Fearless

by Jennifer Jenkins

  “Whose … head?” Zo kissed his hand before threading her arms around his middle. With her touch his senses sharpened and the shock subsided, making way for raw pain.

  Gryphon growled and gently pushed Zo and Joshua behind him. He yanked a spear from one of the Allied guards standing at his side and extended his arm back as he sprinted for momentum. In fury more animal than human, he hitched up his leg and launched the spear an impossible distance across both rivers. Barnabas caught the spear in his shield. The force nearly knocked him off his feet but even from this distance it was clear Barnabas’s sickly smile didn’t waver.

  “I will kill that man,” said Gryphon. “I swear it.”

  Gryphon’s brothers, the only family he’d known since his youth, disappeared into the trees. Broken men without a clan.

  Gryphon towed Zo and Joshua away from the river. Ahead of them, not four hundred yards away, the battle-ready line of Wolves appeared through the thinning mist. “Retrieve the Commander’s body,” Gryphon ordered the guards at his side.

  “Y’sir!” came the reply.

  “They are treating you like their leader,” said Zo, tilting her head up to see his expression as they continued their brisk pace toward the wall of Wolf soldiers.

  “I am their leader,” he said.

  Laden’s guards cloaked the body and reverently hoisted it on Gryphon’s oversized shield. “Take him somewhere safe until burial,” said Gryphon.

  As the men carrying the body passed, a bloodied hand slipped loose from the cloak. Commander Laden’s ring reflected the faint morning light. Zo stopped walking. Her hand involuntarily went to cover her mouth.

  Chapter Thirty

  Zo walked in stunned silence. Laden, the closest thing she had to a parent … gone.

  Gryphon pulled Zo and Joshua closer to him as they continued to distance themselves from the rivers. “I couldn’t stop him.” He coughed out a sob. Emotion rolled off of him as he battled tears. “I couldn’t save him.”

  Zo clung tighter to Gryphon’s arm. “I saw the sword fall and thought it was you.” She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand, desperate to remove the image from her mind.

  “Laden offered Barnabas his own head in my place. I didn’t know … ” Gryphon swallowed. His voice dropped into a rasping moan. “He’s my father, Zo. Barnabas confirmed it. They were mess brothers before Laden left to save his daughter … my twin sister.”

  Zo shook her head. “I … it can’t be.” It seemed like Commander Laden had always been a part of her clan. But then, the resemblance between them was obvious now that she knew it, and their characters were so similar. Was it possible? Could the man who had been such a big figure in her own life also belong to Gryphon?

  “He knew he wouldn’t survive the morning. He planned his death, just like one of his battle strategies. I saw it in his face last night.” He swallowed. “I’m so sorry.”

  She could practically taste his guilt. When would he learn that he wasn’t responsible for the choices of others?

  “I don’t think Laden was ever truly happy. There was always something gnawing away at his happiness.” She tugged at his arm with dawning understanding, forcing him to stop walking. “I think it was you and your mom. I think he missed you both and that guilt was a chain he carried with him ever since leaving the Gate.

  “What now?” she asked with rising dread that Gryphon would again have to leave. It seemed there would always be some reason for them to be apart, some jealous force in the universe that wouldn’t allow their happiness.

  Struggling to swallow, Gryphon pulled both her and Joshua into the circle of his arms and said, “I almost abandoned the most important people in my life.” He set his jaw. “I will not make that mistake ever again.”

  “So we’re not going to fight?” Joshua said, breaking his silence.

  Gryphon smiled, a strange wave of peace seemed to wash over him. “We can’t spend our whole lives running from Barnabas and the Ram.” He ruffled Joshua’s hair. “This ends today.”

  “Give me a job,” said Joshua.

  “Get Zo out of here. Help her and the healers with the wounded. Protect them while I’m gone.” And to Zo, he added, “No blessings.”

  Zo nodded.

  “Not good enough. I need to hear you swear it.”

  Zo cupped his cheek and lightly brushed her lips along his. “No blessings. I swear.”

  He kissed her again, with more force than before. A man who’d cheated death and needed to do it again.

