Clanless Read online

  “It sounds more like torture than a test.”

  Sani shook his head impatiently. “That’s why you’re given the dagger. Only a person with enough good, or light, inside them can survive the trial. Anyone whose darkness is greater than their light kills himself. This way the Elders can stand blameless in punishment.”

  Only then did Gryphon notice the ash rubbed all over Sani’s skin. He wiped his finger along the boy’s arm, smearing the chalky soot. “Burial ritual for your uncle?” Gryphon had heard they covered their bodies in ash to protect themselves against the dead.

  Sani shook his head. “For you.”

  Gryphon couldn’t muster a response.

  “Come,” said Sani, pulling him along behind him. “We’re needed at the edge.”

  He shook as he staggered after Sani. His arms tingled without Zo dangling from them—as disturbing as that had been. Now that his brain was clear of the drugged fog, he knew that he had not killed Zo. The glorious truth seeped into his soul just as one weeds reality from visions after waking from dream-filled sleep.

  Gryphon wasn’t Zo’s murderer. Zander had given the command. By killing Zo, Zander had robbed the world of so much goodness. Robbed Joshua and Tess of someone they loved. Robbed Gryphon of a future happiness he cringed even now to consider. Zander would pay for his crime.

  They moved through the main dirt road that ran directly down the center of the island. Gryphon expected to hear the sounds that usually accompanied war, but all was quiet as they reached the cliff separating the Raven home from the mainland.

  People stared at the blood staining Gryphon’s shirt, their questioning eyes wandering to his face. They backed away as he and Sani neared the chief and the small group of men surrounding him. Gabe broke free from the group and ran to Gryphon, folding him into a giant bear hug. “You’re the luckiest bastard I’ve ever met, you know that? If we survive this, you owe me a story.”

  Gryphon patted his back, doubting the Wolf would like to hear about how he had almost helped to kill him. The details were blurred, fading from the grasp of his memory like a dream. The more he tried to remember, the further away the details of his hallucinations slipped.

  “What’s happening?” Gryphon asked as they pushed their way through a flock of stoic Raven warriors to the front of the group at the edge of the cliff.

  “See for yourself,” said Gabe.

  Gryphon stepped to the edge and peered across the chasm to the mainland below to find hundreds of Ram warriors in mess formation. Their calm stance exuded arrogance. At the head of the army stood Barnabas, legs planted wide near the edge of the cliff. His cape caught the breeze off the ocean. Rarely did the Ram Chief venture outside the walls of Rams Gate, but these were hardly normal circumstances. The Raven had eluded the Ram for years. Today marked a major victory for his people and apparently Chief Barnabas didn’t intend to miss it.

  The wrinkles on Chief Naat’s already heavily lined face deepened when he spotted Gryphon. “You.” If that one word were an arrow, Gryphon would have been pierced through the heart. “I don’t know how you survived the Hai, but you have cost my people their souls! Instead of fighting alongside the spirits of our ancestors, my people are fleeing, leaving their heritage and livelihood behind.”

  The man had no idea what he was saying. “I didn’t force you to do anything.” Gryphon growled. He was done taking blame for risking his life to save this ungrateful man and his people. He pointed at the Ram army. “You don’t know what they’re capable of! They will murder everyone within range of their spears. Leaving was always your only option.”

  Sani went to his father’s side. “We are evacuating the people into boats anchored on the other side of the island. We have five large vessels with room to take the entire clan.”

  Gryphon nodded at Sani, grateful that at least one of the Raven wasn’t completely crazy.

  The chief pinched the bridge of his nose. “What we lack is a heading. Those ships are fishing vessels. We don’t have the supplies to store enough water and food for my entire clan. After a week at sea we will be in a great deal of trouble.”

  “I can help with that,” said Gabe. “Your clan has been friendly to the Allies. I know that Commander Laden would welcome your entire people to the Allied Camp if your men will join in the fight against the Ram. You’d have to sail south for several days before we’d make the hike inland, but the Ram will not know to pursue us there, and your ships will travel faster than the Ram could on land.”

