Clanless (Nameless #2)(23)
The chief turned to Gryphon and frowned. “There is to be a Hai, or test. If you pass, our shaman says it is a sign that our people should follow your council and leave tomorrow morning.”
Gryphon didn’t like the sound of that. “And if I don’t pass this test?”
The chief ran his hand along one of the feathers adorning his neck. “Then you will be the first Ram sacrificed in defense of our homeland.”
“Why did those Elders carry the rocks?” Gryphon asked Gabe as they rested in a little tent, awaiting Gryphon’s mysterious test.
Gabe lifted and dropped his shoulders without saying a word. “You don’t want to know.”
“Try me.”
Gabe rolled onto his side to look at Gryphon. “Just an old tradition. Raven Elders always carry stones into a trial in case the person on trial is found guilty. Stoning allows for more people to exact justice.”
“You’re joking.” Gryphon whipped his head back in the direction of the Gaagii Court, as if he could actually see it through the fabric of the tent.
“Don’t act so surprised. Your people are twice as brutal.” He lifted his hands to show his missing pinkie fingers. “Or have you forgotten?”
The Wolf had a point, but he still couldn’t believe he willingly walked right into a possible stoning. “About this test … what exactly happens in a Hai?”
Gabe’s voice grew quiet. “I’ve never witnessed one before, but … ” he turned away from Gryphon to straighten his pack. “Whatever it is, it will not be easy. You heard the chief. Many of these people would rather die than leave. They’re betting—hoping, really—that you won’t be able to beat the obstacle they set before you.”
Gryphon wasn’t immortal, but if this was to be a physical test, he couldn’t help but be encouraged. His whole life up until this point had been training. He was strong, fast, and agile. Whatever his other failings, his body was sound. If it was possible to survive the Hai, he would find a way. Not just to save these people from the Ram, but for Joshua and, in a small way, for Zo as well.
Sani pulled back the tent flap. Ash was smeared along his cheeks and forehead making him appear ghostly; his expression level as ever. “It is almost time, Ram.” He looked down at the small vacant space just inside the tent. “May I sit with you?”
Gryphon gestured for the boy to sit and Sani let the buckskin flap of the tent door fall closed behind him. “Hold out your arm.” Sani untied a beaded leather bracelet from his wrist. Polished stone beads of vibrant shades of green and blue rattled together as Sani fastened the bracelet to Gryphon’s wrist.
“Why?” asked Gryphon as he fingered the cold stones.
“Protection. As your ‘Attin, it is the most help I can offer you in the Hai.”
They sat in silence together. Gryphon assumed Gabe and Sani didn’t know what to say to a man they assumed was about to walk to his death. Still running his fingers over the bracelet, Gryphon asked Sani, “What language was that Elder speaking during my judgment? I’ve heard tales of clans outside of our region speaking in strange tongues, but always thought the local clans spoke only the language of the Ram.”
Both Sani and Gabe snickered at that. “What?” Gryphon asked. “Why is that funny?”
Gabe clapped Gryphon on the shoulder. “Do you honestly believe we all speak the language of the Ram?”
Gryphon did. It’s what he’d been taught since childhood.
Sani said, “My people were the first to inhabit this region. We were born out of the trees and soil, the water and wind. We cared for the earth and the earth cared for us. We called ourselves the Raven because legend says the First Chief spoke to the wise Raven and the Raven called him brother.”
Gryphon glanced over to Gabe, wondering if he actually believed the crazy story. He’d never heard of any such history and always been told the Raven, like the other clans, had moved into the Ram region, pilfering its resources and robbing the Ram of the clan’s livelihood—even taking and mutilating the Ram language.
“What you heard in the judgment was the language of our first fathers,” said Sani. “The language of land and sky … of the Raven. It is the language of our holy text and the root of the language we speak today.”
“Are you claiming the Raven were the first to dwell in this region?”
Gabe winkled his brow. “How can you not know that? Do the Ram not have stories of the migration? Where do you think the clans got their animal names?”
Gryphon had never considered the fact that all the clans carried the name of an animal. He’d always assumed the Ram had taken on the name as a symbol of power. He’d felt pride in the name.
“As wandering clans pushed into the region, my people welcomed them so long as they were peaceful,” said Sani. “The clan that settled in the south was the most social, and began the tradition of trading and working together to protect the region. Because of them, the three clans came together once a year.”
“The meeting was called an Ostara. All of the houses of the Wolves still hold the meetings and Kodiak and Raven still attend when they can,” said Gabe.
Sani nodded. “My people named the clan after the beasts who hunted and lived in packs. Wolves. Another clan settled in the Eastern part of the region. They were large in stature and preferred stone to tree and kept to themselves like the mighty Kodiak who kept to the Kodiak Hills.”