Nameless (24 page)

The Historian patted him on the arm. “You’ve answered my question.” She took a pinch of the powder she’d been mixing and set it on a metal dish.

“Tell me what I need to do,” said Gryphon.

The Historian looked at him through the corner of her eye then poured a drop of liquid from the thin vial onto the small mound of powder. Light and heat exploded from the dish, causing Gryphon to yank the old woman away protectively. But the fire left as quickly as it came.

The Historian’s face was black with ash in places and her wispy hair was singed, but she couldn’t seem to stop the spread of a smile from lighting her face. “There are things happening inside the Gate, son of Troy. Great movements, or sparks, forming under your very nose, even in your very home. Imbalances will be restored. It will not be long before your own arm is set to the chopping block, Striker. When that time comes, you will have to decide if the people you love and the convictions of your heart are worthy of the sacrifice.”

Zo’s entire body ached as she slid out of bed the following night. A long, low creak sounded throughout the Nameless quarters as Zo opened the door. She didn’t worry about waking Markus and the other Nameless who shared her room. After a hard day’s work they dropped like stones into their straw beds.

She couldn’t handle another night away from Tess, not after holding that helpless Ram baby in her arms. Zo used the thick forest for cover as she paralleled the path that connected with the main road. Her ears strained for the sound of footsteps on gravel, but she heard nothing other than the occasional twig breaking under her own foot. With only a sliver of moonlight for guidance, she made it to the Nameless’ barracks in less than an hour.

As usual, no one watched the doors of the Nameless’ barracks. And it was no wonder. Who would dare defy the Ram? And where would a Nameless go if he left?

Zo was the exception.

She stepped inside and was assaulted by the smell. Body odor and rotting teeth mixed with boiled egg. Surely it hadn’t smelled so bad a few days ago. Zo covered her mouth and moved along the narrow aisle to find Tess’ bed.

“Tess?” Zo sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook her sleeping sister. “Tess, it’s me. Wake up.”

Tess moaned then sat bolt upright. “Zo!”

Zo clasped her hand over Tess’ mouth. “Outside,” she whispered, leading Tess to the door.

Away from the stench of the barracks, Zo pulled Tess into a hug and held her until the screaming cuts on her back couldn’t handle anymore. “I’m so sorry, mouse.”

Tess wept. Every little sob was a knife to Zo’s heart. “Gabe … stabbed … and then they took you.” She hiccupped into Zo’s chest. “I … don’t understand.”

Zo pulled Tess to sit in her lap on the ground, ignoring the tugging pain in her back. She rocked them back and forth, stroking Tess’ hair and humming a lullaby their mother used to sing. Tess wouldn’t remember it, but for Zo it was an important piece of her shattered life. One of the few things she got to take with her after the raid.

After a while, Tess interrupted. “Who is the bald man we met at the gate?”

Any comfort Zo had found in that moment evaporated. “The Gate Master?”

“He visited me in the fields today. Said you and he were friends and that I could come and live with him if I wanted.”

Zo swallowed her own tongue.

“I told him, ‘No, thank you.’”

Zo cleared her throat, forcing her voice to sound casual. “And wh … what did he say?”

“He just smiled and went to talk to the man at the big house.”

Zo shook her head. “You’re never going to see that man again, Tess. I’m taking you with me tonight. Then we’re going to find a way outside the Gate. I promise.”

Instead of looking comforted, Tess’ body went rigid in Zo’s arms, her eyes wide, her finger trembling as it pointed behind Zo. Then she screamed.

Gryphon sat on his porch, digesting the riddled words of the Historian when the door to the Nameless quarters squeaked and a slight figure emerged. Instead of calling out to Zo, he pushed off from the porch and followed to see if she planned to drop more bottles.

The thought of her betrayal affected him more than it should have. She was only a spy doing what she’d been trained to do. So why did he take her actions personally? He’d been kind to her, hadn’t he? If he was honest with himself, he’d foolishly thought that she would resign herself to his home and abandon her mission. But now, seeing her deft movements through the brush, he realized just how naive he’d been.

When she turned from the path that led to the river, a flood of relief cleansed his anger. If she wasn’t dropping bottles then where was she going? He continued to follow her at a safe distance until she reached one of the Seer’s Nameless’ barracks for slaves not assigned to a Ram family.

Zo slipped inside the door and returned moments later with a young girl in tow. Even in the darkness, it only took one glance to realize the relation. Same pronounced cheekbones, same almond eyes. If their looks hadn’t proved their relation, their actions and words did.

