by C. R. Pugh
Still on my feet and pacing, the night’s bitter wind broke through the trees and whipped around me. My body shivered and I glanced down at Camellia. She was curled up on the ground, sleeping. I stopped circling the camp long enough to rifle through my pack to find a blanket and draped it over my sister. She was not accustomed to these harsh conditions, and as we headed further north, the weather was bound to get worse.
“I’ll keep you safe, Camellia,” I whispered to her.
I tucked the blanket around her body and gazed at her. Camellia had not let us forget our promise to teach her to defend herself. Each time our group stopped to rest or eat, my sister was practicing what Pierce had shown her with the crossbow, loading and unloading the weapon. With every attempt she grew stronger and faster with the technique. Kaelem, being an expert himself, added a few pointers to help with quickness and accuracy.
Camellia persisted on working with the crossbow, but I had yet to speak to her about her gift. Was she even aware of it? A defensive gift would give her more confidence.
Rising to my feet, I let her sleep and resumed my pacing. I could feel Kaelem staring at me from across the campfire, but I avoided his gaze. I had not wanted him to join Camellia and me on our journey away from the compound. Neither Camellia or I trusted him. In the end, I felt sorry for him. Hagan and Nash had turned their backs on Kaelem and blamed him for all three of their siblings’ deaths. Hagan had refused to allow him to journey home to Ahern. Nash had not been so cruel as to say anything out loud, but he hadn’t disputed Hagan’s accusations either.
“Haldar, Raimond, and Laelynn would all still be alive if it hadn’t been for you,” Hagan had snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Kaelem. “Every decision you’ve made has led us here. It was you that was banished from Ahern in the beginning. You should have gone alone! Laelynn – she shouldn’t have talked us into going with you. None of us should have ever left!”
Kaelem had not argued or defended himself. He had kept his head lowered in shame. I knew the full weight of Laelynn’s death was heavy on his heart, as it was on mine. Laelynn had been their only sister and the youngest of their family. I was still angry with him for betraying me to the General, but I understood what had compelled him to do it.
“Thank you for that, at least.”
Kaelem’s remark startled me back to the present.
I sighed and shook my head. “No matter what you’ve done, you didn’t deserve to have your siblings taken from you this way.” I carried on pacing again. “Get some sleep, Kaelem. I might as well keep watch now that I’m awake.”
Kaelem nodded but he didn’t lie down. Instead, he leaned his head back on the tree trunk and lifted his eyes up to gaze at the stars. His face shone in the moonlight, revealing dark shadows beneath his eyes. Perhaps he wasn’t able to sleep either.
I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling wretched, I thought.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tallon roll over and drape her arm across Brock’s waist in her sleep. A pang of jealousy coursed through me as I watched them. It had been a week since Thorne and Kaelem had rescued me from the compound. Most of those days I’d been so consumed by anger and grief that I hadn’t been able to appreciate that short time I’d had with Thorne.
I had been surprised when Thorne had instructed Brock and Tallon to travel north with me and my sister. Brock had not argued. Thorne was still the commander in his eyes. Not to mention Brock was smitten with Tallon and would go wherever she went.
Tallon had been the one to dispute the order. I hadn’t blamed her. It had been Tallon’s idea to go back to Peton in the first place, so I understood her resentment. She wanted to help save her family. In the end, Thorne had put his foot down.
“You cannot go back and risk being caught by Gunter or your father,” Thorne had warned her. “If Cadmar orders his loyal Warriors to put you under house arrest it will complicate matters.”
The mention of Gunter had deflated her. “It’s not fair,” she’d grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. “I’m not -”
“You are not weak or useless,” he’d growled at her. “You have proven many times that you are an accomplished Warrior, but I can handle the rescue of our family with Pierce and Archer’s help. And with some luck, we may find an ally or two waiting in Peton as well.”
“Aaron and his brother Tameron,” Pierce had mentioned.
Archer added, “What about Max?”
“Max may not be fully healed,” Thorne warned them.
“That won’t stop him,” Brock insisted.
“There are others as well,” Pierce stated. “Others who were loyal to Hawke.”
Thorne had stepped closer to his sister and, speaking quietly to her. “Tallon, I was going to ask Brock to go with Ravyn and Camellia anyway. They need another fighter to journey with them, and you might as well go with him. I trust you all to look after each other until I meet up with you.” Thorne drew Tallon into his arms for a brotherly hug. “I promise I will bring your sisters safely back to you.” Once Thorne released her, he patted her on the shoulder. “I give you my blessing, by the way.” Thorne winked at her and walked away.
Tallon’s face had gone up in flames. Archer and Pierce had only grinned and slapped Brock on the back. If we all survived, I was certain we would be attending Brock and Tallon’s wedding in a few years.
A piercing cry from a distant Howler stopped me in my tracks and jolted me out of my thoughts. I rubbed the back of my neck and searched the treetops. We’d been hearing the shrieks of the Night Howlers each night since we’d been journeying north. Thankfully, none had flown close enough to send a warning sensation through my tattoo.
