Clanless (Nameless #2)(37)
On some unspoken cue the arrows flew, hitting their marks with deadly precision. Before the sentries’ bodies hit the ground, the Raven, with Gryphon and Sani, flew toward the tree bridges at a dead sprint. Sani wasn’t as fast as the other men, and Gryphon matched his pace to ensure the boy made it to the trees.
From behind them, a spear flew, striking the Raven in front of Gryphon. He reached for his shield to protect him and Sani from the next attack, but of course it wasn’t there.
Gryphon swore. The first Raven men reached the tree, gaining added cover from the branches. If they could just make it that far, they’d have a chance.
“We beat your healer whore before she died!” a familiar voice shouted behind Gryphon.
His legs stopped working and, trembling with rage, he turned to face Zander.
“She begged us to stop, begged for mercy. But we bruised her, cut her, bled her, until her face looked like ravaged meat. She wasn’t pretty in death,” Zander’s voice trembled with hate. He stood—chest heaving—flanked by a handful of his mess brothers, including Ajax, whose face was a blank slate.
Sani tugged on the back of Gryphon’s shirt, trying to pull him away from Zander, but Gryphon ignored him. The frame of Gryphon’s vision turned red. His fingers ached to grasp his spear. He needed to make Zander hurt the way he did. He couldn’t imagine a greater pain than the one Zander’s words inflicted. He reached for his dagger—the only weapon in his possession—and flung it at Zander’s head.
The knife sunk into the wood of Zander’s shield. The lazy smile on the mess leader’s face brought Gryphon back to the reality of the situation. He looked down at Sani, still tugging at the back of his shirt, and gaped at the magnitude of his mistake. The rest of the Raven were in the tree, crossing to the mainland.
“Kill the boy and bind Gryphon,” said Zander.
Every instinct in his body screamed to charge Zander and break his neck. But Gryphon pulled Sani behind his back and together they inched toward the fallen tree. He would avenge Zo’s murderer, but not at the risk of Sani’s life.
Gryphon’s mess brothers formed a half circle around him, preparing to tackle him as a group. Sani muttered a chant in the Raven’s strange language, his head buried into Gryphon’s back. Gryphon met eyes with Ajax, and his old friend frowned in misery. Ajax had a family. He followed Zander’s orders for the sake of his wife and child. Even when those orders included killing innocents—killing friends—Sara and the baby came first.
Arrows flew over Gryphon and Sani’s heads. Zander called for his men to link, but two of Gryphon’s mess brothers went down before the wall of shields could save them.
Gryphon practically threw Sani onto the fallen tree bridge and barreled after him with the frustrated shouts of Zander nipping at their heels. When they reached the halfway point on the tree-bridge, a Ram horn sounded.
“Move!” Gryphon hissed. “Quickly.” The other Raven warriors positioned on branches of the tree stowed their bows and ran.
Sani jumped up and grabbed hold of a tree branch, his lithe form swinging through the air only to grab another. The other Raven traveled in similar fashion, quickly outpacing Gryphon, as if the laws of gravity had no hold on them. Behind him, the thunk of spears connected with wood. When his feet finally hit solid ground, Sani and the rest of the Raven were at least fifty paces ahead of him.
Gryphon put his head down and sprinted as fast as he could into the forest away from the cliff. Ram shouts behind him pushed him faster. He caught up to Sani and took hold of his arm, pulling him along.
Eventually their pace ebbed, but death was too close to their heels to stop running. The Raven took turns casting hate-filled glances at Gryphon. He’d almost gotten their chief’s son killed. They were right to be angry with him. But Gryphon couldn’t be moved to care about anything beyond his hatred toward Zander.
“She wasn’t pretty in death.”
Gryphon had been so careful not to allow himself to wallow in the possible details of Zo’s death. But hearing Zander taunt him with her pain had been too much. Gryphon sprinted away from Zander to save his life, but it felt as though he moved in the wrong direction. For the hundredth time, he vowed to kill Zander.
“You will stay back with the rest of the women,” Stone said to Eva.
“But Zo’s going with you!” she protested.
“Boar trusts her and insisted she be there when the trade is made.”
Morning brought with it the chaos of people working together to pack up camp. Fire pits smoked, finally resting from a long vigil to protect the people as they slept.
“Zo has some experience with these savages. She must go. You,” he cupped Eva’s cheeks and kissed her forehead, “will stay with the rest of the camp, under the protection of armed men.”
Eva produced two daggers in the time it took Zo to blink. One pressed into her lover’s side. “If anything, I will be protecting them.” She smiled and pressed her full lips to Stone’s neck then sauntered away, leaving Stone to gape after her.
“I love that woman.” A grin as broad as a Ram’s shoulders stretched across his face. He shook his head, as if to clear his mind, and turned back to the small band of men who’d volunteered to meet with the Clanless.
“Everyone ready?” he asked.
They had released Boar early that morning after he promised to deliver Stone’s message that the “Freemen” would make a trade in exchange for the people stolen by the Clanless. Boar seemed convinced that his leader would agree to meet them if Stone came prepared to give his band something of equal value.