Fearless (Nameless #3)(71)
Just like her parents.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Out in the muddy plains of the valley, Gryphon didn’t know whether he wanted to speed up or stop. Either option was a vile, cruel beast that ripped at the thin strings of his heart. There was no winning this battle. Not for him.
“Link!” Gryphon called when camp had broken. The sound of forty shields sliding into tight formation brought back a little piece of home. Gryphon had always loved that sound. It was the sound that preceded adrenaline. Adrenaline preceded victory.
Funny how something that once mattered more than anything else could be degraded to merely noise. Walking in stride with the men he’d grown to respect over the past few weeks, Gryphon thought of other noises.
Joshua’s easy laughter. His endless questions about anything and everything. The sound of his clumsy feet as he stumbled through the brush. Tess’s high-pitched voice that rang like bells and chimes even when she was vexed. The sweet sound of Zo’s sigh as he kissed her by the stream.
Gryphon shook his head. It wouldn’t serve him to focus on such things. Not when his men depended on him.
Such little time.
“This is where our paths split, young Ram.”
Gryphon turned to find Ikatou with one foot planted in the soil and the other propped on a rock. The man had adopted a glow ever since learning the Allies would help free the Nameless. “I want you to know that, even though we don’t technically have our families back yet, my brothers and I have deemed Zo’s blood oath complete. We’ll perform the ceremonial release with Zo when the conflict is over.”
“That means a great deal to me, Bear. Thank you.”
Ikatou pushed away from the rock and reached out to grasp Gryphon’s forearm. Gryphon returned the gesture. “I will see you in the life after this one.” He cleared his throat and looked away, but not before Gryphon caught sight of tears rolling down his cheeks. “None of this could have happened without you.” He pulled out an ugly bear claw dagger and drew it across his palm, right next to the bright pink scar made when he’d promised Gryphon to protect Zo on their trip to the Caves. “I would call you my brother by blood.”
“What kind of blood oath is this?” asked Gryphon, wearily.
“The kind that binds families.” He offered Gryphon the hilt of the claw-blade. “I would be honored to call you my family and give you a place in my house. My posterity will be stronger with you in my line.”
“Even in death?”
The Kodiak nodded. “Even in death.”
Gryphon dragged the rudimentary blade across his palm and shook Ikatou’s hand, grafting his blood to that of the Bear.
“We are family now.” Ikatou offered him a clipped nod, and left to join the rest of the Kodiak and Freemen headed to a grouping of nearby caves. Their resting place until the Ram army passed by, assuming they’d covered their tracks properly.
Looking down at his bloodied hand, Gryphon noticed Sani’s beads. For a man without a clan, he certainly felt connected.
Gryphon looked up to see Gabe jogging back from his own command of forty. Men nodded in respect as he worked his way down the train of Allies. Gryphon had hardly seen the Wolf since the night before they left the Allies’ stronghold.
Gabe stepped in line with Gryphon. The two men walked side by side, neither bothering to offer a greeting. After a while Gabe finally said, “There is talk that your forty will lead us out to battle. Many other captains have adopted your … training methods. I have too.”
Gryphon gave Gabe a knowing look. “I will not be leading anyone anywhere. You know that as well as I do.” Gryphon grounded his knuckles into his side. “Besides, Commander Laden makes the decisions. Not I.”
“Exactly.” Gabe looked around to make sure they weren’t overheard. “What if Laden orders you to stand down?”
“We have a deal,” said Gryphon. “When the two forces are set to battle, I will join him on the field to meet Barnabas. The exchange will happen as planned. My brothers’ lives depend upon it.”
Gryphon trusted Laden enough to know that he would keep his word.
“Can’t you convince your mess brothers to join us? I’m sure many of them look up to you as their Striker.”
Gryphon frowned. “Perhaps they did at one time. Not now.” He shook his head.
“I have to ask you something that’s been bothering me for weeks.”
Gabe took Gryphon’s lack of objection as an invitation. “Inside the Gate, when I was to be executed and you let me fight, why didn’t you just kill me?”
Gryphon didn’t answer at first, but eventually the truth spilled out. “She loved you.” He snorted. “I couldn’t watch her suffer.”
Gabe’s eyes narrowed. “Yet you would let me watch her suffer?”
Zo awoke to the sound of skittering rocks and murmured voices. The sky outside was still mostly dark. She thought of the disturbance more as a nuisance than anything else until she propped up onto her elbow and glanced down.
Choking on her gasp, she crawled over to Raca and shook the Raven princess’s arm. “Ram.”
With that one word, Raca’s eyes flew open. Together they slithered to the edge of the cliff and peered down at the formal procession of deadly men. The Ram marched in tight formation, five wide and in clusters four rows deep. A small gap in ranks divided each mess unit of twenty men. They wore their traditional fur-lined boots with boiled leather vests and wrist guards, their notorious round shields held like a mantra at their chests.