Clanless (Nameless #2)(45)
Joshua didn’t answer until he reached the place near the center of camp where Tess and their traveling packs rested. Tess had gathered enough rocks to make a small fire ring. She went right to work with the twigs Joshua gathered to make a teepee structure perfect for lighting a fire to cook their meal.
Joshua retrieved a thicker stick of pine and used his knife to slice two intersecting lines into the top. He refused to speak to or even look at Zo as he skinned the stick then wedged the shavings into the splits to create a capable torch.
“You can’t blame me for being protective, Joshua,” said Zo. She nudged his boot to try and coax a smile that didn’t come.
Joshua stopped his work with the torch. “I’m the best fighter of the three of us. You can’t blame me for trying to protect us.”
“Of course not, but—”
“Let me do something, Zo. I want to help you and Tess. I need to do this … for Gryphon. Why can’t you understand that?” He snatched his torch from the ground and stalked away to meet Stone with the rest of the men in camp. To take on his foolishly assumed role as “protector” in their unconventional little family.
Zo massaged her fingers into her temples, fighting away a throbbing headache. She glanced at the Nameless around them. Several men hurriedly worked on their torches with half the skill Joshua had. Gryphon had truly shaped the boy into something great. But Zo wouldn’t allow Joshua to put himself at risk … not even for the sake of Gryphon’s memory. There were others who could step in and protect the camp. Joshua and Zo had already done their part.
Chapter 17
Gryphon jumped to his feet and grabbed Raca’s shoulders, ready to shake her to get her to speak. “You shared a fire with my apprentice?”
Talon stepped in front of Raca. “You will not touch my sister in such a way, Sheep.”
Gryphon backed away. He hadn’t meant to scare the girl.
“Stop playing guard dog, brother.” Raca gently pushed her brother away then said to Gryphon, “We met them a few days ago. They said they were tracking the Nameless refugees to the Allied Camp. But … ” Talon glanced at his sister and frowned. “These are dangerous mountains, Gryphon. We’ve heard a wild man has rallied the Clanless in the area. A banished Ram named Boar.”
“What does that have to do with my friends?” said Gryphon.
“Nothing, only we’ve heard from several wandering Clanless that Barnabas has offered a mighty reward for the person who brings him you and a Wolf healer called Zo. I didn’t want Raca to mention the boy only because I didn’t want to raise your hopes that your friends were still safe.”
“What are you saying?” Gryphon remembered hearing the name Boar several years ago while he was still training for the opportunity to join a mess. A man by that name was banished for gruesome crimes committed against his own wife.
“The Clanless man we met says Boar is completely crazy. He’s bullied many of the Clanless into following him, creating something of a small army in these mountains.”
“An army of desperate men.”
Talon nodded.
“I worry for your friends, especially the Wolf. I’d imagine Boar would do anything for enough leverage to reinstate his citizenship with the Ram.”
“I doubt Boar would be interested in Tess. He’ll know that bringing an innocent little girl back to the Gate won’t buy him anything.”
Both Raca and Talon wrinkled their noses in exactly the same way and at exactly the same time. “Tess?” Raca asked. Then her expression cleared. “No, we’re talking about the other girl. The older Wolf. The healer.”
Gryphon held his breath. The Raven woman had to be confused.
“Zo,” said Talon. “The one Joshua claimed you were in love with. The one Boar is hunting.”
Gryphon shook his head and momentarily closed his eyes against the aching hope. “You’re wrong. She died outside Ram’s Gate.” He paced the ground in front of them. “This girl. What did she look like?”
“Tall. Brownish-black hair. Stunning blue eyes … ”
“It’s not possible.” Gryphon sank to his knees. He gasped, remembering to breathe. “What did you say to her? How did she answer?” He found himself repeating, “It can’t be” over and over.
A soft hand touched his shoulder. Raca’s concerned eyes met his. “She was kind to us. Invited us to sit at her fire and warned us of the Ram invasion. Unless there is another Wolf healer named Zo crossing this mountain, your friend is still alive,” said Raca.
Gryphon gasped and jumped up, scooping Raca and Talon into one gigantic hug. “I could kiss you both.”
“Please don’t,” said Talon.
Zo was alive.
Torches staked around the perimeter of the camp flickered in the wind. They lit the rim of the charred and blackened forest more than the Nameless camped in the clearing. If fear had a taste, it was burnt and bitter. Zo watched as the torches cast only half of the naked trees in light. They were gnarled fingers of wood that seemed to reach out at them. Zo couldn’t look away from their reaching fingers as she muscled down the badger stew concoction Joshua and Tess made for dinner.
“Do you like it?” Tess asked. She’d taken a hand to “spicing” their meals with different kinds of plants and flowers she picked along the trail. The previous night, she’d almost poisoned them by adding wild foxglove to the cooking pot, before Zo had stopped her.