Fearless (Nameless #3)(28)
“How many injured?” asked Zo. Outside, the darkness of the night was disturbed by a red and orange glow in the Wolf sector of camp. Shouts punctuated the pulsing, distant flame.
“Move!” a burly man yelled, as he and a group of men carried two makeshift gurneys toward the tent. Zo ducked into the Healer’s Tent ahead of them to find Millie waiting with a hand to her chest and a face as white and ghostly as a three-day corpse.
“Careful!” Zo helped lower the first burn victim onto a bed. Millie and Tess helped with the second. “We need more water, and a fire.”
“No fire!” one of the burned men cried between wails of agony. Moist skin blistered and bubbled along the entire left side of his body. The other man’s burns weren’t nearly as bad, covering mostly his hands, arms, and one side of his face.
Zo and Millie cut away cumbersome clothing and began pouring clean water over the wounds. Tess mixed powdered poppy and other herbs in a broth for the pain. The men drank with arched backs between gasps and sobs.
Zo channeled and challenged her new gift, pushing life and vitality into the damaged tissue where the burns were especially severe while purging possible infection—the real killer of any burn victim.
She cupped the swollen, red ear of the man on her table and whispered a healing blessing to draw away the heat and restore the flesh. For the first time since they’d come into the healing tent, Zo really looked into the young man’s face. The sensation of déjà vu passed over her.
So many of the men in camp were familiar, but she had a sinking feeling she should know this man. “Weren’t you just here?” Zo coughed into her palm, the smell of smoke on her breath, for some reason.
And then she remembered. These were the Wolves who’d attacked Gryphon on the training field.
Suddenly, Commander Laden pushed away the flap of the tent and stormed into the infirmary. His face was smeared with ash and his eyes were swollen and bloodshot. Pointing a shaking finger at Zo, he said, “Report to my tent.” His voice came out something of a growl.
Zo gestured down at her patients. “Now?”
He grimaced, casting a compassionate glance at the wounded. “As soon as you’re able.”
Chapter Eleven
“You’re telling me it was simple coincidence?” Laden paced. A single torch staked to the ground flickered at the center of the tent, casting dancing light on all surfaces within its meager reach and leaving the rest to the mystery of heavy shadow. “Do you know how many accidental fires we’ve had in five years of staying in this valley?”
Gryphon sat in the chair in front of Laden’s desk, his hands resting casually in his lap.
“Not one.” The Commander answered his own question, his voice calm, like the still moment before a mountain lion pounces.
“The tent of the men who attacked you catches fire. You are found conveniently without your guard.” Laden counted Gryphon’s strikes against his fingers. “You realize how bad this looks for you, I hope.”
Gryphon had come back to his tent after his confrontation with Ikatou expecting to find the four guards waiting outside, but the entrance had been empty. He remembered vaguely wondering if they were out looking for him, but wasn’t about to help them with their babysitting duties. Both Joshua and Sani had been fast asleep when he’d slipped inside. It had felt as though he had barely shut his eyes when shouts of fire punctuated the night.
“Where are my men?”
“If you’re referring to my pathetic guard, I have no idea.” Gryphon didn’t want to explain that it had been Zo who had sent them on their way. He also didn’t have any desire to explain that he’d spent most of the night alone with Zo up in the foothills.
The sound of muffled voices outside the tent preceded Zo’s louder demand of, “I’m expected.” She pushed open the tent flaps. “You wanted to see me?” She stumbled a bit upon seeing Gryphon, but quickly regained her composure and turned on Laden. “If you think he’s responsible for the fire, you’re wrong.”
“His guard is missing,” Laden said, narrowing his eyes. “He has motive.”
“I sent away his guard tonight so we could be alone.”
Laden’s brows plummeted, turning his face angular. “You what?”
“I asked them to leave us, and they did. They knew he and I were together.”
Gryphon held back a snort of laughter. Zo made it sound as though her bold threats had been nothing more than a gentle request.
Laden’s nostrils flared. “You’re telling me that you were with Gryphon tonight the entire time? That you escorted him to his tent before heading off to your own?”
A subtle pause. Barely more than a half second, but Laden, like any seasoned predator, could have easily seen the hesitation. “Yes,” she said, matching his stare with one of her own, daring him to contradict her.
“And how can you be so certain he didn’t leave after you left?”
Zo surprised Gryphon by turning and looking him directly in the eye. “Did you leave your tent tonight?”
“I did not.” And Gryphon hadn’t. He’d just gone to settle a score with Ikatou before making it there.
“There you have it!” said Zo.
“Dear girl,” Laden said, frowning. “You forget this man was raised by our enemy. I don’t doubt his loyalties to you, but it’s foolish to assume they extend to the rest of us.”