  “Gryphon?” Zo’s stomach knotted. The invisible cord connecting them tugged at her gut. “Can you win?” Zo knew it wasn’t fair to demand such an answer, but she needed to know if there was hope or if this was goodbye. Forever.

  Gryphon leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. “After Laden’s sacrifice, and knowing you’re waiting for me, I think I could do anything.”

  Zo nodded and wiped at the tears forming in her eyes. She placed a hand on either side of his face, his whiskers tickling her palms. “I believe you.” She kissed his forehead. “Lead them, Gryphon. Lead them, and come back to me.”

  Gryphon walked the remaining distance to the waiting Allies, feeling a thief. He’d stolen his father’s life, his mess brothers’ clan, the Allies’ leader, Gabe’s woman, and Zo’s heart. All in only a matter of weeks.

  At twenty yards, Gryphon could just barely make out the restless shuffling of feet from the massive gathering of Allied soldiers. At ten, he could see the defeat in their stances as easily as he could spot a gap in an enemy’s armor.

  Chief Naat stood with Gabe before their men. The lines on their faces were stretched horizontal, drained of all color. When they turned and spotted Gryphon, neither seemed surprised to see him. Gabe placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss … Commander.”

  “You knew his plan to take my place,” said Gryphon. Saying it aloud confirmed the truthfulness of the statement. “You knew, and still you let me … ” Gryphon swallowed. The image of Barnabas’s sword slicing through the air replayed in his mind. “I wish you had told me.”

  In his gravelly voice, Chief Naat said, “We followed Laden’s wishes.” And that settled the matter. “Laden wanted you to lead these men.” The old man pressed his hand to Gryphon’s heart. “His spirit will linger with you to see the battle through.” He said it not as a comforting platitude but as a fact.

  Chief Naat folded his arms. “We don’t have much time.”

  Gryphon swallowed and tore his eyes from the chief, casting his gaze out over the vast gathering of expectant, uncertain faces. Faces he would have marked as enemies not long ago.

  Men his father wanted him to lead.

  “Gryphon?” Gabe stepped closer. “Will you do this? Will you help us?”

  Heat filled Gryphon’s chest, burning outward through every limb until it completely consumed him. Could he do this? A sense of destiny nearly blocked the words from passing his lips.

  He closed his eyes and nodded. “For my father’s sake.”

  Chief Naat looked down to Sani’s beads, still tied to Gryphon’s wrist, and offered a sad sort of smile. “What are your orders, Ram?”

  Gryphon’s mind raced. Two thousand inexperienced Wolves to Barnabas’s three thousand Ram. Narrow field surrounded by thick pine and fir trees. Low visibility. A little over one thousand Raven archers.

  One-to-one odds until the Kodiak and Freeman arrive. If they arrive.

  “Gryphon?” said Gabe. “Your orders?”

  Other leaders had gathered. They looked at him like hungry children expecting to be fed. Gryphon glanced over their shoulders at the despondent soldiers whose fate he now carried.

  “We cannot defeat the Ram in head-to-head combat,” Gryphon finally said.

  “Our scouts estimate we will outnumber them three to one once Murtog and Stone join us,” said one of the lieutenants.

  Gryphon crossed his arms. “Good odds
by any Ram standard.”

  “Commander Laden thought—”

  “Commander Laden isn’t here!” Gabe and Chief Naat flinched at Gryphon’s poor choice of words. “Listen.” Gryphon massaged his temples. “Even if we outnumbered them five to one, we still couldn’t beat them at their own game.”

  “If we surrender, the Ram will be merciless when they raid the Wolf clan,” said Gabe. “Failure means death and starvation.”

  “I’m not suggesting surrender,” said Gryphon. “I’m suggesting we exploit their greatest weakness.”

  Gabe twisted up his lips. “And what is that, brother?”

  An evil smile stretched across Gryphon’s face. “Pride.”

  Gryphon spent the following minutes explaining the plan of attack. As he spoke, the leaders grew quiet, eyes round with disbelief, but Gabe was nodding and shifting his weight in anticipation.

