Nameless (22 page)

“I fell.” Sweat beaded his brow. “You’re changing the subject.”

Zo didn’t have time for this. “You fell,” she said flatly.

“I was sleeping in a tree.”

“Intelligent.” Zo handed him a strip of leather. “I’m going to set the bone. Bite down on this.”

“I need to ask you a favor, first.”

She sighed. “What?”

“I am in love, healer. With a girl I shouldn’t be. She is … ” he swallowed and looked away. “She is carrying my child and will be killed for it.”

Zo inhaled. “Not a Ram?”

Stone nodded. The fire that ignited his talk of rebellion melted into agony. He rubbed his free palm into his forehead. “If I can’t get her out of the Gate before they discover her condition they will send her and our child over the cliff.”

Zo swallowed, feeling a heavy weight dumped upon her shoulders. “What is your favor?”

“If you and your sister find a way out of this hell, promise you’ll take her with you.”

Zo’s face was damp. She wanted to pull her hair out and scream. To scratch and bite and kick and wail all at once. But instead she nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

Stone mumbled a somber “thank you” and put the leather in his mouth. He gripped the side of the bed, all the while keeping his gaze locked with hers.

Zo’s mother could slip a bone back into place with so much speed the pain was over almost before it began. Too bad Zo hadn’t inherited that gift.

“Ready?”

He nodded.

“One, two, … ” Zo pushed with one hand and pulled with the other. The bone snapped into place and the young man passed out. Joshua and the strawberry-haired Ram woman walked into the barn just as Zo secured the splint to his arm.

“What did you do to him?” said Joshua.

“He’s fine.” Zo turned to the woman of the household and stared at her feet. “I’ve made him a sling that will hold his arm close to his body. The bone won’t heal right if he takes it off. When he wakes he’ll be in pain. He won’t be able to work. After seven days have him come see me so I can make sure the bone hasn’t shifted.”

“How old are you, Nameless?” the Ram woman asked in a melodic, high-pitched voice.

Zo straightened to take advantage of her full height. “Seventeen, ma’am.”

“A seventeen-year-old Nameless who has no problem giving a Ram instructions?” The woman shook her head.

Zo didn’t have to look up to feel the weight of her stare. “I’m sorry, ma’am. In the Medica I became accustomed to speaking that way.” She put her head lower to show submission.

The woman sighed and turned to Joshua. “Tie her to the post outside.”

“Excuse me?” Joshua openly gawked.

“Do it.”

The woman walked out and Zo nudged Joshua to follow. “I’ll be fine, Joshua. Just do as she says.”

Outside the sunlight glared through the thick pine trees surrounding the barn. Zo walked over to a tree trunk chopped at eye level with a rope secured around the middle. Joshua stood, arms hanging at his sides, while Zo put her hands in the straps. “Drea will not approve of this,” said Joshua. “Not without her consent.”

“Quiet, boy.” The woman picked up a long, thin stick from the ground. Zo closed her eyes and tensed the muscles in her back, trusting that the extremely pregnant woman couldn’t hit that hard.

The stick cut through the air making a whistle sound then connected with a
crack
on Zo’s back. Skin ripped; fire spread down her spine and throughout every nerve ending in her body. Zo didn’t even have time to cry out as another whistle cut through air and skin. The stick cracked again and again. Zo melted to her knees, too dizzy with pain to stand.

With every strike, Zo’s hatred solidified. This was why she was here! The Ram would all pay for their cruelty. She would show them what it meant to bow their heads and submit like animals. She would show them …

“Enough!” Joshua took the whipping stick from the woman and launched it into the trees.

“I was done anyway.” The woman laughed. She caressed her round belly as she stood over Zo. Her voice was pure honey. “My Nameless will visit you in seven days. Give my regards to Drea. Tell her the apples are on their way.”

Joshua was careful not to touch Zo’s back as he helped her home. He walked her to the bed but with the stitches from the pitchfork still fresh, she didn’t want to lie on her stomach. “I’ll just sit.” The room spun in circles. She rested her hands on her knees and tried to get a handle on her breathing.

Joshua ran off and was back a moment later with both Mrs. Drea and a furious-looking Gryphon. “All she did was explain how to care for his arm and ask that he come back in a week to have it looked at. That’s
it!
”

Mrs. Drea pushed both boys aside. Zo flinched under her hands as Mrs. Drea peeled away the remains of the ruined dress. “We’ve never had a Nameless healer. Ram women don’t like being told what to do,” said Mrs. Drea.

“This isn’t her fault,” Joshua protested. “She was only doing what you asked.”

Mrs. Drea shook her head. “No. This is my fault. I should have warned the girl.” It was the first time Zo had heard an admission of guilt from a Ram.

Gryphon picked up Zo’s kit and started gathering oils. He motioned to Joshua. “Use your knife to cut the back out of the dress.”

Mrs. Drea walked toward the door. “I’m going to pay a little visit. I’ll come with another one of my old dresses later. I have a feeling the Nameless won’t want anything touching her back any time soon.”

She was giving Zo some of her own clothes. Something that she’d actually worn. The simple offering made Zo’s eyes sting. She sniffled, confused by the kindness that contradicted what she knew to be true about the Ram. “You’ll want to cut one inch strips out of the cloth,” Zo said to Joshua as he gently cut a giant square into the fabric on her back. With every tiny movement a new wave of pain prickled throughout her body.

But all she could think about was Tess, the Ram woman Stone loved whose fate she now carried, and the red brand of hatred burning a hole in her chest.

“Tell me what to do.” Gryphon felt like they had just done this. Probably because they had.

