Fearless (Nameless #3)(89)

“How do you know I can … ” A broken question, but all Zo could manage.

“Our shaman can help you. He can help build up the dam of your energy again.”

“How—”

“There’s no time. Use me to heal him, child.” The chief held her hand over his heart. The pulse of life beckoned her. Willing. Ready. “Sani would want this.”

With the little energy she had left, Zo pulled from the chief, filling her soul with warm life and transferring it to Gryphon. Little by little, her energy restored, filling the white places of her body with colorful heat, until she was conscious enough to recognize Gryphon moving beneath her hand. She quickly pulled away from the chief, mortified to see him lying on the ground beside her.

Still. Gone.

“Zo?” Gryphon said. He gingerly rolled to sit with legs crossed in front of him, his cheeks a healthy color and the wound at his back sealed over, much like Joshua’s had under the fir tree outside Ram’s Gate.

Zo crawled into his lap and closed her eyes as his arms settled around her. When she opened her eyes she looked up to find a crowd of soldiers, including Talon, Stone, and Murtog standing around them. Blood covered their hands and clothes, weapons hanging limply in their hands. Talon dropped to his knees by his father and bent his head in prayer.

Gryphon tugged her closer to him and placed a kiss on top of her head. Though he likely meant to reassure her, Zo could only feel a sense of peace in knowing the sacrifice had been the right thing.

“When I lost consciousness I dreamed you died,” he said. “That I couldn’t reach you.” He paused, collecting himself. “I saw my father. I saw him for who he really is.”

One by one, their audience left them.

“He loved you,” said Gryphon as he kissed the top of her head again. “I only wish he could have seen us together.” Gryphon paused again, running his hand up and down her arm. “He wanted that for us.”

Lacing her hands through Gryphon’s, Zo let her head sink onto his shoulder and together they sat looking over the Valley of Wolves. “He loved you, too, Gryphon.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “And so do I.”





Gryphon and Joshua picked their way through the carnage of the canyon while men helped the wounded to a healing site that had been erected just inside the Valley of Wolves. Zo and Tess were assisting the other Wolf healers who’d been summoned to tend to the injured, be they Ram, Wolf, Kodiak, Raven, or Freeman.

Most of the fallen Gryphon encountered on his way back to the joining of the two rivers were strangers. But every so often, the familiar face of a Ram caused him to pause and drop to the ground in a moment of silent prayer—pleading for mercy from the great creator to ensure the man’s soul made its proper place of rest.

Joshua didn’t stray more than a few feet from Gryphon’s side the entire way. His left eye was swollen and purple.

“What will happen to the rest of us?” the boy asked. “Will the Wolves enslave the Ram?”

Gryphon looked up from where he knelt on the ground. “No, Joshua.” He stood and put an arm around Joshua’s shoulder, surprised by how much the boy had grown over the last year. “But it’s going to be a painful recovery.”

A drop of rain hit Gryphon’s face. Another, his arm.

They reached the other end of the narrow pass with heavier steps than they had entering it. Turning the final corner to where the land opened up and the rivers converged, Gryphon halted with jaw hanging open.

“Who are they?” Joshua asked.

Women and children gathered around their Kodiak fathers and spouses. Other children with both light and dark skin danced along the banks of the river, kicking up water and laughing. The rain fell harder, washing away the stain of war.

“It’s the Nameless, kid.”

Lines of confusion blended the freckles of his face. “They look … different.”

Gryphon cuffed Joshua’s shoulder. “I don’t think they’ve changed, Joshua. You and I just see them differently now.”

A giant roar sounded from the far side of the field. Ikatou’s hearty laughter filled all of the hollow places of Gryphon’s heart as the Bear gathered his daughters and wife into his massive embrace.

More jubilant shouts of reunion. More tears mixed with rain, healing both ground and heart.

I wish my father could see this.





Murtog threw open the flap of the hastily erected Healer’s Tent. Rain dripped down his face and hair and onto his already sopping tunic. He scanned the injured men lying on ground until his eyes locked upon Talon sitting beside the small, still form of his sister.

Zo stepped between Murtog and his goal before the Kodiak could make a scene. The large man’s nostrils flared and the corners of his mouth sank as fury mingled with the pain on his face.

“She sleeps, Murtog.” Zo set a hand on his arm to send him a dose of serenity. “She took an arrow to the shoulder, but the wound is healing. She’s out of danger.”

Without peeling his eyes from Raca, Murtog nodded before sidestepping Zo.

Talon rose to greet him. “Murtog.” Talon offered a subtle bow of the head.

“Greetings, Raven Chief. I’m sorry to hear about your father,” said Murtog. Again, he didn’t bother pulling his gaze from Raca. It was as though the rest of the room, the rest of the world, didn’t matter.