by C. R. Pugh
“Thorne!” Tallon shouted. She’d finally spotted me.
Several other Warriors called my name in greeting. Kaelem strode forward, clasping hands with me and giving Ravyn a nod.
“I was beginning to worry.” He peered over his shoulder. “I wasn’t the only one.”
Camellia was limping up behind him, silvery blonde tendrils hanging down each side of her face and tears rolling down her cheek. Ravyn pushed past Kaelem and rushed to her sister, wrapping her up in a fierce embrace.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Camellia sobbed.
Ravyn said nothing. She simply held her twin tight in her arms.
I turned back to Kaelem for a report. “Have the soldiers been piled up and burned?”
“Yes,” he replied. He pointed to a thick line of smoke drifting skyward through the trees behind me. “I have a couple of my comrades standing watch over the fire.”
“And the wounded?”
“Everyone here has been treated,” Kaelem assured me.
I gestured to the ten Warriors standing guard. “Let’s search the forest for our dead. We’ll lay them at the edge of the clearing.” I pointed to the perfect place, about twenty feet away in the grass. “Tallon, you and Tameron take charge of the wounded. The scientist, Audrick, will be returning soon with more supplies you can use.”
Tallon eyed my right arm. “You’ll let me treat those burns, Brother?”
I lowered my eyes and nodded. “Later.”
Turning my back on everyone, I walked to the trees where I’d left Pierce. I knelt down beside him once more, my heart in my throat. I wiped my hand down my face and felt my eyes prick with tears. I scooped Pierce up into my arms. There were several gasps and cries as I carried him into the clearing. Kaelem, Tallon, Camellia, and several others stopped and watched in silence as I lowered my brother to the ground. It still didn’t seem real that this formidable Warrior had been lost. Archer had already been found and was resting beside Pierce. These two Warriors had been true friends to me these last few weeks – loyal to the end.
Tallon approached and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Thorne,” she choked.
I reached up and clutched her hand in mine. “How is Brock? Will he live?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I think so. Now that we have cleaner bandages and medicines …”
“Good.”
I lifted my head to find Ravyn staring down at Pierce. Her fingers were curled into fists at her side and her bottom lip trembled. Before I could make a move to comfort her, she spun on her heel and strode away. She was heaping the blame on her own shoulders, like she had with all the other deaths.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Owen crouch down to my right. It wasn’t until he shifted that I realized who he’d carried to this place – his sister, Edra. She had suffered three gunshot wounds, but the killing blow had likely been the deep gash across her torso that had nearly cleaved her in two. Owen’s eyes were red and his face was streaked with blood, dirt, and tears. He held his sister’s hand and stroked her hair back from her face.
I swore under my breath. It was painful enough to bury Pierce. If I’d been forced to bury Tallon along with him … I didn’t want to imagine how I’d feel.
A new wave of guilt and sorrow threatened to swallow me up. I abruptly rose to my feet. “I need to get moving. I need … a distraction,” I said to Tallon.
Tallon nodded. “There’s still a couple of Warriors unaccounted for. Max is one of them. They’re searching for him now.”
“I’ll go join them.”
Reluctantly tearing myself away from Pierce and Archer, I marched into the trees. Dustine had been particularly concerned about Max’s whereabouts and was searching about ten feet away from me. I trekked through the brush where I’d last seen him – just in front of the hiding place my contingent of Warriors had begun the battle. Using my blade, I hacked through the ferns and tree branches to clear the area. With no sign of him, I circled back to where I’d ordered him to hide with the reserve group of Warriors. Maybe he’d retreated.
After about twenty minutes, I was ready to give up. Maybe he’d been mistaken for a soldier and was thrown on the pile to be burned?
Don’t be ridiculous, I thought. He’s here somewhere.
I walked back toward the clearing near the compound, ducking under a branch and shoving a fern aside. In my haste, I nearly stepped right over him. He’d been lying in a small channel and hidden by the undergrowth, which was why no one had found him.
“Max?” I crouched down. Max’s eyes were closed and his face was covered in blood. My stomach churned and a sob hitched in my throat at loss of the young Warrior. He had been so adamant about joining us in this battle. I sat down on the ground beside him and ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. “I should’ve forced you to stay behind, Max.”
I froze when I heard a quiet groan. Leaning down, I placed my head on his chest. His heart was still beating!
“Dustine! He’s here!” I called out.
I glanced back down at Max and his eyes had opened. He blinked a couple of times. “Commander?”
I placed both hands on his shoulders. “Max!” I shouted, unable to contain my excitement and relief at this small victory.
He groaned. “Not too loud.”
“Dustine! Tallon!” I called out. “Max is here!”
Max pinched his eyes shut and grasped his forehead. “Ouch! Stop yelling. I feel like I have a hangover.”
I was laughing and crying at the same time, relieved that he’d been spared. “And just how would you know what that feels like?” I said, playfully admonishing him.
Max grinned. “Long story, Commander.”
I gently patted his shoulder. “Let’s get you taken care of first.”
