Angels Blood Read Free Page A

he felt her acknowledge, they were aware.
    Further on Kane looked about, something was wrong. There was smoke in the distance and then Solynne had cried out, what had happened?
    “ It's Keera, the town they were to go to, it has been razed.”
    Kane immediately spurred his horse off the road and through the trees. Solynne followed knowing exactly why. The smoke ahead spoke of the same thing. If there were hostile forces that destroyed the other town  here too, they could be riding straight into them. 
    Up the rise they went side by side and as they approached the peak, the two of them slowed and dismounted.  Kane clasped the handle of his sword as he strode forward slowly and quietly. Solynne had her crossbow out and drawn.  Carefully they approached their vantage point and what they saw before them made them gasp. Not only was the town below burning and empty, but in the distance they could see many fires, too many.
    Wollfen heard via mind touch from Solynne what the two of them were seeing, many fires burning into the distance, it spoke of the whole region in flames. Oh how could I be so blind? The big change coming and I had thought it all had to do with me and my plans. How arrogant of me. How could I not see this possibility, that it may have been something other than just what I had decided it should be? Wollfen berated himself. It wasn’t about me, I’m not the one, it’s all been for nothing. My self-important preparations, all of it, he felt himself slipping and the presence pushed again.  Wollfen pushed back, pushed hard with anger and it retreated far.
    He looked around and saw Dark fretting, watching him.  There wasn’t much she could do in this situation and she was feeling helpless. His head was in a spin.  He was mentally and physically tired already.  The power needed not only to communicate with the others but also the incursion by that unknown force had taxed him.  He needed rest but not yet, they needed to regroup and they would be waiting for word from him.
    Wollfen focused on a single thought clear and powerful, then sent it out, 'Regroup to me.' The others with mind touch skills would be able to focus on his beacon, it was like a mental light in their minds and they would be able to track to him. It would take time for them to find their way back to where he was though, time for him to rest and contemplate these new circumstances.
    Wollfen looked around for a place to stop. There really wasn’t much around. There was that bridge he could spy a little further on. 
    “ We will pull up at the bridge and wait for the others there.”
    Dark nodded and they moved off again, this time watching the road ahead for signs of movement, well alert for anything traveling along that road. As they neared, they could see it had seen a lot of traffic very recently, the fresh horse droppings paid testament to that. Curious, they hadn’t seen anything at all the day before, who had destroyed those towns? And where were they now? How large was their force? Wollfen was quickly realizing that he really had nothing to go on at all. But he knew one thing, whoever they were, they were deadly.
    As he and Dark dismounted, Wollfen thought he saw movement further ahead on the road.  Squeezing her arm, he motioned her to follow.  Walking along the soft ground of the embankment next to the bridge, they stole along quickly and ducked into the trees a little further on.  The rise just beyond stopped them from going too far though, too late to realize they had no escape route this way. Holding the bridles of their horses, they watched and waited.  It didn’t take long before the movement grew into a dust plume.  It was a large contingent of men on horseback and yes, they were riding this way.  As they approached the bridge, the two riders on point began to pull up.  He had hoped they would continue on.  Worse luck, the two of them crossed the bridge and looked about then moved back to the other side of the bridge