  “It will never work,” said a Raven.

  “It’s perfect!” said Gabe.

  “It might be insane, but it’s our only option unless we’re willing to lose the majority of our men in battle, which I am not,” said Gryphon, thinking of Isaac and the other young boys of his forty.

  “How do you know Barnabas will fall into your trap?” asked Chief Naat.

  It was true. The entire plan hinged on Barnabas’s reaction. Gryphon thought back to his time spent with Barnabas, of his Ram arrogance and low opinion of anyone lacking Ram blood. “He’ll take the bait.”

  The Raven folded his arms across his chest. “And if he doesn’t?”

  Gryphon looked him in the eye. “He will.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The eerie sound came just after Gryphon sent half the Wolf and Raven soldiers away.

  “Is that the wind?” asked Gabe. He and Gryphon stood like statues in the white mist that swept through the canyon. It shifted like a ghost, at times making it impossible to see more than a spear’s throw ahead of them. A thousand Wolves formed twenty-five mess companies at Gryphon’s back.

  “It’s not the wind.” He listened to the ghostly Ram battle horn, muted by the dense fog. The eerie chorus broke off and was followed by pounding Ram shields that rolled like distant thunder.

  Wolves shuffled their feet staring blindly out toward their enemies with bated breath.

  “How far out?” asked Gabe.

  Gryphon squinted through the mist, but it did him little good. “I’d say at least a half-mile. Maybe less. They’re preparing to move.”

  Gryphon didn’t have to turn around to sense the unease of his men. Their fear thickened the air, suffocating Gryphon’s resolve. He’d staked their lives on an admittedly reckless plan. A plan that demanded unfathomable courage.

  Have I asked too much of these men?

  Gryphon shook his head. The time for doubt had long passed. He would not allow fear to cripple his mind. Instead, he thought of Zo. Her graceful movements as she sang her washing song under the light of the full moon. He thought of Joshua’s unruly red hair and the hundreds of freckles that dotted his face. Then he thought of the countless Nameless who had suffered under Barnabas’s reign, of the innocent Wolf women and children who would die tonight if Gryphon and his men couldn’t stop this army.

  Fear turned to anger. Anger to determination.

  “The men are frightened, Gryph,” said Gabe, echoing Gryphon’s own thoughts. During his time with the Wolves, Gryphon had learned to respect their bravery. But even a lion cowers in the shadow of a mighty dragon.

  Gryphon turned to face his troops. He walked through the thick fog down the line of men with shield and spear in hand, staring directly into the very souls of his soldiers. Their focus turned from the Ram army to Gryphon prowling the line of their defenses. The twenty-five mess units fit snugly into the narrow strip of bald earth framed by thick woods and sloping hills. Wild wheat grew around their ankles, helping to firm the soggy spring ground. The fate of all of the clans would be settled on this soil.

  Gryphon walked the length of the troops, then returned to stand next to Gabe and drove his spear deep into the ground. “I am not one of you.” He spoke boldly, projecting his voice to reach all of his men. “I cannot know the suffering you have faced because of the Ram.”

  Low voices rumbled throughout the troops. Gabe stepped over to Gryphon and said, “What are you doing?”

  Gryphon looked over his shoulder. In the distance he heard the faint clattering of metal. The Ram were on the move.

  “The men we fight today have more experience than you. They are stronger. They are masters of war and will take great pleasure in seeing you fall by their spears. They will show you no mercy.

  “It has been said that defeating the Ram in open combat is impossible. But I say a man is capable of anything if he is defending his family. This day will be remembered as the day men looked directly into the eyes of the giant and slew him. Stand strong, men! Link tight! Hold your line, dig your feet in, and fight knowing your children depend upon your courage!”

  The men yelled with weapons raised in the air, their chests heaving, fire glowing in their eyes.

  Gryphon could hear the sound of splashing water as the Ram entered the river. Two hundred yards, maybe less. “Link!”

