Nameless (16 page)

Zo bucked and pulled against the men, but they managed to drag her out of the wool tent. Outside, the night bent to early morning, giving just enough light to see the staggering distance between the platform and the ground below. “Please, don’t do this!” They brought her to the edge and Zo went wild, grasping at their arms and shirts, anything to keep her from being thrown over.

“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.”

Eva was Sara’s eighteen-year-old sister. Sara had been conspiring to match her and Gryphon ever since she learned the marrying age had lowered from thirty to twenty-two.

Gryphon hardly knew the girl, and so wasn’t too disappointed. “Who made the claim?” he asked.

“Taurus.” Sara sighed. “Eva says she’s happy, but … ”

“You can tell she isn’t.”

“Yes.”

Gryphon sighed. He rested his hand on Sara’s stomach and felt the baby move. “Why would she accept the claim if she doesn’t care for him?”

Sara’s brow wrinkled. “I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem like her.”

Gryphon’s hand was still on Sara’s ripe belly when he saw his friend coming around the bend in the road.

“Get away from my wife!” Ajax barked.

Gryphon grinned up at him, his hand unmoving. “I think I might steal her from you.”

“Like hell.” Ajax grabbed Gryphon’s hand and threw it back at him. He turned and helped Sara to her feet. “I was worried when you didn’t come.”

Sara kissed the tip of his nose, effectively turning the overgrown bear into mush. “You worry too much.”

Gryphon suddenly felt out of place. “Take care of yourself, Sara. And remember, I’m eligible in two more years if you decide to trade this oaf in.”

Ajax kicked him away but lines of amusement wrinkled around his eyes. “Get out of here, you good-for-nothing vulture.”

“Say hi to Joshua.” Sara called over Ajax’s shoulder as Gryphon walked away.

On the day of Gabe’s execution, Tess huddled under Zo’s arm as they walked with heads bowed low. Once the lane opened up into the main part of town, Zo instructed Tess to stand with the other Nameless children from their barracks. “I don’t want to remind anyone that you and I are sisters,” she explained.

Tess looked like she might cry. “I don’t want to watch.” Her lip jutted out. “What if I know him? What if they do something awful to him?”

Zo touched her cheek. “When you get in the crowd, be sure to stand in the back behind someone tall. No one will make you watch.” Zo hoped she was right. The Ram wanted the Nameless to witness these things. They wanted them to remember what came from defying their rule.

A heavy crowd of Nameless surrounded them when they reached the town square. Zo squeezed Tess’ hands and parted ways from her. She allowed herself to be carried to the opposite side of the square until the current of bodies settled into stationary restlessness.

Guards cleared a walkway for five men and one woman with hands bound behind their backs. They each had collars around their necks where thick rope connected them. Gabe walked at the back of the line with his head low. His skin was transparent, his eyes hollow sockets.

Where was the pride he used to carry? Where was the confidence in his step? He was a mere ghost of the man she once knew. Dead already.
What have they done to him?

From the corner of her eye, Zo noticed a tall soldier cutting through the crowd in her direction. She tugged on her headscarf and slowly dropped into a crouch to get some fresh dirt for her face. A heavy set of boots stopped in front of her.

“Are you the Nameless healer?” the man asked.

Zo thought about lying but didn’t dare. She slowly rose to her feet while keeping her eyes trained on the ground. “Yes, sir.”

He took her arm without saying a word and dragged her toward the platform. “Wait.” Zo did her best not to struggle, but the closer they got to the center of the crowd the more she believed she was joining Gabe. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The guard yanked her forward.

“I haven’t done anything wrong!”

Heads turned in her direction, but Zo didn’t care. Tess was here. Tess would see them kill her. She would have to watch her die, like Zo had had to watch their parents.

The guard knocked people out of the way as he worked to get Zo to the corner of the platform. Gabe’s head rose at the commotion. Life entered his eyes. Zo could see him mouthing the word “No” over and over again. The corded muscles in his arms jumped as he pulled against his ropes.

The guard brought Zo to the platform stairs, and to Zo’s relief, walked right past. She could feel Gabe’s bright blue eyes staring at her as she walked by him. She might have been able to touch her childhood friend if she tried. She reached the center where a group of padded chairs were sectioned off.

“Is this the girl you wanted, sir?” The soldier shoved Zo forward, stopping directly in front of the Gate Master.

He excused the soldier with the flick of his hand without taking his gaze off Zo. “Sit with me.” He gestured to a cushion beside his chair.

Zo eyed the seat with contempt but thought of Tess and sunk to her knees in submission.

“Your service in the Medica is insufficient.” He cupped her cheek in his rough hands. “You will move from the Nameless’ barracks to live in my household.”

Before entering the Gate, Zo knew this day would come. No matter how much dirt and grime she smeared onto her face, a guard would eventually want her. The idea had been less terrifying before she met the Gate Master.

The low rumble of the Ram horn made even the most important people seated with the Gate Master break conversation and rise to their feet. The crowd parted for the chief and his entourage of guards and advisors. Zo kept her head down as they passed. The Gate Master pulled away her headscarf. Her dark hair tumbled down her back. Clean and kept in an unhelpful sort of way.

Zo looked up in time to see Gryphon at the tail end of the precession. Leather straps crisscrossed his bare chest, storing two wood-hilted daggers. A short sword hung from a sheath at his side. He met Zo’s gaze for a brief second before his attention traveled to the Gate Master’s hand at her hip. His brow furrowed. His lips thinned into a straight line. The expression looked wrong for his face. His commanding build always made him seem older, but walking behind the chief he looked like a pup with only his big toe dipped into the pond of manhood.

The Gate Master leaned over to a man with a long white beard. “So much attention for bringing in one little Wolf.” He shook his head. “Are we that starved for heroes inside the Gate?”

The horns stopped, but Gryphon didn’t give his attention to the chief like the rest of the audience. His expression darkened into pure and utter loathing as he glared in Zo’s direction.

“Today we celebrate the capture of a Wolf! Several of you will marry within the next few weeks. Consider today’s unique entertainment an early wedding present from your chief.” The crowd clapped and cheered, Nameless included, though their hands came together with almost too much vigor, desperate to show their devotion.