Clanless

by Jennifer Jenkins

  Gryphon and Zander hit the ground at the same time.

  Zander, however, did not get back up.

  Zo gasped as Gryphon crawled to his feet with Zander’s sword still lodged in his arm. A lesser man would have passed out from the pain, but Gryphon held his arms out to his sides, blood dripping off him like sweat, and glared into the eyes of the men he used to call his brothers.

  “Barnabas claims we Ram only take what is rightfully ours, but it’s a lie. We’ve become thieves. Plunderers. I love my clan, but I cannot fight for a chief who would send me to kill the helpless only for dominance. I will defend my family,” he gestured to Joshua and Zo, “but I will not live with innocent blood on my hands.” Gryphon staggered and dropped to one knee. “My conscience won’t allow it.” His eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell face first onto the earth.

  Zo closed her eyes and concentrated on sending a feeling into the tall Ram holding her captive. Sleep. Numb. Weakness. The usual doubts came along with the fear that she’d never be able to heal again, but they were amplified by the foreign task set before her. Her training as a healer had been centered on loving her patients, offering energy to heal, and comfort for distress. She’d never tried to instill a negative emotion—she didn’t even know if it was possible.

  Weakness. Weakness. She mumbled the blessing that usually accompanied her healing but used her love for Gryphon to fuel the pull. Nothing happened. She concentrated harder and focused all her love for Tess, Gryphon, and Joshua into the pull.

  A thin thread of something drew into her body, so subtle at first she wasn’t sure exactly what it was. The Ram’s arms pinning her own to her sides slackened.

  Weakness. Exhaustion. Sleep.

  Zo mentally tugged harder on the thread of energy coming from the Ram until that thread turned into a steady stream. The Ram’s arms loosened even more and his body swayed, his skin cool to the touch.

  Zo pulled even harder. Her hands burned from the energy. Her cuts wept fresh blood as a new kind of pain registered beneath the coursing river of power washing through them.

  The Ram holding her collapsed to the ground.

  Zo was at Gryphon’s side in an instant. She wrapped both hands around Gryphon and pushed energy with every ounce of strength she possessed. His eyes shot open and he sat up, even though the sword was still wedged in the bone of his forearm.

  “Joshua.” Zo wiped at the tears invading her vision. “I need your help.” She looked around for her kit until remembering she’d left it with the Clanless when Gryphon abducted her. It didn’t matter. The healing energy that had been dormant since Gryphon left flowed through her with more power than she’d ever experienced before.

  Ajax released Joshua without a fight. The rest of the Ram stood by watching, probably just as shocked by what they’d witnessed as Zo. “What should I do?” said Joshua, kneeling beside her and Gryphon.

  “Hold down his arm, Ginger.” She leaned over Gryphon and held his face, brushing the hair from his forehead. His eyes barely opened at her touch, but his uninjured arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

  “I have to remove the sword. It’s going to hurt.” She swallowed hard.

  Gryphon nodded and closed his eyes fully. “Not as much as losing you,” he mumbled.

  Zo leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his unsuspecting lips. The hand at her back pulled her possessively closer, sending sparks of pleasure throughout her body. She pulled away, breathless but determined to help him, delirious with hope, even without her kit.

  She took the hilt of the sword and looked up at the men surrounding them. For a thin moment, she’d forgotten they were there. Ram were loyal to their leaders. She imagined many of them wanted nothing more than to jump forward and drive a knife into Gryphon’s heart for killing Zander. For now, they waited, some looking to Ajax for a command.

  A flicker of movement from the shadows outside the group caught Zo’s attention. A large man with shaved head and full beard hid in the shadows, partially covered by a tree.

  Ikatou?

  He held a finger up to his lips calling for her silence, while he and his men surrounded the Ram.

  Zo dropped her focus back to Gryphon and the sword wedged into the bone of his forearm. “We’re going to do this on my count,” Zo spoke louder than necessary. “One.” Then she whispered under her breath, “Kid, something’s about to happen.” Louder, she said, “Two.” Then she whispered again. “Whatever you do, stay on the ground with Gryphon. Don’t get up and fight.”

