Nameless (Nameless #1)(46)
“Gryphon killed the Wolf prisoner. He could have asked for anything, but he took you.” Stone shook his head as he studied her. “I watch people, healer. I saw the way Gryphon looked at the Gate Master when he kicked you. I know what it feels like to want to protect someone you care for.”
Zo snorted. “Gryphon cares nothing for me.”
Stone shook his head, unconvinced.
“Is that why you fight, Stone? Who are you trying to protect?”
Stone sat silent for a moment then whispered, “If this Ram is willing to give up his commission to protect a lone Nameless, he might help others.”
Zo walked her fingers up Stone’s forearm until he let out a yelp of pain. The break was just below the elbow joint. “How did you do this?” she asked.
“I fell.” Sweat beaded his brow. “You’re changing the subject.”
Zo didn’t have time for this. “You fell,” she said flatly.
“I was sleeping in a tree.”
“Intelligent.” Zo handed him a strip of leather. “I’m going to set the bone. Bite down on this.”
“I need to ask you a favor, first.”
She sighed. “What?”
“I am in love, healer. With a girl I shouldn’t be. She is … ” he swallowed and looked away. “She is carrying my child and will be killed for it.”
Zo inhaled. “Not a Ram?”
Stone nodded. The fire that ignited his talk of rebellion melted into agony. He rubbed his free palm into his forehead. “If I can’t get her out of the Gate before they discover her condition they will send her and our child over the cliff.”
Zo swallowed, feeling a heavy weight dumped upon her shoulders. “What is your favor?”
“If you and your sister find a way out of this hell, promise you’ll take her with you.”
Zo’s face was damp. She wanted to pull her hair out and scream. To scratch and bite and kick and wail all at once. But instead she nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Stone mumbled a somber “thank you” and put the leather in his mouth. He gripped the side of the bed, all the while keeping his gaze locked with hers.
Zo’s mother could slip a bone back into place with so much speed the pain was over almost before it began. Too bad Zo hadn’t inherited that gift.
“Ready?”
He nodded.
“One, two, … ” Zo pushed with one hand and pulled with the other. The bone snapped into place and the young man passed out. Joshua and the strawberry-haired Ram woman walked into the barn just as Zo secured the splint to his arm.
“What did you do to him?” said Joshua.
“He’s fine.” Zo turned to the woman of the household and stared at her feet. “I’ve made him a sling that will hold his arm close to his body. The bone won’t heal right if he takes it off. When he wakes he’ll be in pain. He won’t be able to work. After seven days have him come see me so I can make sure the bone hasn’t shifted.”
“How old are you, Nameless?” the Ram woman asked in a melodic, high-pitched voice.
Zo straightened to take advantage of her full height. “Seventeen, ma’am.”
“A seventeen-year-old Nameless who has no problem giving a Ram instructions?” The woman shook her head.
Zo didn’t have to look up to feel the weight of her stare. “I’m sorry, ma’am. In the Medica I became accustomed to speaking that way.” She put her head lower to show submission.
The woman sighed and turned to Joshua. “Tie her to the post outside.”
“Excuse me?” Joshua openly gawked.
“Do it.”
The woman walked out and Zo nudged Joshua to follow. “I’ll be fine, Joshua. Just do as she says.”
Outside the sunlight glared through the thick pine trees surrounding the barn. Zo walked over to a tree trunk chopped at eye level with a rope secured around the middle. Joshua stood, arms hanging at his sides, while Zo put her hands in the straps. “Drea will not approve of this,” said Joshua. “Not without her consent.”
“Quiet, boy.” The woman picked up a long, thin stick from the ground. Zo closed her eyes and tensed the muscles in her back, trusting that the extremely pregnant woman couldn’t hit that hard.
The stick cut through the air making a whistle sound then connected with a crack on Zo’s back. Skin ripped; fire spread down her spine and throughout every nerve ending in her body. Zo didn’t even have time to cry out as another whistle cut through air and skin. The stick cracked again and again. Zo melted to her knees, too dizzy with pain to stand.
With every strike, Zo’s hatred solidified. This was why she was here! The Ram would all pay for their cruelty. She would show them what it meant to bow their heads and submit like animals. She would show them …
“Enough!” Joshua took the whipping stick from the woman and launched it into the trees.
“I was done anyway.” The woman laughed. She caressed her round belly as she stood over Zo. Her voice was pure honey. “My Nameless will visit you in seven days. Give my regards to Drea. Tell her the apples are on their way.”
Joshua was careful not to touch Zo’s back as he helped her home. He walked her to the bed but with the stitches from the pitchfork still fresh, she didn’t want to lie on her stomach. “I’ll just sit.” The room spun in circles. She rested her hands on her knees and tried to get a handle on her breathing.