Tallon and Dustine were by our side in an instant, helping me lift him out of the hole. It turned out that Max had been clubbed in the head by a rifle, which explained all the blood. Head wounds tended to bleed freely even though they were sometimes only minor. He’d been lying unconscious under the bushes ever since.
Once Max was settled and being looked after, Camellia found me. She was gasping for breath and her eyes were wide with panic.
“What is it?” I asked her.
“I can’t find Ravyn,” Camellia confessed. “She’s gone.”
I wiped my sweaty face with my shirt tail and looked around the clearing, searching for Ravyn’s black hair. “You’re certain?”
“Yes!” Camellia squeaked. “I even went back inside the compound to search, but I can’t find her anywhere. Where would she go?”
A momentary thought passed through my mind that Ravyn had left me, and my stomach clenched. She had always been a runner. From the moment we met, she had made it clear she only wanted to make it to the coast and live out her life in peace. Back in Ahern, we had completed the Binding Words. I did not want to believe she would go back on her words and abandon me, but I couldn’t help reverting to my old insecurities.
I peered down at Camellia and took a deep breath. Ravyn had promised to come back to me, and she would never leave Camellia unless she had no other choice. Every move she had made in the last year had been to keep her family safe. She wouldn’t leave Camellia. It wasn’t possible.
Though it pained me, I said, “Let’s give her an hour. If she hasn’t returned by then, we’ll send a search party to hunt for her.”
Camellia accepted my decision and walked away, going back to tending injuries and gathering wood to build campfires.
Just before dark, Ravyn strolled nonchalantly out of the woods with a blank expression on her face. She didn’t appear to be injured in any way, just lost in thought.
Camellia sprinted to her and flung her arms around her sister’s neck. “Where did you go?” Camellia wailed. “We thought you’d left us!”
Ravyn shook her head. “I went to the stone.”
She pulled out of Camellia’s arms and wan
dered away, leaving Camellia and me baffled by her ambiguous response. Camellia shrugged at me and trailed after her sister to keep a more watchful eye on her. Ravyn had been walking around in a stupor since I’d brought her out of the compound, but most of us were in the same condition.
When the bodies of the soldiers and General Wolfe had all been burned to ash, and every Warrior and Ahern fighter had been found, we turned in for the night. Audrick offered to allow us to sleep inside the compound, but most were leery of the place. Ravyn refused to set foot inside the compound ever again, and I shared the sentiment.
“Everyone get some rest,” I ordered. “Light some fires and stay warm. We’ll leave for Linwood at daylight.”
“We’re just leaving?” Dustine asked. “We aren’t burying the dead?”
Max clasped her hand in his. “I don’t want to bury them here.”
“Neither do I,” said Owen.
“We will transport them home on the pallets as well,” I replied gently. “The weather is cold enough to keep them from …” I couldn’t say the word. Unfortunately, the dead had begun to decay as soon as their hearts stopped beating. There was no stopping it, and they would soon begin to smell. “The weather is cold enough. It should buy us a few extra days to get them home.”
“What about the compound?” Owen asked.
“We should destroy it,” Max muttered.
“No!” Ravyn barked.
Everyone started at her angry retort. She’d been alarmingly silent all afternoon. Now everyone was staring at her as if she’d grown fangs.
“You can’t destroy the compound,” she said, scowling at each of us. “There are innocent people living here – women and children that have no idea of the kind of man Wolfe is … or was. We can’t destroy their home or leave them to fend for themselves. If we shut down the compound, they’ll go without food, heat, and even air to breathe.”
Kaelem nodded in agreement. “Ravyn’s right. This needs to be done carefully.” After a few moments spent in thought, Kaelem added, “We should ask Audrick in the morning. He’s the prime candidate to take over here until we decide what to do with everyone.”
“You think they’ll want to leave here?” Owen asked. “If they’ve been here all their lives …”
“Many of the children belong to families in Terran.” I gave Ravyn a pointed look. “They could return to them.”
Ravyn mumbled, “Maybe.” Without another word of explanation, she turned her eyes back to the campfire, leaving Camellia and me flummoxed once again.
In the morning, Owen began leading the survivors back to Linwood. Horses dragged the dead and severely wounded on pallets while the rest rode or walked. Kaelem, Ravyn, and I stayed behind to speak with Audrick.
“I agree with Ravyn,” Audrick said. “Moving them now … it’s too soon. They’re not ready.”
“Springtime, then?” Kaelem suggested. “It gives them time to adjust and make up their minds where they want to go.”
Audrick nodded. “I’ll … I’ll look out for them until then.”
“Are you sure?” I asked him. “Winter will be long. We won’t be back in the Valley for another six months.”
“We have all the supplies we need here,” Audrick assured us.
Ravyn bit her lip and asked, “And what if they don’t want to return to Terran? For some of us … it’s been too long. There’s no going back.”
“They can join us in Peton,” I said. “Any will be welcome with us.”
Kaelem nodded. “There will be a place for them in Ahern as well.”
Ravyn seemed to mull it over for a minute and then finally relented. “Alright.” She turned on her heel and began the trek back to Linwood.