  “You will lead us to the camp?” A spark of hope entered the chief’s voice. Then he bowed and shook his head in obvious defeat. “We shouldn’t be leaving at all. The Nest is impossible to attack. Without the bridge their forces are useless.”

  “But father, the Hai,” said Sani. “The spirits have made their decision. We can’t just ignore their wishes.”

  The sound of chopping wood called everyone’s attention. Gryphon peered down at the mainland to find men swinging axes at the bases of the giant redwoods. Each mess crowded around a different tree with shields raised to protect those wielding axes.

  “Not the trees,” Chief Naat moaned, clutching his stomach as though he might be sick.

  “The redwoods are sacred to them,” whispered Gabe. “They believe the trees are tunnels that allow their dead to travel to the underworld. They also believe all blessings come through the trees, gifts of livelihood sent by their ancestors.”

  “Trees?” Gryphon asked, amazed.

  Gabe shook his head. “To them the trees are family.”

  “Kill them. Stop them!” shouted Chief Naat.

  The Ram had plenty of time to link shields and the chopping didn’t cease. The massive trees were tall enough that, if felled properly, they could act as a bridge to the Nest.

  Ashen and beaten, Chief Naat turned to Gabe. “I accept your offer, Wolf.” He looked over at Gryphon. “On the condition that this Ram stays behind with a group of my best warriors to hold off his clan and destroy what we can’t carry of our grain stores.”

  Gryphon wanted to hit the man. “I need to meet my apprentice at the Allied Camp. He’ll be waiting for me there.”

  “Then you can travel with my warriors once you complete this task.”

  “I do not belong to your clan, Chief. You have no authority over me.” Gryphon’s hand flexed around a non-existent spear. The longer he went without a weapon the more naked he felt.

  “Maybe so, but I will not allow a Ram on my ships. Even if you are a Clanless now.”

  Gryphon winced. The word Clanless made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. There wasn’t a lower class of person than someone who wasn’t claimed by something.

  Gryphon looked out at his people across the chasm. Not my people anymore. He didn’t know how they planned to take the island, he only knew that they would find a way.

  “It’s settled then,” said Gabe as he shook the Raven Chief’s hand. Gabe didn’t really have a choice but to accept the Raven’s terms, but his readiness to do so stung Gryphon.

  As Chief Naat and his entourage walked back to the heart of the island, Gabe turned to Gryphon. “I’m sorry, my friend. You can’t expect a man who’s about to lose his home not to hold on to prejudices.”

  “I know what it feels like to lose a home, Gabe,” Gryphon snapped. He pressed the heels of his hands into his forehead and sighed. “I will follow whatever Raven survive to the Allied Camp. They know the way.”

  Gabe studied the ground, shifting his weight from one foot to the next. “Have you considered what you’ll do after all this is over?”

  I’ll hunt and kill Zander and Ajax. “I’ve tried not to think about it.”

  “Well, I know you have no interest in joining the Allies, but what about Joshua?”

  Gryphon frowned. “What about Joshua?”

  “He’s a good kid, Gryph. Don’t you think he deserves a chance with a clan?”

  “There is no way I will
ever be accepted in the Allied Camp, Wolf, and you know it.”

  “But Joshua is young and orphaned. Commander Laden would let him join up. He’d have a home with the Allies. A future.”

  “What are you saying?” Gryphon whispered. Gabe was, of course, right. But that meant …

  “Joshua will follow you anywhere, Gryphon. If you come back, there will be no leaving him behind.”

  “You think I shouldn’t travel to the Allies with the Raven?”

  His silence was a way of offering Gryphon another knife.

  When Gabe finally spoke, Gryphon wished he hadn’t. “You know him better than anyone. Do what you think is best for the boy.”

  Zo blinked away the sunspots in her vision as fire lit up the dark night. A child next to Zo sat up from her blanket and wailed. Zo pulled her and Tess under the wings of her protection. A woman cried out for help a few yards outside the circle, clutching the foot of what must have been her husband as he was being dragged away by two men with long, wild hair and tattered clothing.

