Nameless (Nameless #1)(33)

“All right!” she cried, thinking about what Tess’ face would look like if she didn’t return. “I’ll tell you what I know.” They let her melt to the wood planks. Her vision spun in circles as she crawled as fast and as far away from the ledge as possible.

Her body shook all over when she finally found her way back inside the covered tent. Curling in a ball, with head tucked between her knees, Zo re-taught her body how to breathe.

“You have one minute,” the leader, Stone, ordered.

Zo covered her face in her hands and rocked back and forth on the creaky boards. “The Ram. They’ll kill my sister if they find out. I can’t let that happen.” Her voice caught on the fierce edge that separates victims from warriors. “I won’t let that happen.”

Stone walked up to Zo and rested a warm hand on her shoulder as he crouched down beside her. “Look around you, healer. Do you think you are the only person in this room whose family is at risk? We gather because, for our children’s sake, we cannot be silent any longer!”

Zo looked around the room and met the hollow, desperate eyes of the Nameless.

“We know how to keep your secrets, healer,” Stone whispered.

He had a point. And even if he didn’t, she’d already proven that she was a coward—more afraid of her own death than keeping Tess safe. The shame was unbearable.

Zo studied her hands as she spoke. “I officially joined the Allies after my parents were killed in a raid. My father’s closest friend took me and my sister under his wing. At the time, I didn’t realize the magnitude of having Wolves, Raven, Kodiak, and others in one camp, united under one banner. All I knew then was my rage.” Zo used the back of her violently shaking hand to wipe a tear.

“I’ve spent almost half my life working with the Allies. This mission was my opportunity to finally help the Cause. My chance to vindicate the lives of my parents. I HATE the Ram. I always will.”

Zo went on to explain her mission. The bottles. The Seer. Her encounter with Gryphon. Everything. She told them that she was chosen because her healing abilities would make her valuable and because the Ram wouldn’t see a lone girl as a threat.

“Tess wasn’t supposed to follow me,” she added.

The group of Nameless sat back in amazement. One woman wiped at tears around her eyes. Zo could only imagine what their lives had been like. Always afraid. Constantly feeling like they were alone in their opposition to the Ram.

“I overheard the chief talking about a Great Move. I believe they mean to move the entire clan south—maybe to invade the Valley of Wolves.”

Stone paced the creaking floors. “We expected this. The Ram are running low on options. Food supplies are depleting. If they stay for much longer, without finding the Raven grain stores, they’ll starve.” He held out his hands, gesturing to the group. “We all will.”

Looking at him now, Zo guessed from his broad forehead and thick build that he or his parents belonged to the Kodiak before their names were stripped from them. The Kodiak were known for being as direct in conversation as they were in battle.

“A move, wagons, resources, men before families … ” He spoke to himself like someone who had lost his mind. And maybe he had. It would take an insane person to rally against the greatest army known to man.

“Take her back. I have to think.” Stone walked to the corner of the room, away from the others.

After the Nameless revolutionaries helped her down the rope ladder and walked her back to the barracks, Zo slipped into bed just minutes before Tess’ large eyes flitted open and another day began. Zo didn’t mention anything about the Nameless’ rebellion or her meeting with Stone, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that change was coming. Something big.





The following morning, when he was sure no one was looking, Gryphon staked Joshua’s writing to the door of the Hall of Records. The next person to walk through the building would find it. The chief would have the information about the Allied camp on his desk by the end of the day.

Gryphon walked at an even pace as he left the center of the town. He felt lighter knowing that he’d finally done something right. Barnabas could take it from here, and once he did, the Wolf healer’s little bottles wouldn’t do any harm.

Gryphon thought of Zo and shook his head. Who would have thought such a little person could find space in her body to house that much nerve?

“What are you smiling about?”

Gryphon looked up in surprise. “Sara, is that really you behind that belly?”

Ajax’s wife swatted Gryphon’s arm. “Did you think the healthy son of Ajax would be small?” She massaged her lower back. “If he doesn’t come soon, I might crawl into an early grave.” She laughed, but Gryphon didn’t see the humor in the situation.

“Is he late?” Gryphon put his hand on her back and guided her to a felled tree trunk. With the Ram’s population on the decline, expectant mothers were treated like war heroes. But Sara meant so much more than the mother of another Ram baby to Gryphon. She was as good as an older sister.

“Stop coddling me, Gryph. I’m fine.” Despite her words, she let him help her sit. “I just came from my family home. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

“What is it?”

“Eva accepted a claim today.”