Nameless (Nameless #1)(77)
The morning light filtering through the branches didn’t seem to belong to the gory sight of Joshua covered in blood. Zo knelt down and stared as the horrible memories of her past crept over her skin. She tried to think of what she was supposed to do first, but couldn’t seem to remember anything but the nightmares.
I wait until I’m sure the soldiers have left before setting my sleeping sister down. I leave the basket and run for my Mom’s medical kit. I am her apprentice and I can save my parents!
I go to Dad first. I feel for a pulse. His hand is already cold and I know he is gone. The kit knocks against my shins as I hurry outside to help Mom. She’s on her back, lying perfectly still except for the slight rise and fall of her chest. Her body is covered in weeping red gashes and a thick line of blood runs from her neck where her artery is severed.
She doesn’t have much time. And I can heal her. The words of the blessing always come easily to me.
But all I can do is stare at Mom covered in gore. I feel myself melt to my knees. And I stare. Willing myself into action, but my body won’t obey. I forget how to breathe. I think I hear Tess crying in the hut, but I’m not sure.
Mom dies before my eyes and all I do is watch …
“No!” Zo’s crippling fear would not control her. Not ever again. She instinctively reached for her medical kit, and realized too late that it was still back in Gryphon’s barn.
Frustrated, she ripped the fabric from Joshua’s stomach to expose a long gash that reminded her too much of her mother’s so many years ago.
Her mind wanted to retreat into a safe place burrowed deep within her own oblivion. This time she fought the safety. She pumped her hands to bring them warmth and forced herself to act.
“Joshua, can you hear me?”
Of course he couldn’t. The flow of blood had slowed, but that wasn’t surprising considering how much he had already lost in the last fifteen minutes.
She stripped another piece of cloth from Joshua’s shirt and held it over the fatal wound. The words of the blessing seemed just outside her mental reach.
Please remember!
Then, like a splash of water to her face, her mother’s bell-like voice entered her head.
“Love, Zo. Just love.”
Could she give Joshua everything she’d worked so hard to bury? With hands pressed to his stomach, Zo stopped struggling to find the words of the blessing. She stopped worrying about what would happen if she failed. Instead, she only thought about Joshua. Always so loyal, defending her against Gryphon in the woods, joining her to visit sick Nameless families, his insistence on calling her Zo when he was raised to think of Nameless as animals, his freckled smile and clumsy feet, the puppy dog eyes that worshipped Gryphon’s every move.
Loving Joshua wasn’t hard.
A small hand touched her back. “I can help.”
Zo shrugged Tess away. But it was too late. Her concentration slipped and the darkness slipped back through her defenses.
“Tess, go back outside with Eva. I need to do this.”
But Tess wouldn’t move. “I can help.” She bit down on her bottom lip like she might cry. “I need to, Zo. Please let me.”
With hands still pressed to the wound on Joshua’s abdomen, Zo saw something in her sister that she didn’t dare refuse. She’d never realized just how much Tess looked like their mother. Zo’s mouth was dry as she nodded her answer.
Tess dropped to her knees beside Joshua and placed her hands over Zo’s.
A vein throbbed in Zo’s forehead as she battled past her parents’ death and focused on her feelings for Joshua. Her hands shook against the boy’s neck. She didn’t feel a pulse, but refused to acknowledge what that meant.
This isn’t happening again. He will live!
Zo’s lips set in a thin line, her head bent, her mind centered. She repeated the promise over and over again until every cobweb of doubt was cleared to reveal pure determination. Her hands warmed. It was a while before she realized her lips were moving. She gave the words breath and spoke foreign strings of ancient words that carried power. There were several phrases she didn’t even remember learning, but they rolled off her tongue seamlessly.
Tess picked up on the words of the blessing and chanted with her sister. A current of energy emanated from the little girl’s hands. It was a familiar, stubborn energy that wouldn’t be ignored. Much like Tess.
Gryphon drove his knives into the wood like pickaxes as he descended along the massive wall. His arms shook with exertion. Sweat rolled into his eyes. One stab at a time, he moved lower and lower along the wall until he was nearly fifteen feet off the ground. Freedom.
He dropped and winced as a spear thumped into the earth next to his boot. Gryphon leapt into a roll to dodge a second one. He took off at a run into the thickest section of the outlying trees for cover. Shouts followed after him, but he knew it would be some time before anyone followed.
A whistle sounded from somewhere to the left. Gryphon followed the sound until he found Gabe. “Joshua?”
Gabe put a finger to his lips and shook his head. He signaled for him to follow. They zigzagged through the woods, often jumping from rock to log to make it harder for a tracker to find their trail.
They weren’t more than a few minutes run from the Gate when Gryphon spotted Eva. She held her arms crossed over her chest, a pained look on her face as she paced back and forth in front of a thick fir tree.