last hope before I was mauled to death. That was when I felt the second pistol that I’d forgotten about, holstered at my thigh.

  As I lay bleeding on the ground, I watched the Saber roll smoothly to its feet and flash its fangs at me. I drew my pistol and fired until the Saber was a dead heap beside me on the grass.

  Blood seeped from my body as I lay there, gasping for breath, but frozen with fear at who I’d lost in the fray. There were no sounds around me except for those blasted cicadas. They seemed to know that the danger had passed and had started their singing again. The grass tickled my face and the clouds in the sky looked like wisps of pink and purple cotton from the morning sunrise.

  Suddenly Pierce was there, standing over me with only a few scratches on his arms and chest, with a befuddled expression on his face. I’d only ever seen him glare at me, so I didn’t know what to make of it.

  Silently, he crouched to inspect my wounds, lifting the shreds of my shirt to expose the worst of them. There was no avoiding discovery as he watched the deep gash across my ribs tightened up and close. His eyes, full of wonder, met mine, but his response was completely unexpected.

  “So you’re the one.”

  I didn’t have a chance to question him. When Brock cried out Thorne’s name, my heart stopped. Pierce helped me to my feet, and we ran to join the other Warriors. Archer was still crouched over Max by the supply wagon. He was bandaging up Max’s shoulder and what must have been a deep gash to the leg. Thirty feet away from the wagon, Brock was on his knees in the grass, a dead Saber lying motionless behind him. And Thorne was before him bleeding from several places on his lifeless body.

  “Brock, what happened?” I wailed, my voice thick with fear. I had to remain calm. I could fix him. No matter what had happened, I could heal him.

  Brock’s fist was pressed against his mouth as if to keep his pain locked inside him. Blood was pooling at Thorne’s belly. I reached for his neck, feeling for a pulse, and then leaned down to feel his breath on my cheek.

  “Is he dead?” There was concern in Pierce’s voice for once. He knelt down at my side.

  The very slow thumping of blood could still be heard. Tears filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks at the sight of him so hurt. I took a slow breath, willing myself not to fall apart.

  My voice shook when I replied, “No, he’s alive, but his pulse is weak.”

  Archer joined us. “Max should live. His shoulder is a bit mangled and he took a claw to the leg, but I’ve stopped the bleeding.”

  I swallowed my fears and cut away Thorne’s ragged shirt to see the damage. When I saw the gaping wound across the soft part of his belly, my hands began to tremble. Muscle and intestines were exposed and blood was leaving his body at a rapid pace.

  “He saved me,” Brock explained to no one in particular as we stared at the horrible sight. “We had him. It should have been easy. But I was careless.” He peered up at me, his eyes full of grief. “When you started shooting at that last Saber that snuck out of the forest, I got distracted. I took my eyes off the Saber we were fighting. It was just for a second, but … the Saber … he lunged at me and Thorne blocked him. He saved me, and now he’s dying.”

  “No!” I yelled tenaciously. “He will not die! Where is my bag, the one with the medicine?” I jumped up immediately to go and get it, but I hit my knees again and the blood drained from my face when I realized what had been done.

  “He tied it to his horse, didn’t he?” Archer said sorrowfully. “I saw him send his mount away to Peton. It’s long gone.”

  I was going to fail him. If I didn’t do something, Thorne was going to die.

  “What do I do? What do I do?” I whispered over and over again to myself.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Ravyn,” Pierce said sadly. “There’s nothing you can do. You have to let him go.”

  I shook my head, my eyes still on Thorne. “There’s one thing I can try.”

  Leaning down over my warrior, I cradled his face in my hands and placed my forehead on his.

  “Thorne,” I whispered so only he could hear. “I don’t know if this will work, but I have to try. I can’t let you die.” I ran my fingers through his blonde curls and down his cheek. “Please … please forgive me.” My body trembled from the sobs that I couldn’t keep inside anymore. “Please, Thorne,” I begged. “Please just
live.”

  I kissed him gently and then wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand. The men’s eyes grew wide when I drew my blade and I sliced my own skin at the wrist.

  “What are you doing?” Archer shouted in disbelief.

  Pierce stopped him from interfering with a hand to his shoulder. “She’s trying to save his life.”

  In that moment, I didn’t care that Pierce knew about me. Maybe he was the General’s informant, but at least he was allowing me this last gift. A chance to save Thorne.

  “Have you ever done it like this before?” Brock asked me quietly.

  “No,” I whispered to them through trembling lips. “He could still die.”

  The men hovered over me as I raised my arm and held my wrist steady over his open belly. I closed my eyes and let my blood trickle out of my body and fall into his. None of us, not even Pierce, knew what this might do to Thorne. The General had tried this method on many soldiers. There were very few positive outcomes from those experiments, but Thorne would die if I did nothing. The cut on my wrist soon closed over again and the flow of blood stopped. That was all that could be done.

  “We must bandage him up to stop the rest of the bleeding,” I ordered. Brock jumped up and ran to the wagon at my request. I turned back to Pierce. “We’ll know very soon if it doesn’t work, but ... but it’ll be quicker than the alternative.”

  Suddenly, Pierce raised his head, turning his eyes toward Peton.

  Archer was the first to notice Pierce’s sudden movement. “What is it?”

  “They’re coming.” Pierce watched the meadow intently, then he turned to the other Warriors and shouted, “Get Max and Thorne into the wagon. Quickly!”

  Then I heard it too; the sound of hooves thundering across the plain. Either they had seen Thorne’s horse or Gunter must have warned them. They would be here in minutes and still would have been too late to aid us and spare Thorne his injury.

  Archer and Brock reacted to Pierce’s command immediately. When Brock had finished wrapping Thorne’s abdomen, the two Warriors lifted their commander gently from the ground and carried him to the wagon. They started toward Max next.