  Shields scraped together. Metal glowed, reflecting the white mist. Gryphon took his place in the front weak side of his own forty. The men acknowledged him with determined nods. Gabe found his position with a different mess on the opposite side of the field.

  The Ram army came to a halt, a fact Gryphon noted only by the absence of the sounds of metal and marching.

  Deafening silence washed over his men as they stared out into the white abyss that blanketed their foe. A bird chirped in the trees at their backs.

  Quiet.

  The rivers rolled over rock in the distance. Someone vomited at the back of the mess. Gryphon looked over to see sixteen-year-old Isaac wet himself.

  Quiet.

  Gryphon filled his lungs with air and shouted with all his breath, “Forward!”

  Zo practically dragged Joshua onward. They couldn’t waste even a second in their retreat to the sanctuary in the Valley of Wolves. If they were followed, it could mean death for the women, children, and elderly Wolves who’d evacuated the city.

  “You can let go of my wrist.” Joshua tugged his hand free, but Zo snatched it right back.

  “I know that look, Joshua. You want to go fight with Gryphon.”

  “I won’t run off,” he said. “I swear.”

  Zo hesitated then released her grasp. “Sorry. I just couldn’t bear the thought of you both fighting today.”

  “I know.” If it was possible to sulk while jogging, Joshua managed it. His head hung and he didn’t seem to care whether he stepped on stick or stone along the trail.

  “I’m sorry, Ginger. I know this is hard for you.”

  Joshua tripped and righted himself. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and trekked on. Zo pretended not to see him falter. Might as well let him keep what remained of his wounded pride.

  It didn’t take more than an hour to pass through the narrow canyon that acted as the entrance to her childhood home. Unlike Ram’s Gate, the Valley of Wolves was mostly farmland divided among family groups called Packs. Low walls of cobblestones gathered from the fields marked the boundary lines dividing plots of wheat and barley. The soil looked dark and healthy, unlike the sandy tan soil of the Ram. The fields were well tended and appeared twice as lovely to Zo because she knew that they were tilled by hard-working farmers and their families, not slaves.

  Joshua seemed to forget his troubles as he studied the land around him. “No wonder Barnabas wants this,” he said, not taking his eyes from the brilliant valley before him. Beyond the farmland, the ground sloped upward. There, in the foothills of the great mountains, a high wall of carved granite protected the village proper. If the Alpha’s orders were obeyed, the people of the Valley would have abandoned their homes and retreated to th
e safety of the village keep, known as the Den.

  Zo looked longingly at the farms lying on the outer rim of the valley, knowing it was too dangerous to seek out her old family home. If the Ram army managed to defeat Gryphon and the Allies—something Zo didn’t want to consider—they would come straight to this valley to claim their prize.

  No. She would lead Joshua to the shelter to wait out the storm with the rest of the Wolves unfit for battle.

  Zo pulled Joshua to her side and rested her head against his. He’d grown in the last few months. Soon her head would meet his shoulder. “Come on, Joshua. We shouldn’t linger.”

  “No, you shouldn’t.”

  Zo and Joshua whipped around to find a woman with dark hair pulled back into a harsh bun. She carried a task whip at her side and wore a boiled leather vest. Her familiar black eyes tracked Zo in a predatory way. “Wonderful to finally see you, my dear. I was beginning to wonder if you decided to stay and fight alongside the traitor.”

  The silver sound of a whetstone running against metal tickled Zo’s ears. The Seer peered hungrily over the length of the blade then stroked it again.

  “Where is the deserter Eva?” she asked conversationally. With a wave of her hand, three of the Seer’s men stepped out of hiding, surrounding Zo and Joshua in a perfect ring. The Seer gulped up the victory, her black eyes dancing with mirth.

  “I look forward to seeing how her pregnancy has progressed. I’d like to make sure the baby is well before I cut it out of her worthless body.”

  Joshua’s hand rested on the hilt of his short sword, exposing a portion of the blade from its sheath around his waist.

  Zo reached out and took his arm. No, Joshua. Please don’t.

  His whole body was a tightened spring, shaking with the need to release.

  Chapter Thirty-Two