Clanless (Nameless #2)(7)
Gryphon dropped his hands to his side. “I’m telling you the truth. You need to evacuate the Nest.” Gryphon knew at once that his words wouldn’t be enough.
“It’s time to run, little lamb.”
Raven bows stretch back into firing position. A smile plastered the leader’s face. His sneer hardened like a promise. “Your blood will not be enough to satisfy the crimes your clan has committed against my people. But it’s a start.” He smacked Gryphon on the back twice. “We’ll give you a five second lead. Ready, go.”
Gryphon stayed rooted in place.
“One. Two.”
He closed his eyes. The faces of the people he cared for most flashed through his mind. Joshua, Zo, Ajax, his mother, little Tess …
“Three. Four.”
He tensed every muscle in his body to prepare for death.
Then a man tore through the line of Raven and into the meadow, gasping for breath before shouting, “Stop!”
Gryphon turned to see Gabe and nearly collapsed in relief. How had he escaped the Ram? How had he found him? His shirt was ripped, a bloody bandage tied around his arm.
“Put down your weapons.” Gabe stripped his pack and pulled his shirt over his head to show the mark of the waxing moon on his upper back. “I represent Commander Laden and the Allies.” Gabe bent in half with palms resting on knees drawing air into his rasping lungs.
Bows stayed trained on Gryphon’s chest as men looked to their leader for orders.
“Is that you, Wolf?” The Raven leader walked up and attacked Gabe with a giant hug. “I thought you were captured.”
“I was.” He clapped Gryphon on the back. “But this Ram helped me and a host of Nameless escape the Gate. Did he tell you about the invasion?”
The energy in the air shifted as Gabe’s words registered on the faces of the Raven, melting their former reverie like wax from a dripping candle. Even though he’d just narrowly avoided execution, Gryphon felt bad for these men. “I’ve disabled the pulley system to the only exit of Ram’s Gate. It will buy us some time to evacuate your people, but we don’t have long.”
Gabe nodded. “You must take us to your chief and let us convince him to flee to the Allied Camp. It’s the only place your families will be safe.”
The Raven leader shook his head, pointing a finger at Gryphon. “If I take this man into the Nest, he will never be allowed to leave.”
“Your clan secrets are the least of your worries, my friend,” said Gabe.
The Raven leader turned to Gryphon. “No Ram has ever been welcome in the Nest. I cannot guarantee your safety.”
Gryphon swallowed, thinking of the promise he made to Zo to warn the Raven. If he left now, was that promise fulfilled? How could he ever face her again if he didn’t see this through?
He picked up the abandoned pack and hefted it onto his back. It likely belonged to one of the Raven, but he figured he’d earned it. “Lead on.”
The next day, Joshua still didn’t wake, even while the sound of marching Ram soldiers echoed in the distance. Zo had hoped the gate would have taken longer than a day and a half to repair. But it seemed Barnabas didn’t intend to let Gryphon’s heroics alter his plans.
When she lived as a spy and Nameless slave inside the Gate, she sent stoppered bottles filled with information about Ram numbers, supplies, and troop movements down a river that ran under the enormous city wall to a group of Allied men. Gryphon and his mess captured one of the Raven working with the Allies and interrogators broke him for information about the location of the Raven Nest—a secret that had been preserved for centuries, despite the Ram’s best efforts to find it.
Zo hoped Gabe managed to warn the Raven in time.
Eva sat with her back toward the others, hugging her legs to her chest. She refused to eat and only drank when Zo insisted she do so.
Zo knew the Ram girl was desperate to track the Nameless. Eva had lost everything: her family, her clan, even the father of her growing child. But what could they do other than wait? Overwhelmed by her own grief, Zo struggled to find compassion for the other girl. She put a hand to her aching head and fought another wave of nausea brought on by vertigo.
Tess frowned. “You still haven’t recovered from the healing? Have you tried—”
“I’ve never been any good at healing myself, bug. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I’ll be fine by tomorrow morning.”
“Maybe I could try—”
“I said, don’t worry about it.” Zo didn’t mean to snap. This wasn’t Tess’ fault.
Eva didn’t turn around, but in an uncharacteristically small voice said, “Gryphon was a good man. I mourn his passing too.”
Zo pressed her hands into the sides of her head and tried to make the world stop spinning.
Please don’t talk about him!
How was she ever going to get Joshua, Eva, Tess, and a host of Nameless refugees to the Allies if she couldn’t even lean up against a tree without her vision spinning? She couldn’t save them and mourn for Gryphon and kick this illness all at once. Especially not while Gabe’s confusing kiss still lingered on her lips. How could she continue to be strong for others while she was becoming weaker all the time?
That night, when everyone else slept, Zo pulled the cold night air into her lungs and let the smell of pine and lemongrass sooth her aching head. She took in another breath, and as she released it, resolved to put the pain of losing Gryphon away. Eventually she would mourn his death and face the guilt she felt for getting him involved. Until then, she would cage her feelings in a dark corner of her mind. If they spilled over, she’d fight to push them back.