Fearless (Nameless #3)(13)
“I don’t blame you, child. I know how much you two have been through.” His words were meant to comfort, but the worry plastered to his brow left Zo uneasy.
“But?” she asked. She had a feeling she didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“You care for this Ram. And I believe he’s a good man at his core.” Laden leaned forward, resting both elbows on the table. “But there’s a mystery about him, Zo. Something he’s not telling us.”
Zo shook her head. “You don’t know him like I do.”
Laden threw up his hands. “You’re right. I don’t know him.” He leaned in even closer to Zo. “But I know what motivates men. I can see things that others often miss.” He sighed. “Just guard your heart. That’s all.”
Chapter Six
Gryphon woke before the sun. No horn calling men to report to the training fields. No walls blocking the loud wind as it shook the tent and howled on its way. No hike up the familiar mountain peak to burn off the palpable anxiety assaulting his body. Only the sound of two boys arguing.
“How can you possibly expect to save Gryphon’s life?” asked Joshua. “I mean, doesn’t that sound a bit arrogant to you?”
A calm, steady voice countered in methodic speech. “How does the feather protect the mighty eagle?”
“Well,” Joshua seemed to consider for a moment. “It doesn’t.”
Gryphon opened his eyes to find Sani, the Raven chief’s son, who claimed to owe Gryphon his life, arguing with his apprentice. “The feather gives him flight.”
Joshua stared at Sani, his eyes ready to roll in impatience. “So you’re saying, you’re going to help him … fly?”
Sani, ever patient in an almost condescending way, sighed audibly. “I’m saying sometimes small things can make a big difference.”
Gryphon chose that time to stretch in his bedroll and sit up. “It’s a little early, isn’t it, boys?”
Sani and Joshua both had the decency to look ashamed. “Good to see you again, little chief,” said Gryphon to Sani.
Sani folded his arms across his chest. The skin of his forehead crinkled around the braided leather band he wore. “You intentionally left our Flock in the wilderness. I am your ‘Atiin. You must allow me to fulfill my purpose.”
Gryphon lay back onto his bedroll, his head already pounding. “I don’t want an ‘Atiin, boy.”
“And yet fate has deemed one necessary.” Sani rolled out his bedroll, placing himself directly in front of the tent flaps.
Before Gryphon could ask him what he was doing, Joshua pulled a fresh shirt over his head and pulled on his boots, saying, “Does he always talk like this? It’s worse than lessons.” He joined Sani by the tent flaps, as though they had somewhere to go.
“What’s the hurry?” Gryphon raised a brow at his apprentice.
“Chores.” Joshua shrugged, as though Gryphon should expect nothing less. “Sani and I are assigned to help the ironworkers sharpen blades, and then both Tess and I have to take a shift in the fields,” said Joshua. “And once I’m done, Tess is taking the three of us hiking to a lookout point to watch for the Raven. Tess said, before she left for Ram’s Gate, she had a fort up on the ridge with a view of the whole camp.”
Gryphon’s jaw hung open. “Who gave you orders? When will you train?” Gryphon had never imagined Joshua doing farm work. Inside Ram’s Gate, his only job was to grow his strength and skill so that one day he could join a mess and become a Ram warrior. It was the only way to gain full citizenship within his clan.
Gryphon had never agreed with his clan’s practice of keeping slaves, but he’d also never considered life without someone who tended the crops and performed other menial tasks.
“Are there others your age here?” He tried to remember seeing any another children or youth in the camp, but couldn’t.
Joshua shrugged. “Not unless you count a few Nameless refugees and Sani.” Both boys were only thirteen years old, but they couldn’t be more different. Where Joshua was vivacious and carefree, Sani was somber and responsible; Joshua tall and gangly and Sani more compact and coordinated. Opposites in every way.
“Sani trains alongside his brother and sister,” said Joshua. “Laden doesn’t let women and children join the Allies. They stay back with their families within their clans. That’s why you don’t see children running around.”
Gryphon sat on the edge of his cot and laced up his boots, contemplating Joshua’s information. Joshua and Sani went to leave the tent, but Gryphon called him back. “You and I are still training every night after dinner, do you understand? Sani, you can join us, if your father approves.”
Joshua smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it.” He exited the tent at a run with Sani trotting behind.
How did the boy know where to find breakfast? How did he seem to know his way around the camp? They’d only arrived yesterday and already the kid seemed so happy and light. Perhaps the life of a Wolf farmer would suit him more than that of a Ram warrior.
He cringed at the thought, but also had to admit that it was better to have the boy surrounded by Wolves and farms than bloodshed.
He’d try to diminish his lingering prejudices surrounding the Wolf way for Joshua’s sake. If nothing else, at least Gryphon knew he was doing right by the boy. That there was hope for happiness in his future.