  “Three!” Zo pulled up on the hilt of the sword. Gryphon howled. At the same time, the Kodiak charged the Ram with a deafening battle cry.

  “Link!” Ajax shouted, but he was too late. Three of his mess brothers took swords through their stomachs at the Ram call to formation.

  Zo pulled Joshua down next to Gryphon. “Don’t move. They won’t hurt me.” She knelt with one hand on Gryphon and one hand on Joshua in the midst of the fierce confrontation, pushing as much love and peace into them as possible.

  Ajax dodged the attack of a nearby Kodiak and ran straight for Zo, Gryphon, and Joshua. Zo threw her body across Gryphon and Joshua. Her men. She closed her eyes, every muscle in her body bracing for Ajax’s attack.

  But instead of a sword, a hand took her by the shoulder. Zo’s head whipped up and she looked Ajax directly in the eye.

  “Take care of him, Healer.”

  Behind him, Ikatou charged, his mighty long sword held high above his head to offer Ajax a killing blow.

  “Look out!” said Zo, half a moment before the sword fell.

  Ajax rolled to his side and sprinted out of the circle of fighting. “Retreat,” he called. Those of his brothers not hewn down by the Kodiak broke free of their fighting and fled the clearing.

  Ikatou and the rest of the Kodiak dropped their weapons and tugged at the front of their shirts, roaring at the retreating Ram. Zo assumed it was Kodiak tradition. Their large lungs must have carried the victory call for miles. Joshua clamped his hands over his ears while Zo stripped the sleeve off Gryphon’s wounded arm and used it as a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.

  “Zo?” Gryphon tried to sit up, but Zo pushed him back down.

  “Be still. I can help you.” And she could! The swirl of movable energy coalescing inside her confirmed as much.

  “I … can’t move my fingers.”

  Zo winced at the implications and put more pressure on his arm. “Zander’s sword sliced through a muscle that runs along the top of the forearm. It’s the same muscle that controls your ability to make a fist. It’ll heal with time, but it’s a slow process. I’m more worried about your bone. If you’re not careful, the fracture could turn into a full break.”

  “Ajax.” He moved his injured arm and sucked in a sharp breath of air, his teeth clenched together so tight she feared he’d accidently bite through his tongue if he didn’t stop trying to speak. She rested her fingers over his mouth. “He got away, and so did most of your brothers in retreat.” She couldn’t imagine how conflicted Gryphon must feel, fighting for an ideal he believed in against people he had devoted most of his life to protecting.

  Gryphon shook his head and pulled her fingers from his lips with his good hand, but still clung to her. “Ram don’t retreat. Ajax saved us. He’ll be punished for it.”

  The Kodiak shouting stopped. Celebrating a victory that wasn’t truly theirs. They embraced each other with burly hugs and sharp pats on the back.

  When Ikatou turned to face Zo, a flurry of emotions crossed his face. Relief. Betrayal. Concern. Distrust.

  “I need to make this right,” Zo whispered to Gryphon. “Will you be all right?”

  He nodded. “Go. The kid and I will wait here.”

  She walked over to the waiting giant, the man who gave her the hideous cuts on her hands.

  “I didn’t run away,” she said.

  “It was the Ram unit. I know.” He looked beyo
nd Zo to Gryphon. “Is that one a friend?”

  Zo paused. Did Ikatou really believe that Zander had kidnapped her from his camp? “Yes,” she said, swallowing. “He and the boy freed me from the Gate. I owe them my life.”

  Ikatou, all muscle and business, rested a hand on Zo’s shoulder, startling her. “I’m glad you are safe.” She didn’t know if he was glad only for the sake of his family and their agreement or for hers as well. She wanted to believe it was both.

  Ikatou whistled to one of his men. A man ducked behind a tree carrying her mother’s medical satchel.

  Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “You brought it.” She had the strange desire to hug the Bear—this man who had cut open her hands for the sake of his family.

