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

wave of soldiers to fall upon them. There was no one, though. Hopefully their pursuers would take a long time to figure out how they’d escaped.

Facing ahead again, Erika found Maisie slumped on her hands and knees. The spy’s face was pale as she looked at them.

“Might have…pushed myself a little too far,” she murmured, looking down the valley. “Think I bought you enough time.”

Anger touched Erika as she saw the defeat in the woman’s eyes. She strode forward, stones crunching beneath her boots. “Get up,” she snapped.

Maisie shook her head. “Don’t have the—”

She broke off as Erika slapped her across the face. “No,” she said, then offered her hand. “We’re going on together, got it?”

The spy’s eyes had widened at the blow and now she stared up at Erika, as though not quite sure what to do.

“I’d do what she says,” Romaine grunted from beside them. “She’s a princess, after all—used to getting what she wants.”

Maisie looked at the Calafe, still looking dazed, but finally she took Erika’s offered hand and allowed herself to be pulled back to her feet. Looping the woman’s arm across her shoulder, Erika took some of her weight, then nodded her thanks to Romaine.

The warrior said nothing, only started up the slope once more, Cara still hung across his back. The Goddess’s eyes remained closed, and her face was grey as death. Erika’s heart twisted at the sight. Would they make it in time? Could Cara’s people even help with her ailment?

Of course they can, they’re Gods!

But there was a voice whispering to her, her Archivist’s mind, asking if that was really true. Being weak to magic or the Tangata was one thing—both came from the Gods. But poison? She looked at Cara again, heart twisting, stomach in knots. Surely a God should be immune to something as benign as poison?

She thrust the thought away. It did her no good now, not while danger still lurked, while they were still so far from help or rescue. One thing was without doubt—Cara’s people were out here. Gods or no, they would help Cara. They would protect them from the queen’s soldiers.

If they let you in…

Erika cursed and started after Romaine, dragging Maisie with her. They continued up the gorge, though its walls grew narrower with each bend in its winding depths. Erika began to wonder if they’d chosen the wrong path after all—if the canyon did not open out soon, they risked striking a dead end. Yet the ground was still lifting beneath their feet, and looking around she thought that the cliffs looked shorter. Or perhaps that was just hopeful thinking. There was no going back now.

After a time Maisie seemed to recover some of her strength and was able to walk unaided—much to Erika’s relief. Romaine, on the other hand, lagged farther and farther behind, struggling with his burden. Erika wished she could aid him, but there was nothing either of them could do besides rely on the big Calafe’s strength—they’d already tried.

Eventually though, Erika saw that she’d been right. The cliffs were shortening as they climbed, until finally they were barely twice their height. In places they might have even climbed free. They were so close now, Erika could sense it, could almost feel the secret calling to her, waiting to be uncovered. The city of the Gods was here somewhere.

The crunch of footsteps from ahead suddenly ceased and Erika looked up, surprised that Maisie had come to a halt. Then she realised the spy had stopped because the mountain had come to an end. While the cliffs still rose to either side of them, the slope beyond Maisie vanished, starting back down into a fresh valley. Could this be it?

Blood pounded in Erika’s ears as she staggered towards the spy. Maisie hadn’t said a word, but her eyes were fixed on the land beyond, as though…as though there was something there!

Romaine reached the crest a second before Erika, but he too remained silent, only came to a stop, eyes fixed on the unknown beyond. Erika scrambled her way up the last few feet and straightened at the top. Holding her breath, she looked down at the valley beyond…

And frowned.

An empty scree slope stretched away beyond them, down into a broad valley between the icy peaks. But that was not what the others were looking at. There in the centre of the valley, a squat, square building rose from the barren mountainside. Shaped of the same smooth grey rock she’d encountered in other sacred sites, it was massive, ringing a large yard in its centre. But other than its size, it seemed so…plain.

Erika didn’t know what she’d been expecting from this sacred place hidden away in the forbidden Mountains of the Gods, but the structure below certainly hadn’t been it.

“Welcome to my home.” Cara’s voice was bitter as she laughed into Romaine’s shoulder.

Erika turned to the Goddess, but a movement from across the slope drew her attention instead. Stones came crashing down from above, then a dark figure dropped from the cliff, striking the ground with a crash. The man straightened, a smile on his lips, crossbow pointed at Erika’s chest.

“If you’d be so good as to lower the gauntlet, Archivist,” the man said, “I think it’s about time we had a little chat.”

30

The Soldier

Racing through the streets of New Nihelm, Lukys wondered how he could have ever been so blind. The others ran around him, Tangata loping along in stride with their human partners. Travis, Dale, all the others, they didn’t know, couldn’t see.

But then, how could they?

The Tangata were playing with their minds.

His stomach twisted as memories flickered before his eyes—of the Matriarch towering over him, drawing the map from his mind; of Sophia’s daily visits, the slow whittling down of his will. No wonder his friends had given in so quickly. They couldn’t distinguish the creatures’ whispers from their own thoughts, couldn’t resist as he had.

They had been brainwashed, their minds manipulated until they thought they loved the