  Joshua, who’d been lying fast asleep at Zo’s side, sprang to his feet, and with one quick motion launched his spear into one of dark figures. The second man released his hold on the husband and barreled toward Joshua.

  “No!” Zo screamed.

  Metal from the wild man’s knives flashed in the torchlight as he pounced, but Joshua ducked out of the way and in the same motion turned and thrust his fist into the man’s side.

  The dark man released a labored growl and turned back to face Joshua. Only then did Zo consider his immense size, his arms stretched out wide like a massive bear standing on hind legs. His knives were his claws. Joshua, his prey.

  The giant’s back was to Zo, and she didn’t waste the opportunity. She leapt from her place on the ground and tackled the man from behind. He fell almost too easily. Joshua and the Nameless husband each jumped onto one of his arms to detain the monster. The man bucked and fought, making it impossible for Zo to keep her seat. More men jumped on him, binding his arms behind his back. The man with the spear in his stomach lay motionless beside them.

  Stone’s orders thundered across the clearing, and soon everyone in camp was awake and crowding tighter into the protective circle. Men raised their makeshift spears and the soft sob of children carried on the breeze. Everyone’s attention stayed fixed on the black trees and bushes surrounding the clearing.

  “They weren’t human,” someone hissed. “Demon animals that walked on two legs,” said another.

  Zo hooked Joshua by the collar as other Nameless men dragged the captive away. “What were you thinking?” Zo spun him around. “You can’t just go and fight a wild man. You’re young, Joshua. You could have been killed!”

  Joshua tugged free of Zo’s hold and took a step back. “I’m not a kid, Zo.”

  Zo eyed the space between them with disgust. She wanted nothing more than to hug the boy, but even though he was a kid, Zo saw a glimpse of the man within.

  “Gryphon trained me to react, and that is exactly what I did. It’s who I am. It’s who he wanted me to be.” Joshua’s voice shook just enough for Zo to know he was fighting emotions that had nothing to do with tonight.

  Zo closed the distance between them, and when he tried to push her comfort away, she batted his hands and threw her arms around his neck. “I just … ” A sob ripped from her throat. “I just can’t lose you, too.”

  Joshua stood still as a plank of wood, but eventually melted and put his arms around Zo, patting her back. “I’m sorry, Zo,” he said, but she could tell he wasn’t apologizing for fighting that man tonight.

  Once Zo could speak without breaking her composure, she whispered, “You were amazing. He would have been so proud of you.”

  This time, Joshua’s resolve to be strong broke and he was thirteen again. Zo looked down to find Tess hugging him from behind. Her little lips moved in the form of one of her blessings.

  “This is the boy!” someone shouted.

  Zo and Tess stepped away as Stone marched up and clasped one of Joshua’s hands. Zo hoped for Joshua’s sake that no one saw the boy’s tears in the darkness.

  “Good man,” said Stone. He turned to Zo. “We lost three others, and would have lost a fourth, if it weren’t for your boy here.” He slapped Joshua on the back.

  “Do you want to tell me what that was?” asked Stone.

  Zo wanted to sink to her knees in exhaustion. She placed her arm around Tess and dragged the girl more firmly to her side. “That was a Clanless attack.”

  Chapter 12

  A few hundred yards from the edge, Gryphon and a small company of Raven warriors assembled to take orders from the commander whom Chief Naat had left in charge. The new leader was middle-aged and stood almost as tall as Gryphon, making him a giant among his people. His head was shaven and white paint ran in long lines down his face, as though smeared by his own fingertips.

  He stared out at the twenty or so men who wouldn’t be joining their wives and children as they boarded ships on the other side of the island.

  “Rati, supplies. Kyi and Peti, your men are on traps. Veta, your bow and a black arrow. Meet us at the pit. Two minutes,” the commander rasped. At his word, men shot like arrows out to fulfill their tasks. The clipped orders provided Gryphon almost no hint of their plan, only a strong sense of foreboding which made his heart pound in furious time with the distant rhythm of Ram axes.