“Soak the cloth in this, this, and this.” She pointed to three different oddly shaped bottles. “Then lay them along the cuts.”

Gryphon obeyed. She flinched every time he touched her. Every time.

And how could he blame her when nearly every experience she’d had with Ram ended violently? Beatings from Gate Master Leon, the pitchfork, and now this. Even he had handled her roughly in the forest and practically strangled her in the cave. He placed another strip. The oils ran down her back like tears.

“I’m so sorry, Zo.” Joshua gave voice to the way Gryphon felt.

“It’s not your fault, Ginger.”

She shivered under Gryphon’s touch as he placed another strip of cloth on her back. “I’ll start a fire,” he offered.

Zo nodded, but her eyes stayed frozen on the ground. Her dark hair fell in layers around her face.

“I’ll do it!” Joshua rushed outside to gather wood, leaving Gryphon alone with Zo.

“I really am sorry, Zo.” Gryphon soaked another strip of cloth before gently placing it on her back. It was becoming easier to say her name.

The girl blinked hard, as if awakening from a serious train of thought. “For what? My back? For murdering the Wolf? For taking me away from … ” She wiped fresh tears and dropped her head. “You warned me about my tongue.”

Gryphon wished he could explain. Wished he could make some of this—any of this—right. But how could he tell her about the Wolf in the barn without ruining all of his plans? The Wolves were making alliances with the other clans. This was bigger than his unfathomable desire to please Zo. His enemy.

It just was.

Fresh lyrics came to his mind. The melody carrying them was ragged and slow. Pathetic like he was. A song about midnight hair and hypnotizing blue eyes.

Ajax was right. He was weak.

Zo spent two long nights sitting on a bench with her head resting on a table for support. She fell in and out of sleep, usually waking to the sound of her own screams. Nightmares of Tess and the Gate Master filled her mind. Sometimes the Seer, with her dark beady eyes, would stare down at her and say, “I can still see you, Wolf.” At other times her dreams took her to a room without doors or windows. Just her and her guilt filling up every inch of space.

She knew it wasn’t reasonable to take blame for what had happened to her parents, or Tess, or even Gabe. They had all made their decisions or been affected by the hatred of others. While her waking brain comprehended such logic, her subconscious disagreed. Then there was the added pressure of trying to escape. Plus the confusion that accompanied trying to help the mysterious Ram carrying a Nameless babe.

Zo closed her eyes to attempt sleep when the door to the Nameless quarters flew open and banged against the wall. “Zo, we need you!” Gryphon stood with his mess brother, Ajax, bouncing impatiently at his side.

“What is it?” she stammered, raising one hand to block out the blinding light of Gryphon’s torch.

“Just bring your kit and come.”

The fresh scabs on her back tugged and split as she obeyed the order. Once outside, Gryphon grabbed Zo’s hand and raced after Ajax into the darkness. Every footstep sparked fire to her back, but Zo didn’t bother complaining.

“Not much farther.” Gryphon seemed to read her mind. She wanted to collapse from pain.

They approached a farm set back in the trees. The flicker of candlelight pulsed from the windows of the small house, making it seem alive from a distance. By the time they reached the porch, warm trails of blood rolled down Zo’s back. She swayed and Gryphon had to catch her before she fell walking up the wooden steps.

Ajax turned on them both before they could enter the house. “No one can know what you’re about to see, Gryph.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair and paced. “Can you trust her not to talk?” He eyed Zo.

Gryphon didn’t hesitate. “She’s safe, Jax.”

His expression made it clear that Ajax wouldn’t have trusted Zo to sweep his tent, but he dropped his head and ushered them inside.

The metallic smell of blood, earth, and a hint of parsnips hung in the room. Zo turned to Ajax with wide eyes. “Where’s the baby?” She had helped her mother deliver enough newborns to recognize the unique smell.

Ajax led her through a short hallway. “How did you—”

“Birth smells the same outside the Gate.” She should have guarded her tongue, but the pain from her back muddled her resolve.

Ajax spared her a furrowed glance before pulling her into a dimly lit bedroom. In true Ram fashion, the walls and floors were bare with the exception of a lone log framed bed and a few baskets in the corner. On the bed, a pale young woman held an infant to her chest. Both mother and baby seemed to be asleep.

“She delivered so fast. I didn’t have time to call for a healer,” said Ajax.

The sleeping mother stirred and Ajax was instantly at her side, smoothing the hair from her face. “I’ve brought the Nameless healer, Sara.”

The scowl Zo usually received from the women inside the Gate was notably absent from the young woman’s hopeful face. “Please, tell me. Can you help my son?” She handed the swaddled bundle to Zo.

Zo accepted him with trembling hands. “May I sit?” She was still shaken from her run, and the sting in her back was almost blinding.

“Of course.” The desperation in the woman’s voice frightened her.

Zo peeled back the blankets to find a pink baby boy. Thick dark hair curled atop his head. There was a thin gap separating the upper lip on one side. It ran half the distance to the nose. In her training, Zo had seen two similar cases where the baby’s nose was deformed in the process and the fissure extended all the way through the nose to the roof of the mouth. This didn’t look so bad, but there was no way to tell without feeling inside the cavity.

“I need to wash my hands to examine him properly.” She handed the warm, sleeping bundle back to his mother. Gryphon kept a firm grip above her elbow as he silently led her to the kitchen area to wash in a basin of cold water. When they came back, Sara hissed something under her breath, a vow of some sort. Ajax draped his arms around his wife and child and spoke soft words of comfort, almost too quiet for Zo to hear. He kissed her forehead and stepped back as Zo and Gryphon entered the room.