Once the howling ceased, I took up my pacing once more, too jittery to sleep. Something from the dream I’d been having each night was nagging at me. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Once I awoke from my nightmare, I could only recall Thorne’s eviscerated body and blank expression in death. Everything else was muddled.
It’s because Thorne isn’t here, I reminded myself. You’re worried about him.
I was leery of Thorne visiting the foreign clan and warned him against it before we parted, but Thorne remained confident of the decision to go. I should have felt safe, moving further away from the compound and General Wolfe.
So what was bugging me?
The dream. It all came back to that dream and the feeling of arms trapping me. I hoped it would come to me before it was too late.
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13
Thorne
Pierce, Archer, and I had been standing side by side for thirty minutes, staring east toward Ahern and admiring the scenery. This country resembled the meadow surrounding Peton’s walls, only on a much larger scale. There was grass as far as the eye could see. Most was still green, but there were places which had begun to turn brown with the changing seasons. Like the meadow, the land was flat with a few gently-rolling hills here and there. The grass was not as tall as it was in our own meadow. I wondered if they brought their horses out to graze to keep it short.
The beauty of this place was mesmerizing. The sky was clear and blue, and off in the distance was a wooded area lining the horizon. The leaves of the trees were all brilliant shades of yellow. A lake, as smooth as glass, separated us from those golden woods, showing us a mirror image of the skyline.
The village of Ahern could not be seen through the trees, but Nash and Hagan had assured us that Ahern was a few miles from this place. The two brothers had plopped down into the ankle-deep grass about fifty feet away. They murmured quietly, awaiting our decision to either keep going with them to Ahern or turn northeast toward the mountains and leave them behind. I could make out shadows of the southern end of the mountains that lined the eastern coast of the continent. Those mountains would lead us back to Peton.
I had never been to the horse clan of Ahern before and neither had Pierce or Archer. None of us had ever been assigned to oversee the trade between P
eton and the other clans. If I had known that land like this existed, I would have insisted on accompanying the trade runners to Ahern every season.
“Well, what’s the verdict?” Pierce mumbled to me, continuing to stare at the dazzling countryside.
I scratched my chin. We had been travelling south for three days, following Nash and Hagan back to their home clan, and we could use a respite from travel. Our clothes and bodies needed washing. We hadn’t stopped to clean up, sensing that it was only a matter of time before the General’s soldiers tracked us down.
Folding my arms over my chest, I looked over at my brother. “What do you hear?” I murmured to my companions.
Pierce nodded toward the lake. “There are horses grazing across the lake. The wind is carrying the sounds of their snorting this way.” His eyes turned toward Nash and Hagan. “And they are arguing about us.”
“What about?” Archer inquired.
“Nash thinks we should wait until dark to take us into the village,” Pierce remarked. “Hagan is still bitter over Laelynn and his twin, Haldar. He doesn’t want anything to do with us at all.”
“The temperature will drop even more if we wait until dark,” Archer pointed out.
I nodded. The bitter wind had been whipping around us since we’d left the Old Sequoia Valley behind. The forest had been dark and damp, but it had provided protection from these blustery winds. My cheeks and nose would soon be wind-burnt if we were forced to travel in these conditions for an extended period of time, and our warmer clothes would be needed as well.
I was having doubts about journeying to Ahern and wondered why I had been so adamant to split up from Ravyn and my sister. What had I been thinking, sending her off in search of Kieron? Ravyn was capable of looking after herself, especially with Brock and my sister with her. But why had it been so important to split up? After burying Laelynn and Haldar, I’d felt an immediate urge to move on … and I don’t remember why. My memories of what I had said to Ravyn and Tallon seemed cloudy in my mind.
“Perhaps this is not a wise decision,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Ravyn warned me that Wolfe may have ties to each of the nearby clans. And do we trust these brothers to help us after they betrayed Ravyn so many times?”
“We’ll have to take our chances,” Pierce replied. “We’ll need them to get into the village.”
“And if there are rebels here, we’ll find them,” Archer added.
“I’m beginning to have second thoughts about this,” I confessed, running my fingers through my curls.
Archer folded his arms over his chest. “If we don’t stop Wolfe, who will? He will continue threatening all the clans. Ravyn told you that he won’t stop hunting her. I have a feeling that Wolfe will consider us a threat now as well.”
“Exactly,” Pierce agreed. “This is our chance to make our own alliances. Isn’t that what you told Ravyn? That’s one of the reasons why you wanted to go in different directions.”
“Humph,” I retorted, glaring at him. “You were eavesdropping on us.”
Pierce rolled his eyes. “I can’t help it. Why are you suddenly having cold feet about your plan?”
“Because now we’re here.” I gestured to the trees, toward Ahern. “This feels even more dangerous than sneaking into the compound.”
Pierce raised his eyebrows, genuinely confused. “Why do you say that?”
Archer answered him for me. “He was only risking himself that time.”
Pierce looked out across the lake in silence. He nodded and said, “This is what Dad would do. This would be his next move, and he would tell me that it’s worth the risk.”
My chest tightened up at the mention of Hawke. I missed him and his guidance. But I knew Pierce was right about our father. Hawke would not have stopped doing what he felt was right and just.
