Free Clanless by Jennifer Jenkins Page B

lengths of thick rope with slipknot loops to serve as handcuffs.
    “You will await your judgment here,” one of the guards ordered. Gryphon stepped onto the wooden platform. When the guard moved to place Gryphon’s hands into the cuffs, Sani waved him off. “It is my right to attend to this man.” Though small in stature, Sani carried himself like a grown man. The guard bowed and backed away from Gryphon to make room for the chief’s son.
    Sani held up the cuffs, only slightly flinching when the Gryphon willingly raised his hands.
    Gryphon glared at Gabe. “We don’t have time for this. They don’t have time for this.”
    Gabe scratched the back of his blond head. “I’ll do my best.”
    “Be sure that you do. I didn’t leave Joshua and … ” Gryphon swallowed hard, stunned to realize he’d forgotten that Zo was actually gone. His whole body rejected the idea that he would never see her again. It didn’t feel right. “I didn’t leave them to die along with the Raven. If these people don’t agree to leave, our efforts are for nothing.”
    Gabe nodded and walked into the plastered circle of logs along with a number of elderly men who all carried a stone the size of their fists.
    “Why did you spare my life, Ram?” Sani asked. The boy pulled on a rope connected to a pulley, raising Gryphon’s cuffed hands high above his head. The rough fibers of the rope cut into his skin as the slipknots tightened around his wrists.
    “Had I known you were the chief’s son, I might not have.” Gryphon groaned against the strain on his wrists.
    Sani’s eyes were deep, black, and haunting. He regarded Gryphon with such intense focus that Gryphon feared he’d tumble into those eyes and be lost forever. “I don’t believe you.” The boy tilted his head to one side. “I think you view your mercy as weakness. That is why you are so sad.”
    Gryphon closed his eyes and let his head fall back. If he ignored the boy, he might stop talking to him. After a few moments, smoke from the fire a few feet away assaulted his lungs. It smelled of cedar and made Gryphon cough and sputter. Unable to shield his face from the strong-smelling smoke, he opened his eyes long enough to see Sani fanning the fragrant cloud toward him.
    “What are you doing?” Gryphon coughed again as Sani lifted the lid of a basket by the fire and pulled out three bundles of herbs. On by one, he dropped each bundle into the fire, continuing to fan the smoke in his direction.
    “Mugwort to cleanse you, lavender to restore balance, and sweetgrass to drive away bad influences,” said Sani.
    Gryphon wiped his watering eyes on his shoulder as best he could. “I don’t need your witch doctoring.”
    Through his tears he thought he saw Sani shake his head. “It is customary to prepare the accused for punishment. We believe the smoke will cling to the bad in you and pull it away, leaving behind the good.”
    Gryphon’s head rolled forward, exhausted. When the smoke didn’t hit him full in the face he could actually breathe.
    “I thought you said they wouldn’t hurt me because you are my ‘Atiin .”
    Another wave of smoke hit him before Sani answered, “They will not kill you, but that doesn’t stop them from selecting other forms of punishment.”
    Gryphon hung from his ropes, assaulted by smoke, thinking of Zo and worrying for Joshua, Eva, and little Tess. What would become of them if they didn’t make it to the Allies? Why hadn’t he just abandoned these people who seemed too fixed on their hatred of him to even help themselves in a time of crisis?
    The smoke stopped and the door to the wooden chamber creaked open. Sani lowered the rope connecting his bound hands, his gaze intense as ever. “You’re ready.”
     
     

     
     
    By midday, Zo’s head expanded and contracted over and over with throbbing pain. She leaned heavily on her walking stick and let Tess lead her with her tiny hand.
    “I just don’t understand why you aren’t getting any