  To Gryphon the commander said, “You will come with me.” He thrust a melon-sized barrel into Gryphon arms, lifted another barrel onto his own shoulder, and took off at a run toward the heart of the village. Gryphon hadn’t asked questions. He’d just tucked the barrel under his arm and followed.

  When he first saw the illustrious pit filled with enough barrels of grain to solve the Ram’s food shortage, he had to blink a few times to be sure it was real. He’d been on many excursions over the last two years searching for the Nest—for the grain. He’d begun to think it only existed in myth.

  When the Raven leader descended a ladder, Gryphon followed. He used his knife to spear a hole into the lid of the barrel then threw the blade to Gryphon for him to do the same. “Diluted pine resin.” The Raven answered Gryphon’s question before he had a chance to ask. Spread it over the top of the barrels along the perimeter of the pit.”

  Gryphon obeyed, walking around the edge of the pit and pouring a wavy trail of resin over the barrels. The Raven leader followed behind him sprinkling shiny black powder over the sticky barrels.

  “The trees!” someone yelled from above the pit. “They’re about to fall!”

  Gryphon ran the rest of the perimeter; emptying his bucket over the barrels with the Raven leader right on his heels. When he finished his task, Gryphon tossed his bucket onto the ground and flew up the ladder and out of the pit.

  Though he hadn’t been told the purpose of the resin and powder, a sinking dread filled his stomach. He glanced over his shoulder one last time to take in the sight of all of those barrels. Grain meant flour and flour meant bread and full bellies. No small miracle in their hungry region.

  The young bowman met them fifty yards from the pit carrying an arrow with the tip covered in a black, porous substance. “I have everything ready, sir.” He lifted an oil lantern with a nod.

  “Good,” the painted leader said. “Hold your arrow until it will do the most damage.”

  “Yes, sir.” The young man sprinted up a set of stairs that spiraled around a nearby tree.

  “The rest of you, get into position,” the leader shouted.

  Gryphon and the twenty or so Raven who’d been left to prepare for invasion sprinted to the edge of the island to meet the Ram. Climbing the backside of one of the island redwoods, he pulled himself onto a platform with the other men. Strangers, all of them.

  A brief thought—What am I doing here?—flitted through his mind. He didn’t know these men. They shared the common goal of wanting to escape the island alive, but th
at was all. The men of his Ram mess trusted one another with their lives. They were men he’d die to defend and who would willingly return the sacrifice.

  He thought of the archer and his black-tipped arrow, and his stomach rolled, more conflicted than ever.

  Gryphon lay flat on his stomach, watching the Ram take axes to the mammoth trees that stood at the edge of the cliff. The Raven surrounding him seethed and winced as the Ram hacked at their ancient heritage.

  There was no sense in the Raven using their bows against the Ram shields that protected the men working the axes. The Raven conserved their arrows and waited.

  Lying on the platform felt like waiting for death. “There has to be another way off the island,” he said. Wood-slatted armor rattled as the Raven at his side turned away from him. But Gryphon didn’t care. He’d risked everything to help these people and dying wasn’t part of the plan. Especially not when he had a favor to return to Zander.

  Everyone startled when Sani dropped onto the platform from a branch above. The boy dusted his hands on his pants and crawled over to Gryphon and the others. “The chief filled all of our smaller fishing vessels with supplies to be towed behind the big boats,” he said. “Our only option is to cross the logs after the Ram come over. If we’re lucky, the Ram will follow us, giving our people the time they need to distance themselves from shore.”

  “You’re supposed to be on a boat,” Gryphon growled at Sani. The last thing he needed was another kid around to remind him of Joshua.

  “I told you before; I’m your ‘Atiin. I’m honor-bound to serve you until I have paid back my debt.”

  “You’re a fool. None of your people would condemn you for not following through with this whole ‘Atiin thing. One less Ram in the world would be a blessing in their eyes.”

  “But they wouldn’t have to live with the shame. I would.” He studied Gryphon more closely. “Where is your armor?” He looked down the row of warriors and frowned. “Did no one bother to find you some?”