Battle for the Valley by C R Pugh

Author:C R Pugh [Pugh, C R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781672356459
Published: 2019-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

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Table of Contents

22

Thorne

Five days had passed since Archer, Pierce, and I were arrested. Guards came three times each day, like clockwork, to deliver meals of bread, cheese, and a cup of water for each prisoner. They did not speak or interact with any captives. It was as if the guards were sleepwalking, like Wolfe’s soldiers.

Governor Laela must have them under her mind-control.

I found myself pacing, which meant I was walking in tiny circles and making myself dizzy in the dark. The cell was no wider than I was tall and my head was an inch from hitting the ceiling. But I couldn’t sit still. My backside was growing numb.

Pierce stretched and exercised with me so we wouldn’t lose our strength while confined. Archer kept his back turned and continued to work on whatever device or contraption might set us free, though I was beginning to wonder if even his cleverness would be enough to save us.

Kaela was quiet when she wasn’t coughing and gagging from her lung infection. If we found a way out of these cells, we would take her with us. Perhaps Kemena had herbs or a potion to help her.

“How long will they keep us down here before she speaks with us?” I wondered out loud.

“Who said she wanted to speak with us?” Pierce asked in return. “She could keep us down here forever, like Laela. Who’s going to know?”

“Tallon will figure out we’re missing,” I mumbled. “I told her to go to Peton after they find Kieron.”

“No, you didn’t,” Pierce argued. “You told Ravyn to go on to Murray to look for rebel allies that might join our fight. Afterward, they’re meeting us by the stream where we buried Laelynn and Haldar.”

I scratched my chin. “I did?”

Pierce rolled his eyes at me through the bars. “What is wrong with you? Are you losing your memory?”

“I swear that’s what I told them to do,” I muttered. “Why would I give them two different directives?”

“Well, we can’t worry about that now,” Pierce said with a sigh. “Whether they decide to go back to Peton or the stream to meet us …” He shrugged.

Sitting back down against the stone wall, I leaned my head against the bars and said, “We won’t be there to meet them.”

“Ravyn is clever and so are Brock and Tallon,” Pierce remarked. “They’ll figure it out.”

It might be too late by then.

I turned to stare at Archer. He’d been sitting with his back turned for three days straight. What could be taking so long? “Archer, are you about done with that thing?”

“Not yet,” he replied over his shoulder. “Stop nagging me and let me work.”

For the first time in hours, Kaela spoke up in her gravelly voice. “What does he have over there?”

“There’s no telling,” I said. “He’s good with explosives, but I don’t know if the guards left him enough of anything useful.”

Above us, I heard the door to the prison open and bang against a wall. I rose to my feet and leaned against the bars as light flooded the walkway between the cells.

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