“I agree,” Archer said with a firm nod. “We won’t succeed in defeating all of Wolfe’s soldiers unless we have more fighters to confront them. We need to find a way to loosen his grip on each of the clans. That is where his power comes from.”
“Fine,” I said with a brisk nod. “But we are keeping an eye on those two brothers. They betrayed Ravyn twice. We would be foolish to rely on them too much.”
“Agreed, Brother,” Pierce said, slapping my shoulder. When I smirked, Pierce narrowed his eyes and growled, “What?”
“You called me ‘brother.’”
“Yeah, so?” He scowled and turned his eyes away to stare at the lake.
I chuckled and shook my head.
Archer rolled his eyes. “Hawke would be pleased that you two are warming up to each other. But now we need to come up with a sensible plan.”
“Well, you’re the brains of this outfit, Archer,” Pierce grumbled. “Don’t you have any brilliant ideas?”
Archer rubbed his chin and glanced at each of us with his clever green eyes. “I thought a direct approach would be best.”
“Direct?” I asked him.
“Walk right in and tell them we’re visiting for a few days to barter,” Archer explained. “That’s why we brought the Saber fur with us. To trade for horses.”
“How do you always make the craziest of plans seem reasonable?” I asked him.
Archer chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a gift, I guess.”
It was true, the Saber fur would be valuable and sell at a high price, but I was more inclined to sneak in and avoid questions. “We’ll need to watch out for thieves.”
“Eh, nothing we can’t handle,” Pierce said with a shrug.
Archer nodded his agreement and added, “I still want to question Nash and Hagan to see what we’ll be facing before we proceed.”
“Let’s go ask,” I replied, leading Pierce and Archer over to the two brothers. They were seated in the grass, murmuring to each other. Hagan’s eyes hardened as we approached and the muscle in his jaw ticked. Nash’s expression was neutral, though his face looked worn with grief.
“What have you decided?” Nash asked.
I crouched down beside Nash, ignoring the hostile look that Hagan was giving us. “We would like to know more about what to expect. Do you feel we would be welcomed?”
Nash shrugged. “We get traders from Peton several times a year.”
“You would need to report to our Governor first,” Hagan added. “Let her know that you will be staying for a few days and why.”
Hagan glared at me out of the corner of his eye as if he knew we had been planning something devious. We had been very careful to keep out of earshot. They would be more inclined to help us get into the village if they thought we were simply there to rest, stock up on food, and then move on again. The less Nash and Hagan knew about our plan, the better it would be for us. After everything they had been through, I doubted they would have any part in our continuing battle with Wolfe. Hagan had made it clear he would rather move on with his life back in Ahern with the family they had left behind.
“Her?” Pierce grumbled. “The governor is a female?”
Hagan, still scowling, nodded and turned his gaze back to the lake again.
“None of your leaders are women?” Nash asked.
“No,” I answered. I had not given it much thought before, but I had never heard of a female becoming an Elder of Peton. It was not something I would object to, though others in our patriarchal society might. Cadmar and Aurel would loathe the idea.
Kemena would make an excellent Elder. She was level-headed and wise. People came to her for advice all the time and she did not put up with anyone’s nonsense. The task would suit her if she ever decided to resign from her position as healer. But I knew she would never do that.
“She’s been a strong leader for our people,” said Nash. “Not a fighter, but clever and decisive.”
“There is only one ruler?” Archer inquired.
Nash shrugged. “There’s a vote every five years for the position. There are four advisors that work with the governor.”
“And do th
e people vote for these advisors as well?” Pierce asked.
Hagan shook his head. “They are generally older members of the community. The governor chooses his or her own advisors.”
“That seems like a small number of people to keep the peace in the community,” I remarked.
“There are a number of people that work as the Governor’s guards who police the village,” Nash answered.
I glanced at Pierce and Archer. “Well?”
“I say we push forward and meet the governor,” Archer said with a nod. “I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t.”
“That’s settled then,” I agreed.
The brothers hopped up and dusted the grass off their trousers. Once we had all shouldered our packs, we strode down the hill toward the lake.
Once we had circled the banks and reached the opposite side, I was able to make out the herd of horses Pierce had heard from a distance. My eyes widened at the vast number of horses all in one place. There had to be over a hundred of the animals milling about, grazing on the banks of the lake. Some of the beasts stood knee deep in the water, drinking their fill and kicking up their hooves to splash themselves. I began to hear the familiar sound of snorting and whinnying.
“That’s incredible,” I murmured to myself.
“I thought Peton bartered for horses from us,” said Nash, peering over his shoulder at me as we walked toward the herd.
“We do, but I’ve never seen so many at once,” I explained, still staring in wonder. “How do you keep them from running off with no fences?”
Nash pointed toward the herd. “The watchmen keep them together. Seven or eight riders circle the herd and gather the strays.”
Squinting in the sunshine, I spotted the watchmen riding their mounts. Each of them wore sleeveless shirts with long pants. Their skin was darkened from working in the sun every day. Wide brimmed hats covered their heads and shaded their eyes from the sun. Coils of ropes had been lashed to their saddles along with canisters of water.