Angels Blood Read Free Page B

to the gathering troops. 
    They were unmistakably battle ready. Wollfen could see a discussion going on with who was obviously their leader, a man dressed in full battle armor, it was a curious blend of red and black. The soldiers all wore similar garb but many were more simply dressed in hard leather.  He hadn’t seen this type of soldier before, they were something new. The two riders moved ahead again, this time they stopped on this side of the bridge and dismounted as the rest of the troop rode over. One of the two was looking at the ground, he was heading this way a little.  Wollfen hoped they didn’t look too far. He gripped the hilt of his sword in preparation of a confrontation. Dark was between the horses  unhooking her crossbow.  It was a handy weapon.  A bolt from that thing wasn’t very accurate but was good at close range and would pass through the two scouts with ease. One of them was studying the ground, a tracker obviously and just as obviously he would see the footprints there too, nothing for it but to wait and see what transpired.
    The tracker knelt down, looking at both sets of tracks, two pair of footprints and horse tracks too.  He contemplated them a moment and then stood back up. As he did the Captain drew level with him.
    “ Well? Anything to report?”
    “ Two persons, both barefoot and with horses trod here recently, by the size and depth of one of the sets I would say that one is female sir.”
    Hmm, the Captain considered the information, definitely not soldiers. Probably a farmer and his wife scared off by their approach, not worth bothering with really.  He was getting hungry and they had a totally successful day already.
    “ No we won’t bother tracking them, they are most likely halfway to the hills by now, we shall continue on.”
    The two riders mounted and fell into line, the troop moving off again.
    Wollfen let out his breath.  They were moving on. Dark lowered her crossbow, no action today.
    “ Guess I don’t get myself a kill today huh?”
    He looked at her and quipped,
    “ You know for such a soft seductress, you sure do have a mean streak baby.” He winked as he spoke.
    Dark grunted dismissively. Wollfen had counted as the soldiers had crossed the bridge, a full 150 men fully armed with a variety of weapons, quite a formidable force. The two of them waited in the trees for a full ten minutes before coming out. They both walked slowly back to the road watching, smelling, listening to the underbrush, no signs of any lingering soldiers.
    He looked up the road.  The dust plume was long gone, he didn’t think they would see them again but it was wise to keep watch nevertheless. Nothing to do but wait now, it would probably be a few hours before the others showed up and then it would be dusk.
    At a town further way Nightwing had entered the outskirts on foot, she had left her horse in the care of Loranda.  She needed to see if she could find any information they could use. Things had gone belly up with their own plans but that didn’t mean they shouldn’t learn all they could in preparation for what to do next.
    As she entered the town, the acrid smoke of the smoldering fires stung her nostrils.  There wasn’t a single building left standing, it had taken some force to be able to raze such a large township. There had been something like 1500 people living here and now, none could be seen.  Who would do such a thing? Looking about she could find nothing but burnt buildings and broken wares, the roads were littered with discarded belongings and loot. Then it struck her, no bodies. She looked further into town, still nothing. Then she noticed the splashes of blood, a lost sword, the occasional arrow embedded in a door or window frame, even some shields lying about of the local constabulary.  This was getting curious. Where were the people or even bodies? 
    Nightwing turned a corner and Loranda came riding up, horse in tow.
    “ We have seen some more soldiers, we