  “You haven’t forgotten your promise?” asked Ikatou. “You will fulfill your blood oath?”

  Zo chewed on her bottom lip and showed him the backs of her hands. “I haven’t forgotten.”

  Ikatou’s whole body seemed to relax. He roughed up her hair. “For such a small person, you are capable of great things, Tumanoko.”

  “Tu-man-o-ko?” Zo pronounced each syllable with care.

  “My people’s word for ‘hope.’”

  Zo hugged the medical kit to her chest and stepped away from Ikatou, but turned back to add, “Thank you.”

  Zo walked back to Gryphon.

  “Everything all right?” he asked as she settled to the ground next to him, still clutching the medical satchel to her chest.

  “He thinks Zander kidnapped me. We’re going to make it to the Allies, Gryphon. This nightmare is almost over.” She still hadn’t told him about the full obligation of her blood oath to Ikatou and the others, but now wasn’t the time.

  Joshua hovered over her as she cleaned Gryphon’s wound, applied the proper medicine, and dressed it. When she laid her hands over the bandage, she thought of her mother as she whispered the healing blessing.

  At last, she was a healer again.

  Chapter 30

  Gryphon walked with his arm in a sling beside Ikatou as Joshua consumed all of Zo’s attention behind him. Joshua asked endless questions about the Allies and the new life ahead of him. Since Gryphon had spent the last two days holding Zo’s hand, sharing memories of their very different childhoods, and just being near her, he didn’t mind sharing her with the kid.

  Looking over his shoulder to make sure Zo and Joshua were still close behind, he and Zo locked eyes. The side of her lip curled and they shared a moment as Joshua continued his litany of questions.

  “What claim do you have over the girl?” Ikatou said, startling him out of his line of thought. Gryphon had nearly forgotten the large man beside him. “You’re too young to be considered her guardian.”

  “She is my family,” said Gryphon.

  “A sister? That’s impossible. You’re a Ram. She’s a Wolf.”

  Gryphon smiled at the thought of being compared to Zo as a brother. If Ikatou looked between them for some sign of similarity, he wouldn’t find it. Zo was a Wolf and stunning, all long lines and grace. He was built like a boulder, with too much nose and temper.

  Gryphon shook his head. “I’d do anything to keep her safe. We are not the same blood. But she is my family.”

  “Would her father agree?” Ikatou raised an eyebrow.

  Gryphon bristled. What right did this Bear have to question him? He had far less claim on Zo than even Gryphon had. “Her parents are gone from this world.”

  Ikatou nodded. “How do I know you aren’t a spy sent by Barnabas to learn the location of the Allied Camp?”

  Gryphon’s face burned hot. “Is that what this is about?”

  “A lone Ram? A deserter? Your kind doesn’t leave the Gate without a purpose.”

  “I had a purpose,” Gryphon snarled. The constant throb in his arm only added to his anger—a reminder of his losses. He was lucky he still had an arm after Zander’s strike.

  “If you’re not a spy, why did you leave?”

  He decided the simple truth was better than throwing his last good fist into the man’s face. He lowered his voice. “Because I’m in love with her.” He glanced back to see if Zo heard, but her attention was all for Joshua.

  “She and the boy are all I have left.” His Adam’s apple leapt up and down.

  Ikatou eyed Gryphon from the side. “If she were my daughter, I would kill you and not take the chance.”

  “You could certainly try.” Gryphon’s good hand hovered over the hilt of his sword.

  Ikatou shook his head and looked out across the horizon. They’d been walking downhill all day with a clear view of the lower portions of the mountain range. “It’s not my place to interfere.” They walked a few more steps. “But I’ve lived among Clanless men. I know what that honorless breed is like. She deserves more than a man without a banner.”

  Gryphon had battled that same reasoning since he left the Gate. But having her here with him. Seeing her smile, as though some of the momentous weight that once sat upon her shoulders was lifted, feeling like he had something to do with that … it mattered. He mattered, to her and to Joshua.

  “She is my clan now,” he said.