***
Three days later, I stood with my back against the trunk of a sequoia, scraping my dagger against a whetstone while almost everyone slept in the safety of the treehouses of Linwood. It was nearly midnight. I couldn’t sleep, so I opted to stand guard on the ground. There weren’t any soldiers to worry about anymore, but there were still Sabers roaming about in the Valley. On the road back to Linwood, Ravyn had confessed to me that Audrick had freed Wolfe’s Yellow-eyed Sabers that had been trapped in the caves.
“He did what?” I asked, my eyes wide with shock as we rode through the trees.
“I told Audrick to release them into the forest. He waited until after we left.”
“Ravyn, still …”
“They’ll starve to death if they stay there.”
“So?”
Ravyn barely looked at me or showed any emotion at all. “I couldn’t let them suffer.”
I didn’t bring it up again. For some reason, Ravyn had felt strongly about it and I didn't want to argue.
Ravyn was sleeping in the home directly above me, along with Camellia, Tallon, and Brock. Brock had finally woken up. He was disoriented and distressed, having forgotten he’d lost his hand in the battle. Once Tallon and I had calmed him, he drank some broth until he grew tired. The young Warrior had a long road ahead to heal.
Kaelem and his fighters from Ahern had split up into a few of the treehouses to rest as well. We’d also cleaned out the compound’s armory. We split the weapons between the Warriors and Ahern’s fighters to take home. The ammunition for the guns and rifles wouldn’t last forever, but I hoped we wouldn’t need such weapons for a very long time.
I dragged my dagger across the stone one more time and then slipped the blade back into the sheath strapped at my thigh. The fallen Warriors rested on their pallets beneath the sequoias a hundred feet away from me. We’d taken extra care with them, wrapping them up in blankets to keep the vultures away, and I hoped the Night Howlers would leave us in peace. Warriors took shifts to keep watch over our dead through the night to keep the scavengers away.
Ravyn’s ill humor was still troubling me. We had not touched, been alone, or even kissed since our initial reunion inside the holding cell. She remained distant from everyone – even her own sister.
Pushing off the sequoia, I ran my fingers through my unruly curls and gazed up at the treehouse where Ravyn was sleeping. She doesn’t need me now that her enemies are dead. My heart twisted at the painful thought, but it was true. Ravyn could easily make her way to the coast, where she had always longed to go. There was no one and nothing to stop her now.
The snap of a branch to my left had me reaching for my pistol. Kaelem rounded the corner of a tree trunk and strode over to me.
“Jumpy tonight, are we?” Kaelem said with a chuckle.
I shuffled my feet and sighed. “I don’t think I’ll be able to relax again knowing we’ve turned the Sabers loose in the Valley. Do you think it was wise?”
“Eh, we’ll be alright,” Kaelem replied. “Most of the older, more vicious ones are dead. The rest were spotted moving north toward Howler Hollow.”
“Ravyn said it would have been cruel to keep them locked up in their caves.”
Kaelem shrugged. “We’ll all find a balance. I doubt they’ll band together in large packs. Predators in large numbers don’t survive well.”
“That seems backward.”
“Well, the wildcats near Ahern roam alone. They don’t have to compete with others for their prey. When there are too many of them, they kill off their food supply and have to kill each other for nourishment anyway.”
“Balance,” I mumbled.
“Yep.” Kaelem stuck a pine needle between his teeth and began to chew on it. “So, I’d ask why you’re down here sulking, but I already know.”
“Humph.”
“She’s not leaving you.” Kaelem tapped his temple.
As irritating as it was to have Kaelem inside our heads, a sense of relief washed over me. “She hasn’t spoken five words to anyone since we found her in the compound.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with you, Thorne. You’ve barely registered in her jumble of thoughts.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “That’s not comforting.”
“She’s still dealing with everything that’s happened,” Kaelem explained. “She’s never really had a chance to grieve.”
“For her parents?”
“For any of it.” Kaelem stared off into the trees. “Ravyn’s been so busy running and fighting … her only option was to shove all her pain into some dark place inside her and keep going. Now that she doesn’t have to run and fight anymore, all that hurt and loss is rising to the surface.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Ravyn had so many hidden wounds. Her home, her parents, her best friend, and her freedom had all been ripped from her. Not to mention the torture she had gone through under Wolfe’s knife.
“I have a feeling she’s blaming herself for everything,” I added.
Kaelem nodded. “Don’t push her, Thorne. She’s dealing with it. We’re all dealing with our losses since things have settled down. She’ll come back to you. Just give her a little time.”
“Maybe you should come back to Peton with us. I’ll need a mind-reader to let me know what she’s thinking all the time.”
“Ah, that wouldn’t be fair,” Kaelem said with a smirk. “Plus, my mother made me swear I would come back to her and Hagan. She doesn’t want to lose another child.”
“How are they doing?” I asked him.
“Hagan is still a bit confused and bereft without his twin. I don’t think he’ll ever be the same.”
“I’m sorry for your brothers and sister. I wish we’d been able to stop Nash before -”
Kaelem waved his hand to halt my words. “There’s nothing you would have been able to do for him. My mother and I believe he had a sickness of the mind, like Aunt Laela. They enjoyed manipulating and hurting people.”
“So, your mother will take over as Governor?”