Zo mothered the girl with such attention, absorbed the child’s pain with such emotion, that Gryphon’s throat constricted and he had to look away. Why had the Wolves allowed this young girl to enter the Gate? Zo was one thing, but a child!

He needed to hit something.

The child spoke about Gate Master Leon. Gryphon moved closer to catch every word, to catch a better glimpse of Zo’s silhouette in the moonlight. But, somehow, the child spotted him in the trees.

“Run! He’ll kill you, just like Gabe. Please!”

Zo pulled her sister to the ground and covered her mouth. “Quiet. Someone will hear you!” she shouted a whisper. Zo stood in front of her sister and stepped into a sliver of light. Gryphon could just make out the pained expression on her face. “I wasn’t running away. She’s my sister. I had to see if she was all right.”

Gryphon looked at the pair through heavy-lidded eyes. Just when he thought things couldn’t get more complicated, life slapped him in the face with one more obstacle. One more test of loyalty that he would fail.

Zo stared at the ground in submission. “I know it’s not my place to ask, but … ” Even in the semi-darkness he could see her lower lip tremble as she inhaled a long shaky breath. “I can’t leave her here alone.”

Gryphon’s heart contracted at the pathetic scene before him. But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words she wanted to hear. The Seer kept careful track of all the Nameless inside the Gate. His home would be the first place she would look once the girl came up missing. Besides, Gate Master Leon already loathed Gryphon for taking Zo. It would be foolish to provoke him further. The only thing worse than an enemy outside the Gate was an enemy inside the Gate. Especially one with so much influence.

The image of the Gate Master caressing Zo’s face only to use those same slimy hands to strike her later made him waver. The man wasn’t used to being denied. Gryphon had overheard enough of the sisters’ conversation to know that this frightened little girl would pay for the Gate Master’s disappointment.

He’d seen it before.

“No one can know.”

Zo took two steps toward him, one hand outstretched as if she might touch his chest. Gryphon’s breath sped to dangerous levels. Dangerous because he knew in that moment he was just as foolish as the Wolf had been back in that cave. He would do anything for this girl if it meant filling the vacancy in her lifeless eyes.

He turned away with balled fists and headed home. The Wolf sisters followed, quiet as shadows. It felt like they’d been gone a lifetime before the forest opened to Gryphon’s pastures. At the door of the Nameless’ quarters he pointed to Zo’s sister. “Don’t let anyone see her. Not even the other Nameless. Keep her hidden in the blankets until all of the workers leave. I’ll find a better place for her in the morning.”

“What about the barn?” Zo offered, pointing to the building only fifty paces away where the Wolf was kept, bound and gagged.

“Do as I say!” Gryphon chided. He wanted to hate this girl for what she’d done to him. Emasculating him from the day they met.

Zo nodded and pushed Tess inside the door. She followed but stopped halfway through and turned back. Gryphon could see the shimmer of a tear roll down the healer’s cheek. “Thank you.”

His fingers tingled. He ached to reach out and capture the tear. To cup her tempting cheek in his palm. The sensation lasted long after she left him standing alone outside the door.

What was he thinking? She was a Nameless spy working to destroy his people! He shook his head and slogged off toward the house. Gryphon, the fearless Striker, was losing a battle to his greatest enemy.

Himself.

Nothing was worse than an enemy inside the Gate.

Zo eyed a little cellar that was only accessible through a narrow gap in the floorboards. She’d never noticed the hollow wood under her feet. Gryphon was right, this was better than the old abandoned barn. No one would find Tess here and she would be safe and free from hard labor.

Tess eyed the hole with less optimism. “It’s dark. Spiders like the dark.”

“I have some herbs we can burn to keep the spiders away,” said Zo, pulling back a few strands of Tess’ light hair.

Zo looked up to find Gryphon’s golden brown eyes on her. The line of his broad jaw cast a shadow on his neck. His chin carried a slight dimple she hadn’t noticed before. “This is only temporary,” he said. “At least until the Seer is satisfied we don’t have her.”

“How long will that be?” Tess still couldn’t look at Gryphon, even when she complained. In her eyes, Gryphon would only be the man who killed Gabe. Nothing more. She was too young to appreciate the complexity of the situation.

But then maybe Zo was too.

“Probably several days,” said Gryphon. He turned to Zo. “I’m leaving in a few hours for a brief excursion, but I should be back before nightfall. Don’t let anyone find her while I’m gone.”

Zo refused to feel guilty as she ran to the river when Gryphon left. It was her job to inform the Allies of any movement at the Gate. This was what she had risked everything to do. No matter how generous Gryphon had been to rescue Tess from the Nameless’ barracks, he was still the enemy.