  Ikatou narrowed his eyes. “If you hurt her, I swear on all the jewels of my homeland, I’ll kill you.”

  “If I hurt her, I’ll deserve it.”

  After evening meal, most of the men fell asleep around the fire. Zo, Gryphon, and Joshua sat awake watching the flames. The fire cast every angle of Gryphon’s face in a different light and shadow. His thoughts were completely lost to Zo, as unpredictable and blurred as the shadowed planes of his face. Light or shadow, Zo loved it all with such frightening adoration that it brought about as much agony as it did pleasure. Nothing in life lasted forever. The death of her parents taught her as much. The more a person gained, the more they had to lose.

  Joshua threw a piece of bark into the fire; his eyes glued to the hypnotic movement of the flames. “Will the Allies like us?”

  “People of the Allies are highly secretive. They won’t appreciate your presence.” Zo squeezed Gryphon’s good hand. “Not until they understand what you’ve done for them.” She looked up into his piercing gaze and melted. “What you’ve done for me.”

  “And Gabe will be there too,” said Joshua, matter-of-factly.

  Gryphon looked away and the moment soured into something different. Something forced. She waited a minute before pulling her hand free of Gryphon’s to throw another log on the already healthy fire. She folded her arms around her legs when she sat back down, considering Gabe and his betrayal.

  “Will you take a walk with me?” she said to Gryphon.

  “I’ll come.” Joshua hopped up and dusted leaves and grass from his pants. “Where are we going?”

  Gryphon kept his expression guarded. He hadn’t moved from his position on the ground.

  She looked away from the fire to hide her blush. “I actually need to speak with Gryphon.” She cleared her throat. “Alone.”

  Despite his injury, Gryphon was standing almost before she had time to turn back and face them. She smiled, her cheeks even hotter than they were before, and reached for his good hand. “We won’t be long, Ginger.”

  “I’ll just wait here, alone, by myself then,” Joshua grumbled as they headed into the darkness.

  The moon above reminded Zo of the symbol of the Allies. Something growing, waxing, and beautiful. The small light it afforded made their walk perilous but also gave the stars a chance to really shine.

  Zo didn’t immediately speak, didn’t trust herself to say what needed to be said without sounding like a complete fool. Gryphon cared for her, she knew that much, but did he crave her the way she did him?

  “If you need time to sort things out with Gabe, I’ll understand.”

  Zo’s head shot up and she tripped on a low hanging branch. Gryphon saved her from falling by wrapping his uninjured arm around her waist. She clung to him as he rig
hted her, desperate to absorb his strength for just a little longer. She turned and looked up into his handsome face, past the gentle curve of his lips, until their eyes met. He cleared his throat and Zo turned back to the trail.

  His hand supported her back as they made the semi-blind trek through the trees until the foliage opened up to a small sloped clearing just large enough for the two of them. Lemongrass carpeted the ground. The sweet aroma made Zo sigh with pleasure as they sunk to the earth. The ground slanted enough to make lying on their backs the perfect position to watch the stars.

  “I don’t deserve this,” said Gryphon. He propped up his head with his good arm while his splinted arm rested on his stomach.

  “Yes. You do,” said Zo. She held her breath, questioning her own bravery for a moment before scooting next to him and resting her head against his good shoulder. His arm came down around her before she had a moment to feel awkward.

  Did Gryphon feel it too? The unwinding of all the hurt she’d ever endured. She was still so young—seventeen was hardly the time to think about choosing one man to be with forever—but she couldn’t help imagining what it might be like to belong to Gryphon. To have him belong to her in return. After a while she rolled onto her side. Her body pressed against his in delicious ways. “Gryphon?”

  He watched her with a hunter’s attention. “Yes.” His voice caught as he spoke.

  Zo brushed her cheek against his. Whiskers tickled her face.

  Gryphon let go a long, shuttering breath. He glanced down at her lips then leaned in. His mouth hovered inches from hers, waiting for her to close the distance.

  Zo pulled away. She’d brought him here for a reason. If she didn’t tell him now, it would only be harder later.