Fearless (Nameless #3)(7)
Gryphon found himself nodding and stopped. He would not sympathize with this man! Besides, why would Laden feel the need to justify himself to his enemy? “That doesn’t explain why you’re letting us free. I might have killed you.”
Joshua cleared his throat, obviously bothered that Gryphon was pressing the issue. But Gryphon was too curious; he needed to know.
“Killing you would be a poor reward for all of Zo’s work inside the Gate.” Laden firmly gripped his shoulder. “And I’m familiar enough with your training to know if you wanted to kill me earlier, you easily could have.”
Laden turned to leave but called over his shoulder. “Clean up. I want you and the boy in my tent for dinner within the hour to discuss my conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“The terms you must agree to if you want to save your sorry necks.”
Gryphon stood, staring at the dusty tent flaps long after the commander left.
“What just happened?” Joshua asked, rubbing his wrists.
Gryphon scratched the back of his head. “I honestly have no idea.”
Chapter Four
The women’s tent was small, located close to the command station, and situated directly across from the Healer’s Tent. This was mostly due to the fact that all three Allied healers were female. Aside from Zo and Tess, the only other woman allowed to live fulltime in the Allied Camp was Millie, an older healer Laden had commissioned to take care of Tess and Zo for the last five years.
Zo heard Tess’s laughter even before she opened the flaps of the familiar tent.
“Again! Again!” she cried.
Zo ducked into the small room, took in the amber glow of the walls, the familiar row of bedrolls tucked into the tight quarters, and two figures hunched over a down pillow covered in white feathers. The stranger across from Tess wiggled her slim brows, plucked a stray feather from Tess’s hair, cupped it in her hands, and blew to create a high melody that she would have mistaken for a bird were it not for the contrary evidence before her.
Tess laughed again, throwing her body back onto her bedroll. When she turned her head enough to spot Zo, she sat up with feathers poking out of her braided hair and stared.
Tess’s bottom lip sucked under. Her eyes welled up with tears. She climbed to her feet, the colorful custom skirts of the Wolf Clan dancing around her in the process, and said, “Zo?” Never had one word wrenched at Zo’s heart with so much agonizing pain.
“I’m here, bug.” She held out her hands but Tess didn’t run to her. Instead, her sister pushed aside a few tears and stomped right past Zo’s outstretched arms with quivering chin held high, refusing to speak or make further eye contact. When the tent flap closed behind Tess, Zo couldn’t help but stare at the fabric so thoroughly separating them.
“She’s glad you’re back, child. She just doesn’t know how to show it yet,” said Millie as the old woman poured hot water from a kettle into a wooden bathing tub already half-filled with water.
Zo understood Tess’s anger. Even at eight, the girl didn’t appreciate any kind of coddling, especially not the kind that included lying to spare her feelings. Zo thought to go after her, but knew the wisdom of Millie’s advice. She’d give Tess time to simmer a bit.
From her pocket Millie withdrew a few sprigs of lavender and a lump of pumice soap and added them to the steaming water. It didn’t take long for the calming scent to fill the tent.
The tub was a work commissioned by Laden when they first came into the valley. Caring for two young girls in a military camp required some special arranging. While everyone else in camp bathed in the river, Millie, Zo, and Tess bathed in the circular tub in the privacy of their tent.
“I have to tell the cook to expect more for the Commander’s dinner. Raca can help you clean up.” She set out a drying linen and a bundle of Zo’s old clothing on the only table in the room. “You’ll feel better after you clean that stinky layer of filth off your body.” Millie’s tired smile did little to reassure Zo as she left without even introducing her to the stranger in the room.
“She really is a darling girl.”
Zo turned around to meet Tess’s former companion. “I’m happy to see you again, Wolf.”
Blinking at the dark-haired woman, Zo asked, “Raca, is that really you?”
Zo barely recognized the young woman she’d met while traveling to the Allies only a few weeks earlier. On the road, the Raven girl had done well to hide the majority of her beauty. But here, safe among the Allies, Raca didn’t bother concealing her hip-length hair and womanly figure. Dark charcoal outlined her eyes and the afternoon sun shining through the walls of the tent turned her skin the color of slightly burnt honey.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” said Zo as she accepted the Raven girl’s hand. “The last time I saw you, you were on your way to the Nest.”
“When Gryphon explained the flight of our clan, we had no other option but to return to the Allied Camp and wait for our kinsman to join us. My twin brother is very excited that his wife and small children survived the journey well. And it was our duty to see that our little brother, along with the other flock of warriors who stayed behind to slow the Ram pursuit, reached the Allies safely.”
Raca explained that she and her twin brother, Talon, had been commissioned to visit the Allies as ambassadors. They hadn’t confessed as much to Zo when they first met merely because it wasn’t safe to advertise their high rank among strangers in the wilderness.