Clanless by Jennifer Jenkins

Author:Jennifer Jenkins [Jenkins, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, young adult, teen, romance, science fiction, survival stories
ISBN: 9781945107139
Publisher: Month9Books
Published: 2016-10-03T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Little by little, Gryphon fell back from Sani and the rest of the Raven warriors as they ran. Sani glanced over his shoulder to check that Gryphon was still following, eyeing the growing distance between them with distaste. The more time he spent with the boy, the more he struggled to believe he was only thirteen years old. What thirteen-year-old ran around pledging his life to others? He spouted nonsense about honor when he wasn’t even old enough to grow whiskers. The boy had some nerve.

The forest thickened with pines and spruces, forcing them to follow winding game trails. Gryphon lost sight of Sani on a turn and made a quick decision.

He darted east, leaving the trail for an untamed path through the dense forest.

It wouldn’t be long before Sani realized Gryphon’s absence and came looking for him to fulfill his duty as ‘Atiin, but Gryphon knew this mountain and was confident he could easily avoid them.

He sprinted a half mile east then, ducking between a pair of lichen-covered boulders, crumpled to the ground knowing he would never see Joshua again.

I’m doing this for him, he reminded himself over and over again. Joshua deserved a life that Gryphon simply couldn’t offer. Gryphon pressed his palms into his eyes. Without Joshua to care for, his focus fell to the one thing he had left to fight for: Zo’s memory. And he’d start by hunting Zander and Ajax. They’d feel every ounce of pain Zo had before she died, even if it was his final act in this life.

It wasn’t long before the sounds of snapping branches and murmuring voices reached him. They were close enough that Gryphon easily distinguished Sani’s high-pitched tone from the other Raven, but distant enough that Gryphon didn’t bother running. The Raven didn’t seem to look for long before they moved on. Even the son of a chief couldn’t convince the warriors to give their time to a lost cause. And if they mistrusted him enough to think he defected to warn the Ram, they’d run with even more haste than they had up to now.

Gryphon lay hidden between the boulders into the afternoon, long after the sun peeked over the horizon. Waiting. Hating the cruel blow life had dealt him. More hungry for revenge than for any morsel of food. He ran a hand over his face to feel the product of almost two weeks without shaving. His dark beard grew fast and thick and it wouldn’t be long before even his mother wouldn’t have recognized him.

Gryphon plucked a blade of grass and tore it into strips, thinking about his mother and how she ought to have made his list of things and people to live for. Beneath her rough exterior, she had loved Gryphon, even though a chunk of her heart wasn’t available to him.

Yes, he assumed it was because his father had abandoned them when he was a baby. She’d let the disgrace govern her and Gryphon’s lives, insisting that his father’s shield be hung above the family hearth—an ever-present monument to their shame.

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