Clanless (Nameless #2)(50)
“Be careful. Please protect Tess.” She released him from her hug.
Stone approached. His head was newly shaven and a dark beard filled his face from ear to ear. “Are you ready?” he asked, eyeing Joshua with a frown lost in facial hair.
Tess chased another little girl in a circle around Zo and Joshua. Zo caught her by the back of collar, earning a wild complaint from Tess. “You said I could play!” Her words died when she saw Stone.
Zo knelt in front of her sister and commanded control of her emotion. “I’m sorry, bug. There’s something I need to tell you.”
As Zo explained, Tess’s whole body seemed to sag with the weight of Zo’s lie. Images of Tess as an adolescent, as a young woman, and a grown woman flitted across her mind. She’d be so beautiful, far more lovely and warm than Zo could ever be. Zo could only imagine the lives she might save and the love she might offer those around her. No doubt she’d marry and have children one day. Maybe a little girl whom she could teach the healing art—just like their mother had taught Zo.
“I don’t want you to leave me,” Tess whimpered.
Zo’s control broke and a tear streaked down her chin. “I know, bug. Leaving is always hard. But Joshua will stay with you. You’re now officially the healer of the camp.”
Tess smiled sheepishly and hugged Zo. “I’ll miss you,” she said.
Zo kissed them both, forcing herself not to think that this would likely be the last time she’d ever see them again. “Look out for one another.”
Following Stone to the edge of camp, she remembered something important. She sprinted back to Joshua and said, “Whatever you do, don’t let Tess follow me. She has a habit of doing that.”
Chapter 19
Gryphon, Talon, and Raca slowed as they reached a clearing that bore all the signs of the Nameless camp. It was the second abandoned Nameless campsite they’d seen that day.
Gryphon collapsed next to a trickling stream, not bothering to take his pack from off his shoulders, too tired to even roll over and stick his face in the water to drink.
Talon and Raca didn’t fare any better. “I can’t keep this pace much longer,” said Raca. “I just want to clean the layer of dirt from my skin and sink into my bed.” She flinched, probably thinking of how she might never go back to her home, her bed, again.
“Father will secure you a very fine bed once he reaches the Allies,” said Talon, reading his sister’s mind.
“Yes, and he will offer it to Sani, because he is his favorite.” Raca smiled as she pulled off her boots to let her small feet soak in the stream. “Ah, that’s better.”
Gryphon might have joined her if he had the energy to pull off his boots.
“If you stop fighting his wishes and marry, father would make sure you had a hundred fine beds,” said Talon. He was back to chewing on his dried meat rations. “Then perhaps we could both stop these tiresome travels.”
“I thought you were ambassadors,” said Gryphon, only just realizing how strange it was for the son and daughter of a chief to be wandering around the region on their own. Chief Naat had hundreds of men at his disposal to act as emissaries. Why risk his children with such a dangerous task?
“We are ambassadors, but my father sends me out with Talon, partly because I’m his best archer and my brother needs looking after, but mostly because he hopes I’ll find a worthy husband and Talon is the only chaperone he trusts.”
Gryphon’s confusion must have shown clearly on his face, because Talon jumped in to add, “Father has two heirs in me and Sani. He hopes his daughter will marry the chief of another clan to bring stability to the region and further his influence.”
Raca rolled her eyes. “That’s one of the reasons we went to the Allies. Father wanted me to attach myself to Commander Laden since he’s become the most powerful man in the region, apart from Barnabas.
Gryphon pushed up into a seated position and dropped his water skin into the stream. “How did you do?”
Raca laughed. Not an unpleasant sound. “Commander Laden is old enough to be my father. Besides, I didn’t get the impression that he was looking for a wife.”
Gryphon had a difficult time believing Laden wouldn’t notice Raca. She was young and very pretty. She didn’t seem like the type that would lead men to disinterest.
Raca said, “His mind is only for his cause. He’s obsessed with overthrowing Barnabas. He eats, drinks, and sleeps it. I admire his drive, but I want a husband closer to my own age.”
She held Gryphon’s gaze and then quickly looked away. “They say that Murtog’s wife was killed in the last Ram raid.”
“The Kodiak Chief would squish you!” said Talon.
Raca grabbed a handful of mud and flung it in her brother’s face. “Eww.”
Talon laughed, unrepentant, and scraped mud off his cheek. “The Kodiak are too wild. Besides, I’ve heard that a good portion of them left the caves. The clan is scattered. Some men, when their families were murdered or taken as slaves, joined the Clanless. Others traveled to the Allies. But Murtog refuses to leave his caves.”
“Just like your father refused to leave the Nest,” said Gryphon.
Raca shrugged. “People cling to tradition and fear change. That’s what makes your flight from the Ram so remarkable, Gryphon.” She tugged on her boots and climbed to her feet. “You didn’t have to leave, but you loved Zo enough to change the world for her.”