Wrath of the Forgotten: Descendants of the Fall Book II by Hodges, Aaron (best romance books of all time txt) 📕

his own concerns. Yasin’s men might not be mercenaries, but the ease with which they’d taken to this assignment suggested they were far from regular soldiers. He suspected Yasin and the others were the people she sent when she needed something carried out in secret.

As they continued down the mountainside, Yasin slowed, allowing others to take the lead and falling into step alongside Romaine. While his sword and armour had been covered by cloth for the crossing, the crossbow was mostly wood and so hung from its usual strap across his back.

“How’s the hand, Calafe?” he asked with a grin.

Romaine gritted his teeth but ignored the not-so-subtle gibe. “As well as it’s going to get,” he replied, doing his best to keep the dislike from his voice, then quickly changing the subject. “What is your plan for infiltrating the fortress, once we leave the mountains?”

“The fortress?” the soldier said, a look of surprise crossing his face. Then he snorted. “We won’t find your Goddess lass inside those granite walls. Old Nguyen started making preparations to move her soon as he learned Amina was coming.”

Romaine nodded at the confirmation of his earlier suspicions. “Then what are we doing?”

Yasin chuckled. “All in good time, Calafe,” he replied. “Amina is more than a match for the old Gemaho bastard. We already know where they’re taking her, we just have to catch up!”

“And how will we do that?” Lorene cut in, his voice light. “Seems to me the Nguyen wouldn’t be so foolish as to send the Goddess by foot, when he’s got such a nice river on hand.”

All trace of mirth left Yasin’s face as he turned his gaze on the scout. “Do you think your queen an idiot, soldier?”

“I…” Lorene trailed off beneath Yasin’s glare, perhaps sensing what Romaine had that first night he’d met the strange warrior. The knowledge that he was staring into the eyes of a killer. Swallowing, the scout tried again. “Do you have a ship tucked away in some magic pocket we don’t know about?”

The joke fell flat in the emptiness of Yasin’s stare. Lorene clamped his mouth shut, glancing at Romaine.

“The man’s got a point,” Romaine commented.

He did not flinch as the warrior turned on him, and after a moment a smile cracked Yasin’s face.

“By the Gods, your training buddy is jumpy, Calafe!” he laughed. Beside them, Lorene frowned, but Yasin only chuckled and gestured to the way ahead. “You’ll see when we reach the ground.” With that he set off ahead once more, leaving them to trail behind the group.

Lorene watched the man go, his jaw clenched, forehead still marked by frown lines. “I’m not sure I like that man,” he remarked finally.

Romaine sighed. “I’m not sure we’re meant to, lad,” he replied. “Doesn’t matter though, so long as they help us get Cara back.”

The scout nodded, though the expression on his face suggested he wasn’t convinced. They continued after the others, winding their slow way down towards ground level.

While the most dangerous part of the crossing needed to be completed in daylight, they had climbed much of the mountainside in the night and so it was only several hours more before they neared the bottom of the gorge.

Only once was their journey interrupted, as movement in a nearby gully sent them all scattering for cover. The action sent loose rocks tumbling down the mountainside, disturbing the group of Guanaco that had been hidden in the shadows. The long-necked creatures leapt nimbly across the trail, disappearing into a nearby ravine, knocking hardly a stone out of place.

Yasin and the other soldiers cursed the creatures, but in the tradition of the Calafe, Romaine took them as a sign of good luck. Covered in heavy wool with long ears and beady eyes, the Guanaco were considered the flock of the Gods. Their presence before a long journey was meant to herald good fortune, though that had not entirely been true the last time he’d crossed paths with the creatures. That had been just hours before they’d unearthed the monsters beneath the earth, to which he’d lost his hand—and almost his life.

After that, Yasin called a stop and they waited there for the sun to finally set behind the distant peaks. With the twisting ravines falling into deep shadow, they continued for another hour until they finally reached the floor of the canyon.

There, Yasin led the way confidently across the narrow floodplains, following the gentle whispering of the Illmoor River. By then the darkness was complete, with only the faint glimmer of the emerging stars to light the way. Romaine almost tripped several times as they made their way downriver, and his irritation with Yasin grew with each passing hour.

Finally, the sound of the river changed, and he heard the tell-tale squeak of wooden boards shifting on water from ahead. His heart picked up and he strained to pierce the night, seeking out the ship he was sure must be waiting for them. By then he hardly cared how the queen might have gotten word to her informants, nor even that she apparently had enough connections in Gemaho to procure them a ride.

The ship emerged slowly from the gloom, its features mostly obscured by the darkness, though he could see the movement of sailors upon its upper deck. Lorene inhaled sharply alongside him and he flashed the scout a grin.

“Looks like they had a ship in their pocket after all.”

The scout only shook his head, and together they picked up the pace, eager to catch Yasin and his men before they decided to leave the pair of them behind. Broad sails stretched high above them, and dozens of oars poked from the gunwales, lifting Romaine’s heart. For the first time in weeks, he felt a touch of hope. His gaze was drawn to the east, to that distant, unknown land of Gemaho. Somewhere out there, Cara was waiting for him.

I’m coming, he whispered to the universe.

15

The Soldier

Lukys passed a week in his cell—or at least a